North Carolina Association for Research in Education. Unpacking Veteran-Friendly Campuses: A Critical Analysis of Cultural Assumptions in Higher Education

• In Event: The Consortium of State and Regional Educational Research Associations: Distinguished Paper Session 3

Abstract

Applying Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of institutional cultural capital, this study illuminates the underlying tension and cultural dynamics that student veterans experience during their transition from the military to higher education. Framed as a qualitative case study that explores the deeper meaning behind people’s everyday life experiences in a specific institutional context, this study critically examines the idea of effective, “veteran-friendly” services and questions the efficacy of the current student veteran support model which demands student veterans unlearn and dispose of their previous cultural dispositions and identity in order to succeed. While confirming a need for greater faculty/staff awareness of student veterans’ cultural challenges and underscoring institutions’ pivotal role in systematically supporting their academic and professional success, findings of this study epitomize the delicate cultural and identity politics at play between major stakeholders of higher education and student veterans, an invisible minority population.

Authors

• Caroline Nowell, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Claudia G Interiano, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Jae Hoon Lim, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Peter Tkacik, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Jerry Lynn Dahlberg, University of North Carolina - Charlotte