From a Privileged Perspective: Exploring How White Students Make Meaning of Cross-Racial Interaction

How do we engage White students in conversations pertaining to race, diversity, and social justice? As conversations regarding race continue to unfurl across college campuses, it is essential that administrators include all members of the campus community, including White students. This live briefing explores how White students make meaning of interacting with racially diverse peers in the college environment, in an effort to provide higher education practitioners with tangible ways to work with White students.

Harper and Hurtado (2007) found that White students in focus groups about diversity often revealed that this was the first time they had ever been asked about how they experienced race on campus. As White students are currently the dominant group within higher education, this knowledge is necessary for practitioners who wish to promote productive interactions around race for all students. Predictions of a shifting racial demographic where Whites equal less than half the U.S. population by the year 2050, further emphasize the importance of studying how White students make meaning of race now so that scholars and practitioners can assist in a smooth transition to an increasingly diverse future (Murguia & Forman, 2003). 

Learning Outcomes

Higher Education practitioners will:

• participate in a space where they can learn and discuss the importance of engaging White students topics of social justice and diversity on the college campus;
• learn about the various ways that White students make meaning of interacting with racially diverse peers, and how their meaning making process facilitates their understanding of social justice and equity; and
• receive recommendations for engaging White students in the practice of social justice.