Rethinking Research on the Impact of Racial Diversity in Higher Education

While the court-approved use of race in college admissions rests on the ability of institutions to produce educational benefits associated with diversity, existing research provides little practical insight for institutions, particularly with regard to the types of relations that foster such benefits. The authors review current research and conceptualizations in the study of racial diversity, revealing incomplete theories of socialization, unspecified mechanisms, and problematic assumptions. Using Gurin (1999) as a starting point, the authors propose a new framework and research agenda for examining the impact of racial diversity on students, integrating insights from network theory, social psychology, and sociology.