Publications
Racial and Economic Stratification on Campus: The Relationship between Luxury Residence Halls, Race, and Academic Outcomes
Joshua Travis Brown, Fred Volk , & Joseph M. Kush
Journal of College Student Development | Published: 2023
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esidence hall design has remained an important topic for higher education professionals, but recently it has garnered attention from audiences beyond the postsecondary sector, including policymakers, donors, and media. In the competitive realm of enrollment management, luxury residence hall designs that emphasize high-end amenities and private rooms are vital in attracting certain prospective students. The design of luxury residence halls has created tension between the ideals of equitable educational experiences and increased competition to attract enrollment, as such facilities are often priced beyond the financial reach of students whose presence is essential to creating a diverse educational experience for all students. As university leaders face pressures to increase enrollment, some have allocated millions of dollars to attracting students using a new type of luxury residence hall design—hybrid luxury—that combines high-end amenities and high socialization design. While hybrid luxury halls emphasize added amenities such as coffee lounges, co-working spaces, and exclusive resident-only fitness studios, they also incorporate certain design elements to strategically increase patterns of student socialization. What remains unknown is (a) how emerging hybrid luxury designs may be associated with academic outcomes and (b) whether student academic outcomes differed in other forms of residence hall designs conditioned on race and homophily opportunity. The focus of this work takes up these two questions.
Shifting Environments, Emerging Norms: How Changes in Policy, Technology, Data, and Market Competition Affect College Enrollment Management Processes
P. Jesse Rine & Joshua Travis Brown
Book Volume Edited by: Robert D. Reason & John M. Braxton
Sytlus Publishing | Published: 2023
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ollege choice and student persistence have remained priority concerns among various higher education stakeholders, such as scholars, policymakers, and administrators—and rightfully so. The extent to which we understand the conditions supporting student access and success will ultimately determine our ability to craft equitable and effective institutions of higher education. Given the stakes, it is little surprise that voluminous research has been conducted on these topics using a wide range of student populations, institutional contexts, and theoretical lenses (Hirschy, 2015). The resulting literature is remarkably comprehensive in its scope, yet it has not adequately accounted for a series of interrelated shifts in the organizational environment occurring during the first 2 decades of the 21st century (Brown, 2017, 2018), shifts that have resulted in new norms that hold significant implications for the study of college student retention.
The Anatomy of Roommate Change: Architecture, Academic Performance, and
Differences in Race and Socio-Economic Status
Fred Volk, Joshua Travis Brown, Daniel J. Gibson, & Joseph M. Kush
Journal of College and University Student Housing | Published: 2023
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he number of room change requests by first-year college students can be influenced by several factors, including race and socioeconomic status. This study adds to the body of research by also examining the role of residence hall architecture, roommate similarity, and academic performance in room change requests. Findings indicate that residence hall architecture was the first differentiator of these requests. Other differentiators were first-semester GPA, age, and differences between roommates in socioeconomic status and race. The results indicate that residence hall architecture has important effects on students’ college experience, which can influence the development of social networks and form the context through which personal characteristics and roommate differences affect interpersonal interactions. Employing policies and programming that support student autonomy, create social connections, and reduce interpersonal barriers can foster a rich and positive environment for developing culturally diverse student experiences.
Equality and a Built Environment of Differences: Towards More Equitable Residential
Life Experiences
Joshua Travis Brown, Fred Volk, & Joseph M. Kush
Association of College and University Housing Officers – International | Published: 2023
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n response to an increasingly competitive enrollment landscape, two decades ago college and university leaders began to construct luxury residence halls – and charge students more for the privilege of residing in them. The widespread adoption of these facilities coupled with the diffusion of self-sustaining budget policies resulted in “differentiated pricing” in student housing options. But this phenomenon also exacerbated the challenge of catering to student preferences while creating a diverse and equitable campus environment. To further understand these changes, our team of researchers partnered with a large university and established three quantitative studies to examine this topic from the vantage points of retention, room change requests, and grade-point average (GPA). The first study (conducted during the pandemic) revealed how on-campus students were racially stratified with respect to first-year student retention rates, which shaped the degree to which all students experience diversity. The second study showed how room change requests in luxury housing promote two-stage stratification, with the price point remaining financially out of reach for many students and room change requests resulting in roommate pairings that become more similar by race and age over time. Our final study looked at first-semester GPA (which has been shown to be a predictor of retention). The results suggest that luxury residence hall designs contribute to stratification by negatively influencing the GPAs of first-year minoritized students. Our national and institutional ideals emphasize access to education, but our results suggest that colleges and universities must do more to preserve diversity than merely enroll a diverse first-year class. Our recommendations offer suggestions to residence life professionals and university leaders for how they might work to “de-stratify” existing residence life approaches to create more equitable access policies.
