Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion

By Raechele L. Pope, Amy L. Reynolds and John A. Mueller

Effectively address the challenges of equity and inclusion on campus

The long-awaited second edition, Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion, introduces an updated model of student affairs competence that reflects the professional competencies identified by ACPA and NASPA (2015) and offers a valuable approach to dealing effectively with increasingly complex multicultural issues on campus.  To reflect the significance of social justice, the updated model of multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills now includes multicultural action and advocacy and speaks directly to the need for enhanced perspectives, tools, and strategies to create inclusive and equitable campuses.

This book offers a fresh approach and new strategies for student affairs professionals to enhance their practice; useful guidelines and revised core competencies provide a framework for everyday challenges, best practices that advance the ability of student affairs professionals to create multicultural change on their campuses, and case studies that allow readers to consider and apply essential awareness, knowledge, skills, and action applied to common student affairs situations.

Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion will allow professionals to:

• Examine the updated and revised dynamic model of student affairs competence
• Learn how multicultural competence translates into effective and efficacious practice
• Understand the inextricable connections between multicultural competence and social justice
• Examine the latest research and practical implications
• Explore the impacts of practices on assessment, advising, ethics, teaching, administration, technology, and more
• Learn tools and strategies for creating multicultural change, equity, and inclusion on campus

Understanding the changes taking place on campus today and developing the competencies to make individual and systems change is essential to the role of student affairs professional.  What is needed are new ways of thinking and innovative strategies and approaches to how student affairs professionals interact with students, train campus faculty and staff, and structure their campuses.  Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion provides guidance for the evolving realities of higher education.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Jan 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781119376484

Book preview

FOREWORD

When the first edition of Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs was published in 2004, I was entering my fourth year as a full-time faculty member in student affairs graduate preparation programs. Upon hearing of the book, I immediately knew I wanted to use it in my multicultural issues course that year and for several subsequent years. The Dynamic Model of Student Affairs Competence that Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller (2004) used to frame the centrality and relevance of multicultural competence made complete sense to me. More importantly, the authors provided the language I needed to help my master's students understand their responsibility as emerging student affairs professionals to incorporate multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills in their work with students and colleagues.

The idea of multicultural competence was not just a teaching tool, however. The characteristics of multiculturally competent professionals (see Table 2.2) were a guide by which I could both assess my engagement with others and note areas where my practice needed improvement. I believe this self-analysis aligns with Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller's hopes for the construct of multicultural competence as well as for this text. I have continued to think of these characteristics throughout my career.

Reading Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs as a young teacher and scholar was the impetus for my tangible recognition that having a minoritized identity was not itself a pathway to multicultural competence. On the contrary, even though I held (and continue to hold) multiple minoritized identities across race, gender, sexuality, and ability, I had no automatic insights into what privilege and oppression meant or how they operated. I did not inherently know how to build trust and rapport across lines of difference, nor did I have embedded knowledge of within-group differences, multiple identities, and intersectionality, as Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller suggest in Table 2.2, Characteristics of Multicultural Competence. Although my multicultural awareness had been developing for years concerning racism and religion, it was nascent regarding hetero- and cissexism, and nearly absent about ableism, sizeism, linguistic privilege, and settler colonialism. It was through multicultural competence that I recognized and enunciated the areas in which I needed to grow.

As I taught classes and facilitated workshops, noting my own journey toward greater multicultural competence helped me to connect with students and participants in a different way. As the authors assert, multicultural competence is neither a goalpost nor a destination, but rather a life journey for those willing to dedicate themselves to it. I have had to consistently practice taking the risk (another aspect of multicultural awareness) to embody the always-not-yet.

In the current climate of people being canceled due to the excavation of problematic past posts, it is a risk to be found in the always-not-yet. One is not only likely to have a multiculturally incompetent past, but, more importantly, to also have multiculturally incompetent current and future beliefs, attitudes, and actions that are conveyed on social media. The reality of this can ruin both personal and professional reputations. In the face of potentially virulent criticism, it would be easy to dismiss multicultural skills and project a scrubbed profile, stay away from controversy, and remain silent about matters of social injustice. However, multicultural action demands that we do better. By using critical consciousness to push [ourselves] toward advocacy and action and creating a plan for deliberate self-examination and action, we can take personal and professional risks in support of multicultural change (see Table 2.2). Challenging oppressive attitudes, language, and behaviors in others and ourselves, as well as unjust policies, practices, and institutional structures (see Table 2.2), cannot wait until we are some illusion of a perfect that will never be.

