Introduction

When invited to submit a special issue proposal on queer and trans (QT) college student retention for The Journal of College Student Retention: Theory, Research and Practice, I was both eager and reflective. My eagerness stemmed from my love and devotion to serving QT collegians through research, and a recognition that there has been a historical absence of empirical and theoretical scholarship highlighting retention strategies and contexts for these student populations. The reflection I experienced was rooted in my experiences as a queer student and my complex undergraduate journey, particularly related to the relationship between my sexuality and academic pursuits. My queerness continues to be a sustaining and centering force guiding my scholarly portfolio and has fostered kinship with other QT scholars who have shared passions for liberation through education and research.

Although I am grateful for the opportunity to guest edit a special issue, I am also cautious with the continued exclusion of QT people in retention efforts and research. For multiple reasons, particularly related to the absence of QT people in institutional, national, and federal data collection, higher education researchers have chosen not to include QT student experiences when examining retention. The politicization of QT students and lack of data have left QT students largely ignored in student success initiatives. These contexts are particularly alarming given the tumultuous current political climate for QT students in the United States. The substance and tone of exclusion from Trump’s presidential administration has called into question the status and rights of QT students, creating polarizing and contentious debates about student success. The negative political rhetoric has shaped the consciousness and well-being of QT students locally and nationally, and if such concerns continue to grow, the hostility toward QT students will continue to affect their success.

This special issue features topics about QT student retention with complementary and varying perspectives. The first article by Legg, Cofino, and Sanlo revisits the only publication in The Journal of College Student Retention: Theory Research and Practice to discuss lesbian, gay, and bisexual students. Recognizing the void in research about queer student retention and the continued exclusion of trans students in retention scholarship, the authors describe the necessity of studying QT retention from their perspectives and various experiences as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer center directors. In the second article, I provide critical imperatives for studying QT undergraduate student retention, directing my implications to education scholars, institutional researchers, and assessment professionals. I focus my discussion on four key contexts when studying QT retention, including methodological, institutional, interpersonal, and individual contexts, and use a critical cultural perspective to promote the proliferation of QT retention scholarship.

The next three articles problematize singular understandings of QT students, exploring multiple identities, connectivity and kinship, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as central to understanding retention. In the third article, Coleman, Wallace, and Means utilize a queer of color critique conceptual framework and an anti-Black racism lens to address the erasure of Black racial identity in QT retention research. They present a systematic literature review to center the nuanced experiences of Black QT college students at the intersections of their gender, racial, and sexual identities. Pitcher and Simmons wrote the fourth article, overviewing connections, community, and kinship as survival and thriving strategies for QT retention. In their article, they uplift QT students through examining well-being, identity development, resilience, and agency. In the fifth article, Mobley and Hall present a model for QT student engagement and retention at HBCUs. Their practice-based model provides guidance to how HBCUs can engage QT students into, through, and beyond their higher education experiences.

In the sixth and seventh articles, the authors utilize intersectionality and queer theory as epistemological and theoretical foundations to examine and deconstruct systems and institutions that dominate scholars’ conceptualizations of retention. The sixth article, authored by Duran, Pope, and Jones, provides intersectionality as an analytical framework to attend to overlapping systems of power and oppression within retention. Highlighting structural, representational, and political intersectionality, the authors provide examples in higher education practice and policy regarding QT student retention. Finally, in the seventh article, Denton addresses retention scholarship from a queer theoretical perspective. His article raises questions, tensions, and complexities of retention scholarship and practice using poststructural thought about sexuality and gender.