Centering the Marginalized: The Impact of the Pandemic on Online Student Retention
Joshua Travis Brown, Joseph M. Kush, & Fred Volk
Journal of Student Financial Aid | Published: 2022
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uring the pandemic much of the focus of administrators and scholars has been on its impact on residential students and the sudden shift to online instruction. While justified, researchers have yet to focus on online students—who often represent marginalized communities in higher ed—to ask whether they were impacted by factors related to the pandemic other than the modality shift. In this study we examined how the first-year retention of online students was affected during the pandemic, and whether it differed from first-year residential students who transitioned online. We examined records of two student cohorts (Fall 2017 and Fall 2019) from a university to determine each cohort’s retention rate by modality. Holding other relevant factors constant, we found the COVID cohort of students were less likely to persist to the following Fall regardless of modality, although residential students were still much more likely to be retained overall. However, Black and Hispanic students were less likely to be retained across both modalities, and even Black residential students were more vulnerable to not returning than their White counterparts, suggesting that racial inequalities persist across learning modalities. We conclude by suggesting how one retention tool—financial aid—could be used to address the particular needs of online students to improve their retention.
The Evolving Missions and Functions of Accessible Colleges and Universities
Joshua Travis Brown
Book Volume Edited by: Gloria Crisp, Kevin R. McClure, & Cecilia M. Orphan
Chapter Published in: Unlocking Opportunity through Broadly Accessible Institutions | Published: 2021
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o successfully educate a diverse population of individuals, a nation requires a network of postsecondary institutions equally as diverse as the needs of its population. The wide variety of colleges and universities that serve as the backbone of the U.S. system of higher education exists to achieve this end (Harris, 2013). Scholars, policymakers, and media in recent eras have laudably devoted considerable focus and resources to understanding the diverse educational needs of individuals. However, the same attention, advocacy, and interest has not been extended to understand the diverse set of institutions established to meet the multifaceted educational needs of the U.S. population (Tarrant et al., 2018).
How Institutional Identity Shapes College Student Recruitment: The Relationship between Religious Distinctiveness and Market Demand
P. Jesse Rine, Joshua Travis Brown, & James M. Hunter
American Journal of Economics and Sociology | Published: 2021
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nstitutional diversity has long been recognized as a signature strength of the American system of higher education, yet the sector contributing most to this remarkable feature—small and midsized private colleges—currently finds itself under significant financial pressure as a result of recent social and economic disruptions. To overcome such challenges, campus leaders must understand the market positioning of the institutions they serve. This article investigates the relationship between market demand and organizational distinctiveness within one segment of the diverse private sector—religiously affiliated colleges. It draws upon longitudinal data from the membership of one national professional association, the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, to develop an empirical typology of institutional religious distinctiveness and examine patterns of market demand over time. Results suggest that religious distinctiveness has a medium effect on student demand at both the application and matriculation phases of the admissions process. The article concludes by considering appropriate recruitment strategies for faith-based colleges and universities depending on their degree of religious distinctiveness.
The Language of Leaders: Executive Sensegiving Strategies in Higher Education
Joshua Travis Brown
American Journal of Education | Published: 2021
This study explores how college and university presidents strategically negotiate institutional pressures and competing social norms in an attempt to maintain organizational legitimacy. It examines how presidents strategically frame organizational events in ways that help constituents make sense of their actions. Using archival and qualitative methods, I examine executive sensegiving strategies in the presidential communiqués of university magazines from eight tuition-driven universities during a 15-year period (2000–14). Data revealed presidents employed three strategies—foundational, configurational, and transformational—driven by connecting different cues (i.e., events) with frames (i.e., institutional logics). Although prior literature has described actors draw on logics as a “toolkit,” this study illuminates how they modify those “tools” over time. In the transformational strategy, university leaders engaged in boundary work, acting as “institutional entrepreneurs” to change the microfoundations—or core elements—of an institutional logic over time and especially the meanings associated with its symbols and language.
Privatization as the New Normal in Higher Education: Synthesizing Literature and Reinvigorating Research Through a Multilevel Framework
Kevin R McClure, Sondra N Barringer, & Joshua Travis Brown
Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research | Published: 2020
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rivatization in US higher education has recently been framed as the new normal, or something scholars treat as the default state of affairs with little expectation of change in the foreseeable future. In this chapter we synthesize the literature on privatization, calling for a renewed research agenda that challenges this normalization and reinvigorates study of this important topic. More specifically, we analyze the conceptualizations, origins, catalysts, and manifestations of privatization in the literature. We advance five arguments about the privatization throughout the chapter, underscoring conceptual murkiness, fragmented lines of inquiry, unanswered questions, and methodological limitations. We propose a multilevel framework to understand the privatization literature and bring together disparate strands of inquiry. We conclude by outlining a renewed research agenda on privatization, highlighting several directions for future research and advocating for improved data and research methods.
The Hidden Structure: The Influence of Residence Hall Design on Academic Outcomes
Joshua Travis Brown, Fred Volk, & Elisabeth Spratto
Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice | Published: 2019
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his study investigates the impact of residence hall architecture on students’ academic achievement, also considering the influence of race and homophily opportunity—a tendency to create social bonds with like others. We found that socializing architecture was positively associated with a higher first-semester grade point average, and that homophily opportunity had a significant effect for Black students, but only when those students live in residence halls designed with socializing architecture.
