Proposed Study Title: Racism and Anti-Racism in Higher Education: An Exploratory Study for Action Research on the Population of Policies Requiring Institutional Racism Impact Analysis

The focus on this change-oriented action research project is to use an anti-racist lens to re-examine higher education policies and procedures, by focusing on the human needs and educational needs of college students. The initial findings of this exploratory case study of one Rust Belt University will interrogate institutional norms and practices in higher education. Principal investigator policy analysis will draw upon administrative policies and available institutional data in order to create a provisional typology of the policies governing the university. The goal will be to identify the set of implemented organizational policies, practices and procedure that are relevant to student success and to addressing human and educational needs of students.

 

This will enable outlining the population of policies which either perpetuate institutional racism in higher education or show promise for contributing to the ending of institutional racism in higher education. This exploratory research will set the stage for survey research which can engage in a more formal identification of the range of such policies, and point to the way towards institutional racism impact analysis of such policies and procedures, the ultimate action research goal of this study.

 

The study will focus on the identification and preliminary analysis of the set of policies which can inform ongoing action aimed at a top to bottom re-examination of university policies and procedures that represent inaction in the face of the needs of students who have been historically excluded, marginalized, discriminated against, and disadvantaged by the institutional racism over the course of their lives and while students in our universities. This proposal refers to those students using the phrase students experiencing institutional racism.

 

The primary focus will be primarily on the implicit curriculum within higher education—defined and discussed further below—rather than the explicit curriculum. However, this is not a rigid distinction, as degree policies and certain curriculum policies will be covered in the research, especially those policies I know best, such as those associated with writing instruction, often an issue associated with failure of students to graduate on time.