ARP 621: Theoretical Foundations of Student Affairs
Applying Student Development Theory to Student’s Experience
Theory Application Paper
Danny Oliveira
San Diego State University
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Introduction
In the application of a student development theory to a student’s experience, I chose to
focus on the ethnic identity development of a Latino male who is a first generation college
student and who identifies as a commuter student.
Description of the Student
Rufino “Neeko” Rodriguez is a 21 year-old transfer student at SDSU. He grew up in
Chula Vista, CA where he attended Chula Vista High School before attending San Diego City
College. He earned his Associates degree and then transferred to San Diego State University in
Fall 2013. Although his father attended a community college before enrolling in the Navy,
Neeko is the first in his family to attend a university. He lives at home with his parents and
younger sisters and commutes to SDSU to attend classes four days per week.
I chose this student because I am interested in learning more about the perspective of a
commuter student at SDSU. I am completing my Student Affairs internship in Commuter
Services in the Office of Student Life & Leadership. I attended SDSU as an undergraduate
student in the 1990s but lived in the immediate college area and walked to campus. Although
I’ve known many commuters, I didn’t have firsthand knowledge of this perspective that is
typical of most students on this campus. I was also interested in learning more about ethnic
identity development, specifically of first-generation Latino college students. This represents a
significant demographic on this campus and one that will continue to grow in coming years.
Since I don’t have direct student interactions in my role as a graduate student assistant at SDSU
Career Services, I took this opportunity to reconnect with my fraternity on campus as I had met
very few of the current active members before this semester and none of the new members
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initiated this year. I attended one of their chapter meetings and Neeko was the first new member
to volunteer to assist me with this project.
Developmental Issues
One of the developmental issues that Neeko has dealt with in college, and particularly
this year at SDSU is his ethnic identity development. He was born and raised in Chula Vista, a
predominantly Latino community. He is a second generation Mexican-American. His father
was born in the U.S. and his mother emigrated from Mexico at a very young age. He grew up
speaking both English and Spanish in his home. “I always grew up with Latinos, all my friends
are Latino. I never grew up with white people. Being Latino is very important for me. I’m
proud of who I am” (Personal interview, March 26, 2014). This sense of pride influenced Neeko
to learn more about his culture and heritage. He has taken several Chicano/a Studies courses as
he further strengthens his identity as a Mexican-American citizen.
His transition from a predominantly Latino community and high school to San Diego
City College was his first significant encounter with culture shock. He experienced a much more
diverse racial and ethnic environment than his upbringing in Chula Vista. Although this college
is also predominantly comprised of students of color, he encountered many more Filipinos,
Vietnamese, other Asian ethnicities, African-Americans, African immigrants, Middle Easterners,
Russians, and other ethnicities that he rarely encountered while growing up. This experience
broadened his perspective and strengthened his sense of identity as a Mexican-American.
In his transition to SDSU from San Diego City College, he experienced a degree of
culture shock that differed from his freshman year at City. He stated, “The demographics at City
College are very diverse compared to State. The diversity changed. It was different mixes of
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people at City. The campus culture was different because of that. Tutoring people at the English
Center and learning about their backgrounds really opened up my mind to get a new perspective.
I met immigrants from Russia and refugees from Africa. You think you’re struggling, but really
people from other countries have it worse. Some of them barely know English and they’re
working so hard to better themselves. Here at SDSU it is predominately Caucasian. I feel like
the diversity is lacking here”. (Personal interview, March 3, 2014).
A second developmental issue is the experience of being a first generation college
student. Although his father briefly attended a community college, Neeko did not have the
benefit of advice and support from family members or role models who had navigated the
university experience before him. Having attended City College and working as an academic
tutor helped him in his transition to SDSU. He stated that if he had come here as a freshman, it
would have been much more of a challenge to adapt and navigate through his first semester.
The third developmental challenge is the fact that he commutes to campus daily and
found it difficult to feel connected to campus life in his first few weeks at SDSU. He continues
to work at City College as a tutor so he had more of a sense of belonging to that campus rather
than his new institution. He expressed some signs of feeling marginalized when he said, “It’s a
big campus. Easy to get lost in the shuffle or feel alone. My biggest struggle has just mainly
been commuting. Whenever I have to meet with a group we stay here late and then I have to go
back home. Driving back and forth from home, to campus, to my job at City College, and then
back to class and then back home makes it a long day.” (Personal interview, March 3, 2014).
