Do Diversity Courses Make a Difference? A Critical Examination of College Diversity Coursework and Student Outcomes

Abstract

The United States is as racially diverse as it has ever been. More than half of all children younger than 5 years old are racial or ethnic minorities, reflecting how the population as a whole has also become more diverse in the last decade, from 33 % of the population being from a minority background in 2004, to 38 % in 2014 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). However, in this era of increased racial heterogeneity, the United States is also becoming more racially and socioeconomically segregated in neighborhoods and K-12 schools (Kucsera & Orfield, 2014; Orfield, Kucsera, & Siegel-Hawley, 2012). The proliferation of social media further allows people to self-select into interactions with those who are similar to themselves. Thus, the need to promote interracial and intergroup understanding is arguably even greater now than in previous decades. Colleges and universities can play a critical role in shaping these dynamics. Hundreds of studies have demonstrated that intergroup interactions and friendships predict improved intergroup attitudes; many of these examined samples of college students (see Davies, Tropp, Aron, Pettigrew, & Wright, 2011; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2011).