By Vincent Lee
Our preliminary data of Spring 2023 reveals that the low participation for a survey and interview for the College Paj Ntaub study may be related to the lack of institutional infrastructure, limited resources, and minimal opportunities for campus engagement at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh (UWO). In the Spring of 2023, there were a total of 265 students that identified as HMoob/HMoob American at UWO. Our initial targeted recruitment was 11.3% of the HMoob student population and we have currently interviewed 30 students. Through the recruitment process with the UWO Paj Ntaub team, we noticed the low number of HMoob student participants at UWO, especially with the upper-class students (juniors, seniors, and fifth years). This blog post critically analyzes our recruitment process within the context at UWO to explore the institutional infrastructure, resources, and opportunities for HMoob students.
When the UWO Paj Ntaub team began recruitment in the Spring 2023, we utilized an online survey questionnaire relating to HMoob American students’ college experience. The survey was sent out through email and received assistance from the Hmong Student Union (HSU), a student organization at UWO, to promote participation for the survey. Despite the massive email send outs and HSU’s additional support, the participation rate for one-on-one interviews were very low and fell short of the intended recruitment goal which was 28 participants. While there were 49 students who participated in the survey, only 10 participants agreed to be interviewed in Spring 2023.
In the Fall of 2023, our team intentionally shifted our recruitment methods towards ethnographic research and targeted participants through word of mouth, snowball recruitment, and various listservs including the Hmong Studies program and Hmong Achieving Together for Success (HATS), a faculty-staff affinity group. As a result, there was a significant increase in the number of participants by changing our recruitment methods outside of the survey. We found that the low recruitment in Spring 2023 might be related to how integrated students felt with oncampus activities. Our preliminary data suggested that there were limited opportunities for students to engage on the UWO campus, which we believe correlates with the low number of interview participants in Spring 2023. The UWO Paj Ntaub team’s new recruitment methods were more effective to recruit participants compared to the heavy reliance on the survey recruitment.
In the research, the participation index had a fair number of students with different academic standings consisting of first-year students up to fifth-year students. Although there were students across different academic standings represented, the data showed that there were less upper-class students (juniors, seniors, and fifth years) that participated in the one-on-one interviews. During our Spring 2023 recruitment, the UWO Paj Ntaub team was only able to recruit four upper-class students out of the ten total participants from our participation index. The upper-class student participation rate was slightly in the lower half, making up only 40% of the total interview participants. In contrast, our Fall 2023 preliminary data had a slight increase with upper-class student participation in the interviews. Nine of the 18 new participants were upperclassmen, making up 50% of the total participants in Fall 2023. Although there still was a slight increase with upper-class student participation from Spring to Fall 2023, we still wanted to learn more about the reasons why the recruitment of UWO students’ participation, specifically upper-class students, were low.
Specifically for a regional university like UWO, we found that students are more likely to participate because of the social relationships and networks that already exist. Reflecting on the UWO participation rates and recruitment process from Spring and Fall 2023, we found that solely relying on survey recruitment fails to draw on the existing network and community amongst UWO HMoob undergraduates. Many UWO HMoob American students are commuters and reported spending most of their on-campus time in classes. According to Lia, a student that is a commuter mentions that:
“[…], if I’m not in in my room, I’m in class, [if] I’m not in class, I’m in like the bathroom or something.”
Furthermore, these students also held outside responsibilities such as an off-campus job and/or familial duties. There were limited opportunities for them to fully engage in campus life, extracurricular activities, and on-campus employment. Our preliminary analysis requires us to reflect on the institutional infrastructure, limited support, and minimal opportunities provided at UWO.
During the interviews, there was a consistent pattern between the participants having family responsibilities, resulting in students having difficulties participating in on-campus events and jobs. This applied to students that were commuters that would come on-campus only for classes and then return home after their classes were done. Many students had family responsibilities that involved taking care of their family such as their parents and younger siblings, while some had their own families and children that they had to take care of while balancing their academics. There are inadequate resources at UWO to support these students with care responsibilities to relieve them of their duties such as financial support, free or affordable dependent care, social services, and/or other resources. From the interviews, there were two participants that had children that was a part of their care-taking responsibilities and having to balance their academics at the same time. One of the participants, Lia, shared her experience as a parent and student:
“So, like … I’m back and forth here [UWO] and back at home … I feel like [it’s] a lot harder. I have like so much schoolwork to do and then like when I get home, I have to like … I have to babysit too, that’s a lot.”
As for the other participant, Courtney, described her experience of being a parent and student:
“It’s a lot of multi-tasking. I have full-time school, and I also have a full-time job. I’m a mother of three as well. I’m also a Board of Directors of United Way … I do a lot.”
Lia and Courtney’s experiences of being a parent and student show the perspective of hard-work and hardships. Their care-taking responsibilities also give us an insight into the reasons some UWO students have difficulties partaking in on-campus events and activities.
At the beginning of the study, the UWO Paj Ntaub team had limited support and resources to promote and bring awareness to the research study. As mentioned, the surveys were sent out through emails as the only way to reach HMoob students enrolled at UWO. Even with the support of HSU, there were still minimal opportunities due to the lack of connections and not being able to build relationships with all the UWO HMoob students, especially students who provide care to dependents and family.
Reflecting on the recruitment and participation findings, HSU becomes the default hub for any forms of recruitment and connection to HMoob students on campus. HSU student leaders are tasked to find resources, build connections with the off-campus Oshkosh and Fox Valley communities, teach themselves, and educate the entire campus about being HMoob without any institutional support. HSU leaders were expected to run an organization as if this were their full-time job to recruit and retain HMoob students at UWO. The university places unrealistic expectations on HSU student leaders. HSU as a student organization does not have adequate resources to build and sustain relationships with HMoob students, especially supporting upperclassmen to continually attend HSU events. With these limited resources to support HSU’s sustainability and viability on campus, recruitment that relied solely on HSU limits the reach of this project.
Because of the lack of institutional infrastructure, limited support, and minimal opportunities and resources, the UWO Paj Ntaub team had to explore other forms of resources to forge connections and build relationships with more HMoob students. Our team expanded outside of HSU’s network to physically talk with HMoob students and raise awareness about our project. This strategy has also strengthened our relationships within HSU and expanded HSU’s network. As I am the current Vice-President of HSU, from my experiences of trying to sustain and recruit members have also been a struggle. Although HSU hosts events that are promoted through emails and social media, there is still a low attendance. The tasks I am responsible for include promotion and maintaining student engagement. A pattern I have noticed is that there are a higher number of attendances in the beginning of the school year, but the number lowers throughout the semester which makes it harder to maintain students. In reflecting on HSU student engagements, the team consistently struggles to connect with new students to attend HSU activities.
The UWO Paj Ntaub team recognized that our recruitment method and the participation rate reflect the lack of institutional infrastructure, limited support, and minimal opportunities and resources. Specifically for students who already experience isolation on campus, our team found that we must cultivate these connections and relationships outside of traditional UWO infrastructures. Building a strong community for HMoob students at UWO requires us to also forge new relationships with one another. In particular, our research team has cultivated new forms of friendships, network, and connections through this project. Moving forward, we hope to uncover more about what types of support, opportunities, and resources that the institution could provide for UWO HMoob students’ success on campus.