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Ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging for Filipino American undergraduate students at a selective predominan...

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ETHNIC IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT, ETHNIC STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS, CAMPUS
RACIAL CLIMATE, CULTURAL INTEGRITY, AND SENSE OF BELONGING FOR
FILIPINO AMERICAN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT A SELECTIVE
PREDOMINANTLY WHITE INSTITUTION

by
Katrina C. Miranda

A Dissertation Proposal Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

August 2020

Copyright 2020 Katrina C. Miranda

ii
DEDICA TION
To my daughter, you are my inspiration for completing this dissertation and this doctoral
degree, which has truly been one of the greatest challenges in my life. I hope this shows you that
once you start something, despite how challenging it may be, you must do your best to complete
it. To my husband, I could not have achieved this without your love and support. To my
parents, thanks for always believing in me, and for all the sacrifices you have made so I can be
who I am today.

iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you so much to all my family, friends, colleagues, and students who have cheered
me on all these years to complete this dissertation and doctoral degree, and have checked in on
me to see how this journey was going. Your support means the world to me in what has been one
of the most challenging endeavors of my life.
Thank you to the students who participated in my study. Your voices and stories are truly
what has brought this study to life, and I am forever grateful to you.
Thank you to my chair, Dr. Alan Green, for your patience with me all these years, and for
always believing in me. Thank you Dr. Guadalupe Garcia Montano for all the time you spent
helping me edit, and guiding me through this dissertation. Thank you Dr. Patricia Tobey for your
advice. Thank you so much to all three of you for your time and support in making my dream of
completing this dissertation a reality.

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication .................................................................................................................................. ii
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iii
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. vi
List of Abbreviations.................................................................................................................vii
Abstract .................................................................................................................................. viii
Chapter One: Overview of the Study ........................................................................................... 1
Background of the Problem ............................................................................................. 2
Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................. 3
Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................ 4
Significance of the Study ................................................................................................. 6
Limitations and Delimitations .......................................................................................... 6
Definition of Terms ......................................................................................................... 7
Organization of the Study ................................................................................................ 8
Chapter Two: Literature Review ............................................................................................... 10
Filipino American College Students .............................................................................. 10
Ethnic Identity Development ......................................................................................... 17
Ethnic Student Organizations ......................................................................................... 28
Campus Racial Climate ................................................................................................. 35
Nadal’s Pilipino American Identity Development Model ............................................... 38
Cultural Integrity ........................................................................................................... 41
Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) Sense of Belonging ........................................................... 47
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 53
Chapter Three: Methodology ..................................................................................................... 55
Qualitative Methods ...................................................................................................... 56
Sample and Population .................................................................................................. 57
Instrumentation.............................................................................................................. 60
Data Collection .............................................................................................................. 62
Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 63
Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 67
Chapter Four: Results ................................................................................................................ 68
Participants .................................................................................................................... 70
Ethnic Identity Development ......................................................................................... 75
Ethnic Identity ............................................................................................................... 79
Ethnic Student Organizations ......................................................................................... 85
Campus Racial Climate and Cultural Integrity ............................................................... 95
Sense of Belonging ...................................................................................................... 105
Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 109
Chapter Five: Discussion and Implications .............................................................................. 111
Discussion of Findings ................................................................................................ 112
Limitations .................................................................................................................. 124
Implication for Practice ............................................................................................... 125
Future Research ........................................................................................................... 126
Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 127
References .............................................................................................................................. 131

v
Appendix A Interview Questions............................................................................................. 138
Appendix B Recruitment Email ............................................................................................... 141

vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Participant Background Information 71

vii
LIST OF ABBREVIA TIONS
AAPI Asian America Pacific Islander
AAPISA Asian American Pacific Islander Assembly at OU
CM Colonial Mentality
ESOs Ethnic Student Organizations
FASO Filipino American Student Organization at OU
HEC Hispanic Engineering Club at OU
OU Olivia University
PAHM Pilipino American History Month
PWI Predominantly White Institution

viii
ABSTRACT
This study explored the unique experiences of Filipino American undergraduate students with
ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural
integrity, and sense of belonging at a selective predominantly White institution. This was a
qualitative study using a phenomenological framework that consisted of semi-structured
interviews with eight participants to capture their experiences through rich, thick descriptions in
their own words. The researcher analyzed the interview transcripts through a process of coding
and categorizing to find themes that addressed the study’s research questions. The findings from
this study show the importance of family and community growing up to their ethnic identity
development, and the significance of Filipino American ethnic student organizations to their
ethnic identity development and sense of belonging on campus for those who participated. In
addition, this study found the students’ perceptions of the campus racial climate toward Filipino
American students to be indifferent and nonexistent with the rationale of Filipino Americans
being a smaller, lesser-known student population on campus, and the students shared many ideas
for areas of improvement regarding the cultural integrity of the university toward Filipino
American students. The researcher hopes that this study can spark more interest and attention for
Filipino American undergraduate students both by researchers and practitioners to better support
this underrepresented and underachieving student population.

1
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
In higher education literature, the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) student
population tends to be overlooked and misunderstood, which leads to this population of students
being greatly underserved by colleges and universities. Museus and Maramba’s (2011) literature
review revealed that only 1% of the articles published in five of the most popular peer-reviewed
higher education journals included research on Asian American college students. This is
troubling since Asian Americans are the second fastest-growing racial group in the United States
(Museus & Maramba, 2011). Most data collected for the AAPI college student population placed
them in one category, which disregarded the diversity among this population in terms of
ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status, immigration history, and other characteristics that
affect degree attainment. Data on AAPI students must be disaggregated to display the disparity
of representation and achievement among these student groups, particularly since research shows
that this community consists of more than 50 different ethnic subgroups of varying languages,
socioeconomic status, and national origin (Palmer & Maramba, 2015). Palmer and Maramba
(2015) referenced reports by the National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander
Research in Education highlighting the differences among AAPI subgroups in terms of economic
status and achievement outcomes.
A further implication of placing this diverse student group in one category is the model
minority myth, which is the belief that all AAPI students are academically successful and serve
as a model for other minority groups to emulate. Although AAPI students as a whole
demonstrate high graduation rates, the myth overlooks populations who are highly
underrepresented and underachieving in institutions of higher education and the reasons for this
great disparity. The literature discussed the negative implications of the model minority myth,

2
and the need to disband this myth by disaggregating data when researching AAPI student groups
to gain an accurate representation of the disparity of representation and achievement among this
population. In addition, the myth is a stereotype that assumes that all AAPI students are high
achieving and do not require student services and support programs (Maramba & Palmer, 2014).
This stereotype is dangerous since it hides data on underrepresented and underachieving student
groups and may hinder their access to much-needed resources (Palmer & Maramba, 2015). An
AAPI student group who tends to exhibit significantly lower graduation rates is Filipino
American students. Such a disparity in representation and achievement of AAPI subgroups calls
for the need to study Filipino American undergraduate students.
Background of the Problem
Filipino American undergraduate students are a highly understudied and misunderstood
population. The few studies on this population show they are highly underrepresented in
institutions of higher education and exhibit significantly low retention and graduation rates,
especially in comparison to their Asian American peers. Nadal, Pituc, Johnston, and Esparrago
(2010) argued that research must disaggregate Asian American groups to understand their unique
life experiences. As a result of Spanish and U.S. colonization, Filipino Americans have had
experiences very different from those of other Asian Americans (Nadal et al., 2010). Filipino
American identity differs significantly from Asian American identity due to several factors,
including the Catholic influence in the Philippines as a result of Spanish colonization and the
influence of values such as a more gender-neutral society and the use of the English language in
the Philippines due to U.S. colonization (Nadal, 2004).

3
Statement of the Problem
This problem of the underrepresentation and underachievement of Filipino American
students in higher education is of concern since Filipino Americans make up the second-largest
Asian American ethnic group and third-largest immigrant population in the United States
(Halagao, 2010) but tend to demonstrate the smallest population of AAPI students in higher
education. In addition, Okamura (1998, 2008, as cited in Museus & Maramba, 2011) found that
these students are represented at 4-year institutions at rates lower than those of other Asian
American subgroups as well as other racial groups in states like California and Hawaii, which
have the largest numbers of Filipino Americans. Filipino American students are
underrepresented at more selective universities and tend to be concentrated in less-selective
universities than their peers in other Asian American ethnic groups (Teranishi, Ceja, Antonio,
Allen, & McDonough, 2004, as cited in Maramba & Museus, 2013). Further, although Filipino
American high school students entered college with above-average GPAs similar to their Asian
American peers, while in college, these students maintained lower GPAs (Monzon, 2003), which
brings up the inquiry as to why this is the case.
Since Filipino American students are highly underrepresented and underachieving, it is
critical to study their higher education experience to gain insight into a rationale for their
underrepresentation and underachievement and into gaps at the institutional level. Museus and
Maramba (2011) described empirical research on the experience of Asian American ethnic
subgroups pertaining to their sense of belonging to be “virtually nonexistent” (p. 236). Students’
sense of belonging at an institution is associated with positive academic outcomes (Maramba &
Museus, 2013). Sense of belonging is described by Hurtado and Carter (1997) as strongly
associated with discussions of academic material outside of class and through membership in

4
religious and social-community organizations. Museus and Quaye (2009) referred to ethnic
student organizations as collective agents that “provide students with smaller and more
manageable environments within the larger campus, offer a conduit for socialization into the
larger campus community, and provide a venue in which students can express a sense of
racial/ethnic identity” (p. 72). Students of color who perceived a hostile campus racial climate
but belonged to an ethnic student organization demonstrated higher levels of sense of belonging
to their campus community than their peers who were not involved in these organizations
(Hurtado & Carter, 1997). Campus racial climate, which refers to the student’s perceptions and
attitudes of race relations on their campus, can influence a student’s sense of belonging on
campus (Maramba & Museus, 2011). Research has shown that students’ perceptions of campus
climate for diversity can have a significant influence on their social and academic experiences
(Hurtado & Carter, 1997).
Purpose of the Study
Because of the underrepresentation and underachievement of Filipino American students
in higher education and the lack of research on their experiences, this study explored the
experience of Filipino American undergraduate students, specifically their experiences with
ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural
integrity, and sense of belonging at a selective predominantly White institution (PWI) through
semi-structured interviews. Interviews were conducted to gather rich, thick descriptions of
students’ voices and experiences in their own words. Lichtman’s (2014) “three C’s of analysis
from coding to categorizing to concepts” (p. 328) and Creswell’s (2009) six-step “data analysis
and interpretation” (p. 183) plan was used to analyze the data to find themes that addressed the
research questions:

5
1. What is the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with ethnic identity
development prior to attending a selective PWI, and while being a student at a selective
PWI?
2. What influence does the Filipino American ethnic student organization on campus have
on the Filipino American undergraduate student’s ethnic identity development and sense
of belonging at a selective PWI?
3. What are the perceptions of campus racial climate and cultural integrity for Filipino
American undergraduate students at a selective PWI?
4. What is the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with sense of
belonging at a selective PWI?
The conceptual frameworks for this study are Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American identity
development model, Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity, and
Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) sense of belonging. Nadal created the Pilipino American identity
development model to describe the ethnic identity development of native and second-generation
Pilipino Americans in the United States. The six stages in Nadal’s model are ethnic awareness,
assimilation to dominant culture, social political awakening, panethnic Asian American
consciousness, ethnocentric realization, and incorporation. Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in
Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity emphasized the importance of scrutinizing the institution, rather
than expecting students to assimilate to the dominant culture. Tierney and Jun believed that
institutions of higher education have a responsibility to create campus cultures that are inclusive
of students of all cultural backgrounds, and the responsibility of integration should not be placed
solely on the student. Hurtado and Carter highlighted the importance of feelings of sense of
belonging to the academic success of college students, specifically students of color. Sense of

6
belonging was described by Hurtado and Carter to be strongly associated with discussions of
academic material outside of class and through membership in religious and social-community
organizations.
Significance of the Study
The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature on the Filipino American
undergraduate student experience, specifically their unique experiences with ethnic identity
development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of
belonging at a selective PWI. Because of the underrepresentation and underachievement of
Filipino American students in colleges and universities, this study sought to bring to light their
experiences for institutions of higher education to learn ways to better serve the unique needs of
this student population. Their underrepresentation is a threat to the diversity of these institutions.
Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, and Gurin (2002) stated that diversity has a critical impact on learning and
democracy outcomes for students during the college years. Further, this study sought to share
their unique experiences with other Filipino American college students and their families, as well
as other underrepresented student groups and their families, to gain a better understanding of the
experiences they may be going through or may experience in the future.
Limitations and Delimitations
Since this study examined the experiences of Filipino American undergraduate students
with their ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate,
cultural integrity, and sense of belonging at a selective PWI, there may be many factors that
influence the internal validity of this study since each student has a unique background and
experience. The delimitations of this study are that because the study was conducted at one
university and consisted of interviews with eight Filipino American undergraduate students, their

7
unique experiences at this particular university may not be generalizable to other Filipino
American undergraduate students at the same university or other universities.
Definition of Terms
Campus racial climate: Campus racial climate refers to the students’ perceptions and
attitudes of race/ethnic relations as well as diversity on their campus. Perceptions of hostile
campus racial climates, particularly in predominantly White institutions, are extremely
problematic for students of color, such as Filipino American students, since this has been
associated with lower levels of retention and degree completion (Maramba & Museus, 2013). On
the flip side, perceptions of a welcoming campus racial climate with high levels of interactions
among diverse peers and strong institutional support for students of color can foster a high sense
of belonging on campus for all students including students of color (Maramba, 2008).
Cultural integrity: Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity
emphasized the importance of scrutinizing the institution rather than expecting students to
assimilate to the dominant culture. Tierney and Jun believed that institutions of higher education
have a responsibility to create campus cultures that are inclusive of students of all cultural
backgrounds, and the responsibility of integration should not be placed solely on the student.
Cultural suicide: Tinto’s integration framework required students of color to “undergo a
cultural suicide of sort to avoid an intellectual suicide” (as cited in Tierney, 1992, p. 614).
Tinto’s theory stated that students must leave their precollege cultures behind, and conform to
the dominant campus culture to integrate academically and socially into the institution to
maximize their success (Tinto, 1987, 1993, as cited in Museus & Maramba, 2011). Tierney and
Jun’s (1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity challenged Tinto’s integration
framework.

8
Ethnic identity: Ethnic identity refers to the knowledge about one’s culture that is
learned from one’s family and community (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2010).
“Ethnic identity develops from sharing culture, religion, geography, and language with
individuals who are often connected by strong loyalty and kinship” (Evans et al., 2010, p. 277).
College is a critical period in identity development (Evans et al., 2010).
Ethnic student organization: Museus and Quaye (2009) referred to ethnic student
organizations as collective agents that “provide students with smaller and more manageable
environments within the larger campus, offer a conduit for socialization into the larger campus
community, and provide a venue in which students can express a sense of racial/ethnic identity”
(p. 72). Ethnic student organizations allow students of color to maintain strong affiliations with
their cultural identities while adjusting and gaining membership in campus cultures of PWIs
(Museus, 2008).
Sense of belonging: Students’ feelings of sense of belonging in an institution are critical
because it is associated with positive academic outcomes (Maramba & Museus, 2013). Sense of
belonging is described by Hurtado and Carter (1997) to be strongly associated with discussions
of academic material outside of class and through membership in religious and social-community
organizations.
Organization of the Study
The next chapter will provide a literature review with previous research that has been
conducted on Filipino American college students, ethnic identity development, ethnic student
organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging. Chapter three
will describe the details of the methodology of the study, including the process for participant
selection as well as data collection and analysis. The fourth chapter will provide the findings

9
from the study, specifically as they address each research question. The fifth chapter will include
a discussion of the findings in connection to the literature, and will also discuss implications for
practice and future research as well as provide conclusions for the study.

10
CHAPTER TWO: LITERA TURE REVIEW
This literature review will examine research that has been conducted on Filipino
American college students, ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus
racial climate as well as the theoretical frameworks of this study: Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino
American identity model, Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity,
and Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) sense of belonging that are relevant to this study of ethnic
identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and
sense of belonging for Filipino American undergraduate students at a selective PWI. In addition,
this literature review will make connections regarding previous research on these topics and
identify their relevance to this study. Further, this literature review will critically evaluate
previous research studies on these topics and will identify gaps that demonstrate the need for this
study.
Filipino American College Students
Need to Disband Model Minority Myth
The literature echoed the need to disband the model minority myth because it assumes
that all AAPI students are academically successful and hides the truth regarding the challenges
faced by many students in this category. Maramba (2008a) stated that it is imperative to research
the different groups in the AAPI category since the model minority myth hides the needs of less
academically successful AAPI groups and prevents these students from accessing much-needed
support. The findings of Maramba’s (2008b) study indicated a challenging campus environment
both academically and socially for Filipino American students, but because of the model
minority myth, these student issues are often undetected and overlooked. Nadal et al. (2010)
found that, as a result of Spanish and U.S. colonization in the Philippines, Filipino Americans

11
had a very different experience than their Asian American peers, and their ethnic issues were
often overlooked by being included the Asian American category. As a result, it is critical for
research on Asian American groups to be disaggregated to understand the experiences of each
unique group. In addition, Hernandez (2016) stated that the Filipino American student
experience is invisible in higher education discourse and policy due to their being categorized
under the AAPI category when they do not fit the stereotypes for that population as
overachieving, passive, apolitical foreigners (Wu, 2002, as cited in Hernandez, 2016). Although
the literature review by Hernandez (2016) provided valuable information regarding the need to
disband the model minority myth and the complexity of the Filipino American identity, this was
a literature review instead of an empirical study, while this current study was an empirical study.
Rodriguez (2003) examined the perceptions that AAPI college students are the model
minority and require minimal support during their time in college. This study provided empirical
data for the need to disband the model minority myth since AAPI students need support services
during their college tenure, and they do not fit the model minority stereotype (Rodriguez, 2003).
Rodriguez (2003) found that students were negatively affected by the lack of institutional
resources to support their needs. Many of the students in this study discussed the importance of
support services and commented that several of their Filipino classmates who dropped out of
college would have benefited from an office or staff focused on the academic difficulties faced
by AAPI students (Rodriguez, 2003). Rodriguez focused on the college experience of Filipino
Americans in the Midwest, while this current study focused on the Filipino American
undergraduate student experience on the West Coast to gain a better understanding of this
population in different regions in the United States.

12
Lack of research on Filipino American college students. The literature lacked
empirical studies of AAPI subgroups, which is necessary to gain a greater understanding of their
unique experiences (Museus & Maramba, 2011). In addition, Maramba (2008a) noted the lack of
research on college-aged children of immigrants, particularly of specific ethnic groups. Further,
the literature echoed the lack of research on Filipino American college students, and the need for
more studies to be conducted on this highly overlooked and misunderstood student population.
A review of the literature displayed the disparity in the small amount of research focused
specifically on Filipino American college students when Filipino Americans are the third-largest
immigrant group in the United States, and the second-largest Asian American ethnic group
(Halagao, 2010). Halagao (2010) stated that despite their increased numbers, Filipino American
students have been underserved and overlooked by U.S. schools. In addition, Nadal et al. (2010)
indicated that despite these large numbers of Filipino Americans in the United States, there is
very little research on their experiences in higher education. Nadal et al. (2010) presented a study
about the experiences of Filipino American graduate students, but this present study focused on
the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students. Buenavista (2010) examined the
issues impacting Filipino American student access to higher education through a critical race
theory perspective as well as providing an overview of the Filipino American educational
experience for which Buenavista states there was very little research on. Buenavista (2010)
provided a review of literature on the experience of Filipino American students in higher
education, but it was not an empirical study like this current study.
Risk Factors for Filipino American College Students
The model minority myth prevents understanding of the unique experiences of each
AAPI student group, and the potential risk factors they may face. Being included in the AAPI

13
category is harmful to Filipino American college students, because it hides their needs, and
denies their access to much-needed resources and support services despite their
underrepresentation and underachievement in institutions of higher education (Nadal, 2004).
Further, by identifying Filipino American college students as the model minority, the many risk
factors of this highly underrepresented student population go unnoticed (Nadal, 2004).
Discrimination, treated, or seen as delinquents. Many studies indicated that Filipino
American college students often experienced racial harassment and discrimination. Buenavista
(2010) described the negative racialization of Filipino American youth in which they are
perceived as delinquents with low academic potential; as a result of this, students suffered from
negative counseling experiences and “they reported being discouraged from enrolling in college
preparatory curriculum, which led many off the college-bound track” (Buenavista, 2010, p. 122).
Maramba (2008b) conducted a study to examine the experiences of Filipino American college
students related to campus climate, sense of belonging/community, and feelings of being
Filipina/o in a PWI. Maramba found that AAPI students experienced increased racial harassment
and violence as well as high amounts of stress, alienation, and pressure to do well academically.
Nadal (2004) stated that feelings of marginalization from the Asian American community are a
large part of the Filipino American identity and experience.
In addition, Filipino Americans are viewed as “being at the bottom of the Asian
hierarchy, are the targets of ethnic jokes, are ignored for leadership positions, and/or have their
ethnic-specific issues ignored by the larger Asian American group” (Espiritu, 1992; Okamura,
1998, as cited in Nadal et al., 2010, p. 695). In Tuason, Taylor, Rollings, Harris, and Marti’s
(2007) study comparing the ethnic identities of Filipino Americans born in the United States to
those born in the Philippines, the only common response in the study for both groups was the

14
experience of discrimination. A critique of the Tuason et al. (2007) study was that the age range
of the participants ranged from 18–63, while this current study focused specifically on college-
aged Filipino Americans, and examined their ethnic identity development while in college.
Stress, pressure to do well academically, depression, mental health issues, and
financial stress. The literature stated that Filipino American college students experienced stress
from pressure to do well as well as financial stress, and feelings of depression and other mental
health issues. In Panganiban’s (2016) study on the influence of the interaction of family, ethnic
identity and campus climate with the challenges generally associated with the sophomore year of
college on Filipino American college second-year student’s perspectives of their social and
academic experiences, she found that for Filipino American college students, the general issues
that all sophomore students face are intensified by pressure to do well to meet parental
expectations, family obligations, and additional cultural barriers. A critique of the Panganiban
(2016) study was that it only examined the experience of second-year students, while this current
study sought to incorporate the experience of students in various years of their college tenure.
In the Tuason et al. (2007) study, they found that both Philippine-born and U.S. born
Filipino Americans encountered stress from different sources; for Philippine-born Filipino
Americans, they felt stress from immigrating to the United States and their transition process,
while U.S. born Filipino Americans felt stress from the conflict they felt between balancing the
Filipino values of their parents and American values. Buenavista’s (2010) literature review
shared that Filipino American students experienced financial stresses and mental health issues in
their academic experiences, but these issues have been invisible in higher education, and these
students are not eligible for much-needed access and retention programs. In addition,
Buenavista’s (2010) review of the literature stated the socioeconomic challenges of Filipino

