How Student Leaders With Minoritized Identities Navigate Campus Political Contexts in the Trump Era

• In Event: Problematizing Power, Politics, and Hegemony in the Campus Environment

Abstract

Beginning with the 2016 presidential campaigns, the permeance of the political context in the campus climate became increasingly apparent. This political context combined with the election result produced fear and anxiety for minoritized populations (APA, 2017; Gonzalez, Ramirez, & Galupo, 2018). This paper explores the ways in which student leaders with one or more minoritized identities enacted and made sense of their political identity through their campus leadership roles. This qualitative study follows constructivist grounded theory and includes interviews with 21 undergraduate student leaders with one or more minoritized identities. Findings represent how student leaders with minoritized identities contended with the current political context on campus and made sense of their political identity as a result.

Author

• Maximilian Schuster, University of Pittsburgh