The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 3 - 135

Legal Consciousness

between ideals presented within the legal form
with the imperfect implementation of law, and
to understand who was most likely to benefit
or be harmed by these practices.
Within research on higher education, a
wide range of terminology is utilized to explore
a similar spectrum of issues encompassed by
both legal literacy and legal consciousness,
including: legal knowledge, legal experience,
legal context, and application/implementation
of law. these studies are often focused on providing context for higher educational faculty
and/or administrators to understand the experiences of students who may be impacted
by more contentious areas of law and policy
in postsecondary environments. recently, research focused on student services has highlighted the impact of inconsistent state-by-state
legal framework surrounding undocumented
students, (gildersleeve & ranero, 2010; gildersleeve, rumann & mondragó, 2010; nguyen
& martinez hoy, 2015; nguyen & serna, 2014,
serna, Cohen, & nguyen, 2017) legal issues
currently impacting lgBtQ students (hull,
2016), and accommodating students with disabilities (Katsiyannis, Zhang, landmark &
reber, 2009). although legal literacy and legal
consciousness are not utilized in most of these
studies (hull is the one exception), the equity
lens employed by these scholars aligns with
sibley's (2005) discussion of how legal consciousness has been "domesticated" through
an emphasis on policy application over theoretical inquiry; however, looking beyond the
question of theoretical rigor, a clear picture
is offered of which issues are viewed as most
likely to lead to litigation, and how K-12 and
higher educational institutions aim to mitigate
those risks.

although the practicality of policy implementation is not intrinsically insensitive to
the lived experience of inequity and discrimination on the part of students, there is a clear
sense that the practical concern of litigation
is often a primary focus when crafting policy
(Katsiyannis, et. all, 2009; militello, et. all,
2009; sanders, 2011; schimmel & militello,
2007). a few studies have taken a different
approach foregrounding the experiences of
students impacted by different legal frameworks, which offers a useful conceptualization
of how the unique needs of specific marginalized student populations (in these studies,
undocumented students and students within
the lgBtQ community) have been shaped
by complex and inconsistent legal frameworks both within and beyond the educational
sphere (gildersleeve & ranero, 2010; gildersleeve, et. all, 2010; hull, 2016).
given the phenomenological focus of the
current study, legal consciousness was determined to be the most appropriate framework
for creating a conceptual map of the institutional powers involved in determining what
correct implementation of law should be in
student services and housing, to examine
housing professionals' experience of the laws
as implemented, and to explore theoretical
concerns presented by the manner in which
legal policies were implemented by these
housing professionals. By focusing on the
legal consciousness of student affairs professionals working in housing, the current study
also offers insight into the emotional and intellectual experiences of the individuals tasked
with negotiating the complex matrix between
student needs and legal requirements.

V o l u m e 4 4 , No. 3 * 2 0 1 8

135
The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 3
