First-year students often search for spaces in which they feel comfortable, safe, and at home. Even though existing research emphasizes the value of spaces in which college students, particularly students of color, are understood, little is known about how they navigate their search for home. Drawing upon a symbolic interactionist approach and…

In higher education like other institutions, safety and security of persons particularly students resident on university campuses remain topical. The limited research conducted on the experiences of university students in Ghana reflects paucity of literature on safety and security on university campuses in Ghana where such issues have been…

This qualitative study explores the moral behavior in the lived experience of resident assistants who administer disciplinary policy at a large, public, urban institution located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The 12 participants volunteered to be interviewed by the first author utilizing the research question, "What is the…

The Chinese undergraduate student population currently represents 12.8% of all international students enrolled in the United States (Institute for International Education, 2015a). In an effort to understand the experiences of this population in their first year of college in the United States, a phenomenological study was conducted using a…

Social integration for lateral transfer students (four-to-four-year) is promoted by a living environment that encourages learning about campus, connecting to resources, and developing peer groups. Interviews with 27 lateral transfer students revealed that those who had previously lived on campus had expectations that residence halls would provide…

This qualitative study was performed at a liberal arts university in the southeast United States. Thirty-nine undergraduate minority first-generation students were interviewed to acquire knowledge of their satisfaction levels with four student services: tutoring, campus housing, financial aid, and career planning. The purpose of this study was to…

Internationalisation has recently become one of the major developmental goals within many institutions of higher education, where the use of languages on campus plays an important role. While research focusing on the use of English in higher education is growing, little attention has been paid to out-of-class contexts. This paper reports on the…

This study explored how the experiences of four white, undergraduate, self-identified social justice advocates influenced their on campus participation in racially and ethnically diverse settings. Acknowledging the existence and persistence of white privilege, ontological expansiveness, and epistemological ignorance, the research was grounded in…

Resident Assistants (RAs) are traditionally upper-class students who are responsible for enforcing residence-hall policies (Heala, 2006). These undergraduate paraprofessional students are consistently asked to hold their peers accountable for their behavior, yet this task can be a struggle for those RAs who are unable to display consistently moral…

The purpose of this study was to conduct exploratory research to examine what undergraduate students learn by participating in and holding a leadership role in residence hall governments. Alumni were interviewed to determine the degree of learning that lasts through their entrance into a professional work environment. Six recent alumni, ranging in…

This qualitative study sought to understand the challenges that Black gay male undergraduates confront in campus residence halls and the supports that enabled their success in facing them. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 29 participants, we found that Black gay men report varied encounters with subtle and overt forms of racism among White…

Building upon conceptualisations of the sexualisation of space, this paper interrogates the ways in which heterosexual discourses are produced, enforced, legitimised and maintained as dominant within student accommodation. Analysis is derived from interviews with 17 gay male undergraduates attending a UK institution. I detail the micro-level…

Resident assistants serve a vital function within the residence hall; however, the challenges they confront are different from those of other students. For example, resident assistants may deal with over-consumption or illegal consumption of alcohol on campus. Addressing this issue may cause resident assistants to experience role conflict and role…

The connection between knowing the right or good thing to do, and then actually doing it has long been a puzzle. "Watch what we do, not what we say" goes beyond the revealing admission of a former Attorney General of the United States to the broader reality of human behavior. Parents, teachers, employers, religious educators, and society…