Digital Commons Network^™

Critical Representation: Mattering & Belonging For Students Of The Global Majority, Rebecca E. Haslam

Middle Grades Review

Critical representation in literature and curricula requires an emancipatory agenda and examination of the ways in which people of diverse racial, cultural, linguistic, and other socially marginalized identities are portrayed, an assessment of how relevant, affirming, and accurate those representations are, and a consideration of the impact on a child’s sense of self and ‘other.’ This essay includes sample audit criteria for critical representation highlighting five sections: Storyline & Sense of Justice; Affirmation & Self-Worth; Relationships Among People; Author/Illustrator Background; and Language & Terminology, all with a focus on ‘mattering’ and holistic wellbeing of students of the global majority. Audit …

New Connections

The Vermont Connection

No abstract provided.

Hope And Disillusionment In The University, Mattie Schaefer

The Vermont Connection

No abstract provided.

Exiting The Pandemic: A Leadership Approach To Critical Engagement And Change, J Kevin Fisher, Joan Seamster

The Vermont Connection

Navigating in uncertain times is an understatement for leaders in higher education. There is no playbook for today’s institutional challenges. Student needs, administrative requirements, faculty demands, and community relations all warrant to fresh look into how institutions address the risks that threaten business as usual. COVID-19 has challenged the status quo – shaking established methods of conducting and promoting higher education to its core. Do the higher education community and all it constitutes realize it? Will leadership in higher education take the necessary steps to bring all stakeholders together to shape the path to the future? To answer these questions, …

800 Miles In Transition, Lexi Kane, Cristina Vega

The Vermont Connection

Currently we find ourselves in a moment of transition, what initially seemed like a match made in graduate assistantship /supervisor bliss would quickly become 800 miles of change. Transitions are often two fold - full of hope and grief as we long for all that is next and reflect on the things we left behind. However, our shared experience of how it feels to be BIPOC in predominantly white institutions, and how identity plays a role in either assimilating or resisting the structure at hand is what led to our dynamic relationship.

Toxic Rhetoric: Unpacking Discussions Of Self-Care, Dana K. Prisloe

The Vermont Connection

Self-care is a principle of the student affairs profession that has constantly been praised and espoused as necessary for effective work. Countless literature describes the benefits of self care, but little has been written about the demanding nature of student affairs that requires self-care in the first place. Rather than examining the system that overworks its professionals, scholars tend to accept this culture and tout self-care as a coping strategy to prevent burnout. However, self-care rhetoric often comes from a place of ableism and privilege and ignores marginalized identities. Additionally, using self-care as a tool to be better role models …

The Lights Are Too Loud: Neurodivergence In The Student Affairs Profession, Emily V. Rasch

The Vermont Connection

Much of the current scholarly literature on neurodiversity in higher education tends to focus solely on the experiences of neurodiverse students. There is a significant gap in the literature that highlights how neurodiverse professionals survive and thrive in careers in higher education. Utilizing the Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) Methodology, this paper aims to address the current literature gap by using the existing research, coupled with the author's personal experiences, to emphasize the unique needs of neurodiverse people on college campuses. The author offers recommendations for stakeholders in higher education to create equitable and accessible spaces for neurodiverse people on campus. …

The Autistic's Guide To Working In Residential Life, Catherine Meyer

The Vermont Connection

No abstract provided.

The Need For Liberatory Understandings Of Queer And Trans Identity Development: A Critical Review Of Identity Development Models, Max Cordes Galbraith

The Vermont Connection

Canonical identity development models applied to queer and trans students' experiences are insufficient, hierarchical, and antithetical to a contemporary understanding of queerness and transness. In this article, I critique four canonical sexual identity and gender & gender identity development models and explore how these models erase queer and trans students’ identities and experiences, using my own experiences as a source for critique. Then, I uplift implications for queer and trans-centered theory and for supporting queer and trans students.

