Where Activism Meets the University: A Case Study of the Institutionalization of Undocumented Student Programs

• In Event: 41.035 - Complicating Undocufriendly: Institutional Responses to Undocumented Student Services in Higher Education

Abstract

In 2013, news of the appointment of Janet Napolitano as the new president of the University of California system triggered student protests on several campuses across the state. Undocumented student leaders cited fears of deportation given Napolitano’s previous position as Director of the United States Department of Homeland Security. In the wake of these student protests and in order to quell student concerns, Napolitano established an undocumented student task force and committed $5 million dollars over three years to undocumented students enrolled in the UC system. With this money, each of the UC campuses has been able to hire student affairs officers who specifically work with the undocumented student population, to establish on-campus resource centers for undocumented students, and to offer programming and other forms of support, including financial aid. While undocumented student services in the UC system are quickly becoming assimilated to the culture of student affairs, it is important to interrogate the costs and benefits of the institutionalization of activist student demands.

Based on field research and qualitative interviews, this paper presents a case study of the institutionalization of undocumented student services at UC Riverside from 2014-2016. With support from the Napolitano funds, UC Riverside was able to employ a student affairs officer specially versed in undocumented student issues, create supplemental forms of financial aid, and run a variety of programs geared toward increasing awareness of undocumented student rights and resources as well as increasing general feelings of inclusion on campus. This paper argues that UC Riverside has successfully been able to harness state policies and university resources to create an undocu-friendly campus. It asserts that key to this success has been the close collaboration between the office of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and undocumented student activists, whose input has alerted the administration to acute student needs, concerns, and desires. In addition to providing space, public acknowledgment, and financial support (in the forms of matching funds), the university has also enacted partnerships between the office of undocumented student programs with critical offices on campuses, such as financial aid, the student counseling center, and career counseling. While generally regarded as a successful model for undocumented student support, this paper will also provide a critical analysis of the costs of the institutionalization of “services” that undocumented student activists previously provided to their own community.

Building on literature about racial campus climate (Yosso 2006) as well as specific literature about undocu-friendly campuses, this paper provides an in-depth case study about how one university campus is indeed “the stage upon which state policies and their constraints interact with student-level challenges and assets” (Suarez Orozco et al, 2015: 457).

Author

• Jennifer R. Nájera, University of California - Riverside