The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 38, No. 2 & Volume 39, No. 1 - 196

Dametraus Jaggers • Susan V. Iverson

assigned him based on major. special interest housing assignments and residential learning communities are programs that residence life personnel could explore as a strategy for cultivating across-group connections. the participants in our study explained how few opportunities they had for dialogues like what they had experienced in the focus groups. Whether offering opportunities for intra-group dialogues for Black males or inter-group dialogues with males of any race and ethnicity, educators should design and provide supportive environments where men can remove “the mask” (edwards & Jones, 2009) and share their honest feelings about race and masculinity. Our participants spoke of the need for a social group where they could talk about being a man, a place for support, and opportunities for mentoring or coaching relationships with positive Black role models. residence life professionals should explore how to create spaces, possibly in collaboration with other groups and organizations on campus, like fraternities, that serve and support Whites and males of color. Practitioners should incorporate issues of race and masculinity into the training curriculum. residence life staff training should equip student staff with tools to handle interracial conflicts and discrimination in the residence hall environment. For instance, using an explosive exchange between two males of different races in the residence hall could be an instructive training scenario. coupled with debriefing, it could illuminate the possibility that a Black male may have “felt less of a man” (edwards & Jones, 2009, p. 216) and employed a “cool pose”

as both “a defensive and an offensive tactic against racism” (Hammond & mattis, 2005, p. 116). Professional staff should engage in difficult dialogues about colorblind practices and structural racism, such as racially inconsistent enforcement of standards and consequences. such steps would likely involve risk. the university of delaware, for instance, incorporated sessions on diversity in its residence life education program, only to face national public criticism (Hoover, 2007). Yet residence life personnel must continue to grapple with “the ways in which they are complicit in advancing racist stereotypes [and] sustaining racist work environments” (Harper et al., 2011, p. 195). if the residence hall environment is replete with racist stereotypes and racially inconsistent standards, Black males will continue to feel and be isolated and marginalized.

CONCLUSION
awareness of the complexity of masculinity and how race intersects with male identity can help residence life personnel to be more intentional in their programming and practices. However, we acknowledge the need for further exploration of the complex identity intersections of race and masculinity, among other identity characteristics such as social class (e.g., working class masculinity) and ethnicity (e.g., latino masculinity). We hope this study inspires new questions and further research about race and masculinity and the impact these may have for students’ lived experiences in the residence halls.

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The Journal of College and universiTy sTudenT housing

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 38, No. 2 & Volume 39, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 38, No. 2 & Volume 39, No. 1