Social Justice Commons^™

When Deia Meets Faith In Heightened Tensions: Deia Initiatives At Catholic-Serving Institutions, V. Dozier, Martha Adkins, Alejandra J. Nann

Copley Library: Faculty Scholarship

Copley Library at the University of San Diego launched the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee in August 2020. The committee was developed in an effort to identify and work through the DEIA-related challenges affecting our country and our local community. Three librarians from the committee endeavored to explore what USD is currently doing as well as how libraries at Catholic-Serving Institutions are providing resources and services in regard to DEIA. Our approach was to survey USD faculty, staff, and administrators who participate or engage in DEIA efforts. The external survey was intended for librarians who work at Catholic-serving …

Rise Up Industries And The Challenge Of Reentry For Formerly Incarcerated Individuals, Andrew Blum

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

Rise Up Industries provides reentry services and support to formerly incarcerated individuals who were previously in gangs through an intensive job training program, offered alongside a holistic set of support services. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Executive Director, Andrew Blum, provides a deeper understanding of this approach and the results it has produced to date, while situating it in the context of other initiatives focused on reentry and reducing recidivism.

This case study concludes that RUI’s reentry program is a promising approach and likely makes a small-scale contribution to solving a very hard problem – successfully fostering the reentry …

Understanding The Limits Of Transnational Ngo Power: Forms, Norms, And The Architecture, Hans Peter Schmitz

School of Leadership and Education Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

A growing chorus of critics have called upon transnational nongovernmental organizations (TNGOs) from the Global North to “decolonize” their practices, to “shift the power” to the Global South, and to put an end to “white saviorism” by initiating a variety of significant organizational changes. Despite these repeated calls, the TNGO sector still struggles to reform. Explanations for TNGOs’ ongoing struggles from within the field of international relations have generally centered on TNGOs themselves and the ironies and paradoxes of organizational growth and financial success. This article introduces a different argument that TNGOs’ struggles to adapt in response to their critics …

Unconscious Bias In United States Marine Corps Leadership Doctrine: Examining Microaggressions Through Document Analysis, Patrick Butler

Dissertations

This dissertation employed a document analysis format to examine Marine Corps leadership education doctrine for microaggressions. The United States Marine Corps (Marine Corps or USMC) is the military service with the least diverse officer cadre in terms of sex, gender identity, and race. The study results show a pattern of repeating unconscious bias-related content within the Marine Corps’ documents. Such patterns can negatively affect minority members in terms of their health, acceptance, and performance within the organization. The results also document an overriding bias-culture which puts Marine Corps leadership in a dilemma of trying to encourage conformity to traditional organizational …

Cultivating Compassion In Catholic Teachings: An Invitation To Relationship With Immigrants And Refugees With Hiv/Aids, Anna Salvestrin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In 1989 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released Called to Compassion and Responsibility. This document, which articulates the official Catholic Church teaching on HIV/AIDS, emphasizes personal responsibility in limiting the spread of HIV and calls for compassion toward the sick. The bishops direct their document to Catholic clergy and parishioners and offer recommendations for government policy and parish actions that affirm human dignity. This thesis argues that the document's recommendations do not adequately consider the experiences of immigrants and refugees with HIV/AIDS and neglect sufficient attention to their lived experiences. In future documents, the bishops should use the …

Breaking Boundaries: Investigating The Experiences Of Racially Diverse Low Socioeconomic Status Students Through A Narrative Inquiry Approach, Ryan Jumamil

Dissertations

Across the US, there is growing inequality of class distribution in predominately white and elite colleges and universities. Although gaining access to these institutions is typically the first hurdle, it is not the only challenge racially diverse low socioeconomic status (SES) students face. By investigating the college experiences of racially diverse low SES students enrolled in a predominately white elite institution, this study creates the foundation for an imperative discussion on the relationship between students' identity and attendance at predominately white elite institutions.

