Understanding the impact of colleges and universities on student outcomes through interdisciplinary studies

Do college students actually speak their mind about controversial topics? How much do they self-censor? What makes them more  or less likely to self-censor? This project explores the relationship between college environments and self-censorship around controversial ideas.

Are they liberal? Conservative? Moderates? Independents? Socialists? Progressive? Or a complicated mix of all? This project follows a group of college students as they formulate their political identities to understand what these categories mean and how they impact students’ interactions.

Yes, queer Muslims exist! I studied how queer and Muslim college students make sense of being both when most messaging around them implies that they shouldn’t be. In their stories, I saw their agency, their struggles, and the different ways that college helped the students understand who they are.

A collaboration between NC State University, The Ohio State University, and Interfaith America, this study followed thousands of students across 122 institutions between 2016 and 2020 to understand how they develop the capacity to interact with those who are different from them, how they build an orientation toward pluralism, and how the college environment plays a role in that development