COLLEGE STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES OF POWER AND MARGINALITY Sharing Spaces and Negotiating Differences Edited by Elizabeth M. Lee and Chaise LaDousa O Routledge 8 Taylor & Francis Croup NEW YORK AND LONDON First published 2015 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 0X14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Frauds Group, an informa business © 2015 Taylor & Francis The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data College students’ experiences of power and marginality: sharing spaces and negotiating differences / by Elizabeth M. Lee and Chaise LaDousa. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. College students—Social conditions. 2. Minority college students—Social conditions. 3- Cultural pluralism. I. Lee, Elizabeth M., editor of compilation. IL LaDousa, Chaise, editor of compilation. III. Title. LB3605.C67 2015 378. T98—dc23 2014042267 ISBN: 978-1-138-78554-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-78555-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-76774-1 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Book Now Ltd, London Printed and bound in the Uni ted States of America by Edwards Brothers Malloy on sustainably sourced paper. CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction: Power and Marginality on Campus 1 Elizabeth M. Lee PART! Identities in Practice 9 1 At the Intersection of Race and Class: An Autoethnographic Study on the Experiences of a Southeast Asian American College Student 11 Kimberly A. Truong, Tryan L. McMickens, and Ronald E. L. Brown 2 “I Kind of'Found My People”: Latino/a College Students’ Search for Social Integration on Campus 29 Sandi Kawecka Nenga, Guillermo A. Alvarado, and Claire S. Blyth 3 Constructing “Hawaiian,” Post-Racial Narratives, and Social Boundaries at a Predominantly White University 46 Daniel Eisen 4 “That’s What Makes Our Friendships Stronger”: Supportive Friendships Based on Both Racial Solidarity and Racial Diversity Janice McCabe 64 1 AT THE INTERSECTION OF RACE AND CLASS An Autoethnographic Study on the Experiences of a Southeast Asian American College Student Kimberly 4. Truong, Tryan L McMickens, and Ronald E. L Brown Introduction According to many measures, Asian Pacific Islander and Desi American (A ...

1. COLLEGE STUDENTS'
EXPERIENCES OF
POWER AND
MARGINALITY
Sharing Spaces and Negotiating
Differences
Edited by Elizabeth M. Lee and
Chaise LaDousa
O Routledge
8 Taylor & Francis Croup
NEW YORK AND LONDON
First published 2015
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 0X14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Frauds Group, an
informa business
© 2015 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters,

2. has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
College students’ experiences of power and marginality: sharing
spaces and negotiating differences / by Elizabeth M. Lee and
Chaise
LaDousa.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. College students—Social conditions. 2. Minority college
students—Social conditions. 3- Cultural pluralism. I. Lee,
Elizabeth M., editor of compilation. IL LaDousa, Chaise, editor
of
compilation. III. Title.
LB3605.C67 2015
378. T98—dc23
2014042267
ISBN: 978-1-138-78554-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-78555-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-76774-1 (ebk)

3. Typeset in Bembo
by Book Now Ltd, London
Printed and bound in the Uni ted States of America
by Edwards Brothers Malloy on sustainably sourced paper.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Power and Marginality on Campus 1
Elizabeth M. Lee
PART!
Identities in Practice 9
1 At the Intersection of Race and Class:
An Autoethnographic Study on the Experiences
of a Southeast Asian American College Student 11
Kimberly A. Truong, Tryan L. McMickens, and Ronald E. L.
Brown
2 “I Kind of'Found My People”: Latino/a College
Students’ Search for Social Integration on Campus 29
Sandi Kawecka Nenga, Guillermo A. Alvarado, and Claire S.
Blyth
3 Constructing “Hawaiian,” Post-Racial Narratives, and Social
Boundaries at a Predominantly White University 46
Daniel Eisen
4 “That’s What Makes Our Friendships Stronger”:
Supportive Friendships Based on Both Racial
Solidarity and Racial Diversity

4. Janice McCabe
64
1
AT THE INTERSECTION OF RACE
AND CLASS
An Autoethnographic Study on
the Experiences of a Southeast Asian
American College Student
Kimberly 4. Truong, Tryan L McMickens,
and Ronald E. L Brown
Introduction
According to many measures, Asian Pacific Islander and Desi
American (APIDA)
students have higher than average educational attainment
relative to national
averages. In 2013, 95 percent of APIDA 25- to 29-year-olds
possessed a high-
school diploma (NCES, 2013). This is higher than the national
average of 90
percent. Their bachelor degree attainment rates are also higher
than the national
average, 58 percent compared to 34 percent, respectively. This
pattern also holds
true for those who have earned master’s degrees and higher, as
21 percent of
APIDA 25- to 29-year-olds have obtained these credentials,
compared to only 7
percent of the entire 25- to 29-year-old population.

5. Because their aggregate educational attainment rates are higher
than most
other ethnic groups, APIDA students are considered
overrepresented in educa-
tion and are perceived as the so-called model minority (Museus
& Kiang, 2009;
Museus & Truong, 2009). The model minority myth assumes
that APIDA stu-
dents excel in academics, particularly in science, technology,
engineering, and
JHatM~^lorcover, because of the this higter~avrrage ■levet-of-
aehievement, some-'
education researchers group APIDA populations with White
students when
discussing issues related to stratified access and outcomes in
education (for
examples see: Cowen, Fleming, Witte, & Wolf, 2012; Goldrick-
Rab, 2006; Slater,
2009; Swail, Redd, & Perna, 2003).This grouping together of
APIDA and White
students helps to support the model minority myth. In addition,
it complicates
perceptions of racialization dynamics because it seems to imply
that APIDA
communities do not experience racism or are not people of color
(Lewis, 2001;
Sue, Bucceri, Lin, Nadal, & Torino, 2007; Wong, 2014). This
positioning of
APIDA students as “model minorities” or akin to Whites in
education hides
12 Kimberly A. Truong et al.

6. both variation between subgroups and the challenges many
APIDA students face
stemming from racialization and socioeconomic disadvantage.
This assumption that APIDA students do not experience
challenges within
their educational experiences and their everyday lives is
erroneous (Sue et al.,
2007). In 2008, the National Commission on Asian American
and Pacific Islander
Research in Education (CARE) published a report exposing the
model minority
myth, showing that APIDA populations experience both
socioeconomic and
educational challenges. For example, a greater percentage of
Asian Americans
(12.6 percent) and Pacific Islanders (17.7 percent) live below
the poverty threshold
than the national average of 12.4 percent. In particular,
Southeast Asian, Pakistani,
Korean, Thai, and Chinese subgroups within the APIDA
diaspora exhibit higher
than national average rates of living below the poverty
threshold. APIDA sub-
groups, such as Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders also
have lower educational
attainment rates than the national average. Less than 10 per cent
of the Hmong,
Cambodian, Lao, Tongan, Fijan, and Marshallese population
have bachelor
degrees or higher (CARE, 2008).
A growing body of literature demonstrates that APIDA
communities experi-
ence racism and racialized exclusion in education, as wel l as
dissatisfaction with

7. the campus environment and their learning experiences
(Alvarez, Juang, & Liang,
2006; Golden, 2007; Karabel, 2005; Kotori & Malaney, 2003;
Lewis, Chesler, &
Forman, 2000; Museus, 2008, 2009; Rankin & Reason, 2005;
Sue et al., 2007;
Truong & Museus,2012)7FoFrxampie,GolderT(2OO7)
andKarabel (2005) docu-
mented tReTysteurie-ejrtlusion of APIDA students from elite
colleges. Other
scholars examined the experiences of APIDA students within
higher education
institutions and reported that they experienced racism,
stereotypes, and hostile
environments (Lewis et al., 2000; Museus, 2008). Museus
(2008) found that
APIDA students exposed to racism and stereotypes on their
college campuses
disengage and isolate themselves from faculty and
administrators. In 2009,
Museus and Truong published research that disaggregated
APIDA data to exam-
ine their experiences with campus racial climate. They found
that students who
came from more diverse pre-college communities had more
difficulty making the
transition to college as they also reported more hostile campus
climates than their
counterparts who came from predominantly White pre-college
communities.
APIDA students from, different socioeconomic backgrounds
also had different
transition to college experiences (Museus, 2011; Museus & Vue,
2013; Teranishi,
Ceja, antonio, Allen, & McDonough, 2004).

