There is abundant empirical evidence locating higher education policies and organizations as sites that routinely (re)produce racial inequities across levels—e.g., undergraduate experiences, faculty hiring, graduate admissions, or state funding formulas. In a context flush with "DEI" projects but frustratingly little measurable change, researchers and practitioners alike must ask—how can we design for and differentiate between "DEI" work that erodes racialization in organizations and policy and DEI work that acts as window dressing on the status quo?
Deploying tenets and exemplars of racialized change work (RCW)—a type of purposive action that builds up new, equitable organizational arrangements and tears down old, inequitable ones—participants will explore ways to design for and differentiate DEI initiatives that materially erode the persistent (re)production of racial inequity in higher education settings. Specifically, this workshop will attend to how RCW spreads (engagement), sticks (institutionalization), and what effects it may have on producing equitable outcomes (impact).
