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Student affairs professionals must strive to address the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. As such, this review critically examines scholarly research over the last 25 years regarding the concept of cultural competence as it pertains to students, student affairs professionals, and faculty members. This review also develops a critique of the concept of cultural competence and proposes to suspend and replace terms such as "cultural competence" and "multicultural competence" with what we refer to as "transformative cultural responsiveness" (TCR). TCR, as an alternative, centers intersectionality in its conceptualization, and locates students' experiences within a systems analysis of oppression. The article concludes with a discussion of the critical gaps in existing research and the questions that warrant further study.

Scholars have attempted to reveal the structural barriers that dis/abled students cope with and navigate during college, but it remains unclear how these students interpret their experiences on campus and what strategies they employ to manage and respond to unsupportive and hostile campus climates. In this paper, we describe freedom movements that sought to secure equal access to opportunities and rights for people with dis/abilities, and we highlight and explain forms of resistance among d/Deaf and dis/abled postsecondary students. To do so, we draw on dis/ability critical race theory and also advance the concept of "campusmaking," which refers to the ways that students navigate complex campus spaces and create sites of togetherness and resistance. We discuss broader structural and climate issues facing college students with dis/abilities, particularly those who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. In so doing, we gain insight into dis/abled student campusmaking amid and in spite of ableist and racist postsecondary contexts. We conclude with a discussion of the gaps in existing research and the questions that warrant further study.

For decades, research has shown the pervasive racism of teacher education and its harmful impact on teacher candidates of Color. In this conceptual article, we argue that teacher education programs must interrogate how racism is embedded structurally through policies and practices that guide the various facets of the institution. We build from higher education scholarship on racial climate and "health" and teacher education research on race and racism to explore how multiple dimensions of a teacher education program (historical, organizational, compositional, behavioral, and psychological) accumulate and shape the experiences and well-being of teacher candidates of Color. We offer a model to assist teacher education scholars, administrators, and practitioners to reflect upon their current structures as they strive for a healthy racial climate responsive to the experiences and needs of a diverse teaching force.

Employing critical race theory and a student resistance framework, this study qualitatively explored how minoritized college students view and interpret their racialized experiences in academic settings at a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) and what strategies they have employed to manage and respond to the campus racial climate. Drawn from seven focus groups and eight in-depth interviews, the findings demonstrate that the studied campus promoted racial diversity but failed to facilitate the processes and practices to achieve the educational benefits of a diverse college campus. Study participants were keenly aware of the campus racial climate and encountered racism in a variety of forms. They strategically relied on informal networks for support and collective well-being and also engaged in subtle and creative strategies of resistance. The article includes recommendations for creating equitable, safe, productive environments for racially minoritized students at HSIs and elsewhere.

This study explored the college access and choice processes of high-achieving African American students who were admitted to University of California (UC) campuses but elected to enroll elsewhere. Employing critical race theory as an interpretive framework, the study found that many of these students were denied access to their priority UC campuses and were cascaded down to the least selective campuses. A small portion were not admitted to flagship UCs--Berkeley, Los Angeles, and San Diego--but were admitted to elite non-UC institutions. Moreover, these students decided to attend selective colleges and universities that demonstrated a commitment to admitting and financially supporting them. This study also discovered that these high-achieving students researched and experienced a range of racial climate issues at UC campuses, including racist activities and lack of compositional diversity, which contributed to their decisions not to enroll. The article includes recommendations for UC campus leaders and others committed to creating equitable postsecondary pathways for African American students.

High-achieving African American students in California are not attending University of California (UC) campuses. Due to hyper-implementations of Proposition 209, which limited UC campuses' ability to use race as a significant admission criteria, the UC system and individual UC campus policies have scaled back their efforts to recruit high-achieving African American students from California. This article presents findings from the qualitative portion (n = 74) of a convergent mixed-method study of over 700 African American college-going students. Findings convey the critical role that access, outreach, diversity, and climate plays in the college choice process of African American high achievers. Drawing upon higher education and critical race literature, the findings further reveal the challenges and opportunities for states and elite universities in retaining its brightest students from diverse backgrounds. This research also conveys the potential of research to inform state, systemic, and institutional policies to increase access to selective public universities.

This chapter highlights issues of racism and neoliberal capitalism that exist within the market-like structure of intercollegiate athletics on college campuses, as well as some of the consequences for student-athletes. We discuss the importance of using critical frameworks to better understand and shift the culture and structure of athletic programs to be more inclusive and supportive of the needs and interests of college athletes.

This chapter uses critical race theory as an interpretive framework to explain and operationalize the role of race and racism in the lived experiences and challenges of Division I Black male athletes, and specifically in relation to engagement and achievement at Predominantly White Institutions.

