We utilized data from a multi-institutional longitudinal study to investigate the association between diversity-related coursework and moral development among students over 4 years of college. Our findings parallel the prior research, which support the positive effects of diversity on college students, by offering new evidence that diversity experiences positively impact moral development. Further, the findings revealed that students who enter college with lower precollege academic ability might experience greater gains relating to the impact of diversity coursework on their moral growth.

Proponents of civic engagement extol the virtues of the college experience for enhancing students' capacities for democratic participation, yet few studies have examined the organizational contexts of such actions. This article applies theory regarding social movements in organizations to highlight the relationship between campus curricular offerings and campus collective action.

Drawing on social capital theory, this study examines the extent to which several college cocurricular involvement experiences during college contribute to students’ civic commitments toward social and political involvement at the end of college. Results are based on longitudinal data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education and control for a host of potential confounding influences. Both students’ participation in religious groups and peer education groups were observed to have a positive and sizable influence on cultivating students’ civic commitments toward social and political involvement.