Anti-Racism Working Group

Anaïs Bailly,Gwenelle Styles O'Neal,Benjamin S Morgan,Mia Ocean,Erin N Spencer,Benjamin P Brumley,Susan R Wysor Nguema,Brie Radis,Megan A Mraz,Colleen Keeler

doi:10.18060/24053

Abstract

Institutions of higher education fail to address ongoing systemic racism within their classrooms, boardrooms, and commons when university personnel and students are not prepared to discuss racism and structural inequalities that exist within the campus community. To address this at a public, Predominantly White Institution (PWI), a group of students, staff, and faculty developed an action-oriented community to increase awareness and advocacy efforts against systemic and micro-level racism. Founded by faculty in the university’s BSW and MSW programs, the Anti-Racism Working Group (ARWG) is composed of faculty, staff, and students from multiple university departments. The goals of ARWG include education and awareness, and dialogue about race, ethnicity, bias, power, and privilege; cultivating interdisciplinary faculty and student relationships, and inspiring anti-racist actions. This paper discusses and disseminates research about ARWG’s inaugural year and early assessments of the program. Data includes responses from students who attended ARWG workshops and found them useful in their conceptualization and self-awareness around race, privilege, and taking anti-racist action. ARWG members benefited around three themes including skill development, relationship building, and the increased awareness and ability to engage in productive discussions around race, power, and privilege. We share these results with other universities and organizations to encourage the creation of similar programs and to facilitate learning from our experiences.

Highlights

Institutions of higher education fail to address ongoing systemic racism within their classrooms, boardrooms, and commons when university personnel and students are not prepared to discuss racism and structural inequalities that exist within the campus community
West Chester is a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) at both the graduate and undergraduate levels (Sinanan, 2016), and faculty and staff demographics are comparable to the student body: 83% White and 17% Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019; West Chester Office of Institutional Research, 2020)
While university racial climate data acknowledges the challenges BIPOC-identifying students experience at West Chester, university personnel and students are often not prepared to dialogue about racism and structural inequalities in the campus community

Summary

Introduction

Institutions of higher education fail to address ongoing systemic racism within their classrooms, boardrooms, and commons when university personnel and students are not prepared to discuss racism and structural inequalities that exist within the campus community To address this at a public, Predominantly White Institution (PWI), a group of students, staff, and faculty developed an action-oriented community to increase awareness and advocacy efforts against systemic and micro-level racism. Universities have an institutional responsibility to prepare students, staff, and faculty with strategies and knowledge to reduce racism both directly and structurally to navigate challenging discussions and achieve institutional change (Walls & Hall, 2018) One such outcome of this commitment was the formation of the West Chester’s Anti-Racism Working Group (ARWG). ARWG is composed of faculty, staff, and students from multiple university departments: Counselor Education, Educational Foundations & Policy Studies, English, Graduate Social Work, Management, the Library, Business College, Nursing, and Undergraduate Social Work, and includes a diverse range of participants in regard to markers of age, race, gender, and LGBTQIA+ identities

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