Exploring Motivation to Disrupt Whiteness in Entry-level White Women Student Affairs Professionals

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand how entry-level student affairs professionals who identify as White women navigate, maintain, and disrupt Whiteness. As this group makes up the majority of student affairs staffs, understanding how they view themselves in relation to identities and systems of oppression, specifically Whiteness, is a critical first step to enacting transformation in higher education environments. In review of the literature, I included perspectives from both a micro- and macro-level analysis considering individual identity development as it is situated in systems of oppression, power, and privilege as well as provided context for entry-level student affairs professionals. Two major theoretical perspectives informed the study, Critical Whiteness studies and feminist methodology. Both perspectives allowed me to illuminate and deconstruct interlocking systems of oppression, specifically to understand how the White women in the study were often unaware how they could choose the comfort of their White privilege, even though they were oppressed by sexism. Data sources included two interviews and focus groups with a sample of 15 entry-level student affairs professionals who identified as White women across a wide range of institution types and functional areas. Analysis procedures were consistent with a critical narrative approach and illuminated two main themes, navigating emotions and the impact of work environments. Nuances within the themes included the navigating specific displays of emotion, such as “White women’s tears”, as well as how empathy was a driving factor for social justice work. The context situated within higher education generally presented barriers to disrupting Whiteness to participants, as a major finding from the study was that they felt their influence was limited to individual acts, which in isolation cannot dismantle systems. I offered several implications for scholarship, practice, and future research which including grounding understanding of the unique intersection of identity in power structures, coalition building, and additional structure for professional development. These recommendations sought to address themes from the study such as power structures, expectancy, sphere of influence, and burnout, which were barriers to disrupting Whiteness.