Transforming campus racial climates: Examining discourses around student experiences of racial violence and institutional (in)action.

Abstract

Recent student protests highlight the institutional neglect of students of color and helped to shape a national discourse on racism in higher education. This study uses critical discourse analysis to examine discourses of campus racial climate that surround a student-led speak-out at a university in the Pacific Northwest. Based on analyses of 38 public texts, the findings illustrate how discourses of campus racial climate move along a continuum of racist, nonracist, and antiracist discourse. It further discusses this movement along three dimensions involving the degree to which the voices of students of color are centered, the way racism is understood, and the emphasis on institutional agency and responsibility. We argue that antiracist discourse, which employs a progressive racism-conscious ideology, is necessary for guiding institutional action.

Symbolic Solidarity or Virtue Signaling? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Public Statements Released by Academic Medical Organizations in the Wake of the Killing of George Floyd

“…Our findings suggest that such discourses may have externalized the issue of systemic racism, portraying anti-Black racism as outside the institution, and deflected institutional accountability by emphasizing individual action instead of institutional change. 31 Our findings align with the concept of a nonracist discourse, which passively delegitimizes concerns about racism, minimizes the historical legacy of institutional racism, and prioritizes individual behaviors to diminish the culpability and inaction of institutions. 31 While racism indeed manifests through top-down and bottom-up forces and must be addressed at all levels, 35 reinforcing racism as individual actions reframes how others perceive what constitutes racism.…”

“…Similarly, focusing on broad issues relating to equity, diversity, and inclusion and referencing prior institutional efforts unrelated to racial justice are tactics that have been shown to divert attention away from any institutional responsibility to address anti-Black racism. 31 This aspect of the statements suggests that power and authority can manifest in institutional discourse to not only communicate the ideological behaviors members should abide by but also redirect responsibility away from the institution.…”

“…Antiracist discourse communicates a clear intent to dismantle white supremacist ideologies and practices. 31 Although not the norm, examples of antiracist discourse in the statements we analyzed included explicitly outlining next steps for addressing the ways systemic racism has manifested within the organization, such as changing admissions policies and hiring practices. Likewise, these examples used active, antiracist language, as avoiding direct language to discuss racism and downplaying the reality of structural racism are rhetorical and semantic hallmarks of colorblind racism.…”

From First to First: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color First-Generation Faculty and Administrator Narratives of Intersectional Marginality and Mattering as Communal Praxis

“…Finally, this study calls for the use of narratives and stories in higher education research, pedagogy, and learning. In practice, faculty and administrators can begin by reflecting on the ways story work is always being engaged, specifically how their actions tacitly reinforce or disrupt oppressive narratives that maintain systems of power [54,55]. Faculty and administrators can disrupt banking logics that dominate education [10,11] and bridge the gap between students and institutional agent by making positioning(s) explicit and by drawing emphasis to student knowledge in their learning.…”

“…While I discuss communal praxis in the context of stories in higher education settings, I also suggest that it can be engaged and enacted more broadly. Given the narratives that inform communal praxis, in this section I attend to the specificity of faculty and administrator stories that seek to disrupt oppression, although it is possible that stories shared by all institutional actors (e.g., students, staff, faculty, and administrators) have the capacity to be a catalyst for transgressing oppressive dynamics [54,55]. In particular, I advance that communal praxis is relevant in telling students' oral histories among BIPOC FGF/A, as such histories offer and emplace stories of academic and social life that give credence to intersections of race, class, and gender.…”