15
Americans due to underemployment, and this financial stress can implicate college choice for
Filipino American college students.
Lower levels of participation and retention in higher education/attending less-
selective colleges. Further the literature showed that Filipino American college students
struggled academically, demonstrated low retention levels, and attended less-selective colleges.
Buenavista (2010) stated that Filipino American students tend to attend less-selective
institutions, such as 2-year community colleges or public 4-year institutions close to home. This
current study examined the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students attending a
private, selective, 4-year institution. Hernandez’s (2016) literature review citing Museus (2013)
and Teranishi et al. (2004) stated that in comparison to their East Asian peers, Filipino American
college students demonstrated lower levels of college completion, attended less-selective
colleges, applied to less-selective colleges, and were influenced by money and family in their
college choice. Nadal’s (2004) research showed the inequity of educational attainment for
Filipino American college students, “According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1994), native-
born F/Pilipino Americans had a college graduation rate of 22% in comparison with 51% of
native-born Chinese Americans, 34% of native-born Japanese Americans, and 36.5% of native-
born Korean Americans” (pp. 47-48).
Monzon (2003) found that, although Filipino American high school students entered
college with above average GPAs similar to their Asian American peers, Filipino American
students maintained GPAs lower than their Asian American peers while in college (Monzon,
2003). Halagao (2010) stated that it was evident through the low rates of higher education degree
attainment by Filipino American college students that their needs are not being met, and that we
need to find a better way to understand their cultural identities and historical backgrounds, and

16
how this influences their experiences in higher education. The findings of Buenavista’s (2007)
study showed that access and retention for Filipino American college students were similar to
other underrepresented students of color although they were seen as “liminal students of color”
(p. xiv). Buenavista (2007) described Filipino American college students as “1.5 generation
college students” (p. xiv) because although they were second-generation, their experiences were
more similar to first-generation college students. This study helped acknowledge the unique
access and retention needs of 1.5 generation Filipino American college students allowing
university officials to find better ways to address their needs (Buenavista, 2007).
Parental/Family Influences
Parents play a significant role in the lives of Filipino American college students since
they view attending college as a collective activity rather than an individual one (Monzon, 2003;
Monzon, 2013). In Aure’s (2005) study, the students viewed their family as more influential than
their peers, which goes against previous research such as that of Astin (1993, as cited in Aure,
2005) who found that peers were the most influential group during development in college.
Filipino American college students aspire to make their parents and their family proud and to
adhere to their parents’ recommendations on college choice, major selection, and career path
(Maramba, 2008a; Monzon, 2003; Panganiban, 2016). Maramba’s (2008a) study found that most
of the students in her sample were encouraged to apply to colleges that were close to their
families. In addition, Filipino American college students are encouraged by their parents to select
majors that will lead to high paying jobs such as biological sciences, computer science, and
engineering (Panganiban, 2016). In Maramba’s (2008a) study, “all the women interviewed
equated family with their Filipina American identity” (p. 340), and “their responses indicated
family was strongly connected to their identity as Filipina Americans” (p. 344). Further, Filipino

17
American parents can influence their children’s ethnic identity in the information of their cultural
background they choose to share (Panganiban, 2016). Some parents chose not to share
knowledge of their Filipino heritage with their children as a result of colonial mentality in
believing that for their children to succeed, they had to teach their children that being American
is superior to being Filipino (Panganiban, 2016).
Summary
The first section of the literature review explored existing research on Filipino American
college students to examine the types of studies that have been conducted, and the findings from
these studies for this underrepresented and underachieving student population. The literature
echoed the need to disband the model minority myth, and for more research on Filipino
American college students to gain a better understanding of their unique experiences. In addition,
the literature provided risk factors for Filipino American college students. Further, the literature
demonstrated the significance of parental influences on Filipino American students and their
college experience.
Ethnic Identity Development
Ethnic Identity
Ethnic identity refers to the knowledge about one’s culture that is learned from one’s
family and community (Evans et al., 2010). “Ethnic identity develops from sharing culture,
religion, geography, and language with individuals who are often connected by strong loyalty
and kinship” (Evans et al., 2010, p. 277). The civil rights movement of the 1960s brought to light
the issue of ethnic identity, and it has gained increasing importance as a result of the quickly
changing demographics in the United States (Phinney, 1992).

18
Phinney’s research on ethnic identity. Jean Phinney is one of the first theorists to create
and test an ethnic identity development model. Phinney and Alpuria (1990) found that existing
identity theories did not include social identities, such as ethnicity and race. Phinney (1992)
explored ethnic identity across groups rather than focus on a specific group because “common to
the ethnic identity of all ethnic group members are self-identification as a group member, a sense
of belonging, and attitudes toward one’s group” (p. 158). Phinney (1992)’s study presented the
Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure based on aspects of ethnic identity that are common across
ethnic groups to examine differences and similarities in ethnic identity and its correlates across
different ethnic groups. A critique is that it is difficult to generalize ethnic identity across
heterogeneous populations each with unique experiences. This current study specifically
examined the ethnic identity development of Filipino American undergraduate students. In
addition, Phinney (1992) found this measure to be a reliable measure for ethnically diverse
samples, and to have a higher reliability and higher correlations between ethnic identity
components for the college sample versus the high school sample. Further, ethnic identity
achievement was found to be higher among the college sample than high school sample
(Phinney, 1992), which supports the notion of the significance of ethnic identity development
during the college years, and which is why this current study focused on the ethnic identity
development of Filipino American undergraduate students in a selective PWI.
Phinney (1992), in collaboration with other researchers, conducted several studies
examining ethnic identity. Phinney and Alpuria (1990) conducted a study that “examined ethnic
identity search and commitment, the importance of ethnicity as an identity issue, and relationship
of ethnic identity to self-esteem among college students” (p. 171). In this study, the researchers
gave out questionnaires to students belonging to three minority groups (Asian American, Black,

19
and Mexican American), and a White group (Phinney & Alpuria, 1990). This study found that
ethnic identity is a significant part of identity development (Phinney & Alpuria, 1990). In
addition, the results of this study showed a strong relationship between self-esteem and ethnic
identity for minority group members (Phinney & Alpuria, 1990). A critique is that this study
only included participants of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean origin (Phinney & Alpuria, 1990),
while this current study focused specifically on the ethnic identity development of Filipino
American undergraduate students.
Phinney and Chavira (1992) further examined the relationship of ethnic identity and self-
esteem in a longitudinal study of adolescents from three ethnic groups (Asian American, Black,
and Hispanic), and found that the adolescents progressed to higher stages of ethnic identity
development over a three-year period. In addition, Phinney and Chavira found that “self-esteem
and ethnic identity were significantly related to each other at each time period and across the
three-year time span” (p. 271). A critique was that this study by Phinney and Chavira (1992) was
conducted on 16-year-olds, while this current study examined ethnic identity development in
college, which is the most critical period for ethnic identity development (Evans et al., 2010).
Ethnic identity models describe the process in which an individual goes through a
bidirectional system looking at the extent to which a person assimilates to the dominant culture
(acculturation) as well as their ability to maintain their affiliation with their ethnic group (Evans
et al., 2010). Phinney (1995, as cited in Evans et al., 2010) created a three-stage model of ethnic
identity formation. The first stage is unexamined ethnic identity, the second stage is ethnic
identity search, and the third stage is ethnic identity achievement (Phinney, 1995, as cited in
Evans et al., 2010).

20
Asian American Identity Development
Since Asian Americans are the most ethnically diverse group, it is difficult to examine
their ethnic identity as one group (Evans et al., 2010). Kim’s (1981, 2001, as cited in Evans et
al., 2010) Asian American identity development model consisted of five stages: ethnic
awareness, White identification, awakening to social political consciousness, redirection to Asian
American consciousness, and incorporation.
Yeh and Huang (1996) postulated that linear ethnic identity development models that
applied toward other minority groups did not apply to Asian Americans. Phinney and Alpuria
(1990) also found differences in the results of the Asian American subjects to the Black and
Mexican American subjects in their study, which they stated may have resulted due to different
issues faced by Asian Americans as a result of their ethnic identity. Yeh and Huang (1996) found
that other ethnic identity development models described the process to be predominantly
internal, while the ethnic development of Asian Americans was heavily influenced by external
factors and relationships due to the collectivist nature of Asian society. In a collectivist society,
one will avoid shame at all costs; as a result, the avoidance of shame is large part of Asian
American identity (Yeh & Huang, 1996).
Ethnic Identity Development for Filipino Americans
Some Filipinos choose to identify as Pilipino since there is no “F” in the Pilipino
language, while others choose to identify as Filipino since it is the more commonly used ethnic
identifier (Nadal, 2004). Filipinos are the only ethnic group that has been placed into several
racial/ethnic categories including “Asian American” by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, “Pacific
Islander” by the U.S. Department of Education, “Hispanic” due to the Spanish colonization of
the Philippines for over three centuries, and now the California Senate Bill 1813 requires the

21
classification of “Filipino” for this group of people belonging to 65 different ethnic groups and
cultural minorities in the Philippines (Nadal, 2004, p. 46).
Differences and similarities between Asian American and Filipino American ethnic
identity development. Differences. Filipino Americans are different from Asian Americans
both racially and culturally. Racially, Filipino Americans identify as “brown” versus “yellow,”
and this was evident when they separated themselves from the “Yellow Power Movement” of the
Civil Rights Era, and created the “Brown Asian Caucus” as a result of being marginalized by the
Asian American community (Nadal, 2004, p. 46). Feelings of discrimination and marginalization
from Asian Americans has led Filipino Americans to separate themselves from this group, and to
instead affiliate with Latinos, Pacific Islanders, or their own racial group (Espiritu, 1992, as cited
in Nadal, 2013). Filipino Americans felt that their social concerns were ignored by the Asian
American community. Although Filipinos are one of the largest Asian American groups, they
continued to be underrepresented in leadership positions and outreach funding in the Asian
American community, which led them to create their own racial/ethnic category to receive the
appropriate representation (Nadal, 2004).
Culturally, “their background is a blend of aboriginal Pilipino roots combined with
Spanish and American cultures, along with traces of Malay, Muslim, East Asian, Pacific
Islander, and Indonesian influences” (Nadal, 2004, p. 46), which is heavily influenced by
Spanish and U.S. colonial rule. Nadal (2004) described three cultural differences between
Filipino Americans and Asian Americans. First, there is a firm Catholic influence in the
Philippines as a result of Spanish colonization, which causes Filipino Americans to share many
cultural values with Hispanic Americans, and to be different from other Asian Americans of
Buddhist, Confucian and Hindu religions (Nadal, 2004). Second, the U. S. colonization of the

22
Philippines has led to the influence of American values and a strong English-speaking presence
in Filipino society that is not prevalent in other Asian societies (Nadal, 2004). Third, the
American influence on the Philippines has created a more gender-neutral society that is unlike
other Asian societies that are male-dominant (Nadal, 2004).
A significant influence of centuries of oppression and colonialism by the Spanish and
Americans led Filipinos and Filipino Americans to develop a colonial mentality (David, 2013).
David along with his mentor Sumie Okazaki defined colonial mentality (CM) for Filipinos and
Filipino Americans as being “characterized by a perception of ethnic or cultural inferiority that
is…a specific consequence of centuries of colonization under Spain and the U.S.” (David &
Okazaki, 2006b, as cited in David, 2013, p. 63). CM “involves an automatic and uncritical
rejection of anything Filipino and an automatic and uncritical preference for anything American
(p. 241)” (David & Okazaki, 2006b, as cited in David, 2013, p. 63). CM developed through the
creation of American-controlled schools in the Philippines that taught English, American
political ideals, and American culture replacing the Filipino language, worldview, and culture
(David, 2013). CM creates negative implications for the ethnic identity development of Filipinos,
since this mentality causes them to make negative associations with anything Filipino, which
makes it very difficult to develop a positive Filipino ethnic identity. Halagao (2010) stated that
colonialism had a negative impact on Filipino Americans, “colonialism negatively affected the
culture, identity, historical memory, economy, education, and religion of the Philippines which
produced ‘colonial mentality’” (p. 497). Halagao (2010) described decolonization to be similar to
the process of ethnic identity models but focused on people who experienced colonialism.
Similarities. The collectivist nature and avoidance of shame are shared between Asian
American and Filipino American ethnic identity. Heras and Revilla (1994) stated that loyalty to

23
the family is of the highest priority to Filipino Americans, and they receive emotional, economic,
and social security from their family bonds. In addition, “the Filipino will thrive on acceptance
of those surrounding him or her, always wanting to be a collective member of the group or
community” (Nadal, 2004, p. 50), which further described the similar collectivist nature of
Filipino Americans that is also characteristic of Asian Americans. Further, like other Asian
American cultures, the avoidance of shame is of high priority in Filipino American cultures as
they aspire to represent themselves and their families with honor (Nadal, 2004).
Filipino American ethnic identity. Filipino Americans had a very challenging transition
into the United States during the first half of the 1900s, which has influenced Filipino American
ethnic identity development. “Blatantly racist signs such as ‘Positively No Filipinos Allowed’
and ‘No Dogs or Filipinos Allowed’ were common sights in storefronts to keep Filipinos from
using hotels, restaurants, swimming pools, apartments, barbershops, and other public facilities”
(Cordova, 1983, as cited in David, 2013, p. 39). Filipino Americans during this time were often
exploited at work, faced harsh discrimination, beaten, and murdered in the United States (David,
2013). Carlos Bulosan described his experience of being a Filipino American in California and
neighboring states between 1930 to 1941 as feeling “like a criminal running away from a crime
(he) did not commit. And this crime is that (he is) a Filipino in America” (as quoted by
McWilliams, 2002, p. vii, as cited in David, 2013, p. 39). Many of the first Filipino immigrants
were Filipino men who were sent to the United States as laborers, these men were separated from
their families and homeland, and found that the United States was not the land of opportunity
portrayed by their American colonizers (David, 2013). “In fact, there was no equal opportunity,
no equal access, no equal representation, and no equality between Filipinos and European
Americans at all” (David, 2013, p. 40). This situation must have caused internal conflict for

24
Filipino Americans who had developed colonial mentality in believing that everything American
is superior. The Filipino American movement of the 1960s and 1970s restored feelings of pride
for Filipino Americans of their history, culture and language, and encouraged youth to learn
about their culture and politics in the Philippines (Revilla, 1997). Although there were
improvements in the 1960s and 1970s, current research has shown that Filipino Americans
continue to face discrimination in the United States; “a more recent study found that 99% of
Filipino Americans directly experience a racist event on a yearly basis, and that such experiences
lead to psychological distress, low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression” (Alvarez & Jung, 2010,
as cited in David, 2013, p. 46). Today, many Filipino Americans continuously experience racial
microaggressions in the United States that make them feel inferior because of their Filipino
traits, culture, and values (David, 2013). The complex history and current day situation of
Filipino Americans in the United States helps to explain the complexity of Filipino American
ethnic identity development.
Filipino American ethnic identity is defined by Revilla (1997) as “the product of our
historical and cultural backgrounds and the process of negotiating and constructing a life in the
United States” (p. 96). The lack of information of Filipinos in U.S. history books has made it
difficult to develop a positive Filipino American ethnic identity (Andresen, 2013). The result of
American colonization in which Filipinos were educated in American centered schools created
“a Filipino American identity that rendered their Filipinoness invisible and no different from
other Asian Pacific Americans in American society” (Andresen, 2013, p. 72). Revilla (1997)
brought up identity issues in Filipino American youth to find self-respect and self-love as
Filipino Americans, as well as the challenges in feeling accepted by the Filipino American
community.

25
Adding to the complexity of Filipino American ethnic identity is the differences found
between first and second-generation Filipino Americans. This difference is significant since
research shows that “second-generation Filipino Americans have decreased college attendance,
increased mental health concerns (Wolff, 2004), and lower self-esteem (Heras & Revilla, 1994),
and there is an alarming pattern of suicide among second-generation Filipino Americans”
(President’s Advisory Committee on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, 2001, as cited in
Tuason et al., 2007, p. 363). Tuason et al. (2007) conducted a study comparing the ethnic
identities of Philippine-born and U.S. born Filipino Americans. Their findings showed that both
groups associated values such as family, respect, and politeness with being Filipino, and
expressiveness and efficiency with being American, although U.S. born Filipinos emphasized the
advanced technology, fast pace, and accessibility and availability of material goods in their
American lifestyle (Tuason et al., 2007). This study found that “being Filipino American,
whether Philippine or U.S. born typically means being a combination of both cultures” (Tuason
et al., 2007, p. 369). An interesting finding of this study unlike other research conducted on
Filipino American ethnic identity is that Filipino Americans rarely described their identity as
conflicted or confused (Tuason et al., 2007).
Ethnic Identity Development for Filipino American College Students
Although there is very little research on Filipino Americans, there is even less literature
on Filipino American college students (Nadal, 2013). The literature showed that the ethnic
identity development process begins in college for many Filipino Americans, which is in line
with Evans et al.’s (2010) statement that college is a critical time in identity development. In
Maramba’s (2008a) study, most of the women shared that they did not begin to explore their
ethnic identity until college. The majority of research on Filipino American college students

26
emphasized the need to disband the model minority myth and to disaggregate data when
examining subgroups under the AAPI category to show the underrepresentation and
underachievement of Filipino American college students, and the need to provide attention and
resources to this highly underrepresented and underachieving population of students. “The fact
that Filipino Americans are the second-largest Asian immigrant population in the U.S., but many
are underachieving in higher education, implies a demographic imperative to better understand
this student population” (Panganiban, 2016, p. 24). The research has found parental influences,
as well as campus racial climate, ethnic student organizations and peer groups, faculty, staff, and
ethnic studies courses to influence the college experience and ethnic identity development of
Filipino American college students. In addition, culture and ethnic identity play a significant role
in the college experience and lives of this student population.
Culture and ethnic identity. Culture and ethnic identity play a significant role in the
lives and experiences of Filipino American college students. In Maramba’s (2008a) study, the
participants emphasized the need to remember their culture while managing other components of
being a college student. Maramba and Museus’s (2013) findings showed that culture plays a big
role in the college experiences of these students and that students who have a strong affiliation
with their ethnic group have a higher chance of cross-cultural interaction. Further, increased
learning of one’s ethnic group had a positive impact on the student’s sense of belonging and
relationships with students of other ethnic groups (Maramba & Velasquez, 2012, as cited in
Maramba & Museus, 2013). Museus and Maramba’s (2011) study provided “statistical evidence
that students’ connections to their cultural heritage predict and are positively associated with a
greater sense of belonging in college” (p. 250).

27
Ethnic identity plays a dominant role in the experiences and lives of Filipino American
college students. In Panganiban’s (2016) study, Filipino American college students shared that
college provided the opportunity to explore and reflect on their ethnic identity. Students
expressed several challenges to their ethnic identity, such as others’ perceptions of their ethnic
identity clashing with their perspectives, which impacts their behavior in different situations
(Panganiban, 2016). In addition, experiencing negativity from others about their Filipino heritage
led to feelings of confusion for these students (Panganiban, 2016). Further, students struggled
with others not acknowledging and recognizing their Filipino American ethnic identity
(Panganiban, 2016). This population of students experienced many challenges during their ethnic
identity development.
Summary
This second section of this literature review examined Filipino American ethnic identity
development, specifically during the college years. The first part of this section provided a brief
introduction to ethnic identity, and highlighted the contributions of Phinney (1992), Phinney and
Alpuria (1990), and Phinney and Chavira (1992) to the literature on ethnic identity. The second
part provided a brief overview of Asian American identity development. The third part deeply
examined the complexities of Filipino American ethnic identity development, including the
similarities and differences with Asian American identity development, colonial mentality
(David, 2013), and disparities among first and second-generation Filipino Americans. The
fourth part explored research specifically on ethnic identity development for Filipino American
college students highlighting the influences of parents and culture, and emphasizing again the
need to disband the model minority myth.

28
Ethnic Student Organizations
This next section examines the literature on ethnic student organizations (ESOs) and will
provide research in support and against ESOs. The second part of this section will explore
research studies on ESOs specifically for Filipino American college students, and their
influences on this population of students.
Research in Support of Ethnic Student Organizations
There is a great deal of research in support of ESOs, because they promote involvement
and leadership as well as avenues for identity development and expression for students of color
(Museus, 2008). One of the reasons for student departure among students of color may be their
inability to feel a sense of belonging in PWIs, but research has shown that the subculture-ethnic
student organizations can positively influence the experience of students of color (Museus,
2008). Museus and Quaye (2009) referred to ESOs as collective agents that “provide students
with smaller and more manageable environments within the larger campus, offer a conduit for
socialization into the larger campus community, and provide a venue in which students can
express a sense of racial/ethnic identity” (p. 72). Students of color who perceived a hostile
campus racial climate, but belonged to an ethnic student organization demonstrated higher levels
of sense of belonging to their campus community than their peers who were not involved in these
organizations (Hurtado & Carter, 1997).
The majority of research in support of ESOs emphasized their importance in providing
cultural familiarity and validation and promoting ethnic identity development and sense of
belonging for minority students. The findings for Sidanius, Laar, Levin, and Sinclair’s (1994)
study that were in the line with the multicultural perspective, which advocates for ESOs, were
that these organizations were associated with high levels of ethnic identification and activism,

29
and a greater sense of belonging at the university. Harper and Quaye (2003) conducted a study
on African American male student leaders to explore how membership in both predominantly
Black and mainstream organizations provide a venue for Black identity expression and
development. This study’s findings emphasized the importance of predominantly Black and
minority student organizations that served as the main venues of student engagement for the
African American male students in this study (Harper & Quaye, 2003). Predominantly Black
student organizations allowed opportunities for these students to connect with other African
American students, to strengthen their Black identity, to participate in programming and dialogue
without having to feel tokenism, and to engage in social justice for their group and other
oppressed groups (Harper & Quaye, 2003). A critique of this study was that it only examined the
experience of African American male leaders, and the experience of leaders may be biased and
different from those of non-leaders. This current study included leaders, members, and non-
members of the Filipino American student organization on campus to gain insight on a spectrum
of experiences at the university.
Museus (2008) conducted a study on African American and Asian American students to
examine the role of ESOs in the transition of minority students in a PWI. This study found that
ESOs serve as “critical venues of cultural familiarity, vehicles for cultural expression and
advocacy, and sources of cultural validation for participants” (Museus, 2008, p. 568), and show
that ESOs are important subcultures for the transition of minority students to college. The
Museus (2008) study extended the research of Harper and Quaye (2007) that ESOs provided
venues for identity expression, advocacy for minority groups, and pursuit for social justice for
not just African American students, but also Asian American students. In addition, there were
similar findings that ESOs served as a vehicle for expressing their identity and advocating for

30
their ethnic minority groups through the spreading of cultural awareness and advocating for
institutional change (Harper & Quaye, 2007; Museus, 2008). This current study extended this
research by examining the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with ESOs in
a selective PWI.
Few studies examined the experiences of AAPI students with ESOs, but these studies
have shown ESOs to be beneficial for this student population. Inkelas (2004) conducted a
longitudinal study to explore the relationship between participating in ESOs and racial/ethnic
awareness and understanding on 184 female and male AAPI undergraduates, which showed that
student participation in ESOs led to greater awareness and understanding of AAPI issues, and to
a stronger commitment to AAPI community interests. In addition, Kiang (1996, as cited in
Museus, 2008) stated that AAPI student organizations can foster a common identity among
AAPI students that encourage these students to take on leadership roles that will later support
AAPI communities. Johnson et al.’s (2007) study showed that Asian Pacific American students
were the most likely to participate in ethnic and multicultural organizations in comparison to
their peers. This present study extended this research by specifically examining the experiences
of Filipino American undergraduate students with ESOs in their transition to and experience at a
selective PWI.
Research against Ethnic Student Organizations
Critics of ESOs claim that these organizations create cliques on campus and inhibit cross-
cultural interaction among students (D’Souza, 1991, as cited in Museus, 2008). Students in the
study conducted by Museus (2008) acknowledged the issues related to racial segregation among
student organizations. Some of the findings from the Sidanius et al. (1994) study were shown to
be more in line with the social identity theory that ESOs promote ethnic segregation and

31
ethnocentric bias. The findings for the Sidanius et al. (1994) study showed that students who
participate in ESOs are more likely to feel competition with students of other ethnic groups and
to feel victimized because of their ethnicity. Negy and Lunt (2008) conducted a study to examine
the attitudes of European, Hispanic, and African American college students toward ESOs. A
critique was that Asian Americans were left out of the study, although the study said that 5.6% of
the sample identified as Asian American. In this study conducted by Negy and Lunt (2008),
students across ethnic groups were uncertain as to whether ESOs were fair/acceptable,
necessary/beneficial, and about their interest in becoming a part of an ethnic student
organization; these findings showed that the students had ambivalent feelings toward ESOs.
Researchers are aware of the literature stating that ESOs promote ethnic segregation and
inhibit interracial interaction, and have found the opposite in their research. Kim, Park, and Koo
(2015) found that greater involvement in ESOs did not inhibit interracial friendships and
interactions, and actually enhanced it for Latino students. Their findings showed that spending
time with students of the same race/ethnicity and different race/ethnicity were not mutually
exclusive (Kim et al., 2015). In addition, the Harper and Quaye (2003) study found the
importance of ESOs in providing a venue that supports cross-cultural communication and
interaction. Further, Maramba and Museus (2013) stated that although hostile racial climates can
promote racial segregation by encouraging students of color to participate in ESOs, they
referenced Maramba and Velasquez’s (2012) study that showed how students of color who
developed a strong ethnic identity felt a greater sense of belonging, which facilitated their
interaction with students of different ethnic groups. Also, the findings from the study conducted
by Maramba and Museus (2013) showed that students who have a strong connection to their own
ethnic groups also had more interactions with students from other cultural groups.