For individuals in helping professions, choosing not to accurately assess their own multicultural competence, comfort, and efficacy (see Table 2.2) is not an option. Student affairs work involves the learning, growth, and development of students in academic institutions that were not designed to serve the majority of those students who now matriculate to our campuses. To work within these institutions as student affairs professionals and to work effectively with the diversity of students who cross our paths requires multicultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and action.

The main idea Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller continue to assert in this second edition is that multicultural competence is a core aspect of professional competence for student affairs professionals and graduate faculty. Multicultural competence runs throughout the other seven (six in 2004) dynamic professional competencies; it is not isolated unto itself. Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller's main idea rests on three critical foundations that undergirded both the original text and this new edition: systems and individuals, negotiating dominance and marginalization, and a diunital understanding of multiculturalism and social justice.

Multicultural competence has never been simply about individuals being and doing better across lines of difference. Rather, multicultural competence relies on one's awareness and knowledge of institutional structures, as well as how those structures inform individual interactions and organizational processes. In other words, the focus of multicultural competence is not on people with dominant social identities (e.g., being White, cisgender, masculine, heterosexual, Christian, enabled/able-bodied, middle and upper class, etc.). The focus of multicultural competence is on the structures of power that create people who are (not) normal, (not) optimal, and (not) preferred: whiteness, cissexism, patriarchy, heterosexism, religious hegemony, ableism, classism, and other structures of power that create disparities in the distribution of resources and life chances. Only upon sustaining one's multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skill with recognizing and dealing with oppressive structures can one's individual interactions hope to consistently reflect interpersonal multicultural competence.

Second, Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller further demonstrate their focus on systems and structures by illustrating the need for multicultural competence across lines of difference. Membership in minoritized or targeted social groups does not dampen the need to recognize our own access to and conferring of privilege by means of our membership in other social groups. As Harro (2018) observed, we have all been socialized to privilege-dominant group norms. In light of that reality, we all have internalized dominance and oppression that requires us to be competent about the full scope of our multicultural engagement within systems and with others.

Third, as the authors assert in this edition, multicultural competence is the means by which one understands, engages, and does the work of social justice. They work hand in hand, not in opposition. This diunital (both/and) understanding of the relationship between multicultural competence and social justice makes moot the supposed conflict between the two. I have seen too many attempts – my own and others – to push forward social justice agendas undermined by a complete failure to grasp, let alone effectively operate within, groups and organizations across lines of difference with an awareness of structures of power. Depth and breadth of multicultural competence must undergird social justice commitments and activism, while social justice commitments and activism must be informed by multicultural competence. The two principles work in concert, not in opposition.

Today, U.S. student affairs professionals and graduate preparation faculty do their work on campuses that are roiling with the tense social, cultural, and political conflicts that mark the societal context in which we live. Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion could not come at a more important time. This second edition keeps all that was necessary in the first edition and adds to it. The authors recognized that awareness, knowledge, and skills do not promote personal or institutional transformation alone and so added multicultural action to create a quadripartite model of multicultural competence. Moreover, the role of technology in both inhibiting and promoting multicultural competence and socially just outcomes cannot be understated. Through these additions, relevant and timely case studies, and the authors' commitment to the core principles of the first edition, they have produced an even stronger text that is immediately applicable to the work done by student affairs professionals on college and university campuses today.

DAFINA-LAZARUS STEWART

Colorado State University

PREFACE

When we decided to update Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs, we knew it would be an intensive and challenging undertaking. Not just because in many ways writing a second edition of a book is harder than writing the book the first time (which is true), but because so very much has changed in how multicultural issues have been integrated into the field of student affairs. In 2004 the multicultural literature in student affairs was nascent and underdeveloped. In the 15 years since Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs was published, the number of books, articles, training institutes, and conferences dedicated to multicultural issues in student affairs and higher education has just exploded.

