Abstract
While there has been increased scholarship in recent years on diversity in higher education, most of this research has failed to include 2-year institutions in its analyses. This study examined whether the racial composition of the community college student body is correlated with an institution's normative climate toward three diversity outcomes: student conversations with racially different peers, student conversations with peers holding different beliefs, and student understanding of racially different others. The results indicate that having a more diverse student body had a positive, statistically significant relationship with each outcome. This finding suggests that community colleges, like 4-year institutions, can be positively influenced by enrolling a more racially heterogeneous student body.
