Two years ago, colleagues and I started facilitating a series of campus dialogues on the topic of socioeconomic class and the culture of our campus. The three of us felt strongly that class, as a social identity, was not salient in conversations about student experiences at our institution. Each dialogue has attracted a significant amount of students, many of whom have claimed that conversations about socioeconomic class are largely absent from their college experience. Every dialogue has brought nuanced differences and topics have ranged from personal narrative to more academic small group discussions. The consistent thought, however, has been the acknowledgement that these students appreciate the opportunity to talk about something so significant, so personal, and so often neglected in day-to-day conversation.

One of the ideas we have discussed is the prospect of creating a campus identity center that is focused on socioeconomic class experience and education. This center would join our other various identity centers as spaces staffed by students and professionals providing resources and support to campus community members who would benefit from having them. A center like this one would also bring attention to the discourse of socioeconomic class, which is one that is not always so common in higher education and student affairs.

Some of the resource possibilities that have arisen in brainstorming this project include:

First-Generation Student Resources. Often, though not always, there is a correlation between first-generation student status and socioeconomic background. More affluent students with parents who went to college might not need as much help navigating higher education. Students whose parents did not go to college frequently face struggles ranging from culture shock to tension with parents who do not identify with the implicit and explicit pulling away from family. Offering first-generation students resources via a center could be helpful to those who need it.

Education About Socioeconomic Class. This could be done through programming, through trainings, through literature, and through collaborations with staff and faculty. If the discourse of socioeconomic class on any college campuses is insufficient, this would be a great opportunity to be a conduit for education. Possible topics could include cultural capital, socioeconomic class history, socioeconomic class cultural differences, and ways in which socioeconomic class intersects with various other identities to form peoples’ experiences.

Peer Support. One of the most powerful components of identity centers is the solidarity students may feel with one another. Offering a space for students who might come from similar backgrounds to bond with one another could be particularly helpful for those students who come from historically marginalized class backgrounds.

Institutional Support. If this center was staffed with professionals who were educated about and invested in socioeconomic class issues, they could also serve as advocates on a wider campus level. Ideally these professionals would be positive allies who could help students mobilize when they need to and be their advocate voice when the occasion calls for it.

No socioeconomic class center could, however, exist without complexities. The reasons for this are numerous, but immediate ones I imagine are:

-Socioeconomic class is often nebulous and differences can be difficult to define.
-Many people do not have a full understanding of their socioeconomic class background or have significant misconceptions of how socioeconomic class functions in the U.S.
-Class can be a shame-inducing, taboo topic that people do not want to talk about.

Despite these complexities, however, I feel that any movement forward to support students in their respective socioeconomic class journeys would be helpful in illuminating effective ways to do so. I also feel that the reality of socioeconomic class experiences in higher education would mean that a center like this one would most benefit first-generation students and students who come from poor and working class backgrounds. As a first generation student with virtually no cultural capital in college, I certainly would have benefitted from such a space.

What do you think of this idea? Are there additional resources that a socioeconomic class center could provide? What are some more complexities? Has your campus ever attempted something similar to this idea?