As anti-racist protests continue across the nation in response to the death of George Floyd – a Black man who died after a Minnesota police officer pinned his neck to the ground – college and university leaders are asking themselves what role higher education can play in confronting racism and structural inequity in the United States.
Analysts explored the question in a wide-ranging online discussion on June 19, moderated by Diverse Editor-at-Large Dr. Jamal Watson, the latest installment in the Diverse Talk Live webcast series.
Dr. Donna Y. Ford, a distinguished professor of education at Ohio State University, called it a “tragedy upon tragedy” that George Floyd’s killing in 2020 was the “tipping point” to talk about centuries of anti-Black racism.
She stressed the need for concrete action from universities, beyond “hollow anti-racist statements.” For her, that means diversifying faculty, offering diversity training with experts in equity work, improving tenure procedures to help Black scholars rise in the ranks and not penalizing Black professors for publishing work in Black journals.
With Black scholarship frequently rejected from academic publications, “damn it, where else can we publish?” she said. “Real talk. I’m sick of scholar-sh*t. I’m sick of us being rejected for high-quality work.”
Ford also wants to see diversity themes incorporated into curricula, no matter the subject.
Every class should “prepare your future professionals to be anti-racist,” she said, and while that process might be uncomfortable, it’s time to embrace a “pedagogy of discomfort.”
