Climate for Learning and Students' Openness to Diversity and Challenge: A Critical Role for Faculty

Utilizing data from 15 institutions that participated in the 2013 and 2014 administrations of the Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory (PSRI), this study employed a multilevel modeling approach to examine the relationship of students' perceptions of their climate for learning to their scores on the Openness to Diversity and Challenge Scale (ODC). Guided by Bronfenbrenner's process-person-context-time (PPCT) model of student environments, we found that a climate for learning perceived as valuing a wide range of ideas and perspectives and including faculty advocacy for the respect of diverse ideas and points of view is positively related to students' openness to diversity and challenge.