The Relationship Between Student Body Racial Composition and the Normative Environment Toward Diversity at Community Colleges

While there has been increased scholarship in recent years on diversity in higher education, most of this research has failed to include 2-year institutions in its analyses. This study examined whether the racial composition of the community college student body is correlated with an institution's normative climate toward three diversity outcomes: student conversations with racially different peers, student conversations with peers holding different beliefs, and student understanding of racially different others. The results indicate that having a more diverse student body had a positive, statistically significant relationship with each outcome. This finding suggests that community colleges, like 4-year institutions, can be positively influenced by enrolling a more racially heterogeneous student body.