Talking Loud and Saying Nothing

Educational Administration Quarterly, 2007

Background: Universities continue to undertake a range of initiatives to combat inequities and build diverse, inclusive campuses. Diversity action plans are a primary means by which U.S. postsecondary institutions articulate their professed commitment to an inclusive and equitable climate for all members of the university and advance strategies to meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse society.Purpose: To examine, using

Social Identities, 2019

In this paper four critical scholars/ activists reflect on the complex institutional and public responses to recent white supremacist events on Canadian campuses and the equity discussions they have affected. Specifically, we interrogate practices, which reify and reinsure positions of dominance and human/social hierarchy in four ways. To begin, (1) we interrogate freedom of speech and freedom of expression positions, as well as the reliance on critique of neoliberalism to supplant analyses of racism and colonial logics, to identify their role in preserving white fragility. Next, (2) we provide a local media analysis of academe's responses to white supremacy on campus to trace the discursive moves that obscure institutional racism. Following these contextual scaffoldings, (3) we explore the ways equity projects within institutions remain projects protecting and preserving whiteness while exploiting the politics of identity. Finally, (4) we carefully reflect on the various modes of inclusion in the academy, which produce racialized scholars(hip) to be complicit in the reproduction of racial thinking, alongside and occluded by institutional narratives of equity and progress. Critical questions are raised regarding the possibilities, complicities and complexities of achieving equity and transformation in the academy, as well as the role of racialized scholars(hip) in this work.

The Review of Higher Education, 2012

Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia, 2020

College Student Affairs Journal, 2007

In this article, four doctoral students-two White females, one African American female, a White male-an African American female assistant professor, and an African American male student eiffairs administrator reflect on the difficult dialogues that tookplace during a seminar on whiteness. Watt's (2007) Privilege IdentityModel (PIE) was integral in understanding students' reactions and reflections as thry began cotifronting and interrogating whiteness in theirown experiences.

Race, Ethnicity and Education, 2016

This qualitative study investigates white students’ attitudes toward campus diversity at a large, multiracial public university. Drawing upon focus group data gathered from a larger campus climate study, we identified four themes: participants voiced that: (1) racial diversity fosters campus tolerance; (2) diversity fragments into de facto racial segregation; (3) institutional support of diversity undermines and excludes whites; and (4) the university should avoid acknowledging white identity. Employing critical multiculturalism as a theoretical lens, we argue that these discourses maintain white dominance within a framework that promotes inclusion. These findings suggest that without more direct institutional guidance, white students will protect white supremacy even as they celebrate diversity in multiracial spaces.

Communications on Stochastic Analysis

Whiteness in the academy has so impacted the lives of women of color such that the stories, identities, and experiences of women of color are often silenced, minimized, and chastised. Notwithstanding the deliberate erasure and marginalization of these stories, this article pays homage to critical auto ethnography by boldly presenting the stories of women of color in the academy. Particularly, this article draws from the stories of three women of color in the academy: a Pinay/Filipina assistant professor, a Black female doctoral student, and a Mexican American female researcher. These stories reveal how whiteness in the academy continues to wreak havoc in the lives of those most marginalized while also presenting how women of color resist. In the end we present some recommendations that institutions of higher education can apply to truly honor diversity and inclusivity.

2007

This study examines Whiteness from the perspectives of White college faculty. The participants in this study responded to a letter of invitation to volunteer for this study. A total of 12 White faculty participated in this study, including the researcher. Nine participants were female, and 2 were male; 9 participants had 15 years or more of work experience with the college, and 2 participants had less than 5 years. Data were collected through discussions with two focus groups. The data were coded first by a word analysis and followed by a text analysis to support and identify themes. The findings are presented in six themes: (a) colour prevails - right/White way; (b) privilege with a small "p"; (c) ethnicity and colour; (d) sameness - be like "us"; (e) immigrant syndrome; and (f) expectations of the education system. The focus group sessions also produced six recommendations : (1) there should be a preparation process for faculty offering diversity courses; (2) a...

2018

Frustrated at the lack of response among White faculty and staff to racism on their Cincinnati campus, the authors of this piece draw from their own experiences and assert that it is possible—and necessary—for White faculty and staff to learn from these experiences and take responsibility in fighting racism. In support of this assertion, we draw on Kolb’s (1984) “What? So what? Now what?” model of experiential learning to address two specific goals within this article: increase accountability among White faculty and staff through the examination of localized instances of racial violence, and articulate concrete action steps that can be taken in response to racism. Beginning with an examination of racist violence on their own campus as well as the rhetoric surrounding these incidents, the authors demonstrate that each campus can be viewed as a microcosm in which systemic racism is enacted at the local level. The goal of this examination is not mere identification, but to cultivate a ...

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 2021