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Predatory Inclusion in Higher Education: Labor and Financial Exploitation at a Predominantly White Institution in the Era of Neoliberal Multiculturalism
Get PDFIn the summer of 2020, racial justice movements that emerged in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin passionately decried the systems and institutions at fault and complicit in still perpetuating racial discrimination towards Black people, as well as Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC). As a response to these racial justice demands, college institutions pushed for diversity in their student body and across college affairs in order to appear like they were effectively responding to student demands. However, this fight against racial inequality and inequity began long before during the post-Civil War era when, as W.E.B. DuBois has written, America’s enduring problem of the color line continued to structure race relations in the nation. Formally, the work to desegregate higher education began in the 1960s after the Civil Rights Act was passed. Over time, higher education consequently became an increasingly popular commodity as it was framed as a necessity to access better and higher-paying jobs, where going to college became framed as an inclusive opportunity for increasing racial social mobility. As BIPOC students gain opportunities to enroll in higher education, it is important that we examine the relationship between institutions’ DEI efforts and the experiences that people with “diverse” racialized bodies have within them. To further explore this relationship, I conducted in-person interviews with 14 students who self-identified as BIPOC and were currently enrolled at Macalester College, a self-proclaimed racially progressive liberal arts college located in the Twin Cities less than ten miles away from where Floyd had been murdered. Ultimately engaging with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s concept of predatory inclusion but applying it to the context of higher education instead of the housing market, my results reveal that there are two general forms of exploitation that BIPOC students reported experiencing: labor and financial. As a result, I conclude that the DEI efforts promoted and promised by the college do not reflect the true experiences of BIPOC students who are being tokenized and exploited by the institution instead of being offered material redistribution or a fair path to upward mobility
Racing the Tides: Three Virginia Islands Threatened by Climate Change and the Challenge of Preserving Their Stories
Get PDFAmong the tidal marshes of Virginia’s York River, there are three relatively obscure groups of uninhabited islands, all with fascinating stories, and all rapidly disappearing: the Goodwin Islands, the Catlett Islands, and Poropotank Island. These islands have been almost entirely overlooked by existing historical and archaeological research, and they are all imminently threatened by climate change-induced sea level rise and erosion. In the summer of 2023, I embarked on an interdisciplinary research project to study cultural heritage sites scattered across the islands. Drawing on my experience of studying these islands, as well as other related case studies, I demonstrate that due to their geographic isolation and intimate connection with surrounding waters, islands hold stories that are unique to their locations. Yet, this same isolation makes island cultural heritage sites particularly vulnerable to deterioration. By exploring the challenges posed by limited physical accessibility, insufficient funding, and systemic biases in determining historical significance, this study illuminates the urgent need for innovative preservation strategies. Photogrammetry has been proposed as a potential method of preserving threatened sites. However, I argue that while it can be a helpful tool for documentation and analysis, 3D scanning on its own cannot and should not be considered a wholly effective form of preservation
Religious Right Countermovement Tactics: Taking Down LGBTQ+ Rights One Letter at a Time
Get PDFThe group we know today as the “Religious Right” (“R.R.”) has been in contention with the LGBTQ+ movement since the early 1970s. Using a single case study method, I analyze how, if at all, Religious Right framing and LGBTQ+ counter-framing evolved at a point in time where the R.R. recognized it was losing its fight against same-sex marriage. Using Arizona’s 2013 Senate Bill 1045 (one of the nation’s first bathroom bills) as a case study, I find that the Religious Right translates protectionist framing from its anti-gay marriage crusade into its anti-trans rights offensive, and the LGBTQ+ movement also responds with similar framing around civil rights. However, given this new focus on trans rights, the R.R. emphasizes its belief that trans people are predators, and LGBTQ+ allies arguments are strengthened by repeated, sobering statistics that identify trans people as the most vulnerable minority class of people in our society
Curious City - In, Out, Above, Beyond: A Cultural Atlas of Saint Paul, Minnesota - cover
No full textCover image for https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/geog_classproj/1/https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/dchome/1011/thumbnail.jp
