While diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and anti-racism efforts are well intentioned, they continue to miss the mark and evade institutional transformation. One reason is that whiteness often goes unaddressed. Whiteness is largely ignored and misunderstood by college and university leaders and has, as a result, is not included in DEI efforts or the institutional transformation lexicon. Omitting whiteness in conversations about institutional operations has stymied systemic change. No effort to advance DEI and anti-racism without locating, understanding, and eradicating whiteness can ever fully succeed.
From “Rename and Remain” to “Reframe and Regain”: Reimagining Campus Inclusiveness
In my last article, I highlighted the crucial strategies of “person-first” and “targeted universalism” amid the wave of anti-DEI legislation in higher education. Initially, many of us embraced a “rename
Molly Kerby
July 7, 2025
