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The Nation’s Long Struggle Over DEI: Confronting White Flight, Logics of Social Death, and What We Still Owe Our Students

Add to Calendar 2025-05-03 10:00:00 2025-05-03 16:00:00 The Nation’s Long Struggle Over DEI: Confronting White Flight, Logics of Social Death, and What We Still Owe Our Students This community workshop will gather voices in town hall fashion to respond to emboldened assaults on practices of teaching for equity in schools. Even as district and state initiatives call for equity-based standards and practices, widespread federal messaging offers a contrasting view – that supporting diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion amounts to “reverse racism” and must be eliminated and sanctioned. The workshop offers a space for analysis and action.   We ask: What are the sources, and costs, of the current assault on DEI? How is the current climate part of a long, historical assault on the notion of equity in the U.S.? In what ways does it represent a new version of white flight? Who pays the price of our reactionary policy?  In terms of action: How do we build solidarities and resist immobilization?  Beyond virtue signaling, what do real acts of and commitments to accountability look like for complicit institutions and dominant actors?  What do we owe our students?  We invite local educators, community-based partners, university students and faculty, and anyone interested in equity-oriented schooling – to join us in grappling with these questions.  With Keynote Speaker, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings. Gloria Ladson-Billings is a renowned educator, scholar, and advocate for educational equity, best known for her work in culturally relevant pedagogy. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she held the position of Kellner Family Distinguished Professor in Urban Education within the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Ladson-Billings’ contributions have earned her prestigious fellowships, including being named a Fellow of the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the Hagler Institute at Texas A&M University. A key aspect of her work is the concept of "education debt," which explores the historical and ongoing disparities in educational opportunities for marginalized groups, urging a focus on addressing these inequities to create more just educational systems. Her groundbreaking work on race, culture, and education continues to influence both national and global discussions on equity in education. Location Contact Information African American Studies, Race and Pedagogy Institute, and School of Education raceandpedagogy@pugetsound.edu support@kwallcompany.com America/Los_Angeles public
May 03, 2025
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

This community workshop will gather voices in town hall fashion to respond to emboldened assaults on practices of teaching for equity in schools. Even as district and state initiatives call for equity-based standards and practices, widespread federal messaging offers a contrasting view – that supporting diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion amounts to “reverse racism” and must be eliminated and sanctioned. The workshop offers a space for analysis and action.  

We ask: What are the sources, and costs, of the current assault on DEI? How is the current climate part of a long, historical assault on the notion of equity in the U.S.? In what ways does it represent a new version of white flight? Who pays the price of our reactionary policy? 

In terms of action: How do we build solidarities and resist immobilization?  Beyond virtue signaling, what do real acts of and commitments to accountability look like for complicit institutions and dominant actors?  What do we owe our students?  We invite local educators, community-based partners, university students and faculty, and anyone interested in equity-oriented schooling – to join us in grappling with these questions. 

With Keynote Speaker, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings.

Gloria Ladson-Billings is a renowned educator, scholar, and advocate for educational equity, best known for her work in culturally relevant pedagogy. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she held the position of Kellner Family Distinguished Professor in Urban Education within the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Ladson-Billings’ contributions have earned her prestigious fellowships, including being named a Fellow of the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the Hagler Institute at Texas A&M University. A key aspect of her work is the concept of "education debt," which explores the historical and ongoing disparities in educational opportunities for marginalized groups, urging a focus on addressing these inequities to create more just educational systems. Her groundbreaking work on race, culture, and education continues to influence both national and global discussions on equity in education.

Event Location

Upper Marshall Hall

Contact Information
African American Studies, Race and Pedagogy Institute, and School of Education
raceandpedagogy@pugetsound.edu