“Work of the Heart”: Lived Experiences of Undocumented Student Resource Center Professionals

• In Event: Higher Education Professionals and Undocumented Student Support

Abstract

Objectives. This paper centers undocumented students, DACA recipients, and those who belong to mixed-status families-- groups whose legal identities are marginalized across systems, from classrooms (Castrellón, 2022) to the executive office (Ballerini & Feldblum, 2021; Montelongo Hernandez, 2023). These students have unique challenges associated with their legal statuses and shared experiences associated with their marginalization (Benuto et al., 2018; Kwon et al., 2020; Nienhusser, 2018). In response, many higher education institutions (HEIs) have established Undocumented Student Resource Centers (USRCs), physical, on-campus centers that provide institutionalized support to students with marginalized legal identities (Cisneros & Rivarola, 2020). USRCs generally have one professional employee whose responsibilities include serving students, educating peers, and shaping institutional culture. While there is growing research regarding USRCs’ students, less is known about their professional employees, a gap that researchers have identified as a concern for these employees and their students (Cisneros, 2021; Tapia-Fuselier, 2021). This paper focuses on these professionals, exploring their lived experiences at USRCs and the personal factors and institutional conditions that impact their work.

Methods, Data Sources, & Frameworks. I conducted a qualitative study with a hermeneutic phenomenological research design (Converse, 2012; van Manen, 1990). Participants were required to work as full-time USRC employees. I used purposeful maximum variation sampling and invited 116 individuals via a screening survey, ultimately selecting 6 professional employees from USRCs at 2- and 4-year HEIs nationwide (Emmel, 2013; Suri, 2011). Participants engaged in a series of three interviews, informed by three conceptual frameworks—Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth (CCW), Tierney’s (1988) framework for Organizational Culture, and Critical Systems Thinking (CST) (Cordoba & Midgley, 2008; Jackson, 2001; Midgley, 1992; Raza, 2021; Ulrich, 1984). When interwoven, the frameworks account for individual, organizational, and systemic influences that can shape how professional employees experience their work at USRCs. This research design accounted for the participants’ contexts and allowed a holistic understanding of the phenomenon (Fixsen et al., 2020). My analytical approach and writing process involved an iterative cycle of reflection, co-constitution, and being with and practicing openness to the data (van Manen, 1990).

Results. The professional employees of USRCs bring untold assets and forms of wealth, including their commitment to joy and aspirational, familial, and navigational capital. Systemic factors within and outside their organization create barriers, resulting in mentally and emotionally exhausting experiences, overburdened work environments, and instances where their identities and offices are marginalized. The findings reinforce the professionals’ importance to their students’ wellbeing. Although the under-resourced participants operated in unstable contexts, they committed to giving everything possible to their students while also attempting to care for themselves. The participants strongly believed their USRCs were best when student-centered and student-led, acts of humility and love that reflect these professionals' importance to their communities.

Significance. A deeper understanding of these professionals’ experiences is warranted due to continuing sociopolitical concerns and their financial implications, especially during a presidential election year. USRC employees are frontline workers as students face the traumas of deportation, familial separation, dreams deferred, and everyday acts of cruelty. They deserve our understanding and enhanced support.

Author

• Natalie Borg, Boston College