S2 Episode 2: Studying Under the Shadow of Deportation
According to federal and most state laws, undocumented students can enroll in higher education in the United States, but do they feel like they belong there?
Our guest, Shirley Leyro, critical criminologist and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Borough of Manhattan, CUNY, asked that question in a study she conducted on the challenges facing students without citizenship status. Lisa talks with Shirley about how her experiences as a first-generation Latinx professor helped her ask critical research questions that others have overlooked.
Shirley then helps Lisa and Nan think about the impact of this time of deep uncertainty in US immigration policy on DACA and “unDACAmented” students - from worrying about deportation, to protesting against hostile professors, to finding ways to pay for school without access to federal financial aid or work permits. While some universities have recently declared themselves “sanctuary campuses,” students across the country are calling on their universities to not only “talk the talk” but “walk the walk” to make campuses truly safe and welcoming places for all students.
The conversation concludes with a call on educators to rethink assumptions about “traditional” and “non-traditional” students and to understand the lives of students beyond the one’s-size-fits-all mold the university has created.
About our guest
Shirley Leyro is a critical criminologist and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Borough of Manhattan--CUNY. She studies deportation effects, including the impact that vulnerability to deportation has on noncitizen immigrants. Shirley is currently working on a funded research project exploring the impact of deportability on belonging and membership for CUNY noncitizen students. She is the author of Crimmigration, Deportability and the Social Exclusion of Noncitizen Immigrants (Spring 4-30-2018) and Co-Editor of Outside Justice: Immigration and the Criminalizing Impact of Changing Policy and Practice.
You can follow her on Twitter @DrShirLo and as part of the #thisiswhataprofessorlookslike campaign.
Collegeland is produced and edited by Craig Eley and Jade Iseri-Ramos
Research assistance and publicity by Danyel Ferrari
Theme music by Josh Wilson
Show cover art by Margaux Parker
Episode cover art designed by nadia_bormotova on iStock
A special thanks to the North Carolina Humanities Council and the Robert F. and Jean E. Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies for their support.
Want to get in touch? Email us at collegelandpod@gmail.com or send us a voice memo on Anchor.fm.