32
Ethnic Student Organizations for Filipino American College Students
There have been very few studies conducted on the experience of Filipino American
college students with ESOs. These few studies have been generally positive, and in support of
ESOs. Oliveros (2009) conducted a study to explore the role of Filipino American college
student organizations at a PWI, and its influence on the development of critical consciousness for
its members. The sample for this study consisted of four student leaders, and a critique for this
study is the small sample size, and the potential bias of interviewing only leaders who may have
different experiences than other members in the organization (Oliveros, 2009). This current study
on the other hand included students who have varying participation in ethnic student
organizations as well as those who are not involved in ethnic student organizations to gain a
more comprehensive view of the experiences of Filipino American undergraduate students at a
selective PWI. Also, the site for the Oliveros (2009) study was in Portland, Oregon, while the
site for this current study was an institution in California.
Oliveros (2009) found that both the university and Filipino American college students
benefit greatly from the role of the Filipino American ethnic student organization on campus.
The Oliveros (2009) study found that the Filipino American ethnic student organization created a
sense of community and belonging on campus for its members, and increased awareness of
Filipino culture and social justice issues relating to Filipinos both in the United States and
Philippines for its members and the campus community. In addition, participation in the Filipino
American ethnic student organization provided leadership opportunities and skill development
for its members through various activities and programs, and opportunities to engage in student
activism (Oliveros, 2009). The Oliveros (2009) study provided support for the importance of
ESOs to both Filipino American college students and the institution. Aure (2005) conducted a

33
study to examine the influence of peer groups and ethnic identity development to the academic
experiences of Filipino American college students, which he found supported previous studies
emphasizing the importance of peer groups and ethnic identity development to the overall
development of these students during their time in college. The Aure (2005) provided strong
support for ESOs, since this study found that students who participated in ESOs demonstrated a
strong connection to campus, and felt a sense of belonging to peer groups of similar ethnic
backgrounds who provided both academic and personal support. In addition, the findings of this
study showed a strong relationship between participation in an ethnic student organization and
ethnic identity levels, and students who were members of an ethnic student organization
demonstrated high levels of ethnic identity (Aure, 2003). The findings of this study are very
important, but the Aure (2005) study was conducted in an institution that is primarily a
commuter campus, and this current study was conducted in a university that is primarily a
residential campus to gain a better understanding of the Filipino American undergraduate student
experience in this type of institution.
Halagao (2010) conducted a study to examine the long-term influence of a multicultural
teacher education program that was created to give college students the opportunity to teach
Filipino American history and culture to middle school students. Halagao’s (2010) study found
that 10 years later, the participants of this organization still remembered the Filipino history and
culture, activities, and content of their involvement in this organization, and held strong feelings
of their ability to make change in their profession and the larger community. This study is
significant in providing data regarding the long-term influence of ESOs on Filipino American
college students (Halagao, 2010). A critique was that the responses may be biased since the
participants who volunteered to fill the survey would likely be those who had positive

34
experiences with the organization, and this would have influenced the data positively (Halagao,
2010). Also, the open-ended questions may have invoked only positive responses, since
participants may not be comfortable saying negative comments about the organization (Halagao,
2010).
The Maramba (2003) study found mixed feelings regarding the experience of Filipino
American college students toward ESOs. Maramba (2003) conducted a study to examine the
experiences of these students as they maintain their bicultural identity while navigating through
structures of higher education. In the Maramba (2003) study, some students defined their sense
of community as their participation in ESOs, and most of the events that the students participated
in were those organized by ESOs. Further, because of feelings of a hostile racial climate,
students did not feel a sense of belonging to the campus community, but they were able to feel
community through their participation in ESOs. The students in Filipino American ethnic
organizations spoke a lot about their participation in these organizations and the support that they
received from being a part of these organizations (Maramba, 2003). On the other hand, some
students shared that they do not participate in ESOs, because they see them as cliques (Maramba,
2003).
Summary
This third section of the literature review examined the research on ESOs, which included
studies both in support and against ESOs. Most of the studies in support of ESOs emphasized
their significance in providing cultural familiarity and validation as well as their ability to foster
ethnic identity development and sense of belonging for minority students. The literature
demonstrated that most of the arguments against ESOs claimed that these organizations created
cliques that promoted racial segregation, and inhibited cross-cultural interaction among students

35
(D’Souza, 1991, as cited in Museus, 2008; Museus, 2008). The last part of this section focused
on the few studies that have been conducted on the influence of ESOs on Filipino American
college students. Most of the research found ESOs to be beneficial for this population of students
in promoting sense of belonging, ethnic identity development, and having long-term positive
influences even after graduation (Aure, 2005; Halagao, 2010; Oliveros, 2009), although
Maramba’s (2003) study found that Filipino American college students held mixed feelings
toward ethnic student organizations.
Campus Racial Climate
Campus racial climate, which refers to students’ perceptions and experiences with
race/ethnic relations and diversity on campus, can influence a student’s sense of belonging on
campus, which is critical since students who feel a sense of belonging are more likely to succeed
(Maramba & Museus, 2011). Research shows that students’ perception of campus climate for
diversity can have a significant influence on their academic and social experiences (Hurtado &
Carter, 1997). Hurtado and Carter (1997) also stated that campus racial climates have an impact
on the intergroup relations, group cohesion, and psychological processes of students. Perceptions
of hostile campus racial climates, particularly in PWIs, are extremely problematic for students of
color, such as Filipino American students, since this has been associated with lower levels of
retention and degree completion (Maramba & Museus, 2013).
In addition, students who perceived their institution to have a hostile campus racial
climate tended to have significantly lower levels of sense of belonging (Hurtado & Carter, 1997).
Further, Maramba and Museus (2013) found that students who perceived a hostile campus racial
climate were more inclined to develop stronger ties with their ethnic group. On the flip side,
perceptions of a welcoming campus racial climate with high levels of interactions among diverse

36
peers and strong institutional support for students of color can foster a high sense of belonging
on campus for all students including students of color (Maramba, 2008b). In addition, the study
conducted by Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, Gurin (2003) confirmed the importance of interactions
among diverse students in fostering the students’ social and academic development.
Hurtado and Ponjuan (2005) conducted a longitudinal study that explored the experience
of Latino students with campus climate, sense of belonging, analytical skills, and pluralistic
orientation. This study found that students who speak Spanish at home were more likely to
perceive a hostile racial climate than English dominant speakers, which could suggest that
students with stronger cultural ties are more likely to experience a hostile racial climate (Hurtado
& Ponjuan, 2005). In addition, this study found that students who had positive interactions with
diverse peers and participated in diversity based organizations were more likely to report feelings
of a hostile campus climate, which could indicate their participation in diversity activities as a
result of their perceptions of an unwelcoming environment on campus (Hurtado & Ponjuan,
2005). This study was focused on the experiences of Latino students with campus climate at
public universities, while this current study focused on the experiences of Filipino American
undergraduate students at a private university.
Campus Climate and Filipino American College Students
Maramba (2008b) conducted a study examining how Filipino American students
perceived campus climate at a large research institution in Southern California as well as their
sense of belonging and feelings of attending a PWI. In Maramba’s (2008b) study, her
participants stated that they did not feel comfortable on campus because of the lack of seeing
others who look like them, and this spoke to the need of having a critical mass of Filipino
students, faculty, and staff. Maramba had similar findings in her 2003 study in which Filipino

37
American college students shared the great need for more Filipino American students on campus.
Tinto’s (1993) study discussed critical mass, which is the notion that having sufficient numbers
of persons with similar backgrounds is necessary to sustain diverse communities, and to prevent
situations in which students, faculty, and staff of color feel like they have to represent and speak
for their race. The students in the Maramba (2008b) study felt that their university did not
acknowledge their Filipino ethnic identity and made them feel invisible by grouping them under
the AAPI category. In addition, Maramba’s (2003) study found that Filipino American college
students perceived mistrust between campus administrators and ethnic minority student groups.
The Maramba (2008b) study’s findings showed a challenging academic and social environment
for Filipino American students, and the need for institutions to play an active role in creating a
learning environment that addresses diversity and equity issues for this student population. These
studies regarding campus racial climate and Filipino American college students are very
significant, but were conducted more than 10 years ago by the same researcher; this present
study sought to provide more recent research regarding these subjects and bring a more current
and different perspective.
Filipino American college students indicated the importance of having Filipino American
faculty and staff on campus to serve as a source of support (Maramba, 2008b), as well as
specifically Filipino faculty to teach courses focused on Filipino American content (Maramba,
2008b; Okamura & Agbayani, 1997). In Maramba’s (2003) study, the students felt that their
faculty was not approachable, and did not understand Filipino American students; they felt these
same feelings of being misunderstood by their teaching assistants and peers. Also, the students in
Maramba’s (2003) study indicated there was a lack of courses on Filipino history and culture.
Filipino American students interested in learning more about their Filipino American heritage

38
seek out Filipino language, history, and cultural courses (Panganiban, 2016). These ethnic
studies courses provide the students with a different perspective of their ethnic identity, which
influences their sense of belonging at the university (Panganiban, 2016). Research showed that
ESOs, Filipino faculty, Filipino staff, and ethnic studies courses increased the sense of belonging
for Filipino American college students (Aure, 2005; Maramba, 2008b; Okamura & Agbayani,
1997; Panganiban, 2016).
Summary
This fourth section of the literature review examined research on campus racial climate,
and specifically previous studies that have been conducted on campus racial climate and Filipino
American college students. Campus racial climate is significant, because it can impact a
student’s sense of belonging on campus, and this is critical since students who feel a sense of
belonging on campus are more likely to succeed (Maramba & Museus, 2011). In the very few
studies on campus racial climate and Filipino American college students, the students described
perceptions and feelings of a hostile campus racial climate. They felt that their institutions did
not acknowledge their Filipino ethnic identity by including them in the AAPI category, and they
felt uncomfortable on campus due to the lack of other Filipino students, Filipino faculty, and
courses on Filipino history and culture (Maramba, 2008b).
Nadal’s Pilipino American Identity Development Model
Nadal (2004) created the Pilipino American identity development model to describe the
ethnic identity development of native and second-generation Filipino Americans in the United
States. He created this model because he hypothesized that the ethnic identity development
process for Filipino Americans will be different from their Asian American counterparts because
of their unique history and culture, and thus existing Asian American identity development

39
models would not apply to them (Nadal, 2004). Further, Nadal (2004) challenged existing Asian
American identity development models and stated that it did not make sense to create one
identity development model for the more than 30 different national origins that belong to the
AAPI category.
Nadal (2004) described the model as nonsequential and nonlinear, and not everyone will
go through each stage, or may go back and forth between stages. Stage 1: Ethnic Awareness
starts at a child’s earliest memories, and a child will stay in this stage longer if the child has a
strong family background and a surrounding Filipino community that gives them opportunities to
learn about their culture (Nadal, 2004). Stage 2: Assimilation to Dominant Culture is when the
Filipino American individual demonstrates a preference for the dominant culture versus their
own; the Filipino American individual in this stage will aspire for Whiteness and assimilation
(Nadal, 2004). Stage 3: Social Political Awakening is marked by increased realization of racial
inequality and social injustice, which causes the Filipino American individual to want to separate
from their identification with White society and to have a better understanding of oppressed
groups (Nadal, 2004). Stage 4: Panethnic Asian American Consciousness is when the Filipino
American individual accepts their membership under the Asian American category and identifies
as Asian American before Filipino American; Nadal (2004) described panethnic assimilation as
the process in which a minority group adopts to their socially constructed racial culture. Stage 5:
Ethnocentric Realization is the stage in which the Filipino American individual becomes aware
that Filipino Americans are marginalized by the Asian American community and American
society, and the Filipino American individual wants to be identified as distinctly Filipino
American. Stage 6: Incorporation is similar to Kim’s (1981, as cited in Nadal, 2004)
incorporation, but Nadal (2004) incorporates Filipino appreciation, pride, and gratification; the

40
Filipino American individual in this stage is most satisfied with his or her Filipino culture, and
appreciates all other racial backgrounds, including Asian Americans and White Americans.
Nadal (2004) stated that it is beneficial for counselors to be aware of this model when working
with Filipino American students to have a better understanding of their unique needs.
Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American Identity Development Model provided a framework to
better understand the ethnic identity development of the Filipino American undergraduate
students in this current study. It was helpful to examine the descriptions of the changes in their
ethnic identity throughout college through the various stages of this framework.
Previous Studies Incorporating Nadal’s Pilipino American Identity Model
The only study that was found that included Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American identity
model was the study by Panganiban (2016) in her examination of the influence of family, ethnic
identity, and campus climate on the experiences of Filipino American students in their second
year of college. Panganiban identified the stages that the students in her study belonged to in the
Pilipino American identity model based on the information they provided about their experience
with Filipino culture prior to college as well as in college. Panganiban (2016) found that the level
and nature of exposure to their Filipino culture often influenced their ethnic identity
development. There is a gap in the literature on research utilizing Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino
American identity model to examine Filipino American ethnic identity development in college,
and this study sought to fill this gap by incorporating this framework.
Summary
The fifth section of this literature review introduced the first theoretical framework for
this study, Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American Identity Development Model. This model is
nonsequential and nonlinear, and consists of six stages: ethnic awareness, assimilation to

41
dominant culture, social political awakening, panethnic Asian American, ethnocentric
realization, and incorporation. There is a gap in the literature of studies utilizing this framework,
since only one study (Panganiban, 2016) was found that incorporated Nadal’s Pilipino American
Identity Development Model.
Cultural Integrity
Tinto (1975) introduced a theory for student departure based on sociologist Durkheim’s
theory of suicide, which states that individuals who are not integrated into society are more likely
to commit suicide. Tinto applied this theory to students in higher education by postulating that
students who are not integrated into the university will have a lower commitment to that
institution, which will lead to a higher chance of departure. In addition, Tinto’s theory stated that
students must leave their precollege cultures behind and conform to the dominant campus culture
in order to integrate academically and socially into the institution in order to maximize their
success (Tinto, 1987, 1993, as cited in Museus & Maramba, 2011). Tinto (as cited in Tierney,
1992) adopted anthropologist Van Gennep’s work into his model and stated that all students,
regardless of their gender, race, or class, must go through a “rite of passage” to integrate into the
institution.
Tierney (1992) challenged Tinto’s (1975) theory by “suggesting that rather than think
about student participation from a social integrationist perspective, an alternative model is to
conceive of universities as multicultural entities where difference is highlighted and celebrated”
(p. 604); this alternative model was named cultural integrity. Tierney (1992) stated the
importance of scrutinizing the institution, rather than expecting students to assimilate to the
dominant culture. Tierney (1992) believed that institutions of higher education have a
responsibility to create cultures that are inclusive of students of all cultural backgrounds, and the

42
responsibility of integration should not be placed solely on the student. Tierney (1992) stated
students of color should not be blamed for not integrating, and advocated instead that “the
‘problem’ might be defined not as a group’s lack of ‘acculturation’ but as an institution’s
inability to operate in a multicultural world” (p. 615).
Further, Tierney (1992) argued that since Tinto’s model required students to integrate to
the dominant culture, which is White, this model is not a good fit for students of color, and his
model of cultural integrity is more inclusive. Tinto’s model required students of color to
“undergo a cultural suicide of sort to avoid an intellectual suicide” (as cited in Tierney, 1992, p.
614). Tierney disagreed with Tinto that students of color must abandon their pre-college cultures
to integrate into the university. Instead, Tierney (1999) required institutions to create cultures
that celebrated each student’s cultural background:
Such a model should contend that students of color on predominantly white campuses be
able to affirm, rather than reject, who they are. Campuses that adopt this model will not
be sites of assimilation, but instead, sites of contestation and multiple interpretations (p.
89).
Tierney believed that institutions that incorporated cultural identity would foster success for
students of color; “if postsecondary institutions make a concerted and meaningful efforts to
affirm these students’ cultural identities, they stand to gain increased possibilities for ensuring
the latter’s success in college” (Tierney, 1999, pp. 84-85). He stated the model of cultural
integrity was a better fit for students of color than Tinto’s model of student departure.
Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity model was
significant to this current study, because it provided a framework that emphasized the important
role of institutions of higher education to create campuses that are inclusive of students of all

43
cultural backgrounds, and that the responsibility for the integration process for students of color
should not be placed solely on the student. This framework provided support for the need to
disband the model minority and the responsibility of institutions of higher education to critically
examine the needs of each of their unique student populations and provide mechanisms to
support these students’ integration, retention, and graduation from the university. This
framework demonstrated the critical role of institutions of higher education to create
environments and opportunities that promote the sense of belonging and ethnic identity
development for Filipino American students to facilitate their integration, retention, and
graduation from the university.
Previous Studies Incorporating Cultural Integrity
Although several studies on students of color utilized Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in
Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity as a conceptual framework, all echo the need for more research
on the experiences of students of color. Museus (2008) conducted research on the influence of
ESOs in cultural adjustment and membership for African American and Asian American
students at PWIs. Museus (2008) used Tierney (1999)’s cultural integrity as a conceptual
framework for his study, since it “provides rationale for analyzing the ways in which colleges
can engage minority students’ cultural backgrounds in the college experience” (p. 573). In
addition, Museus (2008) utilized Tierney’s cultural integrity in his study since it “challenges
traditional assimilation perspectives of individual cultural adaptation and is based on the belief
that colleges can shape their dominant campus culture to engage diverse precollege cultures from
which racial and ethnic minority students come” (p. 572). Museus’s (2008) study supported
cultural integrity, since his study found that ESOs allow students of color to maintain strong
affiliations with their cultural identities while adjusting and gaining membership in campus

44
cultures of PWIs. In addition, Museus (2008) stated that his findings demonstrated the
significance of studying cultural integrity, and its importance in facilitating success for students
of color.
Museus and Quaye (2009) studied the influence of campus cultures on the experiences of
students of color and utilized Tierney’s (1992, 1999) concept of cultural integrity as an
alternative framework to Tinto’s theory of departure to understand the perspectives of students of
color. Their findings supported cultural integrity, since they found that “collective and individual
cultural agents can play an important role in the experiences of students of color by validating
those students’ traditional cultural heritages” (p. 85), and this can facilitate success for students
of color.
Cultural Integrity and Filipino American College Students
There is little research on Filipino American undergraduate students, specifically their
experiences with cultural integrity. One study on the experience of Filipino undergraduate
students found directly referenced cultural integrity (Museus & Maramba, 2011), while three
studies insinuated its significance (Maramba, 2003; Maramba, 2008b; Maramba & Museus,
2013). This current study sought to fill this gap on the lack of research on the experiences of
Filipino American undergraduate students with cultural integrity.
Cultural integrity was one of the conceptual frameworks used by Museus and Maramba
(2011) in examining the impact of cultural factors on the sense of belonging of Filipino
American college students. Museus and Maramba’s (2011) study provided “statistical evidence
that students’ connections to their cultural heritage predict and are positively associated with a
greater sense of belonging in college” (p. 250). This finding supported the notion of cultural
integrity since student programming, which incorporates a students’ racial and ethnic

45
background, is critical to fostering success for students of color. In addition, the findings for this
study provided further evidence that cultural suicide can have devastating effects on sense of
belonging for students of color. Further, Museus and Maramba (2011) found a gap in the
literature in the connection between cultural integrity and the experience of Filipino American
college students; “the concepts of cultural suicide and cultural integrity may be useful for
predicting Filipino and other Asian American college students’ adjustment to, sense of belonging
in, and persistence through college, but these relationships have yet to be explored” (p. 235).
Three other studies conducted on the experiences of Filipino American college students
do not directly mention cultural integrity, but their findings insinuate its importance. Maramba’s
(2008b) study examined the influence of campus climate on the experience of Filipino American
college students. The findings showed that Filipino American college students found their
campus environment challenging both socially and academically (Maramba, 2008b). In addition,
Maramba (2008b)’s findings “suggest the importance of institutions playing an active role in
facilitating a conducive learning environment while being intentional in addressing issues of
equity and diversity for Filipina/o American college students” (p. 1045). This finding supported
the concept of cultural integrity, and the importance of providing culturally relevant programs
and policies that engage students’ cultural backgrounds to foster their success. In addition, the
findings also indicated the significant role of institutions in creating policies that address the
equity and diversity issues faced by Filipino American college students (Maramba, 2008b); this
notion supported the concept of cultural integrity, which encourages institutions to affirm the
importance of students’ identities and cultural backgrounds.
Maramba and Museus (2013) explored the influence of behavioral and environmental
factors on the sense of belonging of Filipino American college students, and their findings

46
supported the concept of cultural integrity. Maramba and Museus (2013) found that race and
culture played an influential role in the experience of Filipino American college students. This
finding supported cultural integrity, which highlights the importance of incorporating a student’s
cultural background into the framework of the institution (Maramba & Museus, 2013). Another
finding was the importance of ethnic group cohesion in facilitating a sense of belonging for
Filipino American college students (Maramba & Museus, 2013), and this supported the notion of
cultural integrity for institutions to provide culturally relevant programs and policies. Lastly, this
study concluded that students’ strong cultural identity is positively associated with interaction
with peers of different ethnic backgrounds. A plausible explanation for this finding “is that
students who identify with their own ethnic background have greater levels of self-confidence,
which allow them to feel comfortable interacting with others outside of their ethnic group”
(Maramba & Museus, 2013, p. 514). This finding supported cultural integrity, since culturally
relevant programs and policies that affirm a student’s cultural background can promote ethnic
identity development which can thus foster cross-cultural interaction among students.
Maramba (2003)’s overall finding was that a warm campus climate was critical for
creating a culturally democratic education that was needed for bicultural students to succeed. The
Maramba (2003) study recommended that college structures include bicultural affirmation and
cultural democracy in order to encourage Filipino American college students to participate in
campus life; this study seemed to encourage institutions of higher education to incorporate
cultural integrity in order to promote the participation of Filipino American college students on
their campuses.
Since there were only a few studies that incorporated cultural integrity to the experience
of Filipino American students and all supported the notion of cultural integrity, much more