Our language, our understanding, and our expectations have all matured and expanded to embrace a continually new and evolving multicultural world. As we began to consider this new edition, we had to reexamine the assumptions, theories, and practices underlying our early work on multicultural competence and incorporate how the ways we teach, conduct research, consult, and engage in advocacy have changed over the years. In doing so, we explored how our own work, as well as the broader field of multiculturalism within higher education, has evolved and become more plentiful, complex, and dynamic. Many constructs, such as social justice, inclusion, equity, critical theory, and intersectionality, to mention a few, were not part of the common student affairs lexicon when our book was published in 2004.

In addition to the changes in our understanding of multicultural competence, it is important to acknowledge the ways in which the student affairs profession has become more competence-oriented. When we first introduced the Dynamic Model of Student Affairs Competence in 2004, there really was no other unifying framework for understanding or advocating for competence within the field. The ACPA/NASPA Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs did not exist until 2010 and then was updated in 2015. Eaton (2016) highlights the growing visibility of a competency movement within student affairs, which will undoubtedly change how we train and evaluate those within the field. Acknowledging all of these changes has been central to this revised edition so that it accurately reflects the many changes that have occurred in the past 15 years.

We took the time to deeply examine these changes and determine how our work fit within the larger dialogue regarding multicultural and social justice issues. In doing so, we decided that our book needed to be much more than a simple reboot but rather reflect this evolution, which is why we decided to alter the title of our second edition to Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion to reflect those changes in our thinking and the world around us. We are confident that this second edition will be an additional and important resource for the countless practitioners, administrators, faculty, and students who are committed to creating inclusive, affirming, equitable, and just campuses. Further, we hope to share how our conceptualization of the multicultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions necessary to be effective and ethical professionals has evolved and can be used to strengthen our ability to provide meaningful and relevant services to students. While much of the literature on multicultural issues in student affairs concentrates on college students or the services and programs provided to them, this book continues to focus on the awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions of student affairs educators (both practitioners and faculty) to help them in their quest to become more multiculturally competent and social justice–oriented.

While the basic architecture of this book remains the same (i.e., chapters focusing on each competency), there have been some significant changes and additions to this edition that reflect the most contemporary thinking of multicultural and social justice scholars and practitioners within and beyond the field of student affairs and higher education.

The most prominent set of changes in this edition reflect our effort to update and more closely align the Dynamic Model of Student Affairs Competence – the principal conceptual apparatus of the book – with the ACPA/NASPA Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators (2015). Our intent in doing this is to recognize our profession's commitment to preparing student affairs practitioners with contemporary knowledge and skills identified by our national student affairs organizations as essential to professional success. In each chapter describing the eight competencies of the Revised Dynamic Model of Student Affairs, we have described core and relevant principles from the corresponding ACPA/NASPA competency area. We were deliberate, however, in our decision not to directly structure the book around the 10 competency areas identified in the ACPA/NASPA (2015) document. Instead, we examined the language of the document and the areas that overlapped with the Revised Dynamic Model of Student Affairs Competence that we regard as competencies. For example, we do not view values and history as competencies per se and instead view them as a personal disposition or a specific knowledge area, respectively. However, we could not overlook technology as a distinct competency and, thus, added an entire chapter on that competency area for the very reason that ACPA and NASPA did in the most recent edition of their document. Technology has become ubiquitous in student affairs practice and undergirds much of our administrative and programmatic activities as well as our information, communication, and student development efforts. Less obvious, but still meaningful, was our decision to adopt the language of some of the competency area titles. For example, we now incorporate the terms (and related concepts of) leadership, evaluation, and supporting in the Dynamic Model of Student Affairs Competence.

Another significant change to the Dynamic Model of Student Affairs Competence, and thus this book, is to now regard multicultural competence as a quadripartite, rather than a tripartite, model. In previous conceptualizations, multicultural competence referred to the three domains of awareness, knowledge, and skills. To this we have added multicultural action to more explicitly emphasize principles of social justice and advocacy, such as interrupting institutional oppression and promoting structural change. This is evident in every chapter where action steps, built on requisite awareness, knowledge, and skills, are addressed within each competency.

Finally, we believe that grasping the substance of each of the competencies requires clear examples. Therefore, we have updated opening scenarios and closing exemplars in each chapter to reflect more contemporary realities of student affairs and higher education. Also, we invited a range of scholars, practitioners, and faculty members to contribute a new set of thought-provoking case studies that allow students and trainees to wrestle with challenging situations across a range of competency areas, all within the context of complex multicultural issues.

UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS

Just as in the first edition, it is important to be explicit about our assumptions underlying this book and define key terms we use. One of the barriers to developing multicultural campuses is that there continues to be no broadly accepted definition of the term multicultural and no clear vision of what a multicultural campus looks like. Multicultural scholars have often disagreed about the definition of multiculturalism. Some argue for a more inclusive definition of multiculturalism that would include race, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, social class, and religion (Pederson, 1988; Speight, Myers, Cox, & Highlen, 1991), while others express concerns that broader definitions undermine efforts to expose and combat racism (Carter & Qureshi, 1995; Helms & Richardson, 1997).

There are multicultural scholars who believe that efforts to broaden the definition of multiculturalism are fueled by conscious or unconscious discomfort in openly facing issues of race and racism (Helms & Richardson, 1997). This discomfort is very real and the history and current race relations of the United States have created a reality where race, racial identity, and racism are central to how we view ourselves, each other, and the relationships and community that we are able to create (Reynolds, 2001a, p. 104). If we scratch the surface of any significant aspect of higher education, such as curriculum, admissions, violence on campus, or retention, it is almost impossible to ignore how racial dynamics influence solutions and strategies for resolving or addressing those issues. Whether the examination involves a predominantly White institution, a tribal college, or a historically Black college, racial issues affect the experiences of college students and the student affairs professionals who attempt to meet their needs.

We believe that it is important to acknowledge that all of our social identities (race, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, and abilities), in both singular and intersectional fashion, influence who we are and how we view the world. Reynolds (2001a) suggests that because of the complexity of diversity, we all experience life from the perspective of those social identities (from either the dominant or target group point of view) whether we realize it or not (p. 104). And while many of us focus on primarily one or two of our identities, nonetheless our multidimensional and intersectional experiences, identities, and realities shape our relationships with others who are similar to and different from us.

Although it may seem contradictory to some, we believe that it is possible and necessary to embrace both race-based and more universal definitions of multiculturalism simultaneously. If we only focus on the more universal definition of multicultural, then we contribute to the racial amnesia and avoidance that permeates our society. Such diunital (both/and) perspectives are essential to our efforts to combat oppression and there is no better place to start than with the words we use. Such multidimensional and dynamic conceptualizations of multiculturalism more accurately reflect the complexity that surrounds us and require that we transform our assumptions about race, multiculturalism, and differences.

Related to definitions are our efforts to be inclusive in the use of gender and gender expression in the scenarios and examples used within the book. We attempted to honor the various gender pronouns that individuals use to describe themselves (he, she, ze, they) by varying usage throughout the book. We made every effort to remove usage of the gender binary in our language, descriptions, and assumptions and hope that we were successful.

In addition to identifying the key definitions that underlie this book, it is vital to acknowledge the assumptions on which we base this work. Without insight into the belief system of authors, readers can sometimes be encouraged to view academic works as neutral or value-free. They never are. Instead, it is our intention to be clear and concrete about the core beliefs upon which the very idea for this book was created. First and foremost, multicultural competence – the awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions that are needed to work effectively across cultural groups and to work with complex multicultural and social justice issues – can no longer be viewed as a specialty or area of expertise for a limited few. It is not reasonable to assume that just a few student affairs educators with deep interest in or strong commitment to these issues should carry the bulk of the responsibility in addressing multiculturalism. As the complexity of the world permeates every corner, it becomes increasingly important that all student affairs professionals develop multicultural competence to better meet the needs of all students.