8. Museus and Truong (2009) argued that additional data on
APIDA student
populations be disaggregated and for researchers to examine
“many facets of
diversity within race” (p. 24). APIDA scholars have repeatedly
advocated for this
disaggregation to facilitate better understandings of the
diversity within this
broad grouping, challenges APIDA students experience, and
how to better sup-
port their educational outcomes (CARE, 2008, 2010, 2011;
Museus & Kiang,
2009; Museus & Truong, 2009; Teranishi & Nguyen, 2011—
2012). More
At the Intersection of Race and Class 13
recently, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders
(n.d.) has been established to improve education outcomes
among other issues
for the population.
In this chapter, we take a closer look at the ways in which race
and class inter-
sect to create such “facets of diversity” by analyzing an
autoethnographic account.
This account presents the narrative of a female student of color
who grew up
low-income and was the first in her family to attend college.
These characteristics
are considered underrepresented within the higher education
context. However,
this student of color is also considered overrepresented in

9. higher education
because she is APIDA, presenting a seeming contradiction in
terms. We seek to
understand the ways that this student’s racialized and class
identities complicated
her higher education, despite being a member of a so-called
model minority.
While there is a growing body of literature that debunks the
model minority
myth, the master narrative that APIDA populations are excelling
in higher educa-
tion is still quite prevalent (Museus & Truong, 2013). We use
autoethnography as
a method and Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework
to present a
counternarrative to the representation of APIDAs as a
monolithic, overrepre-
sented group. We also incorporate data from a study all three
authors conducted
on the college experiences of Southeast Asian American
students in order to
further contextualize the autoethnographic account. We will
close by offering
implications for policy and practice drawn from both sets of
data.
Theoretical Framework
We approached this study from a Critical Race Theory (CRT)
perspective. CRT
is fundamentally concerned with understanding, deconstructing,
critiquing, and
questioning how race and White supremacy shape and limit
access and success for
students of color—in this case, APIDA students in higher
education (Ladson-

10. Billings, 1998; Solorzano, 1998; Teranishi et al., 2009). Critical
race theorists
contend that racism is omnipresent, widespread, invisible, and
impossible to eradi-
cate (Delgado, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1998; Solorzano, 1998).
Ladson-Billings
(1998) states:
[AJdopting and adapting CRT as a framework for educStromL-
eqiifry
means that we will have to expose racism in education and
propose
radical solutions for addressing it. We will have to take bold
and some-
times unpopular positions. We may be pilloried figuratively or,
at least,
vilified for these stands.
(p. 22)
No single definition exists for CRT, but scholars describe it as
comprising five or
seven tenets (Harper, Patton, & Wooden, 2009). Key
assumptions of two tenets that
were most influential in guiding this study are discussed in the
sections below.
14 Kimberly A. Truong et al.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality—a perspective proposed by Kimberle
Crenshaw—maintains
that there are intersections among systems of oppression

11. (Crenshaw, 1988,1989,
1991,1995). A most commonly used example is Black feminism.
Black feminism
explores how the experiences of Black females ought to be
understood in terms
of them being Black and female independently, but also include
the ways in
which their identities intersect and inform each other (Collins,
1986; hooks,
1981). Similarly, Cho (1997) examined the intersectionality
between race and
gender in the experiences of APIDA women with sexism. It is
important to also
note that intersectionality means that race and racism is viewed
at the intersection
of gender, class, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, and other
systems of oppres-
sion (Crenshaw, 1989,1991). For example, Han (2008) explored
master narratives
by White gay men who oppressed APIDA gay men.
Intersectionality is an appro-
priate CRT tenet to guide this study due to the ways it captures
the multiple
identities of students of color in college (Patton & Simmons,
2008).
Voice
Critical Race Theory recognizes that students of color have
knowledge and a
voice to tell their stories. It is committed to social justice,
challenges dominant
ideology, and exposes racial inequality. This is typically
illustrated by using voice
as a storytelling method to “analyze the myths, presuppositions,
and perceived

12. wisdoms that make up the common culture about race that
invariably render
blacks and other minorities one-down” (Delgado, 1995, p.
xiv).This perspective
challenges prior theoretical frameworks that often exclude the
knowledge and
voice of people of color in America.
Voice also involves the ways in which people of color
“integrate their experi­
ential knowledge, drawn from a shared history as ‘other,’ with
their ongoing
struggles to transform a world deteriorating under the albatross
of racial hegem-
ony” (Barnes, 1990, p. 1864). Barnes further notes that
experiential knowledge is
important because it exposes the differing viewpoints and social
interactions
among people of color and Whites.
In summary, Critical Race Theory and in particular the
intersectionality and
voice tenets recognize the perspectives and interconnected ways
that students of
color may experience oppression when navigating through
higher education.
Together, these tenets provide a theoretical framework for
examining the experi-
ences of a Southeast Asian American student who grew up low -
income and was
the first in her family to attend college.
Research Design
We used an autoethnographic approach because it relies heavily
on personal expe-

13. riences as data to create rich narratives. These narratives help
us to understand an
At the Intersection of Race and Class IS
individual’s experiences as well as the world around her
(Chang, 2008; Muncey,
2010). This research approach is particularly aligned with the
voice tenet of
Critical Race Theory; the participant/lead author is recognized
and accepted as
someone who has legitimate knowledge.
Chang (2008) suggested collecting personal memory data and
organizing it in
various ways, including autobiographical timeline, kinship
diagrams, and free
drawing. In our case, the lead author created an
autobiographical timeline that
focused mainly on how she navigated to and through higher
education. It was
particularly useful to have a chronological list of significant
events and experi-
ences. In addition, the lead author, with the assistance of the co-
authors, collected
self-reflective data (Chang, 2008). Truong (lead author) had
known both of the
co-authors (McMickens and Brown) for seven years and 10
years, respectively.
Throughout this time, Truong had conversations with both
McMickens and
Brown about her racialized and classed undergraduate
experiences. During these
discussions, she also analyzed these experiences with them. In

14. addition to the
autoethnographic account presented here, these extended
conversations culmi-
nated in a broader phenomenological study focused on how
Southeast Asian
American students access and navigate higher education
conducted jointly by the
three authors. Using criterion sampling, the researchers
interviewed 20 students
who self-identified as being Southeast Asian American (Lao,
Vietnamese, Khmer,
or Hmong), attended or recently graduated from a college in
New England, and
attained at least a 3.0 grade point average. Individual, semi -
structured interviews
were conducted with participants face-to-face, or via Skype or
Google Hangout,
for 60-90 minutes. Finally, textual artifacts were collected and
analyzed. These
included high-school and college written assignments, college
admissions essays,
research literature, and Truong’s photographs (Chang, 2008).
The results of this
study underscored the role of intersectionality in Southeast
Asian American stu-
dents’ college experiences and contributed to all three authors’
further
collaboration on the auto-ethnographic work presented here. In
this chapter we
interweave the autoethnographic narrative with supporting data
from the
phenomenological study.
We followed the procedures for analyzing autoethnographic
data as outlined
by Chang (2008).These included to:

15. search for recurring topics, themes, and patterns; look for
cultural themes;
connect the present with the past; analyze relationships between
self and
others; compare yourself with other people’s cases;
contextualize with
social science constructs and ideas; and frame with theories.
(p. 131)
In presenting the narrative, we create a chronological account of
Truong’s
experiences as a first-generation, low-income, Southeast Asian
American female
student accessing higher education and her experiences in
making the transition
16 Kimberly A. Truong et al.
to and through college. We supplement these accounts with our
analyses as well
as research and theory that support the analysis.
Truong's First-Person Narrative
I was born in Vietnam and emigrated with my family to the
United States in
the mid-1980s, the summer before kindergarten. My family and
I had been
sponsored by my paternal aunt and her husband to reside in
California with
them. We lived there for about a year, but there were issues
with the living

16. situation. My aunt and her husband had been living in the home
with their two
/daughters and the sponsorship situation added ten individuals
to the household.
_^Ay parents and I moved to Massachusetts to find work. Both
of my parents
lacked the English language skills and educational background
to obtain jobs,
so we depended on public assistance for much of my childhood
and adoles-
cence. My mother had quit school in the sixth grade to take care
of her four
younger siblings, while my father had quit school in the ninth
grade. My par-
ents tried to help me as much as they could with my
schoolwork, but my father
was only able to check my math homework up until the fifth
grade when I
learned about negative numbers.
Though they did not understand the daily activities I
participated in at school,
my parents emphasized the importance of education. They took
an interest in my
grades on report card days, expected progress reports on my
learning at school,
and attended parent-teacher conferences. Through programs like
TRIO
Educational Talent Search, a TRIO Educational Opportunity
Center, teachers
and administrators who mentored me, and peer support, I was
able to access
higher education.The Higher Education Act of 1965 established
TRIO Programs
to increase college access and persistence among
underrepresented students. The

17. first three pr. 6rams funded under TRIO focused specifically on
Upward Bound,
educational Talent Search (ETS), and Student Support Services
(COE, 2013).
Today, there are eight TRIO Programs, including Educational
Opportunity
Centers and the McNair Scholars Program. These programs
focus on encourag-
ing low-income students and adults, first-generation college
students and
prospective students, and people of color to pursue higher
education. Most of
these programs focus on helping youth and adults access higher
education and
learn about financial aid.
I thought I would not be able to afford to pay for college and
that community
college was my only option. However, my advisor and mentor in
the ETS
Program, a Haitian American first-generation college graduate,
advised me to
apply to competitive four-year institutions that would offer me
both merit-based
and need-based aid. She also took me on a college tour of her
alma mater, a
women’s college, and let me stay in her apartment on campus
for the weekend.
She introduced me to some of the residents as we all spent a
Friday night talking
about the college experience and opportunities.
At the Intersection of Race and Class 17

18. I fell in love with the concept of women’s colleges and decided
to apply to
three of them during my senior year in high school. However, a
guidance coun-
selor dissuaded me from applying to one particular women’s
college because she
stated there were a lot of lesbians who attended the school. She
tried to persuade
me to apply to a Christian college and discouraged me from
applying to a Jewish-
affiliated institution. In the end, I decided to enroll at one of the
institutions the
administrator had tried to talk me out of.
The college I attended was a small research-intensive university
located 20
minutes from home in the suburbs of a large city. The school
offered me a gener-
ous financial aid package. It had a strong academic program and
was nationally
ranked. A couple of things that I did not consider until I
attended the institution
was that it was predominantly White and served mainly upper-
middle-class
students, many of whom were not the first in their families to
attend college. At
the time, I did not know that these would be issues for me. I
was simply grateful
that I had the opportunity to attend a four-year institution, five
in a residence
hall, and develop as a person and student.
College was ironically the first time I learned that I fit into an
umbrella cat-
egory of “Asian American,” a term that I was never aware of
until I got to college.

