Private Foundations and the Undocumented Student Movement in Higher Education by Kyle G. Southern A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Higher Education) in The University of Michigan 2019 Doctoral Committee: Professor Stephen L. DesJardins, Chair Associate Professor Cassie L. Barnhardt, University of Iowa Professor of Clinical Practice John C. Burkhardt Assistant Professor Megan Tompkins-Stange Kyle G. Southern [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4473-4543 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the students who have shown a way toward a more equitable nation through their courage and activism, and to the higher education professionals who each day seek to live their commitments to social justice in their work. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The long, strange trip toward completing a doctoral program involves support along the way from a constellation of supporters. I begin here by thanking members of my dissertation committee, who bore with patience the fits and starts of my effort: Drs. Stephen L. DesJardins, Cassie L. Barnhardt, John C. Burkhardt, and Megan Tompkins-Stange. I also thank Steve for serving as my academic advisor throughout my time as a doctoral student and candidate at the University of Michigan. Additional thanks to John for his mentorship at both the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good—the key factor in my decision to come to Michigan— and the National Center for Institutional Diversity. Cassie’s mentorship, even as an early-career faculty member at the University of Iowa, and Megan’s willingness to take on the work of a cognate member also go a long way toward explaining any strengths in this dissertation. Its weaknesses remain my own. Beyond the members of my committee, I must acknowledge two mentors who I have often referred to as my academic mothers. Dr. Betty Overton provided critical leadership and mentorship to me and many other students at the National Forum. Her course on the History of American Higher Education also provided a foundation of rich and diverse perspectives from which to build throughout my years at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. Dr. Stella M. Flores, now of New York University, saw something in me as a Master’s of Public Policy student at Vanderbilt University more than a decade ago. As her research assistant, I developed a deep interest in and passion for work addressing access and iii opportunity for undocumented students. Her quick but profound comment on my final paper for her course encouraged me to pursue further work in the field of higher education. Her encouragement then and since goes a long way toward explaining my commitment. Another professor from my time as a Master’s student, Dr. Michael McLendon, also had a great influence on my development as a scholar and decision to attend the University of Michigan. The example of his teaching, writing, and connecting research to policy inspired me then and have remained in my mind as a doctoral student. From even before the first day of classes at U of M, I was fortunate to walk this journey alongside eight other cohort members. The intellectual pushes and pulls from this group provided a foundation for improving my work and deepening my thinking. I thank Jennifer Pollard, Grant Jackson, Jon McNaugthan, Kimberly Reyes, Feven Girmay, Esmeralda Hernandez, Michael Brown, and Matthew DeMonbrun for their contributions. In addition, I thank our honorary cohort member, Xiaoyang Ye, for his friendship, sense of humor, and intellectual example. Although not members of my cohort, other students who shared time with me at CSHPE have been critical to whatever success I have achieved. These colleagues and friends include, but are not limited to: Aurora Kamimura, Mark Kamimura, Brian Burt, Christopher J. Nellum, Gordon Palmer, Kim Lijana, Raul Gamez, Noe Ortega, Tim Carroll, Will Cherrin, Kamaria Porter, and Emily House. Beyond the program, friends made through my time in the School of Education include Chauncey Smith, Bill Lopez, and Charles Wilkes. As a CSHPE spouse, Dan Lijana’s is also a friendship I value highly from my time in Ann Arbor. No acknowledgements would be complete without noting another set of mentors and sources of inspiration. These guiding lights include Ignacio “Nacho” Hernandez, Susana iv Hernandez, Wil Del Pilar, Matt Matera, Victor Sáenz, Richard Reddick, Susana Muñoz, Cristobal Salinas, Nabih Haddad, Luis Ponjuan, and Trace Camacho. Practically, completing this program would not have been possible without the support of Melinda Richardson and Linda Rayle in the CSHPE office, as well as that of Jessica Mason in the School of Education’s Office of Student Affairs. I am grateful for their guidance through the labyrinthine processes toward degree completion. For this study, I am grateful for the busy higher education and