Erasing History and Embracing Diversity? Representations of Diversity by Historically Black Colleges and Universities

• In Event: 3511 - Race, Higher Education and Myths of Affirmative Action

Abstract

Diversity has become a taken-for-granted value in higher education—one that improves learning outcomes and student experiences. Despite such positivity, efforts towards diversity have been critiqued for both obscuring racial inequality and reinforcing existing hierarchies on campus. Given their founding mission of serving underrepresented students, might Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) be sites that deliver diversity without losing sight of equity? In this article, we interrogate this question by undertaking qualitative content analyses of website materials from 31 HBCUs and the ways in which they represent diversity both visually and through their official statements. We find that: (1) HBCUs more than double the visual representation of whites in photos on their websites compared to actual enrollments—a pattern suggesting an amplified importance of white students for signaling legitimacy; (2) A quarter of the schools in our sample failed to mention or refer to their founding as HBCUs in their mission, vision, and values, thus effectively erasing the racial inequality that was/is consequential to their historical formation and continuing significance, and; (3) Representations of diversity vary by funding type with privately-funded HBCUs framing diversity as a value and publicly-funded HBCUs portraying it as a goal. Our findings strongly suggest HBCUs are subject to institutional and legitimacy pressures—pressures to represent themselves at diverse places, yet without the leverage to counter critiques of diversity leveled at other (i.e., largely white) organizations. Our results speak to scholarship on diversity broadly, as well as the capacity of organizations to meet the needs and serve the interests of specific racial or ethnic groups.

Authors

• Oneya Fennell Okuwobi, The Ohio State University

• Deborwah Faulk, The Ohio State University

• Vincent J. Roscigno, Ohio State University

• Danielle Evans, Ohio State University