“I can attest to the fact that the benefits of diversity do not spontaneously arise merely from the presence of a varied student body,” writes Shaiko.
Architecture is needed that “would ‘nudge’ students into interactions outside of their comfort zones,” Shaiko says. “Without such nudges, students will default to sameness or, in the words of the political scientist Robert Putnam, they will ‘hunker down’ with students like themselves.”
Read the full opinion piece, published 6/9/13 by The Chronicle of Higher Education.