philanthropy professionals who took time to serve as informants. Their insights, experiences, and candor are the heart of the project and my findings. More importantly, I am grateful for the work they have committed to doing for their careers to advance social equity through the power of higher education. As important as friends and mentors in the field have been, friends outside of it may be just as crucial in completing a Ph.D. For me, especially crucial friends have included Mike Gabrys, Andy Enkeboll, Sean Tierney, Boone Lancaster, Austin Dirks, Robel Bekele, Ryan Kurth, Jan Margaret Craig, Cara Bilotta, Dr. Stuart Hill, Wyatt Smith, Lauren Page Black, Hikel Boohaker, Joseph Sheeran, Jonah Garson, Lucie Rhoads, Ravi “Guru” Singh, William Bowles, Josh D. Carpenter, and Myles Zueger. I am also grateful for a group of friends that coalesced in Chicago—all of whom have served as teachers at some level—but are now spread across the country: Nate Burns, Paul Elkins, Taylor Hindle, and Matthew Hollander. I have worked with brilliant and supportive colleagues in two professional roles while working, in fits and starts, on my dissertation over the last four years. Among this group, I am most grateful to have shared work with Indira Dammu, Jeremy Meredith, Kenyatta Lovett, and Andrew Hunt. v Last fall, I visited Turney Industrial Complex in Hickman County, Tennessee. Through Nashville State Community College, men who are incarcerated at Turney can earn an associate’s degree in advance of their release. There, I met Isiah Robinson. We have kept in contact, and I was honored to attend his graduation inside Turney earlier this year. He continued to write and check my dissertation progress. I am grateful to have had him as an accountability partner, and I am excited to see how Isiah uses his own degree as a foundation for a better life ahead starting next year. Finally, but perhaps most importantly, I am grateful for the members of my family who loved and supported me throughout my doctoral journey—and whose love and support enabled me to become the person who committed to the journey. My cousin Matthew Lawson and I grew up just a few miles from each other, and although we have very different lives, always share a bond from those early years. By chance, a previous research project led me across the continent, where I connected in 2014 with my cousins Daniel Murray-Badal and Hannah (Badal) Getachew-Smith. Coming to know them and their love—along with their partners Kara and David, respectively—has been one of the great and unexpected joys to come from these years. Although they all transitioned from this world before I started my doctoral program applications and the thought of going away to the University of Michigan would surely have been foreign to them, I hope I have made my grandparents proud. I was fortunate to have Bess Anderson Southern, Jack Madison Southern, Frances White Griffin, and Grady Miller Griffin, Jr. all within a few miles while growing up in North Carolina. They showed me unconditional love and connected me to the past, effectively rooting me for whatever was to come in my future. Their children, my parents Stanley Southern and Karen Griffin taught me what hard work looks like and how to live with good humor. My Dad drove a cement truck through the hot North vi Carolina summers to make a living—and still does. My Mom was an entrepreneur with a passion for education and good writing. Along with my grandparents, they provided a life that included everything I needed, but not everything I wanted. For that firm foundation, along with all they have done and given and demonstrated over my entire life, I am and will always be most profoundly grateful. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF APPENDICES xi ABSTRACT xii CHAPTER I. Undocumented Students, Philanthropy, and the Present Study 1 Background 5 Research Questions 25 Guiding Theory 26 Data and Methods 29 Chapter Conclusion 42 II. Immigration Policy, Activism, and Patronage 44 Accounting for the Undocumented Population 45 Brief History of Federal Immigration Policy 46 States and Immigration Policy 50 Undocumented Student Activism 54 Philanthropy’s Investment in Undocumented Students 58 Professional Associations and DREAM Act Advocacy 60 viii Chapter Conclusion 62 III. College Network for Educational Equity 64 The Setting: CNEE’s Home Institution 65 Case Study Informants and Data Collection 69 Findings 72 Discussion 89 Chapter Conclusion 92 IV. Western Public Research University 94 Case Study Informants and Data Collection 98 Findings 100 Discussion 126 Chapter Conclusion 129 V. Implications for Theory, Practice, and Research 132 Implications for Theory 133 Implications for Practice 145 Implications for Research 150 Chapter Conclusion 155 VI. Conclusion 157 APPENDICES 161 REFERENCES 177 ix LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. Study Informants 30 2.