Second, we believe that multiculturalism must be woven into all aspects of the profession, from the curriculum (for example, courses offered, books used, theories cited, programs presented) to academic standards (for example, the Council for the Advancement of Standards [CAS]) to job evaluation criteria, to mention just a few. When multiculturalism remains a separate domain, and is not infused into all aspects of a profession, it becomes isolated, less meaningful, and without influence. The more multiculturalism is integrated into the very center of student affairs work instead of being merely added on, the more the profession will change and transform itself into a profession that is truly meeting the needs of all students and is contributing to the creation of multicultural campuses. Finally, in order to infuse multiculturalism, we must first question and possibly deconstruct our underlying beliefs and values as a profession. For example, is individuation (the process of young adults emotionally separating from their parents) as defined in student development theories a reasonable or culturally relevant developmental goal for all students, given that such a process would be unfamiliar to many cultures? Another example involves our conceptualization of how we define a good resident assistant and on what assumptions and upon whose culture we base such definitions. What will it take to transform the fundamental beliefs, theories, and practices of student affairs so that all students, regardless of age, race, nationality, gender, religion, gender expression, or other significant social identities, feel welcomed and affirmed on campus?

In essence, we believe that multicultural and social justice issues and the development of multicultural competence are, at once, enormously complex and deceptively simple. We need to see people as individuals and, at the same time, we need to recognize that a person's core being may rest in their social group membership. The late Pat Parker, a much-revered Black, lesbian poet, wrote a poem that effectively captures this difficulty. The poem was entitled, For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend; the first few lines said, The first thing you do is to forget that I'm Black. Second, you must never forget that I'm Black (Parker, 1978, p. 99). Perhaps it is through our recognizing and embracing this diunital (the union of opposites) reasoning that fertile ground is prepared for multicultural competence and social justice.

PURPOSE OF THE BOOK

The primary purpose of this book is to expand our understanding of multicultural competence and social justice in the student affairs literature. Specifically it will: (a) offer a revised model of core competencies for student affairs professionals (both practitioners and faculty) that infuses multicultural and social justice issues, (b) align the Dynamic Model of Student Affairs Competence with the 2015 ACPA/NASPA Professional Competency Area and the growing competency movement within the profession and the significant work in the counseling psychology multicultural literature to the student affairs profession, and (c) present specific examples of effective practice as well as useful case studies that will help professionals apply vital multicultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and action. The book provides the reader with a substantive and fairly comprehensive approach to the topic, applying information collected from several fields of study to the college environment. We believe that bolstered with the theory, models, research, and practice opportunities, readers will be able to integrate their new insights into their practice.

AUDIENCE

The primary audience for this book continues to be student affairs and higher education professionals who work on college and university campuses across the country. This text is meant to be a practical book, which raises the level of awareness, knowledge, skill, and action of the countless practitioners who work with a diverse student body on a daily basis. As evidenced by our brief survey of those using the original book, this revised edition could also be used for personal and professional development to assist in building or enhancing their level of multicultural competence. Ultimately, this book could serve higher education professionals from new and entry-level professionals to senior administrators.

OVERVIEW OF THE CONTENTS

This edition introduces and is structured around a revised version of the Dynamic Model of Student Affairs Competence that aligns with the professional competency areas identified by ACPA and NASPA (2015). In this new model, eight core competencies needed for effective and ethical practice are described. Each chapter begins with several brief scenarios meant to illustrate how multicultural issues may be apparent within a given core competency. The chapters then thoroughly examine a specific core competency; first in general terms and then through the lens of multicultural competence and social justice. Finally, each chapter offers good practice examples, which are intended to provide higher education professionals with a more concrete and meaningful understanding of what multicultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and action look like in practice.

Chapter 1 examines both the connection and intersection of multicultural competence and social justice. Through providing alternative and complementary models of both constructs, the chapter addresses how both can be mutually reinforcing and essential in transforming institutions to be more inclusive and equitable. Chapter 2 describes multiculturalism as a unique category of the awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions necessary for effective student affairs work and serves as a foundation for the succeeding chapters. Chapter 3 explores the theory bases of the student affairs profession (e.g., student development, group dynamics, management) and how these should translate to effective assessment, interventions, and practice. This chapter addresses how these theories have historically excluded multicultural issues and knowledge and how such omission has affected both students and student affairs professionals. In Chapter 4, the administration and leadership skills that professionals need to manage and lead effectively in a multicultural context are explored. The focus of Chapter 5 is on the core helping relationships and the interpersonal awareness, knowledge, skills, and advocacy/action necessary for student affairs practitioners to work effectively with students and other professionals with respect to multicultural identities and challenging multicultural and social justice issues. Chapter 6 explores the type of multicultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and action that student affairs practitioners need in order to effectively conduct assessment, evaluation, and research on programs, activities, and services. In Chapter 7, the key ethical, legal, and policy considerations related to multicultural issues in the student affairs profession are addressed. In Chapter 8, teaching and training as a core competency of student affairs practice is explored to better understand how the dynamics of diversity can influence learning and training environments. Chapter 9 rounds out the focus on the core competencies by examining ways to incorporate multicultural competence with technology tools and applications to reach our goals of inclusion and social justice.

