Uma Mazyck Jayakumar

Investigates how colleges and universities can address racial climate challenges within a legal environment that increasingly emphasizes race-neutral approaches. Contends that improving campus racial climate requires institutions to recognize and address the structural conditions that produce inequities rather than relying solely on formally race-neutral policies.

Reconsiders how concepts of justice in higher education are shaped within an increasingly anti-DEI political and legal environment. Suggests that historical understandings of justice can provide alternative pathways for advancing equity, even as institutions face growing restrictions on diversity and inclusion efforts.

Reflects on the aftermath of affirmative action and the ways that racial privilege continues to shape opportunities and power in higher education. Envisions alternative approaches to teaching and resistance that challenge entrenched inequities and create new possibilities for justice and belonging on campus.

Interrogates the ways individuals and institutions respond to challenges to racial inequality and the preservation of existing racial hierarchies. Identifies recurring forms of white resistance that protect established systems of privilege, illustrating how these responses can impede efforts to advance racial equity and inclusion.

Explores the historical and ongoing role of Critical Race Theory in education and how it can help make sense of intergenerational struggles over race, knowledge, and power. Argues that reclaiming and naming these intellectual and political traditions can guide more equitable educational futures by confronting enduring systems of racial inequality and imagining transformative possibilities.