Exploring the Significance of Black Spaces at a Minority-Serving Institution

• In Event: 18.048 - Food for Black Thought

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to explore the role of Black spaces at a Minority Serving Institution (MSI). This will be accomplished by analyzing the administrative closure of the Illescas Center at an MSI that served community and campus activists and specifically, functioned as an office for the Black Student Organization (BSO). Based on 18 semi-structured and in-depth interviews, the author examined perceptions of the administrative closure of the Illescas Center its impact on higher education stakeholders. The results suggest that 1) counterspaces provides an opportunity for higher education researchers to explore the ways MSIs provide support for students of color in higher education and 2) Black spaces are still necessary in institutions that are designated MSIs.

Author

• Blanca Elizabeth Vega, Montclair State University