Executive Summary
T
HE FIELD OF higher education is severely lacking in a critical, race-
based analysis of Whiteness literature in higher education. This mono-
graph presents the scholarship and research on Whiteness and applies it to
higher education to address the following questions:
1. Why and how are Critical Whiteness Studies important to higher educa-
tion?
2. How does the hegemony of Whiteness inform the college campus racial
dynamics?
3. What can higher education institutions do programmatically, structurally,
and interpersonally to disrupt and transform normative Whiteness?
4. How can higher education researchers incorporate and account for White-
ness in their research?
5. How can an interrogation of Whiteness inform and shape higher education
policy, practice, and research?
The monograph is intended for higher education scholars, practitioners,
and students. Higher education scholars and practitioners find Whiteness dif-
ficult because it is often unclear how it is applicable to higher education policy
and programs. Diversity and Critical Race Theory (CRT) scholars will find
value in this monograph as it will provide the “missing link” in their analyses
(i.e., one cannot understand the marginalization of Students of Color if there
is no one doing the marginalizing). Second, and similar to the first audience,
practitioners working at predominantly White campuses will find value in this
Whiteness in Higher Education 7
monograph as it will help reframe diversity and inclusion to include White
responsibility. Third, higher education students are increasingly interested in
the study of race to make sense of an increasingly multicultural society, and
this monograph will provide a novel approach to this subject.
The first chapter introduces the reader to Whiteness studies in general
and more specifically how it is ingrained in higher education. We focus on
the various theoretical frameworks that are used in Whiteness studies in higher
education including Whiteness as:
1. colorblindness
2. epistemologies of ignorance
3. ontological expansiveness
4. property
5. assumed racial comfort
Within each of these sections it is explained how Whiteness is intertwined
in the concept. The chapter reviews some of the key readings and concepts
that are within these frameworks. The very high-level review is useful for the
reader and especially students or newcomers to Critical Whiteness Studies
who want to understand how Whiteness relates to related concepts such as
colorblindness. Thus, the first chapter prepares the reader to better under-
stand the theoretical framing of later chapters that delve into specific topics in
Whiteness studies such as interpersonal Whiteness, institutional Whiteness,
and how to develop racial justice allies.
The monograph is intended to help the reader understand how White-
ness is situated in every aspect of higher education from the people, the poli-
cies, and even the early vestiges of the institution up to today. In the vein of
Bronfenbrenner’s ecology system’s theory, we begin the second chapter at the
individual level and then branch out to look at Whiteness beyond the indi-
vidual in later chapters. The second chapter focuses on interpersonal White-
ness in higher education. This chapter describes how socialization processes
construct Whiteness and the ways in which White college students ignore
race and racism and recreate Whiteness everyday through their action and in-
action. Using literature from higher education, the chapter interrogates the
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intersection of Whiteness and microaggressions, colorblindness, racial segre-
gation, emotional responses, teacher education, and White privilege peda-
gogy. The documentation of behaviors, emotions, and ideologies that perpet-
uate systemic racism and Whiteness enables the reader to better understand
how Whiteness is embedded in the culture of higher education institutions.
In the third chapter, the authors highlight the historical and contempo-
rary structural characteristics of higher education institutions that maintain
Whiteness. The chapter complicates the issue of space and race on college
campuses with a discussion of the distinctions between campus climate and
culture. In doing so, the historical framing of meritocracy is described and
demonstrates how it contributes to Whiteness in higher education. The chap-
ter moves on to addressing how Whiteness informs our understanding of cam-
pus culture, climate, and ecology through a brief discussion of the history of
higher education. No discussion of space in higher education would be com-
plete without discussion of traditional Greek life and the myth of safe spaces,
which can be hostile, precarious places for minoritized groups. The chapter
discusses how structural Whiteness negatively affect Students of Color, but
the chapter would not be complete without a discussion of how Whiteness
benefits White students. Overall, this chapter delves into the higher educa-
tion literature that investigates the role of higher education institutions in
sustaining and eventually disrupting whiteness.
The fourth chapter specifically focuses on the development of, need for,
and role of racial justice allies to combat and transform Whiteness in higher
education settings. This chapter begins with a discussion of ally development
and the challenges that come with such a process. Numerous studies provide
definitions of what it means to be an ally and part of the chapter attempts
to untangle the definitions. In the chapter, recommendations and next steps
are outlined that discuss how allyship can be developed. We admit there is
no easy way to become a racial justice ally, but rather a number of consider-
ations and processes must be taken into account. Regarding any discussion
of being an ally, it is not necessarily a personally chosen identity, but rather
one that is recognized by people who have been marginalized. Institutions
of higher education can admit and hire more People of Color, but they also
need to resocialize Whites to be racial justice allies. The development of allies
Whiteness in Higher Education 9
will not only contribute to the betterment of campus racial climates but also
change the culture of higher education institutions that have been dominated
by Whiteness and White privilege.
The fifth and final chapter looks at the future of Whiteness studies in
higher education. The chapter argues that to make progress in the field, re-
searchers need to look into the gray areas of Whiteness research and look
beyond the “Good White/Bad White” dichotomy. Whiteness scholars need
to look beyond undergraduate student populations and include an examina-
tion of administrators, faculty, and graduate students. Future research should
better understand what it means to be an ally through developing more and
better antiracism studies. Although there has been some research on higher
education spaces and Whiteness, not much research has investigated resource
allocation. Who receives the majority of resources and for what purpose? Do
resources (e.g., financial or staff) help deconstruct or reaffirm Whiteness? Un-
fortunately, one of the biggest gaps in Whiteness studies is how it pertains to
higher education policy. Higher education policy is in need of incorporating
critical Whiteness perspectives and we hope that this chapter and monograph
can assist policymakers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of method-
ological considerations when conducting Whiteness research.
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