College Environment: Differential Perceptions of Black Minority Students

Abstract

In the past decade educators have become increasingly aware of the differences among junior, residential, rural, urban, Protestant, and Catholic colleges and universities. Accompanying this awareness has been an increased interest in studying environmental pressures that may have a positive or negative influence on the academic performance of the student body. Much of the research conducted in the area was not directed as much toward identifying or producing more refined classifications as toward exploring new and different ways of viewing and measuring the atmosphere within which learning, growth, and development take place.An additional dimension of interest and concern is the recent increase in Black student enrollment in colleges and universities. Throughout the country increased Black enrollment has given impetus to the consideration of factors in the college atmosphere that may have a determining impact on the success or failure of these students. Few studies have been conducted specifically to investigate the impact that a particular college environment may have on the academic performance of Black minority students. Thus, there is an obligation to investigate the role of college atmosphere in enhancing or inhibiting the educational process of the burgeoning Black college population.Relevant instances in the literature demonstrate that some researchers examined academic productivity in college environments while others pursued person-environment interaction and academic performance. A longitudinal study by Panos and Astin (1968) of 30,570 students ascertained that 26.7 percent of the males and 27 percent of the females listed dissatisfaction with the college atmosphere as the major reason for leaving college before completion of baccalaureate requirements. These results support the notion that educational outcomes and performance are influenced by college environmental characteristics. Further support for this contention was suggested by Walz and Miller (1969), whose research illustrated that adjustment and success of students might well be a function of the Edward J .