The minoritized identities of many resident assistants are rarely a topic of studies that evaluate their campus experiences, yet these identities are crucial in making these experiences positive. This qualitative research study helps fill this gap in the literature by reporting the experiences of 21 resident assistants with minoritized identities…

Using scholarly personal narratives as a research tool, we explored how the director of an LGBTQ+ living-learning program (LLP) created community within the constructs of an otherwise cis- and heteronormative residential environment. We reviewed the first author's reflections about community experiences and analyzed them for opportunities to upend…

This chapter provides an overview of social justice as both process and outcome. It introduces a working definition for social justice that is equity-focused rather than deficit-focused. This first chapter sets a foundation for examining social justice practices in the context of university housing programs.

This chapter shares reflections from two university housing administrators on using dialogic practices to build skills for addressing issues of social justice and equity that surface in residential community living settings.

This paper investigated homelessness and housing insecurity on college campuses in the United States. Using a mix design and framed by the theoretical frameworks of resiliency and social justice theories, this research sought to assess the barriers and interventions, if any, for students encountering homelessness while in college. The data…

Institutional policies and student affairs services benefit lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer (LGBTQ+) students by offering affirming campus spaces and organizational markers that influence student success (Pitcher, Camacho, Renn, & Woodford, 2018). (See Tompkins, 2014 for explanation of the use of the term trans*.) Policies and student…

Gender inclusive housing (GIH) is a recent policy development designed to enable greater inclusion of students of all genders in residential housing (Garvey, Chang, Nicolazzo, & Jackson, 2018; Taub, Johnson, & Reynolds, 2016). Student affairs practitioners (SAPs) play important roles advocating for improved policies and procedures on…

Colleges and universities commonly review the criminal history of students who apply to live in campus housing, but this practice may be inherently discriminatory. New guidance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development warns that the Fair Housing act, which applies to higher education institutions, prohibits the use of any practice…

In the last twenty years a body of "social justice educators" has come to power in American higher education. These professors and administrators are transforming higher education into advocacy for progressive politics. They also work to reserve higher education jobs for social justice advocates, and to train more social justice…

Student affairs professionals are concerned about the access and success of diverse groups of students in U.S. higher education, but systematic barriers continue to confront one understudied population of college students. Justice-involved people--those who have experienced the criminal justice system--face unique challenges on our campuses but…

Gender-neutral housing (GNH) offers a safe and inclusive environment for students who have need and desire for a space that is gender inclusive and does not limit placement to sex as assigned at birth. In predominant gender-based housing models, students who are gender nonconforming find limited options. The request for, and implementation of, GNH…

This guide briefly retraces the rise of ideologically charged residential life programming on campuses and shows how such programs, despite their seemingly innocuous goals, in fact undercut the principles of rational inquiry that are foundational to the academic enterprise. In the fall of 2007, one university conducted a program for all 7,000…