Nolan L. Cabrera

Entering and Succeeding in the “Culture of College”: The Story of Two Mexican Heritage Students:

In this retrospective study, the academic resilience of two individuals of Mexican heritage who graduated from Stanford University is described. The respondents (a woman and a man) now in their early 20s came from home backgrounds of extreme impoverishment and adversity. By means of in-depth interviews the challenges the two respondents faced in school beginning in kindergarten and continuing through their graduation from Stanford is described. Both respondents attribute their academic success to the support given them by their mothers and their personal motivation to succeed in school; however, the authors show that this was also possible because the respondents acquired knowledge of the “culture of college” that is essential for the transition from high school to college. The authors describe the processes of this information transmission and how even though it changed the life of their respondents, it has not altered the life of their family.

Missing the (Student Achievement) Forest for All the (Political) Trees Empiricism and the Mexican American Studies Controversy in Tucson

The Arizona legislature passed HB 2281, which eliminated Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD’s) Mexican American Studies (MAS) program, arguing the curriculum was too political. This program has been at the center of contentious debates, but a central question has not been thoroughly examined: Do the classes raise student achievement? The current analyses use administrative data from TUSD (2008–2011), running logistic regression models to assess the relationship between taking MAS classes and passing AIMS (Arizona state standardized tests) and high school graduation. Results indicate that MAS participation was significantly related to an increased likelihood of both outcomes occurring. The authors discuss these results in terms of educational policy and critical pedagogy as well as the role academics can play in policy formation.

Exposing whiteness in higher education: white male college students minimizing racism, claiming victimization, and recreating white supremacy

This research critically examines racial views and experiences of 12 white men in a single higher education institution via semi-structured interviews. Participants tended to utilize individualized definitions of racism and experience high levels of racial segregation in both their pre-college and college environments. This corresponded to participants seeing little evidence of racism, minimizing the power of contemporary racism, and framing whites as the true victims of multiculturalism (i.e. ‘reverse racism’). This sense of racial victimization corresponded to the participants blaming racial minorities for racial antagonism (both on campus and society as a whole), which cyclically served to rationalize the persistence of segregated, white campus subenvironments. Within these ethnic enclaves, the participants reported minimal changes in their racial views since entering college with the exception of an enhanced sense of ‘reverse racism,’ and this cycle of racial privilege begetting racial privilege was especially pronounced within the fraternity system.

Working through Whiteness: White male college students challenging racism

This qualitative study relies on Freire’s conception of liberatory praxis to examine White male college students’ becoming aware of racism and translating awareness into action. The participants developed racial cognizance via crossracial contact and course content. They also tended to be open to interrogating racism and racial privilege due to other marginalized identities (e.g., being gay). The participants took actions against racism but continued to struggle with race (e.g., essentializing minority experiences). The findings demonstrate the importance of race-conscious curricula, empathy, and cross-racial contact in promoting racial justice actions, while illustrating the nonlinear trajectory of White student racial identity development.

But We're Not Laughing: White Male College Students' Racial Joking and What This Says About "Post-Racial" Discourse

This study critically analyzes White male college student narratives regarding racial joking. Through semi-structured interviews, 29 participants described a pattern of behavior and rationalization: they heard and told racist jokes frequently; the jokes were framed as not racist; and the jokes were told only among White people, because the participants viewed minorities as overly sensitive. These students were far from post-racial (i.e., in a state where race no longer matters), despite the prevalence of this discourse, and this highlighted a shared responsibility in the perpetuation of racist practices among joke tellers, listeners, and institutions of higher education.

Is "Race-Neutral" Really Race-Neutral?: Disparate Impact Towards Underrepresented Minorities in Post-209 UC System Admissions

Authors examine the proportion of undergraduate applications, admissions, and enrollments preceding, during, and after Proposition 209 while accounting for the relative growth in University of California eligibility for underrepresented minorities (URMs). They employed standard deviation analyses to measure dispersion of the URMs to non-URMs. Results suggest that disparate impact towards URMs persists, the magnitude is large, and affirmative action alone is insufficient to ensure an equitable admissions process.

“But I’m oppressed too”: white male college students framing racial emotions as facts and recreating racism

Most analyses of racism focus on what people think about issues of race and how this relates to racial stratification. This research applies Feagin’s white racial frame to analyze how White male college students at two universities feel about racism. Students at the academically non-selective and less diverse university tended to be apathetic while those attending the academically selective and more racially diverse campus tended to be angry. This study highlights the interconnectedness of affective and cognitive responses to race: two areas integral to both the maintenance and dismantling of systemic racism. It also highlights how men frequently frame emotions as facts, which can also support racial stratification.

Racial arrested development: A critical whiteness analysis of the campus ecology

This paper analyzes the campus ecology (Renn, 2003, 2004) literature from the perspective of Critical Whiteness specifically problematizing perceptions of safety and inclusion on the college campus. Relying upon Sullivan’s (2006) ontological expansiveness, Mills’s (1997) epistemology of ignorance, and Leonardo and Porter’s (2010) Fanonian interpretation of racial safety, we argue that there is too high a premium placed on social comfort during the undergraduate experience which actually leaves White students at predominantly White institutions in perpetual states of racial arrested development. We conclude that intentional, targeted racial dissonance is necessary for both White students to develop their racial selves while concurrently being aware of the ugly realities of contemporary racism.

Ganas: From the Individual to the Community, and the Potential for Improving College Going in the “Land That Texas Forgot”

This study explores college-going ganas in the South Rio Grande Valley of Texas within the context of Frierian liberatory praxis. During focus groups, current and former high school students discussed their experiences developing ganas regarding college going and discussed how parental support was integral to ganas formation. The participants also identified structural barriers preventing ganas from becoming college going (e.g., teachers handcuffed by standardized testing). Students wanted to change these conditions, demonstrated the ability to organize, but had also been taught that they were incapable of creating social change. Implications are discussed.

A State-Mandated Epistemology of Ignorance: Arizona's HB2281 and Mexican American/Raza Studies

Charles Mills (1997) argues White Supremacy relies upon a denial that racism exists, or, “an inverted epistemology, an epistemology of ignorance” (italics original, p. 18). Arizonas racial politic...