Mapping at the margins: Environmental justice & racial equity in higher education

The environmental justice movement has existed since the 1980s as a response to discriminatory practices including toxic dumping and land use decisions predominantly impacting communities of color. Empirical evidence shows that proximity to environmental toxins is likely to impair mental and physical health. Scholarship indicates that college students from under-resourced communities are less likely to fare well in college but have yet to include environmental injustice in the analysis of student wellbeing. Yet the fight for environmental and racial justice are inextricably linked. This research focused on the relationship between access to quality basic needs and proximity to racially marginalized college students from the five highest-sending counties to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This study centered basic needs as important components of self-actualization, public health, and thus student wellbeing. Intersectional issues related to increasing climate, racial, and social injustices were explored within the context of capitalism’s role in environmental health amid the increasing graduation rates of racially minoritized collegians with business degrees.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• DelMastro-Jeffery, Nicole Marie

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lindgren, Samantha
• Pak , Yoon
• Baber , Lorenzo
• Moton III , Theopolies

• Environmental Justice
• Racial Equity
• Ecology
• Student Wellbeing
• Public Health

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Nicole DelMastro-Jeffery

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127198

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F127198