Perceptions of LGBTQIA+ Campus Climate as a Function of Collective Activism at a Non-Affirming Religiously-Affiliated University

Abstract

Using piecewise regression in a multilevel, longitudinal, framework, we examined the effects of prosocially oriented, collective activism (e.g., protests) on perceptions of LGBTQIA+ campus climate for students attending a non-affirming religiously-affiliated university in the United States. Participants were 668 students who contributed up to 1,815 observations. Across all students and waves, 21% of responses were from students who identified as LGBTQIA+, 16% from students who identified as Black, and 37% from students who identified as non-Black persons of color. Three segments defined the before, during, and post-event periods of four collective action events. Events were chosen because they had clear beginnings and endings, were sustained in length, and (except for one event) were not overlapping in time with each other. Relative to their cis-hetero counterparts, and across the four events, LGBTQIA+ students perceived a more negative LGBTQIA+ campus climate. Similarly, students whose closest affiliation was with the “campus as a whole” (as opposed to a more proximal unit such as a department, school, or co-curricular activity) perceived a more negative LGBTQIA+ campus climate. A noteworthy similarity across three collective action events was a convergence of perceptions of LGBTQIA+ campus climate (becoming more positive for LGBTQIA+ students and more negative for cis-hetero students) at the beginning (or in one case, the conclusion) of the protest. Our findings are consistent with the literature suggesting that varied responses to collective activism are expected and conditional upon the individual, the context, and the interpretation of the collective action.