Evaluating Campus Climate at US Research Universities

Opportunities for Diversity and Inclusion

Krista M. Soria

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9783319948355
• eBook ISBN:
  9783319948362
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

This book examines campus climate data collected from undergraduates at several large, public research universities across the nation to enhance understanding of the long-term impact of campus climate on student success. Many universities have refocused their attention and energy on campus climate, defined in this volume as students' perceptions of how welcoming and respectful their campus environments are for students from different social identities. As structural diversity continues to grow more complex on college campuses around the nation, campus leaders have begun to take more steps to understand campus climate and address persistent inequalities, acts of discrimination, and violence against students from diverse backgrounds. The authors in this volume address initiatives to improve campus climate and provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of those programs.

© The Author(s) 2018

Krista M. Soria (ed.)Evaluating Campus Climate at US Research Universitieshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94836-2_1

Begin Abstract

1. Campus Climate at Research Universities: 2012–2017

Krista M. Soria¹

(1)

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Krista M. Soria

End Abstract

Given the deleterious ubiquity of racially motivated incidents of discrimination, bias, violence, and prejudice in higher education institutions, most of the early campus climate researchers focused their scholarship on investigating the campus climate for racial and ethnic diversity. For instance, Hurtado (1992) described the prevalence of racial conflicts on college campuses in the 1980s, along with the subsequent protests that students at some institutions organized to express solidarity with their peers who were encountering harassment and violence. Many of these incidents occurred on predominantly White higher education campuses, including several large, public research universities (Farrell & Jones, 1988). Decades later, racial and ethnic tensions remain unabated in our nation and on college campuses and, bolstered by national campaigns such as the Black Lives Matter movement, college students have yet again organized protests to counter persistent racism (Milkman, 2017). Those efforts have been buffeted by precipitous increases in hate incidents, threats, intimidation, and vandalism since the presidential election in 2016 (Potok, 2017). In fact, the largest proportion of incidents ten days after the 2016 presidential election occurred in educational contexts—in either higher education institutions or K-12 institutions—and they were dominated by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim incidents, followed by anti-Black, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBT, anti-women, a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Campus Climate at Research Universities: 2012–2017
• 2. Effects of Campus Climates for Diversity on College GPA Among Latinx Students at Selective Universities: An Examination by Gender, First-Generation College Status, and Immigrant Status
• 3. A Meta-analysis of Queer-Spectrum and Trans-Spectrum Student Experiences at US Research Universities
• 4. Perceptions of Campus Climate at the Intersections of Disability and LGBTQIA+ Identities
• 5. Students’ Perceptions of Campus Climate by Social Class Background
• 6. Campus Climate for Students with Disabilities
• 7. “Mi Familia”: Counterstories of First-Generation Latina/x Students Navigating a Racially Hostile Campus Climate
• 8. Reframing Campus Climate Data to Advocate for Institutional Transformation, Praxis, and Activism for LGBQQ+ College Students
• 9. The Effect of Student Perception of Campus Climate for Diversity and Inclusion on Overall University Experience: A Race/Ethnicity Comparison Study
• 10. Perceptions of Campus Climate and Sense of Belonging Among Non-immigrant, First-Generation, and Second-Generation Students
• 11. Racial Differences in the Effects of Campus Climate on Sense of Belonging at Public Research Universities
• 12. International Students’ Experiences with Campus Climate at Large, Public Research Universities
• 13. Vulnerable Populations at Public Research Universities: Centering Sexual Violence Prevalence and Perceptions of Campus Climate
• 14. Campus Climate for Diversity as Dialogue: Using an Equity Lens to Center Students
• 15. Patterns and Impacts of Racial and International Student Disparities in Experiences of Campus Climate, Academic Support, and Financial Conditions
• 16. “It’s Cold in Here”: First-Generation Students at American Research Universities
• 17. Necessary yet Insufficient: Contextualizing Trans* Identities in Campus Climate Research
• 18. Much Discussion, Not Much Change: Perceptions of Campus Climate Continue to Differ Along Racial Lines
• 19. High-Impact Practices for Student Engagement in the Research University
• 20. Learning About Difference in the Classroom and Students’ Views of the Campus Climate for Diversity
• 21. Learning to Change Campus Climate: Insights from an Action Research Study
• 22. Exploring the Relationship Between Service-Learning and Perceptions of Campus Climate
• Back Matter