http://www.ur.umich.edu/update/archives/120419/hope
By Katie Lund
Graham Sustainability Institute
The Graham Sustainability Institute has selected six faculty-led research projects to join with Focus: HOPE, a nationally recognized civil and human rights organization, on a Detroit community development initiative.
The university-funded projects will incorporate social, economic and environmental strategies to help develop a comprehensive plan for advancing the HOPE Village Initiative, a 100-block area immediately surrounding the Focus: HOPE campus straddling the cities of Detroit and Highland Park.
The initiative seeks to integrate Focus: HOPE’s strengths in workforce development, early childhood education and community development.
Each of the six selected U-M projects will receive $25,000 to $30,000 over the next 18 months. The projects and their faculty researchers are:
• Applied Research and Service by Urban Planning Students in the HOPE Village Initiative Area (Eric Dueweke and Margi Dewar, Urban Planning)
• Building a Healthy Community in Detroit: Tracking the Impact of the HOPE Village Initiative (Paul Draus and Juliette Roddy, Public Affairs, UM-Dearborn)
• The Development of a Community Based Coalition to Promote Career and College Preparation in the HOPE Village Neighborhoods of Detroit and Highland Park (John Burkhardt, Jessica Joslin, Jana Castellanos and Victor Andrews, School of Education)
• Legal Issues in HOPE Village Housing Cooperative and Green Space (Alicia Alvarez and Priya Baskaran, Law School).
• Mapping Community Economies and Building Capabilities in HOPE Village (Bruce Pietrykowski, Center for Labor and Community Studies, UM-Dearborn; and Roland Zullo, Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy)
• Play & Grounds (Maria Arquero, Jen Maigret and Craig Borum, Architecture and Urban Planning; Robert Grese, Natural Resources and Environment; and Lorelle Meadows and Aline Cotel, College of Engineering)
“These six projects leverage diverse U-M faculty research to advance sustainability strategies within the HOPE Village area, while also serving as models to advance similar efforts throughout Detroit,” says Don Scavia, director of the Graham Institute.
The projects will use an integrated-assessment framework that brings together U-M researchers, Focus: HOPE staff and community stakeholders to address common analytical approaches, data sets, tools and policies to advance decision-making for the HOPE Village Initiative.
Debbie Fisher, director of the HOPE Village Initiative, says that collectively, these projects “will help us to make significant strides toward our overall goal — that 100 percent of those in the HOPE Village Initiative neighborhood in the heart of Detroit will be educationally well-prepared, economically self-sufficient, and living in a safe and supportive environment by the year 2031.”
“Sustainability factors including the physical environment, economic development, community health and education are all critical to the success of this important initiative,” she says. “A community simply cannot thrive if these factors are not all working together.”
The National Forum has released a comprehensive report funded by the Texas Guarantee Loan Corporation (TG) examining institutional behavior related to state and federal policies regarding undocumented students.
“We created a survey examining institutional behaviors regarding undocumented students. Our partners at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) distributed the surveys to their constituents,” says Omar Hussain, research assistant. “We learned whether or not the institution admits or provides financial aid to undocumented students, and whether or not the administrators know if their institutions have policies in place. The report provides statistics on our findings and background information on the issue.”
In addition to providing data about institutional policies regarding undocumented students, the report also examines socio-political factors involved with policy-making. Given the breadth and depth of the report, the National Forum is now seeking to put it in the hands of as many individuals as possible.
“Typically research findings are distributed to a body of scholars, but we want these findings to also be accessible to administrators, admissions counselors, financial aid administrators, and communications professionals within institutions who are in a position to change policies for undocumented students,” says Hussain. “The wider the net we cast, the better.”
Dr. John Burkhardt was the primary investigator. Numerous National Forum researchers contributed to the data collection, analysis, writing and dissemination of the report, including Noe Ortega, Chris Nellum, Angela Vidal-Rodriguez, Kimberly Reyes, Omar Hussain, Joanna Frye, and Joanna Hernandez. The full TG Report can be requested here. In coming months, quick reference sheets, which are one-page PDFs providing salient information in an accessible and digestible format, will also be available on the website.
Researchers working on the immigration initiative at the National Forum have been hard at work presenting at numerous conferences around the country. Researchers at the National Forum presented at the seventh annual national conference of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE), and at the GSCO/BET conference. This year’s AAHHE conference took place March 8-10 in Costa Mesa, California, while the GSCO/BET conference was held at the University of Michigan on March 16, 2012.
Aurora Kamimura, graduate research assistant at the National Forum, was a member of a panel discussion at the AAHHE conference entitled “Balancing Act: The Dual-Career Latina/o Partnership.” She and two others answered questions related to the Latina/o dual PhD partner experience.
