College Student Attitudes toward Diversity and Race-Based Policies. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper.

This study used data from the Midwest Colleges Study to examine the personal characteristics and environmental features that affect the development of college students' attitudes toward diversity and race-based politics. Specifically, it evaluated how college students' demographic characteristics, precollege backgrounds, perceptions of discrimination, and college environment differentially affected these attitudes. Astin's Input-Environment-Output impact model was used as the study's framework. The study found that a few personal characteristics (parent educational level, gender, and attending a white high school) influenced student attitudes. However, environmental factors appeared to influence students attitudes to a greater extent. Students most supportive of diversity included black students who were involved on campus, white students who were members of organizations concerned with black issues, white students who lived on campus, and white students who did not have mostly white friends. In contrast, white students not involved on campus were most opposed to race-based policies such as affirmative action. Students, both black and white, who took a black studies course tended to be supportive of diversity. (Contains 41 references.) (DB)