Making the Revolution: The Young Lords and the Creation of a New Puerto Rican Identity
Get PDFIn this paper, I provide a critique of the Young Lords by dissecting how the Young Lords shifted Puerto Rican identity from an assimilationist perspective to a politicized and decolonial one. Through understanding Puerto Rico (and consequently, Puerto Ricans) as an extension of what Anibal Quijano calls the \u27coloniality of power’, I argue that the Young Lord’s develop a dichotomy between good vs. bad Puerto Ricans, where good Puerto Ricans are affirmed and legitimized as genuine Puerto Ricans, while bad Puerto Ricans are discredited and excluded from the movement. I identify four archetypes to show how the Young Lords divided \u27good\u27 and \u27bad\u27 Puerto Ricans: Revolutionaries, Passive Dissenters, Traitors, and Martyrs. I examined online archived newspapers published by the Young Lords in New York and Chicago in 1970 and found that Puerto Rican identity is formulated through a process of culturally and politically distancing oneself from “American” identity. This paper highlights the pervasiveness of colonialism as a driving factor in identity formation by centering the unique situation of Puerto Ricans -- what Ramon Grosfoguel calls \u27colonial subjects.\u27 Ultimately, this paper asks us to reflect upon how we put meaning behind our identities as we engage in movements of resistance and, by extension, builds upon other critiques of revolutionary movements within the United States
Not So Set in Stone: A Digital History of the Macalester College Campus
Get PDFCollege communities are constantly in flux, as students typically remain in school for only four years. However, parts of the physical environment of a college campus might last for centuries. This project investigates the evolution of Macalester College’s campus and asks the following questions: What has guided the design decisions for new buildings and structures at Macalester throughout its history? How have people interacted with, manipulated, and potentially subverted these spaces and places? How is settler colonialism physically embodied at Macalester? These questions have illuminated the ways that people have attempted to control the space and place that makes up Macalester, and how people have resisted or subverted that control. I have compiled my research into a digital exhibit in order to communicate how architecture and design has served as a tool to convey Macalester’s values and to shape the experiences of students as they eat, sleep, study, and socialize on campus
Zooming Out: A Retrospective Analysis of Nontraditional Learning Modes\u27 Effect on High School Graduation and Dropout During the 2020-2021 Covid-19 School Year
Get PDFThis paper examines the impact of nontraditional learning modes, such as online education, on high school graduation and dropout rates during the 2020-2021 Covid-19 school year. Using school-level data from the Illinois Report Card for 2012-2021, a difference-in-differences framework is used to estimate the average treatment effect of two groups: schools that used virtual learning modes for only part of the year and those that used it for nearly the entire year. The study reveals that virtual learning had a negligible effect on four-year graduation rates. However, schools that used virtual learning for only part of the year witnessed a decrease in dropout rates by 0.5%, while those that used it for the entire year experienced a 1% reduction. These results suggest that virtual education and non-traditional learning modes provide greater accessibility to students, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, but may be less efficient than traditional in-person schooling. Overall, the study offers insights into the effects of virtual learning modes and highlights the need for further research in this area
Using the Social Model of Disability Studies as a Framework to Assess Deaf-Centered Technology
No full textDeaf and hard of hearing (DHH) users of assistive and adaptive technology have been previously grouped together as one homogenous group among the HRI community as well as in the general public opinion, despite the fact that those with deafness and those in the Deaf community are separate groups with different customs and needs. Using mixed methods, this thesis discusses (1) a human-subjects experiment, comparing DHH and hearing interactions with manufacturing collaborative robots, and (2) an interview study with two participants in the Deaf community and two deaf individuals outside of the said community. Finally, analyzing themes from the studies reveals support for the social model of disability
A Brascamp-Lieb–Rary of Examples
Get PDFThis paper focuses on the Brascamp-Lieb inequality and its applications in analysis, fractal geometry, computer science, and more. It provides a beginner-level introduction to the Brascamp-Lieb inequality alongside re- lated inequalities in analysis and explores specific cases of extremizable, simple, and equivalent Brascamp-Lieb data. Connections to computer sci- ence and geometric measure theory are introduced and explained. Finally, the Brascamp-Lieb constant is calculated for a chosen family of linear maps