Institutional Responses to Racial Incidents in California Public Higher Education: A Qualitative Historical Document Analysis
type: CreativeWork
description: Despite stated commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, racial incidents remain a persistent structural problem on college and university campuses. These incidents encompass a wide taxonomy of racialized harm, ranging from bias-motivated violence and hate symbols to controversial White supremacist speakers, structural inequities, and interpersonal microaggressions. Administrators responding to these incidents must navigate complex, often competing tensions between fostering safe, inclusive learning environments and upholding civil liberties protections, all while operating under intense political scrutiny, public relations pressures, and legal risk. To understand how these tensions are rhetorically managed, this qualitative historical document study examined how California public higher education institutions—encompassing the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges systems—publicly responded to campus-linked racial incidents between 2012 and 2020. Using a dataset of incidents identified through Los Angeles Times reporting, the study analyzed 72 official institutional response texts linked to 56 distinct racial incidents. To systematically evaluate this discourse, incidents were organized into an eight-category incident typology (Categories A–H). Additionally, the study identified 23 campus-linked incidents that generated no retrievable public statement, forming the basis for an analysis of archival governance and silent discourse. Critical discourse analysis served as the primary analytic method for investigating the linguistic and rhetorical mechanisms—such as passive voice, nominalization, and register shifts—that institutions used to narrate or erase racial harm. Critical race theory provided the interpretive framework for examining how this discourse reproduced or contested racialized power. Drawing on core critical race theory tenets, including the centrality of race and racism, interest convergence, and …
abstract: Despite stated commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, racial incidents remain a persistent structural problem on college and university campuses. These incidents encompass a wide taxonomy of racialized harm, ranging from bias-motivated violence and hate symbols to controversial White supremacist speakers, structural inequities, and interpersonal microaggressions. Administrators responding to these incidents must navigate complex, often competing tensions between fostering safe, inclusive learning environments and upholding civil liberties protections, all while operating under intense political scrutiny, public relations pressures, and legal risk. To understand how these tensions are rhetorically managed, this qualitative historical document study examined how California public higher education institutions—encompassing the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges systems—publicly responded to campus-linked racial incidents between 2012 and 2020. Using a dataset of incidents identified through Los Angeles Times reporting, the study analyzed 72 official institutional response texts linked to 56 distinct racial incidents. To systematically evaluate this discourse, incidents were organized into an eight-category incident typology (Categories A–H). Additionally, the study identified 23 campus-linked incidents that generated no retrievable public statement, forming the basis for an analysis of archival governance and silent discourse. Critical discourse analysis served as the primary analytic method for investigating the linguistic and rhetorical mechanisms—such as passive voice, nominalization, and register shifts—that institutions used to narrate or erase racial harm. Critical race theory provided the interpretive framework for examining how this discourse reproduced or contested racialized power. Drawing on core critical race theory tenets, including the centrality of race and racism, interest convergence, and …
author: Quihuiz, Shannon Dominique
keywords: Archival governance, Critical discourse analysis, Critical race theory, Institutional response, Racial incidents, Risk governance, Higher Education
date published: 2026-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:41:20Z
provider: Claremont Graduate University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Claremont Graduate University