47
research in this area is needed to encourage institutions to incorporate cultural integrity for the
benefit of not just for Filipino American students in higher education, but for students of all
cultural backgrounds.
Summary
This sixth section of the literature review discussed the second conceptual framework for
this study: Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity model. This
model was important to this present study because it advocated for institutions of higher
education to take on the responsibility of creating culturally inclusive campuses to facilitate the
integration of students of color (Tierney & Jun, 1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999), which is the
opposite of Tinto (1975)’s theory of integration requiring students to abandon their pre-college
cultures in order to integrate into the dominant culture on campus. There have been a few
empirical studies utilizing cultural integrity as a framework. Museus (2008) and Museus and
Quaye (2009) conducted research that supported the importance of cultural integrity, and its
ability to facilitate success for students of color. There was only one study found that directly
incorporated cultural integrity into a study on Filipino American college students (Museus &
Maramba, 2011). In addition, the findings from three studies insinuated the significance of
cultural integrity for Filipino American college students (Maramba, 2003; Maramba, 2008b;
Maramba & Museus, 2013).
Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) Sense of Belonging
Hurtado and Carter (1997) focused on the details of transition to college and examined
the challenges that students face when adapting to college, which is not included in Tinto’s
(1993) framework. Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) study examined the influence of Latino students’
background characteristics and college experiences in their first and second years to their sense

48
of belonging in their third year. This study found that involvement in student organizations and
discussion of course material outside the classroom were strongly associated with the students’
sense of belonging (Hurtado & Carter, 1997). Hurtado and Carter (1997) found that peer groups
allow minority students to feel like a part of the campus community without having to conform
to the majority. In addition, Hurtado and Carter (1997) found that students who reported hostile
campus climate but belonged in cultural student organizations held a higher level of sense of
belonging than those who did not participate in these organizations. This study also found that
early membership particularly in religious and social-community organizations can have a
lasting impact on student’s sense of belonging (Hurtado & Carter, 1997). Hurtado and Carter
(1997) hypothesized that one of the reasons that Latino students who engage in religious and
social-community organizations have a stronger sense of belonging could be because these types
of organizations have connections to communities outside campus that the students are familiar
with prior to college. Further, these findings showed the significance of Latino students
maintaining interactions with communities both inside and outside the campus in order to feel a
sense of belonging at PWIs.
The Hurtado and Carter (1997) study was critical to this current study that aimed to
examine the experiences of Filipino American undergraduate students at a selective PWI with
ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural
integrity, and sense of belonging, because its findings demonstrated the importance of the
concept of sense of belonging and led to many more studies focused on its significance. Hurtado
and Carter (1997) study emphasized the importance for students of color of having opportunities
to build connections with communities not just on campus, but also communities outside of
campus that they are already culturally familiar with prior to college. This notion goes against

49
Tinto’s theory that students have to separate from their pre-college cultures in order to assimilate
to the dominant campus culture to integrate into the university (Tinto, 1987, 1993, as cited in
Museus & Maramba, 2011), which the Hurtado and Carter (1997) study showed was not feasible
for students of color. This current study aimed to extend this research on the significance of
sense of belonging by critically examining the experience of Filipino American undergraduate
students, a highly underrepresented and underachieving student population, and their experiences
with sense of belonging in a selective PWI.
Previous Studies Incorporating Sense of Belonging
Since Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) study, there have been many studies that have
extended their research on the importance of sense of belonging as well as the factors that
influence sense of belonging.
A key finding from the Hurtado and Ponjuan (2005) study was that perceptions of a
hostile climate can lead to lower levels of sense of belonging for Latino students. In addition,
Hurtado and Ponjuan’s (2005) study found that student experiences on campus played a more
critical role than student background on their perceptions on campus climate for diversity and
sense of belonging; this supports Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) findings that involvement in
student organizations and discussion of course material outside the classroom was critical to a
student’s sense of belonging. The findings showed that there were both college organized and
informal activities that can create feelings of inclusiveness on campus (Hurtado & Ponjuan,
2005); this supports Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity that
institutions need to organize activities that are inclusive for students of all cultural backgrounds.
Participation in academic support programs provided higher levels of sense of belonging for
Latino students and gave them more confidence in their analytical skills (Hurtado & Ponjuan,

50
2005). Further, positive interactions with diverse peers resulted in a higher sense of belonging on
campus as well as increased confidence and skills reflecting pluralistic orientation for Latino
students (Hurtado & Ponjuan, 2005). Students who took courses focused on diversity reported a
higher sense of belonging noting the importance of diverse curricula (Hurtado & Ponjuan, 2005).
Johnson et al. (2007) conducted a study that examined sense of belonging for a national
sample of first-year students that was guided by Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) study. This study
provided empirical evidence that showed that Asian Pacific American, Hispanic/Latino, and
African American first-year students reported a lower sense of belonging than their
White/Caucasian peers, which demonstrated the need to study the experiences of sense of
belonging for underrepresented student groups. The Johnson et al. (2007) study extended
Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) research on Latino students for students from all racial/ethnic
backgrounds in making the connection that students who have a smooth academic and social
transition to college are also likely to experience a stronger sense of belonging on campus. In
addition, this study also emphasized the importance of perceptions of campus racial climate to
sense of belonging, and the important responsibility that institutions have in shaping their
campus racial climate for diversity (Johnson et al., 2007); this finding supports Tierney and Jun’s
(1999, as cited in Tierney,1999) cultural integrity. Further, the findings of Johnson et al. (2007)
study indicated that the goal of fostering sense of belonging should be a shared responsibility by
the student and the institution, which also supported the importance of Tierney and Jun’s (1999,
as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity. The results of the Johnson et al. (2007) study
regarding the relationships among campus racial climate, transition to college and sense of
belonging were consistent with the Hurtado and Carter (1997) study, and also supported Tierney
and Jun’s (1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity.

51
Hausmann, Schofield, and Woods (2007)’s study found that sense of belonging was a
significant predictor of student persistence and institutional commitment, even when student
background, support variables and integration were controlled. A critique of the Hausmann et al.
(2007) study was that it was conducted on a sample of only White and African American
students in a large, public university, while this current study examined the sense of belonging
for Filipino American undergraduate students in a large, private university.
Sense of Belonging and Filipino American College Students
An examination of the literature on sense of belonging found that there was a gap in the
literature on sense of belonging for Filipino American college students; this study endeavored to
fill this gap by providing current research on the experiences of Filipino American undergraduate
students with sense of belonging at a selective PWI.
There were only a few studies that have been conducted on sense of belonging for
Filipino American college students. Maramba’s (2008b) study extended Hurtado and Carter’s
(1997) finding that Filipino American college students who participated in a racial/ethnic student
organization experienced a higher sense of belonging on campus. In addition, Maramba’s
(2008b) study found that Filipino American college students who reported hostile campus
climate but belonged in cultural student organizations held a higher level of sense of belonging
than those who did not participate in these organizations, which is consistent with Hurtado and
Carter’s (1997) research. The findings from the Maramba and Museus (2013) study found that
campus racial climate, ethnic group cohesion, and cross-cultural interaction have a direct impact
on sense of belonging for Filipino American college students. In addition, the findings for the
Maramba and Museus (2013) study showed the importance of ethnic group cohesion in fostering
feelings of sense of belonging for Filipino American college students. Further, the findings for

52
this study showed that students who have a strong connection to their own ethnic groups also had
more interactions with students from other cultural groups, which was associated with increased
feelings of sense of belonging for Filipino American college students (Maramba & Museus,
2013). This study also found that students’ feeling a sense of belonging in an institution is
critical, because it is associated with positive academic outcomes (Maramba & Museus, 2013);
which supported the notion of the importance of sense of belonging, and need to study sense of
belonging for underrepresented student groups like Filipino American college students.
Museus and Maramba (2011) conducted a study on the impact of culture on Filipino
American students’ sense of belonging. The conceptual framework for the Museus and Maramba
(2011) study included concepts of cultural incongruence and dissonance (Kuh & Love, 2000;
Museus & Quaye, 2009), cultural suicide and cultural integrity (Tierney & Jun, 1999), and sense
of belonging (Hurtado & Carter, 1997). This study provided evidence that Filipino American
students faced cultural challenges that can have an impact on their transition to college and sense
of belonging at the university. In addition, this study supported the argument by Tierney and Jun
(1999, as cited in Museus & Maramba, 2011) that cultural suicide can have negative implications
for students of color. Further, this study supports the notion that cultural integrity is beneficial
for students of color (Tierney & Jun, 1999, as cited in Museus & Maramba, 2011). A critique is
that most of the research on sense of belonging and Filipino American college students have
been conducted by the same researchers so this current study strived to provide a different
perspective.
Summary
This seventh section of the literature examined the third conceptual framework for this
current study: Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) sense of belonging. The findings from Hurtado and

53
Carter’s (1997) study showed that participation in student organizations and discussion of course
material outside the classroom were strongly associated with the students’ sense of belonging.
Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) study emphasized the significance of sense of belonging, and led to
many other studies that extended their research on Latino students to Asian American and
African American students (Johnson et al., 2007; Hausmann et al., 2007). There was a gap in the
literature on sense of belonging for Filipino American college students, and the few studies have
supported Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) findings of the importance of sense of belonging for
Filipino American college students, particularly when navigating a hostile racial campus climate,
and fostering positive academic outcomes (Maramba’s, 2008b; Maramba & Museus, 2013;
Museus & Maramba, 2011).
Summary
This chapter examined the research on Filipino American college students and found the
following themes: the need to disband the model minority myth as well as the lack of research,
risk factors, and the influence of parental involvement on this student population. This literature
review discussed research on ethnic identity development, provided a comparison of Asian
American identity development and Filipino American identity development, examined Filipino
American identity development, and then focused on literature specifically on ethnic identity
development for Filipino American college students. Next, this literature review explored the
research on ethnic student organizations and discussed research in support and against ethnic
student organizations, then provided research on ethnic student organizations for Filipino
American college students. The next topic covered research on campus racial climate, and the
literature specifically on Filipino American college students and campus racial climate. The next
section of this literature review discussed the three conceptual frameworks that will guide this

54
study: Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American identity model, Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in
Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity model, and Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) sense of belonging.
This literature review echoed the great need for more research to be conducted on the
experiences of Filipino American college students, and specifically on their experiences with
ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural
integrity, and sense of belonging. Since this gap in the literature was regarding the experiences of
Filipino American college students, this current study utilized interviews to capture the
experiences of the participants through rich, thick descriptions in their own words.

55
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
This chapter will provide an overview of the methodology that was utilized to collect and
analyze the data of this qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews of Filipino American
undergraduate students at a selective PWI was the method used to understand their experiences
with ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural
integrity, and sense of belonging at a selective PWI. The review of the literature demonstrated
the dearth of research that has been conducted on Filipino American undergraduate students,
especially in regard to their experiences with ethnic identity development, ethnic student
organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging at a selective
PWI.
The research questions for this study were
1. What is the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with ethnic identity
development prior to attending a selective PWI, and while being a student at a selective
PWI?
2. What influence does the Filipino American ethnic student organization on campus have
on the Filipino American undergraduate student’s ethnic identity development and sense
of belonging at a selective PWI?
3. What are the perceptions of campus racial climate and cultural integrity for Filipino
American undergraduate students at a selective PWI?
4. What is the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with sense of
belonging at a selective PWI?

56
Qualitative Methods
Due to the underrepresentation and underachievement of Filipino American students in
institutions of higher education and the lack of research on their experiences, this study explored
the experiences of this student population, specifically with ethnic identity development, ethnic
student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging at a
selective PWI through a qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews. A qualitative
method was the best fit for this present study, since Merriam (2009) stated that “qualitative
researchers are interested in understanding how people interpret their experiences, how they
construct their worlds, and what meaning they attribute to their experiences” (p. 5). The focus of
a qualitative study is understanding the phenomenon from the perspective of the participant
instead of the researcher to formulate theories (Merriam, 2009). Quantitative methods on the
other hand is a method to examine objective theories to test relationships among variables
(Creswell, 2009).
In qualitative research, “the researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and
analysis” (Merriam, 2009, p. 15). The human instrument is able to quickly respond and adapt
when collecting and analyzing data, but the human instrument can also hold biases that can
impact the study, and thus it is critical to be aware and monitor these biases in how they are
influencing the data collection and analysis (Merriam, 2009). The researcher was the primary
instrument in this present study by conducting interviews to gather rich, thick descriptions of the
students’ experiences in their own words. Surveys and observations would not capture the
narratives of the students’ feelings, perceptions, and experiences.

57
Phenomenological Framework
This study used a phenomenological framework, since “from the philosophy of
phenomenology comes a focus on the experience itself and how experiencing something is
transformed into consciousness” (Merriam, 2009, p. 24). According to Merriam (2009), the
objective of a phenomenological study is for the reader to be able to gain a better understanding
of the experiences of the participants of the study, which was the goal of this present study. Since
this study and its research questions were focused on the experiences of Filipino American
undergraduate students with ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus
racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging, the phenomenological framework was
the best fit. Merriam (2009) stated that “to get to the essence or basic underlying structure of the
meaning of an experience, the phenomenological interview is the primary method of data
collection” (p. 25). Kvale (2007) described interviews as “a uniquely sensitive and powerful
method for capturing the experiences and lived meanings of a subject’s everyday world” (p. 11).
Since Filipino American students have often been left out of the higher education discourse, this
study sought to share their experiences and narratives in their own words.
Sample and Population
Site
This study focused on the experiences of Filipino American undergraduate students at a
large, selective, 4-year, private, not-for-profit PWI with high research activity, which is referred
to herein as Olivia University (OU). Most of the other studies in the literature review on the
experiences of Filipino American college students were conducted in either public institutions, or
in different regions on the United States. One of the reasons for the selection of this institution
was its selectivity. OU is a selective institution in which 12.9% of 64,352 freshman applicants

58
were admitted for the 2018-19 academic year. In addition, 265 of the 2018 freshman class were
national merit scholars, and 3.79 was the average unweighted GPA for the entering 2018
freshman class. Filipino American students tend to be underrepresented at selective universities
in comparison to their Asian American peers (Teranishi et al., 2004, as cited in Maramba &
Museus, 2013). Filipino American students tend to attend less-selective institutions (Buenavista,
2010). This institution was also selected since it has an active Filipino American ethnic student
organization that was referred to as the Filipino American Student Organization (FASO), and
one of the research questions was about the influence of ethnic student organizations to the
ethnic identity development and sense of belonging of Filipino American college students.
Lastly, this institution was selected due to its proximity to the researcher, which is referred to by
Creswell (2009) as backyard research, and required multiple layers of validity, which will be
discussed later in this chapter. The researcher is currently a graduate student and academic
advisor at this institution.
OU has an AAPI Student Center, which has a two-fold mission of encouraging AAPI
participation and success on campus and promoting cross-cultural activities for the entire
university community. In 2012, the AAPI Student Center published their first annual report,
which contained disaggregated data of the 2012 AAPI enrollment from data collected from the
OU Office of Admission. This report showed that in the 2012 incoming student population of
4,697 undergraduate students at OU, which included both incoming freshman and transfer
students, only 96 were Filipino (2%). The most recent report showed that in fall 2014, of the total
of 5,167 undergraduate students at OU who identified as AAPI, only 364 (7.04%) identified as
Filipino. It was interesting to learn about the experiences of the Filipino American undergraduate
students in a selective institution with a small Filipino American student population, particularly

59
since most of the other studies on the experiences of Filipino American college students were
conducted in institutions that had larger Filipino American representation.
As mentioned previously, OU has an active Filipino American ethnic student
organization. FASO holds meetings every week, and organizes events almost every week
throughout the academic year including an annual Filipino cultural night during the spring
semester. FASO also has an internship program, which is described as an opportunity to develop
leadership skills, expand social skills, and explore creativity on the organization website.
The OU Office of Admission boasts about its highly diverse student population when
recruiting students from all over the country and the world, and its commitment to educating the
citizens of its surrounding communities. Although the figure of a 16.8% Asian student
population is published on the OU website and admission statistics makes it seem as though OU
has a significant AAPI student population, disaggregated data by the OU AAPI Student Center
shows the reality of the underrepresented Filipino American population at the university.
Sampling Method and Participant Selection
This present study used purposeful sampling to select a group of students who met the
criteria to best address the research questions. According to Merriam (2009), “purposeful
sampling is based on the assumption that the investigator wants to discover, understand, and gain
insight and therefore must select a sample from which the most can be learned” (p. 77). The
criteria for the selection of the participants in this study were as follows: 1) identified as Filipino
American 2) had been an undergraduate student at OU for at least two years. To gain a spectrum
of experiences of Filipino American undergraduate students at OU, the researcher decided to
include those who participated in the Filipino American ethnic student organization on campus
as well as those who do not. The researcher also decided to include only students who were in

60
their third year and above so that all the students in this study had at least two years of
experience being an undergraduate student at OU, and could share their experiences and insights.
In this study, convenience sampling, which is the selection of a sample due to
availability, location, and time (Merriam, 2009), was used since the researcher is currently
working and studying at the research site. Snowball sampling, which is when a key participant
refers other participants (Merriam, 2009), was used since a Filipino American undergraduate
student, who the researcher is familiar with in her position on campus, is a board member for
FASO, and other colleagues on campus were able to refer potential participants. This student and
colleagues served as gatekeepers, which are individuals that provide entry to a site (Creswell,
2009), in assisting the researcher to gain access to Filipino American undergraduate students at
OU. The researcher submitted a proposal to these gatekeepers (Bodgan and Biklen, 1992, as
cited in Creswell, 2009) that included the rationale for site selection, the activities that will occur
on site during the study and if they will be disruptive, and the method in which the results will be
reported. The researcher asked these gatekeepers to distribute this proposal, and the participants
were screened prior to the interview to ensure that they met the criteria discussed above. Eight
students were interviewed who matched the participant selection criteria.
Instrumentation
Interviews were the instrumentation used in this study to gain a deep understanding of the
experiences of Filipino American undergraduate students with ethnic identity development,
ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging.
Interviews were utilized since they allow the participants to share their experiences in their own
words and from their own perspectives (Kvale, 2007). Prior to beginning the interview process,
the researcher explored her experiences with ethnic identity development, ethnic student

61
organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging as a Filipino
American undergraduate student, and recorded these thoughts in a reflective journal, which she
put aside in order to gain fresh perspectives from the participants in this study. This process of
temporarily putting aside assumptions and prejudices to explore consciousness is called epoche
and recommended by Merriam (2009).
This study incorporated the semi-structured life-world interview procedure, which Kvale
(2007) defined as an interview that has the objective of gathering descriptions of the life world of
the interviewee in regard to his or her interpretations of the topics being studied (Kvale, 2007).
Kvale (2007) described the semi-structured approach as “it comes close to an everyday
conversation, but as a professional interview it has a purpose and it involves a specific approach
and technique” (p. 11). The semi-structured format allowed for more open-ended and less
structured questions that gave the participants the opportunity to respond in unique ways.
Merriam (2009) stated that the semi-structure format “allows the researcher to respond to the
situation at hand, to the emerging worldview of the respondent, and to new ideas on the topic”
(p. 90). This study utilized an interview guide, which consisted of instructions for the
interviewee, the interview questions, probes for the interview questions as well as a thank you
statement to ensure consistency between the interviews (Creswell, 2009). The interview guide
included a list of open-ended interview questions focused on addressing the research questions of
this study, and follow up questions were asked to probe for more information. The interview
questions were based on the following constructs that were discussed in the literature review:
ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural
integrity, and sense of belonging with the goal of finding answers for the research questions of
this study.

62
Data Collection
The interviews began with a briefing in which the researcher provided the interviewee
with background information of the study, the purpose of the interview, an explanation for the
use of an audio recorder, and asked the interviewee if he or she had any questions before the
interview began (Kvale, 2007). The researcher started the interview with general questions to
gain a better understanding of the background of the interviewee (see Appendix A). The
interview ended with a debriefing during which the researcher asked the interviewee if he or she
wanted to add anything else, or if he or she had any further questions for the researcher (Kvale,
2007).
The scheduling of the interviews was coordinated via email. The interviews were all
conducted in-person in the researcher’s office on campus. All interviews were audio-recorded,
and the researcher also took notes during the interviews. The researcher transcribed each of the
audio recordings using Google translator, and then compared each interview transcript to the
audio recordings word for word to check for accuracy; this process was time intensive but
allowed for the researched to have a strong familiarity with each interview transcript. After the
researcher transcribed and reviewed each interview transcript, she emailed it to the interviewee
for member validation to ensure the transcript was both accurate and acceptable to the
interviewee (Kvale, 2007).
This study was conducted ethically through meeting the requirements of the institutional
review board at OU, and the researcher completing the human subjects research training. Before
beginning each interview, the researcher had a discussion with each participant regarding the
parameters of the interview including background information of the research study, the purpose
of the interview, and the benefits of this research to society. The researcher also informed each

63
interviewee that the data collected would be used solely for the purpose of writing this
dissertation, and that the researcher would be including pseudonyms for the university, the
Filipino American student organization, and the names of each participant. After this discussion,
the researcher asked each interviewee to sign an informed consent form if she or he chose to
participate in the interview.
Data Analysis
The researcher utilized a combination of Lichtman’s (2014) “three C’s of analysis from
coding to categorizing to concepts” (p. 328) and Creswell’s (2009) plan for “data analysis and
interpretation” (p. 183) to analyze the data from the interview transcripts. The researcher went
through the “six steps of coding” outlined by Lichtman (2014) in analyzing the data for this
study:
Step 1. Initial Coding. Going from responses to summary ideas of the responses, Step 2.
Revisiting initial coding, Step 3. Developing an initial list of categories, Step 4.
Modifying your initial list based on additional rereading, Step 5. Revisiting your
categories and subcategories, Step 6. Moving from categories to concepts (p. 329).
The researcher also followed Creswell’s (2009) six-step plan for data analysis, which included
Step 1. Organize and prepare the data for analysis, Step 2. Read through all the data, Step
3. Begin detailed analysis with a coding process, Step 4. Use the coding process to
generate a description of the setting or people as well as categories or themes for analysis,
Step 5. Advance how the description and themes will be represented in the qualitative
narrative, Step 6. A final step in data analysis involves making an interpretation or
meaning of the data (pp. 185-189).

