HSIs are largely determined by Latinx enrollment and are not connected to a uniting mission or definition of what it means to serve Latinx students. Consequently, HSIs continue to be saturated with predominantly white faculty who may or may not be interested in eradicating white dominance. Researchers have suggested that white normativity positions traditional student learning outcomes as inadequate indicators of whether Latinx students are being served. Latinx scholars have argued that HSIs must redefine what it means to serve underrepresented students in a way that exists outside white normativity. One approach researchers have suggested to combat white dominance is to examine the function of faculty's race within the learning environment. This study considers the field's growing interest in the correlation between white faculty and the learning environment at HSIs, given this has not been deeply studied. The guiding research question this study examined was: What are faculty's perception of the meaning and function of HSIs. The qualitative data collected for this research incorporated semistructured interviews and follow-up written responses. The data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed through Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) to generate findings related to the learning environment for Latinx students at HSIs. Findings indicated that faculty operated from a deficit perception of Latinx students rooted in a fractured understanding of the whole individual. Additionally, the findings pointed to the maintenance of power through participants' white fragility and victimization. Finally, findings provided a deeper understanding of how the white savior complex functions within the learning environment. The recommended implications are related to HSI learning environments, with a particular emphasis on institutional hiring policies and action-oriented practices for HSI faculty.
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