From Structures to Experiences: Nuancing Student Success at eHSIs Through Stakeholder Perspectives

Student success is typically measured through static metrics related to grades, retention, and graduation. Similarly, HSI is a status determined solely by the percentage of Latinx-identifying students on campus. Nevertheless, truly supporting and serving Latinx populations to thrive and succeed in higher education is a much more complex endeavor requiring attention to various stakeholders’ perspectives and lived experiences. In this chapter, we nuance understandings of Latinx student “success” in higher education through an approach rooted in student and staff meaning-making and navigation of a changing campus climate. The chapter draws on Gina Garcia’s Multidimensional Conceptual Framework of Servingness to explore how various stakeholders experience structures for serving in relation to a holistic vision of student success. After discussing the framework and its utility, we present two qualitative case studies showing how stakeholders at institutions “in transition” from predominantly white to Latinx-serving are engaging with servingness at different levels. These perspectives also bring to light interesting questions of power dynamics as institutions grapple with how to define “Hispanic-serving” and “student success.” The goal of the chapter is to nuance the ways in which servingness is enacted at institutions that are “becoming” HSIs by centering diverse experiences at their respective institutions.