Campus Climate Essay

The campus climate topic in Indian higher education is a relatively a new subject; whereas, in the U.S., the campus climate issues have been explored for more than two decades through different theoretical lenses. Therefore, research and literature on the campus climate facilitates a direction to study the topic in Indian higher education settings. It is well documented that higher education in the U.S. has identified, studied, and acknowledged that students from the various subordinate identities are facing a range of issues in the college environment. Along with the scholarly research, higher education institutions and scholars have created institutional interventions and innovative approaches to improve the campus climate and learning outcomes

higher education context, research synthesis on the campus climate demonstrates that race is one of the most significant factors on campuses. Harper and Hurtado (2007) stated that it is an institutional (e.g. administration, faculty, and researchers) responsibility to make a regular assessment of the campus climate and take needful actions to change it. The authors noted that racial experiences in a learning environment on the college campuses cannot be ignored at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Similarly, in the Indian context, caste realities have been overlooked in the higher education policy domain. Thus, the campus climate has emerged as a significant issue in Indian universities and specifically, at premier institutions. Social tension around caste identities and recent incidents of open clashes between student groups and between administrators and students demand attention and scholarly investigations of the campus climate concerns. From the U.S. experience, climate assessment is designed to be a proactive strategy rather than a reactive response to deal with the climate issues (Hurtado et al.,

In India, campuses increasingly becoming diverse, the diversity of student groups and particularly the presence of a high number of lower caste students become a serious concern of campuses. Compositionally diverse campuses might create substantial problems regarding the campus climate and student-to-student relations on racial lines (Smith et al., 1997). The DLE model explains the institutional context (climate for diversity) in which intentional curricular and co-curricular practices educate all the students and enhance the climate for diversity. In other words, improving the campus climate means “institutional transformation”; transformation is a positive change that effectively influences institutional culture, values, staff, policy, and routine operations. Similarly, Milem et al., (2005) concluded diversity and inclusion discourse has moved beyond diverse students, employee groups, and programs as final goals. In fact, they are multilayered processes and initiatives that influence institutional life to achieve the benefits of