Creating Inclusive Environments: The Mediating Effect of Faculty and Staff Validation on the Relationship of Discrimination/Bias to Students’ Sense of Belonging
This study reexamines notions of student integration given continuingexperiences of discrimination and bias on college campuses. Building on thescholarship on inclusion, the authors test the mediating effect of studentexperiences with faculty and staff validation on the relationship of discriminationand bias to students’ sense of belonging. The Diverse Learning EnvironmentsSurvey was used to assess the model among 20,460 students attending broadaccess and selective institutions. Results show direct effects of validatingexperiences with faculty and staff on students’ sense of belonging, and that suchexperiences mitigate the effects of discrimination and bias. Creating inclusiveenvironments for student development remains a responsibility of faculty andstaff, which we rarely assess even as research begins to uncover principles fortransformative practice.