Reconceptualizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Through the Perspectives of Graduate Students of Color at Two Minority-Serving Institutions

• In Event: Civic Engagement and Corridors of Struggle and Meaning Across Domains

Abstract

Dominant DEI discourses and practices in U.S. higher education marginalize the experiences of graduate students of color and students at Minority Serving Institutions. In a comparative ethnographic study, I analyzed the perspectives of graduate students of color at a historically white Hispanic Serving Institution and an HBCU to demonstrate how ideologies about DEI are shaped by institutional context and individuals’ backgrounds. In interview data, four topics patterned by institution type and interviewees’ lived experiences: definitions of diversity, definitions of inclusion, why diversity and inclusion matter in higher education, and institutional diversity discourse versus institutional action. The differences between HSI and HBCU students’ perspectives motivate nuanced reconceptualizations of taken-for-granted DEI concepts that have been defined primarily in PWI contexts.

Author

• Kendra Calhoun, University of California - Los Angeles