Geographies of Campus Inequality

In efforts to improve equity selective college campuses are increasingly focused on recruiting and retaining first-generation students-those whose parents have not graduated from college. In <em>Geographies of Campus Inequality</em> sociologists Benson and Lee argue that these approaches may fall short if they fail to consider the complex ways first-generation status intersects with race ethnicity and gender. <p/>Drawing on interview and survey data from selective campuses the authors show that first-generation students do not share a universal experience. Rather first-generation students occupy one of four disparate geographies on campus within which they negotiate academic responsibilities build relationships engage in campus life and develop post-college aspirations. Importantly the authors demonstrate how geographies are shaped by organizational practices and campus constructions of class race and gender. <em>Geographies of Campus Inequality</em> expands the understanding of first-generation students' campus lives and opportunities for mobility by showing there is more than one way to be first-generation.<br>