Interrogating the University, One Archival Entry at a Time

This article describes the Ethnography of the University Initiative (EUI), a six-year-old cross-campus program at the University of Illinois that offers students the opportunity to conduct original ethnographic and archival research on their own institutions and supports faculty who guide that research. It helps the researchers and faculty negotiate Institutional Review Board (IRB) clearances, coordinates the use of course-management software, organizes conferences, and maintains publicly accessible online archives of student research findings. EUI is at once research support infrastructure, faculty and student learning community, and broad-based research agenda. This initiative provides a powerful model for how to foster inquiry-based courses, maintain an open record of student learning, and foster student agency. EUI also demonstrates how student research can be a vital source of institutional self-reflection, leading to greater institutional responsiveness.