Black MSW students’ experiences at a historically and predominantly white university: a participatory qualitative investigation

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Authors
Hicks, Karon
Jamison, Zoe
Montgomery, Rose
Ocean, Mia
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Issue Date
2025-02-14
Type
Article
Keywords
Anti-racism , Critical race theory , Higher education , Participatory qualitative research , Social work education
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Citation
Hicks, K., Jamison, Z., Montgomery, R., & Ocean, M. (2025). Black MSW students’ experiences at a historically and predominantly white university: a participatory qualitative investigation. Social Work Education, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2025.2465461
Abstract

Despite decades of espoused commitment to diversity, there remains an educational and opportunity gap between Black and White students in U.S. higher education and social work. Some universities create satellite locations to recruit Black and post-traditional students, but multi-site universities face additional complexities that require thoughtful planning. As a team of graduate social work students, alumni, and faculty, we conducted a participatory, interpretive description study to investigate Black student experiences with racism and inclusion at One United Regional (OUR, pseudonym) institution. OUR institution is a U.S. public, historically, and predominantly white university that hosts graduate social work programs at two locations: an urban location with a Black-student-majority population and a suburban location with a White-student-majority student population. We interviewed current students and recent alumni (n = 18) across its locations. We drew on critical race theory to guide our questions and codebook and followed an iterative thematic process to conduct team coding and analysis. We developed five themes: experiences of inclusion; Black students as generous, unpaid educators; Black students as generous, unpaid administrators; catering to Whiteness; and the permanence of racism. After detailing our findings, we highlight the implications for social work higher education administrators and faculty. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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Publisher
Routledge
Journal
Social Work Education
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ISSN
02615479
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