64
Prior to beginning the data analysis process, the researcher transcribed each audio recording from
each interview with the assistance of Google translator, and offered each participant the
opportunity to review the interview transcript for accuracy. The researcher ensured the
confidentiality of the participants by identifying each interview transcript with a number instead
of the participant’s name and creating a pseudonym name that corresponded with each number
that was listed on a separate document that was only accessible to the researcher. For initial
coding, the researcher reviewed each interview transcript line by line, and inserted codes,
consisting of words and phrases, as comments directly onto each interview transcript on
Microsoft Word to summarize the participant responses. For revisiting initial coding, the
researcher went through each interview transcript a second time to confirm that the codes used to
summarize the participant responses made sense, were clear, and removed redundancies.
The researcher heeded Creswell’s (2009) advice to specifically look out for codes that
were unanticipated and unusual, which led to some surprising and interesting findings. After
transcribing the audio recordings and reviewing the interview transcripts twice to summarize the
participant responses, the researcher was very familiar with the data. The researcher had an
initial list of categories that were driven by the research questions, they were ethnic identity
development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of
belonging, but reviewed the codes on each transcript several times to formulate the subcategories
for each of these categories. The researcher collected all the codes and direct quotes relevant to
each subcategory into one large document that allowed her to see all the connections as well as
anomalies for each subcategory.
After the researcher reviewed this large document of subcategories several times, she
found several themes for each category that addressed the research questions. When formulating

65
these themes, the researcher took into consideration the advice of Lichtman (2014) to look for
the use of metaphors and stories to add depth to the data analysis. In addition, the researcher
made sure to include the counterstories for experiences that varied from the similar experiences
of multiple students to provide the full picture of the experiences of Filipino American
undergraduate students in this study.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
Lincoln and Guba (1985) defined credibility as the researcher presenting data that is
believable and accurate. In addition, Merriam (2008) connected credibility to internal validity,
which he described as “the question of how research findings match reality” (p. 213). The
researcher ensured the credibility of her findings by conducting member validation as well as
including direct quotes and outliers. The researcher conducted member validation by sending the
interview transcript to each interviewee and asking the interviewee to review the interview
transcript for accuracy (Kvale, 2007). The researcher included direct quotes from the interviews
to provide rich, thick descriptions of the student experiences in their own words (Merrriam,
2009). The researcher also included outliers and counterstories in her codes and findings to
protect against self-selecting biases, and to provide a complete picture of the experiences of
Filipino American undergraduate students at OU (Miles, Huberrman & Saldana, 2014).
Trustworthiness is connected to reliability or consistency (Merriam, 2009), which
Lincoln and Guba (1985) described as dependability and confirmability in the qualitative
paradigm. Dependability is defined by Lincoln and Guba (1985) as the trackability, consistency,
and logic of the research design and process. The researcher ensured the trustworthiness of this
study by maintaining an audit trail, addressing her research position, and keeping a reflective
journal. Lincoln and Guba (1985) define confirmability as transparency in which data can be

66
tracked to its sources. The researcher maintained an audit trail to improve trustworthiness by
keeping a record of all interview notes and transcripts, as well as notes on the methods used and
deciding points in doing so (Merriam, 2009).
Positionality. Merriam (2009) explained the importance of researcher’s position to
validity and reliability in that “investigators need to explain their biases, dispositions, and
assumptions regarding the research to be undertaken” (p. 219). In this study, the researcher
acknowledged and addressed her researcher position as both a Filipino American as well as a
graduate student and academic advisor at OU. As a Filipino American, the researcher
acknowledged her “ingroup” status, which allowed the students to speak to her more candidly
and honestly about the Filipino culture without needing to provide explanations regarding
Filipino cultural norms and customs although the researcher asked follow-up questions as
needed. Although the researcher identifies as Filipino American, she acknowledged that there
would be many differences in the perspectives that she held with the Filipino American
undergraduate students in this study due to generation gaps, socioeconomic status, different
upbringings, and other factors.
The researcher also acknowledged her “ingroup” status as a member of the OU
community as both an academic advisor and graduate student at OU, which gave her an
understanding of the academic policies and procedures as well as a general understanding of the
campus and its culture, but she was not familiar with the details of the undergraduate student life
and culture on campus from the student perspective, which is what she aspired to explore in the
interviews. The researcher understood that with this “ingroup” status, she possessed biases and
assumptions that she acknowledged and addressed in a reflective journal. The researcher put
these biases and assumptions on the side when she wrote them in the reflective journal to

67
approach this study with an open mind and perspective. The researcher kept a reflective journal
to record her insights on the progress of the study as well as potential biases and assumptions,
and a journal that included the interview schedule and logistics as well as a record of her
decision making for the methodology of the study (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, as cited in Rodriguez,
2003).
Conclusion
This chapter provided an explanation of the qualitative research methodology for this
study, including the site selection, sampling method, participant selection, instrumentation, data
collection, data analysis, and research positionality. The next chapter will provide the findings
that address the research questions of this study. The last chapter will discuss the findings as they
relate to the literature as well as provide the limitations of the study and recommendations for
future research and practice.

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CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS
Filipino American undergraduate students are a misunderstood and overlooked student
population. As a result of Spanish and U.S. colonization in the Philippines, Filipino American
identity differs significantly from Asian American identity (Nadal et al., 2010). The limited
research on Filipino American undergraduate students demonstrate that this population of
students are greatly underrepresented in institutions of higher education and display lower
retention and graduation rates in comparison to their Asian American peers. This is of concern
because Filipino Americans comprise the second-largest Asian American ethnic group, and
third-largest immigrant population in the United States (Halagao, 2010), but also tend to exhibit
the smallest population of AAPI students at institutions of higher education. In addition, Filipino
American students are underrepresented at more selective universities (Teranishi et al., 2004, as
cited in Maramba & Museus, 2013).
This study sought to explore the unique experiences of Filipino American undergraduate
students, specifically with ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus
racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging at a selective PWI through semi-
structured interviews seeking to address the following research questions:
1. What is the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with ethnic identity
development prior to attending a selective PWI, and while being a student at a selective
PWI?
2. What influence does the Filipino American ethnic student organization on campus have
on the Filipino American undergraduate student’s ethnic identity development and sense
of belonging at a selective PWI?

69
3. What are the perceptions of campus racial climate and cultural integrity for Filipino
American undergraduate students at a selective PWI?
4. What is the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with sense of
belonging at a selective PWI?
This chapter describes the data that was collected and analyzed from the interviews with
eight students. The first finding was the influence of family and community growing up to the
ethnic identity development of the Filipino American students in this study. The second finding
was the change described by the participant to their ethnic identity while in college. The third
finding was that for the students who were involved in the Filipino American ethnic student
organization on campus, they described the organization as facilitating both their sense of
belonging and ethnic identity development. The fourth finding was that overall, the participants
had mixed feelings regarding the Filipino American ethnic student organization, since a few
students did not participate in this organization at all, and a few who participated shared that they
migrated out of the organization as upperclassmen. The fifth finding was that the students’
perceptions of the campus racial climate toward Filipino American students to be indifferent and
non-existent with the rationale of Filipino Americans being a smaller, lesser-known population
on campus. The sixth finding was that the all the students shared that they did not know of any
university programs or policies specifically for Filipino American students, and they also
provided many ideas for areas of improvement regarding the cultural integrity of the university
toward Filipino American students. The seventh finding was that the Filipino American students
in this study found their sense of belonging through the Filipino American student organization,
ethnic student organizations, and other student organizations on campus.

70
The following sections of this chapter will describe the eight participants, then will
discuss the findings that emerged for each of the four research questions centered on the
following topics: ethnic identity development, ethnic identity, ethnic student organizations,
campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging. The researcher provided rick,
thick descriptions as well as counternarratives to describe the experiences of Filipino American
undergraduate students at Olivia University (OU).
Participants
This study consisted of interviews with eight Filipino American participants.
Pseudonyms were created by the researcher for each of the participants. All eight had been
students at OU for at least two full academic years. They were from varying regions of the
United States, and some grew up in predominantly Filipino communities while some grew up in
predominantly White communities. Each participant had varying reasons for selecting to attend
OU. The participants were in a variety of majors, such as business, engineering, theater, and the
social sciences. All resided near campus except for one student living on campus. Three were
also pursuing graduate degrees, since OU offers an accelerated program that allows students to
pursue a master’s degree while completing their bachelor’s degree. Some were working in
various places on and off campus. The students had varying levels of participation in the Filipino
American student organization on campus, referred to as FASO in this study. They also had
differing levels of involvement in other ethnic student organizations, and other student
organizations on campus.

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Table 1
Participant Background Information
Pseudonym Hometown Major Year
Jennifer Boise, Idaho Biomedical
Engineering
Senior
Lauren Eagle Rock,
California
Business Senior
Emma Moorpark, California International
Relations
Senior
Veronica Carson, California Psychology, Non-
Governmental
Organizations and
Social Change
Junior
Hannah Alexandria, Virginia Chemical
Engineering
Junior
Theresa Bay Area, California Theater Junior
Celina Staten Island, New
York
Electrical
Engineering
First-Year Graduate
Student
Danielle Van Nuys, California International
Relations Global
Business
Senior

Jennifer was born in Houston, Texas, and moved to several different cities in Asia while
growing up, but mainly grew up in Boise, Idaho, which is where she considers home. She
selected OU, because she wanted to be in a community that was small enough where she felt
supported, which is why she selected a private university. She also has relatives in Northern
California, and she was looking for a university with a good engineering program. Jennifer is a
senior. Her major is biomedical engineering, and she is also pursuing a master’s degree in
industrial systems engineering. Jennifer selected this major because she liked biology in high
school. She wanted to pursue a career where she could help people and mentioned that her
cousin having diabetes was also influential in selecting her major. She is not currently working,
and she lives near campus.

72
Lauren chose to attend OU because it was close to home and close to her family. Her
parents only allowed her to apply to universities that were in California. She is a senior and
shared that she was a spring admitted student to the university. She was in a medically focused
program in high school, and her parents wanted her to be a doctor, but she realized early on that
was not for her. She applied to OU as a business major, because she realized while interning for
hospitals in high school that she was more interested in the business aspects of the hospitals.
Lauren has two jobs off campus: one is a database management position while the other is a food
service position. She resides near campus.
Emma grew up in Moorpark, California. She decided to attend OU because her mother
works for the institution, and as a result, Emma is eligible to receive a tuition benefit. Her father
received his master’s in engineering from OU, and he’s a big fan of the university and their
football team. Emma shared that growing up, she never felt a connection to the university, and
her sole reason for deciding to go to OU was that it was free. She is a senior. She is majoring in
international relations and selected this major because of her study abroad experience in Rome,
Italy where she took a lot of international relations and political science courses. She is also
pursuing a master’s degree in public diplomacy at OU through its accelerated program. She
works on campus in the customer service center for one of the residence halls. She lives near
campus.
Veronica grew up in Carson, California. She shared that she applied to OU on a whim,
because she comes from a neighborhood of lower socioeconomic status, and never imagined
being able to afford going to OU. Once she was admitted and received her financial aid package,
her parents said the costs would be manageable. She visited the OU campus and fell in love with
the school. She is a junior. She is double majoring in psychology and non-governmental

73
organizations and social change. Veronica came to OU interested in the pre-med track and going
into psychiatry. After learning more about pre-med, she realized that it was not for her, but she
still wanted to pursue psychology. After taking a sociology course, she also became more
interested in the social aspect of psychology and began looking more into nonprofits and social
work. She works on campus in the AAPI student center and receives a stipend for serving as an
official in OU undergraduate student government. She resides on campus where she is serving as
a resident advisor.
Hannah grew up in Alexandria, Virginia. She selected OU because she loves California
and was looking for a school with a good engineering program. Hannah shared that OU was the
best school that she got into. She is a junior. Hannah is majoring in chemical engineering and
selected this major because she is very interested in cosmetics and wanted to formulate
cosmetics. As she has been in this major, she’s learned a lot of different paths she can take with
this degree, and ultimately wants to work on formulating things. She has a job on campus with
an organization that provides service-learning programs in nearby schools. Hannah resides near
campus.
Theresa grew up in Northern California. She learned about OU through a childhood
friend. Once she was admitted to OU, she checked out the campus and decided to attend. She is a
junior. Theresa is majoring in theater. She shared that she came to OU as a chemical engineering
major, but after a year, she realized that she no longer wanted to pursue the major. She selected
the theater major because she had been involved in theater ever since she was in kindergarten.
She currently works on campus at the ticket office. She lives near campus.
Celina grew up in Staten Island, New York. She decided to attend OU, because she was
looking for a good engineering program and she also really wanted to go to the West Coast.

74
Celina also shared that she was attracted to OU, because of the great merit scholarships that they
offer. She is currently a first-year master’s student through the accelerated graduate program
offered by OU. Both her undergraduate and graduate degrees are in electrical engineering. Celina
selected this major and graduate degree because she went to a high school that was focused on
STEM, and she finds the material interesting and she does well in it. Her parents encouraged her
to stay in this major for one more semester when she was initially struggling, and she decided to
continue pursuing the major. Further, she shared that seeing her parents’ challenges with arts
degrees also encouraged her major selection. She is not working at the moment and lives near
campus.
Danielle grew up in Van Nuys, California. She selected OU because it was the institution
that gave her the most funding and would cost the least for her to attend. She is a senior. Danielle
is majoring in international relations global business. She initially came to OU majoring in
philosophy, politics, and law, because she wanted to be a lawyer. Her high school counselor
advised her not to major in political science, because everyone majors in political science, and
told her she would have a bigger advantage majoring in philosophy. Danielle realized that she
could finish the politics, philosophy, and law major quickly, and decided to add the international
relations global business major, because she was interested in changing her major to business.
After taking some business courses and meeting some international relations professors, she
decided to pursue just the international relations global business major. She has two jobs on
campus, one as a student worker in an office on campus and the other at the university recreation
center. She resides near campus.

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Ethnic Identity Development
This section will discuss the findings in regards to the participant's ethnic identity
development to address the first part of the following research question: What is the experience
of Filipino American undergraduate students with ethnic identity development prior to attending
a selective PWI, and while being a student at a selective PWI? The major finding was the
influence of family and community growing up to the student’s ethnic identity development. A
few participants also shared the influence of their pre-college school experiences, and
experiences with colorism and macroaggressions.
Influence of Family
When describing their ethnic identity development, family was the most influential factor
for most of the participants, and specifically family influences regarding language, religion, food,
and visiting the Philippines. Lauren shared that the concept of family is so ingrained in Filipino
culture that she feels that Filipino people are an extension of her family. Lauren also said that her
mother was very involved in church, and as a result, her family was too. Lauren added that she
was raised around the food and the culture. To Veronica, being Filipino American means coming
from immigrant parents who provide “values that are very familial centric, very sacrificial in the
sense of all the sacrifices my parents had to make from them immigrating from the Philippines.
And then the way that they raised me and my brother in how we are always surrounded by
family.” Veronica further noted that she “grew up with my parents speaking Tagalog and Ilocano
in the house, them always cooking Filipino foods, bringing us to church, and maintaining those
different teachings.” Celina voiced similar sentiments regarding the importance of understanding
the sacrifices made by her immigrant parents to her ethnic identity development; she said “I
think a big part of being Filipino American is that there are so many opportunities here in the

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States that our parents and maybe grandparents saw and took advantage of, and decided to come
here.” Jennifer stated the importance of cultural food in learning about her different cultures
from her parents:
Having those cultural foods are very important to me, and those are very special times
with my family, and over those meals, my sisters and I would always ask my parents
more details about their life back there. I feel like that was how I tried to figure out my
cultural identity before college.
Theresa, Hannah, and Emma had different experiences than the other participants in
terms of the influence of their parents on their ethnic identity development. Theresa mentioned
that she was unable to learn about Filipino culture through her parents, because her father was
adopted by an American family, and her mother moved when she was 9 or 10 years old and did
not remember much. Theresa said that she did not learn about Filipino culture from her family,
but rather from Filipino friends. Hannah added that, although her mother is half Filipino, she did
not incorporate Filipino culture when Hannah was growing up. Hannah stated this changed in
high school when her mother realized that Hannah did not have any Filipino culture in her life
and introduced her to her Filipino family, and they went to the Philippines for a family reunion.
This interaction with her Filipino family and trip to the Philippines made Hannah identify more
as Filipino. Emma did not mention her family at all when discussing factors influencing her
ethnic identity development.
The participants emphasized the importance of not just their parents, but also their
grandparents, cousins, extended family, and family friends in their ethnic identity development.
Celina noted that her cousins influenced her understanding of being Filipino American before
coming to college. Danielle shared that her ethnic identity development was very influenced by

77
her grandparents. Danielle said she was always with grandparents growing up, both when
visiting the Philippines to spend time with her mother’s parents and while she was in California
where her father’s mother lived with them. Danielle added that she always had traditional
Filipino people around her including her father’s friends who she calls aunts and uncles. Danielle
also mentioned that she learned Tagalog while learning English growing up from her family.
Jennifer, Danielle, and Celina shared that they traveled to the Philippines frequently as children
to visit family. Jennifer said that “I would go on vacation with my family to the Philippines then
I saw that all around me. I got to see my family, how their life is very, very different than mine in
the US.” Theresa and Hannah both mentioned their inability to learn about their Filipino culture
because of the absence of Filipino grandparents in their life.
Community Growing Up
When describing their ethnic identity development, several of the participants described
the community in which they grew up. Lauren and Veronica stated that they grew up in
predominantly Filipino communities, and this played a big role in their Filipino American ethnic
identity development. Lauren said that she grew up a predominantly Filipino community from
kindergarten through twelfth grade, and went to private, Catholic schools. As a result, Lauren
added, “I’m very comfortable around Filipinos, and I feel very accepted by them.” Veronica also
noted that she grew up in a predominantly Filipino community and lived near Filipino markets
and Filipino food places. Danielle mentioned that she was in a predominantly Filipino school
from preschool to third grade, but from fourth grade to the end of high school, she was in a
predominantly Hispanic area, and she had a very difficult transition. Danielle said that she would
speak Tagalog with her Filipino friends when they did not want anyone else to understand them,
and she felt that they were isolating themselves because they were not comfortable with anyone

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else. Danielle added that it was harder for her to make friends who were not Filipino because she
was so Filipino as a kid and nobody else was except for her parents’ friends’ kids.
Jennifer and Emma shared that they grew up in predominantly White communities.
Jennifer noted that she grew up a predominantly White, Mormon community in Idaho, so it was
very important to her when the Filipinos in her community would come together for special
occasions. Jennifer added, “the few parties that we would have together in the Filipino
community in Idaho was for Christmas and then one time in the summer, so those are very rare
occasions, and then we had all the traditional foods.” Emma stated that her ethnic identity was
shaped by growing up in a predominantly White community and having all White friends while
growing up.
Pre-college school experience. A couple participants described the influence of their
school experience prior to college that helped shaped their ethnic identity. Veronica shared that
she was surrounded by Filipinos in schools and joined the Filipino clubs in her different schools:
That was also a big part of my upbringing and that even in my elementary school, middle
school, high school, I was always surrounded by other Filipinos and I always put myself
in places to join the Filipino clubs in my different schools.
Hannah noted that she was president of the Asian interest club in her high school, and that was
where she started to learn more about her culture and solidified her ethnic identity. Hannah
added that she made friends with a girl in her high school who was half Filipino, and they would
make adobo and different foods, and bring them to the club.
Experiences with Colorism and Racial Microaggressions
Experiences with colorism. Lauren, Veronica, and Hannah described colorism as
influential to their ethnic identity development. Lauren stated that growing up, she was very tan

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because she was active and was often outdoors, but she was discouraged by her family and
neighbors from being outside, because of society’s standards of beauty favoring lighter skin, and
her first memory of this was when she was just five years old. Veronica said she was very
influenced by colonial mentality and colorism while growing up, and as a result, she wanted to
assimilate more to American culture and tried to hide her Filipino culture. Hannah shared that
she was tan and did not look White like the rest of her family, so she identified more with her
Filipino and Iranian sides.
Experiences with racial microaggressions. Danielle and Hannah shared experiences
with racial microaggressions. Danielle mentioned that she would get made fun of for bringing
her own lunch in elementary school, and kids would say that her food smelled like fish, which
would make her sad for a long time. As a result, Danielle added that she had difficulty making
friends who were not Filipino when she was a kid. Hannah said that in college, her friends in a
student organization would joke that she should not be in the Asian picture, and that her friends
who were full Asian would tell her that she does not count as Asian; these experiences made her
feel hurt, and she added that “I have quite a few friends who identify as Asian American who tell
me that I am not, which kind of hits me, because I am like well if I am a quarter of everything
than what am I?”
Ethnic Identity
This section will discuss the findings regarding the participant’s ethnic identity in relation
to their Filipino American identity as well as other ethnic identities in which they identify with,
and how their ethnic identity has changed while in college to address the second part of the
following research question: What is the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students
with ethnic identity development prior to attending a selective PWI, and while being a student at

80
a selective PWI? In addition, this section will provide findings shared by several participants
regarding the similarities between Filipino American and Hispanic American cultures.
Filipino, American, and Filipino American Identities
The participants described varying degrees of their identification as Filipino, American,
and Filipino American. Danielle stated that she does not identify with American culture and that
she is very Filipino at heart. Danielle shared that she does not even think that she sees herself as
Filipino American, more so Filipino. Danielle explained what it means to her to be a “super
Filipino,” which described as
I see my first language as being Filipino and I see my culture as being Filipino and my
family as being Filipino and I want my kids to identify with my culture… it's my culture
and that's the one that I identify with the most and it's not just like I identify with it, but I
take pride in it and I’ve tried to make it a big part of who I am and include it in
everything that I do.
On the other hand, Emma mentioned that she felt no connection to the Filipino American
community. Emma noted that “my mom calls me a coconut because I'm brown on the outside but
White on the inside. I don't really have a tie to the Filipino American community.” Emma further
shared that she only feels a connection to the Philippines on an academic level and has spoken up
about the Philippines in her courses when it comes up and has written a paper about the politics
in the Philippines. While Veronica described her identity as being in between Filipino and
American, and the struggle of not being enough of one; she added, “in terms of being Filipino
American, it’s also that assimilation into American culture growing up where I was not just
Filipino or I was not just American. I was in between the two, and it was always kind of hard
struggling not being enough of one.” Hannah and Theresa both explained that to them, being

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Filipino American is about the connections and the bond that you feel with the people. Celina
stated that she feels being Filipino American is making her best efforts to bring pride to her
American and Filipino heritage.
Mixed Ethnic Identity
Jennifer, Hannah, and Theresa all shared that, although they identify as Filipino
American, they also identify with other ethnic identities because of their mixed ethnic
backgrounds. Jennifer noted that her mother is Filipino, while her father is Ethiopian, Italian, and
Armenian. Jennifer stated that it was difficult to connect to all her different cultures, but she did
so through the food. Jennifer added that growing up she felt closer to her Ethiopian side because
most of her dad’s family is in the United States so she would talk to them more than her mom’s
side of the family in the Philippines. Hannah described her mixed ethnic identity as a quarter
Filipino, a quarter Iranian, a quarter Irish, and a quarter Hungarian, and the struggle she faced by
being the only tan one in her family and identifying more as Filipino and Iranian as a result.
Hannah said,
My whole family, they actually look very White like my little brother, and my mom even
though my mom’s half Filipino. They are very pale. They have like blue or green eyes,
and I was like the only one who was tanner so it was weird because a lot of family they
tend to identify as White because Middle Eastern also counts as White so I guess that
makes it three quarters, but then because I didn’t really look like that. I took more to my
Filipino and Iranian parts of me.
Theresa shared that she identifies as Asian American because “I’m not just Filipino. I’m also
Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Hawaiian, and Spanish, and that is all a part of me.” Theresa
added that she identifies as Asian American to keep things simple “for people who don’t really

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understand that Asian American can be more than one Asian identity,” and she further explained
that she says she is Asian American, because that is how she feels that she looks. Theresa said
that she is American, because she grew up here, and has not been able to connect with her culture
and history, because all her grandparents passed away, and she did not have the opportunity to
learn from them.
Change in Ethnic Identity in College
All the participants shared that there was a change in their ethnic identity in college
except for Celina. Hannah stated that she became more vocal about her ethnic identity in college.
Theresa noted that she owns the title of Asian American and Filipino American more since she
has been a student at OU. Theresa added that before, she used to just feel American and happen
to look Asian, but now she wants to claim her minority status, and be more verbal about Asian
rights and stereotypes. Theresa further explained that as a theater student, the lack of Filipino and
Asian representation aside from typical stereotypes made her want to be more verbal about Asian
representation in theater; she said “we need a place, we need to be seen. We’re out here, we need
to be heard.”
Veronica and Jennifer stated that being at OU influenced them to identify more as
Filipino. Veronica mentioned that being a student at OU has allowed her to reclaim and be proud
of her Filipino identity, and to foster a decolonizing mentality. Veronica added that it was not
until coming to OU that “someone asked me, why is it that you pronounce your name very
Whitewashed” to which she responded “I just got used to it, because that’s what my teachers
called me at school, and it was just easier to say it that way,” and this was something that she
said she had never thought about until being at OU. Jennifer noted that coming to OU and
joining the Filipino American student organization on campus (FASO) influenced her to identify

83
more as Filipino, because “I was able to see more people that looked like how I looked.” Jennifer
also mentioned that she did not feel as comfortable joining the black student organizations,
because those cover different countries, and she did not feel like she could go to them to learn
about Ethiopia.
Lauren shared her challenges in figuring out her identity at OU, because this was the first
time that she felt a noticeable different with everyone else around her that she had never
experienced in the past by always being surrounded by Filipino Americans. Lauren added that
prior to coming to OU, she did not even consider being Filipino American as an identifying
factor, but as others pointed it out, she became more aware of her Filipino American ethnic
identity. Lauren described her experience when she first got to OU, “I guess I was a little bit
embarrassed to say that I was Filipino American at first, because I felt like there was not anyone
else who was, and I felt just so different and isolated in my own little category.” Lauren further
noted that FASO made her more educated about her ethnic identity through workshops and guest
speakers.
Emma shared that she became more aware of herself as an Asian American through her
experiences interning and studying in Washington, DC. Emma added that, in DC, she had two
Asian American roommates who were invested in their Asian identities and cooked traditional
Asian foods. Emma said these roommates “made it their mission to get me to embrace my Asian
culture and Filipino culture,” which influenced her to identify more as Asian American. Emma
also mentioned that interning in DC, she would realize that she was sometimes the only Asian
American in a room or an entire office, or sometimes the only person of color in an office, which
she described as “eye-opening to the field that I want to go into, and looking for mentors who
look like me or have similar backgrounds to me was harder to find.”

