Students of Color Network (SoCN)

The Students of Color Network (SOCN) was established in the spring of 2001 to provide a support network for graduate students of color in the Student Affairs in Higher Education (SAHE) graduate program. SOCN seeks to identify issues and concerns specific to students of color in the SAHE graduate program, with an emphasis on open communication and flexibility around the needs of the students. SOCN works to affirm the intersecting identities of students, not just around race and ethnicity, thus it is an open space welcome for all identities students may share. Throughout the course of the academic year, SOCN hosts various social and educational programs for SAHE students who identity as students of color to provide an outlet to celebrate identities and critically process SAHE as well as local and global events.

The objectives SOCN seeks to accomplish are as follows:

  • To promote the infusion of diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice into the SAHE course curriculum
  • To develop strategies to retain and recruit students of color in the graduate program
  • To identify ways to provide academic and social support for students of color in the graduate program
  • To provide a forum and support network to assist with job search in the field of student affairs and to discuss any job search-related issues
  • To provide an outlet to celebrate cultures and customs through social events