Abstract
As an institution that aims to create more access to higher education by removing barriers to entry, the California Community College (CCC) system supports what is often described as “nontraditional” students (i.e., first-generation and systems-impacted students), but also of most importance to this study, Students of Color (Knoell, 1997; Marginson, 2018). Staff and faculty identifying as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) play a significant role in positively impacting students of color (Center for Urban Education, 2017; Cho & Brassfield, 2022; Nwaneri, 2023), as documented through higher retention rates, degree attainment, student-centered andragogy, and decreased equity gaps (Center for Urban Education, 2017). Although the research literature demonstrated that BIPOC staff and faculty are crucial to student success, the question remains: who is supporting our BIPOC colleagues?
Research on faculty of color and more limited studies on staff of color has documented the lack of institutional support experienced by BIPOC employees, often tasked with the invisible labor of supporting BIPOC students while simultaneously experiencing racial trauma (Anthym & Tuitt, 2019; Cho & Brassfield, 2022; Levin et al., 2013). In addition to the scant literature on BIPOC staff, even less has been known about those who work in the distinct context of the CCC. Channeling Chicana/Latina feminists, Black feminists, and abolitionist scholars, this qualitative study (a) expanded on the existing literature and documented and examined if the institutional experiences of CCC BIPOC employees in all job classifications aligned with the literature and (b) centered the voices and experiences of those same BIPOC employees to reimagine how a CCC could center and affirm BIPOC employees’ thriving. Part I of the findings revealed the detrimental and adverse campus racial climate and negative racialized experiences leading to weathering for BIPOC CCC employees. Part II of the findings revealed the freedom dreams of a CCC that dismantles and abolishes white supremacist systems and structures and instead uplifts, centers, and provides agency to employees of color through collaboration and partnerships with BIPOC communities, interdisciplinary partnerships, and partnerships with coconspirators, where equity work is everyone’s work.
Freedom dreams of uplifting BIPOC also included building a beloved community with more unity and collaboration among BIPOC. Additional dreams that emerged included visions of liberation by honoring the authenticity and humanity of folx. With the CCC historically known for supporting more students of color, the findings from this dissertation provide intentional policies and practices that may better support BIPOC employees, who support the success of almost 2 million community college students, where over half of them identify as BIPOC (CCC, 2023b; S. Christian, personal communication, September 21, 2023).