19. (I did not learn the term APIDA until more recently.) In my
high-school years,
I did not have many Asian American friends. Most of the Asians
around me were
recent immigrants, and many of our conversations focused on
me not being Asian
or Vietnamese “enough” and being “White-washed,” partly
because I did not
have a Vietnamese accent when I spoke English and because I
understood
American pop culture. On the other hand, my White friends and
acquaintances
in high school sometimes tokenized me and would ask me what
it was like to be
Asian. It always felt like I had to be either Asian or American
and that they were
mutually exclusive. Frances Chow (2008) documents similar
experiences in her
untitled digital story about her struggles with being Asian
American around
Asians and Whites.
The concept of being both Asian and American therefore did not
occur to me,
until college. It was the first time I met a significant (to me,
anyway) number of
Asians who were not recent immigrants. Rather, many of them
were second-,
third-, or fourth-generation in the United States. Some of them
were 1.5-generation
like me. I remember thinking, “Wow! I don’t feel like I have to
prove my Asian-
ness to these peers,” because they never questioned why I didn’t
have a Vietnamese
accent when I was born inVietnam or why I liked classic rock
music, reggae, 80s

20. pop, and other types of music. It was great that I could connect
with a peer over
A-Ha’s Take on Me and not have to explain why I didn’t watch
Paris by Night and
Asia series that featured Vietnamese singers and pop stars.
Despite these new similarities, I struggled to manage the
evident socioeco-
nomic differences between myself and new college friends and
peers. It was only
when I arrived at college that I realized my identity was low -
income and there-
fore different from the other students around me. I noticed that
my peers drove
18 Kimberly A. Truong et al.
new, luxury cars when my parents had just purchased an old,
used car a month
prior to me going to college. They talked about how their
parents had college
degrees or advanced degrees. Some were in executive positions
at well-known
companies, others were college professors, and still others were
engineers.
Finances didn’t seem like an issue to many of my peers as they
didn’t think twice
about spending money on the weekends on social gatherings,
clothes, or food.
Similarly, a Hmong student in our Southeast Asian American
study commented,
Coming from a working class family and going to [institution],
it was

21. really difficult for me to accept the fact that everybody else
could do
stuff, not me. And, I was kind of, it was not disappointing, kind
of lonely
actually, because people go and spend hundreds of dollars a
night, when
I can’t even spend 20, so, while they would go out, I would just
stay in
my room.
Some of the conversations I had with peers made me feel like
they did not
understand my situation. During one conversation with an Asian
American
friend, he had mentioned pool-hopping in his neighborhood. I
asked him to
clarify what he meant and he said that it was when groups of
friends would “hop
:nces to jump into one neighbor’s pool and then hop fences to
jump in another
’ghbor’s pool.” He concluded expectantly, “You know, what all
of us suburban
do.” I responded that I didn’t know and that I grew up in the
projects.
During this time, I came to mainly self-identify as low-income
rather than by
race; at that point in my educational career, 1 did not know the
concept of inter-
sectionality or understand how these identities could co-exist
and even impact
upon one another. Perhaps this was because I was raised in an
education system
that espoused colorblindness and there were no administrators

22. to help me to
unpack those experiences that based on being a student of color.
I realize now in
hindsight that I was also struggling during this time to locate a
racial identity, but
found no one whom I could talk with about discomfort with all
of the segre-
gated spaces on college campuses—how to understand it,
unpack it, and know
that it is normal and okay to feel uncomfortable.
Being racialized as Asian American and being low-income were
difficult expe-
riences in and of themselves, and these statuses shaped my
college experiences in
confusing ways. For example, most of my friends and
acquaintances in college
were Asian American and it was expected that I sit with them at
the cafeteria.
T?owever, when students were “sitting together at the cafeteria”
based on racial/
ethnic and affinity group, I opted out. It felt uncomfortable to
me to congregate
in a space based on us belonging to a racial group because I
never had conversa-
tions with some of them prior to sitting in the cafeteria together.
It is perfectly
natural for students to sit together by racial and ethnic as well
as affinity groups
as it is a normal part of racial identity development (Tatum,
1997), but I always
felt uncomfortable doing it because I didn’t have that much in
common with the

23. At the Intersection of Race and Class 19
other APIDA students because many of them came from middle-
and upper-class
backgrounds. Very few of the Asian Americans were first-
generation or low-
income. Out of the 800 or so students in my entering class, I
only knew two
other Asian Americans who were first-generation and low-
income. I remember
feeling disappointment that my friends weren’t more like the
ones in high school
who were much more economically, racially, and ethnically
diverse. Many of my
peers would talk about middle-class things that I wasn’t aware
of with the
assumption that I came from a middle-class background.
Because of my class
background, I also didn’t share the same conceptions of what
college was “about.”
For example, I didn’t know that I was supposed to spend a lot of
time sitting,
eating, and socializing in the cafeteria with friends. As a first-
generation college
student, I was unaware that it was part of the college-going
culture to learn from
others in this space and that it was okay to have 1-2 hour
conversations over
lunch. I thought that mealtime was for eating food quickly so
that I could spend
the rest of my time to devote to other things. While I did have a
few friends who
came from low-income backgrounds, that also seemed weird. I
also didn’t know
how to invite friends who weren’t APIDA to sit at the “Asian
corner.” When it

24. came to meal times, I often took my food to go and ate by
myself in my residence
hall room.
While I made friends through Orientation, in my classes, in my
residence hall^
and co-curricular activities, I never felt fully comfortable as a
student throughout
my four years. What I couldn’t articulate then like I can now is
that I felt invisible
and I did not feel a sense of belonging; the lack of students
“like me” coupled
with the lack of mainstream support services made me feel like
I was a visitor
rather than a student at the institution.(ln other words?!
feltcompletely mafgfrF*
alized by the lack of structural diversity on campus. The
institution was
predominantly White with very few students of color on
campus, a stark contrast
from my high school experience where students of color made
up about 50
percent of the student body. While it was the first time I met
APIDA students,
they still made up a very small percentage of the student
population. More spe-
cifically, Southeast Asian Americans made up an even smaller
percentage of the
APIDA population on campus. The institution also lacked other
racial and ethnic
groups, low-income students, and first-generation students. It
felt like 90 percent
of the student body was White. uppet~-aad-
middkwJa«^tiiden<»-wbaJwtfpmT,nB'
widLadvaneedTfegTCesJHarper et al. (2011) call this
“onlyness” and defined it as

25. me psychoemotional burden of having to strategically navigate a
racially politi-
cized space occupied by few peers, role models, and guardians
from one’s same
race or ethnic groi^^ct90X
---- TtflsTeelmgof “onlyness” made the transition from high
school to college difficult.
I became the epitome of a disengaged student: I was
academically prepared for col-
lege, but I had not expected to experience cnlmre
chqclJVhe.se'7r^^
exacerbated by pressure from my family and pressures I felt as a
so-called model
minority. I also did not take into account how to iuggle home
and family life with
20 Kimberly A. Truong et al.
school. I was raised in a strict family and since I’m the oldest, I
had to set a good
example for my younger sibling. It was hard to explain why I
couldn’t come home
every weekend and why I wasn't in my dorm room at night when
my parents
called (even if it was for a ballroom-dancing class). I still made
the most of the
freedom that college gave me in terms of how to allocate my
time, som ething I had
not anticipated. I totally took advantage of the free time and
wasted it frivolously
in my first semester (and beyond). Being a first-generation
student was difficult as
I had to often explain things to my parents that most college-

26. educated parents
already knew. For example, while my parents supported my
decision and encour-
aged me to enroll in college, I had to explain what I was
studying and what jobs I
was capable of obtaining after I graduated. It was a bit difficult
to describe what a
liberal arts background meant and that being a Fine Arts and
Politics double major
could lead to real career trajectories. They would often
encourage me to study
engineering because it led to engineering jobs. By contrast, my
double major was
difficult for them to grasp because there was no clearly linked
career path. It also
made it difficult for them to explain to our extended family
members and friends:
part of the reason my mom especially wanted me to get an
engineering degree is
that a couple of her cousins are engineers. She saw how they
were able to obtain
jobs quickly and were paid well. She said that she wanted me to
be able to have a
life that we weren’t able to have while I was growing up, one
where I didn’t have
to worry about money. Museus (2013) has examined the role of
family in Southeast
Asian students’ educational plans. He found that parents
expected students to attend
college, but also pressured them into pursuing certain careers.
The impact of the model minority myth manifested by adding
pressure for me
to succeed and making me feel like a failure when I didn’t. For
example, Asians
are perceived as “nerds” who do well in school and are

