Campus Culture and the Experiences of Chicano Students in a Predominantly White University

Abstract

The primary goal of this study was to uncover the elements of campus culture that hindered or supported Chicano student persistence in college. The first set of findings describes the elements of campus culture that hindered the persistence of Chicano students. These elements were identified as three cultural systems of asymmetrical representations, labeled (a) the social world, (b) the physical world, and (c) the epistemological world. It was found that within each of these three worlds, dominant White cultural representations communicated the message that a Chicano presence in a predominantly White university was not valued or welcomed. The second set of findings describes the limited, but important, sources of support for Chicano students, conceptualized as sources of cultural nourishment. Cultural nourishment is defined as individuals and material elements that replenish the students’ cultural sense of selves.