SEARCHING FOR SAFE SPACE: GRADUATE STUDENT VETERANS' UNEVEN PATHWAYS TO STEM CAREERS BY RACE

Abstract

As both the student demographics of higher education in the United States and the U.S. military continue to diversify, the enrollment numbers of student veterans of color are on the rise. And, while higher education has served as a space of knowledge, community, and self-discovery for many students, it maintains itself as primarily a space of White hegemony, which has been the cause of persistent difficulties and traumas for students of color while maintaining comfort and homogeneity for White students. This study focuses on the identity and relational experiences of three graduate student veterans, one White male, one White female, and one Black male, in their higher education journey as student veterans. This work examines the ways that the military and higher education provide privileged and normalized spaces of safety and belonging for Whiteness-even if these spaces are more haphazard for White women-while marginalizing Blackness by posing enormous challenges to Black veterans trying to find a support system on campus.