EXPERT REPORT OF PATRICIA GURIN
Gratz, et al. v. Bollinger, et al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.)
Grutter, et al. v. Bollinger, et al., No. 97-75928 (E.D. Mich.)
CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF THE IMPACT OF DIVERSITY
The impact of diversity operates through what this Report calls structural diversity, classroom diversity, and informal interactional diversity. To demonstrate its effects, I analyzed national multi-institutional CIRP data, data from the Michigan Student Study, and
classroom data from Michigan's Intergroup Relations, Conflict, and Community Program.
The structural diversity of an institution refers primarily
to the racial and ethnic composition of the student body. Increasing the numerical representation of various racial/ethnic and gender groups is the first essential step in the process of creating a diverse learning environment (Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Pederson & Allen, 1998). Structural diversity alone will present discontinuity for the vast
proportion of college students who come from racially segregated pre-college environments -- students of color as well as white students. Historically, dramatic changes in higher education followed the enrollment of women and racially/ethnically diverse students. The increases in diverse
student enrollments that have occurred as a result of affirmative action and other factors have resulted in pressures for institutional transformation of the academic and social life at colleges across the country.
One dimension of this institutional transformation is classroom
diversity, or the incorporation of knowledge about diverse groups into the curriculum that colleges and universities present to this more diverse array of students. This has largely been the result of the recruitment of more faculty who include content and
research on different
groups in college coursework (Chang, 1996). Other examples of
curricular change are the
development of ethnic studies and womens studies
programs, co-curricular academic support programs, and multicultural
programming (Trevino,
1992; Munoz, 1989; Peterson et al, 1978). The positive learning and
democracy outcomes
empirically linked to these rich curricular offerings and multicultural
occur in the
context of structural diversity.
Equally important is informal interactional diversity, the
opportunity to
interact with students from diverse backgrounds in the broad, campus
environment. College
often provides the first opportunity for students to get to know others
from varied racial
and ethnic backgrounds. It is interaction with a student's peer group
that becomes one of
the most influential aspects of the college experience (Astin, 1993),
and most college
alumni agree that their affiliations with peers made their education
memorable.
The impact of structural diversity depends greatly on classroom and
informal
interactional diversity. Structural diversity is essential but, by
itself, usually not
sufficient to produce substantial benefits; in addition to being
together on the same
campus, students from diverse backgrounds must also learn about each
other in the courses
that they take and in informal interaction outside of the classroom.
For new learning to
occur, institutions of higher education have to make appropriate use of
structural
diversity. They have to make college campuses authentic public places,
where students from
different backgrounds can take part in conversations and share
experiences that help them
develop an understanding of the perspectives of other people. Formal
classroom activities
and interaction with diverse peers in the informal college environment
must prompt
students to think in pluralistic and complex ways, and to encourage
them to become
committed to life-long civic action. In order to capitalize amply on
such opportunities
for cognitive growth, institutions of higher education must bring
diverse students
together, provide stimulating courses covering historical, cultural,
and social bases of
diversity and community, and create opportunities and expectations for
students to
interact across racial and other divides. Otherwise, many students will
retreat from the
opportunities offered by a diverse campus to find settings within their
institutions that
are familiar and that replicate their home environments.
This conclusion from recent research literature on
diversity in higher
education conforms to a richly supported conclusion from many years of
social
psychological research on social contact. Contact between groups is
most likely to have
positive effects when contact takes place under particular
intergroup conditions:
equal group status within the situation where the contact takes place,
common goals,
intergroup cooperation, support of authorities for group equality, and
opportunities for group members to know each other as individuals (Allport, 1954; Amir, 1976; Cook, 1984; Pettigrew, 1991). Not surprisingly, we have now learned that the greatest positive effects of diversity in higher education occur in institutions that have created opportunities for students to have these kinds of contact. The University of Michigan is one of those institutions that has created opportunities in classes and in the informal student environment for structural diversity to affect student learning and preparation for participation in a democratic society.
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