Who is this Jeff Cullen character?

How is White racial privilege defined?

Why did you (Jeff) choose this topic?

What will participation in this project entail?

Who can participate?

Why did you choose Masters level students in the Higher Education program as the focus for this project?

What’s in it for me?

How is talking about racism/White privilege in an all-White group going to be helpful?

What is participatory action research?

Why was participatory action research chosen for this project?

What will this project actually accomplish?

Who is this Jeff Cullen character?

I was born here in Ames , IA (both my parents were ISU students in the late 1960's), but raised in a racially and economically diverse Maryland suburb of Washington , D.C. My mom and dad still reside in the D.C. metropolitan area, and that is where I consider "home". I have an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Colorado State University . For a graduate degree, I decided to switch gears and chose a counseling-based student affairs graduate preparation program at James Madison University in Virginia . I am a strong introvert and I struggle to make deep, empathic connections with others, so a counseling-based program really stretched me. Coming out of grad school, I had a good job search and accepted an offer at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst as a Residence Director. I chose UMass over other options because I wanted to get involved in the diversity education efforts there—a deficit that I perceived in my graduate preparation.  I had a good run as a Residence Director and audited a number of classes in the Social Justice Education Training Project. I team-taught classes on racism, classism, and heterosexism. The RD position at UMass (“Zoomass”) has a reputation as a burn-out job, so after three years, I took an area coordinator position at Virginia Tech. After one year, I got offered the chief judicial officer position for the university. I did that for three years before coming back to school at Iowa State for my doctorate. I continue to work on my skills and awarenesses as a facilitator, which is the role that I will play in this project. People who work for/with me say that I can be “hard to read,” or that I seem serious all the time. I probably am too intense—it’s just that I am really passionate about social justice and I’m trying hard to “get it right.” I am married to Kristen and we have two children, Mackenzie (5) and Nate (2). Back to top.

How is White racial privilege defined?

“An expression of power arising from the receipt of benefits, rights, and immunities [that] is characterized by unearned advantages and a sense of entitlement that results in both societal and material dominance by Whites over People of Color” (Neville, Worthington, & Spanierman, 2001). Simply stated, White privilege refers to the accumulated benefits that accrue to Whites in our society because of our race, rather than because of our merit. Back to top.

Why did you (Jeff) choose this topic?

They say that you research what it is you are still trying to work out in your own mind. For me, the “it” is my privilege and how I negotiate the world with the privilege I was born into and have acquired since my birth. I identify as a White, middle-class, male. I am heterosexual, able-bodied, and I identify as a Christian. I am aware that my gobs and gobs of privilege may interfere with my ability to have authentic relationships with people different from me. There are students and co-workers who will not see me as a potential ally. On the flip side, my privilege also gives me a platform and some permission to take risks. It is important to me, therefore, that I “show up” as an advocate for social justice. Back to top.

What will participation in this project entail?

If you agree to participate in this study, your participation will last for approximately forty (40) hours over a span of not more than eight (8) weeks. During this time frame, you will be invited to take part in group meetings that will occur at mutually convenient times and locations, and also to commit to individual interviews and asynchronous reflective journaling using the WebCT interface. During the study you may expect these study procedures to be followed:

Who can participate?

The research methodology calls for me to recruit students in the Masters program in Higher Education. Participants can be either full- or part-time students, and I can include students who are newly admitted to the program. If I can’t constitute a group of 7-9 participants from those criteria, I would consider including doctoral students in ELPS/Higher Education or perhaps from other, allied programs. For the purposes of this project, I am including ONLY people who identify as White. “White” is a contested label, but for the purposes of clarity, if you think of yourself as White or Caucasian and most of the rest of the people you encounter each day also think of you as White or Caucasian, then you meet the criteria for inclusion in this project. Back to top.

Why did you choose Masters level students in the Higher Education program as the focus for this project?

It goes back to a preceding question. Most of the Masters students in the ISU program are in a similar situation as I was about 12 years ago, preparing to enter the practice of student affairs in higher education. I have taken some of the same classes, like HGED 578 and HGED 676. Basically, I picked a group that represents my own experience. It’s what I know, past, present, and future. Back to top.

What’s in it for me?

