Date of Award

8-2024

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education/Higher Education PhD

First Advisor

Tara L. Parker

Second Advisor

Lorna Rivera

Third Advisor

Tahirah Abdullah

Abstract

This study addressed the need to understand the negative experiences of student affairs practitioners of color (SAPOCs) related to racial battle fatigue (RBF) and the accompanying need to explore how SAPOCs working at predominately white institutions (PWIs) experience RBF. The author conducted a multiple-case study with 10 SAPOCs, who served as individual cases, and used semi-structured interviews and document analyses of institutional websites. The conceptual framework for this study was framed by racialized organizations (Ray, 2019), campus racial climate (Hurtado et al., 1998), and RBF (Smith et al., 2007). Findings indicated that while the 10 participants worked at different PWIs and had distinct office and institutional climates, they shared similar experiences with RBF. Each participant talked about the visceral impact of navigating their workplace as a staff member of color, their fear of confirming stereotypes, and/or the mental toll of debating internally whether they had been microaggressed as they navigated their workplace. The study participants were persistently reminded that they were different in their predominately white workspaces and they endured frequent disrespect about their appearance (e.g. hair). Participants revealed they could do the work that they were assigned but also articulated the negative impact RBF was having on them as they would complete their work tasks and manage their RBF. Ultimately, this led participants to have a mix of responses about whether they felt a sense of belonging at work and in which settings they felt the most sense of belonging. Participant experiences with RBF while working at PWIs included a lack of support at different levels (i.e. supervisor, department, or institution) of their professional journeys and a lack of racial representation in their white workplaces. Lastly, participants were evenly split on whether they would leave or remain in the field of student affairs and higher education. This study has outlined the importance of understanding the influence of the PWI environment on SAPOC and RBF. SAPOCs are inherently harmed when an institution focuses solely on increasing its compositional diversity without reflecting on the practices embedded in its culture and climate. The powerful stories shared by the participants led to suggestions for future research and several recommendations for institutions, departments, and SAPOCs to contribute to/improve to the wellbeing, working conditions and/or retention of SAPOCs.

Comments

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