ERIC Number: ED636577
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 153
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-3798-7502-2
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Student Religious Accommodation Policies and Non-Christian College Student Perceptions of Institutional Support: A Mixed Methods Dissertation
Gordon Wilson Maples
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, North Carolina State University
This dissertation study explores the relationship between the presence and quality of student religious accommodation policies and non-Christian student perceptions of institutional support and welcome with the goal to improve institutional policies and campus climates for non-Christian college students in the United States. The research employed a sequential multiphase mixed-methods design incorporating directed content analysis, multilevel regression analysis, and document analysis. This allowed me to assess the quality of religious accommodation policies, test their relationship to student perceptions of institutional support and welcome, and explore patterns within and between institutions where students reported the most welcoming and supportive climates for their religious identities. This study was guided by critical religious pluralism theory (CRPT) and the minoritized religious and spiritual campus climate framework (MRSCC), which informed the sample selection, choice of included variables, and the development of the policy assessment instrument. The first phase, a content analysis, examined collected institutional religious accommodation policies from 122 colleges in the United States, mirroring the institutional sample from the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS). The second phase of analysis incorporated the results of the first phase as independent variables--along with other student-level and institution-level independent variables collected as part of IDEALS--into multilevel regression models to analyze dependent variables representing non-Christian student perceptions of institutional space and support for spiritual expression and institutional welcome for non-Christian students. The final phase of the study involved analyzing institutional documents and characteristics to identify patterns between and within institutions that received the highest mean scores from their students on the second phase's dependent variable measures. The study found that a majority of sampled institutions lacked religious accommodation policies, while the ones that did exist were largely insufficient to equitably serve the practicing needs of non-Christian students. While neither the presence nor quality of religious accommodation policies predicted non-Christian student perceptions of institutional space and support for their spiritual expression within the full regression models, they were significant negative predictors of non-Christian student perceptions of welcome for non-Christian religious identities. Findings from the third phase indicated that positive student perceptions of institutional support and welcome for non-Christian identities are more likely to be related to more visible programming and curricular offerings around the topic of religion on campus, such as institution-hosted research centers, academic departments dedicated to religious studies, or interfaith campus activities. The key takeaways from these findings include a pressing need to renovate existing religious accommodation policies at universities and for more colleges to develop religious accommodation policies, as many currently lack them. The findings also indicated that there are significant differences in non-Christian student perceptions of their institutions based on institutional location (geographic region and urbanicity) and religious affiliations (notably Evangelical colleges), which will require further study to contextualize. For higher education administrators, policymakers, faculty, and staff in general, the findings of this study are tantamount to a call for mass reform of student religious accommodation policies through legislation, institution-level action, and active student advocacy. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: College Students, Religious Factors, Educational Policy, Student Attitudes, Religious Cultural Groups, Correlation, Christianity, Organizational Climate, Student Diversity, Self Concept, Longitudinal Studies, Policy Analysis
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A