Abstract
Horace Mann (1796–1859) is known for asserting education is the great equalizer. Today, “in the United States, education figures prominently within the public imaginary as deliverance from inequities in society” (Patel, 2016a, p. 16). This assertion, however, assumes all degrees hold the same promise and anyone with enough pluck will succeed. What it hides are many facets of inequity built into a system obsessed with rank and governed by a bureaucratic hierarchy. In actuality, higher education both mimics and reproduces the very social inequities it strives to correct. Using the narrative frameworks of critical race theory and portraiture, this study illuminated voices of White female managers working in the California State University system. Additional analysis using critical White studies allowed for a deeper investigation of how White people comprehend racism and how they define race, including assuming a lack of race in themselves. Sparked by numerous statements from university presidents, police chiefs and business leaders decrying the killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police in May 2020, this study was conducted in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and mainstream awareness of Black Lives Matter, two ongoing events that have not only disrupted the way we did business in 2020 and into 2021, but have also challenged White people to consider and frankly discuss pervasive structures of racism and how they have benefitted from those structures. By exploring participants’ experiences as former students who became managers in higher education, this research centers the narrative on individual insights and whether those whose culture has been centered in the curriculum have recognized their privileged place in the system of higher education and how they have challenged and dismantled those manmade structures.