While diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and anti-racism efforts are well intentioned, they continue to miss the mark and evade institutional transformation. One reason is that whiteness often goes unaddressed. Whiteness is largely ignored and misunderstood by college and university leaders and has, as a result, is not included in DEI efforts or the institutional transformation lexicon. Omitting whiteness in conversations about institutional operations has stymied systemic change. No effort to advance DEI and anti-racism without locating, understanding, and eradicating whiteness can ever fully succeed.
Connections Are Everything: Putting Relationships at the Heart of Higher Ed
As academic leaders, we are under so much pressure to deliver—enrollment targets, strategic plans, graduation rates, AI policies, and on and on—that we can lose sight of what our students