27. particularly adept in
STEM subjects (Sue et al., 2007). I have always struggled with
math in school and
even earned Cs and Ds in high-school geometry. I would wake
up at 6:00 a.m.
every morning my sophomore year in high school in order to get
extra tutorials
from the teacher before class. Yet, nothing I did helped in
learning geometry
proof concepts. Because the model minority stereotype is
something that I had
to deal with throughout my academic experiences (teachers and
countless class-
mates told me that “Asians are smart,” “Asians are good in
math,” and “Asians are
nerds”), I often wondered what was wrong with me. Without
anyone to help me
unpack this stereotype, I often felt the need to prove myself and
show that I was
“smart.”A multiethnic Cambodian,Thai, and Chinese student
made similar com-
ments about how the model minority myth made him feel like he
had to be
naturally smart. He stated:
I’ve always been afraid to ask for help. It goes back me to me
being an
Asian American because I’ve always been expected to do things
on my
own. If I can’t do anything on my own, I’m seen as a failure and
I still
internalize that notion.
At the Intersection of Race and Class 21

28. Finally, my anxiety and frustration on campus were further
spurred by
microaggressions in the classroom. After first semester, I barely
attended my
classes because of this discomfort. In one sociology course, a
White student
raised her hand and said, “Poor people like being poor because
they get free
stuff.” I raised my hand to respond to her, but the professor
moved on to a
different. topic_and did not engage her or challengeher on her
assumptioifTB
another course, I was told by the professor that rnyfatheFsTirst
hame-was a
middle name rather than a first name. The professor insisted I
was wrong
because he had lived in Vietnam for two years and knew all
about Vietnamese
culture. While other classes did not always result in such
explicit affronts, my
experiences remained invisible and excluded from the course
curriculum
throughout my college courses. For example, a course I took on
families
focused exclusively on families of European descent. In the one
course that
focused on the history ofVietnam, the curriculum was arranged
around a
deficit perspective that presented my homeland as a helpless
pawn. Instead of
regularly attending these and other classes, I stayed in my room
to sleep or
watch television.
All of these factors led me to earning a grade point average of

29. 2.3 in my first
semester of college. I was put on academic warning and on
academic probation
for my presidential scholarship. I soon learned to navigate
college in unproductive
ways by isolating myself from predominantly White and upper-
middle-class
spaces. Unfortunately, this meant staying away from most
spaces on campus. In all (
of my racialized and classed experiences, I don’t remember
having any student
affairs or residential life educators provide targeted
programming or support that
reached me.
Perhaps the only space on campus where I felt fully comfortable
outside
my dorm room was at the TRIO office. I was a member of the
Student
Support Services Program, which focuses on helping to retain
first-generation
college students, low-income students, and students of color. It
was the only
space that focused on my intersectional identity by offering
programs that
engaged me as a raced and classed student. The support and
mentoring I
received from this program had a huge impact on me. The
counselors helped
me to get through my undergraduate years both academically
and personally.
They also encouraged me to pursue doctoral study and prepared
me for it.
Without this program, I might not have persisted through
college because I
would not have had anyone to talk to about my racialized and

30. classed experi-
ences. I also would not have had the opportunity to meet other
students of
color who were also from low-income backgrounds. I most
definitely would
not have had the encouragement to pursue doctoral study. I was
lucky
enough to have these support services while other students did
not. A Hmong
student in the Southeast Asian American study discussed how
there weren’t
support services available to her on campus and attributed it to
the model
minority myth. She stated:
22 Kimberly A, Truong et al.
I have realized is that at [institution], that is something that I’m
perceived
to be, that I fit the model minority trope. People don’t
understand that I
come from an immigrant background, or a low-income
background, and
so that was definitely something that I had to adjust to. It
actually relates
to the model minority stereotype, and that’s the lack of
resources available
to Asian American students, because we are perceived to be a
community
that has honorary White status, and do not have issues any
more. And so,
with that it’s not having academic support resources and having
faculty
and staff not understand why the Asian American student would

31. need
that extra help. Because they assume that I come from a
background
where I’m used to that or that I have resources always available
to me, to
help with that.
I really valued the TRIO staff who dedicated so much of their
time and
energy to support me and other underrepresented students on
campus. Had I not
known, about TRIO as a high-school student, I probably would
not have looked
for their services as a college student. Even though I was lucky
to have been sup-
ported by the TRIO staff, I also recognized how overworked
they were. Because
the counselors worked with many first-generation students, they
often acted as a
“one-stop shop,” in which students received academic
counseling, career coun-
seling, and other types of support, because students were
unaware of or felt
uncomfortable seeking these services from other offices on
campuses. I did not
feel like my academic counselor understood my circumstances
as a low-income,
first-generation college student when I spoke to her as a first-
year student. I
spoke with my TRIO counselor who told me that she could act
as my academic
counselor. Looking back on this now, I also recognize that the
university relied
heavily on TRIO to operate as it did, instead of pursuing an
intentional and
comprehensive approach to support underrepresented

32. students.TRIO was not as
highly resourced as other offices on campus as reflected in its
three staff members.
When one of the TRIO programs was defunded by the federal
government due
to a competitive grant proposal cycle, the university did not
replace it with
another, similar program.
While research suggests that some students avoid student
support programming
(Museus, 2008), I do not believe I did this. Indeed, part of the
reason I have
been able to navigate predominantly White spaces is that I often
searched for
sources of support from different programs. I also acknowledge
that student
affairs administrators may often have other priorities than
planning program-
ming for such a specific and small population. Yet, I felt
invisible on the
college campus, particularly since I was unable to engage with
many other
students in conversations about race, class, and other forms of
diversity.
Several researchers have discussed how institutions of higher
education can
create opportunities for students to learn about diversity issues
on their
college campuses (Chang, Chang, & Ledesma, 2005; Harper &
antonio, 2007;
At the Intersection of Race and Class 23

33. Quaye & Harper, 2007).They have power to create structural
diversity within
their institutions and to help facilitate conversations about
identity and
oppression. Yet, these institutions are negligent in planning
both academic and
co-curricular activities to engage these students in critical
discussions about
these topics.
Although TRIO and my dorm room were the only campus spaces
I felt fully
comfortable, I was able to make do with it. I eventually got
used to feeling
uncomfortable with White and upper-middlc-class spaces on
campus. It wasn’t
that my feelings changed about how I felt in these spaces, but
my thoughts
changed about how I lived and interacted with others in them.
Having had this
undergraduate experience helped prepare me for a life of
interacting with others
in predominantly White and middle- and upper-income spaces in
the working
world and graduate school. This preparation has been described
in the education
literature as ‘learning cross-context’ and being ready to respond
to race and racism
after college, according to McMickens (2012). As an
undergraduate student at the
time, I could not articulate these feelings or thoughts.
Reflecting back, I realize
that these were the survival skills that I developed having to
navigate oppressive
spaces: I had to learn to deal with feelings of isolation and
being marginalized.

34. This has been supported in the research on how students deal
with microaggres-
sions and racism; they find counterspaces and continue
navigating (Solorzano,
1998;Truong & Museus, 2012).
My experiences with TRIO during the time I was an
undergraduate stu-
dent left a lasting impression on me, and I eventually pursued
graduate
degrees so that I could help support students who struggled with
the same
problems I confronted. My graduate experiences sometimes
were similarly
painful, but they helped enlighten me. I learned more about how
to make
sense of my own racialized, gendered, and classed experiences
through
studying Critical Race Theory. I pursued research to help me
better under-
stand the experiences I had navigating educational and work
spaces. This
year, I accepted an administrative fellowship that allows me to
put my
knowledge and experience into practice working with college
students by
conducting assessments and planning intentional programs that
focus on
their intersectional identities.
Implications
While this autoethnography is by nature deeply self-reflective, I
hope that this
narrative has successfully communicated several points to
readers. Consistent

35. with the voice tenet of CRT, I hope it contributes to the growing
chorus of
student voices, those who feel ignored, invisible and/or
marginalized in society
This aspiration reflects the responsibility I feel as a
professional who has been
afforded the privilege of publishing this chapter while many
students like me
may not have had the support to persist to college graduation.
Furthermore, I
24 Kimberly A. Truong et al.
hope that sharing my experiences serves as encouragement to all
who search
for a sense of belonging in higher education and beyond. As
someone who
benefitted from supportive efforts such as TRIO programs, I
hope that I am
able to offer the same support to others. Finally, as a scholar, I
hope my self-
reflections provide a usefill portrayal of the, complexities
inherent in livingyp
the-Hrterseetieft-eAdentitrcsf in this case being at once Asian,
American, low-
/income, and a first-generation college student/graduate,! The
alienation and
disengagement I initially experienced as a result of these
intersections proved
to not be the end of the story but rather the beginning of a
continual process
of self-reflection and growth.

