Saying the right thing, doing the white thing: Perpetuating the enlightenment narrative in White undergraduate student leaders

Abstract

This phenomenological qualitative study explored the ways undergraduate student leaders engaged in the enlightenment narrative. Eighteen White student leaders from seven higher education institutions were interviewed. Participants engaged in frontstage performances of inclusion by “saying the right thing” to maintain ownership of their leadership positions and differentiate themselves from white peers through a white savior complex. When asked to clarify, they revealed private sentiments of dispossession and fear that some campus equity efforts threatened their leadership positions. This revealed ways in which participants undermined their initial rhetoric of inclusion through “doing the white thing.” Implications using Adaptive Leadership theory are provided to suggest how student involvement professionals can challenge White student leaders to confront their own Whiteness and counter forms of white supremacy.