Situating the Study of Identity-Based Activism on U.S. College Campuses

Self Cite

Section: Discussion: Lessons Learned—an Addendum To Pete’s Lettermentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussion: Lessons Learned—an Addendum To Pete’s Lettermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Pete’s letter: A student activist’s message to campus administrators.

Quaye¹,

Lange²

2022

Self Cite

“Speaking up when I disagree”: Exploring college student activism and openness to diversity and challenge.

Taylor¹,

Burr²,

Stroup³

et al. 2023

Openness to diversity and challenge (ODC) has been identified as an important educational aim in higher education research, educational philosophy, and popular discourse. Yet, the relationship between college students’ activism orientation, their unique social positions, and their development of ODC in contexts of political polarization remains underexplored. This study explores these relationships using a mixed method (quantitatively driven + qual) approach guided by an ecological framework. Analyzing survey data collected between 2017 and 2019, we found that students’ activism orientation scores are significantly positively associated with their ODC. Our qualitative analysis revealed several factors that students perceive as supporting their development of perspective taking—(a) campus diversity, including political diversity; (b) academic course environments; (c) student organizations and campus events; and (d) informal interactions with peers—as well as several barriers to perspective taking—(a) political climate on campus; (b) politicized racism, anti-immigrant, antitrans, and other forms of unjust bias; and (c) resistance to politically conservative viewpoints. Overall, our study suggests several factors may support college students’ development of ODC, including microsystem-level exposure to diverse campus environments and informal interactions with peers within those environments, notably engagement in activism and exposure to other students’ activism. When encouraging educational aims like ODC, college and university personnel designing microsystem-level interventions should be aware of and responsive to the unique ways that students may experience these efforts depending on their social positions—and in particular their experiences of marginalization—within and beyond the campus environment.

Diversity situationships: Exploring the complexities of a diversity peer educator program.

Carr,

Williams,

Dorimé-Williams

et al. 2023

Peer educator programs have been developed to improve diversity and inclusion in U.S. higher education institutions. While peer educator programs have been touted for their benefits, research does not indicate how institutions serve to support or hinder the success of such programs or those that lead them. This article uses a situational analysis approach to examine a diversity peer educator program at a large, predominately White Midwestern institution. Findings indicate a need to apply new methodological approaches to studying equity and diversity in higher education. Findings also expand theoretical understandings of emotional labor to explore how peer educators’ labor for diversity is exploited and erased at the institutional level. Implications for student leaders, institutional leaders, higher education policy, and equity and diversity praxis are discussed.