Performing Anti-racism: Universities Respond to Anti-Black Violence

Abstract

Higher education institutions (HEI) are communities nestled within and a part of the local, regional, and national contexts. Increasingly, college and university presidents have begun to comment on local and national events, particularly as these events make their way onto campuses. This study examines 99 presidential statements from both public and private institutions, disseminated in the week following the 2020 murder of George Floyd. Using critical race discourse analysis (CRDA), the findings consider how institutional discourse constructs a history of advancing racial equity, leverages institutional mission and values, includes institutional and personal calls to action, and the intersecting use and exclusion of explicitly racialized discourse. Despite institutions discussing race and racism, they frequently construct these topics and their attendant needs as external to the institutions. These findings expand the exploration into institutional discourse in response to racialized incidents on campus and beyond. How institutions use these opportunities to move beyond performative rhetoric towards action and institutional change represents a significant opportunity to transform colleges and universities in ways that support racially minoritized communities both on and off-campus.

Anti-racism in Criminology: An Oxymoron or the way Forward?

“…How are we intentionally incorporating policies and practices to retain who we admit to our graduate programs? How are we training the next generation of researchers to consider how racism – and other manifestations of oppression – affect what we decide to study, how we conduct our research, who are considered experts, how we interpret our findings, and how we disseminate our research? How are we combatting implicit and explicit biases that white faculty possess toward Black students/colleagues and other students/colleagues of color? In what ways are we unnecessarily “gatekeeping” instead of “groundskeeping” in academic mentorship? (see Montgomery, 2020) To what extent is invisible service of minoritized faculty made visible, or how can service load allocation be more equitable for minoritized faculty in your department? How are we allocating resources to back up any university or departmental statements with promises to make changes toward anti-racist practice? How are we disrupting and addressing hostile environments for students and faculty of color? Without actual, resource-backed commitments and actions to make changes within our departments, our classrooms, our syllabi, our policies and practices, our mentoring, our admissions practices, our promotion practices, and our service allocation practices, we will continue to maintain the status quo to our detriment (Blount-Hill, et al, 2022; Carter & Craig, 2022; Casellas Connors & McCoy, 2022; Hattery, et al, 2022; León, 2021; McCoy, 2021; Montgomery, 2020; Parmar, et al, 2022a; Russell-Brown, 2021; Stockdale & Sweeney, 2022; Sykes, 2021; Taylor Greene, et al, 2018). It is up to us to make a new status quo, where it is clear - and not questioned – whether Black Lives Matter in our discipline (Russell-Brown, 2021).…”

“…Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, universities – and some departments – have expressed their commitments to anti-racism in public statements (Casselas Connors & McCoy, 2022). While such statements are laudable, what matters more is how anti-racism is actualized in our classrooms, our syllabi, our departmental policies and practices, and our research.…”

Mapping the distribution of health equity research and practice across a university: a network analysis

“…Achieving health equity, or fair opportunities for the best possible health for all members of society regardless of their race, ethnicity, and other social determinants, has been a priority for policy and research [1,2]. Given the persisting trends of health inequities in the USA [3,4], different health and social science research fields, from basic sciences to epidemiology and public policy, have raised the call for increased attention to and awareness of health equity research through an antiracist lens [5][6][7].…”

Anti-Racism and Intersectionality in Feminist Criminology and Academia: Introduction to a Special Issue

“…They offer suggestions about how to critically examine our curriculum to assess the underrepresentation of authors from marginalized communities and redress this wrong. Hattery et al (2022) turn their attention to research teams. Using a set of case examples, they discuss how diversity, equity, and inclusion are successfully and unsuccessfully achieved in the context of scholarly work.…”

“…As Carter and Craig (2022) write in their piece, Black and other minoritized faculty face particular challenges while pursuing tenure, and the authors offer concrete recommendations on addressing - and dismantling - these barriers. And finally, Casellas Connors and McCoy (2022) examined 99 presidential statements that were disseminated during the week after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Using a critical race discourse analysis, they find that such statements tended to focus on racism as something external to their universities and university presidents were not as forthcoming about their commitments to addressing racism as it affects the student body, staff, and faculty within their institution.…”