Today, the USC Race and Equity Center released The State of Racial Climate Across California’s Community Colleges, a new report examining how students experience racial climate across the nation’s largest system of public higher education and a primary gateway to college for the state’s racially minoritized communities. It draws on responses from 50,219 students at 52 colleges who completed the National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climate (NACCC) during the 2020–21 academic year, one of the most comprehensive assessments of campus racial climate conducted across the system to date.
The State of Racial Climate Across California’s Community Colleges
Download the report
The data were collected at the height of the system’s investment in racial equity. The Center publishes them now, as that investment meets growing fiscal and political pressure, to establish a baseline against which future progress, or retrenchment, can be measured. The report examines four dimensions of campus racial climate: mattering and affirmation, racialized experiences, racial learning, and students’ appraisals of institutional commitment.
The findings describe a system that invested substantially in equity yet still shows persistent disparities. Students feel they matter more in classes taught by faculty of color, with the widest gaps for Black and Hispanic or Latinx students. Racism falls hardest on Black students, carrying measurable consequences for grades and belonging. More than a third of students learn about race nowhere on campus. And while students recognize visible commitments such as hiring and programming, their confidence in how leaders respond when racism occurs remains conditional. Across the findings, diverse faculty emerge as a consistent thread, underscoring the stakes of representation at a moment when equity work is increasingly contested.
“Students experience an institution’s commitment to equity not through its statements, but through their daily lives, who teaches them, what they learn, and how leaders respond when racism occurs,” said Associate Professor Royel Johnson, the report’s lead author. “These findings give California’s community colleges a baseline worth protecting, precisely as that work comes under pressure.”
The report closes with nine recommendations for campus and system leaders, from strengthening representation and inclusive teaching to building trust through institutional response. Together, they point to a single conclusion: equity commitments become real for students only when they are translated into everyday practice.
An interactive dashboard accompanies the report, letting readers explore the results by student group and across the four dimensions of campus racial climate here.