Employing the conceptual model developed by Comeaux and Harrison ("Coll Stud Aff J" 30(1):75-87, 2011), this study explored the undergraduate experience of Division I athlete STEM graduates. Data collection involved 17 in-depth interviews with former athletes at two research-intensive, public institutions. Results revealed that pre-college characteristics, involvement in purposeful STEM-related activities, and sport participation, as well as academic support and guidance within athletic departments, play important roles in shaping the experiences of athletes who earn STEM degrees. Implications for student affairs professionals, faculty, and others who frequently interact with college athletes and are committed to creating more equitable educational environments are discussed.

Using a combined grounded theory and case study methodology, Jayakumar and Comeaux examined the role of organizational culture in shaping the lives of college athletes, particularly related to negotiating dual roles as both student and athlete. Data collection involved 20 interviews with athletes and stakeholders in the affairs of intercollegiate athletics at a Division I public university, as well as field observations and document analysis. The story that emerged from this breadth of data corroborates with and is largely told through the powerful counternarrative of one key informant who is a former Division I college athlete. Findings reveal a cultural-cover up imposed by an idealized image of achieving excellence in academics and athletics, that masks inadequate organizational support toward academic success. While academics are espoused as a priority at the university and within an athletic department that features an academic support system (e.g., tutors, computer center), and although the importance of balancing a dual student/athlete role is constantly reinforced verbally, underlying messages and structures push college athletes toward a greater focus on athletics at the expense of their academic futures. Implications for organizational change are discussed.

This study examined courses focused on intercollegiate athletics in sport-related graduate programs (e.g., Sport Leadership, Sport Management, and Athletic/Sport Administration). A content analysis of course syllabi was used to determine the alignment of course scope and content. Analysis included course type (i.e., required or elective), instructor status, course hours per week, number of major readings, course objectives, course topics, course structure and activities, and student assessment. While several course topics were consistent across syllabi, intercollegiate athletics courses were found to vary widely in their course purpose statements, course objectives, and major readings. This study highlights new directions for future work in aligning professional preparation programs for athletic administrators and has implications for course design, which we believe is significant because of the importance of intercollegiate athletics within U.S. higher education.

Concerns about the educational experiences of Division I athletes are pervasive. Finding meaningful ways to strike a healthy balance between athletics and academics has been an ongoing struggle for colleges and universities, and this article emphasizes the need for and value of innovation in current practices. The article introduces the Career Transition Scorecard, a practitioner-as-researcher model that fosters evidence-based practices among higher education professionals as they improve the well-being of Division I athletes. Drawing from the proposed model, the article includes suggestions for new ways of thinking about the National Collegiate Athletic Association's current Academic Progress Rate initiative. This work should encourage higher education practitioners and key internal stakeholders of athletics to consistently and formally examine program data disaggregated by subgroups such as race/ethnicity, gender, and type of sport and to develop and implement new, responsive intervention strategies that improve desirable academic outcomes for athletes.

There are increasing concerns about the educational experiences of Division I student-athletes in big-time college sports. Calls for reform have come from within colleges and universities and beyond. The literature of innovative management offers ideas that can help mitigate the academic and athletic divide and offer new ideas for athletic departments. Specifically, this body of literature is placed within the context of academic support centers for student-athletes to underscore the importance of new ways of thinking and to shed light on the centrality of the champion in the successful implementation of innovation. The article also introduces the Career Transition Scorecard, a practitioner-as-researcher model that fosters evidence-based practices among practitioners in athletic departments as they improve the well-being of Division I student-athletes. Implications for stakeholder management in college sports are discussed.

This study explored the extent to which cross-racial interaction (CRI) influences postcollege pluralistic orientation and leadership skills for Division I White student-athlete graduates and the degree to which engagement effects are conditional on their precollege neighborhoods. Findings revealed that CRI during college had lasting benefits on pluralistic orientation and leadership skills after college for White student-athletes from racially diverse neighborhoods; further, CRI had long-term effects on leadership skills after college for White student-athletes from segregated precollege neighborhoods. Implications for student affairs professionals are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

Critical race theory was employed as an interpretive framework to explore faculty perceptions of the academic accomplishments of high-achieving Black and White male collegians. Using photo elicitation methodology, faculty participants responded to a randomly assigned photograph of and vignette about either a Black or White male student. While most faculty members were supportive of the academic achievements of both Black and White male collegians, some subscribed to dominant racial ideologies such as colorblindness and racial coding. These findings have implications for faculty, student affairs professionals, and others who frequently interact with college students and are committed to creating more equitable educational environment.