Through a Narrative Inquiry research approach and using semi-structured interviews as a data collection tool, two themes …

Uncomfortable But Necessary: White Faculty Identity Development And Race Conversations, Monique B. Appel

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

In recent years, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have been highlighted in college mission statements, but there is a gap between college-wide initiatives and classroom practices. Research shows that White Americans, in particular, remain silent, express colorblindness, and incorporate avoidance strategies when discussing race (Bryan et al., 2012). As classrooms become increasingly diverse, White faculty must be equipped to serve all students equitably. To address White faculty discomfort with discussing race in their courses, I provided educational resources and used restorative justice circle practice to create a safe, low stakes environment for faculty to explore this topic. Through circle practices, …

Blaqueer And Here: Black Queer And Trans Students’ Path To Thriving, Marvens Pierre

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

In this study, I have investigated the ways in which Black queer and trans students have (or have not) fostered community, lived authentically, and benefitted from support of their identity development. I explored what support (or lack thereof) and identity development that exists within the realm of predominantly White higher educational institutions as well as San Diego community resources at large. This study approach consisted of conducting strategic outreach to universities in San Diego, California, and building community circles to facilitate processes of qualitative narrative analysis. This led to an intentional focus group dialogue space that allowed the participants to …

Public Safety Presence And Response In Campus Housing: Using Restorative Justice Interventions To Mitigate Harm And Restore Trust In The Residential Community, Sydney Pidgeon

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

In the wake of social unrest and demands of police reform (Childress et al., 2020; Davidson, 2020; Rogers & Gravelle, 2020), institutions of higher education have a unique opportunity to model a system of campus safety that mitigates harm and restores trust. This research explores the complex relationship between campus safety officers and residential life staff and student leaders at a mid-sized private institution and implements restorative justice interventions to rebuild trust between the two populations. This research created an intervention framework that improved the ongoing partnership between the Office of Residential Life and Department of Public Safety and facilitated …

When "First, Do No Harm" Fails: A Restorative Justice Approach To Workgroup Harms In Healthcare, Pedro L. Flores

Dissertations

In healthcare, workgroup mistreatment is a pervasive problem that begins during medical education (medical and nursing school) and becomes embedded in the “hidden curriculum of professionalism,” which dissuades and even punishes learners for talking about abuse they witness. Furthermore, the mistreatment of healthcare providers (HCPs) pervades all disciplines in the healthcare delivery chain due to a combination of cultural factors, systemic pressures, dysfunctional hierarchies, and leadership’s tolerance of intimidating and disruptive behaviors. Not surprisingly, 18% of U.S. HCPs have left the medical field since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and burnout, stress, anxiety, and increased workloads have been identified …

The Mitigation Of In-Group And Outgroup Biases: Understanding The Perceptions Of Educators On The Contact Approach Theory, Brigitte Blazys

Dissertations

The contact approach theory was introduced in the 1950s, by Allport, as a method to mitigate biases. Since then, many DEI practitioners in the United States have formed alliances to create a social justice movement to combat racism, prejudice, and biases in our society. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted in the contact approach theory as these biases, initially observed as in-group and outgroup biases, originate in the early years of life. To begin to fill this gap in the literature, the purpose of this study was to better understand and identify to what extent, if any, prekindergarten through third …

Understanding The Benefits Of Latino Giving Circles: An Emancipatory Research Study, Adriana Loson-Ceballos

Dissertations

This dissertation shows how Latino giving circle members understand their philanthropy and how participation affects their well-being, civic engagement, and philanthropic activities by focusing on giving circles’ composition, members’ goals, and perceived benefits. I used an emancipatory research paradigm with Latino-focused critical race theory, LatCrit, to study the Latino Giving Circle Network (LGCN). A survey was used for data collection, and research platicas were employed in the survey’s analysis; both were selected and designed centering Latinos to overcome challenges in researching Latinos.

Demographic findings reveal a range of Latino experiences. Sixty-six percent reported Mexican ancestry, compared to 83% of California …

Investing In Equity: Creating Equitable Funding For Women Peacebuilders, Jennifer Bradshaw, Ruth Buffalo, Rina Kedem, Mossarat Qadeem, Lilian Riziq, Rebecca Besant, Paulina Chiwangu, Jennifer Hawkins, Nia Jones, Elin Miller, Andrew Blum, Christiana Lang, Necla Tschirgi, Carolyn Williams

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

Although women are vital to the success and sustainability of peace efforts, and despite progress made by the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda over the past two decades, women peacebuilders remain severely underfunded — and the funding that is available to them is often unresponsive to their needs and characterized by a power disparity between funder and funded. In order to advance women’s inclusion in peace and justice processes, this report examines what equitable funding partnerships are, why they are essential to peacebuilding, and how they can best be cultivated, providing evidence from the field to support its findings, …