Need to Know, with Dr. Nsenga Burton-DEI in Higher Education: The Unseen Consequences

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A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know

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with the award winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Dr. Nsenga Burton: Hello, and

welcome to your need to know

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moment with Nsenga Burton.

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I am here today talking about DEI

again, because it is a trending

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topic that just will not go away.

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And today I want to talk

about DEI as it relates to

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institutions of higher education.

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Um, and what is happening with, you

know, what happens kind of like the,

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the, uh, domino effect of, uh, what

happens when major corporations, uh,

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like zoom and other corporations like

that, get rid of their initiatives.

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Uh, what happens is other

institutions follow suit,

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whether it makes sense or not.

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So, for example, Duke University

is getting rid of its scholarship

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programs for African American students.

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Um.

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And what's interesting about that is

that a lot of scholarship programs that

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are set up, particularly when they're

for named individuals are, um, because,

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um, you know, they are trying to help

students who might need more help.

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Not that they're under educated, not

that they have lower grades, none of

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those things, but because they have been

part of a historically disenfranchised

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group that was previously banned

from attending said university.

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Um, they put these

scholarships in place to help.

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To help make sure to ensure that this

doesn't happen and to reward people for

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being outstanding students, scholars,

um, you know, servants, public servants,

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community servants, all of those things.

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And.

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You know, the idea that you can have a

whole basketball team that's black on

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a full scholarship, but you can't have,

uh, black folks on academic scholarships

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because it's, uh, um, it's, it's racist.

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Is ridiculous so, um, when I think about

this, um, and this move, which you don't

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have to do that, the Supreme Court has

not even said that you can't do it.

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Right?

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They're trying to have a kind

of preemptive preemptive strike

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because they want to get in

front of all of this DEI stuff.

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But I think what happens is when

you don't have a firm and a real

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commitment to DEI and I've known

to have done that previously,

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they did have a real commitment.

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Um, they have a very active and

engaged black alumni association.

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Um, they have amazing trailblazers

who gone there who've attended there

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who have nothing to do with athletics.

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Um, and so it really is painful

to see an institution like that.

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Just fall over to the wayside.

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So quickly and go down.

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The route that is on the wrong side

of history, um, such that they feel

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that they have to have a preemptive

strike against what they know is

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coming from these white conservatives.

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Um, and it was also interesting is

that instead of people thinking,

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okay, how can we fight this?

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In the same way that these people, you

know, I call them zealots who have really

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no care for anybody who isn't white

male straight and all the things, right?

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They don't want to share power.

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They don't want to have

to compete for anything.

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Um, they don't want to

have to share resources.

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They don't even want you to have the

resource that you pay into, like,

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social security or your pension.

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Right?

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They don't want you to have none of that.

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Um, you know, why is the response

just to roll over and let's figure

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out how not to get involved in this?

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And how to make this, uh, open this

up to all the students when you

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historically have been an institution

that was not open to all the students.

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Particularly black students,

right brown students, and

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especially immigrant students too.

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Right?

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So, you know, when you think about the,

and you think about what is happening

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when these major corporations, right?

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Threaten to pull out or even like a, uh.

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Kraft the owner of the Patriots, because

he's such a great human being saying

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that he's going to pull out because,

you know, if conversations don't

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happen the way that he wants them to

happen around Palestine and Israel, the

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conflict that he's going to pull out.

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You know, all of these things are

tied together because when you don't

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have a real commitment to when you

allow outsiders to come in and tell

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you what you should be teaching and

what you should be doing, which you

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should be studying when you allow

outsiders to come in and to stymie real

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conversations that are difficult to have.

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Right?

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Because this is what all this is about.

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Right?

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The comfort ability of

those who've been in power.

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Right?

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So we don't want to have these

conversations because they're difficult.

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It makes me feel uncomfortable.

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Um, weird, it makes me feel uncomfortable.

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So this is what happens when you

and this is this is the fallout that

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happens when you don't have those

important conversations when you

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allow outsiders to come in who have

other, um, goals and objectives.

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Their goal and objective is not to

make sure that students get a complex.

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Education where they're able to

deal with complicated issues that

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are difficult and painful, um,

but they have to be dealt with.

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So we don't repeat them again.

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Right?

