Cultural Sidelining: How Campus Cultures across University Contexts Shortchange Working-Class Hispanic Students.

The article examines how universities institutionalize racial exclusion through class-based cultural hierarchies that affect working-class Hispanic students’ development and inclusion. Drawing on interviews and observations at two universities—a moderately selective, predominantly White flagship institution and a less selective, Hispanic-serving regional university—the study identifies a process of "cultural sidelining," whereby dominant middle-class, White-associated cultural practices are privileged while working-class Mexican-American cultural repertoires are marginalized or vice versa. At the flagship university, students experienced exclusion through the sidelining of Spanish language use, ethnic food traditions, and working-class cultural expressions, whereas at the regional university, students faced limited access to middle-class cultural capital such as intellectual exploration and leadership development. These complementary sidelining processes reinforce racialized class distinctions by positioning Mexican-American cultural practices as lower status and constrain Hispanic students’ opportunities for academic and social growth across different institutional contexts.