Race as Unintellectual

• In Event: Impossible Sanctuary, Necessary Refuge: Institutional Limits and the Possibilities of Community in Serving Marginalized Students

Abstract

For the past 40 years, efforts to racially integrate the nation’s most selective universities have cohered around a central idea: underrepresented racial minorities have unique perspectives, and universities are unable to provide the highest quality of education without incorporating those perspectives into their campus community (Berrey, 2015; Warikoo 2016; Anderson 2013). When specifying the unique contributions that students of color offer, elite universities often cite these students’ ability to inject important racial perspectives into classroom discussions (Kennedy 2015).  Based in part on this argument, a slim majority on the Supreme Court has consistently upheld affirmative action, finding that the inclusion of minority viewpoints facilitates lively classroom discussion, promotes cross-racial understanding and produces culturally competent leaders (Regents of Univ. of California v. Bakke, 1978; Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003; Fisher v. University of Texas, 2013).  
 
Using the results of an interview study of black and white law and social science graduate students attending an elite, predominantly white institution (PWI) and a historically black university, this Article reveals that despite their university’s professed commitment to facilitating a “robust exchange of ideas,” the overwhelming majority of black students at the PWI feel that their departments are dismissive of or hostile towards their racial views.  Moreover, perceiving racial analysis to be devalued within their respective departments and aware of the long-running stereotype that black people lack intellectual ability, black students express a widespread belief that talking about race helps to confirm a suspicion that they are less intelligent than their classmates.  Across the law school and social sciences, students identify three dominant perceptions within their departments that make them hesitant to articulate their racial views: (1) The impulse for black students to use race as an analytic frame is driven by emotion rather than reason;  (2) Race is a distraction from the most important lenses through which students should understand legal, social and political developments and; (3) Black students resort to racial analysis in order to mask their inability to engage with more intellectually demanding topics. Afraid of confirming stereotypes about their intellectual inferiority, black students report significantly limiting or altogether avoiding discussions of race in the classroom.  
 
To the extent that similar dynamics exist at other predominately white institutions—and evidence suggests that they do (Crenshaw 1998; DiAngelo & Sensoy, 2014)—the findings presented in this Article should be concerning to universities that hope to retain race-conscious admissions practices.  The “educational benefits of diversity” is the key justification that upholds affirmative action. Now that conservatives dominate the Supreme Court for the first time in a generation, the benefits of diversity will likely come under more scrutiny than ever before. This Article suggests concrete steps to reinvigorate the diversity rationale so that it is more than just an admissions philosophy but also a core value that animates students’ experiences after they have gotten beyond the gates of admissions.

Author

• Asad Rahim, University of California - Los Angeles