Charles H.F. Davis III speaks with Inside Higher Education about the necessity for universities to have protocols of action for how to respond to racist incidents
After a building frequented by students, faculty, and staff members of color at Queens College was vandalized with racist graffiti, months of strained conversations ensued.
“Institutional bureaucracy, at its best and at its worst, always takes more time than people who have been harmed can afford,” Charles H.F. Davis III told Inside Higher Education. Davis, an assistant professor of higher education at SOE, has worked on campus climate assessments for more than a decade. Reflecting on the incident at Queens College, he said it’s common for students and faculty members affected by racist incidents to feel like campus leaders aren’t responding fast enough.
Davis also noted that colleges and universities often lack clear protocol for how to respond to racist incidents, which can slow down the response process.
“The minimal first step is determining what the protocol of action is going to be and that being deferential to what needs have been expressed,” he said. He emphasized that “administrators have to listen when people tell them what’s going on and defer to them as experts of their own experiences.”
Davis added that administrators also need to strike a “delicate balance” to ensure the people harmed aren’t overburdened by having to implement all the solutions themselves.
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