Noe Ortega and Christopher Nellum, both graduate research assistants at the National Forum, joined Kamimura for a presentation at the AAHHE conference entitled “Voluntary Support at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): An Examination of the Relationship between Private Support and Institutional Viability and its Impact on Access and Degree Completion.” The trio presented preliminary findings on the impact of alternative sources of funding and the distribution of institutional endowments upon HSIs and the Latino community.
Graduate research assistants Angela Vidal-Rodriguez and Kimberly Reyes presented at the AAHHE conference as well. The duo created a presentation entitled “How to Survive an Attack to Your Institutional Policies: The Cases of Leaders Protecting Multicultural Environments for Undocumented Students.” The presentation examined three situations in which leaders have stepped forward to take positions in favor of providing access and institutional aid to undocumented students, and analyzed what happened when the policies were implemented and how the institutions handled the negative reaction.
Research assistants Marisol Ramos and Omar Hussain, Masters Students in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, presented “Research into Activism at the National Forum: Converting Recent Research into National Activism” at the GSCO/BET conference. They explained the connection between the Forum’s development of the Storm Center and dissemination of the TG report and national activism.
This event featured three presentations followed by a question-and-answer session. The Coalition for Tuition Equality, the Ford School Current Events Club and the Students of Color in Public Policy (SCPP) co-sponsored the event. Many students were in attendance, including leadership from the Social Work Allies for Immigration Reform (SWAIR).
National Forum researchers are seeing an increased awareness across the University of Michigan campus of the complex access issues faced by undocumented students.
“My presentation,” explains Reyes, “included the demographic portrait of undocumented students living in the United States, an overview of the current state policies regulating undocumented student access to higher and post-secondary education, and a brief summary of key findings from our report ‘Reconciling Federal, State and Institutional Policies Determining Educational Access for Undocumented Students: Implications for Professional Practice,’ a systematic nationwide examination of institutional policies targeting undocumented students.”
In addition to the experience of presenting at an event like this, Kimberly emphasized the importance of collaboration within the University of Michigan community. “Presentations like these allow the National Forum to continue the work of building awareness and understanding of the issue, while also lending legitimacy to the partners in our network who are also invested in this work.”
The Coalition for Interdisciplinary Research on Latino Issues (CIRLI) presents Dr. Efren Perez’s speech “COLLATERAL DAMAGE? XENOPHOBIC RHETORIC AND ITS POLITICAL EFFECTS ON LATINOS.” The event is co-sponsored by the Latina/o Studies Program, the National Forum on the Higher Education for the Public Good, and Political Scientists of Color. CIRLI is a Rackham-funded interdisciplinary workshop.
Dr. Efron Perez will be speaking in the Michigan Union, Kuenzel Room, on the first floor.
The flyer for the event can be downloaded here.
For more information about Dr. Perez, see his bio.
The National Forum is partnering with scholars around the nation to produce three research papers on undocumented students in higher education.
“The Forum identified gaps in the literature regarding higher education officials’ response to the crisis regarding undocumented students,” says Angela Vidal-Rodriguez, leader of the Higher Education Access research team at the National Forum. “After that, the Forum reached out to the leading experts in media, law, and collective organizing to fill the void.”
The three scholars were invited to write papers addressing the role these factors play in issues regarding undocumented students, through funding from the Carnegie Foundation. The research is already well underway, and the finished papers will be available on the National Forum website this spring.
Dr. Federico Subervi, Full Professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Media & Markets at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Texas State University-San Marcos, and Manuel Aviles-Santiago, Research Assistant and doctoral student, are investigating the impact of media upon higher education. They study Latino journalism, news coverage in Spanish and English media of Latino issues, and political communication strategies aimed toward the Latino portion of the electorate.
Dr. Subervi and Mr. Avile-Santiago were kind enough to take the time to share some information regarding their paper for the website.
National Forum: Could you share some details about the paper?
Manuel Avile-Santiago: Our research explores how the voice of higher education institutions such as universities and community colleges has been presented in the general market (mainstream) press in news stories pertaining to undocumented students and the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, also known as DREAM Act. We are currently looking at three major national newspapers: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today. What is the position of higher education institutions in the debates about the DREAM Act? How does the press frame their position? How social media contested and/or reproduced those frames? These are some of the questions that we aim to answer with this study.
National Forum: What are some ways in which media have impacted undocumented students in higher education in the past?
