One hundred miles south of Los Angeles’ protests, 245 higher education professionals met one week before the Juneteenth holiday. We convened at the Umoja Community Education Foundation’s Summer Learning Institute (SLI) in San Marcos, Calif., to learn about instructional methods and administrative strategies to support Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other diverse student groups. After two days of meetings, presentations, and social activities, the closing white ceremony sealed the conference’s theme of liberatory education.
Following instructions from the community’s elders, Umoja’s director of curriculum and instruction, dressed in a white dress with matching heels, stood behind the podium and addressed the room. She said, “We must encircle diversity at this moment and hear from various members of our community.” An attendee stood, walked to the mic, introduced herself, and shared how she witnessed her immigrant father get deported. All side conversations stopped.
As she continued, we applauded as the college administrator spoke with conviction about her unwavering commitment to advocating for diversity. She shared how, despite recent immigration raids and additional aggressive acts to intimidate her community, she remained brave to pursue her responsibilities in higher education. The administrator discussed how the protests in L.A., combined with the knowledge, community, and skills gained during the conference, fueled her compassion to navigate budget constraints and uphold diversity programs at her institution. She declared resistance against the anti-DEI and anti-Black agenda.
New generations, new opportunities, and new struggles
Diversity still matters. A study conducted by The Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education reports that 410,000 first-generation immigrant students attend colleges and universities in California. The Higher Ed Immigration Portal also indicates that 121,890 individuals born outside the United States hold faculty and staff positions in colleges, universities, and professional schools. In the STEM field, 40% of the workers identify as first-generation immigrants. These sources further document that 46.7% of health aide workers share first-generation immigrant status.
Data compiled in the report "Recruiting the Anxious Generation" suggests that prospective students consider inclusion, safety, and political affairs when selecting which schools to attend. Current applicants spend significantly more time on their devices than previous cohorts, which influences attention span and awareness. Researchers found a correlation between technology use and concerns about belonging on college campuses among study participants inundated with news bits on social media platforms.
Practitioners at Black-serving institutions confirm that Black students question the resources on college campuses. According to Keith Curry, Frank Harris III, and J. Luke Wood, Black students ask questions like, “Do I belong in college?” and “Am I college material?” These inquiries and others reflect a lack of confidence in higher education and support, which can influence their chances of academic achievement. To encourage Black students, Curry, Harris, and Wood propose that administrators work to develop inclusive missions, representation and belonging initiatives, institutional accountability parameters, curricula and co-curricular programs, and health and wellness resources.
