Millennials and Diversity

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Millennials and Diversity

2005 NASPA Multicultural Institute Las Vegas,
Nevada December 8-10, 2005
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Background

• Approaches to Diversity on the College Campus
  (2002) Qualitative, national, interviews of 75
  practitioners in research universities and 4-year
  colleges
• Millennial Project (2005) Campus-based,
  longitudinal, quantitative and qualitative,
  student focused

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Trends Impacting on Student Views of Diversity

• Shifting demographics
• Persistence of isms
• Influence of popular media
• Support of diversity by industry
• Challenges to affirmative action

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Shifting Demographics
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California Racial Data Shifts, Becomes the First
Big State with no Ethnic Majority USA Today
Arlington, Va. Mar 30, 2001 John Ritter
Census 2000 - California's non- Hispanic white
population shrank to 46.7 of the state's
33,871,648 residents, while Hispanic and Asian
minorities grew at rapid rates.The Census
Bureau projects that by 2010, the USA will still
be more than two-thirds non-Hispanic white.
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Demographic shift cont1990-8 race
categories2000-34 race categories
(US Census Bureau)
White Black or African Am. American Indian
Alaska Native American Indian or Alaska
Native Both American Indian Alaska Native Asian
Indian Chinese or Filipino or Japanese Korean or
Vietnamese Other Asian Category Two or more Asian
Category Native Hawaiian or Samoan Guamania or
Chamorro Other Pacific Islander Two or more
Native Hawaiian Mexican or Puerto Rican or Cuban
Other Hispanic or Latino Not Hispanic or Latino

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Todays Student Tomorrows
Student
Changing Perceptions of Race
Tiger Woods Cablasian
Nigerian, Irish, African American, Native
American, Russian Jewish, Polish Jewish
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• Persistence of isms

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Gays frequently assaulted on 4th Ave. - Arizona
Daily Wildcat, January 16, 2004 Two weeks ago,
a member of the fraternity reported to UAPD two
swastikas were drawn on the interior walls
sometime during a weekend social gathering. Alpha
Epsilon Pi's members are predominately Jewish.
Arizona Daily Wildcat, February 8, 2005 We've
seen slave auctions we've seen ghetto parties,
where white students - typically - dress up as
what they imagine inner-city blacks look like
and that sort of thing.- Globe News, November 2,
2000


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Influence of Popular Media
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(No Transcript)
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Everybody Hates Chris
Will Grace
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Support of Diversity by Industry
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Fortune 500 Companies Focus on Diversity

• General Motors' Policy on Diversity (Editor's
  Note The following is borrowed from General
  Motors' website, pertaining to the corporation's
  policy on diversity)
• Throughout GM, the Diversity Initiative is
  defined as the process of creating and
  maintaining an environment that naturally enables
  GM employees, dealers, suppliers and communities
  to fully contribute in pursuit of total customer
  enthusiasm. GM believes that diversity is the
  collective mixture of similarities and
  differences, and recognizes that managing
  diversity includes race and gender as well as
  broader dimensions like age, family status,
  religion, sexual orientation, level of education,
  physical abilities, military status, union
  represented/non-represented, years of service,
  language and many others.
• Workplace Diversity
• GM's greatest asset is the quality and
  capabilities of its diverse workforce. Managing
  diversity allows GM to reach the full potential
  of its employees and contribute to theirs and the
  company's success. GM seeks to create an
  environment that optimizes the contributions of
  this workforce, and recognizes that it is
  essential for that workforce to reflect both the
  marketplace and its customers. Diversity in the
  workplace and in GM's business relationships help
  enhance its effectiveness in the global
  marketplace.
• Diversity Training.
• Moving towards company-wide diversity training, a
  number of GM units within the U.S. have required
  training in their divisions. New salaried
  employees attend an orientation that includes a
  diversity segment taught by diversity
  professionals. All hourly and salaried employees
  have had sexual harassment training, and
  diversity training is scheduled for hourly
  employees throughout 2000. In 1999, GM added a
  narrative piece in the Talent Review Process
  regarding development of employees. All managers
  are expected to meet or exceed their diversity
  goals set through the Affirmative Action Program
  and initiatives and efforts. Executive
  representation goals have been set for each GM
  Sector and performance and targets are expected
  to be fully satisfied. Additional information on
  GM diversity management and related initiatives
  can be found at www.gm.com .

