Inclusion research in higher education affords opportunities to measure how, and to what extent, institutions create academic environments that are equitably accessible. While inclusion encompasses many facets, underscored in literature is belonging - the “perceived social support on campus, a feeling or sensation of connectedness, and the experience of mattering or feeling cared about, accepted, respected, valued by, and important to the campus community” (Strayhorn, 2019, p. 4). Although academia has implemented a plethora of inclusivity practices and policies with hopes of generating belonging, highlighted is belonging is experienced inequitably across diverse populations (Duran et al., 2020; Fries-Britt et al., 2011; Strayhorn, 2019). Presented in a three-article dissertation, the research aims to uncover why belonging is unequitable in higher education in an era of increased inclusion intervention efforts. The first article examines the way in which the pipeline metaphor used within enrollment management is a contemporary icon of setter colonialism for Indigenous college students. By investigating how metaphors require shared schema for interpretation, the pipeline metaphor suggests homogenization of student experiences, propelling intergenerational trauma associated with historical educational assimilation (Pitcher & Shahjahan, 2017). The second article uses exploratory factor analysis to determine if the latent constructs of student engagement in HyFlex courses vary from those in current student engagement literature. This study identifies that social connection is an essential component for students to develop autonomy, lean into vulnerability, and to participate in collegial community within HyFlex courses. Finally, exploratory factor analysis is used in the third article to identify latent constructs of faculty campus climate. A seven-factor solution was determined and described faculty climate in an ecological, yet hierological, framework. Comprehensively, the three articles provide critical insights for bridging inclusion and belonging within academia by reorienting frameworks through the lens of connection. Current literature utilizes operational definitions of belonging as unidirectional rendering the institution responsible for delivering inclusion. However, reorienting these frameworks through connection emphasizes reciprocity and relationships necessary for belonging and inclusion in higher education.