Despite numerous reforms and initiatives, Latina students continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This underrepresentation has been connected to the many inequities and systemic obstacles that Latinas face throughout their undergraduate degree, which can be exacerbated within competitive STEM environments. These obstacles impact their academic experience, increasing their likelihood of facing academic struggles and potentially being placed on academic probation. While research examining the intersection of academic probation and student success exists, studies specifically exploring the institutional barriers Latina STEM students face when placed on academic probation (especially those that consider their racial, gendered, and other intersectional identities from an antideficit stance) are largely missing. To address this gap, this article presents the qualitative findings from a larger mixed-methods study. The findings presented in this article are based on semistructured interviews with 12 Latina STEM students on academic probation attending an emerging Hispanic-serving institution, research-intensive, land-grant university. Using Latina/o critical race theory and the concept of intersectionality, this analysis revealed the following institutional barriers highlighted by study participants: (a) disempowering intersectional underrepresentations (b) limited efficacy of existing support and resources for improving academic standing; and (c) dehumanizing interactions. This study explores the implications of these barriers, focusing on the challenges they present for Latina STEM students aspiring to improve their academic standing, persist in their major, and graduate successfully. Overall, the findings aim to inform institutional reforms and STEM departments' initiatives to better support and retain their Latina student body.
University students historically and increasingly organize against structural racism. Yet, research finds that antiracist student organizers can face threats to their well-being and receive little institutional support, resulting in burnout. Particularly in the current sociopolitical climate, there is an urgent need to develop solidarity with student organizers and to support antiracist organizing. However, there is a limited understanding on how to do this, especially for educational leaders who work at the institutions that antiracist student organizers protest. To this end, the present study identifies the practices of how antiracist student organizers develop solidarity, including with organizations and institutional actors who are supportive, "neutral," and challenging. A total of 20 student organizers from five antiracist student organizations were recruited from a minority serving institution to participate in a power mapping workshop (including one workshop for each specific organization). Student organizers discussed how they understand and practice solidarity internally and with a diversity of people and organizations. We analyzed transcripts from each workshop using thematic analysis to identify the tactics that student organizers use to develop solidarity. The findings demonstrate that solidarity is more than transactional support, and it works to build broad coalitions and raise intersectional awareness. Importantly, while students had negative encounters with the minority serving institution, they expressed ways that educational leaders could be in solidarity with them. The findings address limitations in existing literature, including demonstrating how to develop solidarity across perceived differences in identity, positionality, and geography.
Minoritized faculty continue to face subtle discrimination in their institutional life, and many choose to talk back, to say something despite the professional risks. We deployed critical phenomenology to better understand this fraught experience and interpret the impact of saying something on minoritized faculty self-definition and self-concept. Critical hermeneutic analysis of in-depth phenomenological profiles yielded three themes for critique and interpretation. We discuss implications for difficult conversations, establishing counterspaces, and nurturing institutional life-course mentorship relationships.
Student support structures and identity centers in higher education often reinforce rigid identity categories, which may be harmful for students with liminal identity experiences or those who do not fit traditional labels. Drawing from liminality and interconnectivity, this study examined how liminality can serve as a valuable tool for reimagining student support by acknowledging flexible, nuanced, and fluid experiences of identity. In this situational analysis study, I conducted semistructured interviews with 13 college students from various geographic locations and institutional types to examine how they made meaning of their liminal experiences. Findings revealed that students with a liminal embodiment (e.g., multiracial, gender nonbinary, interfaith, bisexual, students who straddle socioeconomic status, students with invisible/temporal disabilities) experience a profound sense of loneliness, the need to explain their liminality, and a lack of institutional support. I conclude with recommendations for practice that underscore the need to restructure identity-based support beyond monocentric understandings of race, gender, faith, sexuality, class, and ability. Recommendations include acknowledging liminality as a valid lived experience, increasing collaboration across identity centers, and revising policies that reinforce rigid identity categories.
