Critical Moments in a Faith-based University: Standing on a Fractured Precipice

Colloquium
Anna Berardi,  Steve Bearden,  Beronica Salazar,  Patricia Hornback,  Linda L Samek  

The 2016 US election season has awakened deep-seated resentments, unleashing public incivility exposing fractures within many universities. Five academics report on current successes and failures in our diversity work within a dominant culture university manifesting this heightened social unrest. Response strategies in this new era of resistance and micro-aggression are detailed. Within a critical pedagogical framework, theories of identity development, systemic change and resistance inform strategy construction, implementation, and data analysis. Authors will detail activities engaging marginalized and dominant faculty, staff, and students including faculty engagement with student feedback, post-election dialogs, classroom activities, and faculty-led diversity initiatives. Case study outcome data will reveal affective responses inspiring personal commitment to change as well as overt hostility. The authors will address how these events force us to more fully connect with the magnitude of systemic privilege that allows dominant culture members to avoid the consequences of advocacy. Our current efforts are both inspiring and troubling. While we stand on a fractured precipice, it is a season of greater awakening and courage for those historically reticent to act. We conclude with steps to capitalize on this current state of heightened awareness.