Campus Climate Perceptions and Residential Living Among Queer and Trans Students: An Exploration Using Structural Equation Modeling

The authors sought to examine how queer and trans students’ residential living relates to perceptions of campus climate. Using Hurtado and colleagues’ (2012) Multicontextual Model for Diverse Learning Environments, we utilized structural equation modeling to examine queer and trans students’ perceptions of campus climate as mediated by institutional and organizational dimensions of diverse learning environments. Our findings reveal a positive indirect relationship between campus climate perceptions and living on campus, through the number of queer and trans students and faculty/staff students knew. These findings demonstrate the importance of compositional diversity and representation of queer and trans students and faculty/staff and students in creating positive learning environments for queer and trans students.