White Institutional Presence: The Impact of Whiteness on Campus Climate

Higher education has a systemic integration of White values, cultures, and practices called White Institutional Presence.

“Diane Lynn Gusa (2010) describes a systemic integration of White values, cultures, and practices in higher education, which she calls White Institutional Presence, or WIP.”

White Institutional Presence is the multifaceted and often overlooked cultural domination of Whites and Whiteness in higher education that leads to discrimination and marginalization for students of color.

“WIP is the multifaceted and often overlooked cultural domination of Whites and Whiteness in institutions of higher education that lead to discrimination and marginalization for students of color.”

When Whites neglect to identify how White ideological homogenizing practices sustain domination and oppression, they allow institutional policies and practices to be seen as unproblematic or inevitable and thereby perpetuate hostile racial climates.

“When Whites neglect to identify the ways in which White ideological homogenizing practices sustain the structure of domination and oppression, they allow institutional policies and practices to be seen as unproblematic or inevitable and thereby perpetuate hostile racial climates.(2010, p. 465)”

White ascendency leads to a sense of White entitlement, the notion that it is right and natural for Whites to maintain control over spaces, discourses, and outcomes.

“White ascendency, the system of”

White blindness is an ideology that obscures or ignores White identity and privilege while espousing color blindness.

“White blindness, which is an ideology that obscures or ignores White identity and privilege while simultaneously espousing the”

Taken together, White Institutional Presence mechanisms result in White cultural domination of higher education that is neglectful or abusive to people of color and often unnoticed by the cultural majority.

“Taken together, these mechanisms result in a White cultural domination of higher education that is neglectful or even abusive to people of color within the institution, yet, with devastating effect, is often unnoticed by those in the cultural majority.”

Monoculturalism is the expectation that all individuals conform to one scholarly worldview stemming from beliefs in the superiority and normalcy of White culture.

“Monoculturalism,”

The dominance of White culture in higher education is evident in curriculum and pedagogy.

“the dominance of White culture in higher education is also evident in curriculum and pedagogy.”

White estrangement sustains White Institutional Presence by distancing Whites physically and socially from people of color.

“White estrangement, which sustains WIP by”

The GBP employs monoculturalism and White blindness by ignoring cultural plurality and White dominance.

“However, the document employs what Gusa (2010) calls monoculturalism and White blindness by ignoring both the plurality of cultures and the dominance of White perspectives and influence upon the field.”