“What Is the Real Belief on Campus?” Perceptions of Racial Conflict at a Minority-Serving Institution and a Historically White Institution

An organizational conflict lens offers a distinct understanding of how higher education administrators and postsecondary students experience racial conflict on their campuses. Despite students of color historically reporting incidents with overt and subtle forms of racism on college campuses (George Mwangi et al., 2018; Hurtado & Ruiz, 2015; Nguyen et al., 2018; Serrano, 2020), postsecondary leaders continue to report positive race relations on campus (Jaschik & Lederman, 2017). This conflict in perception is the focus of this article. To understand how race-related conflicts are perceived in higher education, I examined perceptions of racial conflict across two types of postsecondary campuses. I used compositional diversity, or a numerical illustration of various racial and ethnic groups (Hurtado et al., 1998; Milem et al., 2005), as a determinant to decide which campuses to study for how racial conflict is understood by administrators, faculty, and students. Drawing from organizational conflict theory, this year-long qualitative study involved 35 open-ended interviews conducted at a minority serving institution (MSI) and a historically White institution (HWI). The main research question was: How does compositional diversity shape stakeholders’ perceptions of racial conflict? Across both campuses, and despite differences in compositional diversity, administrators responded similarly: they noted minimal problems among students regarding racism on their campuses. Alternately, students across both campuses responded similarly: they noted these issues as well but described it in terms of frequency and severity. To make sense of this, I describe findings in three ways: interpersonal and structural racism, intergroup conflict, and historical perspectives about racial conflict. Background/Context: Despite students of color historically reporting incidents with overt and subtle forms of racial conflict on college campuses, postsecondary leaders continue to report positive race relations on campus. Unfortunately, various forms of conflict are often reduced to isolated incidents that are disconnected from aspects of campus culture and climate. Although conflict is a permanent and indelible aspect of organizations, racism and other forms of race-related conflict on college campuses continue to be studied on an interpersonal level, less so at the organizational level of higher education. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: An organizational conflict lens offers a distinct understanding of how higher education administrators and postsecondary students experience racial conflict on their campuses. Despite students of color historically reporting incidents with overt and subtle forms of racism on college campuses, postsecondary leaders continue to report positive race relations on campus. This conflict in perception is the focus of this article. To understand how race-related conflicts are perceived in higher education, I examined perceptions of racial conflict across two types of postsecondary campuses. I used compositional diversity, or a numerical illustration of various racial and ethnic groups, a determinant to decide which campuses to study for how racial conflict is understood by administrators, faculty, and students. The main research question I asked was: How does compositional diversity shape stakeholders’ perceptions of racial conflict? Research Design: To understand perceptions of racial conflict, I conducted a multiple case study of two types of institutions in the northeastern United States: a historically white institution (HWI) and a minority-serving institution (MSI). I purposely selected two racially distinct institutions to explore compositional diversity in higher education. I first asked: How does compositional diversity shape stakeholders’ perceptions of racial conflict? Drawing from organizational conflict theory, this year-long qualitative study involved 35 open-ended interviews conducted at a MSI and an HWI. Specifically, I sought respondents who were positioned informants. This approach assumes that informants’ positions inform their behaviors. Conclusions/Recommendations: Although the data here cannot be applied to all institutions, some lessons can be extracted for further exploration, should administrators and researchers desire to understand race-based organizational conflicts. Indeed, across both campuses and despite differences in compositional diversity, administrators responded similarly: they noted minimal problems among students regarding racism on their campuses. Alternately, students across both campuses responded similarly: they noted these issues as well but described it in terms of frequency and severity. To make sense of this, I describe findings in three ways: interpersonal and structural racism, intergroup conflict, and historical perspectives about racial conflict.