Whiteness in Higher Education: The Invisible Missing Link in Diversity and Racial Analyses: ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 42, Number 6

When issues of diversity and race arise in higher education scholarship and practice, the focus is generally on Students of Color. That being said, if there are People of Color being marginalized on college campuses, there is a structural mechanism facilitating the marginalization. This monograph explores the relevance of Whiteness to the field of Higher Education. While Whiteness as a racial discourse is continually changing and defies classification, it is both real in terms of its impacts on the campus racial dynamics. Highlighting many of the contours of Whiteness in higher education, this volume explores the influence of Whiteness on interpersonal interactions, campus climate, culture, ecology, policy, and scholarship. Additionally, it explores what can be done both individually and institutionally to address the problem of Whiteness in higher education. Ultimately, this monograph is offered from the perspective that racial issues concern everyone, and this engages the possibility of both People of Color destabilizing Whiteness and White people becoming racial justice allies within the context of higher education institutions.
This is the sixth issue of the 42nd volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education issue, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.