The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 3 - 99

Supporting Undocumented Students in Campus Housing

students, they can take steps to educate and
inform staff at all levels about the unique needs
of diverse populations of students within the
community. Often, front-line staff members
are the ones who have the greatest opportunity
to engage with undocumented students. When
these staff members are adequately equipped
with the knowledge and skills to support undocumented students, these students will
receive more positive experiences, feel welcomed, and feel embraced in the housing community. Furthermore, ally-training programs
can be implemented into employee trainings
and professional development programs to
help staff understand the struggles and assets
of undocumented communities. For instance,
the University of California, Berkeley, provides
faculty, staff, and students with a comprehensive ally training program called "UndocuAlly
Training" (UC Berkeley UndocuAlly Training
Program, 2016). Similar programs are being
implemented across the country, demonstrating the increased investment in supporting
this student population. More needs to be done
within housing specifically, however.
In addition to training, ally signs or symbols
located on office doors or on websites attached
to names of specific staff, can direct undocumented students to campus personnel who
understand how to best support this community. For undocumented students in particular,
it is important to build trusting relationships
with staff members and campus affiliates.
Understanding how to navigate social environments that do not consider their needs and
concerns may be a skill already developed by
undocumented students; however, the systems
in place within the housing community, which
are created to socialize students, are usually

not designed for or by individuals who are undocumented. This can unintentionally have
negative impacts on undocumented students'
identities. Having staff who are aware of the
unique challenges undocumented students
face and can advocate on behalf of their needs
will indeed help the inequalities that exist for
undocumented students on campus. This can
be done by creating diversity and inclusion
committees within the campus, department, or
residence life staff that are tasked with learning
the specific needs of undocumented students
and analyzing current department processes,
like RA application process, hiring and recruitment, judicial process, programming model,
etc. Specifically, through understanding how
laws, policies, immigration, and other contexts
work within the United States can help institutional agents respond adequately to the needs
of undocumented students (Gildersleeve et.
al., 2010).
Creating awareness about resources for
students who are undocumented and students
from other underrepresented groups is important. Housing and residence life websites can
be utilized as a starting point for providing
basic information to undocumented students
interested or required to live on campus. These
websites can link students to financial aid information, research on why living on campus
is impactful, what students can expect from
the application process, what living on campus
might be like, learning communities that exist,
clubs or organizations that are available (or
how to create one), and any other information
that might be necessary in their decision-making process.

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 3