Beyond the Numbers: Institutional Influences on Experiences with Diversity on Elite College Campuses

• In Event: 525 - Regular Session. Inequality and Diversity in Higher Education

Abstract

Research in higher education shows that cross-racial interactions and diversity-related coursework are associated with positive student outcomes. Less clear is how a university’s institutional approach to diversity affects undergraduates’ views and experiences. In this paper we bring together the burgeoning qualitative literature on the socializing influence of residential colleges and the predominantly survey-based literature on campus racial climate to analyze how two elite universities’ approaches to diversity shape students’ experiences with and feelings about diversity. We employ 77 in-depth interviews with undergraduates at two elite universities, and find that while the universities appear comparable on measures of student demographics and overall diversity infrastructure, they take different approaches—Powers takes a power analysis and minority support approach, while Harmony takes an integration and celebration approach. These varying approaches lead to important differences in student perspectives. Students at Powers participating in minority-oriented activities develop a critical race theory perspective, while their white and non-participating minority peers frequently feel alienated from that programming. At Harmony, most students embrace a cosmopolitan perspective, celebrating diversity while paying less attention to power and resource differences between racial groups. The findings contribute to a growing literature on the socializing effects of universities and the influence of diversity-work in organizations. They suggest that higher education institutions can influence the race frames of students as well as their approaches to multiculturalism, with implications for their views on a variety of important diversity-related issues on campus and beyond.

Authors

• Natasha Kumar Warikoo, Harvard University

• Sherry Lynn Deckman, Ithaca College