36. This chapter adds to the growing body of literature on APIDA
students and
their racialized experiences (Alvarez et al., 2006; Golden, 2007;
Karabel, 2005;
Kotori & Malaney, 2003; Lewis et al., 2000; Museus, 2008,
2009; Rankin &
Reason, 2005; Sue et al., 2007;Truong & Museus, 2012).While
the master nar-
rative of the APIDA population is one that encompasses the
model minority
myth and therefore presents APIDA students as overachieving,
this autoethnog-
raphy sheds light on the struggles that APIDA students may
encounter in their
quest for higher education. Using an intersectional lens, it sheds
light on stu-
dent’s challenges navigating to and through college as a
racialized and classed
body. Several implications for policy and practice can be
offered based on the
p^rrative presented.
First, researchers and policy-makers should discontinue
grouping APIDAs
with White students and disaggregate data on APIDAs.
Conflating APIDAs
with Whites in education research confuses the general public
about very
different populations. These groups have distinct
characteristics. APIDAs cer-
tainly are not White as they experience racism. The act of
grouping these two
racial groups together is itself an act of racism in that it
assumes that APIDA
students do not experience challenges or have unmet needs
because of their

37. racialized positions. Moreover, echoing previous calls by
APIDA scholars, we
stress that higher education policymakers and researchers
should disaggregate
data on the APIDA population to highlight the diversity within
this racial
group (Museus, 2011; Museus &Vue, 2013,Teranishi et al.,
2004). By disag-
gregating data on this population, we can shed light on the
challenges and
needs of APIDA subpopulations.
Second, institutions of higher education should create inclusive
campus Gui-
des for all students, including APIDA students.They should
assess their campus
cultures using intersectionality as a framework to understand
the experiences of
their diverse student body. They should also implement
programs and policies to
help make their campus a space where all students feel
welcome, rather than
creating isolated counterspaces for those students who feel
marginalized and
ignored. For instance, faculty should be intentional in using
course texts that
reflect multiple perspectives in their classroom and facilitate
rich discussions that
challenge students to think more critically about the course
content. Student
At the Intersection of Race and Class 25

38. affairs administrators should include intersections]
programming that will
engage marginalized populations as well as educate the study
body about chal-
lenges these students might face. They could and should be
intentional in
creating targeted support systems for students who are
disengaged and marginal-
ized on their campuses. In essence, faculty and administrators
have power to
create institutional change (Harper & antonio, 2007; Quaye &
Harper, 2007) and
enable a sense of belonging for all students in American higher
education
(Strayhorn, 2012).
Acknowledgment
We wish to thank the Asian American Student Success Program
at UMass Boston
for their research grant.
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conversations about race. New York, NY: Basic Books.

47. Teranishi, R.T., Behringer, L. B.„ Grey, E. A., & Parker, T. L.
(2009). Critical race theory
and research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders m higher
education. In
S.D. Museus (Ed.), Conducting research on Asian Americans in
higher education. New Directions
for Institutional Research, No. 142 (pp. 57—68). San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
Teranishi, R. T., Ceja, M., antonio, a. 1., Allen, W. R., &
McDonough, P. M. (2004). The
college-choice process for Asian Pacific Americans: Ethnicity
and socioeconomic class
in context. The Review of Higher Education, 27(4), 527-551.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/dl3/tables/
28 Kimberly A. Truong et al.
Teranishi, R.T., & Nguyen,T-L.K. (2011—2012). Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders:Th<
changing demography of the United States and implications for
education poliq
Harvard Journal of Asian American Policy Review, 22,17-27.
Truong, K. A., & Museus, S. D. (2012). Responding to racism
and racial trauma in doctora
study: An inventory for coping and mediating relationships.
Harvard Educational Revieu
82(2), 226-254.
White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders, (n.d.). Critical issues
facing Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Retrieved from

48. www.whitehouse.gov/
administration/eop/aapi/data/critical-issues. Accessed 10/20/14.
Wong, J. C. (2014, August 24).The complicity cost of racial
inclusion. Retrieved from http://
america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/8/asian-americans-
racecomplicitymodelminority.
html?utm_content=opinion&utm_campaign=ajam&utm_source=t
witter&utm_
medium=SocialFlow. Accessed 10/20/14.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/8/asian-americans-
racecomplicitymodelminority
Clearing the Path
for First-Generation
College Students
Qualitative and Intersectional
Studies of Educational Mobility
Edited by Ashley C. Rondini, Bedelia Nicola
Richards, and Nicolas P. Simon
Afterword by Jenny Stuber
LEXINGTON BOOKS
Lanham � Boulder � New York � London
9

49. Demystifying Influences on
Persistence for Native American
First-Generation College Students
Natalie Rose Youngbull and Robin Minthorn
Native American college students are entering and graduating p
ostsecondaiy
education institutions at increasingly higher rates (Brayboy et al
2012- DeVoe
and Darling-Churchill 2008; NCES 2005). With increasing num
bers of Native
American college students, there is an increasingly urgent
need for higher
education institutions, including both
non-Native colleges and universities
(NNCUs) and tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), to
understand how
to support them—not only in their first year
as first-generation students,
but also throughout their higher education
journey. Numerous factors affect
the pathway to college and
persistence of Native American first-generation
students. Some key areas of consideration are the impact of hist
orical trauma
over time from US federal policies as well as the impact of
these policies
on the socioeconomic status,
living standards, and mental, emotional, and
physical wellness of these students and their families and
communities.
It is also important to note that, in spite of the historical
trauma Native
American students and families face, there is also immense
strength and

50. resilience in the culture, language, and values
that Native American first-
generation college students bring with them in
their educational journey. In
an effort to understand
these lived realities and stories, this chapter begins
with a detailed examination of the current literature on
Native students
and an overview of the student support structures
found to promote Native
student persistence. Subsequently, we present
our study, which specifically
examined fifteen
American Indian Gates Millennium Scholars who did not
persist to graduation; after describing the research design,
methods, and
reporting our findings, we
turn to a discussion of specific recommendations
for institutions of higher education to consider implementing to
better support
first-generation Native American college students. There is
increasing
representation of Native American college students in
higher education.
However, there are still
many students, particularly first-generation college
students, who slip through the cracks despite having full financi
al assistance,
cariying the hopes and prayers of their ancestors and
families with them.
We hope this chapter helps to strengthen the understanding ot
the journey
258 Chapter 9

51. of Native American first-generation college students so that mor
e can persist
and find pathways to graduation.
LITERATURE REVIEW: NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS
IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Native students are becoming more visible
in higher education and receiving
more bachelor's and graduate degrees than ever before (Brayboy
et al. 2012;
DeVoe and Darling-Churchill 2008). Yet increased student
services and
incorporation of Native perspectives are also needed for
the opposite reason:
because despite the relatively higher numbers of Native students
attending
and graduating from college, Native students continue to
face obstacles
to college-going and persistence once in college. If the
theories of social
networks, social reproduction, and concepts of capital,
both cultural and
social, can be applied to certain areas of college access and succ
ess for Native
American students, they neglect to address Native American stu
dents' low
levels of college persistence through a culturally sensitive and s
trength-based
lens. The following sections provide a better understanding of
the current
literature surrounding Native American students in higher educa
tion.
Native Americans are plagued by high attrition rates that
begin in high

52. i
school and continue throughout college. In 2005, data gathered
by the Na-
tional Center for Education Statistics revealed that less
than 50 percent of
Native American
high school students graduate. Historically, Native Ameri-
cans high school students have been plagued with
high dropout rates and
low graduation rates (Faircloth and Tippeconnic 2010;
Freeman and Fox
2005). As a result, those Native Americans that make it through
high school
and continue on to college find that they are few and far betwee
n. Although
the latest report from the US Department of Education
(2005) shows that
enrollment for Native American college students has more than
doubled over
the past twenty-five years, Native Americans remain
underrepresented in
higher education. Shotton, Oosahwe, and Cintron (2007) observ
ed that Na-
tive Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 are
less likely to be enrolled
in college than their White, Asian/Pacific Islander, and
African American
counterparts; only 18 percent of Native Americans in
that age group were in
college (Freeman and Fox 2005). Overall, Native Americans co
mprise about
1 percent of the total
population of college students, while students of all mi-
nority backgrounds combined comprise nearly 28 percent of coll
ege students;

53. thus, the percentage of Native American college students is very
low even in
reference to the overall minority college student population (Sn
yder, Tan, and
Hoffman 2004; Pavel et al. 1998).
Demystifying Influences on Persistence
259
Educational achievement ,s another staggering p,„b|em for
American
Indians. DeVoe and Darhng-Churchill (2008) reported
that 9 percent of Na-
tive Americans have attained a bachelor's degree, while
19 percent of the
general population has attained the same. Even with
the increased number of
Native Americans attending college, there
is a disconnect between students
matriculating at college and those students going
g,aduate. A major issue
in
the higher education arena ,s the persistence rates of American
Indians
Data reveal that
the six-year graduation rate for Native Americans is 36 2
percent, while the general population's rate
is 54.4 percent (US Department
of Education 2005). The picture that is painted by
these statistics is that of
the small population of Native Americans that go on to attend c
ollege only a
third are persisting to graduation. In sum, Native Americans are
matriculating

