Occupying the Academy: Just How Important Is Diversity Work in Higher Education? ed. by Christine Clark, Kenneth J. Fasching-Varner, and Mark Brimhall-Vargas (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Occupying the Academy: Just How Important Is Diversity Work in Higher Education? ed. by Christine Clark, Kenneth J. Fasching-Varner, and Mark Brimhall-Vargas Blanca E. Vega (bio) Christine Clark, Kenneth J. Fasching-Varner, and Mark Brimhall-Vargas, (Eds.). Occupying the Academy: Just How Important Is Diversity Work in Higher Education? New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012. 253 pp. Cloth: $70.00. ISBN 978-1-4422-1272-5. Diversity work in education is the latest chapter in a long history of the struggle for social justice. Occupying the Academy: Just How Important Is Diversity Work in Higher Education?, edited by Christine Clark, Kenneth J. Fasching-Varner, and Mark Brimhall-Vargas, addresses the permanence of racism as manifested in higher education. The collected narratives and case studies presented in this book provide testimony about how racism evolves in an era that many people call "postracial," symbolized by the election of our nation's first Black president, Barack Obama. However, the case studies in this book also suggest that diversity workers, for all their best intentions, should name their work for what they are actually doing: race work. The authors divide the book's narratives into three areas: those from chief diversity officers, midlevel administrators, and faculty. The editors charged contributing authors to adhere to several guidelines: They must (a) understand multicultural organizational model concepts, (b) employ Critical Race Theory (CRT) and variations of CRT as conceptual frameworks for understanding diversity work, and (c) provide counter narratives as case studies for analyses. Despite the use of these frameworks that center race in research, however, "diversity" seemed to replace the word "race." Diversity work is the umbrella term for all work done in the name of social justice. Race work centers racial justice as a core value. In the foreword, Sonia Nieto makes this relationship apparent, but this focus does not remain clear throughout the book. Each case occurs at a public higher education institution, and all the narratives employ the same pseudonym, Acme, using, as a rationale, the fact that these stories can occur at many public institutions. There are a few exceptions: none of the cases occurred at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and none (for reasons they do not explain) were situated in the "Pacific Northwest, Alaska, or Hawai'i" (p. 195). Despite these limitations, the editors argue that these stories are more common than we believe and must be written and published to record the ongoing history of racism in higher education. To understand diversity workers, the editors provide a brief historical background of the role of the chief diversity officer (CDO) in their introduction. The role of CDOs was shaped by private corporations to explain why these roles are often created without much power: "It is important to note that many Fortune 500 companies that signed the amicus brief in support of the University of Michigan's recent bid to protect affirmative action practices (Gratz v. Bollinger, 2003; Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003) have driven the emergence of the CDO position in the private sector and public higher education alike" (p. 2). The editors describe the complexities of diversity workers, particularly those who identify as people of color. Diversity workers of color often find themselves caught between two competing interests—demonstrating a united front with their colleagues, or speaking for their identity group (p. 3). The CDO is caught in contradictory roles. On the one hand, the existence of the CDO symbolizes an institution's seriousness about diversity work; but on the other, they bear the very real responsibility for diversity work, causing authors to ask: "Who is ultimately responsible for the success of institutionalized effort?" (p.89) Three themes prevail throughout the book: (a) difficulties with accomplishing diversity work in the postracial era, (b) understanding diversity knowledge, and asking (c) for whom is diversity work performed? First, all of the narratives demonstrate how difficult diversity work has become in the postracial era. The editors "thought it would get better" (p. xvii), an attitude that was clearly expressed in Case 1 (p. 26). This case reveals the difficulties of diversity work from the perspective of a White, female CDO. It also explores the impact of presidents with different understandings...