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Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive

Campus Environments

Student Life 2023

Introduction

Living in on-campus housing contributes to better student academic performance, higher retention, and higher graduation rates. Residential life programs positively impact belonging and success by building community and fellowship among students.

Our colleague, Shannon Dowling, as part of a fellowship with the Society for College and University Planning, conducted a research project titled “The Planning and Design of Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Campus Environments.”

As part of that research, Shannon developed a playbook that shares design strategies to bolster inclusion and belonging in campus environments. Using this playbook, we’ve applied a lens to our work, considering the themes developed from the research at different scales of community. The scales of community provide a qualitative framework to assess the cascading range of space types— campus, neighborhood, hall, floor, and unit—that impact student success.