54. in college at a higher rate than ever before, yet still lagging beh
ind the general
population in terms of college completion rates.
Transitional Factors for Native American Students
There are both positive and negative factors affecting
Native American
students' transition to college. Positive factors include
having a strona
cultural identity,
high self-esteem, and support on campus, while neaative
factors include poor academic preparation, feelings of
isolation on campus,
and personal financial difficulties (Benjamin, Chambers,
and Reiterman
1993; Gloria and Kurpius 2001; Guillory and Wolverton
2008; Lin,
LaCounte, and Eder 1988). Solorzano (1992) found a host of
factors that
affected the low percentages of American Indians, along
with African
Americans and Latinos, who meet eligibility requirements
for admission;
these factors include inadequate preparation, negative
teacher expectations,
and the disproportionate tracking of students of color into
nonacademic
and vocational courses. Researchers also assert that
cultural discontinuity
contributes
to the high dropout rates, low academic achievement, and poor
self-esteem of Native students (Deyhle and Swisher 1997; Fann
2002; Pavel
etal. 1998; Peshkin 1997). Conversely, the opportunity to maint
ain traditional

55. values and have a positive Native identity has been identified as
a factor that
helps Native American students
to have higher grades, lower dropout rates,
and higher self-esteem (Coggins, Williams, and
Radin 1997; Dehyle 1992;
Fann 2002: Ledlow 1992).
Similarly, Terenzini et al. (1994) found that students from
disadvantaged
socioeconomic and educational backgrounds experience a
considerably
different transition to college—academically, socially, and
culturally—as
compared to their traditional peers. The academic factors that ca
n hinder Na-
tive American students who matriculate at college are
inadequate academic
260 Chapter 9
preparation for college, poor study skills, and insufficient
guidance from
high school counselors (Brown and Kurpius 1997; Hoover and
Jacobs 1992;
Swanson and Tokar 1991; Wells 1997). Other factors that
researchers have
found to play a role in
the nonpersistence of Native American students at
college can
be related to the social and cultural aspects of the transition
that
Terenzini et al. (1994) describe. Some examples are adjustment
to the college

56. environment, feelings of isolation on campus, and feelings that
the campus
is not accommodating to Native American students'
backgrounds (Benja-
min, Chambers, and Reiterman 1993; Jackson, Smith, and Hill
2003; Lin,
LaCounte. and Eder 1988; Swanson and Tokar 1991; Wells 1997
). Jackson,
Smith, and Hill (2003) highlight literature that focuses on
personal factors
influencing the transition to college for Native American studen
ts, including
students' academic aspirations, confidence in ability to
succeed academi-
cally, personal financial difficulties, and
personal/family problems (Brown
and Kurpius 1997; Kerbo 1981; Mclnerney and Swisher 1995; S
wanson and
Tokar 1991; Wells 1997).
The majority of research studies addressing Native American st
udents in
higher education reflect the deficit approach, with the findings
yielding nega-
tive statistics and factors that play into students' nonpersistence.
In response
to the appalling statistics and the many factors that play a role i
n the nonper-
sistence of Native American students, researchers have made re
commenda-
tions as to what could be beneficial in addressing these issues. S
ome research
suggests that students would
benefit from finding a mentor and/or a support
group on campus (Braithwaite 1997; Brown and Kurpius 1997;
Hoover and

57. Jacobs 1992). Other researchers insist that social integration int
o campus life
through active participation
in Native American clubs/organizations or build-
ing a strong social network could be linked to positive academic
performance
and persistence of Native American students (Jackson, Smith, a
nd Hill 2003;
McClellan 2005; Williams 2012). Some colleges responded
to American
Indians inadequate preparation for college and poor adjustment
to the col-
lege environment
by creating peer mentoring programs (Shotton, Oosahwe,
and Cintron 2007), organized
tutoring programs, precollege orientation, and
academic bridge programs (Wells 1997).
Academic Persistence
Multiple studies have examined factors that contribute to
the success and
academic persistence of Native American students in
higher education.
These factors include confidence and self-perception as possible
predictors
of academic persistence among Native American students
(Brown and
Kurpius 1997). Jackson, Smith, and Hill (2003) find that
confidence and
Demystifying Influences on Persistence
261

58. self-efficacy are related to academic persistence. Other studies f
ind that self-
efficacy is cntica
or he 1^8 students to overcome obstacles (Coffman and
Gilligan 2002; Kalsner
1992), Consequently, as Native students transition
from high school to college, nurturing confidence and
self-perception is
important. Additional factors identified by studies as
important for Native
student academic persistence include precollege academic
preparation
family support, faculty involvement and support, institutional
commitment'
t0 students and community on campus, financial support, and
institutional
and individual support for students to
stay connected to home communities
while at college (Astin 1982; Barnhardt 1994; Brown 1995- Fal
k and Aitken
1984; Tachine and Francis-Begay 2013). Generally,
if Native students who
aspire to attend college are supported and
prepared for college while in high
school, they are more likely to
persist academically (Benjamin, Chambers
and Reiterman 1993; Brayboy et al. 2012).
As previously mentioned, both Native and non-Native
faculty play a
critical role in Native student academic persistence, particularly
when faculty
seek to understand the concerns and issues that
Native students face and
demonstrate their support

59. for and connection with Native students (Brown
and Kurpius 1997). Studies consistently indicate that
positive interactions
between faculty members and Native American students
are critical for
fostering persistence and academic achievement (Jackson, Smith
, and Hill
2003). Positive faculty and staff interaction, coupled
with demonstration of
institutional commitment to supporting Native American
students through
services and providing an
inclusive campus climate, also increase academic
persistence (Larimore 1997). Similarly, persistence is promoted
by assisting
incoming and returning college students with information regard
ing financial
resources, scholarships, and financial
management (Aitken 1984; Almeida
1999; Brayboy et al. 2012; Dodd et al. 1995; Reyhnerand Dodd
1995). These
studies show that American Indian students perceive the
campus climate to
be inclusive when the
institution provides adequate resources in the form of
financial assistance, cultural support, and Native faculty represe
ntation.
Families and support networks are also critical. Many students d
raw their
strength and motivation to persist from families; this
includes the desire to
make life better for their families and even the goal to not
let their families
down (Guillory and Wolverton 2008). The home or tribal comm
unity ot Na-

60. tive college students helps them persist because they receive em
otional, spiri-
tual, and financial support that encourages them
to achieve their higher edu-
cation goals (Bowker 1992; HeavyRunner and DeCelles 2002).
As NNCUs
acknowledge the important roles that
family, community, and support net-
works play with regard to academic persistence, they increase th
e likelihood
262 Chapter 9
that Native students will maintain cultural ties to their communi
ty and benefit
from a social support system while away (Guillory and Wolvert
on 2008).
Current Support Structures and Programs to Support Native
American First-Generation College Students
There are various pathways that Native American youth may
take during
high school, between high school and college, and while in coll
ege that can
help them navigate the journey to their bachelor
s degree as a first-generation
student. In the current study, described in more detail
below, five American
Indian Gates Millennium Scholars (AIGMS) attended college-pr
ep summer
programs while in high school to help them prepare for college.
The programs
they attended. Upward Bound and bridge programs, provided an

61. introduction
to college and campus life and fostered
smaller, inclusive environments that
helped the AIGMS participants feel a sense of belonging once th
ey arrived on
campus. In this section, we review these and other programs and
opportunities
that Native American students might participate in
to help them prepare and
transition into college. Described in order of progression
from secondary
education-based support programs to college-based ones, each is
important in
helping Native American first-generation college
students find connections,
see themselves belonging on campus, and navigate the completi
on of their
bachelor's degree.
Upward Bound
Part of the TRIO Programs, Upward Bound is a federally funded
program that
emerged as a result of the War on Poverty during the Johnson ad
ministration.
Its mission is to help prepare students for college entrance and
strengthen
their coursework during high school (US Department of Educati
on 2016a).
Upward Bound specifically serves students who are low
in socioeconomic
status or first-generation (i.e., neither parent has a
bachelor's degree). The
program is housed on university campuses; youth reside on cam
pus for five to
six weeks, take classes that strengthen their academics, and bec

62. ome familiar
with living away from home and on a university campus.
Students also
receive follow-ups and check-ins from Upward Bound staff
throughout their
academic years as long as they are associated with
the program. There are
a number of Upward Bound programs that help support
and prepare Native
American college students. One example, at the University
of Colorado
Boulder, has been in existence for over thirty years and
specifically serves
students from geographically isolated and reservation-based
communities.
Others that intentionally and directly serve Native
American students are
Demystifying Influences on Persistence
263
at Ft. Lewis College, Arizona State University, and
the University of North
Dakota.
GEAR UP
GEAR UP is another federally funded TRIO program
that was founded to
help low-income middle and high schools that prepare youth
for college in
order to raise the number of students who attend college and
improve their
persistence rates (US Department of Education 2016b). GEAR U