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Danielle said that being at OU has made her more American, which she explained as,
I did not become American in the fact that I became more White, but I became more
American in the respect of being more multi-aware like multiculturalism because I do not
have any White friends either, all my friends are Japanese, Persian, or Hispanic. All my
friends here have different races.
Danielle added that this experience of having friends of many different ethnic backgrounds has
allowed her to see things differently than she had in the past only having friends from Los
Angeles.
Celina on the other hand shared that she did not feel that her ethnic identity has changed
since being a student at OU; she stated, “I think ever since I’ve been a student at OU, my
increase in pride to be Filipino has stayed the same. I still continue to be proud to be Filipino and
Filipino American.” Celina did elaborate that she feels that she understands more about the
Philippines not because of FASO, but because of her own growing up and understanding of the
issues there.
Similarities between Filipino American and Hispanic American Cultures
Danielle, Jennifer, and Veronica described similarities they observed between Filipino
American and Hispanic American cultures. Danielle shared that she grew up in a predominantly
Hispanic area and went to a predominantly Hispanic high school, but because of cultural
similarities, between Filipinos and Hispanics, she “never grew up feeling like an outcast.”
Danielle added that when she was part of a student organization at OU that taught in local
schools, the Hispanic students gravitated toward her, and these students said it was because she
kind of looked like them and that Filipino culture is similar to Hispanic culture. Danielle
mentioned that this experience teaching in local schools “made me realize that people of

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different cultures gravitate toward each other and they prefer to be with people who look like
them, which is also how I feel.” Jennifer stated that she feels there are a lot of similarities
between Filipino Americans and Hispanic Americans and being a part of the Hispanic
Engineering Club (HEC) is a big part of her involvement at OU. Jennifer described these
similarities, “I feel like they also have very similar values in terms of their being family-oriented,
immigrants, brown you know in a predominantly White community, so I really clicked with
them in that aspect.” Veronica noted that some of her Filipino friends identify more with the
Latinx culture than other AAPI groups because of Spanish colonization.
Ethnic Student Organizations
This section will discuss the findings for the participant’s involvement in the Filipino
American ethnic student organization on campus, and the influence of this involvement to the
participant’s sense of belonging on campus and ethnic identity development to address the
following research question: What influence does the Filipino American ethnic student
organization on campus have on the Filipino American undergraduate student’s ethnic identity
development and sense of belonging at a selective PWI? Regarding sense of belonging, for the
students who were involved in the Filipino American ethnic student organization, the major
finding was that the organization fostered feelings of community and family. In addition, some
participants shared that it was a good place to start their college experience, and the students
described what they felt their college experience would have been like without this Filipino
American ethnic student organization. Regarding ethnic identity development, the students who
were involved in the Filipino American ethnic student organization noted that their experiences
in this organization facilitated their Filipino American ethnic identity development, while one
student who is not involved in the organization shared feelings of not being Filipino enough to

86
join the organization. There were mixed feelings regarding the Filipino American ethnic student
organization since three students did not participate in the organization, and a few other students
explained their migration out of the club as upperclassmen. Further, some of the students
described their experiences in other ethnic student organizations at OU.
The eight students had varying levels of participation in the Filipino American Student
Organization (FASO) on campus. Celina, Lauren, and Jennifer were introduced to FASO
through the student organizations fair on campus. Celina noted that she came to OU wanting to
join FASO and was able to meet another student who was also planning to join the club. Celina
said that she was very involved in FASO during her freshman year. Lauren stated that she
initially did not feel welcomed at FASO, because she was a spring admitted student so when she
joined in the spring semester all the students already knew each other. Lauren saw the FASO
members again at an Asian American Pacific Islander Assembly (AAPISA) event, and they
encouraged her to give FASO another chance. Lauren shared that ever since then, she was very
involved in FASO participating in their internship, talent show, and cultural show. Jennifer
mentioned that she pretty much participated in all FASO had to offer during her freshman year
and that she participated in their internship and was also a board member. Veronica noted that
she came to OU with the intention of joining FASO, and her cousin was president of a Filipino
American student organization at another campus and connected her to FASO at OU. Veronica
added that she was very involved in FASO since freshman year and participated in their
internship and is also a board member. Theresa said that she got involved in FASO during her
junior year and joined the club with her boyfriend. Theresa described herself as a general
member.

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Emma, Danielle, and Hannah shared that they were not involved with FASO. Emma said
that she did try to get involved in FASO as a transfer sophomore when she arrived at OU, but it
was just too time-consuming and she did not feel a connection to the people; she said: “I just felt
that beyond physical appearance, there was nothing holding me to the people and the
organization as a whole.” Emma added that both of her parents were very involved in the
Filipino American student organizations in their colleges, and “they stressed how the Filipino
American community helped them when they were in college, in undergrad, encouraging me to
immerse myself in that community,” but Emma did not feel that FASO was a good fit for her.
Emma further stated that she felt that not being involved in FASO “doesn’t make me any more
or less Filipino.”
Danielle mentioned she had a difficult transition during her freshman year and did not
want to join any student organizations. Danielle shared that when she started joining student
organizations her sophomore year, she heard about FASO and went to a couple of meetings, but
said, “there is like the stereotype that Filipinos are super loud and excited and crazy, walking into
one of their meeting is exactly like that, it was very overwhelming.” Danielle noted that she is
already in this type of environment at home and did not want to be surrounded by this type of
atmosphere at OU. Danielle added that her mother encouraged her to be involved in FASO, and
she did attend another meeting, but decided that FASO was not for her. Hannah shared that she
was not involved in FASO, and really has not looked into it, but she did say “if I was going to
join an ethnic group, it would probably be that one.” Hannah noted that she has a friend at
another university who is half Filipino and is in the Filipino American student organization at her
campus and loves it, and encouraged her to join FASO, but Hannah said “I’ve just never

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personally felt comfortable enough.” Hannah sounded more curious about FASO during her
interview with the researcher.
Sense of Belonging
Community/connections. Lauren, Theresa, and Jennifer mentioned the importance of
their connections within the FASO community, which facilitated feelings of sense of belonging
at OU. Lauren noted that FASO became her main group of people, because she felt accepted by
them. Theresa mentioned that she joined FASO, because she fell out of another student
organization, and was looking for a community where she could have friends, connect with
people, and enjoy each other’s company. Theresa added that she’s been able to develop deeper
relationships through FASO; she described these connections as “we actually have similar
interests and wants and desires and that's how we're connecting. So, it feels deeper and I've made
closer friends from that organization than other organizations.” Jennifer shared that through
FASO, she met some of her best friends and her boyfriend, and it also allowed her to make
friends outside of her academic circle at OU. Jennifer described the connections she made
through FASO, “I think it was a really big part of me finding my social circle and building my
confidence.”
Feelings of family/home. Several of the students shared that FASO fostered feelings of
family and home, which facilitated feelings of their sense of belonging at OU. Celina stated that
she saw FASO as her family, and because of that, she was not interested in serving as a board
member for the organization, because she did not want to mix business and family. Lauren
mentioned that FASO divides members into family groups and that she felt closest to her FASO
family and they encouraged her to participate in Filipino events like the FASO cultural night.
Lauren added that her FASO “ate,” which means older sister in Tagalog, “was in accounting, and

89
she really opened a lot of doors for me and just the network that's built off that with my twin. He
got me an internship, just a lot of connections within a small group of people.” Celina noted that
everyone in FASO was welcoming, and she “felt very at home” in the club. Veronica shared that
FASO provided her a sense of belonging in a PWI; she said “I feel at home on campus 110%,
and even though like OU is a predominantly White school, I surrounded myself and I put myself
in spaces where there are other Filipinos where I do feel at home.” Veronica added that she
found her closest friends in FASO, and people that she could look up to who look like her.
Good place to start/less involvement as upperclassmen. Jennifer, Celina, and Lauren
stated that they felt FASO provided a good starting point for their college experience but
described less involvement in the organization as upperclassmen. Jennifer shared that FASO
“was a good place to start my college social life, and then kind of branch out from there.”
Jennifer added that she became less involved in FASO during her junior year to focus more on
engineering, and her academic and professional goals. Jennifer also noted that to her FASO “felt
kind of cliquey a little bit after being there for a while and that might also have been a reason
why I kind of migrated out of it.” Celina noted that FASO “definitely made my freshman year
much better than it might have been otherwise,” because it gave her a base for friends. In
addition, Celina said FASO
was very, very important to me my freshman year, which is really the time that a club
should be the most important because you really want to find people to belong with, and
school is happening too, but you want to find your group of people.
Celina added that she became less involved in her junior year, because at that point, most
of her friends in FASO had graduated, and she became a board member for another student
organization. Lauren shared that she was mainly involved in FASO during her freshman and

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sophomore year, and became less involved as a junior because she wanted to take academics
more seriously because it was time for recruiting, which is similar to comments made by
Jennifer. Lauren added that she became more involved in another student organization because,
at that point, most of her friends in FASO had graduated, which was similar to comments made
by Celina.
What college experience would be without FASO. When the researcher asked the
participants what they thought their college experience would be like without FASO, Jennifer,
Veronica, Celina, Lauren, and Theresa responded that they would have felt isolated, lonely, and
less connected. A couple of the participants stated that they may have tried to join a Panhellenic
sorority if they had not found FASO. Jennifer noted that she feels that her experience at OU
would have been so much different without FASO. Jennifer added that she thinks she would
have been “a little more shy. Maybe I would be a little bit more homesick. And maybe it would
have been a little bit more difficult to meet people outside my dorm, outside my classes.”
Veronica mentioned that without FASO, she thinks that she would have felt more isolated, and
would not feel as connected or be as involved as she is now. Theresa felt that she would have
missed out if there was no FASO, and she said that "I would just have had to connect with my
old friends back at home and would have no one here.” Celina stated that she thinks her
experience at OU would have been lonelier without FASO. Lauren said she thinks she would
have tried to “avoid the topic of being Filipino and would not embrace it the way that I do now”
if there had been no FASO at OU. Lauren added that she “probably would have tried to adapt to
fitting into a Panhellenic sorority, or I feel like I would not be as comfortable with myself as I am
now.” Jennifer also mentioned that she felt that she would have joined a Panhellenic sorority if

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there had not been a FASO at OU, because “there’s a big emphasis on joining a sorority,
fraternity” at OU.
Danielle, Hannah, and Emma are not involved in FASO, and felt their college experience
would not have been different. Danielle stated that although she felt not having a FASO would
not have changed her college experience, she added that she would not support a college not
having this organization. Danielle said:
I think every culture deserves representation and a place to gather with people who they
resonate with, and just because it was not a thing for me, does not mean that it is not a
huge thing for other people, and I know that FASO for anyone who is in it, it is a huge
part of their lives.
Hannah commented that she would be surprised if OU did not have a FASO, because of the large
Filipino population in the United States; she said that she would be “surprised a bit that a
university would not have that because it is a big presence in America.”
Ethnic Identity Development
Facilitates Filipino American ethnic identity development. The students who were
involved in FASO shared that the organization facilitated their Filipino American identity
development through connecting with other Filipino American students, attending various
workshops and events, and connecting with off-campus Filipino organizations. Lauren noted that
FASO made her a lot more educated about her Filipino American identity. Jennifer mentioned
that FASO was a big part of her cultural identity development because she “was able to see more
people that looked like how I looked” and connect to her Filipino culture more. Jennifer added
that as a result of her involvement in FASO, “I saw myself as more Filipino when I got here than
I did before.” Theresa shared that being a member of FASO has allowed her to learn more about

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Filipino culture and she wants to learn more. Theresa added that her experience in FASO has
“made me want to reclaim that Filipino heritage.” Celina mentioned that hearing stories from
friends in FASO during Pilipino-American History Month (PAHM) events, general meetings,
and other FASO activities has been “eye-opening for me” and has made her “feel a lot better to
be Filipino is the bottom line.”
Veronica noted that FASO has really made me think more of what Filipino culture is, and
“it's definitely made me identify more as Filipino American and being proud to share that. And
just learning from other people's experiences and how everyone's experience is very different.”
Veronica added that she learned a lot about Filipino culture and community organizing through
her experiences serving as a board member for FASO, which has given her the opportunity to
collaborate with off-campus Filipino organizations. Veronica further shared that through FASO,
she participated in a fellowship that sent her to the Philippines and allowed her to experience the
Philippines from a different perspective without her family. Theresa and Celina also mentioned
the various collaborations between FASO and off-campus Filipino organizations in the greater
Los Angeles area, such as the Filipino American veteran’s march and Filipino filmmakers
inviting FASO members to see their films. Jennifer mentioned that these collaborations with off-
campus Filipino organizations “opened my eyes to the activism that I can take a part into” in the
Filipino community.
Feelings of not being Filipino enough to join the club. Veronica discussed the stigma
that some students feel about not being Filipino enough to join FASO, while Hannah shared her
feelings of not being Filipino enough to join FASO. Veronica mentioned that during PAHM,
FASO hosts an identity workshop where members discuss their relationships to their Filipino
identity, and she said,

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It is always interesting how a lot of people came into FASO at first, thinking they do not
belong in it, even though they are Filipino and it is just that sense of like, am I too
American? Am I like not Filipino enough to join this? So, it is always hard like finding
other Filipinos on campus just because having for them to break that barrier in order to
join the club first and being surrounded by other Filipinos.
Veronica said that FASO is intentional about making everyone including non-Filipinos feel
welcome, and she added that there are members on the FASO executive board who are not
Filipino but resonate with the concept of Filipino hospitality and taking care of each other.
Theresa described the openness of FASO in that you do not have to be Filipino to join this club,
and “we will be family no matter what ethnicity you are.” Hannah stated that “I feel like I’m not
enough Filipino” to join FASO, and she further shared “I feel like if I did join, it would be fine.
But I have just never personally felt comfortable enough.” Hannah added she has tried asking
friends who are full or who identify more with an ethnicity to join ethnic student organizations
with her:
They say, oh, I do not even feel like I am enough of that ethnicity to join it because we
also have a lot of exchange students too and international students who I guess in
comparison, people who were born and raised in America, they do not feel as if they can
identify as much with that side of them.
Other critical ethnic student organizations on campus. Jennifer and Lauren shared the
significance of their participation in other ethnic student organizations on campus, while Theresa
mentioned a negative experience with another ethnic student organization on campus. Jennifer
discussed the importance of her involvement in the Hispanic Engineering Club (HEC) to her
ethnic identity development and sense of belonging at OU. Jennifer said,

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Even though I am not technically Hispanic, I feel that I take on a lot of their values and I
have this passion to help those people as well in the community. I see a lot of similarities
between the Filipino community and their community, so I feel like that has become big
part of who I am, too.
Jennifer also noted the significance of her experience serving as a mentor in the OU School of
Engineering’s Center for Diversity in providing support for other students of various ethnic
backgrounds; she said, “I’m ethnic and I get to help other people who are also ethnic but within
engineering.” Jennifer added that through mentoring in these ethnic student organizations:
I know that I do not only belong here but I can extend my hand to other people and make
them feel like they belong here so now I do not feel like an outsider, I feel like being one
of the family, and trying to grow the family.
Lauren described the importance of her involvement in an Asian American interest
sorority on campus to her ethnic identity development and sense of belonging at OU. Lauren
stated that, through this sorority,
I got to experience a wider range of Asian American cultures in seeing where all the
similarities lie, seeing where the differences were, kind of getting to exchange those. It
kind of opened my eyes to all the different kinds of people at OU.
Lauren added that she has been able to meet and interact with other Filipino American students
through events coordinated through her sorority. Lauren mentioned that being the only Filipina
in her sorority has made her “the go-to person for it, which is really cool for me, because I’ve
never had that experience. I have always been one in a bunch of Filipinos, and now, I get to stand
and be proud of it.” She described herself as being the spokesperson for Filipino culture for her
sorority, which she said is

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Empowering. It also feels like a sense of responsibility to represent my culture well, and
to also just be more educated, because sometimes there are things that they ask me that I
do not know the answers to, and I feel like I should.
Lauren described the members of her sorority as being her closest friends.
Theresa discussed her negative experience in trying to be a part of the Japanese American
student organization on campus. She mentioned that she attended several general meetings for
that organization, but said, “I just kind of did not feel right when I was there,” because
It seemed like people did not reach out to me or say hi or anything. I just kind of sat
there, and looked around, and then listened to what they had to say then left, rather than
being able to converse with people and talk, because of course actual general meetings
are important, but even more so is the people and being able to have connections.
Theresa noted that it felt like she was at the general meeting to watch a power point presentation
rather than to connect with people, and she did not enjoy the experience.
Campus Racial Climate and Cultural Integrity
This section will discuss the findings in relation to the following research question: What
are the perceptions of campus racial climate and cultural integrity for Filipino American
undergraduate students at a selective PWI? The major finding was that the student’s perception
of campus racial climate at OU toward Filipino American students was indifferent or nonexistent
with the rationale that it is a smaller and lesser-known population, which was voiced by all but
one participant. In addition, the students shared their perspectives regarding diversity, separate
enclaves, Greeks vs. Non-Greeks, predominantly White institution, curriculum, and faculty.
Regarding cultural integrity, the major finding was that the participants shared that they did not
know of any university policies or programming specifically for Filipino American students, but

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several mentioned university programming for the AAPI student population at OU. The
participants also shared their ideas of areas of improvement regarding the cultural integrity of
OU for Filipino American students.
Campus Racial Climate
Campus racial climate toward Filipino American students. Each of the participants
shared their perceptions of the Filipino American community at OU. Danielle, Lauren, and
Jennifer all stated that the Filipino American community at OU is small. Danielle described the
Filipino American community at OU as a “very slick stark lack of representation on campus,”
and shared that she has none, maybe one Filipino friend at OU. Lauren noted that the Filipino
American community at OU is small, and she only sees Filipinos in FASO. Hannah mentioned
that there is not much of a Filipino American presence on campus, but she has not really looked
for it. Jennifer and Veronica described the Filipino American community as growing. Veronica
shared her perceptions of the growth of the Filipino American community at OU and FASO, “it
is definitely growing especially from when I came here as a freshman and staying in the club as
an active member and seeing it grow throughout the years and us constantly gaining new
members.” Jennifer and Theresa mentioned additional positive details about the Filipino
American community at OU. Jennifer stated, “I think they are very bright, enthusiastic especially
from the beginning, which is attractive to newcomers.” Theresa added “I think they’re really
friendly and kind and open.”
Several of the students described the Filipino American community at OU as being tight
knit if you are in FASO. Veronica shared her perceptions of the FASO community, “I feel like it
is a very strong, close-knit community where everyone feels like family.” Celina mentioned the
Filipino American community at OU as being “pretty close” because of FASO. Danielle stated

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that she felt not being in FASO meant that she would have no Filipino friends at OU. Danielle
added that FASO is
A good community to be a part of when you are in it, but when you are not, you feel like
you are being left out a lot of things and I feel like it is not looked down upon to not be in
FASO and be Filipino, but you get questioned a lot for it.
Celina mentioned her opinions on students who decide not to partake in FASO, she said that she
is “kind of surprised when I meet someone who is Filipino at OU who has not at least tried
FASO for a little bit,” and then she wonders why because FASO is so welcoming, but then says
it depends on the student’s personality. Celina added that “if you are Filipino American at OU,
you probably tried to join FASO at some point or been in it at some point,” which is accurate for
all the participants except for Hannah.
All the students except for Celina voiced similar sentiments that the campus racial
climate at OU toward Filipino American students was indifferent or nonexistent with the
rationale that it is a smaller and lesser-known population. Emma shared that she felt the campus
racial climate at OU can use some work. Jennifer shared,
I feel like they are definitely one of the lesser-known communities so in terms of the
campus’s perception and attitudes toward them is just like nonexistent. I could definitely
feel that because there are very few Filipino engineers, so they do not have much of a
voice when it comes to engineering events, and the racial and diversity conversations and
stuff like that within engineering.
Danielle said,

