"If They Know We're an HSI, They Won't Enroll": Black Representation at Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Predominantly White Institutions

• In Event: The Importance of Race and Representation: Navigating Educational GPS Across the P-20 Landscape

Abstract

Much has been written about administrator negligence when it comes to Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs) doing justice by their Latinx students (e.g., Garcia, 2019). One reason that has been given for why HSIs suppress their identity is because the words “Hispanic-serving” can make non-Latinx students, particularly other minoritized students, feel uncomfortable. In this paper, we report that Black representation is higher at HSIs across the country, as well as in the three states with the most HSIs. While there is a slight advantage for public PWIs over public HSIs, there is a greater difference in favor of private HSIs relative to private PWIs. Alternative explanations reflecting the concept of Whiteness as property are offered for why administrators suppress the HSI identity.

Authors

• Regina de la Parra, Saint Mary's University of San Antonio

• Rick Sperling, St. Mary's University (TX)

• Sequoia Naomi Callahan, Texas A&M University

• Pedro Gonzalez Aboyte, Saint Mary's University of San Antonio