63. P facilitates
preparation for college through activities such
as taking groups of students
on college visits and providing specific kinds of college-oriente
d knowledge
and information, including information about
the FAFSA and steps in the
college choice process. There are a number of GEAR UP progra
ms that serve
Native American youth, especially at schools where there are hi
gh numbers
in addition to high proportions of low-income students.
Early College High School Initiatives
Early College High School Initiatives was created by the Bill
and Melinda
Gates Foundation in 2002 to increase the number of postseconda
ry credentials
awarded to underrepresented students. To date,
there have been 240 Early
Colleges started in the United States. In each case, they
partner with a
university or community college so that upon high school gradu
ation students
leave with a high school diploma and an associate's degree or tw
o years of
college credits that can be applied
toward a bachelor's degree (American
Institutes for Research 2016). The Early College High School in
itiative began
with a partnership between
the Gates Foundation and Antioch University in
the Center for Native Education, where they were able to start fi
fteen schools,
in seven

64. states, that specifically targeted Native students. Of these
schools,
five achieved graduation rates between 69 and 100 percent and
attendance
rates between 83 and 94 percent (Akweks et al. 2010).
This initiative
demonstrates the
important role these types of programs can have on Native
American students when they are intentional about working with
Indigenous
peoples (Campbell, Egawa, and Wortman 2003).
Bridge Programs
Bridge programs are a type of program that, as the name
suggests, are
intended to help students bridge a transition, whether from
high school to
college or from
undergraduate to graduate or professional degree programs.
Bridge programs may serve various demographics, including fir
st-generation
students, low-income students, and so forth, and there are
a number of
summer bridge programs that are or have been offered to incomi
ng Native
264 Chapter 9
American freshmen the summer before they formally matriculat
e to college.
They are grouped with a cohort of students living in
the dorms for four to
eight weeks, during which

65. they earn college-level credit and are encouraged
to foster connections to the university campus and with
other Native
American students on campus. Oftentimes, the purpose of
these programs
is to help Native American students transition emotionally, phys
ically, and
mentally, and to find their social and structural
places like home on campus
in ways that honor their culture and
spiritual ways of being. Colleges and
universities with bridge programs include
the University of New Mexico,
Black Hills State University, the
Institute of American Indian Ails, Bacone
College, and others.
First-Year Scholars Programs and Living-Learning Communities
Once Native American college students matriculate at their
respective
institution of higher education,
they may be greeted by a first-year scholars
program that offers theme-based communities built around com
mon attributes
or interests. Particularly if they are attending an
institution with relatively
high Native American enrollment, or one that has an
intentional mission or
makes intentional efforts to serve Native students,
they may have access to
Native-specific living and learning communities (Tachine and F
rancis-Begay
2013). First-year scholars programs for Native American
students often

66. group participating students
into a cohort model where they are enrolled in
common courses and offered programming specifically intended
to help them
transition into the university setting. Living and learning comm
unities are also
often theme-based and usually
involve students living together in a section
of student
housing, such as one wing of a dorm, which provides students a
more community-oriented residential experience that can
feel like a home
away from home. The structure itself may be helpful
for Native American
students, and these benefits may be enhanced when the commun
ity is focused
specifically on Native American students and/or
includes intentional efforts
to offer programming, meetings, and events to support these Nat
ive American
students while they are away from family and community.
Peer Mentoring Programs
An important part of supporting persistence among Native
American
students, first-generation
or not, is supporting relationships with their peers.
Native American student support services often include a
peer mentoring
program or component in which first-year or early college
students are
mentored by upperclassmen college students (Minthorn
and Shotton 2014).
The intention of the peer mentoring programs is to pair students
who have

67. 264 Chapter 9
American freshmen the summer before they formally matriculat
e to college.
Thev are grouped with a cohort of students living in
the dorms for four to
eight weeks, during which
they earn college-level credit and are encouraged
to" foster connections to the university campus and with
other Native
American students on campus. Oftentimes, the purpose of
these programs
is
to help Native American students transition emotionally, physic
ally, and
mentally, and to find their social and structural
places like home on campus
in ways that honor their culture and spiritual ways of
being. Colleges and
universities with bridge programs include the University
of New Mexico,
Black Hills State University, the Institute of American
Indian Arts, Bacone
College, and others.
First-Year Scholars Programs and Living-Learning Communities
Once Native American college students matriculate at their
respective
institution of higher education,
they may be greeted by a first-year scholars
program that offers theme-based communities built around com

68. mon attributes
or interests. Particularly if they are attending an
institution with relatively
high Native American enrollment, or one that has an
intentional mission or
makes intentional efforts to serve Native students,
they may have access to
Native-specific living and learning communities (Tachine and F
rancis-Begay
2013). First-year scholars programs for Native American
students often
group participating students
into a cohort model where they are enrolled in
common courses and offered programming specifically intended
to help them
transition into the university setting. Living and learning comm
unities are also
often theme-based and usually involve students living together
in a section
of student housing, such as one wing of a dorm, which provides
students a
more community-oriented residential experience that can
feel like a home
away from home. The structure itself may
be helpful for Native American
students, and these benefits may be enhanced when the commun
ity is focused
specifically on Native American students and/or
includes intentional efforts
to offer programming, meetings, and events to support these Nat
ive American
students while they are away from family and community.
Peer Mentoring Programs
An important part of supporting persistence among Native

69. American
students, first-generation or not, is supporting
relationships with their peers.
Native American student support services often
include a peer mentoring
program or component in which first-year or early college
students are
mentored by upperclassmen college students (Minthorn
and Shotton 2014).
The intention of the peer mentoring programs is to pair students
who have
Demystifying Influences on Persistence
265
persisted to junior- or senior-year status with newly minted fres
hmen whom
they mentor and guide on issues such as how to navigate the col
lege campus
system and how to balance going home and finding home
on campus
First-time Native American students are often paired with a
fellow Native
American student and both are encouraged
to attend on-campus programs
and events throughout
the academic year. These peer mentoring programs
seek to provide guidance and support in the areas that will
enable Native
American college students to persist and graduate (Jackson, Smi
th, and Hill
2003; Shotton, Oosahwe, and Cintron 2007).
Native Student Organizations/Building Community on Campus

70. Native Student Organizations (NSOs) come in
a variety of forms. Some are
general when other are more specialized. For example, the Amer
ican Indian
Science and Engineering Society is oriented toward academic in
terests. Other
are more social or more service oriented
like historically Native American
fraternities and sororities. NSOs help Native American
students to build
shared community on campus through common interests,
activities, and
events. They fulfil
the mission of the organization, promote leadership, and
help
to develop other skills for Native students (Minthom 2014; Mint
hom
and Shotton 2014). NSOs also often work collaboratively with o
ther NSO
organizations (and other student organizations as well). For Nati
ve college
students, the experience of being
involved and connected to a NSO offers a
deeper sense of community on campus and finding place where i
t otherwise
might not be found.
METHODS
This phenomenological qualitative research study examined
the experiences
of twenty American Indian Gates Millennium Scholars
(AIGMS) who
enrolled in but then left institutions of higher education.
The Gates

71. Millennium Scholarship Program (GMSP) is a national scholars
hip program
that serves racial minority students from across the
nation. Annually,
one thousand incoming college freshmen receive awards
through the
scholarship program. To be eligible, students must fall into at
least one ot
four racial/ethnic categories: African American, American
Indian/Alaska
Natives, Asian and
Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American. One
hundred and fifty Native American incoming freshmen are
awarded the
scholarship annually. Though GMSP
boasts exceptional overall graduation
rates among its scholarship recipients, the Native American coh
ort possesses
the lowest persistence to graduation rate of
all cohorts (S. Abbott, personal
266 Chapter 9
communication. Fall 2009). To date, over 2,000 Native America
n incoming
freshmen have been awarded the Gates
Millennium Scholarship since its
inception in 1999. For the current study,
the sample was drawn from the
AIGMS who departed from college. Participants had left
college, were
labeled as Gates Millennium Scholars alums, and were no
longer eligible to
receive from GMS. They were identified through

72. informal networks.
Studying this
particular group of Native American students contributes
to the existing literature by exploring factors beyond
financial assistance
that
impact persistence for Native students navigating higher educati
on in-
stitutions. AIGMS are considered among the
top academically meritorious
incoming Native American college students. The majority of the
participants
were in
the top 5-10 percent of their graduating classes, and some earne
d
top honors such as salutatorian and valedictorian. The fifteen
female and
five male participants represented over twenty tribes/nations
from several
regions across the nation, including the Northwest, Northern Pla
ins, Southern
Plains, Southwest, and Great Lakes. Half of the participants wer
e the first in
their families to attend college, and six participants
had one parent who at-
tained an associate's degree. Demographically, ten participants
grew up on a
reservation and nine came from rural areas or small towns. Over
half could
understand their Native language and a few could speak it
fluently. They
were highly
involved in their communities and served as examples of hope
and possibility to their
families and community members. They described

73. themselves as carrying a great deal of responsibility, optimism,
and potential
with them to college.
AIGMS participants were recruited through purposeful sampling
and inter-
viewed one-on-one using a semi-structured interview protocol.
All interviews
were conducted in 2013 (but participants had left their
respective colleges
or universities in other years and at varying times
in their undergraduate ca-
reers). Because the students were living across the nation, fiftee
n participants
were interviewed over the phone and five were
interviewed in person. Prior
to the interview, participants filled out a
participant questionnaire form that
collected basic demographic information and asked them
about the values
that they considered important. One-on-one interviews ranged b
etween forty-
five minutes and two hours in length and were audio recorded a
nd transcribed
verbatim. Each participant received a transcribed copy of their i
nterview, for
the purpose of acknowledging that
their stories and experiences belong to
them and not the researcher. Having a transcribed copy of their
interview also
allowed participants to review it and follow up with researchers
or clarify any
vague information from the interview.

