Racialized Experiences of Higher Education Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Well-Being and Shifting From Personal Resistance to Institutional Responsibility

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This article employs narrative inquiry and counter-storytelling as methodological and analytical tools to unpack the collective experiences of racially minoritized student affairs practitioners and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors’ narratives underscore factors that impeded their success during the pandemic and the nuances of practitioner and faculty fatigue above and beyond the greater responsibilities often placed on racially minoritized employees, resulting in compromised well-being. As the authors reconcile their experiences, they also unpack their feelings of guilt over their clear complicity as they continue to exist and lead in a system they often resent. In conversation with existing literature, the authors’ narratives inform a set of recommendations for human resource practices higher education that call for a shift in responsibility for the well-being of racially minoritized practitioners and faculty in higher education institutions.