Transforming Campus Racial Climates: Examining Discourses around Student Experiences of Racial Violence and Institutional (In)Action

Recent student protests highlight the institutional neglect of students of color and helped to shape a national discourse on racism in higher education. This study uses critical discourse analysis to examine discourses of campus racial climate that surround a student-led speak-out at a university in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of diversity in higher education Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 351 - 364
Main Authors Arellano, Lucy, Vue, Rican
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Psychological Association 01.12.2019
Subjects
Activism
College Environment
College Role
Ideology
Minority Group Students
Racial Bias
Social Justice
Student Attitudes
Violence
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Summary:Recent student protests highlight the institutional neglect of students of color and helped to shape a national discourse on racism in higher education. This study uses critical discourse analysis to examine discourses of campus racial climate that surround a student-led speak-out at a university in the Pacific Northwest. Based on analyses of 38 public texts, the findings illustrate how discourses of campus racial climate move along a continuum of racist, nonracist, and antiracist discourse. It further discusses this movement along three dimensions involving the degree to which the voices of students of color are centered, the way racism is understood, and the emphasis on institutional agency and responsibility. We argue that antiracist discourse, which employs a progressive racism-conscious ideology, is necessary for guiding institutional action.
ISSN:1938-8926
DOI:10.1037/dhe0000122