Art and heart to counter the one-hour-Zoom-diversity event: Counterspaces as a response to diversity regimes in academia

This article outlines the development of a community arts-based project as a counterresponse to the gaps in ongoing institutionalized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts on our campus and our mutual recognition of the emotional support we provide Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) students. Contrary to what has been the current approach of creating a racially progressive university campus, such as the implementation of new institutional policies (Kezar 2007), an increase in the representation of diverse students, faculty, and staff (Hale 2004), or changes in organizational practices (Rothman, Kelly-Woessner, and Woessner 2010), critically-minded scholars and practitioners still see DEI initiatives, practices, and programming in higher education as ineffectual and counterproductive (Thomas 2017; Ahmed 2009; Okuwobi, Faulk, and Roscigno 2021; Oliha-Donaldson 2018; Cabrera 2020). We argue that the spaces, strategies, and practices that might allow BIPOC faculty and students to thrive and imagine futures need to stay separate from institutional DEI efforts. We draw on Thomas’ definition of diversity regimes as “a set of meanings and practices that institutionalizes a benign commitment to diversity …[which] entrenches, and even intensifies existing racial inequality” (2017, 141) to contextualize our experiences as faculty of color at a health sciences campus in the Midwest.