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While some in the higher education community have used anecdotal evidence to argue that Black students were attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) because of the broader racial climate due to Donald Trump’s rise as a political figure, few studies have provided empirical evidence to support this notion. Therefore, in this current study, we interviewed 80 Black students, who were engaged in the college search process in 2016 to 2018 to understand to what extent, if any, did the racial climate under Trump’s presidency influence their choice to enroll in HBCUs. Data were collected in the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 from across four diverse HBCUs. Findings indicate that the racial climate under President Trump played a salient role in participants’ selection of HBCUs. Implications for research and practice are provided for both HBCUs and PWIs.

Anchored in the anti-deficit approach, this manuscript investigated perceptions of effective leadership practices of presidents at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). This manuscript provides a unique contribution to the literature by utilizing a general qualitative research approach to learn from a diverse set of voices of leaders and scholars within this sector that serve in various roles (e.g., Deans, Vice Presidents, and scholars) or who study leadership at these institutions. The study found that effective leaders at HBCUs generally have success across two categories — experiential skills and professional knowledge. This study adds to the paucity of literature in this area by expanding and complicating our understanding of effective leadership practices of presidents at HBCUs.

The purpose of this chapter is to share the varied experiences the two authors encountered as first-generation college students and scholars in higher education. The goal is to provide insight into how minoritized students, particularly those who identify as Black, Black American or African American, can successfully navigate the doctoral process, be competitive on the faculty job market as newly minted PhD‘s, and navigate the tenure and promotion process. One perspective follows the traditional (tenure track) faculty career progression. Another perspective suggests creating your own path, considering administrative roles, research appointments, and non—tenure track teaching roles. This chapter will be largely autobiographical, with augmented supplementation from empirical research. The implications and lessons that will be shared in this chapter are beneficial to all students and young scholars as they embark upon similar trajectories in their professional and academic careers.

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are not monolithic as they differ in size, curriculum specializations, and a host of other characteristics. However, HBCUs share a mission of providing a higher education for Black students within the broader context of a discriminatory social environment. The ability to understand and articulate the fundamental characteristics, which shape Black colleges, can provide more nuanced conversations about these institutions’ contributions toward addressing equity and access for Black students in higher education. Historically, scholars have used social and cultural capital to explain the role HBCUs play in Black students’ academic careers. However, this article uses Community Cultural Wealth to discuss the various forms of capital that HBCUs impart to their students. Specifically, in this article, we argue that using such a lens when discussing HBCUs is important because it provides a more holistic and broader outlook regarding the forms of culture HBCUs provide to their students.

The study of college choice among all students continues to be crucial in higher education. More importantly, a critical examination of understanding the influences of college choice for ethnically...

Background/Context Transfer is a core function of community colleges; this is a critical point given that these institutions serve as the primary pathway into postsecondary education for Black men. However, too few Black men identify transfer as a primary goal and/or eventually transfer to a 4-year college or university. Purpose Using Nora and Rendón's (1990) research on transfer predisposition as a theoretical guide, this study investigated determinants of Black male community college students’ predisposition to transfer from a community college to a 4-year university. This research sought to determine whether student-level and institutional-level measures of engagement were predictive of transfer intent. This research also examined whether engagement predictors at the student level had randomly varying slopes across colleges. Population This study employed a quantitative analysis of secondary data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). A total of 11,384 Black men nested within 259 community colleges were included in the analytic sample. Research Design Data were analyzed using multilevel, multinomial logistic regression. Students’ predisposition to transfer was modeled in three categories, transfer as a primary goal, secondary goal, or not a goal. The first analysis examined predictors of students’ intent to transfer using student-level variables while the second analysis added institutional-level variables. In the third analysis, the researchers’ constructed random slopes and intercepts models to investigate whether the student-level engagement slopes on the outcome differed across the nested structure. Findings/Results Students with transfer as a primary goal (as opposed to not being a goal) were more likely to be younger, have earned more credits, non-first-generation, full-time enroll-ees, and to have taken developmental education courses. They were also more likely to spend more hours per week studying and involved in extracurricular activities. These students were also more engaged in active and collaborative learning and used student services on campus. Conclusions/Recommendations This research has shown that that the factors influencing Black men's predisposition toward transfer largely mirror that of their White and Hispanic peers. Findings from this study demonstrated that social integration was a positive predictor of students’ intent to transfer; the finding diverges from prior research on Black men in the community college, which have shown social integration to serve as a negative predictor of success outcomes.

Drawing from a larger study on Asian Americans and Latino/as at HBCUs, this chapter focuses exclusively on the Latino/a students, sheds light on factors that motivated Latino/a students to attend a historically Black university, and discusses the on-campus experiences of these students. The chapter provides insight into what HBCUs might do to help increase a sense of belonging among Latino/a students.

