Asian Americans may not be considered “people of color” (POC) in higher education because of stereotypes of Asian Americans such as the model minority myth. White supremacy creates a racial hierarchy that creates a misperception that Asian Americans are not marginalized compared to other POC in order to cause strife among all racial minority groups. In higher education, this...
The purpose of this article is to discuss the lived experiences of African American graduate students (master’s level) enrolled at a predominantly white institution (PWI). I explore the experiences of graduate students lacking connection to their institution. I will also explore how institutional and systemic racism impact creating a space for African American graduate students...
By Brian Arao, Published on 04/05/20
By Rosemary J. Perez, Published on 04/05/20
By Brie L. Hornig and Laura M. Aguilera, Published on 04/05/20
By Angelique K. Adams, Published on 01/01/19
Critical Race Theory (CRT) evolved as a response to the lack of change in racial disparities within the United States jurisprudence. This article provides a historical understanding of CRT, beginning with a synopsis of the tenets that form part of CRT. The article will then give an understanding of what leadership style supports the implementation of CRT. Finally, it will provide...
As the student affairs profession evolves to better support the needs of graduate students, a re-building of the relationship between academic and student affairs is vital for the success of graduate student support programs. Rates of mental illness are extremely high in the graduate population, and this trend is closely related to elevated attrition rates in recent years...
First-generation Asian American college students must be resilient to overcome the many challenges they face in their college experience. Because these students are first-generation students of color and are also Asian American, they experience unique challenges and complexities. First-generation students of color often navigate the college experience with families who have...
The need for sexual assault prevention work on college campuses is largely accepted; however, higher education and student affairs professionals continue to debate the best way to do this work. In this analysis, I explore sex-neutral, sex-positive, and punitive foci for sexual assault prevention and consent education. After analyzing the effectiveness of each of these foci, I...
Student activism is an ever-developing trend on college campuses. The current generation, Generation Z, started college in 2013. Analyzing literature on student development and how it intersects with the student activist identity reveals what institutions can do to further serve students in a generational context. When characteristics of students from Generation Z are given...
In a political context characterized by the desire to “Make America Great Again,” the romanticization of the past and the erasure of narratives of marginalized communities affect how students experience and navigate higher education. Institutions of higher education were built on systems of colonization and imperialism and continue to benefit from the legacy of domination and...
The process of healing from first episode psychosis as a queer person of color is not represented in the medical model, academia, or media. As a pansexual, non-binary, Latinx femme with a psychological disability, walking out of the hospital doors for the final time incited immense amounts of isolation that overcame my spirit because of the lack of dialogue around such healing. I...
In American culture, there seems to be a glorification of “being busy” (Bellezza, Paharia, & Keinan, 2017). Going into my eighth year of working in student affairs and thanks to a new support system and unfortunate health changes, I am now learning the importance of integrating self-care more into my professional and personal life. Through this personal narrative, I hope that my...
We, Jeane and Maria, both identify as 1.5 generation students who felt like we did not belong where we were born or where our parents immigrated, but we found belonging through validation from our communities during college. Throughout undergrad, we distanced ourselves from our parents because of the rejection we faced, but we would like to rebuild our parental relationships by...
Student affairs scholarship and practice take a deficit-based approach to understanding the experience of international students at U.S. colleges and universities. In this article, I reframe the challenges that international students face from a resiliency-based viewpoint, highlighting the strengths of international students and focusing on what institutions could do better to...
In recent years, the enrollment of first-generation students of color in higher education has increased across the nation, reflecting a slight improvement in college access for them. However, first-generation students of color continue to face a variety of challenges which impede their social and academic success and contribute to low retention rates at the university. In this...
The college experience is often hypersexualized, presenting students as collectively sexually active and interested in sex. Such hypersexualization creates a culture that assumes the presence of sexual attraction, which massively excludes students who identify on the asexual spectrum. This exclusion becomes amplified when asexual students go to their campus LGBTQIA+ centers for...
I wrote this piece for myself as a hybrid of personal discovery and academic inquiry, and I hope it can guide and empower others like myself. In this piece, I examine the intersections of queer identity with religious and spiritual identity development and discuss how practitioners can help students reclaim sacred space. Foregrounding my personal narrative and expanding with...
Although there is a significant body of literature bolstering the concept, the term “resilience” is often misused and abused in the academy at the expense of the most marginalized students and community members. In this article, I advocate for reclaiming resilience as using creativity to survive and challenge dominant views of resilience. Furthermore, I call for de-centering...
In 2015, I discovered Saga, a graphic novel series that chronicles a science fiction story of war, family, and forbidden love. This series resonated with me because it is the first piece of pop culture that I invested in with a leading character whose racial identity is similar to my own. I discovered three multiracial characters in different forms of media set within the United...
Racial battle fatigue, cultural taxation, and the challenge of practicing self-care in the midst of tumultuous racial campus climate are all powerful forces that affect how Advisors of Color show up in their relationships with college students. Through scholarly personal narrative, the author conceptualizes the role of building, resistance, resilience, and rebuilding through...
By Dr. Wanda Heading-Grant, Published on 01/01/19