Courage has become a superlative attribute in our age. Higher education is newly interested in courage as a centering ideal. That's good: We need more courage on campus these days. What we have instead is a "mistaken" notion of courage. Courage is not screaming against the things that indispose us. Courage is sharing beliefs with…

Student activists continue to challenge institutions of higher education to address instances of oppression and injustice. In this chapter, we discuss recent examples of racial justice activism within higher education. We then offer recommendations for institutional leaders and administrators to consider when engaging with students focused on…

In this article, we discuss several recent examples of racial justice activism that has taken place within higher education, and what institutional response has looked like to those experiences. We offer recommendations for institutional leaders and administrators to consider when engaging with students focused on racial justice activism.

In this study, we examine the concept of social justice to provide greater clarity about how higher education might help students achieve more understanding about social justice and develop behaviors consistent with social change. We measured three dimensions of social justice: students' recognition that inequality exists, their determination to…

Intercultural collaboration for transformational change in higher education conveyed us as scholar activists, one Mestiza and one Northern-Western European, on a 10-year journey of reflexive practice, rooted in exploring and navigating underlying meanings and mores in our cultural ontologies. Using reflexivity, curiosity, and generosity, scholar…

In mid-2017, the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) invited its member institutions to apply to participate in a four-day professional development event focused on institutional responses to student activism concerning racial injustice. The Diversity, Civility, and the Liberal Arts Institute was premised on the belief that teaching and learning…

This article reflects on the successes and failures of student protests in transforming higher education in South Africa through a Marxist lens. The slow pace of change by the government in addressing structural and systemic inequalities has led to disgruntlement within the student body. In their quest to hasten the process, students engaged in…

Context: College campuses in the United States are currently engaged in public and ongoing negotiation of the value and limits of free speech in educational contexts. Responses to invited campus speakers from students, faculty, and campus leaders point to diverging perspectives on the roles and responsibilities of higher education institutions and…

The U.S. Supreme Court, on June 29, 2023, issued a ruling in the case of STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC. v. PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE. The decision was anxiously interpreted as an end to race-based Affirmative Action. However, insufficient attention has been given to their discussions, holding that race was an underinclusive…

This article examines the teach-outs organised by staff and students at Lancaster University during the 2021-22 UCU strike. Guided by a critical discourse analysis of blog posts co-produced by staff and students during the strike and teach-outs, this article will examine how the teach-outs developed an education programme critiquing the neoliberal…

Systemic oppression is a pervasive and insidious problem in U.S. society. In higher education, challenging oppression sometimes requires exposing how institutions perpetuate violence toward minoritized populations, passionate confrontations with people who have committed undeniably egregious acts or are key powerbrokers actively perpetuating…

During the 2016 elections and the Trump administration, the fight against interlocking systems of oppression--from white supremacy, to transphobia, misogyny, and xenophobia--occupied dominant and minoritized cultural imaginaries, on the news, in fictional representations, on social media. As some outlets even denied the existence of these…

This paper takes a closer look at diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the context of German Studies and the language classroom in the United States. The first part of the article examines the terminology, provides a general history of DEI/DEIA in higher education in the United States, and traces the development of DEI…

Whether it is advances in information technology, organized social movements, or racial inequality and social class stratification, higher education serves as a lens for examining significant issues within American society. First published in 1998, "American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century" offers a comprehensive…

This open access book employs Paul Ricoeur's methodologies to identify, challenge, and replace with responsible language the many continuing abuses of power, including in the university curriculum and in the international discourse of right-wing populism. Using Ricoeur's philosophy, the book provides a meta-frame for current debates about the…