Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttps://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=uarp20

Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice

ISSN: 1949-6591 (Print) 1949-6605 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uarp20

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiencesand Outcomes of Racially Minoritized Students

Candice Powell, Cynthia Demetriou, Terrell R. Morton & James M. Ellis

To cite this article: Candice Powell, Cynthia Demetriou, Terrell R. Morton & James M. Ellis (2020):A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences and Outcomes of Racially Minoritized Students,Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, DOI: 10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546

Published online: 09 Mar 2020.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 73

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Innovation in Research and Scholarship Feature

A CRT-Informed Model to EnhanceExperiences and Outcomes of Racially

Minoritized StudentsCandice Powell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Cynthia Demetriou, University of ArizonaTerrell R. Morton, University of MissouriJames M. Ellis, University of Michigan

Racial inequities in retention and graduation rates are a top concern in highereducation, yet scholars andpractitioners rarely look to racism to explain thesedisparities. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a vehicle to reveal and challengepower and oppression dynamics between racialized groups. This articleproposes a practical model for student affairs professionals to leverage CRTconcepts to address racial inequities in student outcomes and experiences.

Introduction

Recent high-profile cases of racism at preeminent colleges and universities are sparking

national movements wherein students are demanding action and institutional reform around

issues of racial equity. These high-profile cases reflect institutional challenges in successfully

identifying and addressing the operating procedures and cultural norms that marginalize students

of Color (Scheurich & Young, 2002). University educators and professionals have been increas-

ingly called upon to respond to racism in higher education. However, clear guidelines, models, or

best practices for responding to today’s iterations of racial tension and inequity are not readily

available outside of traditional scholarly discourse and spaces.

Multicultural competence in student affairs practice articulates the need for practitioners to develop

heightened awareness and knowledge about the diaspora of students of Color as well as the skills to

initiate social justice advocacy for inclusive campus environments (Pope & Reynolds, 1997; Pope,

Reynolds, & Muller, 2019). However, this scholarship—while significantly advancing institutional

attention to the experiences and needs of students of Color and acknowledging the role of racism in

oppressing andmarginalizing these students in college—does not center racism as the primary mechan-

ism by which students of Color are marginalized as the primary focus of purpose. The intentional

decentering of race and racism within the multicultural competence literature in favor of speaking to

multiple marginalities more broadly significantly limits its capacity to guide student affairs practitioners

to address the very specific, current realities of racism on their campus and how racism impacts student

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Candice Powell, University of North Carolinaat Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27515, USA. E-mail: candicef@email.unc.edu

Powell, C., Demetriou, C., Morton, T. R., & Ellis, J. M. (2020).A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences and Outcomes of Racially Minoritized Students.Journal of Student Affairs Research and PracticeISSN: 1949-6591 (print)/1949-6605 (online)

JSARP © NASPA 2020 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 1

experiences and outcomes. This gap in practical guidance about ways to directly address issues of racism

on campus comes at a great cost to institutions who strive to improve enrollment, retention, and

graduation rates for students as well as professionals of Color—metrics that are often considered within

an institution’s performance goals (Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, & Whitt, 2010; York, Gibson, & Rankin,

2015). A deeper understanding and confrontation of the experiences of students of Color with racism as

a primary factor contributing to marginalization, and mechanisms to skillfully disrupt racism would

support more equitable student success efforts and outcomes.

To enhance collegiate experiences and outcomes for students of Color, we propose a model for

student affairs professionals (SAPs) that promotes race and racism consciousness, racial equity, and

improved student support. Student affairs professionals include educators, personnel, policymakers,

and administrators working to advance student success within and beyond the classroom at colleges

and universities. Our model is rooted in the principles of critical race theory (CRT). CRT is used

across academic disciplines to understand and challenge power and oppression (Harper, 2009; Lynn

& Dixson, 2013; Yosso, 2005). Our model aims to provide SAPs with an accessible model for

recognizing, validating, discerning, and acting on racial inequities as a part of their daily work to

enhance students’ educational experiences and outcomes.

Critical Race Theory

Critical race theory is an interdisciplinary area of scholarship drawing from perspectives in

law, history, sociology, ethnic studies, and women’s studies (Yosso, 2005). CRT holds that

racism undergirds and operates within all institutional systems in the United States, unpacking

the dynamics of power and oppression exerted onto racialized groups (Harper, 2009; Ladson-

Billings, 1998; Lynn & Dixson, 2013). Principles of CRT included in our model include: racial

realism, the myth of meritocracy, White supremacist narratives, essentialism and intersection-

ality, and interest convergence.

Racial Realism

Racial realism holds that racism is an endemic and permanent function of U.S. society

perpetuated by discriminatory ideology stemming from the legalized enslavement and oppression

of people from African descent (Bell, 1992; Haney López, 1994; Harris, 1993; Omi & Winant,

1994). Bell (1992) asserted racial realism is not a hopeless stance; rather, it raises an individual’scritical consciousness, bringing awareness toward the possibility of actual social progress given

the acknowledgment of racism. Racial realism empowers marginalized individuals and allies by

providing a sense of purpose to organize actionable strategies as they combat institutional racism

and navigate everyday assaults (Anyiwo, Bañales, Rowley, Watkins, & Richards-Schuster, 2018).