Manuel Avile-Santiago: Media coverage has affected the framing of the DREAM Act in several levels. Our preliminary observations suggest that during the first years of the debates around the DREAM Act, the press coverage consisted primarily of personal narratives and/or vignettes that told the stories of undocumented students and their attempt to enter or complete higher education. Usually, these stories were followed up focusing on the lives of those students. However, with the increment of social media platforms such as blogs, and networking sites, the role of studied press changed drastically, turning the news focus primarily to the activism and mobilization initiated by and taking place via the social media. That is one of the coverage patterns we will be discussing in our project.
National Forum: What are some ways in which the topic of immigration in higher education relate to your previous research?
Dr. Federico Subervi: I have conducted various studies of how general market newspapers and TV portray Latinos in news and entertainment. This study is more focused on a particular issue, and a very important one for our youth as well as society at large.
National Forum: Ideally, what would you like to study in the future related to immigration and institutions of higher education?
Manuel Avile-Santiago: One thing we noticed during our preliminary research is that the coverage tends to focus in the political aspect of the issue. However, there is an array of cultural and social specific implications when discussing these topics. Those are areas that have been ignored by mainstream press, have been brought up by individuals in social media platforms. That is where this research is heading to in terms of development. Also, we would like to assess how this topic has been covered in selected television networks and programs.
The National Forum would like to thank Federico and Manuel for taking the time to share information about their research projects. More information about their past and current research can be found at the University of Texas website, at Federico Subervi’s bio and Manuel Aviles-Santiago bio pages.
The National Forum is partnering with scholars around the nation to produce three research papers on undocumented students in higher education.
“The Forum identified gaps in the literature regarding higher education officials’ response to the crisis regarding undocumented students,” says Angela Vidal-Rodriguez, leader of the Higher Education Access research team at the National Forum. “After that, the Forum reached out to the leading experts in media, law, and collective organizing to fill the void.”
The three scholars were invited to write papers addressing the role these factors play in issues regarding undocumented students, through funding from the Carnegie Foundation. The research is already well underway, and the finished papers will be available on the National Forum website this spring.
Dr. Susan Sturm, George M. Jaffin Profesor of Law and Social Responsibility at Columbia Law School, and Yleana Roman, Post Doctoral Research Scholar, Center for Institutional and Social Change, are writing about legal counsel and legal considerations. Susan is an expert on affirmative action, gender equity, and institutional change, and her awards include the 2007 Presidential Teaching Award at Columbia University. Dr. Sturm and Ms. Roman were kind enough to take the time to share some information regarding their paper with the Forum.
National Forum: Could you share some details about the paper?
Dr. Sturm and Ms. Roman: Many higher education institutions and leaders are engaged in increasing access to higher education for first generation and low-income college-bound students. This place-based goal of expanding educational access to underserved populations necessarily includes figuring out how to provide higher education access for immigrants, including those who are undocumented. Along with continuing efforts at the federal level to pass the Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act), advocates and educators have focused increased attention on addressing the educational needs of undocumented students at the state and local level. In many cases, the current legal and political environment has led institutions to address the educational needs of undocumented students through informal relationships, policies and practices that provide the financial and social supports needed for undocumented students to gain access to and succeed in college. Institutions and leaders must navigate difficult legal terrain and find ways to connect the networks of faculty, students, administrators, community members, and policy makers involved in doing this work, under conditions of high conflict and polarization.
The Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School is partnering with the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good on a research project examining the role of lawyers—general counsel, immigration lawyers, and lawyers in non-profit advocacy organizations—in supporting educational access to undocumented students. Under the leadership of Susan Sturm and with the research support of Yleana Roman and Adriana Garcia, the Center’s project involves conducting field research exploring the roles, strategies, and relationships of lawyers involved in providing advice and support on issues of undocumented student access in higher education. This project seeks to understand lawyers as institutional actors operating at the boundaries of institutions and their legal and policy environments, in advancing the full participation of undocumented students in higher education. By gathering and collecting the narratives, strategies, and networks of lawyers, the project will produce a research paper that highlights and explains the role of lawyers as providing important organizational “boundary functions” that work to inform institutional leaders’ decisions in an area of legal ambiguity and political polarization. The paper will build on work done by the Center, in collaboration with students in the Diversity and Innovation Seminar, on undocumented students as transformative leaders and on institutional strategies for increasing access to higher education for undocumented students.
National Forum: What are some ways in which legal considerations have impacted undocumented students in higher education in the past?
