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Racial Diversity Matters: The Impact of Diversity-Related Student Engagement and Institutional Context

University of New South Wales

Mitchell J. Chang

University of California, Los Angeles

This study addressed two questions: (a) Do different forms of campus racial diversity contribute uniquely to students’ learning and educational experiences when they are simultaneously tested utilizing multilevel modeling? (b) Does a campus where students take greater advantage of those diversity opportunities have independent positive effects on students’ learning? Consideration of racial diversity extended beyond student composition and included social and curricular engagement. Results suggest that benefits associated with diversity may be more far-reaching than previously documented. Not only do students benefit from engaging with racial diversity through related knowledge acquisition or cross-racial interaction but also from being enrolled on a campus where other students are more engaged with those forms of diversity, irrespective of their own level of engagement.

Key Words: diversity • affirmative action • higher education policy • race relations • campus climate • educational equity

This version was published on June 1, 2009

American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 46, No. 2, 322-353 (2009)
DOI: 10.3102/0002831208323278


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