“Coalition of the Willing”: Promoting Antiracism Through Empowering Community College Campus Members

Abstract

Objective/Research Question: Critical race theory (CRT) was used with a basic qualitative study to interrogate how racism unfolds at community colleges and how Black community college presidents enact antiracism. The purpose of this study is to enhance understandings about how community college presidents of African descent construct antiracism, how those definitions are communicated, and the rationale for creating opportunities to disrupt racism within predominantly White campus environments. Methods: Six presidents participated in three semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 75-minutes each. The sample included three men and three women. Interviews focused on institutional communications about racial tensions concerning how presidents’ identities (e.g., race and gender) influenced decision making with campus stakeholders and presidential roles in defining and enacting antiracism. Results: Three themes emerged including how Accountability matters, the need for Space creators, and importance of developing Student “critical” mass. Participants discussed how they created spaces and utilized cultural capital networks to advance campus diversity agendas to benefit their institutions. Presidents posited that although community college leaders were likely motivated to participate in anti-racist practices due to the bettering of institutional image, decisive work needed to be done despite knowing endemic racism occurs in perpetuity. Conclusions/Contributions: This study highlights the need for enhanced training of presidents about how to conceptualize and engage campus racism. Additionally, presidents posited that the majority of students on their campuses were ready to engage in antiracism leadership activism, but they needed training to be empowered to develop anti-racist programs and practices. Finally, institutions need to develop stronger and more systematic ways to call out racism and promote anti-racist programing and practices.