Responding to Hate on Campus: Examining Administrative Leadership of Bias Response Teams

• In Event: 73.034 - Organizational Leadership for Social Change

Abstract

This study examines the guiding philosophies of and processes utilized by bias response teams at 19 colleges and universities throughout the United States. Administrators participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their work as bias response team leaders and members. These teams have proliferated in all sectors of higher education, yet the perspectives and activities of administrators who carry out bias response work have not yet been examined empirically. As higher education scholars and practitioners profess a stated goal of achieving social justice, research on the activities of formalized bias response teams fills a gap in understanding bias and hate on campus and is poised to offer implications to inform the work of college and university administrators.

Authors

• Ryan Miller, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Tonia Guida, The University of Texas - Austin

• Stella L. Smith, The University of Texas - Austin

• Sarah Kiersten Ferguson, Southern Methodist University

• Elizabeth Medina, The University of Texas - Austin