Wal-Mart-Our Commitment to People Diversity and
Responsible Employment Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is
the leading private employer of emerging groups
in the United States. More than 160,000 African
American associates and more than 105,000
Hispanic associates work for Wal-Mart Stores,
SAM'S CLUBS and Wal-Mart's logistics facilities
nationwide Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. received the
2002 Ron Brown Award, the highest Presidential
Award recognizing outstanding achievement in
employee relations and community initiatives The
National Hispana Leadership Institute recognized
Wal-Mart with the 2002 National Leadership Award
for its support of leadership and development
programs for Latinas The NAACP presented
Wal-Mart with the NAACP 2000 Pacesetter Award for
corporate leadership The National Action Network
(NAN) presented Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. with the
2002 Community Commitment Corporate Award in
recognition of community involvement and
diversity practices Wal-Mart received the
Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) 2002
Corporate Partner of the Year Award for its
consistent support and best practices in the area
of diversity The Organization of Chinese
Americans (OCA) appointed Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
to its 2002 Corporate Advisory Board Wal-Mart
received the prestigious 2001 and 2002
Billion-Dollar Roundtable Award for spending more
than 1 billion with women and minority-owned
suppliers The American Minority Supplier
Development Council named Wal-Mart as the 2001
Minority Business Advocate of the Year Hispanic
Business Magazine named Wal-Mart one of the Top
25 Diversity Recruitment Programs in 2001 for its
aggressive program to hire and promote Latinos
and Latinas Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. received a
Blue Ribbon Board Award from the organization
Catalyst for having two women on its board of
directors. Catalyst is a nationally established
organization that works with the business sector
to advance women
...recognizes that managing diversity includes
race and gender as well as broader dimensions
like age, family status, religion, sexual
orientation, level of education, physical
abilities, military status, union
represented/non-represented, years of service,
language and many others.
ExxonMobils- Why Focus on Diversity? Because
it is the right thing to do for our
Business...Achieving peak performance from all
of our operational, technological and financial
resources depends on realizing the full potential
from all of our human resources.
People...Employees are naturally more productive
working in an environment that encourages a wide
range of ideas and perspectives an environment
where opportunities to grow and excel apply to
everyone. Communities...Neighbors, whether
corporate or families, care for each other. We
seek to assist and support those communities
where we live and work. Global Diversity
Essential to Success
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Challenges to Affirmative Action
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Affirmative Action June 22, 2003

• 5-4 to uphold the University of Michigan's
  preferences for minorities who apply to its law
  school.
• 6-3 vote, struck down a point system used by
  Michigan's undergraduate program.

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About the University of Arizona

• 37,000 students 28,000 undergrads
• AAU moderately selective
• 13 undergraduate colleges
• Original land grant university in AZ
• Avg. SAT incoming fresh. fall 2004 1118
• 25 ethnic minority, majority Hispanic

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Millennials Rising The Next Great Generation by
Howe Strauss, 2000

• Millennial students are the generation of
  students who will graduate from college 2004-2024
  and are characterized as

• Achieving
• Pressured
• Conventional
• Diverse
• Oxford Round Table 07/14/05

• Special
• Sheltered
• Confident
• Team-oriented

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The Millennial Project Research Questions

• What are Millennial Students perceptions and
  attitudes with regard to diversity?
• How do the perceptions and attitudes of the
  Millennial Student compare across traditional
  measures of diversity race/ethnicity, gender,
  class, ability, and religion?
• What elements do Millennial Students ascribe to
  diversity?

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Methods

• Online Survey Focus Groups
• Sampling Strategy
• Stratified random sample
• Over-sampled students of color
• Contacted 5,610 full-time, classified
  undergraduates enrolled in spring 2005
• Weekly emails sent to students over five weeks
• Response Rate
• N 1,144 (20.4)

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Methods Survey

• Used ASSET online survey, hosted at Seton Hall
  University
• 125 questions
• Open-ended
• Race/ethnicity, ability, religion, sexual
  orientation
• Whether diversity matters and why
• Beliefs about diversity
• Personal actions reflective of diversity
• Closed-ended
• Attitudes, behaviors and perceptions regarding
  diversity of various groups race/ethnicity,
  sexual orientation, gender, ability, religion
• Perceptions on importance of support services for
  various groups