Faculty with disabilities face barriers that hinder their access to academia and career progression. Therefore, this scoping review aims to systematize the existing evidence on their experiences. Thus, a systematic mapping of publications was conducted, combining the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method (n = 19) and the backward snowballing technique (n = 6), resulting in 25 selected articles. The search was conducted in the Educational Resources Information Center, Scopus, and Web of Sciences databases. Subsequently, a narrative analysis of the articles was undertaken using a category and code system. The results highlight elements that faculty with disabilities experience, such as the development of identity and self-concept, the dilemma of disclosure, working conditions, professional development, and the discrimination and ableism they suffer. Additionally, the coping strategies they employ, such as self-governance and self-advocacy, along with the support and accommodations available to them, are included. The study confirms the unequal gap between the careers of faculty with and without disabilities. Therefore, universities must move toward true inclusion, dismantling ableism and discriminatory practices to enable faculty with disabilities to pursue their careers successfully.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work has faced significant criticism and attacks from anti-DEI activists. While popular media have reported on new legal precedents and some institutional changes, there is a need to understand the ethical decision making that chief diversity officers (CDOs) must navigate to address anti-DEI actions. This study uses interviews with 30 CDOs at 4-year public institutions to better understand the complex ethical dilemmas they face under significant organizational and political pressure. Drawing on Kidder's ethical paradigms, the study identifies three key dilemmas: (1) personal motivation versus professional obligations, (2) communicating versus obscuring DEI work, and (3) doing quality work versus sustaining DEI work. The findings emphasize the significant physical, emotional, and ethical toll on CDOs navigating these challenges. The article advocates for grounding decisions in ethical frameworks, critical historical perspectives, and praxis-driven leadership to maintain resilience and integrity. It highlights the importance of critical hope as an action-oriented response to systemic injustices, encouraging collective agency in creating equitable educational environments. The study contributes to understanding the critical role of CDOs in higher education's evolving sociopolitical landscape.
This aut-ethnographic study (a neurodivergent-informed methodological approach that centers frag-mented and nonlinear lived experience) examines the complex challenges faced by neurodivergentfaculty within engineering academia, where societal expectations, institutional racial and gender biases,and role strain intersect. Drawing on personal experiences as a woman of color faculty member withattention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism, this work explores the compounded effects ofmasking and camouflaging neurodivergent traits to meet prevailing academic norms. Theoreticalframeworks of role strain, neurodivergence, and cognitive load theory provide insight into the cognitive,emotional, and institutional challenges experienced by neurodivergent faculty of color, particularlywithin predominantly White/Asian, male, and neurotypical academic environments. Through criticalanalyses of fragmented experiences,this study reveals how intersecting identities intensify professionaland personal role strain, underscoring the urgent need for more inclusive academic structures thatrecognize and support neurodivergent and racially diverse individuals.
Higher education has experienced significant turmoil as political overreach has increasingly shaped the operations and functions of public institutions. In Texas, anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (anti-DEI) legislation such as Senate Bill 17 has caused major upheaval at the University of Texas at Austin, resulting in the dismantling of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE). As such, this historical case study examines the origins of DDCE during the administration of President William C. Powers and identifies the key factors that facilitated its organizational life cycle or the division's inception, evolution, and dissolution. Guided by Burke and Litwin's (1992) organizational change model, this research explores how DDCE's life cycle influenced the University of Texas at Austin's leadership practices, organizational culture, and priorities. Drawing on archival analysis and semistructured interviews with stakeholders, findings highlight how DDCE served as a critical organizational fixture that shaped both campus and community engagement based on the division's longevity, cultural impact, and institutional investment. In response to the dismantling of DEI offices, this article proposes organizational memory as a strategy to preserve the programs, values, and institutional history inspired by these divisions. The findings address the current anti-DEI climate in the United States and use historical data to inform approaches for resisting the erosion of DEI work in higher education.
Male supremacism and related fascist influences threaten women and nonbinary college students' well-being and safety. We conducted semistructured interviews with 16 women and nonbinary college students ages 18-23 who acted as key informants on male supremacism within their college contexts. All participants attended different colleges, with four participants each from the U.S. Northeast, Midwest, South, and West. More than 50% of participants held marginalized racial/ethnic identities, and more than 50% held marginalized sexual orientation identities. We used antifascist praxis and ecological systems theory to consider how students experienced male supremacist influences in college contexts and what aspects of their college contexts were relevant to preventing and responding to male supremacist threats. We identified three needs. College leaders need to (a) respond to male supremacist influences within men's athletic teams, fraternities, student engagement in U.S. politics, and sexual violence prevention events or discussions; (b) resist how male supremacist influences may be perpetuated through regional contexts (e.g., the U.S. South) and institutional histories (e.g., religious or military origins) and find antioppressive commitments through which to oppose male supremacism; and (c) actively oppose male supremacist influences on campuses through supporting students who resist male supremacism and engaging communities in response to fascist threats. Based on these findings, we call for college leaders to identify male supremacist influences within specific aspects of their college contexts, reshape college cultural identities to resist male supremacism, and oppose male supremacist threats to women and nonbinary students.
Many campuses employ student leaders to educate their peers, foster a sense of belonging, and cultivate inclusive communities. Most student leaders, like resident assistants and orientation leaders, experience training to support these aims. Given resident assistants' and orientation leaders' responsibility to foster belonging and inclusivity, they should receive meaningful training about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This literature synthesis examined how scholarship described the content and outcomes of student leader DEI training. Findings illustrate that extant scholarship about student leader DEI training largely documents the use of reflective and compliance-based approaches. At the same time, we documented several limitations in existing scholarship. Scholarship largely features single-institution studies, overrepresents practices at 4-year historically and predominantly White institutions, and relies on students' self-reported learning. Very few quantitative studies used sophisticated analyses, and qualitative studies infrequently collected longitudinal, observational, or multiple data sources. We argue that these themes illustrate an urgent need for more scholarly attention to DEI student leader training.