His greatest milestone that addresses all three of these developmental issues in various
ways is his involvement in Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, a Latino-based fraternity at SDSU. His
most recent milestone was an award he received last week at the SDSU Greek Awards. Neeko
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was the United Sorority and Fraternity Council’s New Member of the Year. This is a testament
to the quality of his student involvement and evidence that he has gone from feeling
marginalized as a commuter student at the beginning of the year to a sense of belonging and
mattering at SDSU. “It was a great honor to be recognized for this award not only by my NAK
brothers, but also by the rest of the USFC organizations”. (Personal interview, April 30, 2014).
Key Findings
Neeko’s involvement in his fraternity has been a key factor in his personal development
in his first year at SDSU. It influenced his ethnic identity development in that this is the first
predominantly white institution that he has attended and his ethnicity became more salient than
ever before. He naturally gravitated towards other Latino students and encountered Nu Alpha
Kappa Fraternity, Inc., where the membership is predominantly Latino. This group was
distinctly different from his perception of fraternities and he felt many commonalities with the
members’ worldview and experiences as well as the organization’s principles of embracing one’s
culture while valuing all cultures. He shared that the organization has been a source of support
as well as further strengthening his ethnic identity. “Meeting the NAKs definitely helped me a
lot. NAK supports me in my culture and my background and understanding where I come from.
A lot of them are in my major so we study together. These guys have a different mentality than
my friends back home. We’re all on the same page, we’re all trying to do the same thing. It’s a
lot easier when you have the same goals or views. Helping out the community is a big part that
motivated me. Giving back to the community was always something I thought about but never
did so now being able to do it is really cool. Joining the fraternity has helped expand my
network for after college. These community service projects have helped me figure out what I
want to do and who I want to target. Being in committees and taking leadership roles teaches
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you a business side. Planning a community service event or a social event taught me how to
communicate, how to create policy and implement it and how to motivate people.” (Personal
interview, March 3, 2014).
Through this involvement he has grown in a number of ways. As a commuter, he now
has a sense of belonging and mattering on campus and a place to socialize and interact with other
students. He has developed his leadership skills as the Social Chair of the organization. In this
role, he has taken the initiative to develop opportunities for cross cultural interactions by
organizing social events with sororities of various cultural focuses or makeup. “I want to be
social, now that I’m here I want to meet people and expand our social network. I set up socials
with a Panhellenic sorority, an Asian sorority, and with two Multicultural sororities from UCSD.
I’m trying to expand a little more and not just stick to the norm. It’s important to me just to
change it up and get different groups of people together. To add to the diversity that comes to
the house. I don’t want to have just Mexicans. I want everyone to feel like they’re welcome
here. It brings a different perspective, you can learn more by being around them. It helps the org
by expanding our network. When we get to know them they will be more willing to help us out
with our community service events. And they will bring people we don’t really talk to. The
cross cultural interaction was one of our goals and the Asian sorority is trying to do the same
thing we are so it’s cool.” (Personal interview, March 26, 2014).
The quality of his involvement has been the most important aspect of his involvement in
this student organization. He has not been a passive member. He has not limited his
involvement to social events. He has taken on leadership roles that have benefitted him and the
organization. He has gained a greater appreciation for his own ethnic background as well as that
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of other students. He has a support network that has enabled him to navigate the college
experience as a first generation student.
