The ASHE Higher Education Report Series is sponsored by the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), which provides an editorial advisory board of ASHE members.

Amy Bergerson

University of Utah

Bryan Brayboy

Arizona State University

Ryan Gildersleeve

University of Denver

Michael Harris

Southern Methodist University

Elizabeth Jones

Holy Family University

Adrianna Kezar

University of Southern California

Kevin Kinser

SUNY – Albany

Peter Magolda

Miami University of Ohio

Dina C. Maramba

SUNY – Binghamton

Susan Marine

Merrimack College

Christopher Morphew

University of Iowa

Robert Palmer

SUNY – Binghamton

Michael Paulsen

University of Iowa

Todd Ream

Taylor University

Barbara Tobolowsky

University of Texas at Arlington

Carolyn Thompson

University of Missouri, Kansas City

Diane Wright

Florida Atlantic University

THE FIELD OF higher education is severely lacking in a critical, race-based analysis of Whiteness literature in higher education. This monograph 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 education?
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 Whiteness 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 difficult 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 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 understand 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 Whiteness is situated in every aspect of higher education from the people, the policies, 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 individual in later chapters. The second chapter focuses on interpersonal Whiteness 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 inaction. Using literature from higher education, the chapter interrogates the intersection of Whiteness and microaggressions, colorblindness, racial segregation, emotional responses, teacher education, and White privilege pedagogy. The documentation of behaviors, emotions, and ideologies that perpetuate 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 contemporary 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 chapter moves on to addressing how Whiteness informs our understanding of campus culture, climate, and ecology through a brief discussion of the history of higher education. No discussion of space in higher education would be complete 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 education 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 considerations 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 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, researchers 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 examination 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? Unfortunately, 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 methodological considerations when conducting Whiteness research.

IN A RECENT article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (Brown, 2016), Shaun Harper and other higher education scholars noted that the overt and covert racist incidents happening daily on today's college and university campuses will be reduced only if attention is paid to educating people who identify as White. The article goes on to suggest that White students, faculty, and staff need to engage in bystander intervention when they see examples of overt racism on campus. To achieve this goal, however, White people on campuses have to understand the role they play in perpetuating existing racist systems. The Whiteness in Higher Education monograph by Nolan Cabrera, Jeremy Franklin, and Jesse Watson, suggests ways to help make awareness of Whiteness a reality.

As a White, middle-aged, upper middle class, highly educated, heterosexual, cis-gender woman, I am the embodiment of privilege. As a higher education scholar who focuses on diversity and equity, I believe I understand what it means to hold these privileged identities. Through reading, watching, and listening, I try to continually educate myself about my own privileges and about the many people who do not have the luxury of my positionality. To be honest, I enter into this work sometimes with defensiveness, sometimes with tears, sometimes with fragility—but mostly with a willingness to dig in and learn. It is from this vantage point that I encourage you to read and learn from this monograph. Everyone has more to learn about race, privilege, and power and the monograph is a great guide.

Cabrera, Franklin, and Watson have something to offer anyone who works in institutions of higher education. The monograph clearly articulates ideas about race and Whiteness that aren't often brought to table. The monograph introduces readers to new theories, new perspectives, new readings, and new approaches. Using an ecological framework, the authors look at Whiteness from an individual or interpersonal perspective as well as from a structural perspectives (i.e., looking at issues of space, culture, and climate).

The chapter on allies has a particular impact as it pushes the reader to reflect on the ways that one thinks about Whiteness and privilege and offers new perspectives. For example, the book may show the reader that some of the common ways that scholars and practitioners currently engage in diversity pedagogy in the classrooms, or with students outside of class, may be more counterproductive than helpful. The monograph will educate readers about what it means to be a White ally—and how, despite good intentions, allies may be falling short. If you are White, like me, filled with good intentions to educate, call out, upend and move institutions of higher education toward being more inclusive and less oppressive, then this book is for you. The book is particularly helpful in revealing ways that even well-meaning attempts can perpetuate racist ways of being and acting.

The final chapter, which illuminates the need for more and better research, frames the role of Whiteness in perpetuating systems of oppression. The chapter provides scholars of higher education a theoretical lens and methodological guidance to move our scholarship forward in ways that could influence higher education policy and practice. The conclusion of the monograph may provoke the reader, raising questions and sometimes emotions. But, it will also make you think and hopefully help the higher education community engage in research and practice in new ways.

Clearly, the monograph fills an important void in our collective understanding and offers scholars and practitioners new insights into what is happening on our campuses. For regular readers of the series, we note that this monograph fits with other recently published volumes including Rethinking Cultural Competence by Chun and Evans (2016), Racism and Racial Equity in Higher Education by Museus, Ledesma, and Parker (2016), and Critical Race Theory by McCoy and Rodricks (2015). These monographs are so important today as higher education struggles to respond to overt and covert forms of racism. The present monograph provides researchers and practitioners with a well-rounded understanding of racism, Whiteness, and pathways forward to broaden research agendas and increase awareness in practice to make colleges and universities more open and functional places in which to work and study.

Lisa E. Wolf-Wendel
Series Editors

WHILE EDITING THE proofs of this monograph, demographobia (Chang, 2014) – or the irrational fear of demographic population shifts – reared its ugly head and Trump was elected President of the United States. Trump won overwhelmingly with White people, and his triumph demonstrates the pressing importance of colleges and universities taking seriously the issue of Whiteness. In many respects, Trump won because the persistent Dog Whistle Politics on the right that continually frames White people are the “true victims” of contemporary racism (Lopez, 2014). The racist and xenophobic post-election climate makes the work more difficult, but also makes it all the more necessary. Many will be afraid to speak, but we the authors are reminded of the words of Lupe Fiasco:

I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence

Fear is such a weak emotion that's why I despise it

We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth

So scared of what you think of me, I'm scared of even telling you

Sometimes I'm like the only person I feel safe to tell it to

I'm locked inside a cell in me, I know that there's a jail in you

Consider this your bailing out, so take a breath, inhale a few

My screams is finally getting free, my thoughts is finally yelling through

-Words I Never Said

It is time to let those “screams free” and fight racism within and without institutions of higher education. We feel the theorizing and empiricism collected for this monograph are critically important, but they are insufficient if not coupled with critical, collective, anti-racist action.