Cultivating a Collectivist Community on a College Campus for Latinx Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT Do inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) courses geared toward Latinx students help create a collectivist community on a college campus? We argue that courses incorporating IDEA initiatives into their curriculum and focusing on Latinx individuals provide students the face, place, and space to create the cultural wealth required for educational success. The academic intervention described in this study focused on supporting the Latinx community and advancing our university’s IDEA values. This qualitative project describes the results of forty-seven participants in ten focus groups within undergraduate courses during the Fall 2019-Spring 2021 semesters. Based on a deductive-inductive hybrid thematic analysis, our results suggest that IDEA courses at the curricular level are essential in cultivating a collectivist community on campus for students to thrive. Evidence from this study can be utilized to inform educational policy and pedagogical considerations within higher education.