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I feel like there are not a lot of Filipinos, so there is not a lot of judgement towards them
or like there is not a lot of thought period about Filipinos because the population of
Filipinos is so small. So, no one’s really thinking about it.
Lauren described the campus racial climate at OU toward Filipino American students as
“indifferent. I feel like we are kind of just doing our own thing. I feel like it is definitely more
embracing of other larger communities.” Veronica shared “I do not think that there has been any
discrimination against the Filipino Community. It’s just that not many people know that we exist
because we tend to be a smaller community compared to others.” Hannah added that she has not
seen anything negative toward Filipino American students at OU.
Diversity. Jennifer, Hannah, Theresa, and Celina described their perceptions of the
diversity at OU. Jennifer stated that the diversity at OU was integral to her ethnic identity
development:
Growing up in Idaho, I felt White like grew up very White, then coming here and seeing
all the different cultures through all the different clubs and everything, I realize, like no,
you have this history that you should be proud of, and you should try to explore more.
Hannah shared about her similar experience growing up in a predominantly White community,
and her perceptions of the diversity at OU:
I come from a very White area, my grade school was 95% Caucasian and my high school
was about 70% I would say, so my perception of OU when I first came here was oh, it is
really diverse, and I think they do try really hard to make it a diverse place and to try to
be respectful of everyone’s cultures.
Hannah added that she goes to a pretty diverse school within OU and participates in a fairly
diverse student organization on campus. Theresa noted that she feels that OU “is diverse in terms

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of ethnic backgrounds,” but she “would not say that OU students learn about that diversity”
because “we don’t really get to learn about each other’s ethnicities, backgrounds histories.”
Celina shared that “racial diversity happens the most in professional clubs and religious clubs.”
Celina added that although she has not participated in any of those types of organizations, “I
think it’s really good and healthy to be in stuff like that because you meet and interact with
people who have a different mindset from you.”
Separate enclaves. Celina and Jennifer described their perceptions of separate enclaves
on campus. Celina stated that with all the different ethnic student organizations at OU,
“sometimes it feels separate, but I feel like all of these communities come together in some way,
especially when it comes to school or like leadership clubs.” Jennifer noted that at times, OU
feels “very segregated” with all the different groups, “especially through like the sororities and
fraternities like there’s Black sororities/fraternities, there’s the Asian sororities/fraternities” and
she also mentioned Hispanic sororities/fraternities. Jennifer added that she does appreciate
collaborative efforts among the student organizations and feels that is the direction that the
university should be moving towards.
Greeks vs. Non-Greeks. Danielle and Celina shared their perceptions of the influence of
Greek life at OU. Danielle said that:
I feel like a big part of OU culture is Greek life. And if you are not involved in Greek life,
you also feel a lot more separated from the rest of campus, because everyone on campus,
at least 50 to 60 percent of the campus is involved in Greek life.
Danielle added “it is hard when everyone else is part of something and you are not so it is hard to
feel like you belong if you prefer to not be part of something,” and she feels that students feel
pressured to join organizations in order to make friends. Celina shared that OU culture feels very

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separate between Greeks and non-Greeks, “it is very like the Greek life people will do their own
thing, and us non-Greek people will do our own thing.” Celina added that she feels that neither
side tries to interact or understand each other, “it is more like you do your own thing. I do my
own thing.”
Predominantly White institution. Several of the participants described their experiences
of being a student in a PWI. Emma shared that although she does not feel any racial hostility
toward Filipino American students at OU, she does
sense the Whiteness that surrounds you overall as a person of color, it does not matter if
you are Hispanic or Black or Asian American, you just feel kind of out of place and just
like in a White vortex and that is something that I have talked with Asian Americans,
people in the Chinese American Association, same with the Hispanic American
Association, and it is all the same sentiment.
Danielle stated that “there is a lot of unity among anyone who does not identify as White.” She
explained that there are a lot of negative feelings toward White people at OU, because they “are
very entitled and very rich and they are the people that flaunt their wealth on campus” and “the
reputation that OU has for legacies and how they accept White people who only come from
money.” Veronica shared that when she thinks about the campus climate at OU, she “thinks of
how it is predominantly White,” and feels that OU favors White and wealthy students who
benefit more from the system than people of color or Filipinos, especially through various
scholarships. Lauren mentioned that she felt very out of place walking by the row where the frats
are primarily White and described feeling “very kind of alien like” outside of FASO. Lauren
described the OU campus climate as “predominantly White and Asian international students,”
and said that from her experience “a lot of opportunities are given to White people, more so than

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Asian people, specifically Filipino people, within the business world at least, I can’t speak for
anything else.”
Curriculum. The students shared their experiences and frustrations with the curriculum
at OU in relation to the lack of Filipino language, culture, or history courses. Theresa described
the curriculum at OU as “very White centric, and so it’s hard to learn about others.” Theresa
mentioned how she wished Filipino American history was incorporated in the curriculum,
because
I have not learned about the Philippines at all, except when America had claim over them
and then they got their independence, and that is it. So, I think it should be talked about
more, about how they came here, and they have been here, and what America has done to
the Philippines, and all of them.
Jennifer noted that she heard in class or a FASO meeting that “Tagalog is the third most spoken
language in California or something like that, and considering how little is known, how there’s
no language courses for it at OU, there’s no Filipino professors, anything like that.” Jennifer
added that there are no Filipino American studies courses at OU, but she did select the topic of
Filipino gangs for one of her courses to research its relation to immigration and Filipino culture.
Veronica also shared that there are no Filipino studies or culture courses in the curriculum at OU,
but she did select a topic related to the Philippines for one of her ethno-archeology courses.
Faculty. Theresa was the only participant who mentioned that she had Filipino professors
and how this has positively influenced her academic experience, while several other participants
shared about their experiences of having no Filipino faculty and how they felt they could have
benefited from being able to have Filipino professors. Theresa shared that she had two Filipino

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professors in theater, who are also the only Filipino professors that she knows about on campus,
and she said,
They helped me a lot to feel more connected. And they said that they know there is not
much representation, but that is why you know, they are there to say their story, and that
is why I should say mine, and we all should say ours.
Theresa added that her two Filipino professors, “as they teach, they try to teach other people
more that Filipinos exist.” Lauren shared that she feels it would have been beneficial to have
Filipino faculty or staff, because
Just to see someone who looks like you in a position of power. A) as an inspiration that
you could do it, and one day be in that position and B) just to know that someone has,
even if you don’t really know them, like someone knows what you've gone through and
kind of has your best interests in mind and just knows about your background.
Jennifer said that she did not have any Filipino professors, but she thinks she would have been
more interactive and engaged if she did, because she met a Filipino engineer at her summer
internship and asked him many questions about his academic and professional journey, and feels
that she would have reacted similarly if she had a Filipino professor. Veronica noted that it is
challenging to not have Filipino faculty at OU and to have courses who are taught by professors
who:
Are not culturally trained and are not well equipped enough to handle the situations, or
even with like the counselor sometimes in the health center or like any type of staff that
are not familiar with the different backgrounds and perspectives and are not able to
understand as much.

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Celina mentioned that she did not have any Filipino faculty and said “I guess that is not
something I really thought about either. I just kind of assumed there were not that many in
general.”
Cultural Integrity
Programs/policies specifically for Filipino American students. All the students shared
that they did not know of any programs or policies specifically for Filipino American students on
the university level, but several students mentioned university programming and initiatives for
the larger AAPI student population. Emma stated, “I do not feel like the university as a whole
has done much, just because the community is kind of small.” Lauren, Hannah, and Theresa also
mentioned that they have not heard or seen any university programming or policies specifically
for Filipino American students. Jennifer noted that in terms of university programming for
Filipino American students, “I feel like they do not do a very good job, because I cannot think of
anything that they have done, like everything that I have heard of is student-run, which is
awesome, but I think of the students versus like OU the university.” Celina shared that although
she does not “see anything like specific to Filipino American identity that is talked about by
OU,” she feels that the university’s focus is “more on the identity of the whole school.” Celina
added that “from what I have seen Filipinos and FASO do get a lot of support as it is” from the
university, and that she feels the university should show more support for Southeast Asian
students, who are currently not specifically represented through ethnic student organizations on
campus. Celina shared that she has a Cambodian American friend at OU who is in FASO,
because there is not a Cambodian American student organization on campus.
Several students discussed their positive experiences with the university programming
and policies for the larger AAPI student population through the university’s Asian American

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Pacific Islander Student Assembly (AAPISA). Danielle explained that AAPISA is a part of the
student government on campus and is “ingrained in the constitutional bylaws” of OU. Danielle
further said, “they do have Asian American representation for events and the way things are
conducted on campus regarding Asian Americans” through AAPISA. In addition, Danielle
shared that although this representation is not specifically Filipino, there is not university
representation for other specific AAPI ethnic groups, and she is okay with this because she
stated, “I kind of just relate to anything that’s vaguely Asian in a way.” Celina mentioned her
sentiments of the positive relationship between AAPISA and OU. Celina said that she feels that
OU would like to continue to see AAPISA thrive, “OU would like to keep seeing them do what
they do, which is nice.” Veronica noted that she feels that OU does a good job in cultural
programming for the AAPI student community, but not specifically for the Filipino American
community. Veronica added that she has participated in the various programs offered by the
AAPI student center on campus including the peer mentorship program, student welcome,
alternative spring break, and serving as a resident and resident advisor on the AAPI special
interest floor in the residence hall.
Areas of improvement. The students shared their ideas on areas where OU can improve
in better serving their Filipino American students. Lauren mentioned that it would have been
helpful for her to be better informed about FASO earlier, and she feels that it would be beneficial
to include Filipino American students in the university orientation process. Jennifer and
Veronica discussed the importance of outreach for Filipino American high school students from
the university level. Veronica further shared the importance of the university showing Filipino
American high school students that OU is not just “for the rich, the White, the wealthy students”
and that there are Filipino American students here, because “we do not get as many Filipino

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students compared to other races, just in the sense, like there is the whole lack of confidence that
Filipinos could come here.” Veronica also noted the importance of OU developing a retention
program for Filipino American students to check their progress and ensure that they are on track.
Jennifer mentioned that she would like to see the incorporation of the Filipino language on
campus, she said “learning the language, practicing the language, sharing the language would be
really, really cool.” Jennifer added, “I feel like encouraging the growth of the professional
Filipino American network would be a huge part,” because she said that although FASO looks at
Filipino history and culture, the organization does not discuss the future or try to set up
professional goals for its members with the help of the community. Hannah also shared that she
feels it would be great if there was a professional organization for Filipino American students at
OU. Emma mentioned her interest in mentoring opportunities that fit her professional goals.
Emma added that she does not know “a single Filipino American diplomat,” but how she feels
the experience of interacting with a mentor who comes from a similar background to “see how
they got to be where they are today, that would be so invaluable.” Theresa and Danielle shared
that they feel that FASO should be more active and involved in the wider OU campus
community. Danielle said FASO should create Filipino cultural events that are more inclusive,
and “make it an open invitation to everyone else and sort of campaign for everyone to be a part
of it.”
Sense of Belonging
The last section will discuss the findings for the fourth research question: What is the
experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with sense of belonging at a selective
PWI? The first finding was that the participants described that they find their sense of belonging
through FASO, ethnic student organizations, and other student organizations on campus. In

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addition, a couple students shared the challenges of their transition to campus, and the sense of
belonging they found on campus to facilitate their transition.
Where Students find Sense of Belonging
The students shared that they find a sense of belonging through FASO, ethnic student
organizations, student organizations, their workplace, and their roommates. Theresa stated that
FASO is the primary place where she finds a sense of belonging at OU, but she also finds a sense
of belonging at her workplace on campus, which is where she met one of her best friends. Celina
said that she finds a sense of belonging with FASO, and that this organization was very
important to her during her freshmen year, which is when she feels a club should be critical in
helping students find belonging. Celina added that she finds a sense of belonging in a student
athletic team on campus, she said, “even if I’m the only Filipino on the team, just because of the
type of upbringing we had, we were very academic and welcoming and understanding of other
people and open-minded.” Celina is a board member for the team, and she shared that this has
facilitated her leadership and communication skills. Lauren mentioned that FASO and an Asian
American sorority helped her find a sense of belonging on campus, especially since she was a
spring admitted student and felt like she missed out on a lot in terms of bonding with all the
freshman orientation events. Lauren added that in FASO, “being paired with my ate and having
that family tree, those are really the people I got closest to, and those are the people who
encouraged me to get involved in all the Filipino events like the cultural night.” Lauren also
described the girls in the Asian American sorority as her “closest friends.” Jennifer shared that
she finds her sense of belonging on campus through FASO and HEC. Jennifer added that,
through being a mentor in various cultural student organizations,

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I know that I do not only belong here, but I can extend my hand to other people and make
them feel like they belong here so now I do not feel like an outsider, I feel like being one
of the family, and trying to grow the family.
Veronica stated that she finds her sense of community through FASO and AAPISA, which she
said,
FASO and AAPISA are 110% my communities at OU just since I have been able to
connect with people on such intimate levels from having similar upbringings, and the fact
that they understand me, and where I come from and have just a lot of similarities and
things in common.
In addition, Veronica described her feelings of sense of belonging at OU as
I feel I very much belong, and I have had a really strong community because I think I
found my community in my space and have been able to be vocal about it. I definitely
feel at home, and feel very welcome, feel very safe overall because when I think of OU, I
just think of my AAPI community and that support system.
Emma mentioned that the student dance organization has influenced her sense of belonging
within the dance community at OU because it has allowed her to recognize faces in her dance
classes. Emma added that being a part of the pre-law fraternity has influenced her sense of
belonging because she can walk down the street and see someone from the organization and
catch up. Emma further shared that she finds her sense of belonging on campus through her
roommates because they have known each other since freshman year. Emma also finds a sense of
belonging with her roommates in the DC semester program “because we all have similar
interests.” Hannah shared that she finds her sense of belonging through an engineering fraternity
through which she has found her entire friend group, which she said is both good and bad and

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described as isolating since “I’m so ingrained with just them. I feel like I do not belong to the
rest of the campus.” Danielle stated that joining a university service organization was
The biggest thing that made me feel like I belonged on campus, because that was
basically where all my friends came from, and everyone that I met in the organization are
basically the people that I still hang out with now, and that is my genuine friend group
within campus.
Transition to College
Lauren and Danielle described the challenges they faced transitioning to OU, and how
student organizations facilitated their sense of belonging on campus. Lauren said,
The beginning was probably the worst semester trying to find somewhere to fit in. In my
entire life, my mental state had never been worse, especially being proximity wise distant
from campus and distant from everyone else. It was like I had to make an effort to get
here, and then even when I got here, it was like why am I here, and who am I here for.
Lauren noted that through a club basketball team on campus, she met other Asian American
students who introduced her to other students in FASO and the Asian American sorority, where
she found her sense of belonging at OU. Danielle mentioned that she had a challenging transition
to college because it was her first time ever being away from home. Danielle said that she went
home every other weekend to be with family because “it would make me sad to be here” at OU.
Danielle stated that her experience at OU changed once she joined the university service
organization because it provided her a sense of belonging at OU and a group of friends who had
a similar interest in serving and being a part of the university community. Danielle shared that
“all we did was hang out with each other and then do service events for the campus.” Danielle

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feels that if she had not joined this university service organization, she would still be going home
every weekend and would not have made any friends on campus.
Conclusion
This chapter described each of the participants of this study and discussed the findings for
each of the research questions centered on the following topics: ethnic identity development,
ethnic identity, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense
of belonging. For the first research question. The first finding that emerged was the influence of
family and community growing up to the ethnic identity development of the Filipino American
undergraduate students in this study, and the second finding was the change described by the
participants to their ethnic identity while in college. For the second research question: The first
finding that emerged was that for the students who were involved in the Filipino American
ethnic student organization on campus, they described the organization as facilitating both their
ethnic identity development and sense of belonging at OU. The second finding was that overall,
the participants had mixed feelings regarding the Filipino American ethnic student organization,
since a few students did not participate in this organization, and a few who participated shared
that they migrated out of the organization as upperclassmen. For the third research question: The
first finding that emerged was that the students’ perceptions of the campus racial climate toward
Filipino American students to be indifferent and non-existent with the rationale of Filipino
Americans being a smaller, lesser-known population on campus, and they also shared their
perspectives on diversity, separate enclaves, Greeks vs. Non-Greeks, predominantly White
institution, curriculum, and faculty on campus. The second finding was that all the students
shared of not knowing any university programs or policies specifically for Filipino American
students, and they also provided many ideas for areas of improvement regarding the cultural

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integrity of the university toward Filipino American students. For the fourth research question:
The first finding that emerged was that the Filipino American students in this study found their
sense of belonging through the Filipino American student organization, ethnic student
organizations, and other student organizations on campus.

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CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of Filipino American
undergraduate students with ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus
racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging at a selective PWI through the lens of
Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American identity development model, Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited
in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity, and Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) sense of belonging. This
study sought to add to the limited research on this highly underrepresented student population,
and to gain a deeper understanding of their unique experiences through semi-structured
interviews with eight participants. This chapter will provide a discussion of the findings as well
as links to the literature for each of the research questions:
1. What is the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with ethnic identity
development prior to attending a selective PWI, and while being a student at a selective
PWI?
2. What influence does the Filipino American ethnic student organization on campus have
on the Filipino American undergraduate student’s ethnic identity development and sense
of belonging at a selective PWI?
3. What are the perceptions of campus racial climate and cultural integrity for Filipino
American undergraduate students at a selective PWI?
4. What is the experience of Filipino American undergraduate students with sense of
belonging at a selective PWI?

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Discussion of Findings
Ethnic Identity Development/Ethnic Identity
For the first research question: What is the experience of Filipino American
undergraduate students with ethnic identity development prior to attending a selective PWI, and
while being a student at a selective PWI? The first finding that emerged was the influence of
family and community growing up to the ethnic identity development of the Filipino American
undergraduate students in this study. The second finding was the change described by the
participants to their ethnic identity while in college.
Parental and family influences. There is previous research on the parental and family
influences on Filipino American college students, although the researcher did not find literature
specifically on the influences of the community in which the students grew up, which could be
an area of future research. Aure’s (2005) study found that family was more influential than peers
for Filipino American college students. Monzon’s (2003) research found parents play a
significant role in the lives of Filipino American college students, since these families view
attending college as a collective rather than individual activity. Celina’s description of being
Filipino American was influenced by her understanding of the sacrifices made by her parents and
grandparents in coming to the United States, and her strong desire to try her best to bring pride to
her family as well as her Filipino and American heritage. Similarly, Veronica described that to
her, being Filipino American means
I come from immigrant parents so I was always growing up with very strong, traditional
Filipino values, very familial centric, very sacrificial in the sense of all the sacrifices my
parents had to make from them immigrating here from the Philippines.

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In Maramba’s (2008a) study, most of the students were encouraged by their families to apply to
colleges that were close to home. Lauren, who is from Southern California, shared “my parents
did not allow me to apply anywhere outside of Southern California, so I was confined to this
area.”
Panganiban (2016) found that Filipino American college students are encouraged by their
parents to select majors that will lead to high-paying jobs, such as those in the biological
sciences, computer science, and engineering. Lauren shared her parents signed her up for a
medical focus program in high school, because they wanted her to be a doctor. Lauren said that
she “applied to the business major without them knowing. They thought I was applying for
medicine, but I was always more interested in the business aspects of the hospitals that I was
interning at.” Celina’s parents encouraged her to continue pursuing an engineering major when
she was having difficulty.
In Maramba’s (2008) study, all the participants described their family as being strongly
connected to their Filipino American identity, and this resonated with half of the participants in
this current study-Lauren, Veronica, Celina, and Danielle. Danielle shared the importance of her
grandparents to her Filipino ethnic identity, because she grew up spending three to six months of
every year in the Philippines where she would stay with her mother’s parents, and when she was
in America, her father’s mother lived with her family. As a result, Danielle described herself as a
“super Filipino,” which she explained as “I see my first language as being Filipino, and I see my
culture as being Filipino, and my family as being Filipino, and I want my kids to identify with
my culture.”
On the other hand, Panganiban (2016) found that some parents may choose not to share
their Filipino culture with their children as a result of colonial mentality with the belief that, for

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their children to succeed, they would need to teach their children that being American is superior
to being Filipino. Hannah shared her mother never shared any information about their Filipino
culture until she was in high school, and her mother realized that her daughter had no Filipino
culture in her life. Theresa mentioned that she did not learn about her Filipino culture from her
parents, because her dad was adopted by a White family and has no connection, and her mom
moved here when she was nine or 10 years old and doesn’t remember much.
Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American identity development model. Seven of the eight
participants described a change to their ethnic identity while in college, which is line with
previous research that college is a critical period of identity development (Evan et al., 2010).
Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American identity development model provided a framework to better
understand this change in ethnic identity described by the participants in this study. Nadal’s
(2004) model consists of six stages that are nonsequential and nonlinear.
Stage one is Ethnic Awareness, which begins with a child’s earliest memories and a child
will stay in this stage longer when given opportunities to learn about their culture through a
strong family background and Filipino community (Nadal, 2004), which lined up with the
finding in this study on the significance of family and community growing up to the participants’
ethnic identity development and ethnic identity. Lauren, Veronica, Celina, and Danielle
described their Filipino American ethnic identity development as being strongly influenced by
their family and community growing up, which insinuated that they were in the Ethnic
Awareness stage for a longer period in comparison to the other participants in this study (Nadal,
2004).
Stage two is Assimilation to Dominant Culture, which is when the Filipino American
individual shows a preference toward the dominant culture versus their Filipino culture, and

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aspires for Whiteness and assimilation (Nadal, 2004). Emma describes herself as being in the
Assimilation to Dominant Culture stage (Nadal, 2004), since she said she is “very Whitewashed.
My mom calls me a coconut, because I am brown on the outside, but White on the inside. I do
not really have a tie to the Filipino American community.” Emma added that the community that
she grew up as “very, very White.” Veronica mentioned her experience with colonial mentality
and colorism growing up, and said “I grew up wanting to assimilate more to American culture,
and kind of trying to hide my Filipino culture even though I was surrounded by other Filipinos.”
Stage three is Social Political Awakening, which is characterized by the increased
realization of racial inequality and social injustice leading the Filipino American individual to
separate from their identification with White society and to form a better understanding of
oppressed groups (Nadal, 2004). Theresa’s change in ethnic identity in college fits the Social
Political Awakening stage (Nadal, 2004), she said,
I think I have owned the title of Asian American and Filipino American more, because at
first, it is like I am just American and I just happen to look Asian, but now it is more that
I want to claim that I am a minority, because there is lots to be said that has been ignored,
because of my ethnicity and my ancestors are not White. So, I have definitely been more
verbal about Asian rights and stereotypes, and problems that occur in America.
Hannah also shared that she became more vocal about her ethnic identity in college.
Stage four is Panethnic Asian American Consciousness, which is when the Filipino
American individual has a stronger identification as Asian American versus Filipino American.
Emma shared that she became more aware of herself as an Asian American and identified more
as Asian American through her experience having Asian American roommates in college, who
were intentional about encouraging her to embrace her Asian and Filipino cultures. Lauren stated

