Religious Literacy Resource Guide: Religious Diversity and Tolerance in the University Setting

• Bowman, N.A. and J.L. Small. "Do College Students Who Identify with a Privileged Religion Experience Greater Spiritual Development? Exploring Individual and Institutional Dynamics." Research in Higher Education 51.7 (2010): 595-614.

An exploratory study of the degree to which spiritual development is related to the religious affiliations of students and the type of colleges and universities they attend. 

• Bowman, N. A. and C. T. Smedley. "The forgotten minority: examining religious affiliation and university satisfaction." Higher Education 65 (2013): 745-760.

A study examining the extent to which university satisfaction varies as a function of students' religious affiliation (or lack thereof).

• Bryant, A.N. “Exploring Religious Pluralism in Higher Education: Non-Majority Religious Perspectives among Entering First-Year College Students.” Religion & Education 33.1 (2006): 1–24.

A study analyzing how students develop an ecumenical worldview. The findings suggest that challenging co-curricular experiences and the salience of religion and spirituality in academic encounters tend to provoke religious/spiritual struggles, which in turn enhance ecumenical worldview.

• Bryant, A. N. “The Effects of Involvement in Campus Religious Communities on College Student Adjustment and Development.” Journal of College and Character 8.3 (2007).

This study examined the effects of involvement in campus-based religious organizations on first-year students’ adjustment and development. Findings suggest involvement in religious organizations during the first year of college does not preclude students becoming more culturally aware nor preclude students establishing emotionally beneficial friendship networks. Conversely, involvement in religious organizations bears little relationship to first-year academic success.

• Bryant, A. N. “Assessing Contexts and Practices for Engaging Students’ Spirituality.” Journal of College and Character 10.2 (2008).

As the incoming contributing editor of the “Spirituality on Campus” column, Alyssa Bryant begins her editorship with a reflective essay on assessment of spiritual climates and initiatives on campus.

• Bryant, A. N. “The Impact of Campus Context, College Encounters, and Religious/Spiritual Struggle on Ecumenical Worldview Development.” Higher Education 52 (2011): 441–459.

A study analyzing how students develop an ecumenical worldview. The findings suggest that challenging co-curricular experiences and the salience of religion and spirituality in academic encounters tend to provoke religious/spiritual struggles, which in turn enhance ecumenical worldview.

• Bryant, A. N. and C. M. Craft. "The Challenge and Promise of Pluralism: Dimensions of Spiritual Climate and Diversity at a Lutheran College." Christian Higher Education 9.5 (2010): 396-422.

A qualitative case study seeking to explicate relevant features of the spiritual climate at one liberal arts religious college and also highlight the diverse ways in which students, faculty and staff identities shape the college climate.

• Cole, D. and S. Ahmadi. "Perspectives and Experiences of Muslim Women Who Veil on College Campuses." Journal of College Student Development 44.1 (2003): 47-66.

Conducted prior to the terrorism of September 11, 2001, this qualitative study explored the perceptions and experiences of seven women who veiled on a large college campus in the Midwest.  With national origins ranging from Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, to the United States, some participants reevaluated and subsequently unveiled due to their college experiences.

• Cole, D. and S. Ahmadi. "Reconsidering Campus Diversity: An Examination of Muslim Students’ Experiences." The Journal of Higher Education 81.2 (2010): 121-139.

An exploration of the differential experiences of Muslim students in higher education and whether Muslim students' academic success and educational satisfaction differs from their Christian and Jewish peers.

• Hill, J.P. "Faith and Understanding: Specifying the Impact of Higher Education on Religious Belief." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 50.3 (2011): 533-551.

An examination of the impact of educational enrollment and attainment on several measures of religious belief using nationally representative panel data.

• Jakobsen, J.R. "Campus Religious Conflict Should Go Public." Academe 92.4 (2006): 35-40.

A Barnard project moves debates about religion out of the private sphere.

• Madsen, G.E. and G.M. Vernon. "Maintaining the Faith During College: A Study of Campus Religious Group Participation." Review of Religious Research 25.2 (1983): 127-141.

A four year longitudinal study of religious stability and change in a sample of college students supported previous research indicating that students generally become less religiously orthodox during college.

