White student leaders’ deflections of diversity conversations

Abstract

Peer socialization agents (PSAs) play an important role in transmitting messages about the culture of higher education institutions (i.e. norms, values, practices, and assumptions) to new students, including messages concerning diversity and inclusion. The transmission of diversity messages depends on how student leaders make meaning of these ideas and who they deem responsible and capable of handling their delivery. By using a conceptual framework consisting of elements of student development theory, whiteness as property, and racial arrested development, we undertook a secondary data analysis of 34 white PSAs to understand their meaning-making concerning diversity and inclusion narratives. Findings demonstrate white PSAs defer conversations about diversity to Peers of Color, thereby avoiding racial discomfort. Participants provided various reasons for diverting these conversations, including following institutional norms, conceiving of knowledge about diversity as belonging to minoritized others and protecting comfort. Authors discuss implications for research, practice, and theory to provide educators tools to disrupt these patterns.