The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1 - 42

Christina W. Yao • Matthew R. Wawrzynski

IMPLICATIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Our findings offer important contributions to
the study of men’s awareness of and appreciation for diversity in academically based LLCs.
Though LLCs are often touted as a solution for
increasing students’ appreciation of differences
and positive attitudes towards others, other
implications have been revealed in our study,
which raises the following questions: What are
the implications of men in academically based
LLCs indicating a lower awareness of and appreciation for diversity after living on campus
for a year? What are the implications of men in
traditional residence halls reporting a slightly
higher diversity score after living on campus
for one year? Do academically based LLCs influence a decrease in diversity awareness due
to the environment, or do traditional residence
hall environments foster an increase in diversity
awareness in men? Several implications should
be considered when thinking about increasing
structural diversity in addition to creating environments that foster diversity awareness and
appreciation in both academically based LLCs
and traditional residence halls.
First, through continuous assessment
student affairs professionals must be more
intentional about the environments created in
LLCs. Astin’s (2002) I-E-O model asserts the
importance of the influence of the surrounding environment for student assessment. The
outcomes of student engagement and development are dependent on the impact of the
surrounding environment; thus, it is important to intentionally create a residential environment that promotes an awareness of and
an appreciation for diversity while continu-

ally assessing the outcomes of student engagement and development. A first step includes
examining structural and programmatic differences between traditional residence halls
and LLCs. Despite LLCs being touted as settings that increase diversity awareness, in this
study the male participants living in traditional
residence halls had a slightly higher diversity
score. By assessing the two residential environments, student affairs professionals have a
better sense of practices and procedures that
are more effective in promoting increased
awareness of and appreciation for diversity.
Second, it cannot be assumed that increased numbers of students of color will
necessarily increase students’ UDO levels.
However, there may be benefits to having a
greater mass of students of color in LLCs. Previous studies have demonstrated that honors
LLCs tend to have low numbers of students
of color (Soldner et al., 2007; Wawrzynski et
al., 2012); increasing the structural diversity
could potentially have an impact on men’s
diversity appreciation in LLCs. However,
student affairs professionals cannot be dependent on merely increasing structural diversity
numbers to affect appreciation and awareness. At the same time, LLCs must be intentional about increasing diversity awareness in
residents through collaborative learning environments that promote interaction amongst
various diverse student groups. These efforts
can be achieved by creating a plan for implementing changes through setting goals and
planning programmatic activities with the
involvement of faculty and staff (Hurtado et
al., 1999). This action plan should go beyond
the issue of structural diversity and address
the characteristics that shape the residential

THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1