Are we “social justice warriors?” HESA practitioners’ experiences supporting students impacted by bias
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Megan Karbley (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Silvia Bettez
Abstract: Higher Education Student Affairs (HESA) practitioners play important roles in supporting their campus communities, specifically students, when bias incidents occur on campus. These HESA practitioners often hold the same minoritized identities as students impacted by bias and see their work in higher education as advancing missions of inclusion and social justice. While not all HESA practitioners understand the work as the latter, the participants in this study all believed that diversity, equity, and inclusion work is “everyone’s work” in higher education and felt their roles were meaningful to students and their institutions. This qualitative research study examines HESA practitioners’ experiences at the intersections of their institutions, identities, and bias response work. The goals of this study included understanding: (a) the experiences of HESA practitioners and the impact on their well-being; (b) HESA practitioners’ relationships to social justice; and (c) how HESA practitioners’ social locations and identities influence and are influenced by supporting students impacted by bias. Eleven administrators, including two who also held faculty roles across ten functional areas, participated in two one-on-one interviews and nine of the eleven participants attended a virtual focus group with other participants. Semi-structured interview questions were informed by the participants’ experiences throughout the study. Participants stories were analyzed using a queer theoretical framework and highlight their multidimensional experiences and intersections of bias, DEI work, their identities, their institutions, legislative challenges, and overall goals as educators. The work concludes with implications for research to amplify participants’ experiences as agents of institutions tasked with carrying out institutional missions when their own identities are often impacted. Keywords: Bias, Bias Response, DEI, Higher Education, Student Affairs, Practitioners, Identity
Are we “social justice warriors?” HESA practitioners’ experiences supporting students impacted by bias
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Created on 5/1/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- Bias, Bias Response, DEI, Higher Education, Student Affairs, Practitioners, Identity
- Subjects
- Student affairs administrators $x Attitudes
- Discrimination in higher education
- Social justice and education