This study examines how Blackwomen navigate doctoral decision making within the doctor of education-doctor of philosophy binary in education. Taking up McLewis's (2021) college choice critique, I integrate Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 2022) with the College Choice Process model (Hossler & Gallagher, 1987) to reveal how structural inequities and gatekeeping shape access, advising, and opportunities. Findings show that career stagnation, rather than individual aspiration, often drives Blackwomen to enroll in doctoral programs as gatekeepers inform them that advanced degrees are required for advancement. Yet, these same actors reproduce inequity by rationing information, steering Blackwomen toward practitioner-oriented doctor of education programs and reserving the doctor of philosophy for research-intensive trajectories. Despite these constraints, Blackwomen draw on collective wisdom, relational knowledge, and personal advocacy to interpret, resist, and reframe exclusionary narratives. Building on these insights, I introduce the Structure-Negotiation-Agency model, conceptualizing doctoral choice as a cyclical, relational process through which Blackwomen negotiate structures and enact agency. The model theorizes how gendered racism operates within structural constraints and shapes doctoral pathways and how Blackwomen redefine imposed boundaries. Implications call for transparent advising, equitable access, and institutional accountability that affirms Blackwomen's capacity to thrive as scholars, leaders, and practitioners.
Graduate trainees and postdoctoral fellows in biomedical sciences face significant challenges that affect their physical and mental health. Among these, perceived discrimination has emerged as a critical factor that undermines well-being and negatively impacts trainees' sense of belonging, career persistence, and retention. This study examined the association between perceived discrimination and trainees' physical, social, and psychological well-being, as well as their sense of belonging in lab and department settings. Latent profile analysis identified three profiles of trainees based on perceived discrimination: low perception of discrimination (LPD), mixed perception of discrimination (MPD; low in the lab, high in the department), and high perception of discrimination (HPD). Results showed that physical and social health were better in the LPD and MPD profiles than in the HPD profile. However, burnout and mental health challenges were greater in both the MPD and HPD profiles compared to the LPD profile. Sense of belonging in the lab was higher for the LPD and MPD profiles, while departmental belonging was significantly lower for the MPD and HPD profiles compared to the LPD profile. These findings highlight the impact of department-based discrimination on mental well-being and belonging. By incorporating additional measures, such as disruptiveness, coping confidence, and perceived reasons for discrimination, this study provides a deeper understanding of how perceived discrimination relates to well-being and highlights the value of latent profile analysis in capturing nuanced patterns and their demographic associations.
Disability activism is rarely studied in higher education. We draw on theories of resistance broadly, and especially T. J. Stewart and Williams's (2019) matrix of resistance, to understand the goals, tactics, and actions used by students resisting and challenging ableism on and beyond college campuses. Participants included 11 students attending selective 4-year colleges and universities across the United States, 10 of whom identified as disabled. Education; forming, restarting, and sustaining campus disability organizations; advocacy and influencing policy; and online engagement and content creation were the primary strategies used by participants, who had goals of reducing nondisabled people's ableism, having disability community, creating more accessible campuses, and responding to ableism. Findings extend understandings of resistance, generate additional questions, and provide implications for practice.
At community colleges, a noticeable gender divide exists among faculty who participate in college operations, such as committee and service work, department chair and other leadership positions, as well as unpaid labor. This narrative inquiry explored how tenured community college women faculty experience the gendered division of labor and privilege. We were particularly interested in the ways in which their experiences influence burnout and how community college structures, policies, practices, and social norms perpetuate gender differences in labor distribution. Ten participants who represent three midwestern community colleges, a variety of academic divisions and departments, and who are in different stages of their careers (e.g., mid-career or within a few years of retirement) participated in two 60-90-min, semistructured interviews. The findings, presented as an open letter addressed to community college administrators, illuminate women faculty's values-driven approach to work in an environment that is created to make women do more work. The study indicates a need to transform organizational structures, policies, and processes to create a more equitable work environment for women faculty and prevent their burnout.
As the number of first-generation college students increases, so does the number of students who commute to college. We used the psychosociocultural framework (Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000) to examine the psychological, social, and cultural factors contributing to 146 Latina undergraduate commuters' persistence decisions. Each dimension individually and collectively predicted persistence. Problem-focused coping partially mediated the relationships between self-ganas, mentoring (emotional and academic support), and cultural fit (environment and congruity), with academic persistence. Problem-focused coping was also higher for those affiliated with a student organization than for those who were not. Although student organization affiliation did not serve as a moderator for the study's relationships, the strength of the relationship between self-ganas and persistence decisions emerged as significantly stronger for those not affiliated with a student organization than for those who were affiliated. Findings suggest that universities better support the persistence and success of Latina undergraduates, particularly those who are commuter and first-generation college students.
