ABSTRACT
You’ve got to be a thermostat rather than a thermometer. A thermostat shapes the climate of opinion; a thermometer just refl ects it.
—Cornel West, Professor, Princeton University
Educational researchers have repeatedly identi ed factors, such as the campus environment, institutional type, and organizational characteristics that a ect outcomes for college students (Bean 1980, 1983; Braxton & Mundy, 2001; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, 2005). Organizational characteristics such as communication, fairness in the application of academic rules and grading, and involving students in decision-making are related to retention (Berger & Braxton, 1998). Students of color may be more sensitive than their White counterparts to certain aspects of their college experiences such as those relating to race or discrimination (Cabrera, Nora, Terenzini, Pascarella, & Hagedorn, 1999; Hurtado, 1992; Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Pedersen, & Allen, 1998, 1999; Steele & Aronson, 1995). is may be because students of color possess worldviews and experiences that are likely to be di erent from students, sta , or peers in predominantly White institutions. Because of the historical legacy of structural racism on college campuses, con icts between the backgrounds of students of color and the norms of some campuses may be invisible (Bensimon, 2004; Chesler, Lewis, & Crowfoot, 2005; Feagin, 2002; Hurtado et al., 1999). e study of the campus climate has become a focal area for higher education scholars and practitioners alike in an attempt to make these issues more visible. Campus climates represent a collective of actions by administrators, faculty, and peers on campus. is collective of actions is one locale where the act of inclusion is felt, or, contrarily, missed.
