Responding to Racist Speech on Campus and Reproducing “White Institutional Spaces”

• In Event: Race and Place

Abstract

In response to incidents of racist speech on campus, university administrators often provide statements that both deny the existence of campus racism and justify racist speech as protected under the First Amendment. Through a Critical Discourse Analysis, this project argues that this discursive formula exemplifies an institutional commitment to white supremacy that lurks just below institutional commitments to diversity and equality. This project aims to locate these discourses and interrupt them, making space to reimagine institutional responses that prioritize institutional equality over the “freedom” to espouse racism. Such resistance is imperative to the pursuit of equality within institutions of higher education.

Author

• Karlee Johnson, DePaul University