Given that Southeast Asian American (SEAA) students are severely underrepresented in higher education and less likely to persistence to graduation compared to other ethnic groups in the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, this study explored critical factors to their college success. Indeed, several themes emerged from this national sample of 34 participants from five public, four year colleges and universities. In this present article, we discuss one of the salient themes—the role of social capital as facilitators of college access and success. This article concludes with implications for research and practice.

Guided by the theoretical framework of human capital theory and using data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, this chapter investigated labor market outcomes for graduates of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) compared to their non-HBCU counterparts. The results from this current study largely indicate that there are no significant disadvantages for Black graduate of HBCUs in terms of labor market outcomes. Moreover, under the premise of human capital theory, this study found that HBCUs serve as equivalent mechanisms for human capital attainment for Black students. This chapter concludes with limitations of the study as well as implications for future research.

The United States has sought to racially diversify its public colleges since 1964. Laws have been implemented and court challenges have occurred to facilitate the racial diversification of public universities. Racially diversifying higher education is particularly important for states that have a desegregation agreement with Office for Civil Rights for operating policies traceable to de jure segregation. Although many states have used affirmative action to diversify their colleges, as these policies continue to be attacked and prohibited, colleges are abandoning race-sensitive policies to foster diversity. This article explains these diverging issues and offers recommendations for universities that are legally able to use affirmative action to diversify their campuses but are apprehensive about doing so because of litigation concerns.

Using an anti-deficit approach, Black Men in the Academy explores narratives of resiliency, success, and achievement for black men in the academy. This book is an important text for scholars interested in promoting success in education for underrepresented minorities.

Although the numbers of minority students are increasing in higher education, researchers remain concerned about the ability of predominantly White institutions (PWIs) to support and retain these students. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore factors promoting the academic success of minority students at a research intensive PWI. Four themes emerged, including the impact of: a) student involvement, b) faculty interaction, c) peer support, and c) self-accountability. While this study confirms research about minority students at PWIs, it also provides new insight and provokes questions that warrant further investigation. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Although African Americans continue to demonstrate a desire for education, Black male enrollment and completion rates in higher education are dismal when compared to other ethnic groups. Researchers and scholars have noted various theories and philosophies responsible for the academic disengagement of African American men in higher education. This article provides a new contextual lens for understanding the academic disengagement of Black men using a tenet of critical theory as a method to explain the African American male achievement disparity. Additionally, this research offers employable strategies and activities that may encourage Black male achievement.

Attrition for Black men is a serious problem in higher education. While researchers have explored factors of retention for Black men attending historically White institutions (HWIs), less research explains factors underlying the success of Black men attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), particularly those men who are academically unprepared. Eleven Black men, who entered a public, urban HBCU through its pre-college program and persisted to graduation, provided a retrospective view of factors promoting their success. The result from this study may help universities enhance retention for Black men by understanding salient variables in their academic achievement and retention.

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were created to provide educational opportunities for African Americans when other higher education venues restricted their participation. HBCUs are credited with nurturing and producing leaders who embraced W. E. B. Du Bois's concept of the "Talented Tenth," and exhibiting fortitude in advancing social equality for all. Over the years, as legalized segregation was overturned and efforts were made to expand opportunities for African Americans, some have questioned the continuing need for HBCUs. A study of 11 African American men attending a public, urban HBCU, indicated that the university's rich supply of social capital (a direct consequence of its mission and history) makes it a unique fixture in the landscape of higher education, one whose special features have not been replicated by historically White institutions.

The purpose of this chapter is to report on the empirical research on men of color in the community college. In particular, we highlight findings relevant to factors influencing student success outcomes for these men. This chapter employed the analytical lens of literature metasynthesis, a process in which research from a given topical area is synthesized to uncover extant themes. The Socio-Ecological Outcomes (SEO) model, as espoused by Harris and Wood (The socio-ecological outcomes model: A framework for examining men of color’s experiences and success in community colleges – Working paper. Minority Male Community College Collaborative, San Diego, 2014b), served as the guiding framework for this synthesis. The SEO model articulates the primary factors that serve to influence outcomes for historically underrepresented and underserved men in education. This chapter also recommends new directions for future research that expand the literature on men of color to be more inclusive of racial/ethnic male groups that have not been adequately investigated.

