Amidst institutional reckonings with anti-blackness, minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are thought to be an intervention to better serve students of color. But, what does it mean, at an organizational level, for an HSI to serve Black students? Our research showcases student voices to address this question and specifically ask: how do Black students perceive servingness at an HSI? Do Black students experience anti-Blackness at an HSI? And, if underserved and mistreated, what services help support Black students? We analyze focus group data (n = 33) of Black identified students at one particular HSI that enrolls over double the proportion of Latinx students needed to qualify as an HSI (62%). Our analysis found that the university’s mission to serve a diverse group of students falls short when it comes to Black students’ perceptions; instead of feeling served, they report experiencing anti-Blackness at the institutional, organizational, and interpersonal levels. Overall, we show that HSIs may contend with what we frame as anti-Black institutional embeddedness, too. 

Dr. Whitney Pirtle is an Associate Professor of Sociology and McArthur Foundation Chair in International Justice and Human Rights at the University of California, Merced, where she also directs the Sociology of Health and Equity (SHE) Lab. Her latest work includes writing on Covid-19 pandemic inequities and institutional anti-Blackness, and in 2021 published a path-breaking co-edited volume Black Feminist Sociology: Perspectives and Praxis with Routledge Press. She teaches in the areas of race and racism, health disparities, and Black feminism and uses inquiry to spark students’ sociological imagination.

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