Despite persistently high rates of sexual and relationship violence on college campuses, institutions largely rely on compliance mechanisms (e.g., Title IX) that apply a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing sexual and relationship violence (Linder et al., 2024). This approach has contributed to limited research on the cultural and intergenerational factors that shape healing among Chinese American women and femme survivors in college. Accordingly, this study investigates how intergenerational and cultural factors shape how Chinese American college women and femme survivors navigate healing. Informed by Millner et al.'s (2021) Asian-centric framework and French et al.'s (2020) framework on radical healing, the study employs culturally responsive and decolonial methods (i.e., Yum Chas and Rice Roundtables) to examine these survivors' lived experiences. Findings reveal three ways that intergenerational and cultural influences shaped Chinese American women and femme college survivors' healing pathways: (a) resisting being "the perfect daughter," (b) recognizing intergenerational trauma for collective healing, and (c) remembering cultural knowledge. Implications include ways to foster culturally responsive healing spaces for Women of Color student survivors, especially Asian/American women and femme survivors, to thrive in and beyond higher education.
This qualitative study examined the ways that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer student veterans describe and make meaning of their social identities within various ecological systems. Engaging identity management for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer veterans involved thoughtful decisions for navigating (in)visibility with particular identities and contexts within and beyond higher education. Despite commonalities that emerged regarding ways students considered their identities, the strategies employed varied greatly and demonstrated the heterogeneous nature of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer student veterans as extremely diverse students. Understanding these experiences provides a new lens for thinking about identity-based spaces in higher education and for considering strategies for centering students on the margins with multiple minoritized identities.
Since the start of the global pandemic, first-generation racial-ethnic minoritized college students have faced exacerbated health inequalities and changes in substance use. This study investigated whether home disruptions during the global pandemic have increased substance use among racial-ethnic minoritized college students (N = 533), focusing on direct and indirect relationships through family conflict and stress. Specifically, we examined how home disruption related to substance use, family conflict, and stress, and tested whether family conflict and stress mediated these relationships using three time points of data. In addition, we assessed whether first-generation college student status moderated the impact of home disruption on substance use. Results showed that home disruption was associated with increased family conflict. At the same time, stress was not associated with alcohol and cannabis use. Further, first-generation college student status was a significant predictor of other drug and alcohol use. In contrast, stress was not associated with alcohol and cannabis use. There were significant moderating effects of first-generation college student status in reducing the impact of stress, other drug, and alcohol use. However, these effects varied by outcome and racial-ethnic minoritized subgroup, rather than functioning as a generalizable protective factor.
Through this article, we explore how the campus sexual violence climate influences Women of Color student survivors' decisions to disclose their experiences with campus sexual violence to formal support providers. In focusing on the influence of campus climate on disclosure, this research reaches beyond identifying the low rates of disclosure for Women of Color students toward identifying the social and institutional conditions that shape women's disclosure decisions. Through this research, we identify aspects of the campus climate that can encourage disclosure and influence individual and institutional recovery for Women of Color.
Black students at predominantly White institutions experience general and race-related stressors during their time in college. Counterspaces, defined as settings situated within larger social contexts that disrupt harmful dominant narratives and cultural norms, are one way Black students cope with stressors. The present study explores the utility of a Black women-focused book club as an inclusive and identity-affirming space for Black women attending an elite and private predominantly White institution. Over the course of a 4-month semester, two Black women cofacilitators held a monthly book club series (Kitchen Table Talk) with four main elements: Black feminist book selections, online journal prompts, invited Black women speakers, and in-person group discussions. When the program concluded, we considered how this bibliotherapeutic program offered a critical wellness counterspace for participants through qualitative data collection with a subset of eight Black women who attended at least one Kitchen Table Talk session during the semester. In response to questions about institutional climate and sense of belonging, we identified three themes: (a) culture of Whiteness (e.g., racial tokenization), (b) culture of productivity, and (c) culture of incohesion (i.e., lack of unity among Black student organizations). Second, we analyzed how and why the programmatic elements of Kitchen Table Talk facilitated positive mental health and wellness among Black women. As a campus counterspace, the book club fostered emotional expression, narrative identity work, and communal care in ways that resonated with the women's lived experiences. The group cultivated a healing environment rooted in affirmation and connection, underscoring the value of culturally grounded, community-based spaces that address wellness and identity holistically-especially for those whose needs are often overlooked in mainstream therapeutic settings.