The racial diversification of America's higher education system has been at the forefront of legal argument for the last seventy-five years. There have been landmark Supreme Court decisions (e.g., Gaines v. Canada, 1938; McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 1950; Sweatt v. Painter, 1950) that would commence the argument and ultimately help to dismantle America's longstanding "separate but equal" doctrine, a legal doctrine in the United States constitutional law that justified systems of segregation (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896). Those decisions would eventually give rise to more ground-breaking decisions that would birth the inclusion of affirmative action policies in higher education after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and later challenge the utility and constitutionality of those very same policies (e.g., Gratz v. Bollinger, 2003; Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003; Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 1978). While many court challenges have occurred and, as a result, many laws have been implemented to facilitate the racial diversification of U.S. public colleges and universities, perhaps none has been more influential and controversial than the action brought about in Fisher v. University of Texas (2013), which threatened to destroy, any and all, contemporary notions of diversity, fostered through affirmative action policies, in today's higher education landscape.Although many states have used affirmative action to diversify their college and university campuses, as these policies continue to be attacked and ultimately prohibited in some cases, many colleges are halting the use of race-sensitive admission practices. As such, the purpose of this research is to discuss a policy contradiction by which public postsecondary educational institutions are aiming to foster the racial diversity of their campuses. Nevertheless, their primary initiative (i.e., affirmative action) for achieving this goal has been consistently attacked legally and faces an uncertain future, causing many colleges to abandon the use of affirmative action because out of fear of litigation. Increasing the racial diversification of higher education is particularly important for colleges in states that have desegregation agreements with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). To help those colleges and universities in states where the use of affirmative action is permissible, but that are fearful of doing so because of litigation concerns, this article provides several recommendations that they may find helpful as they continue to seek ways to promote racial diversity on their campus. Before the recommendations, however, to provide context, the article will review several critical bodies of literature.First, this study will provide a historical overview of landmark decisions, pre- and post-Civil Rights Act of 1964, which have helped to shape contemporary notions of diversity in higher education. Finally, this article will summarize affirmative action policies and relevant case law. This summary will include a discussion on the racial diversification of higher education in states that have a desegregation agreement with OCR for operating policies traceable to de jure segregation, or those intentional actions by the state to enforce racial segregation (United States v. Fordice, 1992).Much like higher education research, the United States Supreme Court has made it clear that a diverse student body is critical to the educational objectives of colleges and universities across the nation (Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003). Colleges and universities must ensure that their students are prepared to engage, work and live in a global society, which requires understanding and accountability for what may be new or unfamiliar. Affirmative action programs are crucial to achieving that goal. In fact, such programs have resulted in doubling, or even tripling the number of minority applications to colleges or universities (National Conference of State Legislatures, NCSL, 2014). …

Research indicates that Black male collegians tend to disproportionately seek out postsecondary educational opportunities at community colleges; despite this, a paucity of Black men actual transfer to four-year colleges and universities. In order to help facilitate transfer for Black male community college students, this article investigates the effects of student engagement on Black male students' self-reported likelihood of transfer. The implications of this study provides compelling context for institutional practice and future research to help community colleges be more intentional about improving transfer outcomes for among Black male students.Keywords: Black males, community college, transferCommunity colleges serve many functions and one of the primary functions of these institutions is to facilitate students' ability to transfer into four-year institutions of higher education. Students of color in general and Black males specifically are more likely to seek out postsecondary opportunities at two-year colleges (Wood & Williams, 2013). Of the vast majority of those who will attend two-year colleges, 81.9% will pursue their education at public community colleges. According to research (e.g., Bush, 2004), many Black men attend these institutions because they perceive that they can facilitate their social and economic mobility. A large number of community college students enroll with the intent to transfer into a four-year college or university. Specifically, 43 % of Black men indicate intent to transfer upon enrollment in the community college.Despite this, limited empirical research has investigated the likelihood of transfer for Black male community college students. One study that comes close is Nora and Rendon's (1990) research on factors predictive community college students' predisposition to transfer. Using data from students attending six community colleges in Texas, Arizona, and California, Nora and Rendon explored the applicability of Tinto's (1975) model of attrition on student's predisposition to transfer. Specifically Nora and Rendon (1990) were interested in the effect of academic (e.g., library use, interactions with faculty, attending campus lectures) and social integration (e.g., involvement in extra-curricular activities, seeking out special campus events, reading the college newspaper) on students' predisposition to transfer. Findings from their study indicated that students with greater levels of academic and social integration were significantly more likely to have transfer goals than their peers. A critical limitation to Nora and Rendon's (1990) research was that the sample included only Hispanic (74%) and White (26%) students. To this end, their study did not provide insight on Black students' predisposition to transfer. Despite these drawbacks, Nora and Rendon's study served as a conceptual guide for this research on predisposition to transfer among Black men.With this in mind, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of student engagement on Black male students' self-reported likelihood of transfer. Specifically, the effect of engagement on transfer likelihood focused on Black men who indicated a predisposition to transfer to a four-year college or university. Four types of engagement were explored, including: active and collaborative learning, faculty-student interaction, exposure to diversity, and usage of student services. Three primary questions guided this research:* Research question 1: Is there a significant relationship between Level 1 measures of engagement (with controls) on Black male community college students' self-report likelihood to transfer?* Research question 2: Is there a significant relationship between Level 1 and Level 2 measures of engagement (with controls) on Black male community college students' self-report likelihood to transfer?* Research question 3: Do engagement predictors at Level 1 have randomly varying slopes across colleges? …