Active listening, speaking from the heart and being attuned to campus context were several critical takeaways of a new study by the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Center for Policy Research and Strategy which focused on how to deal with racial crises.
Centering the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) and the UM System as a case study – in light of highly publicized race-related incidents in 2015 – the research report, titled “Speaking Truth and Acting with Integrity: Confronting Challenges of Campus Racial Climate,” introduces a Collective Trauma Recovery Framework (CTRF) for dealing with such complex and usually emotionally charged incidents.
“We’ve learned collectively as a field that campus context really matters,” Dr. Lorelle L. Espinosa, ACE’s vice president for research, said, noting that institutions’ plans to move forward have to take into account existing racial inequality, the political climate and other factors influencing their campus climate. “We know that if you have a positive climate around race and gender and other identities, when you get to a crisis like this you will be in a far better shape” to address incidents.
ACE’s report serves to elevate the practices integral to building capacity around sustaining diversity and inclusion work, and also responding to “collective trauma” if racial incidents do occur.
“There’s no one start and end to creating a positive climate,” Espinosa said. “It’s something that you need to invest in and never take your eyes off of.”
Highlights of study findings are:
“A campus racial crisis is a time of significant scrutiny for institutional leadership,” the report stated. “In these moments, the campus community, whether they be students faculty, staff, or alumni, are looking to their leaders to see whether and how they model competence, empathy, and stability for the campus. Developing effective strategies for navigating a racial incident is difficult. The way in which leaders rebuild and provide direction to restore a commitment to diversity and inclusion matters. Rebuilding the campus community requires commitment, significant organizational and leadership effectiveness and strategies to restore trust and stability.”
