Written by Gloria P. Martinez-Ramos, Ph.D., Monique Posadas, M.A.

Our Past

Community Colleges enroll 6.7 million students, of which 3.19 million are Latina/o/x. Many (48%) begin their college experience at a community college (Martinez & Hernández, 2018).  Dr. Gloria P. Martinez-Ramos attended Hartnell College in Salinas, California, in the 1980’s and Monique Posadas attended Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, in the 2000’s. Both pursued an advanced graduate degree after graduating from San José State University. Both are Board members of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education. Their college journeys began at the community college with the hopes and dreams of pursuing a college education and making a difference in our familias and our comunidades.

Community college offered the opportunity to develop their academic and socio-cultural identities with the unconditional support of their families, and the availability of Mexican American Studies and Women and Gender Studies programs. Resource centers provided conocimiento ((be)coming into self -awareness), belonging, and exposure to opportunity programs such as Math, Engineering, Science, Achievement (MESA), Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS), The McNair Scholars Program, and Community College Tutoring and Transfer Centers. These programs and caring counselors and professors made them feel welcomed and valued. As first-generation students, these experiences facilitated their academic growth, exposed the hidden curriculum of higher education, and opened the transfer pathway to a four-year university. They honor their experiences by centering inclusive pedagogical practices into their professional roles as teachers, professors, administrators, and advisors, which is needed more when living through a pandemic and experiencing changes in higher education.

Our Present

In the last two years, racial  and ethnic communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Researchers Reitsma et al. (2021) and Sáenz & Garcia (2021)  have found that in California, Latinas/os/xs have higher age-specific death rates for COVID-19, compared to Whites; Latina/o/x were 8.1 times more likely to live in households at high risk of exposure (23.6 percent versus 2.9 percent). Unique pandemic-related stressors deepened existing educational disparities and made old barriers harder to overcome; for instance, Latina/o/x first-generation college students reported challenges with accessing technology and transitioning to online or hybrid courses. Feeling alone and isolated, a lack of social support, compounded with all else, contributing to psychological distress (Black, Martinez-Ramos, and Gonzales 2020). The pandemic pulled back the curtain on invisible inequities that have long existed but lurked in the shadows.

Higher education institutions, specifically Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), enroll a majority of all Hispanic students in higher education. In 2011-2012, nearly two thirds (62.7%) of full-time Hispanic students received Pell Grants, yet the rate of degree completion of Latina/o/x students is below the national average (Hurtado, Ramirez, & Cho, 2018). Upward trends show us that Latina/o/x are becoming the largest ethnic group in the U.S. (Hurtado, Ramirez, & Cho, 2018); by 2060, the Hispanic population is projected to be 119 million, or 28.6% of the total population (Batista, Collado, & Pérez II, 2018). Community Colleges are the largest point of entry into higher education for students of color.  Enrollment trends show that community colleges are majority-minority, yet they experience high attrition rates (Garcia & Solórzano, 2018). As arbiters, leaders, and bold visionaries of higher education, these demographic trends do not necessarily change policy or access to higher education.

Our Future

To understand our future, to make a difference in our familias and in our comunidades, and to understand the impact  the pandemic has had, we need to think about promoting Latina/o/x student success and ensuring equity in outcomes, which requires ongoing reflection and action by institutional leadership and individual practitioners (Malcome-Piqueux & Bensimon, 2015), innovative approaches to inclusive pedagogies that include radical empathy (Givens, 2021) and engage in abolitionist teaching (Love, 2019). It behooves us to rethink our practices, challenge the status quo, and consider the unimaginable. We must prepare our students and our institutions for job market gaps and careers in industries that are not yet conceivable. Dr. Love’s (2019) work on abolitionist teaching speaks about  epistemic resistance, agitation, and tearing down of the educational survival complex to create a space where students can grow and thrive. This approach means  working in solidarity with schools, communities, parents, and students to achieve reparative justice in the classrooms and schools. We are at a crucial moment where we must create new spaces of learning and leverage cultural assets that are culturally sustaining and can meet Latina/o/x students where they are.

References

Batista, A.E., Collado, S.M., & D. Pérez II (2018). Introduction. In A.E. Batista, S.M. Collado & D. Pérez II (Eds.), Latinx/a/os in higher education: Exploring identities, pathways and success (pp. 3-21). Washington, DC: NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

Black, V. G., Martinez-Ramos, G. P., & Gonzales, S. T. (2020). Assessing the Needs and Experiences of First-Generation Students’ Transition to Remote Learning Due to COVID-19 Pandemic at a Hispanic Serving Institution. HETS Online Journal, 34–59, Fall 2020.

Garcia, N.M. & Solórzano, D.G. (2018). Foreword. In A.E. Batista, S.M. Collado & D. Pérez II (Eds.), Latinx/a/os in higher education: Exploring identities, pathways and success (pp. 3-21). Washington, DC: NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

Givens, T. (2021). Radical Empathy : Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides. Policy Press.

Hurtado, S., Ramirez, J. & Cho, K. (2018).The current Latinx/a/o landscape of enrollment and success in higher education. In A.E. Batista, S.M. Collado & D. Pérez II (Eds.), Latinx/a/os in higher education: Exploring identities, pathways and success (pp. 3-21). Washington, DC: NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

Love, B.L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press.

Malcom-Piqueux, L. E., Bensimon, E. M., American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE), Educational Testing Service, and UTSA, Center for Research and Policy in Education University of Texas at San Antonio. (2015). “Design Principles for Equity and Excellence at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. PERSPECTIVAS: Issues in Higher Education Policy and Practice. Issue No. 4, Spring 2015.” American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education. American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education.

Martinez, E.F. & Hernández, I. (2018). Latinx/a/o students and Community College. In A.E. Batista, S.M. Collado & D. Pérez II (Eds.), Latinx/a/os in higher education: Exploring identities, pathways and success (pp. 137-156). Washington, DC: NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

Reitsma, M. B., Claypool, A. L., Vargo, J., Shete, P. B., McCorvie, R., Wheeler, W. H., Rocha, D. A., Myers, J. F., Murray, E. L., Bregman, B., Dominguez, D. M., Nguyen, A. D., Porse, C., Fritz, C. L., Jain, S., Watt, J. R., Salomon, J. A., & Goldhaber-Fiebert, J. D. (2021). Racial/Ethnic Disparities In COVID-19 Exposure Risk, Testing And Cases At The Subcounty Level In California. Health Affairs, 40(6):870-878.

Sáenz R., & M.A. Garcia. (2021).The Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Older Latino Mortality: The Rapidly Diminishing Latino Paradox. Journal of Gerontological Series-B Psychological Sciences and Social Science, 76(3):e81-e87.

Williams, P. (1987). Spirit-Murdering the messenger: The discourse of finger pointing as the law’s response to racism. In the University of Miami Law Review. 42:127.

Authors’ Bios:

Gloria P. Martinez-Ramos, Ph.D. is Professor of Sociology, Director of Latina/o Studies and Director of the Center for Diversity and Gender Studies, Texas State University. She also holds the title of AAHHE Board Member (2021-2024), Faculty Fellow (2008), and NLA Fellow (2019). (gm21@txstate.edu | 512-245-2470)

Monique Posadas, M.A., is Assistant Director of the McNair Program, California State University Fullerton, Doctoral Student, Claremont Graduate University in the School of Educational Studies and AAHHE Board of Directors, Graduate Student Member at Large (2021-2024). (mposadas@fullerton.edu | 657-278-8629)