“It’s Giving Conditional Accept”: The Role of Whiteness in First-Year College Success Courses

• In Event: Critical Curriculum Issues in Higher Education: Access and Teacher Preparation

Abstract

This study critically examines the role of whiteness embedded in the curriculum of a first-year college success course, drawing on the theoretical framework of whiteness as property. This lens conceptualizes whiteness as a historically constructed and legally protected form of property that continues to shape and maintain dominance within educational structures, including how universities design First-Year Experience (FYE) programming for students with marginalized identities. While FYE courses have been a standard feature of higher education since the 1970s, little scholarship has explored how whiteness informs their curricular and pedagogical development. This qualitative study used reflective journal writings from 25 first-year students to offer a critical analysis of how whiteness persists and is normalized in these foundational courses.

Author

• Janelle Grant-Ashbaugh, Grand Valley State University