Education Commons^™

An Abolitionist Approach To Creating Communities Of Care: Decolonizing Theory, Acknowledging Disequilibrium, And Questioning Systems, Chelsea Whitaker, Cierra Russell

The Vermont Connection

May 25, 2020, exponentially reinvigorated a global reckoning around the uniquely American way of murdering Black people through policing and imprisonment. Calls for anti-racism, police reforms, and abolition permeated nearly every industry with statements, commitments, and trendy Instagram graphics. Once an idea reserved for the most radical, abolition entered the popular culture lexicon not only for its dedication to destroying oppressive systems but also for building communities of care. As student affairs professionals dedicated to community development at institutions built upon white supremacy and bound by federal policies, approaching community development through an abolitionist framework requires an imaginative playfulness to …

“What We Do Have, We Can Polish”: Towards Quare Placemaking In Lgbtq+ Student Affairs, K. Elyse Ellis

The Vermont Connection

Both Queer studies and Black studies have come a long way in the last decade of higher education scholarship. Even so, there is still a gap in the literature of dual-marginalized students, particularly Black Queer students. Drawing from multiple critical theories, this literature review looks at how secondary marginalization takes place in single-identity campus centers, and how Black Queer students co-create spaces for themselves in response to this violence. How do single-identity centers on campuses harm Quare students? How does centering blackness in Quare communities impact student experiences? What can we learn from Quare social life, and how can student …

Get In The Cypher And In The Groove, A Call To Action, What’S The Move, Apida For Black Power, Community Organizing, The Future Is Ours, Kirsty Nicole Bocado

The Vermont Connection

Through activism, community organizing, and investigation, I learn the Philippines' true hxstory, disrupting anti-Blackness brought into the country from colonization and researching Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) and Black unity. In college, I was in a freestyle street dancing crew and while immersed in Hip-Hop culture, I taught the elements of Hip-Hop, honoring OGs and pioneers and raising awareness about cultural appropriation. Hip-Hop culture is Black culture and roots of many cultures are from Black people. In high school, I was a musician of four instruments, playing and practizing Jazz music in Jazz band. The Jazz genre and many …

Mic Check? Mic Check! Amplifying Our Voices, Kirsty Nicole Bocado

The Vermont Connection

Content Warning: discrimination, suicidal ideation, violence

When I write about mental illness, I use the terms: disability, identity, and relationship. However, no word captures what mental illness means to me. Mental illness is somehow both a part of me and a separate, intangible entity. Every day is an exhausting struggle to live with and understand it, and during my first year of graduate school, I experienced covert ableism. This harm caused a long and tedious recovery process on top of ongoing unlearning and healing. Through recovery, I adopted the practice of “embracing the whole” of emotions, feelings, symptoms, and triggers. …

Developing Community Through Energy: The Impact Of Student Extracurricular Collaboration, Tiyana L. Dorsey

The Vermont Connection

Students collaborate in order to educate one another and to develop community. Students often use their own personal experiences for collaborative events in order to appeal to their fellow classmates' empathy to inspire change. Discussions centered on objective systems of oppression can be less effective than subjective experiences and require more student affairs professional assistance to create a fruitful experience. I examine two student events, Happy in a Hijab (HH) and Real Talks: The Race Thing (RTRT) to demonstrate how the discussion's subject relates to its effectiveness. I review the timeline of the events, what type of energy, and how …