To See or Not to See: Latinx (In)Visibility at a Newly Designated Hispanic-Serving Institution

Abstract

More than two-thirds of Latinx undergraduate students in the U.S. obtain their college degrees from Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI), a designation based on the proportion of students who are of Latinx descent and low-income, instead of any federal guidelines for serving Latinx students. Existing literature identifies factors that aid students’ success at HSIs, but there is little knowledge about how Latinx students experience newly designated HSIs. This project centers the experiences of a sample of Latinx undergraduate students attending a newly designated HSI. Data consist of six focus group interviews with 23 students, focusing on participants’ decisions to attend the university and their experiences on campus. Data show students were attracted to the university with promotional materials portraying diversity and Latinx inclusion. However, they experienced the campus culture as promoting Latinx visibility in performative ways and among invisible workers, such as cleaning staff and groundskeepers. They found Latinx people and cultures to be largely invisible in the academic spaces of the university. Findings show how this mismatch between promotional materials and students’ experiences hinders their success and colors their experiences on campus.