"Resignation Is an Unacceptable Solution": Black Faculty and Staff Participation in the Black Campus Movement at the University of Utah (Poster 48)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Eight
  In Poster Session: 2023 AERA Undergraduate Fellows Research Poster Fair

Abstract

"Utah has a long history of racism with strong religious ties. The state never formally segregated schools, but few people of color combined with redlining meant de facto segregation ran rampant. This educational inequity meant that by 1971 only 0.6% of the University of Utah’s student body identified as Black. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the predominant church in Utah, intensified racism. The faith banned Black people from holding the priesthood, required for most male leadership positions, until 1978. At the University of Utah (the U), and across the country, Black students led campus protests, challenging racism in higher education during the late 1960s and early 70s. Scholars including Ibram Kendi, Stefan Bradley, and Martha Biondi extensively examine Black students’ role in the Black Campus Movement. However, scholars have not evaluated Black faculty and staff’s role in this movement.

Using the U’s archives and oral histories, this project uncovers Black faculty and staff’s campus resistance and activism in the early 1970s at the U. Faculty and staff played essential roles asserting and defending space for Black people on campus, directly supporting student protests, and crafting their own demands. Their work contributed to student activists' wins as they often stayed on campus longer and had more direct ties to administration than undergraduates. Still, with only 10 Black faculty in 1971, and none with tenure, professors took a big risk supporting Black student protests. Their work shows the non-linear process to Black Campus Movement successes. Visible protests brought administrators to the table, but faculty and staff’s negotiations shaped the U’s path forward. "

Author

• Callie Avondet, University of Utah
  Presenting Author