Higher Education Administration for Social Justice and Equity: Critical Perspectives for Leadership ed. by Adrianna Kezar and Julie Posselt

Abstract

Reviewed by: Higher Education Administration for Social Justice and Equity: Critical Perspectives for Leadership ed. by Adrianna Kezar and Julie Posselt ReChard Peel and Maurice Shirley Higher Education Administration for Social Justice and Equity: Critical Perspectives for Leadership Adrianna Kezar and Julie Posselt (Editors) New York, NY: Routledge, 2020, 298 pages, $49.95 (paperback) "All administrators have the potential to use their roles to create equity and encourage greater justice" (p. 1). Adrianna Kezar and Julie Posselt posit this in the introduction to their edited text, Higher Education Administration for Social Justice and Equity. This concept becomes the framework for the text as a broad number of perspectives from all types of administrative roles highlight the need and possibility for equity-minded and social justice-centered practice in every function of higher education. The goals of this book are ambitious, considering how higher education has historically treated conversations of equity and justice as the functions of singular departments and particular people. As administrators who have worked in social justice-centered departments, we have witnessed how institutions inhibit justice and equity by tasking one office with the responsibility of conducting such work. Often worse, we see institutions force the emotional and physical labor of equity and justice solely onto members of marginalized communities. Thus, we emphatically appreciate that this text does an impressive job of rewriting the narrative of social justice and equity to being everybody's job and responsibility. The contributors and editors effectively make the case that equity and justice are factors that significantly impact the work of leaders. The book is divided into four parts considering strategies within governance, human resources, data and research, and organizational culture. These strategies represent key aspects of higher education work where equity and justice are often secondary considerations, if considered at all. The text begins with decision-making and governance, and multiple authors delve deep into the strategies that higher education leaders can use to think more critically about their decision-making and the policies of their institutions. The frameworks and models for advancing equity and justice in this section are especially well thought out and impactful. In Chapter 2, Kezar and Dizon articulate a framework for shared governance that calls for a monumental shift away from giving voice mostly to tenured faculty to a model that centers the voices of multiple stakeholders, including staff and students. In Chapter 3, Posselt, Hernandez, and Villarreal follow up with a model for decision-making that takes individual biases into consideration and has practical implications for admissions and hiring decisions. Mullin's model for financial decisions, as discussed in Chapter 4, centers equity as an additional factor alongside economic benefits and success outcomes. The model's practical applications are evident as institutional budgets become tighter and resources become scarcer. Each part of the text ends with pertinent practitioner reflections. As such, in Chapter 5, Torres reflects on a three-pronged approach to understanding "topsy turvy" (p. 82) environments, which include the ideal situation, the norms of the institution, and the compromises of practitioners. In practice, Torres argues recognizing the ideal allows practitioners to resist the complacency of the status quo. Torres's reflections are fitting as all the authors in this section articulate models of ideal situations while keeping readers grounded with realistic scenarios and applications for social justice and equity. Part II focuses on human resources. The real strengths of the section are the authors' abilities to reconceptualize existing ideas and practices around human resources. For example, mentoring in higher education traditionally [End Page 253] remains a mostly informal practice with intrinsically motivated marginalized or underrepresented individuals feeling special commitments to mentoring others (Chang et al., 2014). In Chapter 6, Griffin contrasts this notion with a reconceptualization of mentoring as a more formal practice supported by institutional leaders and potentially with dedicated professional staff. Similarly, in Chapter 7, Liera and Ching call on readers to reconceptualize ideas of merit as well as fit in the field of higher education such that equity and justice are central aspects of both concepts. In Chapter 8, Julius calls on readers to rethink collective bargaining, proposing a model that requires both unions and employers to start with conversations...