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Walking the walk: Towards creating more multiracial institutions of higher education
Abstract
The central question this study addresses is how one school of human services (SHS) became more fully racially diverse while embedded in a predominantly White institution of higher education. The goal was to collect data to answer three questions: (1) How did SHS evolve into a racially diverse organization? (2) How did this transition impact the faculty at SHS? and (3) How does SHS maintain its current level of racial diversity? To conduct this study a descriptive qualitative case study approach was utilized that incorporated 74 hours of field observations, sixteen qualitative interviews with the SHS faculty, and a documentation review of materials relevant to the School's development. The study was carried out from February 1990 to August 1990. To analyze the results of the interviews a White peer reviewer was used to assist the Latino researcher in the verification and reliability of the interpretations of the data. The seven major conclusions and recommendations of this study are that: (1) There is a need to incorporate organizational theories relevant to higher education when undertaking organizational development (OD) or multicultural organizational development (MCOD) in a college or university setting; (2) A mission statement directly tied to teaching and service to communities of color is central to SHS's evolving into a racially diverse school; (3) "Word-of-mouth" networks play a key role in the success of SHS's recruitment and retention processes; (4) By expanding the concept of "qualified" to include racial diversity and the ability to work in a multicultural setting, SHS consistently succeeded in attracting "qualified" candidates (both White and of color); (5) The multiracial collegium at SHS is an intense place to work, full of rewards and challenging conflicts involving vision, trust and issues of organizational power for both White faculty and faculty of color; (6) Therefore, attending to issues of social justice (via MCOD) and effective community building (via OD) are essential to creating more multiracial collegium; (7) Units, schools or institutions interested in racial diversity should consider an open systems approach including more fluid boundaries with communities of color. Finally, this study raised serious methodological concerns about utilizing individualistic qualitative research in examining multiracial settings.
Subject Area
Higher education|Minority & ethnic groups|Sociology|Bilingual education|Multicultural education
Recommended Citation
Bonilla, James Francisco, "Walking the walk: Towards creating more multiracial institutions of higher education" (1992). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9219408.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9219408