• Mayhew, M.J. and A.N. Bryant. "Achievement or Arrest? The Influence of the Collegiate Religious and Spiritual Climate on Students’ Worldview Commitment." Research in Higher Education 54.1 (2013): 63-84. 

This study intends to elucidate the relationship between the collegiate religious, spiritual, and ideological climate and worldview commitment. Results indicate that aspects of the psychological and behavioral climate are related to worldview commitment and these relationships were often conditioned upon students’ self-identified religious worldview.

• Mayhew, M.J., N.A. Bowman and A.B. Rockenbach. "Silencing Whom? Linking Campus Climates for Religious, Spiritual, and Worldview Diversity to Student Worldviews." The Journal of Higher Education 85.2 (2014): 219-245.

This study examines the perceptions of campus climate among students of diverse world views.

• Mayrl, D. and F. Oeur. "Religion and Higher Education: Current Knowledge and Directions for Future Research." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 48.2 (2009): 260-275.

Using existing social scientific studies to illuminate what is and is not known about religion and higher education.

• Nash, R. J. "Religious Pluralism in the Academy: Opening the Dialogue." New York: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, 2001.

This book argues that American colleges and universities need to enlarge their understanding of pluralism and multiculturalism by sponsoring open, challenging, spiritually and educationally revitalizing conversations among students about genuine religious difference. Although religious difference is a pivotal component of cultural pluralism, too often today it gets ignored, marginalized, or sugar-coated in higher education. Together administrators, faculty, and students must take the initiative to transform the academy into an exciting space for robust and respectful religious dialogue throughout the campus.

• Nash, R. J. “Understanding and Promoting Religious Pluralism on College Campuses.” Spirituality in Higher Education Newsletter 3.4 (2007): 1–9.

Professor and author on religious pluralism, Robert Nash, addresses the current religious illiteracy on American college campuses and in our larger society, challenging the higher education community to become multicultural pluralists through increased awareness of different faiths. Nash makes a case for promoting religious literacy among college students, staff, administrators, and faculty, most of whom do not reside in religious studies departments or in campus ministries, in order to move beyond religious ignorance to embrace our global citizenship as religious cosmopolites.

• Nasir, N.S. and J. Al-Amin. "Creating Identity-Safe Spaces on College Campuses for Muslim Students." Change 38.2 (2006): 22-27.

Personal experiences of being Muslim in academic spaces, of feeling the need to actively negotiate others' perceptions and finding ways to stay connected to the institutions despite gaps in their support and understanding.

• Nora, A., & Cabrera, A. F. “The Role of Perceptions in Prejudice and Discrimination and the Adjustment of Minority Students to College.” Journal of Higher Education 67.2 (1996): 119–48.

A study examining the effect of perceptions of prejudice/discrimination on minority and nonminority students at a public, predominantly white, commuter college. Results show minorities were more likely than whites to feel discrimination and prejudice while on campus and that these perceptions affected adjustment to college and college-related outcomes such as academic performance and attainment

• Nunn, C.Z. "Support of Civil Liberties Among College Students." Social Problems 20.3 (1973): 300-310.

Modeled after the Selvin and Hagstrom study of Berkeley students in 1957, the present study compared the extent and consistency of civil liberties support in a Nebraska college sample to Berkeley.  It was concluded that extensive civil liberties support on the college campus was far less than an accomplished fact; yet there is evidence that college has a significant impact generally and on civil liberties support in particular.

• Pascarella, E.T. et al. "Influences on Students’ Openness to Diversity and Challenge in the First Year of College." The Journal of Higher Education 67.2 (1996): 174-195.

This multi-institutional study sought to determine the factors influencing students' openness to diversity and challenge during the first year of college.

• Rockenbach, A.B. and M.J. Mayhew. "The Campus Spiritual Climate: Predictors of Satisfaction Among Students With Diverse Worldviews." Journal of College Student Development 55.1 (2014): 41-62.

An examination of the ways a campus's spiritual climate shape student satisfaction. The findings reveal that structural worldview diversity, space for support and spiritual expression, and provocative experiences with worldview diversity positively relate to satisfaction, while perceptions of a divisive psychological climate undermine satisfaction. There is no compelling evidence to suggest that the relationship between campus climate dimensions and student satisfaction is conditional on religion or worldview.