Challenging White Privilege in Higher Education: Theoretical Models

1. Challenging White Privilege in Higher Education: Theoretical Models

2. nine stick a knife six “You don’t stick a knife in a man’s back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you’re making progress…” (Malcolm X, 1964)

3. [Data from Cathy A. Trower and Richard P. Chait on “Faculty Diversity” in Harvard Magazine, 2002) 91 % white 87% white 91 percent of the full professors at research universities are white; 75 percent are male… 87 percent of the full-time faculty members in the United States are white; 64 percent are male…

5. Only 5 percent of the full professors in the U.S. are black, Hispanic, or Native American…

7. In the U.S. in 2000, minorities earned 16 percent of the master’s degrees and 18.6 percent of the doctorates…

8. The percentage increase of minority faculty between 1983 and 1993 moved from 9.3 percent to 12.2 percent (mostly attributable to gains by Asian Americans)…

9. The proportion of black faculty at predominantly white colleges and universities today is 2.3 percent (virtually the same as in 1979)… The proportion of tenured faculty of color increased 3 percentage points from 1989 to 1997—all minority males. The proportion of minority females dropped 1 percentage point…

10. “a generational wave of faculty hiring nationwide lies just ahead…” (Trower and Chait, 2002) (see Trower and Chait, Project on Faculty Appointments at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, www.gse.harvard.edu/~hpfa )

11. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18

12. Vision: The academy as a unified, diversified,progressive institution regarding matters of race and ethnicity. progressive unified diversified

13. DIVERSITY IN THE ACADEMY Where are we now? Where are we going? What will it take to get there?

14. DIVERSITY IN THE ACADEMY 20th Century!!!! 21st Century???? NO HOLD 1940-1960 (“Statement on Tenure & Academic Freedom”) TOE HOLD 1960–1980 ( Initial efforts from “Affirmative Action” ) FOOT HOLD 1980--2000 ( Aftermath of “Civil-Rights Era” ) THRESHOLD 2000--2020 ( Nationwide wave of new faculty hires ) STRONGHOLD 2020--2040 (Unified, diversified Institutions)

15. The concept of “white skin privilege”

16. “white skin privilege is a corollary of (although not synonymous with) racism…”

17. “skin privilege not only has disadvantaged faculty of color, it has automatically advantaged white faculty…”

18. {cf. Peggy McIntosh, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack and The National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum}

19. “privilege can have positive and negative valence…”

20. “being color-blind is not a viable solution at this historical juncture…”

21. “being color-blind in recruiting faculty today is functionally similar to being racially-biased in previous times…”

22. “race needs to matter now from a strength-based perspective…”

23. “white skin privilege usually includes… “ ( P. McIntosh): • invisible, unearned assets • lack of awareness of “overrewards” due to racial status • belief in the “myth of meritocracy” • power “conferred systematically” • the automatic ability to set agendas and assert preferences • resources and a “concomitant sense of social efficacy”

24. “white supremacy continues to shape perspectives on reality… Nowhere is it more evident than in university settings.” (b. hooks)

25. “being white (or male) is not the problem; perpetuating white (male) privilege is…”

26. “…if racial and sexual discrimination could be abated through the good will and meritorious judgment of those in power, affirmative action would be unnecessary.” (C. West)

27. “…are accustomed to being the custodians of power” (C. West)

28. “bourgeois preoccupation with white peer approval…” (C. West)

29. “obsession with white racism…” (C. West)

30. “…meaningful coalitions with white progressives.”

31. “Skin privilege is experienced on a daily basis in our interactions with colleagues…”

32. “Not feeling outnumbered…”

33. “Not worried about culture…”

34. “Not feeling like an outsider…”

35. “Not subject to racial repercussions…”

36. “Advocating for faculty diversity is more than self-interest. It is about self-worth and social interest.”

37. Race-conscious hiring practices

38. “The controversy over race-based preferences in education…”

39. “The anti-affirmative action concept of ‘reverse discrimination’ needs to be reframed as ‘reduced (balanced) opportunity’ ” (F. Pincus)

40. “ ‘equal opportunity’ is not a viable concept in a system characterized by white skin privilege…”

41. Discourse on Affirmative Action 1984 “remedial action…” “no preferential treatment…” Present 1969

42. “Reviving earlier positive emphases from affirmative action… • reduce continuing effects of past racism • avoid new discrimination against white people • consider race as a factor, not the factor

43. “An old anti-affirmative action message: Race-conscious hiring… violates white rights unfairly advantages people of color stigmatizes people of color ignores poor white people.”

44. “…white males might well face reduced opportunities because they can no longer take advantage of the privileges they received by past race and gender discrimination. However, this reduced opportunity has nothing to do with what we normally call discrimination.” (F. Pincus)

45. “Skeptics may be more likely to accept the small degree of reduced opportunity that results from goals and timetables if they understand that it is a result of increased competition rather than quotas.” (F. Pincus)

46. “access discrimination…” “treatment discrimination…”

47. “Issues of… control, power, comfort.”

48. “deconstructing the status quo…”

49. “change agents need to recognize various faculty profiles of white privilege…”

50. “faculty profiles standing in the way of change… the naïve profile… the gentrified profile… the indifferent profile… the punitive profile…