Whiteness in Higher Education: The Invisible Missing Link in Diversity and Racial Analyses: ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 42, Number 6
J–B ASHE Higher Education Report Series (AEHE) Series

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.

Executive Summary 7

Foreword 11

Prelude 14

Whiteness in Higher Education: Core Concepts and Overview 16

Whiteness as a Racial Discourse 18

Overview of Monograph 27

Interpersonal Whiteness and Higher Education 29

White on White: Invisibility and Structured Ignorance 30

Microagressions and the Missing Perspective of Whiteness 35

Whiteness and College Students: The Empirical Scholarship 37

Conclusion 48

Institutional Whiteness and Higher Education 50

Space, Race, and College Campuses: Three Perspectives 52

Whiteness Informing Culture, Climate, and Ecology 58

How Whiteness Affects Students of Color 67

Conclusion 75

Developing Racial Justice Allies 76

Ally Development: Context, Challenges, and Concepts 77

Conclusion 93

Implications and Futuring Whiteness Studies in Higher Education 95

The Future of Whiteness Studies in Higher Educations 97

A Concluding, Cautionary, and Challenging Note 108

References 111

Name Index 127

Subject Index 133

About the Authors 135

Nolan L. Cabrera is an associate professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona.

Jeremy D. Franklin is a research associate at the Utah Education Policy Center.

Jesse S. Watson is the associate dean for graduate academic affairs for the University of Southern California Graduate School.