A questionnaire describing 87 environmental characteristics of schools is administered to entering freshmen at a predominantly black university to study the relationships of racial composition to various dimensions of school environment and social climate. Both racial and nonracial aspects of school environments are examined. Correlation of the student responses with a racial composition index generally reveals perceptions of predominantly white schools. Results indicate that black student of both sexes who attend predominantly white schools are more likely to report better care for their school buildings, more clubs and extracurricular activities, and more interracial friendships and interracial dating. These students also seem to be excluded from the extracurricular activities and programs in the school. There are certain areas in which the racial composition of desegregated schools seems to differentially affect males and females. For example, to comprise a relatively small minority within a predominantly white school seems to present certain problems for black females that it does not present for the black male. The results of the study lend scientific support to efforts to maintain minimal levels of proportional racial balance within schools. It also raises issues and questions concerning the sex-role and social adjustment of black female in the predominantly white school. (Author/AM)