Following the chapters that explore the eight core competencies, Chapter 10 focuses on more practical applications of the core competency model through the presentation of case studies. These case studies describe a campus dilemma or issue, allow readers an opportunity to examine how the eight core competencies can be used as a framework to analyze and address the situation, and provide readers the opportunity to generate ideas, insights, and strategies they might consider in their analyses of the case studies. Chapter 11 concludes this book and summarizes the key points of the book, identifies challenges to developing multicultural competence, and addresses what the profession needs to do, formally and informally, to ensure that multicultural competence and social justice become a key area of interest and concern within the field. These final two chapters have particular significance for practitioners who wish to see how application of the core competency model can assist them in fulfilling their personal, institutional, and professional objectives to create and maintain more multicultural and inclusive campus environments.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Raechele L. Pope is the Associate Dean for Faculty and Student Affairs and the Chief Diversity Officer for the Graduate School of Education at the University of Buffalo. She is also an associate professor of higher education and student affairs administration in the Department of Education, Leadership, and Policy. Prior to her work at the University at Buffalo, she was an assistant professor in the higher education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned her doctorate in Organization Development from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her MA in Student Personnel Administration from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. With more than 35 years of experience in college student affairs, she has worked at several institutions in a variety of functional areas including residential life, academic advising, and diversity education and training. Her principal teaching, research, publications, and consultation interests are focused on multicultural competence, the creation of multicultural campus environments, and multicultural organization development. She is a coauthor or coeditor of three books: Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs, Creating Multicultural Change on Campus, and Why Aren't We There Yet? Taking Personal Responsibility for Creating an Inclusive Campus. She has also published a number of journal articles and book chapters and made over 70 presentations at national, regional, or select college campuses on multicultural organization development, multicultural competence, intersectionality, creating inclusive campus environments, and psychosocial development of students of color. In recognition of her sustained contributions to the field of student affairs, she is the recipient of the 2017 ACPA Contribution to Knowledge, the 2015 ACPA Senior Scholar Award, the 2013 ACPA Annuit Coeptis – Senior Award, and the 2009 NASPA Robert H. Shaffer Award for Excellence as Graduate Faculty. She was also named a NASPA Faculty Fellow in 2009 and an ACPA Diamond Honoree in 2010. She has served as a reviewer or as a member of the editorial boards of SUNY Press, Journal of College Student Development, ACPA Media, and the Journal of College Student Retention: Research Theory, and Practice.

Amy L. Reynolds is an associate professor in the Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology at the University at Buffalo. She is also the director of training for the combined doctoral program in Counseling Psychology and School Psychology. Dr. Reynolds received her master's degree in student personnel work and her doctorate in counseling psychology from Ohio State University and has been working in higher education as both a staff psychologist and professor for 35 years. Her work as a scholar, teacher, and consultant focuses on multicultural competence in counseling and student affairs as well as college mental health issues. She has published over 30 journal articles and 20 book chapters and made over 80 presentations at regional or national conferences or college campuses. She is one of the coauthors of Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs and Creating Multicultural Change on Campus, and is the sole author of Helping College Students: Developing Essential Skills for Student Affairs Practice. In recognition of her contribution to the fields of counseling psychology and student affairs, she was named an APA Fellow of the Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP) in 2014 and a Diamond Honoree of ACPA – College Student Educators International in 2017.

