Social Constructions of Rurality: A Case Study in Institutional Policy Design

Data on postsecondary degree attainment show persistent equity gaps between rural and nonrural student demographics. Accordingly, colleges and universities throughout the United States are now recognizing the need for more explicit support of rural stakeholders. These efforts are spurred by political shifts that have foregrounded the concerns of rural peoples in the United States and drawn rural spaces into the center of policy discourse. Policymakers seeking to further support rural demographics often face challenges, particularly in operationalizing rurality as a policy construct. This case study analyzes the development of a rural equity initiative--the Engage Program--at pseudonymous Southern State University, a public land-grant university in the Southeastern United States. By applying Schneider and Ingram's policy design lens, the author explores the ways in which campus administrators wrestle with and help to produce--or reproduce--social constructions of rurality. The results suggest that rural equity initiatives may serve to introduce rurality into mainstream conversations about campus diversity, helping to further crystallize rural identities on college campuses and, by extension, within society at large.