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Leadership Outside of Whiteness:

Practices for Developing Black Student Leaders

Jessica Davis

Higher Education Student Affairs, Western Carolina University

HESA 670; Professionalism in Higher Education

Dr. April Perry

March 24, 2021

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Leadership Outside of Whiteness: Practices for Developing Black Student Leaders

On college and university campuses, students are encouraged to get involved, join

organizations, and take engage in leadership. Leadership is often associated with a position or

title. Orientation leaders, tour guides, student government representatives, and Greek council are

among the roles filled by students seeking leadership opportunities. Research suggests that most

student leaders at predominately White institutions (PWI) are White (Sutton & Kimbrough,

2001). This is likely attributed to the fact that traditional leadership theory and professionalism

have included traits and characteristics centered around Whiteness (Marom, 2018; Rosette et al.,

2008). Despite the historical context, racial minority individuals have similar and unique

leadership potential.

For this paper, I focus on Black student leadership on college and university campuses.

To support Black student leadership development, practitioners must go beyond traditional

concepts of leadership and the bootstrap myth and explore how their institutional, departmental,

and personal practices exclude Black students from engaging in opportunities designed to

develop leadership skills. In this paper, I provide a review of leadership theory and student

development literature, and will offer three practices higher education professionals can utilize to

support Black students’ leadership development.

Literature Review

Astin’s (1984) research on student involvement has served as a foundation for student

development theories and practices for decades. His student involvement theory suggests that

students involved in their campus communities, both academic and co-curricular, are more likely

to be retained and graduate from an institution. While a seemingly simple concept, the literature

consistently suggests that Black students, especially Black males, are significantly less engaged
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than their White peers at PWIs (Harper et al., 2011). The difference in Black and White students’

engagement likely stems from several issues deeply ingrained in higher education, which is

merely a reflection of the greater society. One must remember that American higher education

was established to serve White men and has been exclusionary of the Black and other minority

communities for most of its existence (Marom, 2018; Rosette et al., 2008). Studies on Black

students’ experiences in higher education and student leadership report that participants often

cite having experienced subtle and overt racism on campus and feeling isolated and excluded

from spaces and organizations throughout the campus community (Harper et al., 2011; Sutton &

Kimbrough, 2001).

From the administrative perspective, the literature suggests that educators often approach

Black students with a deficit mentality, focusing on the experiences that may contribute to

students’ unpreparedness or lack of engagement (Samuelson & Littzler, 2016; Yosso, 2005).

Student leadership at PWIs is often comparable to gifted classrooms in secondary schools, which

typically include few Black and other racial minority students. Some researchers argue that these

gifted programs and student leadership models are merely modern segregation tactics and limit

opportunities for Black students’ educational, social, and leadership advancement in higher

education (Ford & King Jr., 2014). Others insist that everyone has equal opportunity to receive

an education and advance in leadership (Smith et al., 2011). These individuals posit that students

from limiting backgrounds such as racial minorities and those from low-socioeconomic homes,

should “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” (Smith et al., 2011, p. 65) and work hard enough

to achieve their desired success. Literature suggests that this mentality is merely a myth, and puts

pressure on students to achieve in a system that was never meant for them to do so. Researchers

encourage a strengths-based approach coupled with positive psychology to establish spaces

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where Black students feel comfortable and empowered (“America’s Myth of ‘Pulling Yourself

Up by Your Bootstraps,” 2018; Linley et al., 2010; Samuelson & Littzler, 2016; Yosso, 2005).

Call to Action

Identifying, supporting, and developing leadership potential in Black students requires a

shift in professionals’ mentality, inventorying personal biases, reframing policies and practices,

and getting creative in leadership recruitment. The work towards decolonizing leadership and

professional guidelines is challenging but necessary. For those looking for guidance on how to

start, I offer the following tips for beginning the shifts from oppressive leadership theory and

reframing current structures, with tangible action points that practitioners can utilize now.

Check Your Bias

A normal part of the human psyche, bias is something that we each carry. Student affairs

professionals must explore their bias, identities, and privilege. They must then use this awareness

to change personal practices as well as institutional. Decolonizing racist practices and structures

goes beyond one broad diversity training (Applebaum, 2018). While diversity and bias training

can be helpful, action must go beyond a discussion.

Tips for student affairs professionals include:

 explore your own racial and personal identities

 take inventory of your privilege and how you are using it.

 Review your course curriculums and take note of ways you may be contributing

to the isolation, exploitation, or erasure of Black identity and culture.

 Incorporate anti-racist and bias-awareness training when working with student

leadership groups, and do so in a way that skips the White guilt (Applebaum,

2018).
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 Explore how your expectations for students’ leadership and professionalism are

rooted in racism and based on “Western middle-class values and norms”

(Marom, 2018).

 Administrators should conduct campus climate surveys to understand students’

experiences and develop outcomes for improvement. The movement towards

institution-wide and even larger-scale change begins with your personal work.

Abandon Deficit-Thinking

Too often, educators are guided by a deficit mentality when learning how to support

Black students. The research is valid: 65% of Black students at PWIs are first-generation; Black

students often experience various forms of subtle and overt racism in their educational

experiences (Ford & King, Jr., 20014; Gregory et al., 2010; Linley, 2018; Marom, 2016; St. John

et al., 2009) and commonly cite feeling pressured to work harder than their White peers (Harper

et al., 2011). Rather than supporting Black students from a deficit approach, practitioners can

choose to view students’ experiences as capital. Yosso (2005) invites practitioners to take note of

students’ aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, and navigational capital, empower them to use

it, and establish opportunities for them to thrive across campus. Institutional and procedural

effectiveness correlates with their capacity to increase student success (Astin, 1984). Faculty and

student affairs professionals must abandon questions like, why do Black students fail to engage

at the same level as their white peers, and start asking what unique experiences, ideas, and

perspectives do Black students bring and how can we make space for them (Samuelson &

Littzler, 2016; Yosso, 2005).

Broaden Recruitment Techniques

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Students in leadership positions often serve in more than one organization or program.

Professionals in residential living, orientation, leadership programs, Greek life, and student

governance must look outside of these units when recruiting new talent. Faculty and career

services representatives should connect Black students with opportunities for internships,

community engagement, and professional development. Research suggests that Black students

are more likely to pursue leadership roles in spaces where they feel comfortable, like minority

student organizations and groups where they see professionals who look like them (St. John et

al., 2009; Sutton, 2001). After adjusting the campus climate, recruitment starts with hiring a

racially diverse staff and faculty and adequately preparing staff to support Black students.

Practitioners should conduct student leader training within PWIs to prevent subtle and overt

racism from deterring Black students from joining (Sutton & Kimbrough, 2001). Another point

of action is to foster collaboration between one’s unit/department and the multicultural

department. Student affairs professionals must go to the spaces where Black students feel

comfortable and invite them into new ones, once they have prepared it to be an environment

where they can thrive.

Conclusion

Black students often define themselves as leaders regardless of an official position or title

(Sutton & Kimbrough, 2001), but should still be presented with opportunities to serve in

leadership positions without fear. The resilience, culture, and experience that Black students can

offer organizations and programs on campus are unique and valuable. However, Black students

should not have to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and feel pressured to work harder than

their White peers, assimilate to White culture, or avoid opportunities because of racist and biased

practices. Higher education professionals must do the personal work to inventory and address
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their own bias and implement anti-racist programs and policies. Additionally, they must

approach Black students with a strengths-mindset and develop new strategies for recruiting and

developing Black student leaders. Despite a long history of racism and anti-Blackness in

American higher education, leadership does exist outside of whiteness.

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