Framing inclusion and exclusion: The framing strategies of chief diversity officers in higher education
Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Chief diversity officers (CDOs) at U.S. colleges and universities assume complex roles and responsibilities designed to address issues of diversity, access, equity, and inclusion in higher education. Tasked with advancing diversity and inclusion, and most recently, alleviating race-based campus tensions, CDOs must utilize multiple strategies to build relationships, secure allies, and convince higher education constituents that diversity benefits higher education in multiple ways. This dissertation study examined how CDOs accomplish these complicated tasks through strategic communication. Grounded in framing theory and critical race theory (CRT), this study investigated how CDOs in higher education communicated (framed) the importance and relevance of diversity in higher education through general discourse, in annual diversity reports, and following a diversity-based campus incident. Because social media increasingly influences race relations on college campuses, this study also investigated how CDOs' constituents adopt or contest diversity frames on social media. \nTo document dominant framings used by CDOs in higher education, a textual analysis of in-depth interview data (N=19), annual diversity reports (N=4), and social media related to the institutions the CDOs represented, was conducted. The analysis found that CDOs in higher education predominantly use the inclusive excellence and the metric frames, coupled with subframes and diverse frame dimensions, to advance diversity in higher education. Specifically, these frames were used to garner support and achieve buy-in from their White constituents. The social media analysis suggested that CDOs' higher education constituents predominantly contest diversity and inclusion frames and proclaim persistent racism exists at U.S. colleges and universities. \nThe analysis also identified that exclusive excellence frame CDOs use to communicate to racial/ethnic minority students that racism occurs in higher education following a race-based incident. Using this frame, CDOs communicate to racial/ethnic students at predominantly White institutions that they must rely on resiliency and patience to succeed in higher education. To build these frames, CDOs rely on their academic degrees, professional development personal experiences, and mediators such as campus administrators to advance diversity and inclusion.
Author: Jobi Martinez
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2981952286