Leading Colleges and Universities in a New Policy Era:
How to Understand the Complex Landscape of Higher Education Accountability
Joshua Travis Brown
Change | Published: July 2018
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his article provides postsecondary leaders with a way to quickly develop a more thorough understanding of higher education accountability. It describes the complexity of the broader higher education accountability environment and then maps the seven accountability silos: assessment, accreditation, institutional research, institutional effectiveness, educational evaluation, educational measurement, and higher education public policy. Finally, it provides two strategies—integration and consolidation—that leaders might consider to more effectively navigate their own divisions and organizations as they comply with education policies and accountability standards.
The Seven Silos of Accountability in Higher Education: Systematizing Multiple Logics and Fields
Joshua Travis Brown
Research & Practice in Assessment | Published: 2017
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igher education accountability is a field characterized by complexity. Prior frameworks grounded in psychometrics, economics, and history fall short in explaining the persistence and composition of its complexity. This article employs organizational theory to identify the multiple conflicting approaches of higher education accountability and explain their persistence. The seven identified fields function as specialized silos, each with a unique logic and approach toward accountability, they are: assessment, accreditation, institutional research, institutional effectiveness, educational evaluation, educational measurement, and higher education public policy. The seven accountability silos are systematized into a single conceptual model using an institutional logics framework. This article provides an alternative to the silo-based approach and argues that future accountability efforts must integrate by examining the knowledge domains of other silos to successfully navigate the changing environment of higher education. The implications of an integrated accountability approach are considered for five topic areas: data, the professions, structure, responsibility, and transparency.
A Psychometric Analysis of the Ottawa Self-Injury Inventory-F
Joshua Travis Brown, Fred Volk, & Gabrielle L. Gearhart
Journal of American College Health | Published: 2017
Objective: This study seeks to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Ottawa Self-Injury Inventory-Functions (OSI-F) for assessing nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), a condition for further study in the DSM-5. Participants: Participants included 345 students who indicated a history of self-injury in a university counseling center over six semesters from August 2009 to May 2012. Method: Participants completed the OSI-F as a measure on the psychological intake for the university counseling center. Results: Factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, independent sample t tests, and correlations were examined and demonstrated adequate reliability and validity. Conclusions: A three-factor solution emerged from the restructured OSI-F relating to Affect Regulation, Exhilaration, and Release. Affect regulation dimensions were predictive of continuing to self-injure and related to depression, anxiety, and overall mental health. Additionally, women were more likely to attribute self-injuring to affect regulation.
The Market Logic in Higher Education: The Changing Organizational Landscape at the Beginning of the 21st Century
Joshua Travis Brown
University of Virginia | Published: 2016
This project examines how universities respond to the market logic permeating the field of higher education by asking: “How and why did particular religious universities give greater attention to a market-based strategy of higher education at the beginning of the 21st century?” Each of the three papers in the dissertation employs an institutional logics framework to further understand how processes “inside” the university shape financial resources, organizational legitimacy, and institutional boundaries. The study uses mixed methods of analysis to examine four sources of organizational data—university magazines, presidential communiqués, in-person interviews, and IRS Form 990 tax records. The eight universities in the sample varied on the dimensions of religion (Catholic and Protestant) and enrollment growth (high, medium, low, and negative). Collectively, the findings of the three papers highlight that the presence of the market in higher education is more complex than present depictions suggest. The responses to market pressures varied notably across institutions as they developed distinct approaches toward resource acquisition (survival, sustainability, and profitability), legitimacy work (foundational legitimacy, relational legitimacy, and strategic legitimacy), and engagement with and negation of institutional logics (market, profession, religion, and state). While limited by an examination of specific institutions at a given point in time, this project illuminates the complex environment and varied responses of higher education institutions. The results highlight why and how present approaches in higher education and non-profit policy informed by a professional logic are limited in their ability to effectively engage university practices influenced by the market logic.
Increasing Counseling Center Utilization: Yeshiva University's Experience
Victor Schwartz, Chaim Nissel, Daniel Eisenberg, Jerald Kay & Joshua Travis Brown
Journal of College Student Psychotherapy | Published: 2012
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eshiva University established a counseling center during the 2004–2005 academic year. As a religiously based institution, the administration recognized that there would likely be significant impediments to utilization of on-campus mental health services as a result of negative attitudes about mental illness and its treatment—stigma. To combat these anticipated attitudes, the university put in place a number of assertive programs. Subsequently, rates of utilization increased to national norms within a relatively brief time, suggesting that a multifaceted outreach and referral campaign was as effective on this campus as at a secular institution. Of note, however, although utilization increased to national norms, levels of reported stigma remained significantly above national college norms, raising the intriguing possibility that stigma may not represent an absolute impediment to help-seeking.