Dr. Sturm and Ms. Roman: Federal law passed in 1996 prohibits states from providing any higher education benefit based on residency to undocumented immigrants unless they provide the same benefit to U.S. citizens in the same circumstances. The majority of all student aid, including federal student aid requires the applicant to be a U.S. citizen, a Legal Permanent Resident (“LPR”) or an eligible non-citizen. Without government financial assistance, undocumented immigrants are forced to cover tuition out-of-pocket. Most undocumented students come from low-income families and do not have the ability to contribute to tuition at four-year institutions. The cost of a post-secondary education is especially an obstacle in states where undocumented people are not eligible for in-state tuition, a reduced tuition rate available for students who can prove state residency at state public postsecondary institutions. These legal barriers that prevent undocumented students from applying for federal financial aid, make a college education unaffordable for them and their families. Fortunately, efforts at the local and state level do exist in favor of these students. Since 2001, a total of twelve states have enacted legislation giving undocumented students who meet specific requirements in-state tuition rates at public post-secondary institutions. Generally, in-state tuition laws have a huge influence on whether undocumented students can access and afford higher education. Some studies have shown that states with in-state tuition allow undocumented students more opportunities to enroll in higher education institutions because the cost of financing their education is much lower. In states without in-state tuition it is much more difficult to afford a higher education institution. These restrictive laws limit a student’s ability to finance an education.
National Forum: What are some ways in which the topic of immigration in higher education relate to your previous research?
Dr. Sturm and Ms. Roman: The Center for Institutional and Social Change (www.changecenter.org) develops knowledge and practice that enables ongoing change needed for (1) individuals and groups to participate fully and thrive within institutions and communities; (2) institutions to take up their responsibilities to the larger society; and (3) policymakers to create contexts that facilitate full participation. The topic of immigration in higher education fits squarely within our mission to increase full participation of underserved communities in higher education. Immigrants, and undocumented students as part of this larger group, have traditionally faced increased barriers to access and success in higher education. The Center has conducted research around undocumented student access and success in higher education for the past year and a half, focusing on institutional actors’ and undocumented student leaders’ roles and strategies in building capacity. In addition, Susan Sturm and her students have conducted extensive research on the role of lawyers in facilitating lawful innovation, and that research is serving as a base for the current study on the role of lawyers in increasing undocumented students’ educational access and success.
National Forum: What are some interesting things you have learned through the preliminary research for this paper?
Dr. Sturm and Ms. Roman: Thus far, the lawyers interviewed come from a wide array of institutions, organizations, and firms and each come at this issue in different ways. The context — the geographic location, the state law, and the types of partners they work with — has a profound influence on what kind of strategies lawyers enact and what kind of roles they play in advancing these strategies.
National Forum: Ideally, what would you like to study in the future related to immigration and institutions of higher education?
Dr. Sturm and Ms. Roman: Ideally, the center would further study the overlap between undocumented students and first generation students in the pursuit of higher education. There is considerable overlap between these two groups and strategies for advancing first-generation students can help undocumented students and also appeal to higher education institutions that desire to have as a broad an impact as possible when increasing participation at their institutions.
The National Forum would like to thank Susan and Yleana for taking the time to share information about their research projects with the National Forum. More information about their past and current research can be found at Susan Sturm’s bio on the Columbia University website, and at Yleana Roman’s bio.
The National Forum will partner with the Carnegie Foundation to perform a strategic communications and network analysis with KFLA (Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance).
Amy Puffenberger, Project Manager at the National Forum, reports that KFLA uses algorithm-based social networking to map communications trends. According to Amy, KFLA will contact the members of the National Forum’s network and conduct a communications survey to better understand and construct a sophisticated communications and networking infrastructure for ongoing and future Forum work.
Amy suggests that “we want to reach those people who are ‘hubs,’ or have numerous contacts in the network, and get them involved (in the work at the Forum).”
The National Forum has already compiled a database of local, national, and international collaborators and contacts in an effort to organize the numerous partners and allies accrued over the years. This database will be the first step towards a more sophisticated understanding of the National Forum’s network – an understanding that KFLA will seek to expand on.
Dr. John Burkhardt, director of the National Forum, has extensive experience collaborating with KFLA. For seven years he worked for the organization as program director for leadership and higher education. As he states in his biography on the Forum’s website, he “led several major initiatives focused on transformation and change in higher education and participated in a comprehensive effort to encourage leadership development among college students.” KFLA serves as a “network hub” connecting fellows and alumni, providing leadership development programs and opportunities for 1,500 fellows, as stated on their homepage, kfla.org.
Regarding the current collaboration goals, Burkhardt explains that KFLA and other leaders met January 21-23 “to review patterns of interaction and communication and to launch several experimental projects to determine if the frequency or intensity of collaboration can be increased through planned interventions.”
