Hall Pass: DACA recipients’ experiences “passing” in higher education

ABSTRACT Undocumented students face numerous hardships in their pursuit of higher education. Those who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program experience some improved college access and tuition affordability, but many administrative and financial barriers continue to impede their educational pursuits. This qualitative work explores how DACA recipients attempt to circumvent those limitations by “Hall Passing.” The concept of “Hall Passing” combines the familiar concept to most attendees of U.S. schools of the hall pass (written, conditional, permission granted to students to be out of the locational bounds typically expected) and the concept of the act of “passing.” “Passing” is when some members of marginalized groups modify or conceal characteristics that identify them as the Other. The new concept of “Hall Passing” came out of the results of this study which found that DACAmented students at predominantly white institutions commonly rely on their government-issued documentation and presumptions about their race, speech accent, and background to create opportunities to circumvent restrictions (i.e., Hall Passes). Instances of Hall Passing are understood as acts of resistance to existing inequalities related to post-secondary education.