How Whiteness Works: Evasion, Protection, and Conditionality in White Staff Narratives on Race and DEI in Higher Education

Grounded in Critical Whiteness Studies, this article examines how white staff in higher education narrate race, racism, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and in doing so reproduce broader racial logics. Using qualitative thematic analysis of 1,806 open-ended responses to the National Assessment of Collegiate Campus Climates staff survey (collected between Fall 2021 and Spring 2023), we analyze how whiteness operates not only through institutional policy but also through the everyday stories staff tell about themselves, their institutions, and the value of DEI. We identified three themes: (a) whiteness maintained through discursive evasion, (b) discomfort with equity demands as a form of whiteness protection, and (c) conditional support masking structural resistance. These findings reveal how discursive and affective practices sustain whiteness within higher education, often under the guise of neutrality or even support for equity. We conclude by discussing the implications for research, practice, and policy to prompt interventions that aim to dismantle whiteness as an institutional logic in higher education and, in turn, better meet the needs of racially minoritized communities on college and university campuses.