As the winter holiday season approaches, 22-year-old graduate student, Sydney Harris, wants nothing more than to spend the holidays with her family. But in being 17 hours away from home as a full-time graduate student, the option to travel isn’t really an option at all.
Many college campuses close over breaks, leaving only essential services and facilities online for accessibility. Some institutions allow students to reside on campus for a prorated fee, others partner with local hotels to provide housing accommodations to students, and others implement on-campus work programs that operate over breaks. The HuffPost News states that at most institutions, student housing is founded on the assumption that students living on-campus have somewhere to go over extended breaks, but many don’t.
So, what does this mean for students like Sydney? A first-year graduate student. A full-time graduate student. A student of color attending a predominantly white institution (PWI). A young black woman on her own, the farthest she’s ever been from home and everything she’s ever known for the first time in her life.
Furthermore, how do factors such as these affect students like Sydney? The diverse student .
Sydney Harris
Student Affair Administration In Higher Education (SAAHE) Student
Texas A&M University
listenFollow along the article to learn more about Sydney's journey through higher education!
Diversity and Intersectionality The Relationship Between the Two.
The nation’s population continues to grow in diversity as time advances. According to the United States Census Bureau, there have been population increases for all race and Hispanic origin groups, except the white population as reported this year. Colleges and universities have also grown more diverse, but even as student diversity rises in higher education, disparities still remain significant."
Increased student diversity hasn’t necessarily come with increased faculty diversity. In its 2019 report, “Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education”, the American Council on Education (ACE) reported that about 45 percent of college and university students identify themselves as black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, and mixed race, a significant 30 percent increase over two decades. Furthermore, less than 25 percent of faculty members are people of color. The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds says students are more likely to interact with people of color in service jobs than in faculty positions or in leadership with less than one in five senior executives representing people of color. This has ultimately resulted in a decline of faculty role models and awareness regarding the psychosocial challenges students of color encounter.
"In fact, what explains the interconnected relationship of social categorizations such as race, gender, and sexual orientation as applied to students? Intersectionality."
"In 1989, critical race theorist, Kimberlé Crenshaw, first introduced the term intersectionality as a framework that describes the ways in which gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class and other forms of discrimination “intersect” to create unique dynamics, perspective, experiences, and effects including systems of inequality."
"Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times, that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things.” – Kimberlé Crenshaw (2017)"
"We are all located at the intersection of multiple identities. Each layer of one’s cultural identity and social identity shapes their life experience as a whole. One can’t be oppressed for solely one part of their identity, therefore taking an intersectional approach in the classroom entails understanding the various forms of oppression that each person experiences as well as how they interact."
"So, what role might intersectionality play in the life of the diverse student?"
Let's Check Out Sydney's Cultural Identity!
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Struggles and Challenges.
Minority students may encounter a number of challenges that contribute to greater mental, emotional, and psychological distress than majority students. These experiences include being victims of micro-aggressions and racism, islamophobia, cyberbullying, verbal and physical assault, and discrimination on campus as well as the surrounding towns and communities. These can lead to isolation, alienation, marginalization, and feeling lonely and the difficulties may be exacerbated when students lack a supportive social net and have complications finding assistance.
In addition to being a time of change and stress as they enter adulthood, the conventional age for students attending college of 18 to 24 years is also a time when many mental illnesses first manifest. While mental health problems are similar across all groups of students, students of color are less likely to be diagnose with mental illness and are less likely to seek treatment. A national survey found that when compared to white students, minority students- specifically students of color- report higher rates of emotional distress in their freshman year and of keeping their difficulties to themselves. An article from the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds, “College Students of Color: Overcoming Racial Disparities and Discrimination ”, notes how college students of color report higher rates of emotional stress, anxiety, sadness, and hopelessness as compared to white students. It further articulates how untreated mental illness can negatively affect a student’s academic performance and their emotional and social well-being.
Students of color frequently suffer in silence because of stigma, reluctance to seek help for mental health issues, and cultural mistrust of mental health experts who lack cultural competence. Moreover, there is a gap between students of color and white students in the likelihood of seeking counseling services- students of color are half as likely to do so, according to HigherEducationToday.
Resources on campus aimed for minority students to adapt to the campus environment can make a positive difference in their adjustment and emotional well-being.
Resources and Solutions Checkmate.
There are many solutions colleges and universities can implement to close the diversity gap on their campuses, better support students of color, and cultivate more equitable and inclusive environments.
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The Importance of Minority and Cultural Representation It'll blow your mind.
Diversity and inclusion are two essential components that need to be actively represented in higher education, especially in spaces where cultural differences don’t form the majority of the campus’ makeup. However, their effectiveness can’t be properly addressed, executed, and maintained without recognizing the relevance of intersectionality.
Implementing DEI efforts, empathizing with minority students, and even educating ourselves and others on the value of understanding students’ different perspectives doesn’t only benefit colleges and universities in regard to figures and enrollment, but it deeply impacts students with a range of skills, backgrounds, ages, races, religions, genders, and other traits while also instilling a sense of belonging and acceptance.