For SAPs, embracing racial realism is critical for appreciating and implementing effective racial

equity practices. Accepting and understanding the deep-rootedness of racism as causes of

inequity within U.S. society enables individuals to adequately address inequity among and within

student experiences and outcomes. For example, many people of Color at predominantly White

institutions (PWIs) encounter overt and covert acts of racial discrimination and, to directly

challenge these experiences, is to engage in individual and collective acts of resistance to support

the community and make a difference for current and future generations. SAPs who embrace

racial realism may be more likely to identify where an institution is complicit in perpetuating

racism, and, understand its impact on the lived experiences of students of Color.

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

2 doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp © NASPA 2020 JSARP

The Myth of Meritocracy

Meritocracy is a system of allocating opportunities and resources built upon the assumption that

hard work of equal caliber by any person—regardless of their social identities—yields equal access and

outcomes (Bergerson, 2003). In CRT, meritocracy as a general and sole practice for allocating

student resources and opportunity is inherently inequitable as it fails to account for the systematic

exclusion and marginalization of people of Color (Bergerson, 2003; McNamee & Miller, 2018).

Historically, White people gained access to Ivy League and elite public institutions while Black

people and other persons of Color were excluded based on racial discrimination resulting in

disparities in access to positions of power within various professional communities and careers

(Katznelson, 2005; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). As meritocracy enables disproportionately

more White individuals to assume positions of power, it allows them to control narratives about

which norms and experiences are valued, upheld and espoused as the common college experience.

Additionally, it supports the inaccurate framing of opportunities typically more accessible for White

people as equally accessible for people of Color (Bergerson, 2003). Many high-impact programs at

PWIs, including internships, global study, and research, are merit-based and tend to select students

based on GPA and pre-professional experiences.White students from wealthier means may be more

likely to have social networks and experiences preparing them to better meet the merit-based

standards of high-impact programs than students of Color. Meeting merit-based requirements are

more difficult for racially, ethnically, and economically minoritized students because of systemic

inequities narrowing their access to requisite resources and opportunities that facilitate the attain-

ment of those requirements. PWIs embracing meritocracy as a mechanism for choosing students

worthy of high impact experiences do so through SAPs who have power to grant access to high-

impact programs in ways that often discount, minimize, and frame racial inequities as indicative of

the lack of individual effort, fit, or preparedness rather than a consequence of racial disparities in

education (Posselt, 2014).

White Supremacist Narratives

White supremacist narratives are descriptions of circumstances constructed to protect and

perpetuate power, prestige, and privilege among White individuals in power at the expense of

people of Color (Patton, 2015). Such narratives assert whiteness as property ideology, or a White

person’s right to use space, resources, opportunity, and authority at the exclusion of other

racialized groups (Harris, 1993). White supremacist narratives in higher education are dissemi-

nated via the reframing of racialized circumstances to influence institutional decision-making in

favor of White people (Yosso, Parker, Solórzano, & Lynn, 2004). White supremacist narratives

protect a PWI’s reputation and prestige, perpetuate ideologies of meritocracy and colorblindness,

minimize the effect of racial realism, and frame students of Color as inherently deficient and

lacking experiences requisite to be successful in college (Harris, 1993; McGee & Stovall, 2015).

Many programs are created at PWIs with the espoused intention of supporting minoritized

students’ transition to the university. Such programs are typically designed to enculturate margin-

alized students to university norms, rules, and expectations that were cultivated by historical

campus traditions deeply rooted in White and male perspectives. Yet, the creators of such

programs rarely consider the influence of racism and race as part of the need for the programs’creation, nor do they utilize the traditions and knowledge of students and faculty of Color as

assets to the holistic historical intellectual legacy at PWIs distinct from diversity and inclusion

efforts (Delgado & Villalpando, 2002).

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

JSARP © NASPA 2020 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 3

Essentialism and Intersectionality

Essentialism is the idea that a social group can be defined by a narrow set of common experiences

or characteristics shared by all members of that group (Delgado& Stefancic, 2001;Harris, Barone, &

Patton, 2015). Essentialism is problematic because no social group holds a singular perspective and

every member holds multiple, salient, and intersecting identities producing unique experiences

(Crenshaw, 1991; Harris, 1990). Understanding how the intersections of these identities are

experienced dismantles essentialism by valuing the complex and multidimensional identities of

people of Color such as race, class, and gender, and how collectively they yield unique standpoints

and epistemologies for navigating dominant spaces like PWIs (Collins & Blige, 2016; Crenshaw,

1991). At a PWI, a student could simultaneously self-identify as a member of a racially minoritized

group, be part of a gender majority group, and come from a high socio-economic background.

Furthermore, this student may identify as a full-time student, a parent, and an immigrant.

Intersectionality challenges the systematic structure of acknowledging and valuing how these iden-

tities influence individual students’ college experiences and outcomes.

Interest Convergence

Interest convergence details that social and economic progress for people of Color only

occurs when such progress serves the interests of White people in power (Bell, 1980). Provisions

made to advance the position of people of Color tend not to be transformative investments for

dismantling racial inequity; rather, they are symbolic gestures that function to appease those

without power and protect the interests of those in power (Bell, 1980). Institutional initiatives

catalyzed by interest convergence are rooted in good intentions but are not equitable for students

of Color (Harris et al., 2015). For instance, many PWIs create temporary forums, committees,

and one-day conferences with the intention of understanding the experiences and needs of

minoritized groups without endeavoring to change long-standing, oppressive policies or practices

(Harper, 2013). PWIs also often employ recruitment strategies to increase enrollment of students

of Color and tout the benefits of increasing student diversity for the institution, yet seldom do

institutions change aspects of the campus environment, such as monuments, curriculum, and

elitist programs, that marginalize students of Color (Smith, 2009).

Overall, the principles of CRT explicate how racism undergirds and influences the norms,

culture, and procedures of higher education. CRT also helps decipher how traditional notions of

support that do not readily account for racism and oppression fail to change racial disparities in

student outcomes. CRT helps promote race-consciousness and racial equity in higher education

toward more socially just experiences for students, faculty, and staff of Color (Cabrera, 2018; Harper,

2012a). Exploring and embracing CRT concepts can encourage SAPs both familiar and unfamiliar

with CRT to engage in socially conscious action and decision-making (Harper, 2009; Patton, 2015;

Robbins & Quaye, 2014).

Dialogic Action

Dialogic action is work entered in solidarity with oppressed people and has been used within

CRT scholarship to address educational inequities (Smith-Maddox & Solórzano, 2002). True

solidarity and social revolution are not possible without the humbling of the privileged, empower-

ment of the oppressed, and appreciative dialogue (Freire, 2005). In efforts to promote social

advancement and change, Freire (2005) wrote about the need for “acts of cognition” or recognizingand interweaving the voices and consciousness of all those present in a shared space (p. 79). Through

intentional acts of inclusion and validation for others’ ways knowing and experience, learning is

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

4 doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp © NASPA 2020 JSARP

transformed from a process that transmits information from one to another or molds other indivi-

duals to replicate the presentation and behaviors of the dominant power, into a shared space where

the roles of teacher and student are blended, and everyone progresses forward.

A Model for Student Affairs Professionals to Take a CRT-Informed Approach

Our model, illustrated in Figure 1, encourages SAPs to take a CRT-informed approach to

their work. Specifically, our model provides a point of entry for appreciating and applying CRT

concepts to practice among people who work directly with and make decisions about students

who may be unfamiliar with the CRT literature and terms. This model, which attempts to

reframe select CRT concepts into more accessible language, can be individually applied to one’sdaily efforts as well as the collaborative developments of teams, systems, and programs support-

ing student success outcomes for marginalized students. The model consists of four key practices:

validate, reflect, discern, and act.

Validate involves embracing racial realism as a permanent component in social systems and

developing an awareness of how racism detrimentally impacts students of Color. It is not possible

to engage in social justice action without validating racial realism as the force perpetuating the

social minoritization and marginalization of populations racialized as nonwhite (Harper, 2012b).

Reflect involves exploring one’s positionality, or one’s power and privileges within an environment

Figure 1. Model for student affairs professionals to take a CRT-informed approach.

ACTTake (Dialogic)Action

REFLECTExplore

Positionality

VALIDATEEmbrace Racial

Realism

DISCERNRaise Critical

Consciousness

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

JSARP © NASPA 2020 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 5

that is afforded to them or limited by their education, class, race, ethnicity, gender and physical

abilities (Milner, 2007; Taylor, Tisdell, & Hanley, 2000). Such active reflection, which could

take place via group discussion, individual journaling, or a workshop led by an expert on racism

and power, helps individuals understand the lens through which they see the world and how that

lens influences their understanding and decision-making for improving conditions for margin-

alized students (Relles, 2015).

Our model also encourages SAPs to “discern” normalized situations with critical conscious-

ness—a deep awareness of how societies oppress people—along with a personal commitment to

not perpetuate oppression (Freire, 2005). SAPs with a critical consciousness can understand new

realities and truths separate from the confines of one’s own privilege and can discern how one’spower and privilege consistently preserves dominance for one group at the expense of others

(Freire & Ramos, 2014). Embracing racial realism and exploring one’s positionality are effectivepractices for raising critical consciousness (Zamudio, Bridgeman, Russell, & Rios, 2009). For

example, SAPs should question the historical context for programs designed to support students

of Color, if students of Color have an equal place at the decision-making table regarding the

program, and if the assumptions undergirding the program (e.g. its reputation and notoriety)

promote a deficit-based narrative about students’ cultural wealth and belonging at the institution.

Critical consciousness is developed as a person begins to critically analyze the underlying

structures shaping social norms and creates an opportunity for dialogue and anti-subordinate

action to dismantle oppressive systems (Freire, 2005; Lynn, Johnson, & Hassan, 1999).

Individuals who effectively engage in the first three practices are prepared for the next compo-

nent: “act” by taking dialogic action. Dialogic action describes work entered into solidarity with

oppressed people to disrupt inequitable practices, systems, and conditions (Freire, 2005). Fruitful

work to improve the experience of individuals must occur in partnership with those individuals.

Unfortunately, such partnerships do not frequently occur in higher education. Faculty, adminis-

trators, and staff rarely engage students as equitable partners when making decisions about how to

create better conditions, policies, and programs for students. Rather, SAPs often view themselves as

holding knowledge about what students need rather than considering students as the holders of

knowledge about their experiences (Delgado, 2002). Dialogic action treats students as equitable

partners in designing student supports, services, and programs, and ensures students are at the table

for decision-making processes regarding their experience.

While independently significant, each of the four practices influences one another. Validate,

reflect, and discern are interconnected but not necessarily linear in their development. Act, however,

is not possible to effectively practice without engaging the first three components of our model. To

act effectively, one must first practice validating, reflecting, and discerning in the everyday settings of

higher education: classes, meetings, conversations, programming, and planning. All practices are

iterative and continuous, requiring ongoing activity and learning across time through continued

reading of the growing body of CRT-informed higher education literature and meaningful listening

to the stories of People of Color. Such intentionality creates a shared responsibility to improve the

experiences and outcomes of students of Color wherein which SAPs continuously reflect and refine

their activity and work with students as engaged and equal partners.

Tangible Ways to Take Dialogic Action

Higher education scholars have used CRT concepts to encourage SAPs to reflect on inequities

of practice and to partner with students in developing approaches to enhance their experiences and

outcomes (Harper, 2009). However, minimal guidelines exist for what this process could look like in

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

6 doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp © NASPA 2020 JSARP

everyday practice. Table 1 provides four key practices for SAPs to apply the tenets of CRT to take

dialogic action.

Challenge Notions of Neutrality and Meritocracy. SAPs concerned with student success

should ask which social group experiences are disproportionately rewarded, punished, or

simply not considered under a policy and to consider equitable alternatives. SAPs making

conscious efforts to look for racial inequity in their work is an extension of the validate and

discern components in our model. Critically reflecting on one’s social position to effectively

navigate power dynamics predicates efforts to challenge assumptions of neutrality and

meritocracy and look for the presence of racial biases within the foundational perspectives of

practices, programs, and systems at PWIs (Harper, 2009).

Participation in high-impact educational practices like internships, studying abroad, and research

opportunities are critical contributors to success in college, especially for Students of Color (Finley &

McNair, 2013; Harper, 2009; Kuh, 2008). Yet, pathways to these opportunities are often merit-based

and fail to consider disparities in access to resources and experiences thatWhite students aremore likely

to acquire because of the racial and socioeconomic privilege afforded by Whiteness (DiAngelo, 2010;

Ladson-Billings, 2006;Museus, Palmer, Davis, &Maramba, 2011). SAPs can challenge neutrality and

meritocracy by partnering with directors of high impact programs and students of Color to conduct an

equity audit of their recruitment, admissions, and support strategies. These partnerships can generate

critical reflection about the criteria high impact programs use to select students (Wells, 2008). Such

reflectionmay also reveal racialized perspectives among SAPs aboutwhat kind of experiences contribute

to the psychological, academic, and social factors necessary to thrive in high impact programs. This

revelation can allow room to deconstruct racist program policies and to reconstruct more equitable and

inclusive metrics for student recruitment and support.

Recognize, Legitimize, and Elevate Experiential Knowledge. Recognizing, legitimizing, and

elevating the experiential knowledge of students of Color includes collecting data about the lived

experiences of marginalized students and using data to guide program development and research

agendas. Participatory action research (PAR) is one method to recognize, legitimize, and elevate

Table 1

Ways to take dialogic action

CRT-Informed (*Dialogic) Action

Description: *Action is only dialogic when informed by solidarity andpartnership with racialized students – especially students who are

racially minoritized.

Challenge notions of neutrality andmeritocracy

Consciously look for or seek the presence of racial biases; criticallyreflect on the foundational perspectives of a practice, program orsystem; pose alternatives and solutions that reject reflections of hiddenracist ideology and history in consultation with students.

Recognize, legitimize, and elevateexperiential knowledge

Partner with students to ensure their voices, experiences, ideas, insightsare directly guiding program development and research agendas.

Storytelling Uncover and promulgate those stories often “unseen” or “untold” tovalidate students’ experiences and empower them to seek change.Promote positive and celebratory stories to disrupt deficit andstereotypical narratives of student capabilities and possibilities.

Challenge dominant White supremacistand essentialist narratives

Advocate for accurate descriptions of university histories and programsthat include the racialized experiences of students of Color; celebratetheir contributions and acknowledge their diverse backgrounds.

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

JSARP © NASPA 2020 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 7

the experiential knowledge of marginalized students at PWIs. PAR empowers the community of

study by repositioning the power of knowledge from researchers to the study participants and

treating them as active and equitable contributors of the research process and related

interventions (Herr & Anderson, 2005). The goal of PAR is for the researcher to reflect on

their socialized experiences and collaborate with the community of study to educate all

stakeholders toward social change (Harper & Kuykendall, 2012; Minkler, 2000; Nelson,

Ochocka, Griffin, & Lord, 1998). PAR differs from existing interventions, such as the equity

scorecard, designed to foster collaboration among SAPs in responding to racial-ethnic disparities

in student outcomes by including undergraduates as equal partners experts in their assessment of

their lived-experience on campus (Harris & Bensimon, 2007). Inviting students of Color to

collaborate in the construction of research agendas and program development can provide

a channel to validate their experiences and cultural ways of knowing (Delgado, 2002). These

opportunities push students to conceptualize and think through their racialized identities,

empowering them to speak about their racialized experiences and better navigate contentious

campus climates (Johnston-Guerrero, 2017).

Storytelling. Human narratives of lived experiences with racism add critical context for

challenging the assumed neutrality of social circumstances (Ladson-Billings, 1998). Students of

Color’s stories encountering racism at PWIs are important for raising critical consciousness, making

meaning, empathizing, and connecting with minoritized students (Ladson-Billings, 1998). Such

empathy plants seeds of critical consciousness to emerge as people who can discern situations in a newlight after having an emotional connection to another person’s lived experience. This process

contributes to the ability to validate others’ lived experiences as parallel realities constructed by

oppressive social positioning.

Storytelling provides students of Color a platform to express a positive identity and celebrate

their cultural ways of knowing within institutions that frame them as problems to be solved or

minimize their racialized experiences (Delgado, 1989, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1998; McGee &

Stovall, 2015). Such expressions challenge dominant narratives about which experiences are valued

and raise the voices of people of Color at PWIs. These counterstories can help institutions identify

missteps in their support for students of Color by progressing toward a culture of inclusion versus

numeric diversity, and expose and debunk deficit discourses about minorized students (DeCuir &

Dixson, 2004; Hiraldo, 2015).

Student activism is a common platform for students to share their lived experience at PWIs

(Rhoads, 2016). Students use social media, sit-ins, and protests to challenge deficit narratives about

students of Color at their universities and have attempted to reclaim spaces in which they feel

marginalized (e.g., the office of the president or buildings that celebrate racist university benefactors)

(Davis, 2015; George Mwangi, Bettencourt, & Malaney, 2018; Son & Madhani, 2015; Vingiano,

2014). SAPs can learn from and collaborate with student activists to create a campus culture where all

students feel valued and heard, and where the campus community is held accountable for creating an

environment of racial equity (Harper & Hurtado, 2007; Patton, 2015). SAPs can use storytelling to

disrupt deficit-based narratives of academic preparation for students of Color with videos of students

sharing how their pre-college experiences within their homes and cultural communities contribute to

their success in college. In all, partnering with students for storytelling equips SAPs with a tangible

method of practice to understand and apply CRT concepts to campus work.

Challenge Dominant White Supremacist and Essentialist Narratives. To serve the next

generation of college students, institutions will need to attend to their intersecting identities

and experiences (Mitchell, Simmons, & Greyerbiehl, 2014). To do this effectively, SAPs must

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

8 doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp © NASPA 2020 JSARP

challenge essentialist narratives by questioning their foundation for developing programs and

communicating the value of diversity and student success strategies.

Programs supporting the success of students of Color in college often perpetuate essentialist

narratives by framing their racialized experiences as monolithic (Harper, 2013; Harper & Nichols,

2008). SAPs designing programs to meet the needs of students of Color should critically evaluate if

their activities appreciate variations of economic status, gender identities, sexuality, language, and

national heritage present within the group the program is intended to serve. This is most possible

when programs are developed in collaboration with students who represent the diverse backgrounds

present within racial groups. Such collaborative efforts can prevent programs from framing students

of Color as people with cultural deficits who would be improved and welcomed inWhite dominated

academic spaces by assimilating into a university’s cultural norms and distancing themselves from the

cultural artifacts of language, dress, and traditions of communication associated with their home

communities (McCoy, Winkle-Wagner, & Luedke, 2014).

Universities are often charged with informing the campus community about the value of

diversity and how socio-political events impact members of the university. These communications

may take the form of e-mail messages from the office of the president or chancellor, in-person

presentations and consultations, written strategy documents and reports, research papers, and online

webpages and printed guides. Harris et al. (2015) stated, “Jargon-laden diversity statements, policies,

and commitments, which are not explicitly critical of systems of institutionalized privilege, are

destined to fail” (p. 33). It is important for SAPs charged with these communications to describe

and acknowledge institutional racial inequalities as contributors to student-group academic under-

performance and engagement in college rather than their demographic background. Additionally,

professionals must give equal attention to factors contributing to positive outcomes for students of

Color as much as unearthing the factors limiting their success, including visibly celebrating the stories

of minoritized students and their contributions to the university community in ways that do not

exceptionalize their successes (Harper, 2009).

Although dialogic decision-making about programs and communications is essential to a CRT-

informed approach to enhance the experiences and outcomes of racially minoritized students, our

model encourages SAPs to be proactive in challenging racial bias during everyday interactions. Such

individual acts of advocacy are necessary for disrupting racism in education especially when students

are not present to defend themselves or are not empowered to do so safely. For example, sharing

about students’ racialized experiences as a factor contributing to students’ circumstances may be

helpful in disciplinary hearings and on academic reinstatement committees where privacy is required

to protect the individual student. These acts are dialogic when they are not informed by one’s ownexperiences alone, but by a sense of common purpose and shared social justice goals cultivated with

racialized students through reflection and active, meaningful listening to many students across time.

Challenges of Using Tenets of Critical Race Theory in Student Success Practice

Taking a CRT-informed approach means competently and unapologetically exposing

racism and proposing action steps to address it from a place of cultivated critical consciousness.

While universities are concerned with increasing diversity, they tend to choose strategies that

serve the interests of White people in power and do not disrupt the structures that are built on

racism (Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solórzano, 2009). As such, CRT is met with resistance because

it threatens White control of resources, opportunities, and narratives about value and reality

(Ladson-Billings, 1998).

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

JSARP © NASPA 2020 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 9

Maintaining inequity is not always an act of conscious defiance. People in power are often not

aware of the ways their power is maintained by inequality. Nor are many people in multiple positions

of social power ready to acknowledge how they reinforce systems of inequity in order to maintain

their own power because—unlike people holding marginalized identities—they do not experience

the negative effects of inequity. People in positions of power may avoid embracing racial realism

because doing so may trigger unpleasant feelings and recognition that leveling the playing field may

require them to relinquish their power and privilege (Bergerson, 2003; Delpit, 1995). Even when

conscious of institutional missteps in addressing a racial issue, many staff and faculty of Color and

women are afraid to raise concerns about racism for fear of the consequences for challenging the

dominant order (Harper & Hurtado, 2007; Mitchell et al., 2014).

Interest convergence is another challenge to implementing our model as it simultaneously

serves as a significant barrier and a tool for challenging White supremacist and essentialist

narratives in higher education. Institutions heavily rely on White and wealthy alumni or state

governments to fund its programs and services. This reliance on survival and advancement is

a strategic tool of oppression because it distracts the oppressed from the workings of power and

privilege (Freire & Ramos, 2014). This form of interest convergence prevents persons within the

institution from disrupting inequitable systems preserving privileges for wealthy benefactors and

other people who hold influence on university resources because an institution’s livelihood is

predicated on preserving that privilege. For example, White and wealthy donors may not be as

apt to provide increased funding to supplement aid for students of Color because they feel they

are taking resources away from deserving White students or because they may feel uncomfortable

confronting their own privilege. Understanding the concept of interest convergence challenges

SAPs to identify and articulate how the juxtaposition of addressing inequities and preservation of

White privilege hurts institutional goals (Harper, 2009). A shared understanding of how interest

convergence shapes existing initiatives supporting students of Color at PWIs forces SAPs to

deeply reflect on how their programs ultimately serve the interests of White students and

perpetuates deficit views of this student population while still advancing more conscious means

of progress and investment for students of Color (Harper, 2009).

Finally, CRT is an unwelcome truth-teller, and is often met with resistance in institutions that

tend to be more concerned with appearance and civility rather than with equity (Ladson-Billings,

1998). Despite this resistance, Bell (1992) asserted people must continue to work against oppression

toward a more socially just world. CRT has rich potential to equip SAPs with tools to identify and

work against oppressive forces along minoritized students’ path to graduation. Particularly, the

application of CRT principles byWhite researchers can legitimize attention to racism at universities

where White people’s perspectives are normalized and valued (Bergerson, 2003).

Directions for Future Study

This article proposes a model for SAPs to take a CRT-informed approach to enhancing

experiences and outcomes for racially minoritized students. The first three practices in our

model, validate, reflect, and discern, are not linear or simple processes. Rather, they each

represent developmental processes that require quality internal exploration and external support.

More work is needed to explicate tangible steps for navigating the developmental processes

represented in our model. Additional research is required to fully explore those steps and the

lived experiences of professionals who take a CRT-informed approach to improving student

experiences and outcomes in higher education. This includes examining the effectiveness of our

model in promoting transformative, instructional change.

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

10 doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp © NASPA 2020 JSARP

Conclusion

The current social landscape of higher education is multifaceted and complex, representing

decades of progress in racial equity as well as entrenched problems yet to be solved. Such a landscape

and the espoused values of most PWIs necessitate that SAPs clearly understand and effectively

respond specifically and directly to racism on college campuses. Improved student experiences and

outcomesmust be cultivated andmeasured beyond aggregate retention and degree completion rates as

a multi-dimensional idea that includes valuing the lived experience of all students. Processes that are

based on racial equity and dialogic action are informed by intentional dialoguewith students ofColor,

see students’ cultural experiences as strengths, frame pre-college experiences within home cultures as

valuable knowledge rather than deficient in preferential resources, and focus on demonstrations of

academic progress and development within the context of their socialized experiences rather than as

exceptions to racialized social and environmental factors. Professionals involved with student success

efforts have a responsibility to regularly discuss racial equity with colleagues who design and execute

policies and programs. These discussions support critical reflection on strategies to reform practices

toward more equitable decision-making.

Engaging in work for equity in student success requires clear guidelines and models of best

practice. CRT provides a timely and relevant framework for examining and challenging power

and oppression between racialized groups (Harper, 2009; Lynn & Dixson, 2013; Yosso, 2005).

The model presented herein encourages validating, reflecting, discerning, and acting, to identify

and challenge racism. It is offered to enhance the work of student affairs professionals including

faculty, researchers, instructors, academic advisors, student affairs personnel, policy-makers, and

administrators. We remain critically hopeful that sharing ideas about how to engage in these

practices will contribute to the disruption of historical inequity’s persistent grip on higher

education outcomes and widen pathways for equity in student success.

ReferencesAnyiwo, N., Bañales, J., Rowley, S. J., Watkins, D. C., & Richards-Schuster, K. (2018). Sociocultural influences on the

sociopolitical development of African American youth. Child Development Perspectives, 12(3), 165–170. doi:10.1111/cdep.12276

Bell, D. (1980). Brown v. Board of education and the interest-convergence dilemma. Harvard Law Review, 93(3), 518–533.doi:10.2307/1340546

Bell, D. (1992). Racial realism. Connecticut Law Review, 24(2), 363–379.Bergerson, A. A. (2003). Critical race theory and white racism: Is there room for white scholars in fighting racism in education?

International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 16(1), 51–63. doi:10.1080/0951839032000033527Cabrera, N. (2018). Where is the racial theory in critical race theory?: A constructive criticism of the crits. The Review of Higher

Education, 42(1), 209–233. doi:10.1353/rhe.2018.0038Collins, P. H., & Blige, S. (2016). Intersectionality. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford

Legal Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. doi:10.2307/1229039Davis, J. (2015). Social media fuel modern student activism [Online exclusive]. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved

f rom ht tps : / /www.myajc .com/news/ local -educat ion/soc ia l -media- fue l -modern-student-act iv ism/3v9xsmepX9R1nJZ6BtgqdP/

DeCuir, J. T., & Dixson, A. D. (2004). “So when it comes out, they aren’t that surprised that it is there”: Using critical racetheory as a tool of analysis of race and racism in education. Educational Researcher, 33(5), 26–31. doi:10.3102/0013189X033005026

Delgado, B. D. (2002). Critical race theory, Latino critical theory, and critical raced-gendered epistemologies: Recognizingstudents of color as holders and creators of knowledge. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 105–126. doi:10.1177/107780040200800107

Delgado, B. D., & Villalpando, O. (2002). An apartheid of knowledge in academia: The struggle over the “legitimate” knowl-edge of faculty of color. Equity & Excellence in Education, 35(2), 169–180. doi:10.1080/713845282

Delgado, R. (1989). Storytelling for oppositionists and others: A plea for a narrative. Michigan Law Review, 87(8), 2411–2441.doi:10.2307/1289308

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

JSARP © NASPA 2020 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 11

Delgado, R. (1995). The imperial scholar: Reflections on a review of civil rights literature. In K. W. Crenshaw, N. Gotanda,G. Peller, & K. Thomas (Eds.), Critical race theory: The key writings that formed the movement (pp. 46–57). New York,NY: New Press.

Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical race theory: An introduction. New York: New York University Press.Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York, NY: The New Press.DiAngelo, R. (2010). White fragility. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3(3), 54–70.Finley, A., & McNair, T. (2013). Assessing underserved students’ engagement in high-impact practices. Washington, DC:

Association of American Colleges and Universities.Freire, P. (2005). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.Freire, P., & Ramos, M. B. (2014). Pedagogy of the oppressed: 30th anniversary edition. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic

& Professional.George Mwangi, C. A., Bettencourt, G. M., & Malaney, V. K. (2018). Collegians creating (counter)space online: A critical

discourse analysis of the I, Too, Am social media movement. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 11(2), 146–163.doi:10.1037/dhe0000054

Haney López, I. F. (1994). The social construction of race: Some observations on illusion, fabrication, and choice. HarvardCivil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 29(1), 1–62.

Harper, S. R. (2009). Race-conscious student engagement practices and the equitable distribution of enriching educationalexperiences. Liberal Education, 95(4), 38–45.

Harper, S. R. (2012a). Black male student success in higher education: A report from the national Black male collegeachievement study. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania for the Study of Race and Equity in Education.

Harper, S. R. (2012b). Race without racism: How higher education researchers minimize racist institutional norms. The Reviewof Higher Education, 36(1), 9–29. doi:10.1353/rhe.2012.0047

Harper, S. R. (2013). Five things student affairs administrators can do to improve success among college men of color.Washington, DC: NASPA.

Harper, S. R., & Hurtado, S. (2007). Nine themes in campus racial climates and implications for institutional transformation.New Directions for Student Services, 120(2007), 7–24. doi:10.1002/ss.254

Harper, S. R., & Kuykendall, J. A. (2012). Institutional efforts to improve Black male student achievement: A standards-basedapproach. Change, 44(2), 23–29. doi:10.1080/00091383.2012.655234

Harper, S. R., & Nichols, A. H. (2008). Are they not all the same?: Racial heterogeneity among Black male undergraduates.Journal of College Student Development, 49(3), 199–214. doi:10.1353/csd.0.0003

Harris, A. P. (1990). Race and essentialism in feminist legal theory. Stanford Law Review, 42(3), 581–616. doi:10.2307/1228886

Harris, C. L. (1993). Whiteness as property. Harvard Law Review, 106(8), 1707–1791. doi:10.2307/1341787Harris, F., III, & Bensimon, E. M. (2007). The equity scorecard: A collaborative approach to assess and respond to racial/ethnic

disparities in student outcomes. New Directions for Student Services, 2007(120), 77–84. doi:10.1002/(ISSN)1536-0695Harris, J. C., Barone, R. P., & Patton, L. D. (2015). Who benefits?: A critical race analysis of the (d)evolving language of

inclusion in higher education. Thought & Action, 31(2), 21–38.Herr, K., & Anderson, G. (2005). The action research dissertation: A guide for students and faculty. New York, NY: SAGE.Hiraldo, P. (2015). The role of critical race theory in higher education. The Vermont Connection, 31(1), 53–59.Johnston-Guerrero, M. P. (2017). Reasoning through race: College students of color and the dynamics of racial authority.

Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 10(1), 72–85. doi:10.1037/dhe0000040Katznelson, I. (2005). When affirmative action was White: An untold history of racial inequality in twentieth-century America.

New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter.

Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J. H., & Whitt, E. J.; Associates. (2010). Student success in college: Creating conditions that

matter. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Ladson-Billings, G. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what’s it doing in a nice field like education? International

Journal of Qualitative Studies, 11(1), 7–24. doi:10.1080/095183998236863Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools.

Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3–12. doi:10.3102/0013189X035007003Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W. F. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47–68.Lynn, M., & Dixson, A. D. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of critical race theory in education. New York, NY: Routledge.Lynn, M., Johnson, C., & Hassan, K. (1999). Raising the critical consciousness of African American students in Baldwin Hills:

A portrait of an exemplary African American male teacher. The Journal of Negro Education, 68(1), 42–53. doi:10.2307/2668208

McCoy, D. L., Winkle-Wagner, R., & Luedke, C. L. (2014). Colorblind mentoring? Exploring White faculty mentoring ofstudents of color. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 8(4), 225–242. doi:10.1037/a0038676

McGee, E. O., & Stovall, D. (2015). Reimagining critical race theory in education: Mental health, healing, and the pathway toliberatory praxis. Educational Theory, 65, 491–511. doi:10.1111/edth.2015.65.issue-5

McNamee, S. J., & Miller, R. K. (2018). The meritocracy myth (4th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Milner, H. R. (2007). Race, culture, and researcher positionality: Working through dangers seen, unseen, and unforeseen.

