Ethnic Student Organizations in Higher Education: A Critical Race Pedagogy Analysis of Literature

• In Event: Supporting College Students of Color Within STEM and Cocurricular Spaces

Abstract

Despite widespread public commitments to inclusion, diversity and social justice among postsecondary institutions (Iverson, 2012), white racism remains a core institutional presence (Gusa, 2010). In this scholarly paper we use a critical race pedagogy interpretive lens to review16 years of research on ethnic student organizations (ESOs), which were established to respond to the concerns of students of color (Davis, 1997). We argue that ESOs advance inclusion and equity within higher education and discuss the need for postsecondary institutions to leverage ESOs a source of organizational knowledge regarding conditions of educational (in)opportunity in the contemporary landscape.

Authors

• Rican Vue, Oregon State University

• Lucy Arellano, Oregon State University

• HyeSu Han, Oregon State University

• Kelly Marie Alvarado, Oregon State University