Diversity and Higher Education: Theory and Impact on Educational Outcomes

Abstract

In the current context of legal challenges to affirmative action and race-based considerations in college admissions, educators have been challenged to articulate clearly the educational purposes and benefits of diversity. In this article, Patricia Gurin, Eric Dey, Sylvia Hurtado, and Gerald Gurin explore the relationship between students' experiences with diverse peers in the college or university setting and their educational outcomes. Rooted in theories of cognitive development and social psychology, the authors present a framework for understanding how diversity introduces the relational discontinuities critical to identity construction and its subsequent role in fostering cognitive growth. Using both single-and multi-institutional data from the University of Michigan and the Cooperative Institutional Research Program. the authors go on to examine the effects of classroom diversity and informal interaction among African American, Asian American, Latino/a, and White students on learning and democrat} outcomes. The results of their analyses underscore the educational and civic importance of informal interaction among different racial and ethnic groups during the college years. The authors offer their findings as e-•idence of the continuing importance of affirmative action and diversity efforts by colleges and universities, not only as a means of increasing access to higher education for greater numbers of students, but also as a means offostering students' academic and social growth. Educators in L .S. higher education have long argued that affirmative action policies are justified because they ensure the creation of the racially and eth

Serving a Stranger or Serving Myself: Alternative Breaks and the Influence of Race and Ethnicity on Student Understanding of Themselves and Others

“…Participants in general reported quite a lot of growth in this area and a fairly strong influence of their AB experience on this outcome. Consistent with prior research (e.g., Jones et al, 2012;Niehaus, 2012b), ABs can provide a context that facilitates the informal interactions with diverse others necessary for student development (Bowman, 2010(Bowman, , 2011Denson, 2009;Gurin et al, 2002).…”

“…One of the most commonly cited frameworks for understanding diversity interactions in higher education is that provided by Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, and Gurin (2002). Building on the work of Erikson, Newcomb, and Piaget, Gurin and colleagues identified the central role of identity development in college, which governs the decisions students make regarding their "permanent commitments to an occupation, to intimate relationships, to social and political groups and ideas, and to a philosophy of life" (p. 334).…”

“…Although much of the research using Gurin et al's (2002) framework has focused on how students develop an understanding of people different from themselves, the framework also focuses on students' identity development. Helms (1993) defined racial identity as one's "sense of group or collective identity based on one's perception that he or she shares a common racial heritage with a particular racial group" (p. 3).…”

Meta-Analysis in Higher Education: An Illustrative Example Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling

“…However, three of the studies also involved a cross-racial interaction component (i.e., Lopez et al 1998;Muthuswamy et al 2006;Gurin et al 2002;see Table 2). Thus we now focus on whether we see systematic differences in effect sizes between those studies that focused only on expanding content-based knowledge (C) versus those that also involved cross-racial interaction (CRI) activities.…”

effect of learning communities on retention of Pell Grant eligible students in private higher education

“…From an institutional perspective, a diverse student body makeup across multiple factors, such as race, gender, and SES, are important to the educational quality of the university experience (Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, & Gurin, 2002;Pascarella, Edison, Nora, Hagedorn, & Terenzini, 1996). Institutions have invested resources to increase retention and graduation rates across a variety of different student factors, but it is unknown if these efforts have the same outcomes for students of low SES background.…”