What’s the Story Here? How Catholic University Leaders are Making Sense of Undocumented Student Access.

[摘要] This study examines how leaders make sense of an unsettled, contemporary issue facinghigher education. It deepens our understanding of how stories may operate in the process ofsensemaking, which has been described as ;;the experience of being thrown into an ongoing,unknowable, unpredictable streaming of experience in search of answers to the question, ;;What;;sthe story?’” (Weick, 2008, para. 1). Sensemaking is a powerful tool for understanding howpeople engage volatile issues.The study addresses two research questions: How are Catholic university leaders makingsense of undocumented student access? and What role do stories play in the sensemaking ofthese leaders? Situating the study in Catholic higher education, with its own unique history—serving as a vehicle for assimilation into American society, especially for immigrants—allows usto explore the spiritual and religious values that operate differently within this sector thanelsewhere in U.S. higher education. That the issue remains unsettled in policy and practicehighlights the effects of volatility on sensemaking.To learn more about how leaders respond to the challenge of this situation, I conducted55 interviews in 12 Catholic universities in regions of the U.S. with relatively highundocumented populations. I find that identity, social context, extracted cues, and stories playespecially important roles in leader sensemaking. Leaders engaged in ;;constructing Catholicidentity,” a process of reflection upon the espoused mission values in their institutions which ledto the decision to admit undocumented students. Because of the volatility of undocumentedaccess and leaders’ fear of negative consequences resulting from engaging the issue, leadersemployed numerous behaviors to manage their commitment (Salancik, 1977). This resulted instrategic ambiguity that provided some protection for leaders; it also led to communicationbreakdowns in universities and the alienation of important institutional leaders.Canonical stories played an important role in sensemaking, as leaders referred to;;community narratives” and ;;dominant cultural narratives” (Rappaport, 2000), often alluding tothem in shorthand. Because their meaning is shared among group members, canonical storieswere especially useful as leaders reflected on the link between institutional histories andcharisms and the decision to admit undocumented students.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] Undocumented

[关键词] Sensemaking;Undocumented;Catholic higher education;Leadership;Identity;Managing commitment;Education;Sociology;Social Sciences;Higher Education