Term of Award

2004

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Educational Administration

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Department

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development

Committee Chair

Lucindia Chance

Committee Member 1

Cordelia Zinskie

Committee Member 2

Michael D. Richardson

Committee Member 3

Leon Spencer

Abstract

As the understanding of campus racial climate and its impact on students' academic and non-academic experiences increases, the development of strategies to combat negative aspects of campus racial climate becomes critically important. It appears campus racial climate as an influencing factor in the higher education experiences of students has received increased attention. The intent of this research was to gather the campus racial climate perceptions of African-American sophomore, junior, and senior students at a predominately White comprehensive regional university in the southeast. The study reviewed certain aspects of campus racial climate. The perceptions queried related to eleven factors associated with campus racial climate: (a) racial tension, (b) cross-cultural comfort, (c) diversity awareness, (d) racial pressures, (e) residence hall tension, (f) fair treatment, (g) faculty racism, (h) respect for others cultures, (i) lack of support, (j) comfort with own culture, and (k) overall satisfaction. An electronic version of the Cultural Attitudes and Climate Questionnaire (CACQ) was made available to 2,169 students through their university-assigned e-mail accounts. Students' responses were submitted electronically. Useable responses were received from 210 students. The major findings of this study may be summarized. The overall perception of campus racial climate by the African-American students in this study was positive. The students in this study were most positive about the cross-cultural comfort, diversity awareness, and overall satisfaction factors and least positive about the racial tension, racial pressures, and respect for others cultures factors. Several items comprising the campus racial climate factors revealed that positive and negative aspects of campus racial climate were present on campus.

Copyright

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