Geographies of Campus Inequality: Mapping the Diverse Experiences of First-Generation Students - Janel E. Benson

In efforts to improve equity, selective college campuses are increasingly focused on recruiting and retaining first-generation students-those whose parents have not graduated from college. In Geographies of Campus Inequality , sociologists Benson and Lee argue that these approaches may fall
short if they fail to consider the complex ways first-generation status intersects with race, ethnicity, and gender.

Drawing on interview and survey data from selective campuses, the authors show that first-generation students do not share a universal experience. Rather, first-generation students occupy one of four disparate geographies on campus within which they negotiate academic responsibilities, build
relationships, engage in campus life, and develop post-college aspirations. Importantly, the authors demonstrate how geographies are shaped by organizational practices and campus constructions of class, race, and gender. Geographies of Campus Inequality expands the understanding of first-generation
students' campus lives and opportunities for mobility by showing there is more than one way to be first-generation.