DEI Improves Student Satisfaction: The Impact of Nonbinary BIPOC Student Engagement with DEI

• In Event: Responding to the Void: QuantCrit Analyses of Queer and Trans Outcomes across Four Large-Scale Surveys

Abstract

Purpose and Scholarly Significance
Federal, state, and local legislations are stripping education funding and targeting queer and trans (QT) people and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Conflating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with “discrimination,” the federal government has threatened to withhold funding for schools with identity-based resources (Hoover, 2025). These cuts damage underrepresented students’ experiences, such as QTBIPOC students.

Our study examines the influence of DEI initiatives on nonbinary BIPOC students’ institutional satisfaction. We will direct our findings and implications toward practitioners, researchers, and policymakers who wield power over the future of DEI initiatives and education.

Theoretical Framework
Using Hurtado and colleagues’ (2012) Multicontextual Model for Diverse Learning Environments (MMDLE) as a theoretical lens, we examine how an institutional climate that values and promotes DEI impacts student experiences (see Figure 1). We operationalize institutional DEI emphasis and curricular and co-curricular DEI engagement, hypothesizing that they promote institutional satisfaction.

Methods
We used data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), focusing on students who self-identified as both nonbinary and BIPOC. After listwise deletion, the final analytic sample included 2,608 students from a diverse range of U.S. institutions, with most enrolled full-time at public or private four-year colleges. Table 1 provides a descriptive summary.

Exogenous predictors included institutional emphasis on encouraging contact among students from different backgrounds (SEdiverse) and attending events focused on social, economic, or political issues (SEevents), both measured on 4-point Likert scales. Two types of DEI engagement were included: curricular engagement (M = 2.99, SD = 0.69) and cocurricular engagement (M = 3.00, SD = 0.70), each measured as summative scores. Climate/belonging was captured using a standardized factor of three items (climate.belonging; M = -0.33, SD = 0.98). Outcomes included students’ evaluation of their educational experience (evalexp; M = 2.90, SD = 0.80) and whether they would choose the same institution again (sameinst; M = 2.95, SD = 0.87).

We used structural equation modeling in R via lavaan (Rosseel, 2012), with maximum likelihood (ML) estimation and full information maximum likelihood (FIML) to handle missing data. Fit indices indicated excellent model fit: CFI = 0.996, TLI = 0.988, RMSEA = 0.032 (90% CI: 0.019–0.047), SRMR = 0.017 (Hu & Bentler, 1999).

Results
Both SEdiverse and SEevents significantly predicted curricular engagement (β = 0.20, p < .001); only SEdiverse significantly predicted cocurricular engagement (β = 0.18, p < .001). Curricular and cocurricular engagement were both associated with increased belonging (β = 0.08, p < .001 for each), alongside direct effects of SEdiverse (β = 0.29, p < .001) and SEevents (β = 0.21, p < .001). Belonging strongly predicted both satisfaction (evalexp, β = 0.54, p < .001) and likelihood of re-enrollment (sameinst, β = 0.54, p < .001). Curricular (β = 0.08, p < .001) and cocurricular engagement (β = 0.04, p = .016) also had direct effects on satisfaction. (See Figure 2).

These initial findings emphasize the importance of institutional DEI efforts and student engagement in shaping nonbinary BIPOC students’ climate perceptions and institutional satisfaction.

Authors

• C. V. Dolan, University of Vermont

• Roman Christiaens, Indiana University

• Kristopher Oliveira, University of South Florida

• Animesh Paul, University of Georgia

• Cat Metcalfe, Florida State University

• Jason C. Garvey, University of Vermont