This chapter synthesizes fifteen years of published research on campus racial climates. It also presents nine themes that emerged from a qualitative study of campus racial climates at five predominantly White universities.

A framework adapted from the National Black Male College Achievement Study is introduced in this chapter as a lens through which to explore the enablers of student achievement in STEM. The chapter places an emphasis on reframing deficit‐oriented research questions regarding students of color and their trajectories in STEM fields.

This article analyzes 255 articles published in seven peer-reviewed journals over a 10-year period and presents examples of how higher education researchers undertake the study of campus racial climates; racial differences in access, outcomes, and attainment; and the experiences of students, faculty, and administrators of color on predominantly White campuses without explicitly considering racism or attributing quantified racial inequities to racist institutional practices. The analysis found three consistent trends: (a) racial disparities are overwhelmingly attributed to factors other than racism, (b) scholars use semantic substitutes for "racism" and "racist," and (c) critical race theory is rarely used for conceptual sense-making.

Ways in which membership in student organizations, both predominantly Black and mainstream, provide space for Black identity expression and development were explored in this study. Based on individual interviews conducted with African American male student leaders at six predominantly White universities, findings reveal a nexus between Black identity status, the selection of venues for out-of-class engagement, and the use of student organizations as platforms for racial uplift and the advocacy of racial/ethnic minority student interests. Moreover, the acquisition of cross-cultural communication skills, the development of care for other disenfranchised groups, and the pursuit of social justice via leadership and student organization membership were reported by the participants and are connected to racial identity development theories in this article.

A methodological approach popularized by critical race theorists is used in this article to oppose dominant discourse concerning the social and educational status of Black men in America. Specifically, this counternarrative on student achievement was derived from face-to-face individual interviews with 143 Black male undergraduates at 30 predominantly White colleges and universities across the USA. Exemplified via five composites constructed from the overall sample are resistant responses to subordination and racist stereotyping; confrontations with the cyclical reproduction of low expectations for Black male leadership and achievement; and an industrious rejection of what I refer to throughout the article as 'niggering'. Also offered herein are implications for postsecondary faculty, administrators, and researchers.