Comfort Zones at Universities in Different Geographic Regions

In examining the paper composed by Handler about comfort zones on the campus of the University of Virginia, I became intrigued at the role of regionalism because UVA is located in the south. I began to ponder what might happen if there were studies conducted randomly at other campuses in different geographic regions (of course some controls would have to be put in place for this to be at all reliable, and even then this would be an arduous undertaking) to see if there are regional differences in how student minorities define their comfort zones and the reason for them. I was thinking of dividing up the United States into the regions of: northeast, mid-atlantic, south, midwest, southwest, northern, mountain, and pacific.

My idea is that comfort zones would be more contracted in the south, midwest, northern, and mountain regions. I believe this because of two possibilities: either the history of racial prejudice in those areas or the lack of a substantial minority population. On the other hand I would expect more expansive zones of comfort for minority students in other areas due to sizeable minority populations or the tendency of those regions to be more racially tolerant and the perceived "liberal" nature of the universities in the states that are included in those classifications. While these would probably produce wide-sweeping generalities, it might provide us with somewhere to start. This would be an interesting study because of how universities across the board have been pushing diversity as a selling point (see SLU's propaganda). I am wondering what you all think about a study built on this premise and/or your assumptions about the possible data outcomes?