Exploring How Student Activists Experience Marginality and Mattering During Interactions with Student Affairs Professionals

An examination of institutional response to racial justice activism

“…Student activists can feel as if they are being unheard (Rosati et al., 2019) or they may believe that meetings with institutional leaders do not lead to any real progress (Linder et al., 2019). Being aware of this, institutional leaders must understand the importance of not only providing students with space to address their concerns, but must continue the efforts by finding means to reasonably address the challenges presented.…”

“…Recently, a focus has been placed on the nonperformative actions of institutional leaders (Hoffman & Mitchell, 2016; Squire et al., 2019) in response to activism efforts. Some scholars share concerns that, if institutional leaders do not appropriately address student activist concerns or are dismissive of students’ calls for change, they will maintain the status quo (Cho, 2018; Linder et al., 2019) and risk continual marginalization of their campus communities (Rosati et al., 2019).…”

Faculty Perceptions of Mattering in Teaching and Learning: A Qualitative Examination of the Views, Values, and Teaching Practices of Award-Winning Professors

“…Other qualitative studies based on open-ended responses have been conducted in educational contexts with a focus on either students (high school and post-secondary school students) or people employed in the education system. And, although some of these studies did not have an initial emphasis on mattering, a mattering versus marginalization category emerged nonetheless through an analysis of the open-ended responses (e.g., Huerta & Fishman, 2014;Rosati et al, 2019). Our focus, however, is on qualitative investigations that specifically focus on mattering from the beginning of the study.…”

We Matter Too: Employing Counterstorytelling to Expose the Equity Paradoxes Arresting Mattering and Racial Healing Among Faculty of Color

“…These leavers provide a sampling of various ways in which departments can work together to create equitable working conditions that signify to faculty of color that their personhood, expertise, presence, career goals, contributions, voices, and wellness matter. Only a small number of research studies on mattering have linked positive interactions within specific educational contexts with increased performance, social-emotional wellness, and feelings of belonging among Black and LatinX students (Baszile, 2019; Carey, 2019; Huerta & Fishman, 2014; Jones, 2017; Rosati et al, 2019). Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that shifting work environments toward racial healing could yield positive outcomes among faculty of color.…”

“…Furthermore, the countermovements’ slogans “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter” brought the idea of mattering into the public consciousness that went far beyond the narrow social psychological construct employed by researchers before 2013. Moreover, mattering as a progressive and critical framework explores the nuances of personhood among Black and LatinX youth amidst widespread racial hostility in US society and P-20 learning environments (Baszile, 2019; Carey, 2019; Huerta & Fishman, 2014; Jones, 2017; Rosati et al, 2019). Carey’s (2019) theorizing of the comprehensive matter was most inspirational to the present work.…”