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that her experience in an Asian American interest sorority at OU allowed her to experience a
wider range of Asian American cultures. Celina shared that through her experience in an athletic
team on campus consisting of predominantly Chinese students, she has become more interested
in other Asian countries, and that she even traveled to Taiwan with some of her friends from the
team.
Stage five is Ethnocentric Realization, which is the stage in which the Filipino American
individual understands that Filipino Americans are marginalized within the Asian American
community and wants to identify distinctly as Filipino American. Veronica explained that
“Filipinos are a marginalized community already within the marginalized community” when
describing the difference between Asian Pacific American organizations and Filipino
organizations, which indicated that she is in the Ethnocentric Realization stage (Nadal, 2004).
Veronica said she has reclaimed her Filipino identity in college. Jennifer stated that joining the
Filipino American student organization (FASO) at OU influenced her to identify more as
Filipino. Lauren shared that coming to OU led her to become more aware of her Filipino
American identity, since she had grown up in a predominantly Filipino community and didn’t
considering being Filipino American an identifying factor until she came to college, and felt a
noticeable difference with everyone else around her. Lauren added that FASO made her more
educated about her Filipino identity through workshops and guest speakers. Celina explained that
she understands more about the Philippines while in college through her own growing up and
understanding of the issues there.
Stage six is Incorporation, which is the stage that the Filipino American individual is
most satisfied with his or her Filipino American culture and appreciates all other racial
backgrounds. Danielle described her change in ethnic identity in college as becoming more

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aware of other cultures through having friends from various ethnic backgrounds that allowed her
to see things differently than prior to college, although she still has a strong identification to her
Filipino American culture, which placed her in the Incorporation stage (Nadal, 2004). Jennifer
shared about her stronger identification as Filipino American through her involvement in FASO
as well as her affiliation with the Hispanic identity through her being involved in the Hispanic
Engineering club and the significance of her experience serving as a mentor in the OU School of
Engineering’s Center for Diversity in providing support for other students of various ethnic
backgrounds, which places her in the Incorporation stage (Nadal, 2004).
A review of the literature only found one study that included Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino
American identity model, which was the study by Panganiban (2016). As a result, this study
sought to fill this gap by incorporating this framework, and encourages future research exploring
Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American identity model.
Ethnic Student Organizations
For the second research question: What influence does the Filipino American ethnic
student organization on campus have on the Filipino American undergraduate student’s ethnic
identity development and sense of belonging at a selective PWI? The first finding that emerged
was that for the students who were involved in the Filipino American ethnic student organization
on campus, they described the organization as facilitating both their ethnic identity development
and sense of belonging at OU, which is in line with previous research in support of ethnic student
organizations (Harper & Quaye, 2007; Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Museus, 2008; Museus &
Quaye, 2009; Sidanius et al., 1994), and the limited research on ethnic student organizations for
Filipino American college students (Aure, 2005; Halagao, 2010; Oliveros, 2009). The second
finding was that overall, the participants had mixed feelings regarding the Filipino American

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ethnic student organization, since a few students did not participate in this organization and a few
who participated shared that they migrated out of the organization as upperclassmen for various
reasons, which is line with the findings from the Maramba (2003) study.
There have been very few studies that have been conducted on the experiences of Filipino
American college students with ethnic student organizations, which have generally been positive
and in support of ethnic student organizations. Oliveros’s (2009) and Aure’s (2005) studies
found that Filipino American ethnic student organizations created a sense of belonging for its
members, and increased awareness of their Filipino culture and identity as well as social justice
issues. The findings from this current study are in line with Oliveros’s (2009) and Aure’s (2005)
studies for the participants who were involved in the Filipino American student organization on
campus, and described the organization as creating a sense of community and connections as
well as fostering feelings of family and home for its members.
In addition, the students who were involved in FASO shared that the organization
facilitated their Filipino American identity development through interacting with other Filipino
American students, attending events and workshops, and making connections with off-campus
Filipino organizations to learn about social justice issues in the Filipino American community.
This current study added to the literature in its finding that several of the participants voiced that
the Filipino American student organization was a great place to start their college involvement,
but shared of declining involvement in their junior and senior years as they became more
involved in academics, internships, career development, and other organizations. This current
study also added to the literature by including the participants’ perceptions of what their college
experience would have been without a Filipino American student organization on campus to

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which the students who are involved responded that they would have felt isolated, lonely, and
less connected.
The second finding was in line with Maramba’s (2003) study that found mixed feelings
regarding the experience of Filipino American college students toward ethnic student
organizations, since five of the participants in this current study described involvement in FASO,
while three participants were not involved in this organization. Two of these three participants
checked out the organization while the other one had not shown any interest. In the Maramba
(2003) study, some students shared that they do not participate in ethnic student organizations,
because they see them as cliques, while the three students shared a variety of reasons for not
being involved in FASO. Emma mentioned that she did try to get involved with FASO, but it
was too time consuming and she did not feel a connection to the people beyond physical
appearances. Danielle also tried to join FASO and after going to a couple meetings, she did not
feel that it was a good fit for her, because she said she was already surrounded by this
environment at home, and did not want to be surrounded by this type of atmosphere in college.
Hannah stated that she did not feel Filipino enough to join the club, and never looked into joining
the organization although she did show interest during her interview with the researcher. Jennifer
shared that part of her reason for migrating out of the club was that it felt cliquey, which is in
line with the students in the Maramba (2003) study who did not participate in the Filipino
American student organization because they saw them as cliques.
Campus Racial Climate and Cultural Integrity
Campus racial climate. For the third research question: What are the perceptions of
campus racial climate and cultural integrity for Filipino American undergraduate students at a
selective PWI? The first finding that emerged on campus climate was that the students’

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perceptions of the campus racial climate toward Filipino American students to be indifferent and
non-existent with the rationale of Filipino Americans being a smaller, lesser-known population
on campus. The second finding on campus climate was that the missed opportunities felt by the
participants of not being able to connect with Filipino faculty and staff at OU, with the exception
of one participant who shared about her positive experiences having two Filipino professors. In
this current study, Theresa was the only participant who had Filipino professors and she shared
how this positively influenced her academic experience, while Jennifer and Lauren shared how
they felt they could have benefitted from having Filipino professors and staff. Jennifer stated that
she felt she would have been more interactive and engaged if she had Filipino professors. Lauren
discussed the importance of having Filipino faculty and staff, because “just to see someone who
looks like you in a position of power” serves as an inspiration, and this person “knows what
you’ve gone through and kind of has your best interests in mind and just knows about your
background.” These findings are in line with those of Maramba’s (2003) and Maramba’s (2008b)
studies in which Filipino American college students shared the importance of having a critical
mass of Filipino American students as well as Filipino American faculty and staff to serve as a
source of support on campus. In addition, Tinto’s (1993) study discussed the importance of
critical mass to sustain diverse communities and to prevent students, faculty, and staff of color
from feeling like they have to represent for their race.
One student in this current study voiced similar concerns to the students in Maramba’s
(2003) study of having unapproachable faculty and teaching assistants who did not understand
them. Veronica shared about the challenges of having faculty and staff at OU who “aren’t
culturally trained and aren’t well equipped to handle the situations” of working with students
from “different backgrounds and perspectives and aren’t able to understand as much.”

121
The third finding on campus climate was feelings of frustration regarding the lack of
Filipino language, culture, or history courses at OU, which is also in line with the findings from
Maramba’s (2003) study in which students described the lack of courses on Filipino history and
culture at their institution. Theresa shared that she wished Filipino American history was
incorporated in the curriculum. Jennifer voiced her frustration of the lack of Tagalog courses at
OU despite how prevalent the language is spoken in California. Panganiban’s (2016) research
showed that these ethnic studies courses provide students with a different perspective of their
ethnic identity, which influences their sense of belonging at the university.
Cultural integrity. The first finding on cultural integrity was that all the students shared
of not knowing of any programs or policies specifically for Filipino American students on the
university level, but several of the participants mentioned university programming for the larger
AAPI student population. Danielle, Celina, and Veronica shared about their positive experiences
with the university programming for the larger AAPI student population, which differs from the
experiences of the Filipino American students in the Maramba (2008b) study who felt that their
university made them feel invisible by grouping them under the AAPI category.
The second finding was the students shared many ideas for areas of improvement
regarding the cultural integrity of the university toward Filipino American students. These
recommendations for the university included outreach to Filipino American high school students,
inclusion of Filipino American students in university orientation process, retention programs
specifically for Filipino American students, incorporation of Filipino language courses, creation
of a professional Filipino American network, and encouragement of FASO to be more active and
involved in the wider OU campus community. These suggestions provided by the students are in
line with Tierney and Jun’s (1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity, which states that

122
institutions of higher education have a responsibility to create cultures that are inclusive of
students of all cultural backgrounds, and the responsibility of integration should not be placed
solely on the student. This finding extended the research of Maramba (2008b), which found the
importance of institutions providing culturally relevant programs and policies for Filipino
American college students by providing specific recommendations from Filipino American
undergraduate students on programs and policies that they feel would be beneficial. It would be
interesting for a future research study to look into institutions that incorporate culturally relevant
policies and programs specifically for Filipino American students, and the impact these policies
and programs have for these students.
Sense of Belonging
For the fourth research question: What is the experience of Filipino American
undergraduate students with sense of belonging at a selective PWI? The finding that emerged
was that the Filipino American students in this study found their sense of belonging through the
Filipino American student organization, ethnic student organizations, and student organizations
on campus. This finding is in line with Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) study that found that
involvement in student organizations was strongly associated with sense of belonging. In
addition, this current study provided support for Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) and Maramba’s
(2008b) finding that students who reported a hostile campus climate but belonged to a cultural
student organization held a higher level of sense of belonging than those who did not participate
in these organizations, since Veronica shared,
I definitely feel at home and feel very welcome, feel very safe overall because I guess
when I think of OU, I just think of my AAPI community and that support system and I
don't think of it as much as a big picture thing of being the minority or being amongst

123
other White students, it is kind of an afterthought once I kind of step back just because
my world at OU is very centered around my involvement in a lot of different AAPI
oriented stuff.
Further, the Hurtado and Carter (1997) study emphasized the importance for students of color to
have opportunities to build connections within communities both on and off campus in which
they are already culturally familiar with pre-college. In this current study, several of the
participants involved in FASO described the opportunities to get connected with the off-campus
Filipino American community through various arts and social justice initiatives. Veronica shared
that through FASO, she was able to get connected with a fellowship through an off-campus
organization that sent her to the Philippines over the summer. Theresa and Celina mentioned
opportunities for FASO members to participate in a Filipino veterans’ march through an off-
campus organization.
In addition, this current study provided support for Maramba and Museus’s (2013) study
that found that students who have a strong connection to their own ethnic groups also had more
interactions with students from other cultural groups, which also fosters increased feelings of
sense of belong for Filipino American college students. Jennifer, Lauren, Celina, and Veronica
shared of their heavy involvement with FASO in the beginning of their college career, but
increased involvement in other multi-cultural student organizations in their later years of college.
This current study also provided findings that students found their sense of belonging in not just
the Filipino American student organization on campus, but also in a student athletic team, an
Asian American sorority, a Hispanic engineering club, the Asian American Pacific Islander
Assembly, a student dance organization, a pre-law fraternity, a university service organization,
roommates, and co-workers.

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Another finding of this current study was the importance of student organizations for
facilitating sense of belonging for students facing challenging transitions to OU, which provided
support to the Hurtado and Carter’s (1997) study on sense of belonging, which focused on the
challenges students faced in their transition to college. Lauren and Danielle shared of very
challenging transitions to college, and how their involvement in student organizations allowed
them to find a sense of belonging on campus. Lauren said that her involvement in a club
basketball team on campus allowed her to meet other Asian American students who introduced
her to other students in FASO and the Asian American sorority, which are the two organizations
where she finds her sense of belonging at OU. Danielle became involved in a university service
organization and found a friend group who had her similar interests of serving and being a part
of the university community.
Limitations
The limitations of this study were the specificity and size of its sample of eight female
participants who had been students at OU for at least two years, and its site being a PWI in
Southern California with a fairly active Filipino American student organization, which created
implications to the internal and external validity of this study. The unique experiences and
perspectives of the eight female participants in this sample with ethnic identity development,
ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging at
OU may not be generalizable to those of other Filipino American students at OU and other
institutions. Further, the experiences of Filipino American students may vary significantly in
institutions that are not predominantly White, located in different regions, and with more or less
active Filipino American student organizations.

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Another limitation is that the data of this study consisted of one interview with each
participant, and, as a result, there may be implications with relying solely on self-reported data
during one specific point in time. Future research in this area may consider including multiple
types of data, and several interviews with each participant at different points of their college
career.
Implication for Practice
This study provided a greater understanding on the unique experiences of Filipino
American college students with ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations,
campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging, which is beneficial for higher
education professionals and student affairs practitioners working with this underrepresented and
underachieving student population. In addition, this study incorporated Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino
American identity model, which Nadal (2004) shared is helpful for counselors working with
Filipino American students in providing them with a better understanding of where the students
may be in their ethnic identity development, and what their unique needs may be as a result.
Further, a finding from this study was the many ideas for areas of improvement shared by
the participants regarding the cultural integrity of the university toward Filipino American
students, which can provide ideas for higher education professionals and student affairs
practitioners looking for better ways to support this underrepresented and underachieving student
population. These recommendations for areas of improvement included outreach to Filipino
American high school students, inclusion of Filipino American students in the university
orientation process, retention programs specifically for Filipino American students, incorporation
of Filipino language courses, creation of a professional Filipino American network, and
encouragement of FASO to be more active and involved in the wider OU campus community.

126
These ideas for areas of improvement are especially valuable coming from Filipino American
undergraduate students who are upperclassmen and have several years of experience being
students at a PWI.
Future Research
This study added to the limited literature on Filipino American undergraduate students,
but much more research needs to be conducted to gain a better understanding of the unique
experiences of this underrepresented and misunderstood student population. As mentioned
above, a limitation of this study was the specificity and size of its sample of eight female
participants who had been students at OU for at least two years, and its site being a PWI in
Southern California with a relatively active Filipino American student organization. Future
research can incorporate a larger sample consisting of both males and females who have been
students at the institution for various periods of time. In addition, it may be helpful to select
research sites consisting of different types of institutions in different regions with varying levels
of activity in the Filipino American student organization on campus. Another limitation of this
study was that the data consisted of just one interview with each participant relying solely on
self-reported data. Future research in this area could include other forms of data collection, such
as focus groups and observations, as well as multiple interviews with each participant during
different points of their college career.
There are many potential ideas for future research based on the findings and literature
review of this study. A finding from this study was the significant influence of the community in
which the students grew up to their ethnic identity development, but the researcher was unable to
find previous research specifically on this for Filipino American students, which could be an area
for future research, and it would be particularly interesting for this future study to incorporate

127
Yosso’s (2004) community cultural wealth. Another finding from this study were the
recommendations provided by the students for areas of improvement in the cultural integrity of
the university for Filipino American students, thus it would be interesting for a future research
study to examine institutions that incorporate these culturally relevant policies and programs
specifically for Filipino American students and the impact these policies and programs have for
these students. In addition, the researcher only found one previous study that incorporated
Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American identity model, so it would be helpful for future studies to
consider including this identity model. Further, the Oliveros (2009) study found that ethnic
student organizations provide benefits to the institution, which was not examined in this current
study, but can be incorporated in future studies. Lastly, Halagao’s (2010) study provided data
showing the long-term influence of ethnic student organizations on Filipino American college
students, which was also out of the scope of this current study, but should certainly be considered
in future research in this area.
Conclusion
This study shared the unique experiences and perspectives of eight Filipino American
undergraduate students with ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus
racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging at a PWI to add to the very limited
literature on this highly underrepresented and often misunderstood student population.
For ethnic identity development, the main finding was the significant influence of family
and community growing up to the ethnic identity development for the Filipino American
undergraduate students in this study. The researcher found previous research on the parental and
family influences on Filipino American college students but did not find literature specifically on
the influences of community in which the students grew up, which could be an area of future

128
research. Regarding ethnic identity, seven of the eight participants described a change to their
ethnic identity in college, which matches up with previous research that college is a critical
period for identity development (Evan et al., 2010). The researcher discussed each participant’s
change in ethnic identity through the lens of Nadal’s (2004) Pilipino American Identity
Development Model.
In terms of ethnic student organizations, the first main finding was that students who
were involved in the Filipino American ethnic student organization described this organization as
facilitating both their ethnic identity development and sense of belonging at OU, which was in
line with previous research. The second main finding on ethnic student organizations was that
the participants had mixed feelings about ethnic student organizations, since five participants
were involved in FASO while three participants were not involved in this organization, while
several participants shared of their migration out of the organization as upperclassmen; this
finding was in line with Maramba’s (2003) study, which also found mixed feelings regarding the
experience of Filipino American college students toward ethnic student organizations.
Regarding campus racial climate, the first main finding that emerged was the student’s
perceptions of the campus racial climate toward Filipino American students to be indifferent and
non-existent with the reason being that Filipino Americans are a smaller, lesser-known
population on campus. Additionally, this study found student frustration with the lack of Filipino
faculty and staff as well as Filipino language, culture, and history courses at OU, which was in
line with previous studies.
For cultural integrity, all of the students shared of not knowing of any university-level
programs and policies specifically for Filipino American students, but several mentioned
university programming for the larger AAPI student population, which seemed to be satisfactory

129
to several of the participants, and this differed from the experiences of the Filipino American
college students in the Maramba (2008b) study who felt that their university made them feel
invisible by grouping them in the AAPI category. The second finding on cultural integrity were
the many ideas that the students shared for areas of improvement regarding the cultural integrity
of the university toward Filipino American students, and this finding supports Tierney and Jun’s
(1999, as cited in Tierney, 1999) cultural integrity that emphasizes the importance of the
university in creating culturally inclusive and relevant policies and programs.
The main finding for sense of belonging was that the Filipino American undergraduate
students in this study found their sense of belonging through the Filipino American student
organization, ethnic student organizations, and student organizations on campus, which was in
line with the finding from the Hurtado and Carter (1997) study, which found that involvement in
student organizations were strongly associated with sense of belonging.
The researcher hopes that this study can spark more interest and attention for Filipino
American undergraduate students both by researchers and practitioners to better support this
underrepresented and underachieving student population. The areas of improvement for cultural
integrity that the students shared in this study, which included outreach to Filipino American
high school students, inclusion of Filipino American students in the university orientation
process, retention programs specifically targeted for Filipino American students, incorporation of
Filipino language courses, encouragement of Filipino American ethnic student organizations to
be more active and involved with the wider university community, and the creation of a
professional Filipino American network, are recommendations that university officials should
consider in finding better ways to serve this highly underrepresented and underachieving student
population on their campuses. The researcher also seeks to show Filipino American

130
undergraduate students through this study that their voice, their perspectives, their experiences
are unique and have significance.

131
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138
APPENDIX A
Interview Questions

The background questions are as follows:
(1) Where did you grow up?
(2) How did you decide to attend XXX?
(3) What year are you at XXX?
(4) What is your major, and how did you select this major?
(5) Are you currently working, and if so, where? Is this job on campus or off campus? If
off campus, what city is the job located in and what is your method of transportation?
(6) Do you reside on campus, near campus, or commute? If you commute, what city do
you commute from and what is your method of transportation?
The table below shows the constructs from Chapter 2, and the interview questions related
to the construct that were used in the interview protocol:
Construct (from Chapter 2)

Interview Questions Related To It

Ethnic Identity Development

1. What does it mean to you to be a Filipino-
American?

2. What are the factors that have influenced
your ethnic identity development prior to
college? Can you provide some examples?

3. Do you feel that there has been a change to
your ethnic identity development since being
a student at XXX? Can you provide some
examples?

Prompt: If so, what are the factors that have
influenced your ethnic identity development
since you've been a student at XXX? Can you
provide some examples?

139
Ethnic Student Organizations

1. Are you involved in Troy Philippines (Troy
Phi), the Filipino-American student
organization on campus?

Prompt: If so, how did you get involved?
Can you describe your involvement?
How this involvement has influenced your
experience at XXX so far?
Do you feel that your involvement in Troy
Phi has influenced your ethnic identity
development? If so, can you please elaborate
and provide some examples?
Do you feel that your involvement in Troy
Phi has influenced your sense of belonging on
campus? If so, can you please elaborate, and
provide some examples?

Prompt: If not, can you share why you've
decided not to be involved?
What is your perception of this organization
and its members?

2. Suppose you attended a university that did
not have a Filipino-American student
organization, how do you think your
experience would be different from the one
you have at XXX with Troy Phi?
(Hypothetical)

3. What are the other student organizations
that you're involved in on campus (if any)?
How has participating in these organizations
influenced your experience at XXX so far?
Do you feel that your involvement in these
organizations has influenced your ethnic
identity development? If so, can you please
elaborate and provide some examples?
Do you feel that your involvement in these
organizations has influenced your sense of
belonging on campus? If so, can you please
elaborate, and provide some examples?

Campus Racial Climate

1. How would you describe the Filipino-
American community at XXX?

140

2. What are your perceptions of the campus
racial climate at XXX toward Filipino-
American students?
3. What is your perception of campus racial
climate at XXX overall?

Cultural Integrity

1. How well do you think XXX creates
programs that are culturally relevant to you as
a Filipino-American student?
2. What are some of these programs, can you
describe them? Do you participate in these
programs?

3. If you could be in charge of developing
XXX's cultural programs and policies, what
do you feel would be the ideal cultural
programs and practices to support Filipino-
American students, and why? (Ideal
Position)

Sense of Belonging

1. How would you describe your feelings of
sense of belonging at XXX?

2. Where and with whom would you describe
as your community at XXX that foster
feelings of sense of belonging? Can you
provide some examples?

141
APPENDIX B
Recruitment Email
Dear Student,
My name is Katrina Miranda, and I’m a doctoral candidate in the Rossier School of
Education at the University of Southern California. I’m conducting research for my dissertation
on Ethnic Identity Development, Ethnic Student Organizations, and Sense of Belonging for
Filipino-American Undergraduate Students at a Selective Predominantly White Institution, and
the site for this research is xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx.
I’m looking to interview at least 8 students who 1) identify as Filipino-American 2) has
been a student at XXX for at least two years. The interviews will take place on campus, and will
last approximately 45-90 minutes. The first part of the interview will consists of questions to
gather information about your background. The second part of the interview will include
questions that explore your experiences with ethnic identity development, ethnic student
organizations, and sense of belonging at XXX. The interviews will be audio recorded in order for
the interviews to be transcribed by a professional transcription company. Once the interview
transcript is received, the researcher will send the transcript to the interviewee to check for
accuracy. You will receive a $15 Trader Joe’s gift card for your time. The gift card will be given
to you after you’ve reviewed the transcript from your interview for accuracy, and you’ve notified
the researcher.
If you have any questions about this study or are interested in participating, please
contact me at xxxxxxxx@xxxxxx. Thanks for reading, and I hope to meet you soon!
Best, Katrina

Abstract (if available)

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Asset Metadata

Creator Miranda, Katrina C. (author)

Core Title Ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging for Filipino American undergraduate students at a selective predominan...

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 07/30/2020

Defense Date 06/17/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag campus racial climate,cultural integrity,ethnic identity,ethnic identity development,ethnic student organizations,Filipino American undergraduate students,OAI-PMH Harvest,sense of belonging

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Green, Alan G. (committee chair), Garcia Montano, Guadalupe (committee member), Tobey, Patricia E. (committee member)

Creator Email kcmirand@usc.edu,mirandakatrina@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-353177

Unique identifier UC11663547

Identifier etd-MirandaKat-8829.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-353177 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-MirandaKat-8829.pdf

Dmrecord 353177

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Miranda, Katrina C.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA