“Whiteness here, Whiteness everywhere”: How Student Affairs Professionals Experience Whiteness at Predominantly White Institutions

Abstract

Through a narrative inquiry study, we sought to understand how 12 student affairs professionals (SAPs) experienced whiteness and perceived the influence of whiteness on campus responses to racialized incidents. We used components of critical whiteness studies (CWS) and critical race theory (CRT) as a theoretical underpinning to disrupt the dominant narratives that center whiteness in prac-tices, policies, and spaces at predominantly white institutions. We used a critical resistance analysis (CRA) process to demonstrate how SAPs’ narratives served as counternarratives, antenarratives, and resistance to institutional actors who refuse to acknowledge and name racism. Our findings illuminate whiteness as a racial ideology shedding light on the way whiteness is normalized, advan-taged by the dominant group, and perpetuated through color evasive and race-neutral responses to racialized incidents. Several implications related to this work are described as there is a need to openly name racialized incidents that occur on campus and create safe spaces for SAPs of Color and Students of Color. Additional recommendations for theory and future research are offered.