Operationalizing Cultural Taxation

Building a compassionate and purposeful campus. Image shows a woman wearing a shirt that reads, "Latinx."

With the goal of institutionalizing strategies that eliminate the negative impacts of cultural taxation among CSULB staff and faculty, a new initiative is seeking to understand these effects on our workforce and, ultimately, overcome them. 

The action zone team focused on building an equitable and empowering culture at CSULB facilitated this project, which kicked off in June with a Cultural Taxation and Remedies Summit that conducted focus group interviews and held meaningful discussions with a crowd of 31 participants. A keynote speaker offered motivational remarks, while a licensed psychologist conducted healing activities.  

By operationalizing cultural taxation — the overarching goal of this project — identifying and institutionalizing remedies to eschew its hurtful impacts will be possible. Led by Profs. Kellie Walters and Tiffany Brown and Assistant Director of the Latinx Resource Center Alondra Enriquez, this initiative aims to provide a better understanding about the experiences of our dedicated team of staff and faculty on campus. 

Research on race-related service and cultural taxation in higher education is limited, however we know that these experiences are not uncommon among faculty and staff at our institution and others. While many employees from racial and cultural groups may gain fulfillment and even joy from engaging in equity efforts or being a resource for students and peers from their identity groups, negative impacts occur when this work goes unrecognized — which happens often — or service expectations and rewards fall unequally on these community members.  

As a consequence, these faculty and staff members may feel dissatisfied in their role at the university and in their work, be inclined to leave, or have negative health outcomes.  

Part of efforts to build a compassionate and purposeful campus community at the Beach, this process of naming and examining this form of taxation on CSULB employees aims to foster a community of belonging at CSULB, while forging a meaningful path forward toward our university’s mission to be a model of a diverse, equitable, and respectful community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and administrators. 

In our pursuit of fostering a campus that is intentional in building an inclusive and diverse community, we are united, committed to realizing this future for all members of our Beach community. As we accept this calling, we are focused on reshaping our university for the better.