Spirituality in undergraduate education: How one campus' climate influences students' meaning making around spirituality

Spirituality is an important aspect of college students' lives, yet it remains an understudied component of holistic college student development. A majority (80 percent) of college students affirm a belief in God and an interest in spirituality (Astin, Astin, & Lindholm, 2011). High measures of spirituality are directly linked to positive behavioral, social, and psychological outcomes, and are critical in preparing students for a highly globalized and complex society. The American Association of College and Universities (2002) have asked institutions of higher education to foster an environment in which students will graduate with, "a responsibility for society's moral health and for social justice" and "a respect for and appropriate use of intuition and feeling, as well as thinking" (p. xii).;Current theoretical frameworks support the cognitive and social development of undergraduate students, but fail to address the importance of spiritual development in these students. This phenomenological study explores how undergraduates make meaning of spirituality, and how the climate of an institution influences this meaning making process. The study examines how ten undergraduate students experience the phenomenon of spirituality at New York University in order to understand how their lived experiences align with the campus climate framework for understanding worldview diversity. The following themes emerged from the study and are discussed in this dissertation within a conceptual model of campus climate including psychological (internal conflict, sense of belonging, struggle, exploration), behavioral (peer interactions, family influences), structural, (physical, clubs and organizations, policies, and processes) and is cast within national and institutional historical contexts. The results of this study will help student affairs professionals better understand how undergraduate students experience spirituality on a college campus.