Eat glass and walk on fire, while managing a pandemic: Narratives of African American women who serve as senior housing officers.

Abstract

Combatting racism and sexism is a daily occurrence in the professional and personal lives of African American women, including those working in higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic, which created uncertainty and stress and drastically changed how higher education operated, along with racial unrests following several highly publicized murders of Black individuals by police in the summer of 2020, and a highly contested presidential election in Fall 2020 created additional challenges. This narrative inquiry study explored the experiences of African American women who were serving as senior housing officers (i.e., directors of housing and/or residence life) at predominately White institutions during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings highlight how the intersections of racism and sexism shaped the experiences of our participants. Participants encountered barriers when striving to lead authentically while feeling pressure to succeed in managing pandemic-related challenges, not only for their department but their institutions. Participants also felt compelled to serve as voices for communities of color on their campuses while dealing with racism and sexism in their everyday professional lives. These experiences forced participants to re-evaluate how they were presenting at home and at work, and even led some to question their future in the field. As housing and residence life positions often serves as an important steppingstone in the pathways of senior student affairs officers, this study can provide valuable insights into the ways in which intersections of racism and sexism disrupt the pipeline to senior student affairs positions for African American women.