A System For The White, Male and Cis: Underrepresented Groups in Higher Education
Alexandra Gore | October 18, 2023
In the late 1800s, W.E.B. DuBois centered his studies on the idea that race is central to the social organization of human communities. To some Warren Wilson College (WWC) professors, this idea has become prevalent in their experiences in higher education. While WWC professors have been described as supportive of all students, some have said they were often not met with the same humanity when they were students in higher education.
Dr. Susan Ortiz is a professor in the department of sociology and anthropology. She teaches several courses, many of which focus on race and gender, including Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies and Critical Race Theory. She identifies as Latinx, but explains that, systematically, she is not considered to be.
“Culturally, I identify as Latinx, but on my birth certificate, it says I am White,” Ortiz said. “It’s interesting to be labeled that way, by the bureaucracy, but not experience any of the things that come along with having a White identity. Because culturally, I am not White.”
During her early years in higher education, Ortiz was guided towards very limited career options: nursing or teaching. She became an elementary school teacher, where she stayed for several years before she was exposed to her interest in gender, racialized social groups, sexual orientation and the idea of difference. She began working with a professor from LaRoche College on an ethics discussion group at a book store. They encouraged her to join graduate school and study sociology.
Ortiz went on to Ohio State University, where she earned an M.A. and Ph.D in Sociology.
“I was at Ohio State, and it was mostly students who identified as White and it was hard,” Ortiz said. “It was awful. I had a theory professor who hated that I wanted to study Dorothy Smith’s standpoint theory or Patricia Collins’ ‘Black Feminist Thought’. He did not see them as real, he wanted me to focus on what was developed by what I would say are cis, White, heterosexual men, and anything outside of that he really looked down upon.”
Ortiz ran for president of the graduate student association at Ohio State. One of her missions as part of the organization was to make it more open and welcoming, and several of her fellow graduate peers were unhappy with her ideas.
“I was accused of wanting to control the Graduate Student Association,” Ortiz said. “It’s hard to even explain. I got accused of things that are like, ‘I don’t even know what you’re talking about.’ I had no idea where it was coming from.”
Professor of communication and supervisor of the Echo News Crew Beck Banks has been in communications for twenty years. Banks began his journey in higher education by working in administrative staff positions before he found teaching and decided to earn their Ph.D. During this time, they discovered their interest in transgender studies, particularly transgender media.
Banks identifies as a transgender male. Through his experience, he has found that there is a theme with queer people in higher education.
“There’s a history, it’s interesting,” Banks said. “People who are queer, they are very attracted to higher education; they’re drawn to it because it provides a place to run to after high school. You could think of that whole queer imaginary of like, ‘This is the place where I’m going to find myself, this is where it’s all going to click together’, and it doesn’t always work out that way.”
Banks has spent time at several universities including New York University (NYU) and the University of Oregon. He said that while he is grateful for his time there, he found the actions of the institutions disappointing.
“It has, at times, been proven very tricky because higher ed wants to be inclusive, or at least to front that it’s inclusive, but the actions that are taken over time, if you do a casual look around, it’s usually not,” Banks said.
Candace Taylor, WWC’s acting and theater professor, is a Black woman who has performed various stage gigs around the country. While signed in New York, she traveled to states including Utah, Chicago and Dallas. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Delaware.
Taylor describes an instance in her early career at an audition for a game show commercial when a White director hinted that her actions were not good enough for how they wanted her to portray her race.
“The line was, ‘That was your most embarrassing moment? Well count your blessings, child, mhm’ and I already was offended by the text,” Taylor said. “When I went in and did the piece and did my best, the director said to me, ‘Can you be blacker?’ And that was not the first time I’d heard that.”
The incident occurred in the 1980s, but Taylor said similar themes are present in her current life in higher education.
“It has been true in my experience at every school I work in,” Taylor said. “What makes it harder is people hold those same attitudes or say those same things, but they will lie to you about it, and they will lie to others about it. That’s hard for me. Higher ed has been full of phonies that look as though they’re doing the right thing, while not doing the right thing. They really hate it if you confront them that they’re not doing the right thing.”
Ortiz explains that she notices similar behavior in her classes at WWC.
“I will frequently have groups of students, where I noticed students of the global majority aren't talking in their groups, and are kind of on the outskirts and no one notices, right?” Ortiz said. “That is a microaggression when you identify as White and you dominate the conversation and exclude the voices of people of the global majority who already feel excluded at a predominantly white institution. I want to bring that to my students’ attention.”
The issue of racial discrimination in higher education is not only present in social environments but has been evident in unequal pay for decades. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, for each dollar that a White worker makes, Black Americans earn 76 cents, while Hispanic/Latino Americans earn 73 cents.
“Women don't get paid as much and I don't get paid as much as women, you know,” Taylor said “And that would, it would be nice before I stopped working to feel like, ‘Oh, somebody paid me what I was worth.’ I explain to my sister that I just want to be paid what I'm worth, and she said, ‘You've never been paid what you're worth.’ And she's right.”
Translating her experiences into her own teaching curriculum is important to Taylor. While the plays and works she studied in college were predominantly written by White men, including Shakespeare and Shaw, she wants to diversify the material.
“I do a lot of things that are from Suzan-Lori Parks, Lynn Nottage and people who are women, usually, and women of color, a lot of times,” Taylor said. “I do these plays, those choices are on purpose. Warren Wilson has gotten a lot better about including that in all areas, but when I first got here, this was brand-new stuff. They were still doing the old white guys for material. I kind of came in and brought a more contemporary look at things.”
Taylor mentions that WWC still has some obstacles to overcome.
“Warren Wilson has some work to do, you know, no place is perfect,” Taylor said. “I certainly don’t think Warren Wilson is the best place in the world. And I also don’t think it’s the worst.”
Students are encouraged to report any Title IX violations to administration, which include violations on the basis of race. For more information, visit MyWWC.