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Methods Coding

• Inter-Rater Reliability
• Team Coding
• Race/Ethnicity
• Religious Affiliation
• Sexual Orientation
• Paired researchers to arrive at consensus for
  placement within model
• Defining diversity
• Whether diversity matters
• Beliefs about diversity

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Limitations

• Small sample, single institution
• Self-selection of participants
• Pressure to give socially acceptable answers
• Rhetoric may not match behavior
• Inter-rater reliability to validate open-ended
  answers

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Student Perspectives on Diversity

• Meritocratic Values merit and achievement
  de-emphasizes diversity
• Stigmatization Values equity and achievement
  believes diversity is divisive
• Postmodern Values diversity and defines
  broadly does not speak to critical issues
• Critical Postmodern Values diversity and
  equity defines diversity broadly but critically.
  Believes that diversity is critical to eliminate
  inequality.

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Meritocratic Perspective 3.4
Diversity does not make a better education.
Personal hard work and commitment do. Diversity
is overrated and not essential to a better life
experience. It shouldn't be forced upon people
or made a top priority by those in charge.
(Native American, Methodist, Male, Junior, Social
Sciences Major)
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Stigmatization Perspective 1.8
While appreciating and recognizing cultural
heritage and differences is an admirable goal, I
feel that it creates more divisions than it
breaks down. Forced diversity inherently
segments a population, and segmentation leads to
resentment and bigotry. (Caucasian, Agnostic,
Male, Sophomore, Computer Information Sciences
Major)
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Postmodern Perspective 62.3
I think it is important, and that it should
exist. Variety is the spice of life, and I like
to surround myself with a diverse group of
friends and I like to live in an environment with
a diverse group of people. Diversity also means
difference and those differences open your eyes
to new ideas, and that is essential to life.
(Caucasian, Lutheran, Female, Sophomore, Social
Sciences Major)
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Critical Postmodern Perspective 7.5
Diversity is important in order to eliminate
acts of hate and violence against other cultures.
Humans may come in different colors, sizes, and
shapes, but we are all the same and we are all
equal. No one religion or culture is better than
another. The only way for people to realize this
is to create diversity at school, at work, on the
playground, everywhere. (Asian, Hindu, Female,
Senior, Biological/Life Sciences Major)
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The Video Students Speak About Diversity
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Conclusions About Millennials at UA

• Millennial Students are accepting of the idea of
  diversity, strongly resonating a postmodern
  perspective (a plurality of voices), but many
  are not critically engaged.
• If students come to college with more knowledge
  about diversity and more acceptance of diversity,
  but many are yet to be critically engaged, our
  assumption should change from the need to
  persuade about the value of diversity to the need
  to educate on critical issues.
• Race and ethnicity are no longer solely the main
  crux of diversity. In addition, there is
  resistance to traditional categories of
  ethnicity.
• Students believe diversity is important, but many
  are hesitant to impose this value on others.

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Implications for Educators/Administrators

• Rethink the diversity paradigm, reconsidering
  educational assumptions and mission potential
  to impact programming revisions
• Actively work to understand the whole student,
  considering diversity perspectives a
  developmental issue (along with many others)
• Create opportunities for students to engage in
  critical discourse on diversity
• Weave diversity and multiculturalism into the
  fabric of the institution to effect systemic
  change
• Provide social justice and diversity education,
  educating the broader campus community

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Future Research

• Longitudinal study began in fall 2005 survey,
  interviews and video diaries/documentary
• The study will follow a cohort of first-time
  freshmen for four years and examine their
  evolving perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors
  with regard to diversity
• Continued development of Dynamic Diversity
  Paradigm Inventory
• Continued analysis of quantitative and
  qualitative data from pilot study

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Discussion

• Diversity Climate at Other Institutions
• Suggestions for Further Research

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Contact Information

• Lynette Cook Francis
• Assistant Vice President Multicultural Affairs
  and Student Success
• [phone]
• lynettec_at_email.arizona.edu

Melissa D. Ousley, Ph.D. Research
Analyst Multicultural Affairs and Student
Success [phone] mousley_at_email.arizona.edu

• Jessie Antonellis
• Graduate Research Assistant
• Dean of Students
• [phone]
• jcantone_at_email.arizona.edu

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Project Web Site http//mass.arizona.edu/millenn
ial/