Content area
Full text
Abstract
Students from marginalized religious backgrounds face myriad challenges on college and university campuses, and negative effects are especially pronounced for Muslim students. Wearing hijab can put college students at a greater risk of marginalization amidst a climate of Islamophobia. Although there is a growing body of research on Muslim college student experiences, there is a more limited exploration of hijabistudents' experiences. In this exploratory online survey study (n=41), we sought to understand experiences of belonging and Islamophobia among hijabi Muslim students across the United States. We adopted a critical quantitative approach, specifically interested in the connection of hijabi students' sense of belonging, social adjustment, and experiences of microaggressions to their adherence to the Islamic dress code, membership in a Muslim student organization (MSA), and identifying with a minoritized racial group. We found that more modest dress was associated with lower perceived support from peers and faculty, while reported microaggressions were negatively related to faculty empathy. The strongest effects were involvement in MSA on social adjustment, and having a white identity on perceived faculty support. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of student affairs professionals, faculty, and higher education administrators in supporting hijabi students to succeed as their whole authentic selves.
Integration and feelings of belonging among students in higher education are important for student persistence (Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). For minoritized college students, feelings of belonging help predict persistence (Patten & Rice, 2008; Tinto, 1994) and academic success (Gummadam et al., 2016; Walton & Cohen, 2011). Marginalized populations, however, may struggle with developing a strong sense of belonging in their educational institution (Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Walton & Cohen, 2011). Students from marginalized religious backgrounds face myriad challenges on college and university campuses, including exclusionary campus climates (Mayhew et al., 2014), bias incidents and microaggressions (Nadal et al., 2012), and feelings of confusion and uncertainty (Bowman & Small, 2012). For example, the dropout rate of students from minoritized religious groups is higher than Christian students, the privileged group in the United States (Patten & Rice, 2008). These effects are especially pronounced for Muslim students: The majority of U.S. college students (54%) believe Muslims are not accepted on their campuses (Rockenbach et al., 2014). Negative stereotypes against...