Date of Award

5-10-2026

Date Published

June 2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Social Science

Advisor(s)

Prema Kurien

Keywords

Conditional belonging;Islamophobia in higher education;Muslim college students;Muslim student agency;Muslim Student Association;Racialization of religion

Subject Categories

Education | Higher Education

Abstract

This dissertation examines the lived experiences of Muslim students in U.S. higher education, focusing on how they navigate identity formation, search for belonging, and exercise agency within two predominantly white institutions (PWIs) in the Northeast. Drawing on 40 semi-structured interviews and four months of fieldwork, the study demonstrates how Muslim students navigate not only their religious identity and practices in secular contexts but also how the racialization of their Muslim identity is shaped by U.S. foreign policy and the Global War on Terror. Three central findings emerged from the data. First, Muslim students demonstrated sustained and deepening religious commitment through what participants described as "relearning Islam" — a process of distinguishing faith from inherited cultural practices and making it personally meaningful. This identity work unfolded within diverse, multiracial Muslim campus communities that were themselves sites of negotiation around race, gender, and representation. Second, Muslim students experienced belonging as a conditional and politically mediated process. Institutional responses to the 2023-2025 Gaza war exposed how Muslim students' differences are regulated, surveilled, and policed when their political expressions did not align with institutional interests. Students described losing trust in university leadership, facing self-censorship and the threat of doxxing, while international students had to navigate fears of visa revocation and deportation. Third, Muslim students practiced different forms of agency that entailed both personal and collective efforts. Students at the smaller, resource-limited institution focused the agency on securing basic religious needs and accommodations, while students at the larger, resource-rich institution directed it toward institutional accountability, recognition, and transformative participation. The findings of this study demonstrate that Muslim students' experiences are layered, complex, and inseparable from the broader social, political, and geopolitical context in which they live and learn. This study calls institutions of higher education to move beyond symbolic inclusion toward religious pluralism that affirms Muslim students in the fullness of who they are, supports their overall well-being and institutional participation, and refrains from regulating their differences when those differences become politically inconvenient.

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Open Access

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