Multicultural Student Interview Report

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I was naïve in much of my early career in thinking that fit only encapsulated a mutual level of passion for working with college students between myself and my colleagues. I thought we were all cut from the same cloth. I had a strong desire to support all students in learning about and supporting diverse gender identities and sexualities because of the hardships I faced as an undergraduate student at a small, historically Black college in Mississippi. I overcame the discrimination, microaggressions, and bullying to be able to stand in my truth without bitterness towards those in my past, and I brought myself to each of my roles. I never knew that the same battles I had been fighting for students would face me again in my career. My parents …show more content…

I had big plans for programs, policy changes, community builders, and networking. I started to discuss my ideas with my colleagues and supervisor, but I quickly noticed that although my supervisor sang praises for me she would give me a "oh, that's cute" look when I would discuss the queer and trans communities. Things quickly started to deteriorate as I challenged some of the customs in the office in regards to language used when discussing White people or senior leaders on campus. I never would co-sign on these comments, especially noting that we had White staff members who were equally part of our office. Less than six months into my role, I found myself struggling for my values of inclusion, social justice, and intersectionality to match those of the other members in my office. Things continued to become strained as a colleague came to me to discuss how I felt I was fitting into the office dynamics and the need for our office to focus more attention on students of color exclusively versus queer and trans students. I knew my supervisor had put my colleague up to this, and she would soon make her voice heard. During one of our one-on-one meetings, she specifically said, "Devin, when you walk into a room, people don't see you as queer. People see you as Black. So I want you to focus more on supporting Black students and students of color." I was dumbfounded because these demands were not articulated in my job description or interview process, and I had created my department to focus on gender and sexuality inclusive of the other social and personal intersections of identity. Although I am Black and queer and equally proud of my identities, I realized that I could not be a Black queer man in this environment. My queerness was not welcomed, and I had to learn to fight for visibility. More unfortunate situations arose, and I reached my

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