Application of Theoretical Frameworks
In examining the four cultural orientation quadrants of Torres’ Bicultural Model
of Hispanic Identity Development, Neeko shows a Bicultural orientation in that he has a strong
sense of his ethnic identity as a Mexican-American citizen and a high level of acculturation in
the dominant society. He feels equally comfortable in his Hispanic culture as well as in the
Anglo culture. The conditions for situating identity described in this model are influences that
have affected the development of his ethnic identity. In the predominantly Latino environment
where he grew up, he developed a strong sense of his ethnic identity as Mexican. His family’s
influence and generational status also correlated with this theory. Both of his parents grew up in
the United States, so he identifies himself as a second generation citizen. Because his parents
both have a high level of acculturation, he has not experienced a high degree of stress in the
college environment because his two worlds are more smoothly intertwined than they may be if
his parents were immigrants and much less acculturated to American society. “My dad has
always instilled education first. They were the driving force to pursue a college education. My
dad retired from the Navy so he got the GI Bill and they want to make sure my sisters and I
utilize that benefit to the fullest. It was always expected of me to come to college. My parents
always encouraged us to succeed academically.” (Personal interview, March 26, 2014). His selfperception and status in society also correlate with Torres’s findings in that he did not voice a
perceived privilege and is very open to the experiences of others although he did not indicate any
perceptions of recognized overt racism in his community nor on campus. The changes in
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relationships with his new peers in the fraternity is an example of one of the processes in this
model that signal a change in a student’s ethnic identity.
Neeko’s leadership in seeking out cross-cultural interactions with various groups shows
that he sees himself within a larger multicultural framework inclusive of all people. This is a
clear example of a Latino-integrated orientation described in Ferdman and Gallego’s Model of
Latino Identity Development. His comments illustrate the findings of Guardia and Evans (2008)
in their study of ethnic identity development of Latino fraternity members at a Hispanic-serving
Institution (HIS). “Students engaged in Latino fraternity life view the environment of the
fraternity as multicultural; providing members with hermandad – a family atmosphere and
Latino unity” (Guardia & Evans, p. 177).
Our conversations show that he is in Phinney’s third stage of Ethnic Identity
Achievement. He is confident in his ethnic identification while being open to other cultures. He
has gone through a period of ethnic identity search as described in Phinney’s stage two as he has
negotiated a sometimes conflicting bicultural system. He has gone through various experiences
that have increased his awareness of his own Latino identity. He has a healthy sense of himself
as an educated Latino with a bicultural identity. He is confident in himself and is accepting of
others from different ethnic groups and seeks to learn their perspectives. “It’s important to me to
change it up and get different groups of people together. To add to the diversity that comes to
the house. I want everyone to feel like they’re welcome here. It brings a different perspective,
you can learn more by being around them.” (Personal interview, March 26, 2014). I find it
gratifying to know that the environment of my fraternity has continued to value all cultures and
inspires students to seek broader understanding of difference while further appreciating one’s
own culture. It is exciting to hear that this point of view is spreading among other student
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organizations at SDSU.
Niko’s personal growth through his involvement in his student organization is a direct
testament to Astin’s Theory of Student Involvement. The amount of learning and personal
development that Neeko has experienced is directly proportional to the quantity and quality of
his involvement. He interacts with his peers in the fraternity on a daily basis and is fully
invested in the activities of the organization and has taken a leadership role. His involvement is
both frequent and sincere. He will continue to grow in this role and will continue to affect the
development of his peers as well. His involvement has also reflected aspects of Schlossberg’s
Marginality and Mattering framework. He has transitioned from a marginalized commuter
student to a mattering student who affects the growth of his peers.
Implications for Practice
In learning Neeko’s story and reflecting on the stories of countless students who I have
interacted with in the past, I feel that as Student Affairs professionals, we must make a concerted
effort to reach out to first generation students and commuter students in strategic ways. We must
be cognizant of the marginalization that many of these students encounter in their first days on
campus. New Student Orientation is critical for these students and may need to be modified to
address these specific demographics. Aztec Parent Programs for first generation students may be
slightly different than the general parent programs. Educating parents who have no knowledge
or experience with navigating the college experience may require additional support and
resources. Parent orientations should be conducted in various languages when possible such as
Spanish, Tagalog, or Vietnamese. Establishing and multiplying learning communities for
commuter students and students of color can be effective in countering the marginalization that
these students may encounter. Learning communities can be a starting point for student
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involvement that aids in the persistence and retention of underrepresented students. Promoting
involvement in academic and social student organizations can further support student growth.
