Drawing largely on the work of Maya Angelou, we use decolonial collaborative autoethnography to explore why the caged bird sings in the academy. We offer a "caged bird sings" framework based on Angelou's book and use it to analyze our autoethnographic performances. What we found through this work is that the legacy of colonialism in the…

Beyond having over a quarter of their undergraduate students be Hispanic, what makes Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) uniquely Latinx? And how can university leaders, faculty, and staff transform these institutions into spaces that promote racial equity, social justice, and collective liberation? In "Transforming Hispanic-Serving…

The ways in which U.S. scholars and researchers of higher education conceptualize "race" shapes inquiry and ultimately knowledge creation and dissemination of scholarship, research, and policy contributing to the U.S. Latinx education pipeline. This conceptual study addresses the symbolic violence of what "passing for White" as…

To date, whites are three-fifths of the overall U.S. population and are declining in proportion to people of color. Currently, Latinxs are 18% of the total population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019), and that percentage is projected to increase with the next census count. Correlatively, then, the shift of predominantly white institutions (PWIs) into…

Considering the legacies of exclusion, white supremacy, and genocide found within the walls of U.S. higher education, the public good construct is also embedded in exclusion, white supremacy, and genocide. The fact that existing notions of the public good remain intact and unquestioned of its origins means that the public good is not for all…

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, but quantitative research on the various components of this population has not received extensive investigation. College-educated Hispanics have been particularly neglected due to exaggerated and negative stereotypes. This present study uses data from the 2010 National Survey of…

Because the work of scholars and student affairs practitioners is primarily confined within colonial institutions of higher education, their ethics of research and practice are also primarily bound by the same colonial perspective. Colonial practices perpetuate white dominance and therefore harm students, specifically those from marginalized…

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Hispanics" comprise only 4% of the full-time faculty in U.S. universities, although Latin@s comprise 16.4% of the U.S. population. Given the under-representation of Latin@ faculty, efforts to support and retain them are paramount. Recently a small body of literature has surfaced explicitly…

The California higher education system has not kept pace with changing workforce demands or the needs of California's racially diverse population. Fewer than half of adults in California have a college credential but by 2030, 60% will need a college education to meet workforce demand and racial equity gaps will need to be entirely eliminated. In…

Young people who graduate from high school, get a job, and get married before having children, in that order, are far less likely to be in poverty and far more likely to have a solid footing in the middle class later in life. This path to adulthood has been dubbed the "success sequence." The cultural norms and values embedded in the…

This study contributes to the literature on college students with multiple marginalized identities by investigating the experiences of queer Latino men as they created familial relationships during their time in college. Data from "The National Study" on Latino Male Achievement in Higher Education was used to elucidate how queer Latino…

Researchers focus disproportionately on the underperformance of Latino males in higher education. In response to this research gap, this study explores how Latino males conceptualized and embodied success at selective, predominantly White institutions. Using qualitative data available from "The National Study on Latino Male Achievement in…

The United States has boosted attainment rates over the past decade, with the share of young adults with at least an associate degree increasing by 20 percent, resulting in an additional 5 million more individuals earning a college degree. But these gains in postsecondary attainment are not evenly distributed across the country. Of the 218.6…

The pay gap between minority men and White men has remained virtually unchanged since 1980, with Hispanic men currently earning 69 cents and Black men currently earning 73 cents on the dollar that White men earn. The pay gap is even greater for minority women. The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) has…

With the philanthropic support of the Art for Justice Fund and Michelson 20MM Foundation, the Campaign for College Opportunity produced this research brief that provides an overview of the current state of higher education for currently and formerly incarcerated students. This brief provides descriptive demographics on California's incarcerated…