Navigating Servingness: Sta Perceptions at a Catholic Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution (eHSI)

• In Event: Learning and Working at e/HSIs and IHEs

Abstract

As more institutions cross the enrollment threshold to become Hispanic-Serving
Institutions (HSIs), critical questions remain about what it means to serve Latine students.
While much of the literature focuses on students and faculty, the experiences of student
support staH are often overlooked. This qualitative case study centers the voices of
student-facing staH at a private Catholic emerging HSI (eHSI) to examine how they perceive
their roles in supporting servingness eHorts. Guided by Critical Race Theory (CRT), Latino/a
Critical Race Theory (LatCrit), and García’s (2019) multidimensional framework of
servingness, I use counterstorytelling to analyze interviews with seven staH members.
Findings highlight four interlocking themes: institutional confusion and exclusion from
planning; surface-level cultural responsiveness; invisibility of support services; and
overburdening of staH as racialized human capital. StaH narratives provide a bottom-up
perspective that challenges top-down HSI narratives and calls for faith-based institutions t
o reconcile mission with practice through structural change.

Author

• Arturo Anaya Servin, University of San Diego