Unraveling the Tapestry

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Unraveling the Tapestry

American Council on Education Educating All of
One Nation Phoenix, Arizona October 7, 2005
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Unraveling the Tapestry Diversity and the
Millennial Student

• RESEARCH TEAM
• Jessie Antonellis, Gary A. Cruz, Lynette Cook
  Francis, Amanda Kraus, Jenny Lee, Melissa D.
  Ousley, Cynthia Quijada, Sofia Ramos and Melissa
  Vito
• Multicultural Affairs and Student Success
• and Dean of Students Office
• The University of Arizona
• Tucson, AZ 85721

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Why the Continued Focus On Diversity?
Racial diversity in a college or university
student body provides the very features that
research has determined are central to producing
the conscious mode of thought educators demand
from their students. -- Patricia Gurin, 1999
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The University of Arizona

• Land-grant Flagship University
• Research Intensive Public Institution
• 37,000 Students
• 70 Arizona Residents
• 25 Ethnic Minority Students

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Sponsoring Departments for The Millennial Project

• The Division of Multicultural Affairs and Student
  Success (MASS) is catalyst for increasing access,
  success and the full engagement of all students,
  faculty and staff at The University of Arizona by
  
• applying theory and practical techniques to
  develop innovative services and programs
• influencing the design of policy, programs,
  facility and curricular environments
• heightening the discourse on the impact of
  culture and difference
• building strategic alliances with campus,
  community and national organizations

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Sponsoring Departments for The Millennial Project

• The Dean of Students Office plays an important
  role in assessing, maintaining and enriching a
  sense of community at The University of Arizona.
  We see that all students have a voice in campus
  affairs by connecting with and advocating for
  student leaders and organizations. We develop
  and support guidelines and policies and, at the
  same time, educate students to be accountable for
  their actions in order to promote a safe campus
  environment.

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Diversity at The University of Arizona

• Establishment of Diversity Coalition
• Diversity Resource Office
• The Guide to Successful Searches
• The Recruitment and Retention of a Diverse
  Faculty Proposal
• Establishment of six community Diversity Advisory
  Councils to the President

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Key Points

• Study led to the development of a new model on
  diversity Postmodern, Critical Postmodern,
  Stigmatization/Minority Stressor, Meritocratic
• Millennial Students are accepting of the idea of
  diversity but are not critically engaged
• Race and ethnicity are no longer solely the main
  crux of diversity

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Why Continue To Focus On Diversity?THE
MILLENNIAL STUDENT

• Diversified student populations (Harvey
  Anderson, 2005)
• Optimistic, protected early exposure to
  diversity and expanded view of diversity (Howe
  Strauss, 2003)
• Team players, achievers (DeBard, 2004)

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Project Rationale The Why Question

• student body diversity is a compelling
  governmental interest
• Reaffirming Diversity A Legal Analysis of the
  University of Michigan Affirmative Action Cases.
  Civil Rights Project. www.civilrightsproject.harva
  rd.edu
• Global competitiveness in the New Economy affects
  the nature of higher education

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Toward a New Conceptual Framework for Diversity
ASSIMILATION
ACCULTURATION
ACCOMMODATION
DIVERSITY
INTEGRATION
TRANSFORMATION / CONVERGENT
SEPARATION
RACE/ETHNIC FOCUSED
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Toward a New Conceptual Framework for Diversity
MERITOCRACY Trow, 1990
ACCULTURATION
ACCOMMODATION
DIVERSITY
INTEGRATION
TRANSFORMATION / CONVERGENT
SEPARATION
RACE/ETHNIC FOCUSED
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Toward a New Conceptual Framework for Diversity
MERITOCRACY Trow, 1990
STIGMATIZATION / MINORITY STRESSOR Afshar-Mohajer
Sung, 2002 Torres et. al., 2003
ACCOMMODATION
DIVERSITY
TRANSFORMATION / CONVERGENT
RACE/ETHNIC FOCUSED
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Toward a New Conceptual Framework for Diversity
MERITOCRACY Trow, 1990
STIGMATIZATION / MINORITY STRESSOR Afshar-Mohajer
Sung, 2002 Torres et. al., 2003
ACCOMMODATION
DIVERSITY
TRANSFORMATION / CONVERGENT
CRITICAL RACE THEORY i.e. Bell, Crenshaw,
Delgado,, Gate-Billings, Gotanda, Solorzano,
Williams
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Toward a New Conceptual Framework for Diversity
MERITOCRACY Trow, 1990
STIGMATIZATION / MINORITY STRESSOR Afshar-Mohajer
Sung, 2002 Torres et. al., 2003
ACCOMMODATION
DIVERSITY
POSTMODERN Tierney, 1993
CRITICAL RACE THEORY i.e. Bell, Crenshaw,
Delgado,, Gate-Billings, Gotanda, Solorzano,
Williams
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Toward a New Conceptual Framework for Diversity
MERITOCRACY Trow, 1990
STIGMATIZATION / MINORITY STRESSOR Afshar-Mohajer
Sung, 2002 Torres et. al., 2003
CRITICAL POSTMODERN Tierney, 1993
DIVERSITY
POSTMODERN Tierney, 1993
CRITICAL RACE THEORY i.e. Bell, Crenshaw,
Delgado,, Gate-Billings, Gotanda, Solorzano,
Williams
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Research Questions

• What are Millennial Students perceptions and
  attitudes with regard to diversity?
• How do the perceptions and attitudes of the
  Millennial Student compare across traditional
  measures of diversity race/ethnicity, gender,
  class, ability, and religion?
• What elements do Millennial Students ascribe to
  diversity?

