Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to understand how homelessness affects UW-Madison and college students more broadly.
Students will be able to understand the different rhetoric surrounding homelessness and its impact on perception and support resources.
Students will understand how homelessness and other financial hardships impact not only their physical and mental health, but their ability to get an education.
Podcast Questions:
Were you surprised to find out that many students face homelessness? Why or why not?
Throughout the episode, Lucchini-Butcher and Pasqualone discuss two popular ideas in the rhetoric surrounding homelessness: blame of the individual and structural impediments. How does each conception impact the way homelessness occurs, is discussed, and what support resources are offered?
What are some of the primary reasons that students experience homelessness on campus? Aside from housing, how do financial hardships impact students’ education?
What policies and procedures does the university implement that allow homelessness to continue and address it?
In thinking of in loco parentis (see ep 3), what responsibilities and/or obligations does UW and colleges more broadly have to combat homelessness on campus?
Recommended Readings:
Broton, Katharine, and Sara Goldrick-Rab. “The dark side of college (un) affordability: Food and housing insecurity in higher education.” Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 48, no. 1 (2016): 16-25. Read article here
Liz Brody, “I Didn’t Even Have an Address,” Glamour Magazine, August 9th, 2016. https://www.glamour.com/story/i-didnt-even-have-an-address
Primary Sources:
This data comes from the Homeless Services Consortium of Dane County, “Point In Time Count” Data Reports: The 2023 data is a full report, while the 2024 data is just slides. View 2023 report here and view 2024 data here.
We suggest exploring the data from this report: Goldrick-Rab, Sara, Jed Richardson, Joel Schneider, Anthony Hernandez, and Clare Cady. Still hungry and homeless in college. Vol. 52. Madison, WI: Wisconsin HOPE Lab, 2018. Read report here
Other Resources:
Sifting and Reckoning Online Exhibit. “Housing.” View Website Here