Reconsidering Campus Diversity: An Examination of Muslim Students' Experiences

Interracial Friendship and Structural Diversity: Trends for Greek, Religious, and Ethnic Student Organizations

“…The finding that greater involvement with peers from religious groups has a negative effect on interracial friendship is consistent with past research that has found that having religious peers tends to have a socializing effect on students (Bryant, 2011). Future research should focus on the relationship of involvement in specific religious affiliations on interracial friendship, given that different religious traditions appear to accommodate racial diversity in different ways (Cole & Ahmadi, 2010;Park, 2013).…”

“…Future studies should examine whether religious involvement and affiliation are linked with lower levels of more casual types of cross-racial interaction, or if the trend is unique to particularly close relationships during college. Pursuing common goals is one of the pre-conditions of healthy intergroup contact, and religion can act as a powerful common goal for students to bridge racial divides, in certain cases (Cole & Ahmadi, 2010;Park, 2013). Educators should be careful not to instantly decry racially homogeneous religious communities on campus as negative self-segregation.…”

“…Second, ethnic student organizations tend to be racially homogeneous, which is not surprising given their unique mission in supporting students of color (Sidanius, Levin, van Laar, & Sears, 2008). Third, with some exceptions (Cole & Ahmadi, 2010), religious organizations are often racially homogeneous (Kim, 2006), paralleling the larger pattern in which religion is the most segregated arena of American life. More than 90% of U.S. churches are racially homogeneous (Emerson & Chai Kim, 2003).…”

When race and religion collide: The effect of religion on interracial friendship during college.

“…Perhaps the number of students from these groups, Muslim and otherwise, is relatively small at many campuses (Bryant, 2006), meaning that these students are more likely to form additional friendships outside of their ethno-religious community. Muslims are a racially diverse population (Cole & Ahmadi, 2010); thus, even if homophily occurs for Muslim students along religious lines, it may not be as prominent in regard to race. In addition, there may be nothing particularly distinct about being Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu that discourages interracial friendship once religiosity, observance, and involvement are controlled for.…”

Moving Towards Inclusive Learning and Teaching: A Synthesis of Recent Literature

“…Much of this scholarship has focused on the relative accessibility of teaching and learning for students with disabilities in particular (e.g., Fuller, Bradley, & Healey, 2004;Riddell, Weedon, Fuller, Healey, Hurst, Kelly, & Piggott, 2007), often considering inclusive pedagogical strategies such as universal design for learning (Burgstahler & Cory, 2009). Considerable attention has also been afforded to the ways in which teaching and learning intersect with ethnicity, socio-economic status, religion, and other axes of identity (e.g., Cole & Ahmadi, 2010;Devlin, Kift, Nelson, Smith, & McKay, 2012;Ladson-Billings, 2014 remains unresolved in educational research and largely unrealized in practice. The task may be especially daunting for large organizations with significant numbers of learners with widely varying identities and experiences.…”