Successful Dissertation Defense – Yena Lee

Congratulations to Yena Lee for successfully defending her dissertation on March 19^th.  Her dissertation is titled:  EDI As a Form of Institutional Activism: Canadian Universities Fight Against Racial Inequality.

Abstract

Universities have made commitments to eradicate or reduce inequalities as they project an image of progressiveness and inclusion. Canadian universities have promoted their EDI initiatives more rigorously, especially in the wake of the proliferation of protest actions in support of Black Lives Matter and #StopAsianHate. As universities began to show support, their efforts were construed as activist by right-wing pundits, while being regarded as largely symbolic and ineffective by scholars. Using insights from social movement theory and the sociology of education, I examine the possibilities and constraints of EDI offices in top English-speaking U15 Canadian universities. I conduct in-depth interviews with seven of the top EDI officers and examine statements published by university officials to consider the social change goals and actions of universities. First, EDI leaders in Canadian universities cannot necessarily be considered social movement activists but rather are best described as institutional mediators. Second, when universities make public statements about racial inequalities and producing social change, their actions and claims fall short of activism, refraining from using the motivational framing. Finally, while adding resources to EDI offices does increase universities’ bureaucratic capacity to address racism, institutional opportunity does not translate into action on all anti-racism issues. I argue that the EDI practices of Canadian universities should not be considered a form of institutional activism, as I identify gaps between the institutionalized promotion of social issues and a social movement agenda.

The dissertation is available on MacSphere.