As faculty, staff, and administrators who have committed our lives to serving under-resourced and minoritized populations on our campuses, many of us might feel like we are betwixt and between. As we serve and advocate in contexts that have made clear through their policies and practices, we are not protected, and neither are our students and colleagues.
Dr. Sydney Freeman Jr.
Many of us were taught that servant leadership is the preferred approach to creating positive change within the academy. However, in our current times, bully-style leadership is often being utilized by those in power, mirroring the approaches of federal and state executive and legislative leadership.
Dr. Donna Y. Ford
With this context in mind, many of us who have committed our careers to serving the most vulnerable populations must wrestle with protecting ourselves while still strategically ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of those who need us most in the academy. And if you are of African descent you might pay extra ‘Black taxes’ - feeling a heavy sense of burnout and lack of motivation going into the new school year. However, we would like to suggest a few ideas that may assist you in creating a positive academic year because we desire for you to thrive and flourish.
Collaborate
To successfully navigate this season, we all must be willing to collaborate on shared goals. Coalition building with people that align with your values academically and professionally across disciplines will be key to utilizing collective power to influence institutional decisions and policies. This is not the time to go it alone. As the saying goes, ‘united we stand, divided we fall’. Collaboration is powerful and empowering.
Read and View Inspiring Work
This is not the first time that our country has experienced such an upheaval. This is the time to draw on the work of historians, humanities scholars, and social scientists who can put this time into broader perspective. Drawing on the work of those who study higher education issues particularly, faculty and researchers in higher education and student affairs programs will be helpful for understanding how to successfully flourish professionally. It is also important to read and watch materials that bring us joy and are life-giving that can be academic or non-academic related, such as, Antar Tichavakunda’s Taking Black Joy Seriously in Higher Education and Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts’ Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration.
Document your work
Many of us are making groundbreaking contributions in our roles. It is important to document this, whether it be sharing it via the local media or ensuring that you work with the university archives to ensure that it is documented for posterity. When there are those who would seek to diminish our contributions, it is essential to strategically document and archive what we have accomplished… so that it can be studied for years to come.
Stay Informed
This is not the time to put your head in the sand and not stay up to date regarding what is going on your campus. Be sure to read your university-wide announcements and be knowledgeable regarding what is happening in your particular unit. It will also be key to monitor any federal or state policy changes that may impact your work, as DEI programs, academic freedom, tenure protections, and other important initiatives continue to be undermined. It can be helpful to join advocacy groups, such as your local chapter of AAUP (the Association for American University Professors).
Become AI Literate
While the future implications of AI may be concerning to many of us, it is important to ensure that we become literate in how such tools may enhance our current roles and responsibilities.
Intentionally Coach, Mentor, Advocate
As we have stated in a previous article, it is important for those of us in positions of influence and power, such as senior faculty and administrators, to strategically advocate on behalf of others. That means intentionally mentoring the next generation of students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Avoid gatekeeping knowledge and selfishly only using our privileges for ourselves. When you see that a minoritized person might be going in a direction that will be detrimental to their academic and professional advancement, seek to coach them. And continue to advocate for the advancement of marginalized folks via committees and other important endeavors.
Resist through Inclusion
Ensure that your courses (if an instructor) or projects (if a staff member or administrator) include the knowledge, voices, and perspectives of those of minoritized populations. This could look like intentionally choosing classroom resources created and written by such populations. It also could look like ensuring that resources created by members of underrepresented populations are included when developing projects and policies.
Stay Mentally and Physically Strong
Lastly, we admonish all of us to engage in healthy self-care practices like meditation, prayer, exercise, and eating healthily. To sustain and to persist in such challenges times, it calls for each of us to be strong mentally. Part of this is putting our work into perspective. For most of us in the academy, our roles don’t put us in life-or-death situations like first responders (i.e., police officers and firefighters). While our careers and students are important to us, it is necessary to know that are jobs should not take precedence over our loved ones and personal health. We cannot lose sight of what is most important.
As we think about our professional legacies, whether it is in the areas of teaching, research, service, outreach, administration, know that your lasting legacy is not necessarily in the labs that you build, the number of articles and books you have published, or the projects that you have led. Your legacy is also based on the lives that you have changed through your work, and the people that you have inspired. The struggle is real. Stay hopeful and never forget your purpose.
________
Dr. Sydney Freeman Jr. is a Professor of Leadership and Organization Development at the University of Idaho.
Dr. Donna Y. Ford is a Distinguished Professor of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University.
