How to Engage in Difficult Conversations on Identity, Race, and Politics in Higher Education: A Practical Guide for Faculty PDF
Preview How to Engage in Difficult Conversations on Identity, Race, and Politics in Higher Education: A Practical Guide for Faculty
How to Engage in Difficult Conversations on Identity, Race, and Politics in Higher Education How to Engage in Difficult Conversations on Identity, Race, and Politics in Higher Education addresses the polarized political and racialized climate in the United States. This practical resource offers faculty and staff much needed direction related to hosting difficult conversations as they occur in the classroom, residence halls, ori entation events, and coffee shops around college and university campuses. Chapters provide insights, case examples, interactive exercises, and “how-to” tools and tips to hosting these conversations, covering issues such as immigration, White supremacy in academia, women’s rights, the Black Lives Matter movement, trans rights, reproduc tive rights, and cancel culture, among many others. This resource is designed to better prepare instructors, faculty, higher education staff, and administrators to enter into these hard conversations with an improved awareness of contentious issues and how to facilitate, and potentially de-escalate, discussions that are already occurring. Tammy Hodo is the President of All Things Diverse LLC, a Diverse, Equity, and Inclusion consulting firm for businesses, academic institutions, nonprofit organiza tions, and government entities. Jacques Whitfield is a Senior HR Consultant, Project Manager, and Trainer with CPS HR, a California public agency that provides HR support to the public sector. Brian Van Brunt is the Creative Director at D-Prep and the President of InterACTT. Poppy Fitch is the Dean of Disability Support Programs and Services and Title IX Coordinator at the San Diego Community College District in San Diego, California. How to Engage in Difficult Conversations on Identity, Race, and Politics in Higher Education A Practical Guide for Faculty Tammy Hodo, Jacques Whitfield, Brian Van Brunt and Poppy Fitch Designed cover image: © Getty Images First published 2023 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Tammy Hodo, Jacques Whitfield, Brian Van Brunt, and Poppy Fitch The right of Tammy Hodo, Jacques Whitfield, Brian Van Brunt, and Poppy Fitch to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hodo, Tammy L., author. | Whitfield, Jacques, author. | Van Brunt, Brian, author. | Fitch, Poppy, author. Title: How to engage in difficult conversations on identity, race, and politics in higher education: a practical guide for faculty / Tammy Hodo, Jacques Whitfield, Brian Van Brunt, Poppy Fitch. Description: New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2022036586 | ISBN 9781032121451 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032121437 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003223283 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: College teaching–Social aspects–United States. | Education, Higher–Social aspects–United States. | College students–United States–Attitudes. | United States–Social conditions–Study and teaching (Higher) Classification: LCC LB2331 .H6125 2023 | DDC 378.1/250973–dc23/eng/20220912 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022036586 ISBN: 978-1-032-12145-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-12143-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-22328-3 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003223283 Typeset in Perpetua by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India Linnen, thank you for your patience and understanding of the work I do. Jonah, dream big and know that we are here for you every step of the way.To my mom, Judith, thank you for teaching us to be proud of our beautiful melanin skin and to know that life is about more than social constructs and labels. Tammy To those professors who called on me, stayed late, and put up with all my many questions over the years. By listening, you taught me to listen. By showing patience, you taught me to be patient. Brian H & K, thank you for teaching me every day how to lean into the hard stuff. Let’s keep talking. I’m inspired by you. Love, momma Poppy The work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is some of the most rewarding and most difficult work I’ve ever done in my professional career. I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect with people all across the country to create transformation and engagement in the public sector space. I’m grateful to each of my extremely talented colleagues who invited me on this journey – Brian,Tammy, Poppy, and Bethany! Let’s continue to change the world one person at a time! Jacques Contents Preface ix Contributors xi PART I Foundational Topics 1 1 Setting the Table 3 2 Leaning into Difficult Conversations 17 3 Where and How to Have the Conversation 29 PART II Having the Hard Conversation 39 4 COVID-19 Pandemic: Masks, Vaccines, Freedom, and Sacrifices 41 5 Immigration and Xenophobia 57 6 White Supremacy in Academia 68 7 Black Lives Matter 88 8 Police Reform and the Defund the Police Movement 111 9 Women’s Rights 124 vii ConTEnTS 10 Reproductive Rights and Abortion 142 11 LGBTQ+ Sexuality and Gender 157 12 Antisemitism 173 13 Disability Rights and Access 181 14 Cancel Culture 196 15 Firearms and the Second Amendment 208 Index 223 viii Preface It’s hard to argue that 2020 was anything but a challenging dumpster-fire for all of those who existed through it. For some, this was a time of living without freedom and without being able to use the supports they were accustomed to (e.g., sporting events, concerts, dining out). For others, those years threat ened their very survival. While these are certainly not all new challenges, sys temic racism has been around much longer than 2020 for instance, the need to better prepare faculty and staff to address these concerns in the classroom and around campus is a growing need. As we have moved into 2021 and 2022, the discussion has broadened related to vaccine compliance and debates about who should have access first and how to address those who do not want to be vaccinated. We are sure there is a good argument here to suggest that there has always been tension like this, buried beneath the surface. There are few punches being pulled in 2022, and people hold strong, and often diametrically opposed, thoughts and beliefs on a variety of important topics. This book is divided into two, distinct sections. The first offers an orientation to the second, more practical and applied, content areas. Chapter 1, Setting the table, offers a summary review of the conflict points we have been arguing about for decades and centuries. Politics and religion, slavery and freedom. All is fair game and contributes to the difficulty at which we come together in a principled dialogue. It is from our past we take the lessons of what should be avoided, mistakes that should be skipped, and a focus on a higher level of connection, understanding, liberty, peace, and happiness. We fall woefully short of offering anything more than a summary view of a country limping through the global COVID-19 pandemic, rises in antisemitic hate speech and actions, tensions around reproductive rights, disability access, and LGBTQ+ rights. Entire books have been written on every one of these topics. So, you may ask, why did we write this to begin with? ix
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