Minding the Gap Between Diversity and Institutional Transformation: Eight Proposals for Enacting Institutional Change

• In Event: 67.029 - Institutional Change for Racial Equity in Higher Education: Recommendations for Necessary Action

Abstract

The current generation of college student activism led by racially minoritized students has called for direct actions, tangible outcomes, and greater institutional accountability for creating and sustaining campus environments that are both more diverse and more inclusive. Institutional rhetoric that focuses on diversity and inclusion has not resulted in tangible campus transformations as incidents of racial macroaggressions against minoritized faculty, staff, and students continue. This chapter proposes eight policy proposals and ten recommendations for campus leaders to enact transformational leadership to facilitate equity and justice in institutional structures, processes, and practices.
The eight action steps include 1) opening the room ideological and concrete changes to recruitment and hiring practices in admission and hiring, 2) valuing minoritized voices, 3) reject the traditional norm by encouraging campus leaders to critically evaluate the tacit assumptions that underlie accepted traditions and norms, 4) prioritize the safety of the minoritized as more important to policy and practice than the comfort of those who are members of dominant social groups, 5) advance equity over equality, 6) design educational programming that showcases critical thinking, 7) award outcomes not window dressing, and 8) reverse disparate policy effects. The eight proposed action steps and 10 recommendations offered in this paper are beginning steps toward instigating a revolution of values, priorities, and actions on the part of campus administrators to realize a vision of radical democracy.

Author

• D-L Stewart, Colorado State University - Fort Collins