Promoting the appreciation for diversity through ethnic identity exploration, ethnic studies
classes, cultural events on campus, and seeking intercultural interactions should be a priority for
students of color and students of the majority culture alike. It is our prerogative to actively reach
out to students of color and commuter students. It is not enough to passively advertise programs
and events. The institution and its student affairs professionals should take an active approach to
reach out to those students who we know are most likely to have a sense of marginalization.
I feel that Neeko is a success story among students like him that have “the triple threat”
of developmental challenges; first generation college student, ethnic minority, and commuter
student. Add low economics and transfer student to this formula and this is a demographic that
have the lowest retention and persistence to graduation from college institutions. I believe that
student affairs professionals should pay increasing attention to the needs of transfer students with
these characteristics as they have the least support from the institution in terms of their transition
to the four year university. Transfer orientation, transfer summer bridge, and learning
communities for transfer students may prove to become increasingly important as the cost of a
college education continues to rise. It is expected that more students will opt for community
college for their lower division general education at a much more affordable price.
Summary of Learning
Having a better understanding of the challenges that commuter students face on this
campus has given me a new perspective that I had not considered to a great degree. These
students are often the least likely to get involved in co-curricular activities such as student
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organizations or events. It is important that Student Affairs professionals always keep this
demographic of students in mind when developing programming. Creative advertising and
outreach must always be sought out to ensure that the entire student body is as informed as our
residential students. Making resources and events accessible at various times of the day can
further help in addressing the needs of commuters. The creation of message boards at the
various access points to the campus such as the trolley station and bridges from parking
structures can be effective ways to communicate and emphasize that commuter students matter
on this campus.
This project has reinforced my notions about student involvement; especially in fraternal
organizations with community and/or cultural focus. My own involvement in a fraternity was a
powerful factor that had a tremendously positive effect on my college experience. However, not
all fraternal organizations are alike. Some are far more focused on social aspects without much
substance for personal growth. In some cases, fraternity membership can be detrimental to a
student’s success in college. It really depends on the social culture of the organization. Those
that are values based and live by those values, provide excellent environments for personal
growth. Other student organizations can be equally beneficial for student growth. Culturally
focused organizations may be more beneficial to some students who are encountering transitions
in their ethnic or racial identity development. It seems that most of the developmental issues that
we have discussed in this course can be addressed by involvement in a student organization.
Peers are often the best teachers, as shared experiences create bonds and relationships that can be
transformative in tackling developmental tasks.
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References
1. Astin, A. W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education.
Journal of College Student Personnel, 25, 297-308.
2. Evans, N.J, Forney, D.S., Guido, F.M., Patton, L.D., Renn, K.A.; (2010). Student
Development in College; Theory, Research, and Practice (2nd Edition) San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass
3. Phinney, J.S. (1993). A three-stage model of ethnic identity development in adolescence. In
M.E. Bernal & G.P. Knight (Eds.), Ethnic Identity: Formation and transmission among
Hispanics and other minorities (pp. 61-79). Albany: State Univeristy of New York Press.
4. Rendón, L. I. (1994). Validating culturally diverse students: Toward a new model of learning
and student development. Innovative Higher Education, 19(1), 33-51.
5. Torres, V. (2003). Influences on ethnic identity development of Latino college students in the
first two years of college. Journal of College Student Development, 44(4), 532-547.
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San Diego State University
Educational Leadership Program
ARP 621
Theoretical Foundations of Student Affairs
Interviewee Consent Form
I am currently participating in a graduate seminar at San Diego State University. As part of this
seminar, I am required to interview a student several times over the course of the semester.
You are being asked to allow me to interview you. The information presented will be kept
confidential and will not be discussed with anyone external to the seminar. I am required to
write a final paper based on my interviews with you. I am also required to do a class
presentation based on my interviews with you. Your name or identity will not be revealed in the
paper or the presentation. The interview is for educational purposes only. Your cooperation is
completely voluntary and will not affect your status as a student. Thank you for your help.
I have read and understand the above information and give my consent to you to interview me
and present the information to the Seminar in Theoretical Foundations of Student Affairs.
______Rufino Rodriguez_______
____ March 3, 2014_____
Signature of Interviewee
______Danny Oliveira
__________
Signature of Student
______________________________________
Signature of Professor
Date
____ March 3, 2014_____
Date
______________________
Date