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  • Trumps America? Disquiet Campus? Women and Marginalized College Students, Faculty, and Staff Reflect on Learning, Working, Living, and EngagingA special issue of Women, Gender, and Families of Color
  • Jennifer F. Hamer, Editor

Many readers and past authors asked that we consider a special issue on the contemporary social, political, and cultural moment and its meaning for students, faculty, and staff in higher education. This issue offers such a forum.

As many of you know, few, if any, higher-education institutions have created wholly diverse, equitable, or inclusive learning and professional environments. U.S. campuses have persistently struggled to create representative student, faculty, and staff compositions; achieve equitable rates of retention and degree completion; and produce inclusive and welcoming learning and workplace environments.

Yet, while some progress has been made, it seems that recent political, cultural, and economic trends may be slowing efforts and/or generating greater disparities. There is particular concern for those most marginal. Budgetary cuts and politically driven policy changes to financial aid, health care, and tax codes compound the adversity experienced by first-generation students. The march of white supremacists at the University of Virginia, revocation of Deferred Action for Children of Aliens (DACA), a travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, passage of campus gun-carry laws, police militarization and violence, increased voter restrictions, provocations in the name of free speech, and messages of hate from political leadership have heightened fears among those of color. Further, vocal victims of sexual assault and harassment have reinvigorated the “Me Too” movement, which has heightened our awareness of everyday pervasive violence in work and social spaces across social identities and differences. These and other macro- and microlevel happenings and incidents [End Page 1] impact full participation in classrooms, workplaces, research networks, social media, and other places of intellectual exchange. Those most marginalized—by race/ethnicity, disabilities, nationality, citizenship status, religion, gender expression, sexuality, and class—may feel this more than others.

Why does it matter to this journal? Women, Gender, and Families of Color is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed biennial publication that centers the study of black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian American women, gender, and families. Yet our ability to produce this publication rests on the capacity of universities to nurture academic environments where campus members and communities can freely collaborate and advance meaningful thinking and research. Our call for reflections on the subject matter resulted in a range of critical voices, including students, tenure-track and adjunct faculty members, college staff persons and activists, people of color and whites, LGBTQ+, dis- and differently abled people, and more. Concerns consisting of university tenure, guns, and campus carry; the status of DACA and hardships for Dreamers; the institution of education and recent political appointee decisions; minority-serving institutions; sexual harassment, campus racism, activism, and demonstrations; and the impact of campus austerity measures, among others, all weighed heavily on our writers and, from the view of many, are negatively affecting their personal and professional goals.

This special issue is a departure from the peer-reviewed manuscripts that generally represent the types and format of our publication. Our subject matter foci demand that we take a moment and appreciate the circumstances of our readers, from whom we welcomed the opportunity to hear, listen to, and create a forum of shared experiences and concerns. We solicited a diversity of perspectives, especially from those who identified as part of marginalized and minoritized populations. In this issue, you will find that contributors tend to agree that this past year has disrupted the ability of many campus citizens—students, faculty, and staff—to engage fully in learning, work, service, and other campus activities. In raising awareness of these issues and by providing space to give them voice, we hope to contribute to the growing number of individuals working toward more equitable campus learning and work environments and to foster fertile ground for the continuation of critical work on women, gender, and families of color. [End Page 2]

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