The Marginalised Majority in Higher Education

Book excerpt: This book examines how the higher education sector has approached marginalised student and staff populations. The author highlights how universities were historically, and largely remain, the domain of the privileged, and demonstrates how institutions have implemented systems to enhance access for people marginalised because of their gender, race, sexual identity, disability and/or social class. These efforts have resulted in a numerical ‘marginalised majority’, but have not transferred to equity in terms of student grades, course completions and graduations, or marginalised academics’ chance of gaining continuing/tenured positions, streaming into a research rather than teaching-focused role, and the likelihood of reaching the professoriate or being selected for leadership positions. This examination is carried out through a Bourdieusian lens, which provides the ideal tool to illustrate how privilege manifests in higher education, and essentially taxes the efforts of those from marginalised backgrounds hoping to achieve equitable successes with their privileged peers. The book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of higher education administration and policy, and social justice in education.