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Low persistence and degree completion rates continue to plague higher education, and students of color persist at even lower rates than their White peers. Research has linked greater sense of belonging in college to increased intentions to persist to graduation. However, research on how culturally relevant and responsive campus environments facilitate or hinder belonging and subsequent graduation among racially diverse college student populations is sparse. Using linear regression techniques, the authors use survey data from 870 students at an urban public research university to examine the relationship between culturally engaging campus environments and sense of belonging among White students and students of color. Results show that culturally engaging environments explain a significant portion of the variance in the belonging outcome for both White students and students of color. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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The role that symbols play in facilitating or hindering institutional transformation efforts on campuses is underexplored. Through this embedded, multiple case study, we examine interview data from 52 participants at four private postsecondary institutions to investigate how power dynamics influence symbols to advance or hinder these institutional agents' work in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The findings highlight the contested nature of symbols and symbolic acts, which include (a) a disproportionate emphasis on positional leaders as symbols of opportunity, (b) complicating the idea of diversity centers as symbols of commitment, and (c) struggles to engage frameworks and strategic plans as symbols of shared vision and ownership. Specifically, we attend to how power dynamics may play a role in who/what becomes a symbol, and how symbols are interpreted in contradictory ways by different campus constituents, which have implications for how institutions can unite campus efforts toward DEI. Together, these findings present the tensions that universities must contend with as they use symbols to encourage a collective effort to advance DEI.

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