To gauge the differential attitudes of faculty members toward student-athletes at a large Division I-A university, a revised version of the Situational Attitude Scale (SAS) Student-Athlete was administered to 464 faculty members. Findings revealed differences in the attitudes of faculty toward student-athletes by race, gender, and college affiliation. These findings have implications for faculty and student affairs leaders, particularly academic counselors and advisors who are working with this special population of students. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study examined the extent to which transitioning, first-year student-athletes engage in educationally sound activities in college. The sample included 147 revenue and nonrevenue first-year student-athletes who were surveyed at four large Division 1-A universities. Findings revealed that revenue and nonrevenue first-year student athletes differed regarding their academic and athletic identities. Transitioning revenue student-athletes rated themselves as having slightly higher athletic identities, yet lower academic identities compared to their nonrevenue counterparts. The findings from this study also indicated that the kinds of effective educational practices that first-year student-athletes engage in have a positive influence on their academic self-concept. These findings have implications for head coaches and student affairs leaders, particularly academic counselors and advisors who are working with this special population of students. (Contains 2 notes and 4 tables.)

Concern over the academic talent development of Division I student-athletes has led to increased research to explain variations in their academic performance. Although a substantial amount of attention has been given to the relationship between student-athletes and their levels of academic success, there remain critical theoretical and analytical gaps. The purpose of this article is to develop a conceptual model to understand and explain the cumulative processes and characteristics--as a whole and in stages--that influence academic success for Division I student-athletes. Research on student-athletes and academic success is reviewed and synthesized to provide a rationale for the basic elements of the conceptual model. (Contains 2 notes and 1 figure.)

Few scholars have examined the social and academic environmental influence on college student-athletes. This study explored the relationship between Black male student-athletes and faculty and the impact of specific forms of student athlete-faculty interaction on academic achievement. Data are drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's 2000 Freshman Survey and 2004 Follow-Up Survey. The sample includes 739 Black football and basketball players attending predominantly White institutions. The findings provided evidence that the impact of the contact is to some extent contingent upon the specific nature of the interaction for Black male student-athletes. For example, faculty who provided encouragement for graduate school had a significant influence on Black student-athletes' college GPA whereas all other faculty interaction measures were not significant in this study. The implications of these findings are discussed among faculty, student affairs leaders, and others who are committed to improving male Black male student athlete-faculty communication, as well as enrich their overall college experience. (Contains 1 table.)

Studies have examined the impact of environmental variables on academic achievement among student athletes in the revenue-generating sports of men's basketball and football. However, while evidence concerning the positive impact of male student athlete and faculty interaction is virtually unequivocal, we are not certain whether the benefits accruing from particular types of interaction vary across different racial/ethnic groups. This study explores the relationship between male Black and White student athletes and faculty as well as the impact of specific forms of student athlete-faculty interaction on academic achievement. Data are drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's 2000 Freshman Survey and 2004 Follow-Up Survey. The sample includes 1031 White and 739 Black football and basketball players attending predominantly White institutions. Regression results indicate that the impact of the contact or interaction is to some extent contingent upon the specific nature of the interaction for Black and White male student athletes. The findings also suggest that Black and White male student athletes did not benefit equally from their interactions with faculty. Finally, the implications of these findings are discussed among student athletes, faculty and student affairs leaders in order to improve male Black and White student athlete-faculty communication, as well as enrich their overall college experience. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

This study explores the relationship between student athletes and faculty and the impact of specific forms of student athlete and faculty interaction on academic achievement. Specifically, this study examines selected faculty interaction measures of academic achievement among student athletes in the revenue-producing sports of men's basketball and football. The data in this study are from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Student Information Form (SIF; CIRP, 1996) and the College Student Survey (CSS; CIRP,2000). The CIRP data used in this study include information drawn from two surveys: SIF and CSS. The 1996 SIF was administered to first-time college freshmen while the CSS was administered to fourth-year students. The primary purpose of the CIRP is to provide baseline data on entering college freshmen in order to follow them over time to assess how college contributes to their development. The final sample for this study included 693 football and basketball players attending predominantly White institutions. Given the longitudinal nature of this study, only students who completed all items of interest on both surveys were included. The present investigation supported the impact of interaction between student characteristics and the college environment on academic achievement, at least for the male student athletes in this study. Such a finding is not surprising, because student athletes are a subsample of college students. Racial differences were also found in terms of academic preparation between Black and White student athletes. With White student athletes receiving higher high school GPAs than Blacks, it appeared that many Black student athletes matriculated from high schools and environments with inferior academic resources and preparation. The results obtained from this research will be most useful to faculty who are exposed to the sport model and its constraints, as they attempt to empower student athletes in American higher education. Moreover, faculty should be cognizant of their role as mentor and use this role as an opportunity to cultivate in students the best that academics and sports offers: dedication, commitment, perseverance, and teamwork. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)