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Methods

• Online Survey Focus Groups
• Sampling Strategy
• Stratified random sample
• Over-sampled students of color
• Contacted 5,610 full-time, classified
  undergraduates enrolled in spring 2005
• Weekly emails sent to students over five weeks
• Response Rate
• N 1,144 (20.4)

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Methods Survey

• Used ASSET online survey, hosted at Seton Hall
  University
• 125 questions
• Open-ended
• Race/ethnicity, ability, religion, sexual
  orientation
• Whether diversity matters and why
• Beliefs about diversity
• Personal actions reflective of diversity
• Closed-ended
• Attitudes, behaviors and perceptions regarding
  diversity of various groups race/ethnicity,
  sexual orientation, gender, ability, religion
• Perceptions on importance of support services for
  various groups

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Methods Focus Groups

• Initial (N30)
• Students invited to participate in focus groups
  to talk about diversity
• Follow-Up (N14)
• Two sessions of focused dialogue with students
  from initial focus groups
• Professionally filmed for video

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Methods Coding

• Inter-Rater Reliability
• Team Coding
• Race/Ethnicity
• Religious Affiliation
• Sexual Orientation
• Paired researchers to arrive at consensus for
  placement within model
• Defining diversity
• Whether diversity matters
• Beliefs about diversity

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Gender and Classification
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First Generation Status
Percent of Respondents by First Generation
College Student Status
16.0
14.3
14.0
12.7
14.0
11.9
12.0
9.4
10.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Total
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Major Field of Study
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Race/Ethnicity

• Resistance to traditional racial/ethnic
  categories in describing cultural background
• Race/ethnicity self-identity examples
• Tan
• Human
• Native American/Egyptian
• Euro-mutt with a dash of Native American
• Half Egyptian, quarter Scottish, eighth French
  eighth English
• Jamexican-American

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Race/Ethnicity

• Disconnect between way UA classified students and
  how students chose to identify themselves
• Majority of students listed as Unknown were
  white, but UA assumption is that unknown
  students are minorities
• Relates to postmodern view that race is not
  considered important

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The Video Students Speak About Diversity
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Dynamic Diversity Paradigm Inventory (DDPI)
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DDPI Percentages
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Meritocratic Perspective 3.1
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Meritocratic Perspective
I define diversity as a measure of the
differences among peoples past life experiences.
To specify, I do not consider a black person
diverse from a white person if they both grew up
in a wealthy suburb with loving parents and an
easy overall life, despite their superficial
racial differences. - White, Catholic, Male,
Sophomore, Social Sciences Major
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Stigmatization Perspective 1.6
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Stigmatization Perspective

• While appreciating and recognizing cultural
  heritage and differences is an admirable goal, I
  feel that it creates more divisions than it
  breaks down. Forced diversity inherently
  segments a population, and segmentation leads to
  resentment and bigotry.
• White, Agnostic, Male, Sophomore, Computer
  Information Sciences Major

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Postmodern Perspective 59.7

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Postmodern Perspective
I think that it is very important for
co-existence and communication that we try to
understand where people are coming from and how
they communicate with others as well as
understand how our own up-bringing has affected
our views. - Latina, Catholic, Senior, Social
Sciences Major
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Critical Postmodern Perspective 9.9
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Critical Postmodern Perspective

• Diversity is a mixture of the physical and
  cultural characteristics that combine to
  distinguish individuals. Diversity is responsible
  for cultural differences and distinct ways of
  living. It is important that people are different
  to provide a constant supply of challenging
  ideas. Without differences, there is no basis of
  comparison and people are slaves to their
  homogenous ways of thinking. Diversity supplies
  unfamiliarity that causes people to stretch into
  beyond their own ways of thinking.
• Bi-Racial/Ethnic, Spiritual, Female, Sophomore,
  
• Social Sciences Major

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Dynamic Diversity Paradigm Inventory (DDPI)
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Level of Importance vs. Support
Numbers for Importance higher than Support, but
in same order for populations Disability had
highest ratings, GLBT had lowest ratings
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Level of Support
GLBT Very Supportive 33.6 Supportive 30.1 A
Little Supportive 19.7 Total 83.4
Persons with Disability Very Supportive
51.7 Supportive 33.7 A Little Supportive
9.9 Total 95.3
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Level of Importance
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Level of Support
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Gender
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Ethnicity
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Major
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Limitations

• Small sample, single institution
• Self-selection of participants
• Pressure to give socially acceptable answers
• Rhetoric may not match behavior
• Inter-rater reliability to validate open-ended
  answers

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Conclusions About Millennials at UA

• Students strongly resonate a postmodern
  perspective a plurality of voices
• Students value diversity but dont necessarily
  have depth of knowledge
• Students place differing value on the importance
  of separate services for different groups

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Implications for Educators/Administrators

• Rethink the diversity paradigm
• Actively work to understand the whole student
• Create opportunities for students to engage in
  critical discourse on diversity
• Weave diversity and multiculturalism into the
  fabric of the institution to effect systemic
  change
• Provide social justice and diversity education

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Future Research

• Longitudinal study began in fall 2005 survey,
  interviews and video diaries/documentary
• The study will follow a cohort of first-time
  freshmen for four years and examine their
  evolving perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors
  with regard to diversity
• Continued development of DDPI
• Continued analysis of quantitative and
  qualitative data from pilot study

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Discussion

• Feedback on the DDPI
• Diversity Climate at Other Institutions

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Contact Information

• Gary A. Cruz, abd.
• Assistant Programs Director SHPE-AHETEMS
• [phone]
• gcruz_at_u.arizona.edu

• Melissa D. Ousley, Ph.D.
• Research Analyst
• Multicultural Affairs and Student Success
• [phone]
• mousley_at_u.arizona.edu

Project Web Site http//mass.arizona.edu/millennia
l/
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Project Web Site