Conversations that Matter: Who Belongs at BC? The Class of 2019 Discusses Race, Class, and Community at Boston College
Kerry Cronin
Boston College
Barbara Quinn, R.S.C.J.
Boston College School of Theology and Ministry聽
Date:聽November 15, 2018
An event for Boston College Senior Undergraduates only.
Abstract
Kerry Cronin and Barbara Quinn, R.S.C.J., will moderate a panel of BC senior undergraduate students around the theme, "Who Belongs at BC?"聽The discussion will focus on student experiences with issues of race and class over all four years at Boston College, and will touch upon questions of belonging, privilege, and community. Light refreshments will be served.聽
Speaker Bios
Kerry Cronin聽is the associate director of the Lonergan Institute and philosophy department fellow at Boston College.聽She earned her B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy from Boston College. For the past eighteen years, she has taught in Boston College鈥檚 interdisciplinary Perspectives Program (offering courses in the 鈥淕reat Books鈥� tradition). Additionally, she works extensively with undergraduates in retreat programs and is a regular speaker on college campuses, addressing topics of student culture and formation, notably relationships and dating.聽
Barbara Quinn, R.S.C.J., is the associate director of spiritual formation at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, and a sister in the Society of the Sacred Heart. Prior to coming to Boston, Quinn served as the director of the Center for Christian Spirituality at the University of San Diego. Her ministries have included spiritual direction and retreats, teaching at the college and graduate level, lay leadership training, formation work, and administration.聽
Event Photos
Boisi Center undergraduate research fellow Jorge Mej铆a asks the panel a question.
BC senior undergraduate student Anthony Smith shares his story.
Moderator Barb Quinn, R.S.C.J., makes introductions as (from right to left) Ryan Reichert, Rachel Lim, Anthony Smith, and Soyun Chang look on.
Moderator Kerry Cronin. (Photos by MTS Photography)
Event Recap
On Thursday, November 15th, 2018 the Boisi Center hosted its inaugural installment of a series of conversations on belonging at BC. Moderated by Kerry Cronin (Boston College) and Barbara Quinn, R.S.C.J. (Boston College STM), a student panel featuring Soyun Chang, Rachel Lim, Ryan Reichert, and Anthony Smith reflected on their experiences of race and class over their time at Boston College.
After offering individual stories, the students addressed the archetype of the Boston College student: monolithic with respect to socioeconomic status and racial background. Nonconformity with this archetype, panelists commented, produced feelings of exclusion, while also instilling a sense of action-oriented consciousness to engage advocacy efforts on campus.
Following the panelists鈥� remarks, Cronin and Quinn engaged the all-senior audience about their own questions and experiences of race and class at BC. Some students questioned the relative primacy of class versus race as the dominant sociological force in the undergraduate experience. Students also brainstormed ways that Boston College could cultivate change and a culture of awareness. This imperative is also an individual one: students must continue to educate themselves on these matters in order to start having 鈥渃onversations that matter.鈥� The seniors who attended voiced that this was one of the first spaces during their time at BC open to engaging the difficult conversations and questions rather than skirting around the issues. Hopefully it will be a first of many.
Read More
Books
Jehangir, Rashn茅 Rustom, and Palgrave Connect.聽Higher Education and First-Generation Students Cultivating Community, Voice, and Place for the New Majority. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Strayhorn, Terrell L.聽College Students' Sense of Belonging: A Key to Educational Success for All Students. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012.
Articles
Fischer, E. "Settling into Campus life: Differences by Race/Ethnicity in College Involvement and Outcomes."聽The Journal of Higher Education聽78, no. 2 (2007): 125-161.
Goldman, Jack and Owen Fahy. 鈥淥ver 100 Students 鈥楧ie-In鈥� on Anniversary of March.鈥� The Heights, October 22, 2018,聽
Hurtado, Sylvia, and Deborah Faye Carter. "Effects of College Transition and Perceptions of the Campus Racial Climate on Latino College Students' Sense of Belonging."聽Sociology of Education聽(1997): 324-345.
Johnson, Dawn et al. 鈥淓xamining Sense of Belonging among First-year Undergraduates from Different Racial/Ethnic Groups."聽Journal of College Student Development聽48, no. 5 (2007): 525-542.
Other Resources
The Montserrat Office at Boston College, an initiative under University Mission and Ministry, aims to assist students at the highest level of financial need to actively participate in and experience a Jesuit education.
The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program聽(McNair Program) is a graduate school preparation program for Boston College undergraduates who are both low-income and first-generation college participants and/or under-represented.
The Learning to Learn Office at Boston College聽seeks to support low-income, under represented, first generation college students, and students with disabilities to excel academically. Its program offerings include:聽College Transition Program (CTP), DIOP (Dedicated Intellectuals of the People), among others.聽
In the News
In October, Boston College鈥檚 independent student newspaper The Heights聽. The protest, which occurred two days before the anniversary of the 鈥淪ilence is Still Violence鈥� march which drew thousands, was organized by the Black Eagles in order to recognize the issues of race on this campus that are still unresolved.