74. Demystifying Influences on Persistence
FINDINGS
267
During AIGMS'
transitions to their respective institutions, they encountered
issues on both institutional and individual levels. On
the institutional level
AIGMS spoke of their institutions and GMSP as not being
reflective of
Native students. Structures were not in
place to serve Native students and
participants acknowledged the significance of relationships—
and the absence
of relationships on campus and with the American
Indian Graduate Center
(AIGC), the organization that administered the scholarship,
support, and
resources to the American Indian cohort of the Gates Millenniu
m Scholarship
Program (GMSP). On the personal level, AIGMS felt a
lack of support from
institutional agents such as their financial
aid officers and academic advisors.
Institutions and GMSP Not Reflective of Native Students
The majority of AIGMS interviewed chose to attend
mid-to-large four-
year NNCUs. These institutions had small Native student
populations
and multicultural or Native cultural centers, yet
some AIGMS felt a lack
of connection on campus. Existing structures on these

75. NNCUs were not
reflective of Native students' identities and needs, nor were they
equipped to
serve Native students holistically. Specifically, AIGMS were se
eking places
to practice
their spirituality on campus as well as space within their course
s
to incorporate that aspect of their backgrounds. AIGMS
sought support
structures on campus and with the GMSP and the AIGC.
In particular,
relationships were of central importance for AIGMS to be succe
ssful. Though
they were disappointed with the
lack of connection on campus, they were
more frustrated with the absence of relationship-building with t
he GMSP and
AIGC staff.
Structures Not in Place to Serve Native Students
On campus, AIGMS felt there were structures missing on campu
s that would
have made them feel more connected and
involved. For Jacob, structures on
campus conflicted with his home environment and he struggled
to preserve
his identity. Jacob explained, "um, at home
I was more humble, more settled,
more like, grandparents. I was more
like that... but when I was in college,
I was going crazy." There was no place on campus for Jacob to
practice the
traditional
spiritual ways that helped him maintain balance and connection.

76. Dana similarly described a lack of space—and time
on campus tor her to
represent her spirituality and traditional teachings:
268 Chapter 9
I didn't really feel like there was a place for my spiritual
beliefs in the class-
room, my cultural beliefs, especially in like all
the prereq classes. 1 mean the
prerequisites like English 101, Math. But 1 took a class, it
was a Southwest
studies and 1 felt like me being in
that class as a Native person, I contributed
in the discussion, you know, my perspective as a Native person.
And I felt like
it was valued. Especially in the New Mexico history part. I
think it was, I felt
like my experience and my cultural teachings were valued
when it came to,
when it came time for, when it was needed, like if
it was specifically related
or a discussion or if it
was celebrating the Indigenous Peoples Day, you know.
But other than that, I didn't really feel like there was time . .
. time for that to
be recognized.
Though Dana did experience her cultural background being ackn
owledged
and appreciated, that recognition occurred
in very circumscribed contexts—

77. within the curriculum of one course, or at particular
moments and times
when "it was needed" or "specifically related," such as Indigeno
us Peoples'
Day. Dana realized this and recognized the
limited avenues for incorporating
Native perspectives in her overall coursework.
David attended an institution that was located in one of his triba
l communi-
ties. He had expected to see more Native representation on cam
pus and was
disappointed when he did not see or experience any
interaction with other
Native students. He said, "I had so much ambition and I was so
ready, but
after I kept going,
there was just, there was nothing in the school to keep me
there. There was nobody, kind of like saying, there was no supp
ort." Beyond
the lack of representation on campus, David was disheartened at
the lack of
connection between his institution and GMSP:
The only thing that I knew from the scholarship was 1
got money. I kind of
remember them saying that someone would keep in touch
with me from the
scholarship. Um, and so I, I . .. that's all I remember. 1
used to get the emails,
and actually I still do get the emails every now and again.
[Laughs.] But I
thought there was more of a contact with the actual
scholarship people. And I
just thought there was a little more to it. And there's no one on
campus of course

78. who knew anything about the Gates Millennium Scholarship. Th
e advisor didn't
even know, because I had to actually ask them
for more money to get all my
books because it didn't cover, for some reason they didn't
request the right
amount. And then
I did ask for more money to get a laptop and the advisor said
I couldn't do it. And there was just no communication and
there was no real
knowledge of what I had, what I
had received from Gates basically.
David also thought carrying the title "scholar" would be acknow
ledged by
his faculty at the very least. When
it went unacknowledged, he concluded that
what he brought from home was not valued on campus.
Demystifying Influences on Persistence
269
AIGMS spoke of missing structures on campus that represented
both their
Native and Gates scholar identities. According to TribalCrit, ed
ucation poli-
cies geared toward Native Americans are historically rooted in a
ssimilationist
frameworks (Brayboy 2005). Consequently,
current mainstream campuses
typically are not reflective of
Native histories, perspectives, or experiences
Not only did many AIGMS experience feelings of disconnection
due to the

79. size and
impersonal nature of their institutions, they also experienced
feel-
ings of disconnection between their cultural ways of knowing—
that is, their
teachings and values—
and institutional norms. In addition, institutions were
not knowledgeable about the resources available to
the recipients from the
GMSP, such as budget reevaluations and funding specifically fo
r computers.
Because of this
lack of knowledge, AIGMS were not fully financially sup-
ported within the structures on their campuses.
Significance of Relationships for AIGMS
Relationships—or the lack thereof—with their institutions
and AIGC/
GMSP emerged as a key factor
for AIGMS. One AIGMS, Kate, offered
an explanation to help institutions and organizations like
AIGC/GMSP
understand the importance of relationships within the
American Indian
community:
The one thing that I
really think that AIGC and people who work with Native
Americans is they really need to understand that
relationships with Native
Americans are so essential to be efficient. And I
say this because of just any-
thing with my students, I have to build
relationships with them before they can
trust me to say "ok, you're going to need help with this, let

80. me sit down and
help you." It's building those relationships, you
know, "what's your favorite
color, what's your home like," then I
can properly serve them because they're
not afraid to ask. They're not afraid to say that "I
need help" or "I can't do
this" or "Ms. Hamilton, so-and-so's picking on
me" or "this is the way I feel
about myself." I really can't be effective in what I do if
not for relationships
and then you look back on the relationships with your
parents, building those
relationships, they're not going to trust you if they don't respect
you or there's
no relationship there.
Kate's explanation speaks to the significance of relationships a
mong Na-
tive people. In particular, relationships played a central
role in the identity
of
the AIGMS participants. Relationships with family, community,
GMSP,
AIGC, faculty, and staff were all discussed by AIGMS as being
important to
their success—and, conversely, the absence or inadequacy of
these relation-
ships adversely affected their experiences of college. Many
acknowledged
the roles within their families and communities that
are important to them:
270 Chapter 9

81. granddaughter/grandson, daughter/son, older sister/brother,
auntie/uncle,
mother and father. Those roles remained important to them in
their transi-
tion to college, and they expected to cultivate similar relationsh
ips with their
peers, faculty, and staff, and
especially with AIGC and GMSP. Sahara did
not have trouble making friends on campus, but she was unable
to make con-
nections with classmates in her courses
to study with and share notes. She
felt lonely for someone with whom to plan courses to take toget
her in the fu-
ture. Coming from a small school. Dana struggled with the
impersonal, large
classes she found in college. She noted, "In my class 1 graduate
d from a class
of six, and so going to [my university] and being in class of 150
, even 500 and
not having that personal connection with the professor, that was
really hard
for me to deal with as well." A1GMS students saw this lack of o
pportunity
to build
relationships within classroom environments as a gap in structur
ed
institutional supports.
There was also an expectation that
the AIGC staff would understand the
importance of
relationships for Native students. Several AIGMS mentioned
attending the National Leadership Conference hosted by GMSP
as freshmen.

82. The conference was meant to provide a comprehensive understa
nding of the
scholarship program for all Gates Scholarship recipients while a
lso introduc-
ing them to the staff who would be working with
the students. AIGMS en-
joyed the conference, but they returned
to their respective campuses without
establishing any meaningful relationships. Rachel elaborated
on this topic
and discussed the kind of relationship she thought would
have been helpful:
I don't remember them advocating or saying how important
it is to make those
networking relationships with people. Because then that
could be a support
system, because you guys are both going through it together.
I didn't realize
that, again, at the time, how
important those networking things are during the
whole conference and why they do it. All 1 knew was that 1
was going to Los
Angeles to this big conference because of the Gates scholarship.
And then hav-
ing someone sit there and say this is important because... . i
think when you're
that young 18, 19, 17—fresh out of high school, that's
what you need. You
need somebody there not to do everything for you, but to tell yo
u how important
it is and to help you along. Someone you could
turn to for help that's not like,
oh you
should already know this" type of mentality, attitude. Someone's
who