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Is our scholarship elevating or hindering transformation and possibility? Conceptualizations of student organizations in higher education

Abstract

Purpose

This review addresses how student organizations are conceptually framed in the scholarly literature—organizations the authors referred to as “ethnicized student organizations” or “ESOs,” which include both Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) student organizations and ethnically white student organizations such as mainstream fraternities/sororities and clubs that are normalized as not having a racial/ethnic affiliation.

Design/methodology/approach

Critical race theory informs the analysis of 175 articles that address ESOs from 2002 to 2016.

Findings

Analysis revealed that a majority of scholarship conceptualizes ESOs in ways that can minimize the role of institutional whiteness where they are positioned as either serving or hindering both individual students and institutional goals. Findings also reveal a smaller body of literature that emphasized institutionalized power dynamics and honors the transformative work of BIPOC students through ESOs.

Originality/value

Despite widespread public commitments to diversity among institutions, whiteness remains a core institutional presence. This study illustrates the relationships among student organizations, white supremacy and higher education transformation.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Kelly Alvarado-Young and especially HyeSu Han for their assistance with data collection.

Since submission of this article, the following author has updated their affiliations: Lucy Arellano is at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA.

Citation

Vue, R., Arellano Jr, L. and Jayakumar, U.M. (2023), “Is our scholarship elevating or hindering transformation and possibility? Conceptualizations of student organizations in higher education”, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-12-2022-0365

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

source

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