Ain't Too Proud to Beg: How For-Profit Mission Statements Are Positioned to Support Marginalized Groups

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Tell Me What Matters to Your Institution Without Saying It Out Loud: Mission Statements, Resource Allocation, and Institutional Priorities (Table 34)

Abstract

This research investigates how mission statements from for-profit institutions communicate their identities, purposes, and contributions to postsecondary education and society (Cortes et al., 2022; Ortega et al., 2020). Using critical discourse analysis and content analysis, this study investigates four thematic messages for-profit institutions convey and how they can be used to support historically marginalized groups. Due to the over-representation of women, people of colour, and veterans in the for-profit sector, their mission statements allow students, faculty, and staff to use the mission statements to help envision and create more inclusive spaces. The mission statements provide a foundation to assess and envision inclusive policies, practices, and institutional culture.

Authors

• Ashley N. Gaskew, Baruch College - CUNY

• Brianna Mayers, Baruch College - CUNY