Us Versus Them: The Role of Leadership's Discourse in Shaping Student Roles on Higher Education Campuses

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Analyzing the Power of Discourse in Response to Racialized Policies and Practices (Table 7)

Abstract

The purpose my study was to investigate how leaders’ language on higher education campuses position Black students through discourse. University addresses during the Fall of 2017 at Midwestern public predominately white institutions founded before1862 or through funding from the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Act serve as a sample for investigating higher education leadership’s rhetoric during or following racist events on and/or around campuses. My study’s focus is how leader’s language positions students on college and university campuses. The power of leaders’ language has been neglected in post-secondary research. The discourse of leaders in the Midwest offers an opportunity to look for patterns among leaders’ discussion surrounding racist incidents on higher education campuses in a historically “progressive” region of the United States.

Author

• Angel Cassandra Nathan, Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis
  Presenting Author