Camouflaging Power and Privilege: A Critical Race Analysis of University Diversity Policies

Background: Universities continue to undertake a range of initiatives to combat inequities and build diverse, inclusive campuses. Diversity action plans are a primary means by which U.S. postsecondary institutions articulate their professed commitment to an inclusive and equitable climate for all members of the university and advance strategies to meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse society. Purpose: To examine, using critical race theory, how discourses of diversity, circulating in educational policies, reflect and produce particular realities for people of color on university campuses. Data Collection and Analysis: Data were collected from 20 U.S. land-grant universities. Line-by-line analysis, employing inductive and deductive coding strategies, was conducted to identify images of diversity and the problems and solutions related to diversity as represented in 21 diversity action plans generated throughout a 5-year period (1999-2004). Findings: Analysis reveals four predominant discourses shaping images of people of color: access, disadvantage, marketplace, and democracy. These discourses construct images of people of color as outsiders, at-risk victims, commodities, and change agents. These discourses coalesce to produce realities that situate people of color as outsiders to the institution, at risk before and during participation in education, and dependent on the university for success in higher education. Using critical race theory as an analytic framework, this article aims to enhance understanding about how racial inequality is reproduced through educational policies. Conclusions: The findings suggest that well-intentioned attempts to create a more inclusive campus may unwittingly reinforce practices that support exclusion and inequity.