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MSIs should serve their students both academically and culturally

Minority serving institutions should “Help students know who they are to help them know where they’re going,” urged student and Salzburg Global program panelist Jennifer Cordova-James.

Cordova-James was speaking on the opening panel of the Salzburg Global program Students at the Margins and the Institutions that Serve Them: A Global Perspective, during which she shared her experiences of being a student at a minority serving institution, Northwest Indian College (NWIC), in Washington state, USA. 

Addressing the audience of more than 50 Salzburg Global Fellows (many of whom not only work for but are also graduates of minority serving institutions, primarily Historically Black Colleges and Universities – HCBUs), Cordova-James explained that as a member of the Tlingit tribe of Alaska and from the people of the Condor from South America, attending a TCU (Tribal College and University) not only gives her the academic grounding expected from a higher education institution but also helps her learn more about and better understand her own culture and heritage, thus enabling her to go on to better serve her community in the future.

In addition to extra-curricular activities that incorporate traditional sports and crafts, students at NWIC are able to pursue specialist subjects; Cordova-James is undertaking a B.A. in tribal governance and business management.

NWIC offers much lower tuition than is typical of a US college, making it possible for Cordova-James to attend. The college also offers student support services specially tailored to the community it serves, helping students tackle the sometimes hostile reactions they receive from others in their community who accuse them of turning their back on tradition by pursing higher education.

By attending a minority serving institution rather than a “mainstream” college, Cordova-James is able to not only pursue a specialized degree, she is also surrounded by like-minded students. 

As one participant pointed out, one of the greatest benefits of attending a minority serving institution is the opportunity for students from cultural and ethnic minorities to no longer be a minority; they typically form the majority of the student body of such institutions.

Indeed, this is one of the purposes of the second panelist, Neil Sparnon’s organization, Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins. JC: HEM, of which Sparnon is the chief academic officer, offers higher education to refugees in Africa and Asia. The program, Spornan explains, enables students – who would not have access otherwise – to receive their education in a setting where their refugee status does not mark them out as different. 

The JC: HEM curriculum focuses on skills such as critical thinking, academic writing and communication, rather than simply teaching students specific academic subjects. 

“We give them the skills; the application is up to them,” he explained. 

But for all the opportunities such skills can offer graduates, they can still find themselves marginalized.

Two graduates of JC: HEM programs, Gustave Lwaba, a Congolese refugee in Malawi and Daniel Christian Emerimana, a refugee in Kenya, had been slated to appear on the same panel; however, they were unable to get travel visas.

“Students at the margins don’t have the same rights,” Spornan reminded the audience.

The session "Students at the Margins and the Institutions that Serve Them: A Global Perspective" is being conducted in partnership with Educational Testing Service and Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions. You can follow all discussions on Twitter with the hashtag #SalzburgMSI and read all our coverage on the session page: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/537