MIAMI UNIVERSITY the Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We Hereby Approve the Dissertation of Demere G
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Demere G. Woolway Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy _________________________________________ Director Kathleen M. Goodman _________________________________________ Reader Elisa Abes _________________________________________ Reader Kathleen Knight-Abowitz _________________________________________ Reader Stephen Quaye _________________________________________ Graduate School Representative Katherine Kuvalanka ABSTRACT CAMPUS PERSPECTIVES ON RACE, THEME PARTIES, AND HATE INCIDENTS by Demere G. Woolway This dissertation examined the multiple perspectives generated by a single hate incident on a college campus. Hate incidents include a range of hate crimes, hate speech, and bias incidents motivated by discriminatory impulses against someone’s identity. This project is framed by a literature review that examines how hate incidents are defined by researchers who focus on perpetrators, legal frameworks, victims’ rights, colleges, and communities. Racially-inflected theme parties are one type of hate incident. In these racially-inflected theme parties, college students (often in fraternities and sororities) gather to drink and wear costumes that parody a particular racial identity. Although they are relatively common, there is little literature on how to respond to such incidents. In this dissertation, I focused on a “Hood Ratchet Thursday” theme party planned at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2013. Many members of the U-M community found this party offensive, and particularly demeaning to Black women. My constructivist approach used narrative research strategies to collect three sources of data: online comments, survey results, and interviews. From these data, I created four composite narratives to illustrate the range of perspectives on the theme party. The perspectives range from not seeing a problem with the party to seeing the party as part of an overall hostile campus climate. The polyvocal narratives demonstrate that colleges can improve their responses to theme parties by acknowledging the multiple perspectives that the parties can generate. Based on the narratives, I made recommendations for improving response to theme parties and other hate incidents. Practitioners can prepare by creating a plan, creating consistent guidelines regarding theme parties, and educating the campus at large. If a hate incident occurs, practitioners can respond by communicating clearly, welcoming multiple perspectives, and engaging with intersecting identities. Colleges should also consider encouraging dialogue, whether it is online, faculty-led, or student-led. Afterwards, practitioners should assess their response to the campus incident. This dissertation adds to a limited body of research on racially-inflected theme parties and on how campuses respond to hate incidents. CAMPUS PERSPECTIVES ON RACE, THEME PARTIES, AND HATE INCIDENTS A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Educational Leadership by Demere G. Woolway Miami University Oxford, OH 2014 Dissertation Director: Kathleen M. Goodman Reader: Elisa Abes Reader: Kathleen Knight-Abowitz Reader: Stephen Quaye Graduate School Representative: Katherine Kuvalanka Table of contents Table of contents ............................................................................................................................. ii List of tables .................................................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Community Impact ......................................................................................................................... 3 Hate Incidents on College Campuses ........................................................................................... 5 Racialized Theme Parties as Hate Incidents ................................................................................ 6 My Story ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Research Approach ....................................................................................................................... 10 Research Focus .............................................................................................................................. 11 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................................ 13 Perpetrators of Hate ...................................................................................................................... 14 Legal Approaches to Hate Incidents .......................................................................................... 16 Victims’ Rights Approach to Hate Incidents............................................................................. 24 Hate’s Impact on Communities ................................................................................................... 29 Supporting College Communities after Hate Incidents ........................................................... 39 Chapter 3: Study Design .................................................................................................................... 42 Theoretical Perspective ................................................................................................................. 42 Methodology................................................................................................................................... 43 Research Context ........................................................................................................................... 46 Data Collection .............................................................................................................................. 52 Data Organization ......................................................................................................................... 57 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 58 Composing Narratives .................................................................................................................. 62 Member Checking and Peer Review ........................................................................................... 64 Limitations ...................................................................................................................................... 66 Chapter 4: Results .............................................................................................................................. 68 Introduction to Narratives ........................................................................................................... 68 Tyler: It’s racist to focus on race ................................................................................................. 68 Madison: It’s only racist if it’s intentional .................................................................................. 70 Amanda: Racism isn’t ok .............................................................................................................. 73 Brianna: Racism is structural ........................................................................................................ 76 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................... 79 Assessing U-M’s Response ........................................................................................................... 91 ii Addressing Multiple Perspectives ................................................................................................ 98 Chapter 5: Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 100 Prepare.......................................................................................................................................... 100 Respond ....................................................................................................................................... 104 Assess ........................................................................................................................................... 112 Assessing this Project ................................................................................................................. 113 Future Research .......................................................................................................................... 114 Closing .......................................................................................................................................... 116 Appendices ....................................................................................................................................... 118 Appendix A.................................................................................................................................. 118 Appendix B .................................................................................................................................