Beyond the Minority Label: A Case for Disaggregating Minority Status at Border-Region Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Minority status is often treated as a singular condition in higher education research. This essay argues that it comprises three distinct dimensions: structural marginalization, numerical minority status, and experiential marginality. Border-region Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), where Hispanic students form a numerical majority while remaining structurally marginalized, reveal how these dimensions can become decoupled. This perspective challenges the assumption that these dimensions consistently align across institutional contexts. By reframing minority status as a context-dependent configuration, this essay offers a more precise foundation for understanding student experience, evaluating institutional servingness, and designing contextually responsive research and practice.