| Owner: |
Antar A. Tichavakunda
|
| Owner Email: |
atichava@gmail.com
|
| Paper Title: |
Essential Work for Higher Education: Studying Experiences of Campus Custodians
|
| Session Title: |
Labor, Socioeconomics, and Class Dynamics in Higher Education Practice
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| Paper Type: |
Place-Based Paper
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| Presentation Date: |
4/24/2025
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| Presentation Location: |
Denver, CO
|
| Descriptors: |
Critical Theory, Unions and Work, Universities
|
| Methodology: |
Qualitative
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| Author(s): |
Antar A. Tichavakunda, University of California - Santa Barbara
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| Unit: |
Division J - Postsecondary Education
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| Abstract: |
Campus custodians experience the contradictions of universities’ egalitarian mission statements and promises of economic security. Given the limited research on campus custodians and the fact that work, especially for essential workers, has shifted after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this project is exploratory in nature. This paper is informed by critical university studies and draws from interviews of 19 campus custodians working on the same campus to explore how custodians experience campus and understand their work.
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| DOI: |
https://doi.org/10.3102/2191559
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