Sarah Gaither - Duke University
Roommates @ Duke: Cross Group & Random Assignment
Date: 01/31/2019 (Thu)
Time: 3:30pm- 5:00pm
Location: Seminar will be held on-site: Gross Hall 270
Organizer: Laura Satterfield
Meeting Schedule: (Not currently open for scheduling. Please contact the seminar organizer listed above.)
All meetings will be held in the same location as the seminar unless otherwise noted.
3:30pm - Seminar Presentation (3:30pm to 5:00pm)
Additional Comments: Abstract: Today’s college students are in an increasingly diverse society, yet the majority of students still live in segregated communities across the United States before moving to college. Thus, the college dormitory marks a potentially meaningful and naturally existing cross-group experience that can help pinpoint how intergroup contact may positively shape social attitudes and reduce bias. In my talk, I will first review my past work investigating cross-race roommates for first-year students and how this experience positively shapes future interracial behavior. Next, I will discuss my current work exploring similar questions here on Duke’s campus by exploring the potential positive effects that may stem from having an outgroup roommate more broadly, in addition to whether having a randomly-assigned versus a self-selected roommate influences student diversity outcomes. Plans for a recently funded project involving secondary analysis of existing university data focusing on student diversity contact on campus will also be discussed.