Six: Transformational Learning: Influence of a Sexism and Heterosexism Course on Student Attitudes and Thought Development

One of the significant goals of a liberal education, particularly at a public institution, is a broadly constructed comprehension of and appreciation in disciplines across the arts, humanities and sciences. Curriculum developments over the past decade have de- emphasized traditional, Western coursework and focused instead on a variety of multicultural issues, in part, to prepare students for operating in global and complex societies (Ford, Grossman, & Jordan, 1997; Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, & Gurin, 2002; Mayo & Larke, 2011). Awareness of the societal changes required by this increasing global complexity has altered both perceptions of, and the experience of, cultural values in American society. Often, cultural values conflict, both within and between societies, and higher education is under increasing pressure to adequately meet the cultural education needs of students who will enter careers in a global society (Gurin et al., 2002; Laird, Engberg & Hurtado, 2005). Concurrently, with increasing budget cuts to higher education, institutions are forced to reduce faculty and staff, and this often results in diminishing the variety of course offerings across the curricula. Courses on diversity are still viewed by many as ancillary to, but not fundamental to, students' education, and educators are constantly challenged to provide evidence that such courses provide value that extends beyond the appearance of simply providing diverse educational experiences (Gurin et al., 2002).Compared to the wide availability of prejudice and discrimination or multicultural/diversity courses on college campuses, little empirical evidence exists to suggest that student beliefs change due to taking courses which challenge underlying notions of power and privilege -specifically courses related to issues of sexual orientation. A study by Iyriboz and Carter (1986) revealed changes in attitudes toward homosexuals, but not abortion or sexual variance after a class on human sexuality. Evidence of the effectiveness of a single panel or workshop on attitudes toward homosexuals has been mixed; some studies report panels and workshops lead to positive attitude change (Anderson, 1981; Nelson & Krieger, 1997), while other studies reveal panels to be ineffective at generating attitude change (Chng & Moore, 1991). Although Anderson (1981) found change in attitudes toward homosexuals, no change was found in more global social attitudes such as social distance. Other studies have investigated the inclusion of a brief focus within a course on attitudes toward homosexuals through the use of units or adjunctive materials with only slight success (Ford et al, 1997; Mahoney & Schamber, 2004).More recent research provides some evidence that students who received a psychology course with diversity content had less prejudiced views compared to students who received a psychology course without diversity content; specifically post-course student attitudes on racism and classism were more positive but there were no changes in students' sexist, ageist or heterosexist views (Hussey, Fleck, & Warner, 2010). Similarly, a study by Pettijohn and Walzer (2008) revealed a reduction of prejudice for students who completed a psychology of prejudice class compared to an introductory psychology class. Still, little empirical evidence exists regarding changes in beliefs and attitudes for students who complete a course specifically focused on the topics related to prejudice and discrimination toward homosexuals and women.The Current StudyThis study investigated potential changes in attitudes for students in a course specifically focused on prejudice and discrimination toward homosexuals and women (target group) compared to students not exposed to this type of content (control group). Attitudes towards gays and lesbians, modern sexism, feelings of social dominance and anti-obese attitudes were assessed pre and post course. In addition, qualitative responses of students' personal reflections in the target group were examined to assess the stages of students' thought development. …