"Speaking Up When I Disagree": Exploring College Student Activism and Openness to Diversity and Challenge

• In Event: Violence on Campus and Forces for Change

Abstract

Openness to diversity and challenge has been identified as an important educational aim in higher education research, educational philosophy, and popular discourse. Yet, the relationship between college students’ activism orientation, their unique social positions, and their development of openness to diverse and challenging perspectives in contexts of political polarization remains under-explored. This study explores these relationships using a mixed method concurrent (QUAN + QUAL) approach guided by an ecological framework. Analyzing survey data collected between 2017 and 2019, we found that students’ activism orientation scores (AOS) are significantly positively associated with their openness to diversity and challenge (ODC). Our qualitative analysis revealed several factors that students perceive as either supporting or impeding their development of perspective taking.

Authors

• Rebecca M. Taylor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author

• Katie Burr, University of Georgia - Athens, GA
  Presenting Author

• Nicholas Stroup, Ohio University
  Presenting Author

• Laila McCloud, Grand Valley State University
  Presenting Author