16: The Need for a Radical, Liberatory Hope in Higher Education

Institutions of higher education continue to grapple with devastating effects related to COVID-19 and its new variants. Unfortunately, this has not been the only Pandemic that higher education is facing. The impacts of anti-Black terrorism, economic uncertainty, climate change, armed attacks on US democracy, greater threats to academic freedoms and more are also challenges experienced by these institutions (Ash et al., 2020; Beatty et al., 2020; DeCuir-Gunby et al., 2020; Händel et al., 2020; Hill-Jackson et al., 2021). These tests are magnified within Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that frequently find themselves underfunded in comparison to their predominately white counterparts (Boland & Gasman, 2014). In this chapter, we present a reflective narrative of an HBCU faculty member as she has negotiated her role in higher education in the present context. In our analysis of her reflection, we argue for a liberatory approach to research, scholarship, and pedagogy that stands in resistance to threats against student, faculty, administrator, and community well-being.