Educational Researcher, 36(7), 388–400. doi:10.3102/0013189X07309471Minkler, M. (2000). Using participatory action research to build healthy communities. Public Health Reports, 115(23), 191–197.

doi:10.1093/phr/115.2.191

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

12 doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp © NASPA 2020 JSARP

Mitchell, D., Simmons, C., & Greyerbiehl, L. (2014). Intersectionality and higher education: Research, theory, and praxis.New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Museus, S. D., Palmer, R. T., Davis, R. J., & Maramba, D. C. (2011). Racial and ethnic minority student success in STEMeducation (ASHE-Higher Education Report Series). Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.

Nelson, G., Ochocka, J., Griffin, K., & Lord, J. (1998). “Nothing about me, without me”: Participatory action research withselfhelp/mutual aid organizations for psychiatric consumer/survivors. American Journal of Community Psychology, 26(6), 881–912. doi:10.1023/A:1022298129812

Omi, M., & Winant, H. (1994). Racial formation in the United States: From the 1960’s to the 1990’s (2nd ed.). New York, NY:Routledge.

Patton, L. D. (2015). Disrupting postsecondary prose toward a critical race theory of higher education. Urban Education, 51(3),315–342. doi:10.1177/0042085915602542

Pope, R. L., & Reynolds, A. L. (1997). Student affairs core competencies: Integrating multicultural awareness, knowledge, andskills. Journal of College Student Development, 38, 266–277.

Pope, R. L., Reynolds, A. L., & Muller, J. A. (2019). Multicultural competence in student affairs: Advancing social justice andinclusion (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Posselt, J. R. (2014). Toward inclusive excellence in graduate education: Constructing merit and diversity in PhD admissions.American Journal of Education, 120(4), 481–514. doi:10.1086/676910

Relles, S. R. (2015). A call for qualitative methods in action enlisting positionality as an equity tool. Intervention in School andClinic, 51(5), 312–317. doi:10.1177/1053451215606690

Rhoads, R. A. (2016). Student activism, diversity, and struggle for a just society. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 9(3),189–202. doi:10.1037/dhe0000039

Robbins, C. K., & Quaye, S. J. (2014). Racial privilege, gender oppression, and intersectionality. In D. Mitchell Jr.,C. Simmons, & L. Greyerbiehl (Eds.), Intersectionality and higher education: Theory, research, and praxis (pp. 20–30).New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Scheurich, J. J., & Young, M. D. (2002). White racism among White faculty: From critical understanding to antiracist activism.In W. A. Smith (Ed.), The racial crisis in American higher education (Vol. 2, pp. 221–242). Albany: State University ofNew York Press.

Smith, D. G. (2009). Diversity’s promise for higher education. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Smith-Maddox, R., & Solórzano, D. G. (2002). Using critical race theory, Paulo Freire’s problem-posing method, and case

study research to confront race and racism in education. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 66–84. doi:10.1177/107780040200800105

Son, C., & Madhani, A. (2015, November 10). Missouri president, chancellor quit after football team walks out. USA Today.Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/11/09/mizzou-faculty-walks-out-student association-calls-presidents-removal/75448392/

Taylor, E., Tisdell, E. J., & Hanley, M. S. (2000). The role of positionality in teaching for critical consciousness: Implications foradult education. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Adult Education Research Conference (pp. 453–458). Vancouver:University of British Columbia.

Vingiano, A. (2014). 63 Black Harvard students share their experiences in a powerful photo project [Online exclusive].Buzzfeed News. Retrieved from https://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/21-black-harvard-students-share-their-experiences-through-a?utm_term=.badBAmvQ1#.eay3aBKLj

Wells, R. (2008). Social and cultural capital, race and ethnicity, and college student retention. Journal of College StudentRetention, 10(2), 103–128. doi:10.2190/CS.10.2.a

York, T. T., Gibson, C., & Rankin, S. (2015). Defining and measuring academic success. Practical Assessment, Research &Evaluation, 20(5), 1–20. Retrieved from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=20&n=5

Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race, Ethnicityand Education, 8(1), 69–91. doi:10.1080/1361332052000341006

Yosso, T. J., Parker, L., Solórzano, D. G., & Lynn, M. (2004). Chapter 1: From Jim Crow to affirmative action and back again:A critical race discussion of racialized rationales and access to higher education. Review of Research in Education, 28(1), 1–25. doi:10.3102/0091732X028001001

Yosso, T. J., Smith, W. A., Ceja, M., & Solórzano, D. G. (2009). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campusracial climate for Latina/o undergraduates. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 659–690. doi:10.17763/haer.79.4.m6867014157m707l

Zamudio, M., Bridgeman, J., Russell, C., & Rios, F. (2009). Developing a critical consciousness: Positionality, pedagogy, andproblems. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 12(4), 455–472. doi:10.1080/13613320903362220

A CRT-Informed Model to Enhance Experiences

JSARP © NASPA 2020 http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2020.1724546 13