Political Attacks on Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Emma Pettit
Emma Pettit is interested in political ideas, groups, actors, and agendas—and the way they appear on college campuses. That has meant interrogating how a progressive liberal-arts college is faring two years into a conservative takeover, exploring Florida lawmakers’ attempt to curtail identity politics in general education courses, and dissecting whether allegations of racism and harm were used to quell legitimate disagreement among members of a very dysfunctional English department. (Departmental meltdowns are a theme of her work.) Emma also writes about other topics—sometimes serious, sometimes silly, and sometimes somewhere in between. She profiled a lecturer who survived a classroom shooting and reported a series on a state committee that, in the 1950s and 1960s, purged gay professors and students from the classroom. That series Emma completed as an Education Writers Association fellow. Two of her favorite stories are about a struggling but scrappy puppetry program and a Johns Hopkins University professor who moonlights as a Real Housewife. (A sentence from the latter article was deemed one of the best of 2023 by a New York Times opinion contributor.)
Before joining The Chronicle in 2018, Emma worked for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where she reported on breaking news, state politics, and county government. Emma won several feature-writing awards and was named the 2017 Outstanding New Journalist by the Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She graduated from Villanova University with majors in English and political science. While there, she played Division I volleyball.
She became a journalist because “I’m good with deadlines and bad with monotony. My dad also had something to do with it. Growing up, he’d ask me to come up with metaphors for the moon on our early-morning drives.”
Join Senior Reporter at the Chronicle of Higher Education, Emma Pettit, as she explains her research and findings to the democratic threat to higher education.
Megan Cardwell, PhD
Dr. Cardwell: Megan E. Cardwell is an assistant professor in the department of communication at Villanova University. She earned her B.A. in Communication Studies from the University at Buffalo, SUNY and her M.A. and Ph. D. in Communication Studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research interests lie at the intersections of social identity, racism(s), and interpersonal communication. Cardwell has written several pieces articulating the need for Critical Race Theory principles in the discipline of communication studies, published in outlets such as Communication Democracy, Annals of the International Communication Association, and upcoming books such as Engaging Theories in Family Communication and the Routledge Handbook of Interpersonal Communication Theory.
Join us as we interview Dr. Megan Cardwell, Professor at Villanova University, as she explains what Critical Race Theory actually means, as well as navigating the recent changes to DEI within education.
Critical Race Theory, referred to as CRT, is an academic framework that examines how racism is intertwined, not only within the law and its policies, but also within institutional structures. CRT works to expose how systemic racism works independently from an individual’s beliefs. The purpose of the framework is to consider and acknowledge the structural patterns that affect opportunity, access, and justice within our society. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, referred to as DEI, are practices, programs, and policies that operate to create inclusive, equitable environments so that people of various backgrounds have fair access to resources and opportunities. CRT and DEI are forms of human rights education and are essential to democracy. Particularly since the 2024 election, conversations regarding Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives have been under heightened scrutiny in the United States, especially capturing attention across schools, museums, workplaces, and even public policy. CRT and DEI initiatives were created to dismantle discrimination and systemic racism that is embedded within institutions. Various research supports that CRT and DEI are essential tools to combat racism and oppose white supremacist ideologies, which are still present within these institutions. These initiatives have been under heavy surveillance, often being described as radical or extremist ideologies that threaten American values. Failing to address these issues contributes to democratic backsliding, as exclusion and unequal opportunities threaten true fairness that sustains a healthy democracy. In this podcast, we review the research that supports DEI and CRT initiatives, despite the pushback received from the current Administration.