I've taught on three different campuses here at the University of Washington: the main campus in Seattle, and both major satellite campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. Despite being part of the same system, the schools are quite different. I've observed these differences in the student bodies and have had to adjust my teaching accordingly.
The students that I teach in the music school on the main campus are what many would call "traditional" students. They grew up in this country, were born to parents who were probably themselves college educated and gainfully employed. English is a first language for most of them. Most fall in the 18-22 demographic--fresh out of high school and right to college because a) that's what you're supposed to do and b) because they could afford it (either through their parents or academic success/scholarships/qualifying for grants). Diversity here is also rather "traditional": I have students from a variety of different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.
The students I teach in Tacoma are quite different. The average age on this campus is 25. Most of my students have been out in the world working, raising families, and/or serving in the military (we're close to Joint Base Lewis McChord and have worked hard to cultivate relationships with them). Many of the students in my upper-division courses have transferred after two years at a community college. The student body is diverse, but in a different way from the main campus: diversity comes in the form not necessarily of racial and/or ethnic diversity (although there's a considerable amount of that), but in terms of life situations. I've had students who are routinely late for class because they're single parents with childcare issues, have gone through divorce as a result of an abusive spouse, and have had challenging work schedules. Such a population requires a much different set of accommodations than the group at the main campus. I tend to have a flexible late policy here (as long as students keep me informed of their situations), more online opportunities (i.e., using the class Twitter hashtag counts toward participation) and the like.
I've only taught in the first-year Discovery Core program in Bothell, which is designed to increase new student success. We work closely with the staff--librarians, advisers, writing center, etc.--to create a strong support system for these students. Most of the students in this case are fresh out of high school. Most (close to 60%) are first-generation college students, many are first-generation Americans (or close to it); many come from homes in which the language used is not English. Again, an entirely different set of accommodations needs to be in place here. The support from the staff is tremendous. Teaching students the ins and outs of academia, writing, critical thinking, how to read (one student--I am not kidding--thought the call number of a library book was a phone number you called to request the book) is a big part of this job, in addition to recognizing the (mostly inaccurate) preconceptions about college that many of them bring. These inaccurate preconceptions are often the result of not having anyone close to them that has participated in the college experience: their ideas of college come largely from the media.
The moral of the story: it's easy to think that college students are all the same. It's also easy to think that diversity is a politically correct way of talking about having a "less white" campus. That's part of it. If college is supposed to be accessible to everyone, we as faculty members need to do a better job of identifying with the populations we intend to serve (another for instance: in Tacoma, we are surrounded by a large number of Native American communities, and we recruit their students to attend school here, but we have only one Native person on the faculty, and they were just hired this year). Students (and faculty) benefit not only from diverse classmates, but from a diverse faculty as well. Both groups need to be aware of the widening definition of what constitutes diversity and strive to create appropriate and meaningful learning opportunities for all.