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Um, when you let people come in and

determine what's important for your

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institution, which you should be

discussing, which books you should

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be reading, uh, and they're not even

there, even if they're alums, they

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haven't been there in 30, 40, 50 years.

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Then this is what happens.

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You get people trying to stop people from

exercising their first amendment, right?

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Which is to protest.

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You get organizations that are like, Oh

my God, they're going to come after us.

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So let's get rid of the scholarships now.

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Oh my God, they're going to come after us.

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So let's get rid of this class.

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Oh my God, we were going to hire this

wonderful woman, Hannah Nicole, um,

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And I'm having a brain fart on her

last name, but we're going to hire this

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wonderful person at UNC Chapel Hill.

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But oh no, we're going to rescind

the offer because, oh my gosh, she

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might bring something up that's

going to be difficult for people to

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take or to, to, to, uh, critique.

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And that is the part that's

missing in academic education.

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Institutions, they are places

of humanistic inquiry, right?

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That means we discover and we explore

and we discuss all types and all

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sides of various issues and what have

you, including diversity, equity, and

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inclusion, including power, including war.

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You know, it's common knowledge

that the only way to peace,

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uh, is to go through conflict.

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That's just how it happens.

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You know, people do peace studies.

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That's it, right?

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So, When you don't have these real

discussions, when you try to put

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your foot on the neck of people who

are willing to have these difficult

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construct, uh, difficult discussions who

have done the heavy lifting, you know,

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who have spent their academic lives.

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I'm really exploring these

issues, living in these places,

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reporting on these issues.

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When you try to stop me

that that's what you get.

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And so all of it is connected.

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Right?

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Um, and when you're not really

trying to stand up for education.

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Um, when you're not really trying to

stand up for the need to include all

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of the people who make up a society,

um, and when you're not trying to,

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uh, ensure that people feel like they

belong, um, and not elevate the feelings

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of a particular group over another.

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Right?

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Particularly those who have

been the most empowered, um,

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particularly in this country.

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Then this is what you get.

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You get the protest, you get

things out of being out of control.

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Um, you get people doing crazy things

that they don't even have to do.

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Like, we're going to get rid

of the scholarship program.

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We'll get rid of that.

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Uh, that pipeline program.

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That's going to be terrible.

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It's going to be terrible to

have really exceptional qualified

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students who are a students have

less student loans to pay back.

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That's going to hurt them.

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That's going to hurt.

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Who's that hurting?

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That's not hurting a white student, the

empowered white student who has money.

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It's not hurting a poor

white student that has money.

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In fact, it's going to probably help them

if we start thinking about class in the

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same way we think about race and gender.

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Right?

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So I just wanted to say in part two of

my DEI that it will, until we really

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start having these conversations,

until we really decide that it is

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okay for you to be uncomfortable.

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And some of these topics

will make you uncomfortable.

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And we don't have to all agree.

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On the topics, and it doesn't have

to be, you know, this is 1 side.

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And the 2nd, the other side, it

could be like, 5 or 10 sides.

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Like, it could be lots of discussion.

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That is what education is for.

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And when you allow people to make

DEI a dog whistle and make it a label

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to malign and dehumanize instead of.

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Standing up for what it really is

and what it really can do and the

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great positive outcomes that have

come out of these DEI programs.

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Um, then this is what you get.

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So, I would encourage you to think more

deeply and thoughtfully about DEI to think

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about the ways in which it impacts you to

think about the people, particularly those

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who are historically disenfranchised and

to think about some possible solutions.

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If in fact, DEI is going to go away.

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So then what are we going to do with

all of these people of color who

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are the majority, many of whom have

done what they are supposed to have

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done as American citizens, including

get great grades so they can get

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accepted to these wonderful schools.

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But I'm sorry, you can't have a

scholarship because you're black.

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And that might make a white student

who can afford to go here feel bad.

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Like that is just not even acceptable.

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So I would like for you all to just

think more critically about it.

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I would like for you all to ask people

in charge to have real conversations,

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moderated conversations by those who

are experts, but real conversations

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around these issues, and to really

think about the ways in which we can be

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a more inclusive and equitable society

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that elevates everyone, not just those

who have been in power and continue

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to be in power and to, Make the rules

as we go forward and that is your

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need to know moment with Nsenga Burton

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a black executive perspective