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This chapter describes the limitations of the traditional notions of academic rigor in higher education, and brings forth a new form of rigor that has the potential to support student success and equity.

Because little work exists on the experiences of African-American doctoral students challenging racism in their academic work and academic life, especially at predominantly white institutions (PWIs), this study takes a phenomenological approach to understanding how seven African-American cisgender women and men experienced racial agency at one PWI in the Midwest. A phenomenological inductive analysis was used. Findings indicated that racial agency was a necessary coping mechanism to deal with the onslaught of racism they experience. Racial agency is defined as tackling racial issues in public or private discourse and was demonstrated through participant reflections, publishing their scholarship, engaging in social media, and other forms of activism. Racial uplift, campus climate concerns and combating psychological violence were indicated as motivating factors for racial agency, Implications for inclusive practices are discussed.