San Diego, CA — Today, San Diego Mesa College will host the Advancing Racial Justice
and Equitable Outcomes in Community College Institute, scheduled for Sept. 12 at San
Diego Mesa College, is the third such meeting organized by the University of Illinois
Office of Community College Research and Leadership. Issues of race on community college campuses will be the focus of the conference.
Community college faculty and staff members attending the institute will learn about
defining issues of race and educational equity on their campuses and begin developing
action plans to improve their learning environments and promote equitable outcomes
for all students.
At educational institutions of any level, there is a tendency to avoid discussions
of race and racism, said Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, the director of OCCRL. “However, campuses are experiencing in very powerful ways
some of the increasing social unrest associated with racial and ethnic demographic
shifts in the U.S., growing income gaps among these groups and racial tensions related
to immigration.
“College campuses are mirroring society, and we’re seeing spikes in racial bias incidents
on community college campuses and greater prevalence of racialized antipathy and hate
crimes. These are things that we need to be pushing against and lift the veil on.”
The Office of Community College Research and Leadership received funding from the
Lumina Foundation to host a series of free institutes on racial justice and educational
equity issues for community college faculty and staff members across the U.S. Eboni
Zamani-Gallaher is the director of OCCRL. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer
From 2006-16, Zamani-Gallaher said, one in five hate crimes reported to the U.S. Department
of Education occurred on community college campuses, and 35% of those were race-related
hate crimes. The most commonly reported types of incidents involved racial bias, she
said.
Following the racially motivated violent demonstrations at the University of Virginia
in 2017, the Lumina Foundation awarded $1 million in grants to colleges and universities
for projects intended to promote tolerance, understanding and healing on their campuses
and in their broader communities.
Among the projects that were funded was OCCRL’s plan for three free institutes on
racial justice and equity for community college faculty and staff members in different
regions of the U.S.
In selecting sites for the institutes, Zamani-Gallaher and J. Luke Wood, who serves
as co-principal investigator at the partnering Community College Equity and Assessment
Lab at San Diego State University, looked at colleges that reported high incidence
of hate speech and race-related hate crimes. They then zeroed in on areas where race-related
hate crime was the predominant form of such crime in the community college sector.
Ultimately, they decided to hold the institutes at Prairie State College in Chicago,
Bronx Community College in New York and San Diego Mesa College.
Attendance at the institutes held in Chicago in July and New York in August was 185
and 150 people, respectively. All 200 of the seats for the upcoming conference in
San Diego have been filled, Zamani-Gallaher said.
When such problems in higher education are brought to the fore, community college
campuses often end up being an afterthought, Zamani-Gallaher said. “And that’s curious
because among postsecondary institutions, two-year colleges have some of the most
culturally pluralistic student bodies.”
However, as with many four-year institutions, top-level administrators and faculty
members at community college campuses are predominantly white males – in stark contrast
to their student populations, Zamani-Gallaher said.
Community college officials who attend the institutes are challenged to develop plans
for ensuring that their institutions’ programming, practices and policies reflect
the cultural backgrounds and experiences of their students.
While the Lumina Foundation’s strategic plan for higher education aims for 60% of
people in the U.S. to hold high-quality degrees, certificates or other postsecondary
credentials by 2025, higher education currently is not on target to meet that goal,
Zamani-Gallaher said.
Racially underrepresented students often cite unwelcoming campus climates as one of
the reasons they decide to leave college without completing their degrees, Zamani-Gallaher
said.
Among other resources, participants at the institutes receive tools that outline culturally
responsive practices for addressing implicit bias, promoting intergroup dialogue and
contending with racial microaggressions.
The featured speakers include Ohio State University faculty members Penny Pasque,
an expert on facilitating intergroup dialogue, educational equity and diversity; and
Stephen John Quay, whose research focus is understanding how students can confront
issues of privilege, oppression and power.
Also speaking will be William A. Smith of the University of Utah, who coined the term
“racial battle fatigue” to describe the cumulative emotional, psychological, physiological
and behavioral effects of racial microaggressions on people of color.
More information about the speakers and the program are available on the institute website.
Editor’s notes: To reach Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, call 217-300-0897; email ezamanig@illinois.edu
Tags: Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, Equity and Excellence, Press Release, Professional Development