Unlearning As Learning? A Critical Analysis of Student Veteran Support at a Veteran-Friendly Campus

Abstract

This phenomenological case study critically examined how cultural conflict between student veterans and faculty/staff influenced the efficacy of strategies for supporting student veterans at a veteran-friendly campus. Through 29 interviews with faculty, student affairs professionals, and student veterans, we analyzed (a) how lack of knowledge about student veterans’ military experiences made inclusive and effective student veteran support challenging; (b) how diverging perspectives about higher education as a privilege or earned service, informed by often contrary norms in the military and higher education, led to cultural tension between faculty/staff and student veterans; and (c) how faculty/staff’s position as “gatekeepers” and members of the dominant cultural group in higher education led to an ironic and harmful expectation that student veterans unlearn their military cultural dispositions/identity in order to succeed. This study suggests a need for greater military cultural awareness among faculty/staff, continued critical analysis of the culture and power dynamics that student veterans face navigating higher education, and reconceptualization of what it means to be a veteran-friendly college campus.