Institutionalized Erasure: The Influence Of Binarism On Nonbinary College Students, Max Cordes Galbraith

The Vermont Connection

The narratives and experiences of nonbinary people and nonbinary college students are still infrequent in scholarship and are viewed as abnormal, niche experiences. Normative ideals are further enforced by the severe lack of nonbinary scholars and researchers. In this paper, I name the challenges of normativity and use the existing literature to explore current obstacles to nonbinary students’ senses of liberation, safety, and belonging at their institutions of higher education. I use normativity, specifically transnormativity, and binarism frameworks to explore barriers to nonbinary students’ liberation and full engagement in higher education, and the uniqueness of nonbinary students’ experiences compared to …

Higher Education And Necropolitics: Tracing Death And Violence In Higher Education, E. Jeremy Torres

The Vermont Connection

Although scholarship has inspected the role of neoliberalism in higher education, little work names higher education in the United States as an institution that perpetuates death and violence of the most marginalized communities. By engaging in a critical analysis, this research locates and explicitly names higher education as a necropolitical institution, highlighting the sites of power higher education/actors exert over marginalized populations through neoliberal tools of the state. This article makes higher education decision makers and stakeholders aware of their role in their participation in deathly and violent practices.

Past, Present, & Future: A History Of Bipoc Student Support & Student-Led Protests At Uvm, Nelizabeth Diaz, Logan Henrique De Melo, Maria Del Sol Nava

The Vermont Connection

(A PowerPoint version of this submission can be downloaded from the right-hand side bar of this page.)

University Leadership to have people in their corner that support students, representation and care for students at the university in higher level positions that could create change. There needs to be more Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) representation on this campus as a whole. Before making decisions, the institution must consult the populations that will be most affected and ask itself: are we doing more damage than helping? The goal was to look at how BIPOC students at UVM have been supported …

Community Colleges Meeting Students’ Basic Needs, Annamaria Cavaleri, Gabi Cuna, Kaia Palm-Leis, Robyn Suchy

The Vermont Connection

https://sites.google.com/view/dsp-community-college/home

Of the students currently enrolled in post-secondary education institutions, more than 50% of college students are attending community colleges. Of these students, 36% are nontraditional students who are between the ages of 22 and 39, 29% first-generation students, and 20% are disabled students. Community colleges and their students are transforming what it means to participate in higher education by providing resources for students with diverse identities, overcoming exclusionary practices that sacrifice students’ physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. As part of a digital storytelling project, we aimed to think critically about injustice in higher education by focusing on a special …

Speakers Of Languages Other Than English As An Invisible Minority, Patrick Arsenault

The Vermont Connection

American higher education institutions are becoming more diversified. While there are ample recent studies on the experiences of visible minorities and the impact their college or university experience can have in their identity development and emancipation, there is a lot less on invisible minorities. Speakers of languages other than English can feel oppressed, on campuses, because they have to leave an important part of themselves at the door. There are no spaces for them to exchange and grow in their language. Speaking other languages can even be seen as a weakness. Elsewhere in the world, including in Ontario, there are …

Yes, We Can Rule The World- Advancing Our Black Male Mentoring Programs, Trevor D. Mccray

The Vermont Connection

This article will address the lived experience of a Black male higher education practitioner who served as an advisor over a Black male mentorship program. While the summer of 2020 brought awareness to the life of individuals who identify as Black and Brown, with the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, there have been numerous attempts to right some wrong in America. This practitioner will share his experience, expertise, and perspective on the performative anti-racist measures, anti-Black rhetoric, and lackluster efforts of universities and colleges investing into people of color mentoring initiatives. As a result, higher education administrators have …

