An Empirical Test of Hall and Sandler's 1982 Report: Who Finds the Classroom Climate Chilly?

A study asked students from four professional colleges at a medium-sized midwestern college whether they had observed 14 of the "chilling practices" (practices which chill women, i.e. sexist practices) described by R. M. Hall and B. R. Sandler ("The Classroom Climate. A Chilly One for Women?") whether the instructor engaging in the practice was male or female, and whether the student viewed the practice as important. Subjects were 115 students in business administration, 35 students in education, 84 students in engineering, and 82 students in health and human services. Results indicated that there were significant differences between men and women in their views of the importance of the chilling behaviors they observed, but not between the numbers they observed, nor the gender of the instructors engaging in the behavior. In addition, significant differences existed between the four professional schools in students' perceptions of the gender of the instructors engaging in the chilling behaviors. While, overall, male instructors were viewed as more likely to employ chilling behaviors, in at least one college, both female and male students reported female instructors engaging in more chilling behaviors. Generally, findings confirm the chilly climate hypothesis and suggest continued action to reduce chilling practices. (Contains 24 references and 4 tables of data.) (RS)