If you decide to participate in this study there may be no direct benefit to you. One indirect benefit of participating in a White privilege/White racism consciousness-raising activity is an increased level of awareness about how racism operates between individuals and in organizations. This information may help make you a more effective student affairs practitioners by assisting you in becoming less intimidated by racial differences and may give you additional knowledge, awareness, and skills that will help you to be a more marketable candidate for employment.  It is hoped that the information gained in this study will benefit society by providing valuable information about how to counteract White privilege and will provide a roadmap to future generations of scholars and practitioners seeking methods for talking about White racial privilege. Back to top.

How is talking about racism/White privilege in an all-White group going to be helpful?

I believe there are many advantages to Whites reflecting and acting upon their Whiteness with other Whites. This is not the typical model of diversity education, however. In one study (McEwen & Roper, 1994), almost 80% of master’s level students in graduate student preparation programs said they learn best about other races through direct interaction with the Other. However, I think few Whites have experience in all-White antiracism groups, so lack of familiarity with the model may beget a preference for mixed-race prejudice reduction discussions.

I entertained, and then dismissed the idea of constituting a group that was diverse by race for this project, primarily because I was concerned that the discharge of White racism in a mixed group might be harmful to the People of Color members. I’ve had the experience of participating in a racism curriculum where the class was racially diverse and although everyone in the course benefited from increased awareness, the learning occurred for Whites disproportionately. I wanted to eliminate the dynamic where Whites learn about racism at the expense of learning opportunities for People of Color. Katz (1978) supported the White-on-White approach, noting the inherent problem with interracial group processes:

Minorities are placed in the position of teaching White people, being given the same responsibility...they have historically been given. Thus the interracial encounter group may often serve as simply another form of exploitation of minorities for White people’s purposes. The benefit seems to be greater for Whites than for Third World people. This is contrary to the premise that Whites must learn to help themselves. (p. 17)

Further, I think an all-White group can be authentic with one another in a way that might not be possible if members were “walking on eggshells,” trying not to offend their friends and classmates. However, the opportunity cost involved imposes a limitation on this study. Namely, I acknowledge there won’t be People of Color in the room to hold us accountable for our racism or our progress in attempting to undo it. Back to top.

What is participatory action research?

Action research encompasses a set of practices that are appropriate for a critical, emancipatory research project that aims to investigate and change the status quo. Action research involves repeated iterations of planning, taking action, observing, and reflecting. This approach allows participants to methodically investigate an issue, conceptualize knowledgeable accounts of their circumstances, and develop plans to address the problems at hand. The particular brand of action research being used for this study is called participatory action research (PAR). By design, PAR is a democratic methodology where participants become researchers and researchers become participants, working together to study a topic of mutual interest. We will work with each other to define the agenda, design data collection methods, analyze results, and use findings to develop action strategies to strengthen your ability to act and control the processes that affect your lives. PAR can generate theories of action and change that have applications for the future praxis of popular knowledge and experience that generates new knowledge about how the world works. Back to top.

Why was participatory action research chosen for this project?

For several reasons. It seems to me that racial inequality is principally a failure of our democratic system to deliver on its promise of equality and equity for every citizen regardless of their social identity. Therefore, it seems to me that a “democratic” methodology like PAR is particularly appropriate for investigating White privilege. For fifty years, traditional social science research has investigated race and racism from just about every conceivable angle, and yet racism and White privilege persist. So I thought I would try a different approach. Curiously (or perhaps not so much), action research is a seriously underutilized methodology here in the U.S. , although it enjoys much more widespread use in the southern hemisphere and in the developing nations of the world. Finally, pragmatically, I wanted to learn more about how to “do” action research myself. Back to top.

What will this project actually accomplish?

As mentioned in the response to another question, action research involves iterative cycles of planning a change, implementing and observing the change and its impact, reflecting on the observations just made, and then planning anew. Near the midpoint of the PAR team meetings, we will choose an “intervention” to make in our lives. That could look like a variety of different things: a series of case studies, a self-study Q&A guide for White students in the Higher Education program, a proposal for a new course or a new component for an existing course in the program, etc.) We will work on this intervention together, and try to complete at least one round of action research before the project comes to a close. Back to top.