I have a few writing rules. I do not write when I am angry and I do not write about HBCUs. The former may go without saying the but the latter really flummoxes people. I am a graduate of an HBCU. I’m a third generation HBCU graduate. I study higher education. I study race andRead More “I Was Born For This: Breaking My Silence on Black Colleges”
Rationalization of Higher Education: Working Draft
I have talked a hole in the ozone about the theoretical approaches to privatization, higher education, and inequality. Gaye Tuchman and I took up some preliminary work on a synthesized framework for these concerns. The chapter is forthcoming from Wiley press this year. This working draft conceptualizes rationalization in higher education as a means-end schemaRead More “Rationalization of Higher Education: Working Draft”
Faulty Analogies or Faulty White Logics?
In “White Logic, White Methods” several essays address the false rationality of social science that is a thin veneer for whiteness. You can rationalize away all disparate impacts of institutional racism and sexism if you shape your theories, models and measurements just so. I have argued vehemently, albeit academically, that higher education research is oneRead More “Faulty Analogies or Faulty White Logics?”
At UW-Madison: Race/Class/Gender and the Credentialing Organization
First, I’d like to accept responsibility for climate change. It seems everywhere I travel this week, snow follows. At least this week I am at UW-Madison where snow is evidence of normal weather patterns, unlike the U.S. South. I have mentioned my study of for-profit students. I spent about a year interviewing students at for-profit collegesRead More “At UW-Madison: Race/Class/Gender and the Credentialing Organization”
Put A Ring or a Diploma on It? Bless Princeton Mom’s Heart
I actually get where Princeton Mom is coming from. I mean, I do teach a class called, “class, status and power” and Princeton Mom may think she’s talking about marriage but I know she’s really talking about class, status, and power. Princeton Mom is Susan Patton. A few months back she wrote a piece encouragingRead More “Put A Ring or a Diploma on It? Bless Princeton Mom’s Heart”
Inequality, NOT Ignorance: Race/Class/Gender and For-Profit Colleges
The Race Workshop at Duke’s Sociology department invited me to speak about my research with for-profit students. I’d like to thank everyone who attended. The talk was well-attended and my hosts were exceedingly generous. A special thank you to Duke’s Robert Reece, Kieran Healy, and Angel Harris for their support and feedback. Robert and BrianRead More “Inequality, NOT Ignorance: Race/Class/Gender and For-Profit Colleges”
The Pell Grant Poll Tax
When I first saw the online poll at Education Next, I said a lot of dirty words. A lot. See, I’ve been here before. Rather, people like me have been here before. But, I get ahead of myself. Thanks to a policy recommendation from the fine folks at the Brookings Institute there is an honest-to-GodRead More “The Pell Grant Poll Tax”
For-Profit Colleges: What’s Race Got To Do With It?
This week I will presenting findings from my study on race, class, gender and for-profit colleges. There is a sense that race has something to do with for-profit college enrollment. There are the brown faces in ads and Claire Huxtable as the official voice of the University of Phoenix. Trend data certainly supports this visceralRead More “For-Profit Colleges: What’s Race Got To Do With It?”
Sweeping HigherEd’s Crystal Stairs**
*A Drive-by Post* Inside Higher Ed’s Matt Reed wrote a stellar post on higher education enclosure today. Matt generally goes stellar but he was really speaking to me today. I had to highlight some of what he teases apart. The first was a widely shared piece by Clay Shirky. It’s one of those broad-scope piecesRead More “Sweeping HigherEd’s Crystal Stairs**”
Why We Want To Be White Women
A first-person account of race and yoga is making the social media rounds. In it a self-described thin white woman notices a black woman in yoga class and has an existential crisis about envy, big bodies, and race. It’s one of the oddest autoethnographic attempts I’ve read in some time. The title is sensationalist butRead More “Why We Want To Be White Women”