1st Edition
Critical Praxis in Student Affairs Social Justice in Action
Student affairs work—like higher education—is fundamentally about change. Principally, the change work performed by student affairs practitioners is about supporting the growth and development of individual students and student groups. Increasingly, that work has called for practitioners to become more active in working to change higher education so that it lives up to its radically democratic, inclusive ideals. This means adopting new strategies to transform student affairs staff, students, and institutions, and drawing on insights from critical, liberatory theories. This text represents an effort to describe and document these practices of intentionally centering critical theories.The first section of this text examines the ways that critically-minded practitioners lead through equitable, liberatory frameworks, offering important models for reimagining the future of higher education. In the second section, the editors take up thinking and acting to support the development of critical consciousness in students, providing examples of programs, initiatives, and student support offices that center social justice in their work, and foster a critical lens through their interactions with students. In their conclusion, the editors provide a model for critical praxis, offering enduring strategies for practitioners seeking to incorporate critical, socially just praxis into their everyday work, and defining areas for future research and praxis, including identifying strategies for effective assessment of critical praxis, and modalities for “scaling up” the work for maximal impact.
Acknowledgments Introduction —Susan B. Marine and Chelsea Gilbert Part One. Centering Critical Praxis in Student Affairs Leadership 1. Critical Praxis in Student Affairs Supervision. A Trauma-Informed Approach —Chelsea Gilbert 2. Critical Praxis With Undocumented Students in Medical Education —Sunny Nakae, Denisse Rojas Marquez, Yadira Ortiz, and Angela Chuan-Ru Chen 3. Not Marginal, Just Mattering. Community Colleges in Student Affairs Practice —Marci Rockey, Colvin T. Georges Jr. Krystal Andrews, and Eboni M. Zamana Gallaher 4. Centering Social Justice to Understand and Address Sexual Violence —Mari Knuth-Bouracee and Kiara Lee 5. A Critical Praxis of Interconnectivity in Student Affairs —Kyle C. Ashlee and Aeriel A. Ashlee Part Two. Engaging Students in Critical Praxis 6. Cultivating Intersectional Conciousness. Considerations and Suggestions From LGBTQ Resource Center Professionals —Alex C. Lange, Nicole Bravo, Bailey Krestakos, and Alex Sylvester 7. Empowering Latinx Students Through Culturally Relevant Leadership Learning —Maritza Torres and Jane Rodriguez 8. Critical Leadership Education for Fraternity and Sorority Leaders — Carter Gilbert 9. Pondering Possibilities. A Critical Reimagining of Residence Life Staff Training — Rachel Wagner and Nick Thuot 10. Catalyzing Social Justice Through Classroom Praxis. Constructing an Advanced Social Justice Course —Susan B. Marine and Chris Haigh Conclusion. Social Justice in Action. A Model for Critical Praxis —Chelsea Gilbert and Susan B. Marine Contributors Index
Biography
Susan B. Marine (she/her) is Associate Professor and Program Director in the Higher Education Master’s Program at Merrimack College. She has 25 years’ experience leading in higher education with specific expertise in sexual violence prevention and response, feminist praxis, and advocacy for the LGBTQ community. Susan teaches courses in higher education history, theory, and practice, and her research interests include feminist praxis in higher education, trans* student inclusion and agency, and ending campus sexual violence. Seeing the classroom as a mutually transformative enterprise, she is deeply committed to preparing future leaders in higher education to transform campus cultures and to continually advance social justice in higher education. She is the author of the ASHE monograph, Stonewall’s Legacy: Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Students in Higher Education, and recently co-edited (with Ruth Lewis) Collaborating for Change: Transforming Cultures to End Gender-based Violence in Higher Education (Oxford).
Chelsea Gilbert (she/her) is a scholar-activist who centers her work in higher education in liberatory learning and intersectional praxis. She is currently a doctoral student in the Educational Studies Department at The Ohio State University where she focuses her scholarship on critical approaches to trauma in higher education and student affairs. Prior to her doctoral studies, she was a full-time student affairs practitioner for 8 years; most recently, she served as the Director of Lehigh University’s Pride Center, where she led her team in the daily work of education, empowerment, and coalition-building. With additional expertise in curriculum development, leadership learning, and medical education, she has been privileged to work with organizations both nationally and internationally in the pursuit of a more just, equitable world.
"An amazing collection of accessible and inviting writing for those who do (and aspire to do) social justice work in higher education and student affairs, as well as for those who want to inspire through their teaching about how to do such work! Each chapter provokes thinking and rethinking of staid approaches to and conceptualizations of student affairs work. A vibrant and hopeful call for how a critical praxis framework can open up the potentialities for more sustainable and liberatory futures."
Chase Catalano, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Virginia Tech, USA
"Critical Praxis in Student Affairs responds to our field’s need for clear, rigorous, and courageous scholarship that deepens our collective capacity to implement equitable frameworks to support students’ flourishing. Filled with powerful vignettes and current research, each chapter offers meaningful questions for rich dialogue and reflection. As scholar-practitioners committed to building just futures in higher education, Marine and Gilbert have assembled a required volume for established and emergent practitioners in the field."
Andrés Castro Samayoa, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Boston College, USA
"Critical Praxis in Student Affairs is a rejuvenating catalyst to our work. The stories and experiences from contributing authors will reaffirm your commitment to the field and the students we serve. This book is a must have for anyone who continues to strive towards effective practices in an always evolving higher education landscape."
Zduy Peter Chu, Deputy Chief Officer of Student Affairs, Valdosta State University, USA
"This text is important, timely, and, to coin a phrase from the book, critical for current higher education and student affairs praxis. It can be useful in higher education student affairs graduate program coursework or as a professional development read for student affairs educators."
Jamie L. Workman, Teachers College Record
