The Influence of Campus Racial Climate on Graduate Student Attitudes About the Benefits of Diversity

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between campus racial climate and graduate student attitudes about the benefits of diversity. Grounded in the campus racial climate frameworks proposed by Hurtado, Carter, and Kardia (1998) and Milem, Chang, and Antonio (2005), the authors build a case for documenting how student attitudes about diversity may be influenced by campus environments. Multi-level regression analysis is applied to data from a climate survey administered to graduate students (N = 1052) at a large, public, research-based university. Findings support the authors’ hypothesis, that campus racial climate influences student attitudes about the benefits of diversity.