“if these walls could talk”: exploring decision making for diversity professionals working at a historically White institution

Hamilton, Joshua (2023) “if these walls could talk”: exploring decision making for diversity professionals working at a historically White institution. Doctoral thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are commonly used words on college campuses to describe support for students of color on campus. Rarely are these terms ever utilized to examine how staff conducting diversity work are experiencing their respective institutions. In this study, I explored how staff of color performing diversity work navigate working at a historically White institution (HWI)--given their lived experiences. The focus of this study is through a racialized lens utilizing Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Racial Formations as the theoretical frameworks. Plantation politics is applied as the conceptual framework to draw connections to how HWIs act as contemporary plantations using ongoing violent practices. This study was conducted through a qualitative inquiry approach by using a semi-constructed interview process. Music elicitation is also used in this study to allow space for collaborators to express their experiences through song. The findings yield numerous shared ideals amongst staff working in diverse roles. Navigation does little to nothing to describe the depts of their racialized experiences as staff. Several folks believe they are working in and not of the institution. Finally, staff working in diversity roles are, ultimately, deploying tactics of abolitionists from the Underground Railroad to create space for historically oppressed communities on campus.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	Decision-Making; Diversity; Race; Staff of Color; Underworlding; Colleges and Universities
Subjects:	L Education > LC Special aspects of education
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of Education > Educational Leadership
Date Deposited:	15 Jul 2026 20:44
Last Modified:	15 Jul 2026 20:44
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/6296

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