John A. Mueller is a professor in the Department of Student Affairs in Higher Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He earned his doctorate in higher education at Teachers College, Columbia University and his MA in counseling psychology at Illinois State University. Dr. Mueller has worked in higher education for over 30 years, with practitioner and teaching experience at multiple institutions. He is an active member and leader in ACPA – College Student Educators International, serving on entity group directorates, convention planning teams, and the ACPA Foundation as well as coordinating the association's Research Grants and Annuit Coeptis programs. His numerous publications, conference presentations, and service activities have focused primarily on issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of College Student Development, the College Student Affairs Journal, and ACPA Books and Media. Dr. Mueller is a coauthor of the Jossey-Bass publications Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs and Creating Multicultural Change on Campus. In recognition of his contributions to the field of student affairs, he has received multiple ACPA awards including Annuit Coeptis, Emerging Scholar, Diamond Honoree, and the Standing Committee for Multicultural Affairs’ Outstanding Contribution to Multicultural Education.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Over 20 years ago we began to work on expanding our own knowledge and understanding of multicultural competence within student affairs, and it has been an incredible journey. We would not have arrived where we are today, privileged to write a second edition of our book, without the hard work and support of many important people. First, we would like to thank the editorial staff at Jossey-Bass, for their ongoing encouragement and belief in the importance of this book – in particular, Erin Null, who was there at the beginning, encouraging us to write a second edition long before we finally agreed. We also send a well-deserved shout-out to Alison Knowles, who effortlessly shepherded the expedited proposal through the process. Finally, thanks to Pete Gaughan, who joined in after the book was underway but has been supportive, informative, and so very helpful.

We are forever grateful to D-L Stewart, a colleague, friend, and someone whose work in multicultural and social justice we have long admired, for agreeing to write the Foreword to this book. Your voice and perspective is always thought-provoking, challenging, and beneficial to the important work we all strive to do.

This book is the result of many years of professional experience, which includes teaching, working, consulting, and doing research on multicultural issues in student affairs. Along the way, so many individuals, including colleagues and mentors, have contributed to our understanding of multicultural and social justice issues. We have learned from you, benefited from your wisdom, experiences, and questions, and grown with your input and influence. Some of you we know quite well, we have conversed with you at professional conferences, written together, worked on joint projects, and shared a few meals and even more glasses of wine. We are forever thankful. For others, we have only read your work or listened to your words with you at the podium and us in the audience, yet have been challenged and inspired by your work just the same. Without all of you, we would not have been able to advance in our thinking, scholarship, and work. Thank you for your generosity and commitment to multicultural and social justice work. We wish we could list each and every one of you amazing and dedicated individuals, but space limitations and a deep fear that we might inadvertently fail to mention someone prevents us from attempting. Please know that your contributions will never be forgotten.

For our students, past and present: To paraphrase Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in this teaching life, we hardly realize that we learn a great deal more than we teach. Thank you for challenging us, teaching us, and inspiring us.

We are immensely grateful to our colleagues who contributed case studies to this edition. Recognizing how much has changed on campus in the past 15 years, we knew we needed to (and could) count on your experiences and insights to develop cases that were complex, meaningful, and engaging, and that reflect the most current issues we face in our field. Similarly, we thank Wil Belz for your creativity and keen eye in updating and redesigning the Dynamic Model of Student Affairs in this latest edition. Although we are unable to use your most creative and colorful versions in book format, please know that we will be using them in our teaching and consultation.

Finally, we are forever grateful to our families and friends who have supported and encouraged us along the way. Thank you for being so patient even when this book seemed to capture so much of our time and energy.

We humbly put forth our thoughts, beliefs, and even ideals in this book with the hope that it will make a difference. We hope that the ideas and suggestions presented here will encourage many conversations and debates and will continue to increase the visibility and impact of multicultural competence and social justice in student affairs and higher education.

CHAPTER ONE

MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN STUDENT AFFAIRS: PARALLELS AND INTERSECTIONS

It has been many years since we first wrote Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs and during the subsequent 15 years, there have been many times that we have discussed when or whether we would write a second edition. During this time, we have continued to write, teach, present, and consult on multicultural competence. And during that time, our beliefs, knowledge, and understanding of multicultural competence as a construct and practice have certainly evolved. Witnessing the growth in the field, in the form of publications, research, conference presentations, and others, is exciting and inspiring to behold. However, during this time we have also noticed some tensions in conversations and the literature about multicultural competence and social justice, with some viewing these two essential constructs as somewhat contradictory or unrelated. Those assumptions or beliefs have never corresponded with our view of multicultural competence and social justice as overlapping and complementary approaches to transforming ourselves, our institutions, and society. So, we began a process of thoroughly examining the literature, reading everything we could on social justice and multicultural competence across various professions and diverse outlets. We found that the more knowledge and understanding we absorbed, the more we wanted to learn. This led us to the decision that the time had come to write a second edition and that bringing together these two ideas with their distinct literature, research, and practices would be the focus of our work. That decision led us to decide that this second edition, Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs: Advancing Social Justice and Inclusion, would need to begin with a chapter that explored the parallels, intersections, and overlapping connections between the values, goals, strategies, practices, and desired outcomes of multicultural competence and social justice.

