Reordering student affairs: from minority absorption to a radical new

Abstract

ABSTRACT Student affairs, a field comprised of many co- and extra-curricular university functions outside of academic affairs, has a durable left-leaning reputation. Roderick Ferguson’s theorization of minority absorption serves as the concept through which we investigate the practices of student affairs. Ferguson argues that student movements of the 1960s and 1970s, which aimed at transforming academic affairs into spaces of radical equity for minoritized students, were ultimately absorbed by institutions, leaving academic affairs relatively intact save a veneer of diversity. We review Ferguson’s arguments on absorption, including his utilization of Foucauldian biopower, and proceed to analyze absorption in three disparate areas of student affairs: student development theory, student outcomes, and cultural centers. As queer scholars, we specifically focus on queerness within these areas. From these critiques we explore the creative potential of Ferguson’s concept of critical possibilities, comprised of analytical framing and practices of dissensus. The practices of analytical framing and dissensus explored can bring the actions of student affairs communities in line with their reputation, and incite radical institutional changes long fought for.