Education Commons^™

On The Impossibilities Of Advancing Racial Justice In Higher Education Research Through Reliance On The Campus Climate Heuristic, Elvira Abrica, Deryl K. Hatch-Tocaimaza, Cecilia Rios-Aguilar

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Campus climates are often described as “hostile” for racially minoritized populations. However, growing recognition of complexities associated with intersecting and interwoven systems of social oppression compel the field of higher education to move away from overly simplistic portrayals of postsecondary environments as “welcoming/chilly” or “positive/negative.” More than this, there is a need to engage in a broader discussion of the field’s reliance on the metaphor of meteorological climate itself as a heuristic for characterizing the nature of college learning environments. The central argument presented in this theoretical article is that racial justice is impossible when operationalized through a lens of …

How Campus Space Becomes White Place: Advancing A Spatial Analysis Of Whiteness In Higher Education, Antonio Duran, Zak Foste, Crystal Eufemia Garcia, Jeremy T. Snipes

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Space and place are central to understanding the production and maintenance of racial inequality in the United States. Though examinations of the racialized dynamics of space are present in other disciplines, higher education scholars have infrequently interrogated how space becomes racialized on college campuses. This conceptual paper functions as a much-needed intervention, articulating how the racialization of space at historically white colleges and universities occurs and the subsequent consequences for Students of Color. In particular, we describe how physical campus spaces historically become racialized as white, how such spaces are maintained and fortified, and the consequences of racialized space on …

Competence And Challenge: Sorority And Fraternity Life Professionals’ Preparation To Advise Culturally Based Sfl Organizations, Crystal Eufemia Garcia, Hannah L. Reyes, Antonio Duran

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This qualitative narrative inquiry examined the professional preparation of sorority and fraternity (SFL) professionals working with culturally-based sororities and fraternities. Using narratives drawn from 15 professionals and guided by our conceptual framework, we unpacked important findings in terms of ways participants referenced their limited educational experiences, how they navigated learning within the confines of their professional roles, and distinctions in the value that professional associations and networks offered them. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

A Path Forward: Critically Examining Practitioners' Role In Addressing Campus Racial Climate, Kaleb L. Briscoe, Crystal Eufemia Garcia, Ashley L. Swift

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Student affairs professionals (SAPs) have long grappled with the pervasiveness of whiteness within predominantly white institutions (PWIs). In this paper, we bring together our perspectives to offer insight into how whiteness informs SAPs’ response to racialized incidents and advocacy for Students of Color.

Aligning Student Affairs Practice With Espoused Commitments To Equity, Diversity, And Inclusion, Crystal Eufemia Garcia, William Walker, Dawn Morgan, Yuwei Shi

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Using a critical qualitative approach, we explored ways student affairs professionals at predominantly white institutions within the South made sense of and enacted commitments to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Findings show that participants rarely engaged in direct conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion with their colleagues and often conflated these terms. Those who engaged in equity work were often driven by their own salient identities, yet they also shared ways their efforts were constrained by institutional policies. The study offers implications for practice for student affairs professionals, professional preparation programs, and higher education institutions.

Reflexivity In International Contexts: Implications For U.S. Doctoral Students International Research Preparation, Christina W. Yao, Louise Michelle Vital

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose Learning to conduct research, including considerations for concepts such as reflexivity, is a key component of doctoral student preparation in higher educa-tion. Yet limited attention is given to doctoral student training for conducting international research, particularly in understanding researcher reflexivity within international contexts.

Background Incorporating reflexive practices in one’s scholarship is of particular importance because international research often includes U.S.-based researchers working with cultural groups and contexts that are very different from them. Thus, we examined the following: how do novice U.S. trained researchers understand the role of their reflexivity in qualitative international research?

Methodology We utilized qualitative inquiry …