"Why am I Feeling Like I'm Hitting my Head up Against a Brick Wall?": Doing DEI Work in a Private, Predominately White Institution

After the decline of diversity rhetoric, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and practices have subsequently embedded themselves into higher education, becoming the focus of academic scholarship and socio-political debates. Through interviews with DEI workers in a private, predominately white university (PWI), I build upon literature on diversity, DEI, bureaucratic reform, and racialized organizations to examine how and why workers engage in the work despite disempowerment, constraints, and on-the-ground experiences. I examine how they navigate implementing reform in tension with constraints. I argue that for Black women engaged in DEI work, DEI is an embodied practice that cannot be easily undone. I find that DEI workers experience top-down DEI efforts as decentralized and siloed and navigate these tensions through small world-making and pockets of effectiveness. This research maps out the tensions between DEI workers’ motivations and experiences and constraining bureaucratic forces, offering insight into how they strategically navigate such tensions.