Expanding participation in computing: Navigating power and privilege on the pathway to a computer science degree

Until recently, a great deal of public and private investment focused on expanding participation in the computing education and workforce, focusing on women and other groups who are minoritized in the U.S. So far solutions have included coding clubs for kids, initiatives to increase participation in high school courses, and efforts that improve undergraduate computer science curricula to increase retention and recruitment into degree programs. At the heart of many initiatives is the hope that addressing participation gaps at earlier points in the educational pathway will lead to greater representation of these groups in the computing workforce. The policy framing of the issue has a great deal to do with the solutions and interventions that have been used to solve it. Theories such as the “leaky pipeline,” the chilly climate, and other frameworks have drawn attention to specific aspects of computing pathways and not others, leading to persistent blind spots in our understanding of how inequality is reproduced in computer science, especially at the critically important undergraduate level. These theories have directed our attention to developing educational reforms and supportive curricula without considering how power and privilege are maintained in higher education to exclude those with marginalized identities.The purpose of this study is to contribute to theory that will lead to a better understanding of the ways in which factors particular to the university environment restrict access to a major in computer science. This research is qualitative and aims to contribute to theory that enhances our understanding of the processes at play for students depending on the identity positions they occupy. This dissertation makes three (3) key contributions to research on expanding participation in computer science. First (1), I show how the climate, or the “culture” that is often alluded to in the literature on interventions in computer science, continues to reproduce inequality despite the good intentions of stakeholders that want to expand participation in computing. Through my analysis of student interviews, I identify elements within the organizational structure of a large public university that amplify inequalities among students in computer science and the ways this is contrary to dominant theories in the field. Second (2), I present three identities that students inhabit in relationship to their motivation to study computer science and how these identities interact with the structure of their undergraduate program. These identities are intersectional, relating to other identities they inhabit like race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic level, and others. Third (3), my project draws attention to how the infrastructure meant to expand participation fails to support students evenly. Specifically, I show how more privileged students are better able to use existing programs to advance their position in computer science. An analysis of infrastructure also reveals the heavy-handed role that external actors rooted in the tech industry play in maintaining inequalities and reproducing harmful norms in undergraduate computer science departments.