Place-Based Education As Liberatory Praxis, Todd C. Cooley

The Vermont Connection

Indigenous students are severely underrepresented in higher education, and in STEM disciplines in particular. There is a lack of research critiquing the hegemonic culture of STEM programs in the United States that may present challenges to students pursuing these degrees from Indigenous communities. Using Tribal Critical Race Theory and Native Student Identity Development Theory, I examine the ways in which STEM programs throughout the United States harms and excludes Indigenous students, and seek to uncover ways that we can build Engineering departments which are more inclusive of varying worldviews, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous epistemologies. Specifically, I offer Place-Based …

Increasing The Educational Retention And Attainment Rates Of Southeast Asian American College Students Through Aanapisis, Alice Chu

The Vermont Connection

Since its emergence in the 1960s, the Model Minority Myth (MMM) has been pervasive in its assumption of Asian Americans as a monolithic racial group of naturally high-achieving individuals. This widely accepted stereotype has not only dismissed the educational challenges that diverse subpopulations may face within the context of higher education, but also made it hard for them to garner targeted resources and support throughout their educational journey. In particular, Southeast Asian American (SEAA) college students have suffered the runt of the consequences, as their unique challenges and experiences have been heavily erased. Unlike their Asian American peers, Southeast Asian …

Exceptionally Flawed: A Story About Expectations And Truth, Maria Del Sol Nava

The Vermont Connection

This is my story about the pressures of growing up as a first-gen Latina from a low-income background who was often told my only option was to be exceptional. Putting my all into everything was the only way to be successful; to be the social ladder for my family. Because of this pressure to always be perfect there were many times when I failed to meet false expectations which led to disappointment, dismay, and feelings of imposter syndrome. My successes and failures are valuable, valid, and equal parts of where I am today; with love, support, and lots of tears …

Dear Student Affairs: Reflections From A First-Generation Hesa Graduate Student, Tatiana L. Havens

The Vermont Connection

This letter is an invitation for first-generation and economically minoritized student affairs practitioners to reflect on the multiple identities they hold within the U.S. higher education system. The Critical Cultural Wealth Model is a theoretical framework that explicitly examines first-generation and economically minoritized (FGEM) college students’ academic and career development. This framework is used as a guide to explore how the dominance of Whiteness informs the historic and present construction of social and financial support structures for FGCS students in higher education, and how these structures ultimately fail to support FGCS on an individual and systemic level.

An Open Letter To The Marginalized Academic: Divesting From Colonial Indoctrination, Dr. Khadija Boyd

The Vermont Connection

Paulo Freire (1970) stated, "In order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform." Academia has historically been evoked by a white, male, hetero-normative framework that has limited the space for opposing identities to be marginalized through policies, organizational culture, and social imagery. Although liberation is not a notion employed in academia, assimilation, obedience, and domination serve as the protagonist embedded in the optics within these institutions, often …

Executive Board Editor's Note, Todd C. Cooley, Dana K. Prisloe

The Vermont Connection

No abstract provided.

Cover Page

The Vermont Connection

No abstract provided.

Land Acknowledgement, Tvc 43 Executive Board

The Vermont Connection

No abstract provided.

Foreword: The Body Of Liberation, Chantel J. Vereen

The Vermont Connection

No abstract provided.

The Great Resignation: Retention Of Bipoc Professionals Within The Division Of Student Affairs, Cole Maccollister, Lexi Kane

The Vermont Connection

(An audio recording of this piece can be downloaded from the right-hand side bar of this page.)

Through our topic of “The Great Resignation: Race and Retention of BIPOC Staff within the Division of Student Affairs” we hope to better understand how the racial identities of student affairs practitioners impact their professional experience. We decided to execute this project by sending out a questionnaire to current, and past professional staff at UVM who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person Of Color). Each questionnaire was tailored with questions that could provide us with a clearer insight into the experience of these …

Acknowledgements, Tvc 43 Executive Board

The Vermont Connection

No abstract provided.

Nothing Left To Give: A Reflection On Burnout As An Obstacle To Liberation And First Steps To Healing, Janelle Raymundo

The Vermont Connection

An audio recording of this reflection can be downloaded from the right-hand side bar of this page.