EVOLUTION OF MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Multicultural competence, as both an aspiration and expectation, has been present in the student affairs literature since the late 1990s, when Pope and Reynolds (1997) first adapted the framework from the counseling field and presented it to the student affairs field. However, in the 22 years since then, our understanding of multicultural competence and what is expected in terms of the essential awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to work with marginalized students and create multicultural change on campus has also evolved (Pope & Mueller, 2017). The exploration of multicultural competence in student affairs began with a focus less on the students and the campus programs but rather, more on the student affairs professionals who interact with those students and who design, fund, and implement those initiatives (Pope, Mueller, & Reynolds, 2009, p. 647). From its genesis in the student affairs and higher education literature, multicultural competence has been described as a necessary prerequisite to ethical, efficacious, and multiculturally relevant practices at colleges and universities (Pope, Reynolds, & Mueller, 2014, p. 14). Relying on the multicultural competence literature in counseling psychology, Pope and Reynolds (1997) first delineated and described multicultural competence in student affairs in terms of the awareness, knowledge, and skills that were essential to working effectively with others who are both culturally different and similar.

This tripartite model has been thoroughly explored in both the counseling and higher education literature, but it is useful to briefly define these key components. Multicultural awareness involves the essential attitudes, values, biases, and assumptions that each of us carries with us, whether we realize it or not, that influence our worldview and are shaped by our upbringing, education, and life experiences (Pope, Reynolds, & Mueller, 2004, p. 12) while multicultural knowledge is conceptualized as our intellectual understanding or content knowledge about various cultural groups and specific multicultural constructs (p. 13). Such knowledge can be gleaned through books, media, relationships, and life experiences. Last but not least, multicultural skills are about applying our multicultural awareness and knowledge to our interactions, interventions, and our daily lives (p. 13). Pope and Mueller (2017) argue that although the tripartite model of multicultural competence has remained constant, the conceptualization of multicultural competence within student affairs has evolved during the past twenty years (p. 394).

Although social justice work has been around for hundreds of years, often through religious and community organizations, the construct and nomenclature of social justice within student affairs and higher education was newly emerging when Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs was first published in 2004. There was certainly language and emphasis within the original book that highlighted the need for action, advocacy, and institutional change within higher education (Reason & Watson, 2011). For example, in the first edition of this book, we (the authors) made the case for conscientização or critical consciousness, championed by Freire (1970), as essential for meaningful reflection of underlying assumptions. Or within the discussion of multicultural competence in helping and advising, we suggested that moving beyond helping individual students address their concerns and barriers is essential and advocacy and activism on the individual and organizational levels are crucial skills that student affairs professionals need if they are to contribute to or initiate a multicultural change process on campus (p. 93). Similarly, when exploring multicultural competence in administration and management, multicultural organization development (MCOD) was promoted as a unique framework to support the transformation of organizations into socially just and socially diverse systems through questioning and assessing underlying beliefs, everyday practices, and core values (p. 55). Through the incorporation of MCOD within the Dynamic Model of Student Affairs Competence, which is steeped in social justice strategies and approaches, we sought transformative efforts in higher education. And in our book Creating Multicultural Change on Campus (2014), we went on to expand this work to more thoroughly explore systemic and systematic methods of multicultural change on colleges and universities and argue that multicultural competence is a bridge to developing multicultural leaders who are essential in creating and implementing multicultural change efforts on campus.

As multicultural competence was beginning to take a foothold in the student affairs literature, the issue of social justice and its role in higher education was also building and gaining attention. Much of that early literature focused on defining social justice and discussing the role of social justice allies (Edwards, 2006; Reason, Broido, Davis, & Evans 2005; Reason & Davis 2005). As suggested by Lechuga, Clerc, and Howell (2009), "In