Chapter 8: Refusing Shift Work: Creating Space for Authentic Leadership in Pursuit of Equity

The Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education found that between 2018 and 2028 there will be a significant decrease in the number of non-minoritized high school graduates and a reciprocal increase in the number of minoritized high school graduates (Bransberger & Michelau, 2016). There have been calls to diversify the faculty ranks to better support these students (Taylor, Apprey, McGrann, & Wang, 2010), but little attention has been paid to staff diversity. As Shaun Harper, professor of education and business at the University of Southern California pointed out in his speech to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, the administrative ranks of higher education are 80% White, and become even less diverse the higher up the ranks one goes (Seltzer, 2017). I choose working as an administrator in higher education because I recognize the power that comes with the role, and recognize that minoritized people must be in the room when decisions are made that impact minoritized students. Shields, Bishop, and Mazawi (2005) define minoritized people as “people who do not constitute a numerical minority have been so historically marginalized that [they are] not treated as equal partners, capable of agency or self-determination” (p. x).