“The Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance (KFLA) is using a sophisticated method of social network mapping to analyze patterns of interaction between individuals selected and trained by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation through various leadership programs over thirty years,” Burkhardt explained. “This initiative is part of a long commitment by the Kellogg Foundation to optimize the impact of their grant making through innovative use of technology.”
The National Forum is eager to continue to build connections and utilize the resources and connections it possesses to maximize the reach and impact of its research. The network analysis will be an invaluable building block for the Stormcenter, an online resource for higher education leaders experiencing opposition related to undocumented students.
Forum Director John Burkhardt was recently a guest of the Kettering Foundation for their 2012 Winter Retreat.
The event was recently written up in Kettering’s newsletter, The Commons:
Discussion at our Winter Retreat (Jan. 18-20) focused on higher education in democracy. To inform that discussion, a number of people joined us, including:
During a big-picture discussion, Chris Gates made an observation that sparked a lot of conversation. He said that social media has completely reframed the relationship between citizens and institutions, including higher education. Gates shared what he has learned from his experience, that the “DNA” of social media is transparency and democracy and that there is no longer any legitimate reason for a gap between citizens and experts in terms of data, decision making, etc. Gates noted that this technology also eliminates the need for intermediaries, such as institutions; citizens can speak for themselves. A challenge for institutions in aligning themselves with the work of citizens is that many people in government, nonprofit, and higher ed institutions still see themselves as intermediaries. Eventually, as executive editor of NIF issue books Brad Rourke noted, institutions and social media will have to learn to productively coexist.
Jenny Small, alum of the CSHPE and a Forum Legendary Musician published a book exploring college students’ spiritual identities. Congrats, Jenny, for this important contribution to the field!
Information for her new book can be found here.
This book provides a long overdue alternative to current literatures about the religious and spiritual lives of college students with their over-reliance on Christian frameworks for faith development.
Through research-based illustrations, the volume calls on higher education professionals and academics to more effectively and completely consider a multi-faith frame to view the impact of faith diversity on college campuses. It considers the marginalizing impact of unexamined religious privileging and provides an alternate way of understanding faith and spirituality, with the potential to influence both research and practice in higher education, in the United States and other countries, as well as the lives of religious minority college students.
In their own words, college students explain why faith diversity must be one element of treating all students in a just manner, one that honors their individual needs as learners and community members. The volume is an invitation to those educators who have not yet considered this situation to begin conversing on the topic with those who are already convinced of the need.
Contents: Foreword, Edward P. St. John. Prologue. THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK. Introduction to the Current Book. The Questions That Guide Me. Definitions of Core Terms. Religion, Spirituality, and Faith in the Higher Education Context. The Purpose and Organization of this Work. My Perspective. THE DISTINCTIVE FAITH FRAMES OF FOUR GROUPS OF STUDENTS. Christian Faith Frame. Jewish Faith Frame. Muslim Faith Frame. Atheist/Agnostic Faith Frame. Faith Frames Compared. Conclusion. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAITH FRAMES AND DISCOURSE IN INTRA- AND INTERFAITH DIALOGUE. Dialogue and the Christian Faith Frame. Dialogue and the Jewish Faith Frame. Dialogue and the Muslin Faith Frame. Dialogue and the Atheist/Agnostic Faith Frame. Exceptional Discourse Moves: Post-Hoc Positioning and Post-Hoc Face Saving. Summary of Relationships between Faith Frames and Discourse. Conclusion. HE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAITH FRAMES AND STUDENTS’ AWARENESS OF RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGE AND MARGINALIZATION. Three-Tiered Structure of Religious Privilege in American Society. Religious Marginalization Awareness and the Christian Faith Frame. Religious Marginalization Awareness and the Jewish Faith Frame. Religious Marginalization Awareness and the Muslim Faith Frame. Religious Marginalization Awareness and the Atheist/Agnostic Faith Frame. Religious Marginalization Awareness Scale. Benefits from a Closer Examination of Religious Diversity and its Relationship to Privilege. Conclusion. THE IMPACT OF THE COLLEGE ENVIRONMENT ON STUDENTS’ DIVERSE FAITH IDENTITIES. Catalysts for Positive Growth in Faith. Catalysts for Shifting Growth in Faith. Conclusion. IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATORS WORKING WITH STUDENTS OF DIVERSE FAITHS. Utilization of Faith Frames as an Educational Tool with Individual Students and in Intrafaith Settings. Utilization of Faith Frames as an Educational Tool with Multiple Students and in Interfaith Settings. Additional Implications for Morality and Equity in Practice and Research. Conclusion. Appendix. References. Author Index. Subject Index.
©2011 The National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good
Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education
