María José Vides, president of the Associated Students of Pomona College, does not appreciate the way institutions treat diversity. “We sprinkle a little bit of color on the top of an institution like icing but we don’t look underneath where there is not enough faculty that understands the experiences the students are bringing in — that is a problem.” Nationally, blacks and Hispanics made up just under 10 percent of full-time college faculty in fall 2015, according to federal data that also show nearly 30 percent of students from those backgrounds.

“It is not just about admitting students, but supporting them,” Ms. Vides said. Students want to “make sure that academic departments, academic and health resources, career resources reflect our needs and our histories.”

Dr. Oxtoby sees a generation of socially connected students for whom the personal becomes political: “If something happens to someone I know, I want to show my solidarity.” On campus, he said, students demand that leaders “appreciate me for all the dimensions of my identity.”

Last academic year he met with 10 student groups. “Each wanted a center, a room, staff.” One student came twice. “In one meeting they wanted to talk about their identity as a queer student and in another their identity as a Latino student.”

Many professors are spending the summer trying to figure out how to discuss the campus climate in class without raising the ire of this audience. In the last few months, at least a half-dozen professors have been threatened or fired for airing controversial positions on issues of color or, in the case of Dr. Goffman at Pomona, researching the subject.

As student demands have grown more politically charged, the divisions on campus have sharpened. At Pomona, Ms. Vides noted “a radicalizing of both ends of the spectrum.” Students have been pushed from the middle path to the left or right. Last fall’s entering class was the most polarized cohort in the 51-year history of the freshman survey by the Higher Education Research Institute.

That can play out in every aspect of student life, as William Gu, an Asian-American who writes for The Claremont Independent, found out after some of his articles showed up on conservative news sites. He received Facebook messages accusing him of “threatening marginalized communities” and was told at a party that “people are uncomfortable with you being here, please leave.”