The Era of Re-Defining Race Remedy Efforts in Higher Education: Black Students Navigating Post the Racial Reckoning of 2020

Abstract

Following the 2020 racial reckoning, colleges and universities across the United States renewed commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion through what this study conceptualizes as race remedy efforts; policies, programs, and initiatives intended to address systemic racism and improve outcomes for Black students. Yet, within a few years, many of these efforts were reduced, politicized, or dismantled. This rapid shift raises critical questions about how fluctuations in institutional commitments to racial equity shape the lived experiences of Black students in higher education (HE). Despite extensive research on retainment, graduation, and policy outcomes, limited scholarship has centered Black students’ voices in HE to understand how the fluctuation of race remedy efforts between 2020 and 2024 impacted their thought, speech, and behavior.  This qualitative study explored how Black students experienced and navigated the transition from the heightened focus on race remedy efforts during the racial reckoning to their subsequent decline between 2020 and 2024. Guided by critical race theory (CRT) and Black critical theory (BlackCrit), the study centered racism and interest convergence as analytic lenses to examine how institutional responses both enable and constrain equity, impacting the experiences of Black students in HE. Using an arts-based participatory methodology of photovoice, coresearchers documented and narrated their campus experiences through photographs and reflective storytelling. Data were analyzed through coding and thematic analysis to identify patterns across students’ perceptions of institutional support, stress, and strategies of responding to mistreatment. Findings explained the inconsistencies of race remedy efforts: Although some initiatives focused on addressing racial discrimination, their instability and performative implementation often reproduced distrust and reinforced ideologies of racism white supremacy. Coresearchers described navigating campus climates that shifted from symbolic commitment to equity to silence. The study highlights how Black students attempt to create counterspaces, respond to racism, and develop survival strategies within the system of HE. In addition, these five overarching themes emerged: (a) Black Student Experience in Higher Education: The Impact of White Dominant Spaces and Confrontation With Racism, (b) Missing Structures to Support Black Life on Campus, (c) The Weight of Racial Reckoning Fatigue, (d) Collective Care and Resistance, and (e) The Future of Race Remedy Efforts.  By centering student narratives, this research contributes to scholarship on HE racism, campus climate, and racial equity, offering insights for HE leaders seeking to produce a system of justice (Fuller, 2016) by supporting Black students beyond singular moments of explicit racism. The findings advocate for structural, long-term commitments to equity rather than episodic or reactive remedies, thereby reframing race remedy efforts as ongoing institutional responsibilities rather than temporary responses.