White Fragility and Diversity Initiatives in Faculty Hiring

• In Event: 4120 - White Fragility, White Tears: Managing White Emotions in Critical Discussions of Race

Abstract

Most faculty in the humanities and social sciences do not consider themselves to be racist and many claim to support diversity in faculty hiring and graduate student admissions. Why, then, does the academy continue to be so white? Why are there so few black, Latino, and Native American full professors? In this presentation, I will discuss the various discourses white faculty use to avoid hiring non-white faculty and explore the relationship between these discourses and white fragility.

Author

• Tanya Maria Golash-Boza, University of California-Merced