Challenges and Opportunities Facing Anti-racist Educators in Higher Education

In June of 2020, several faculty and staff members in the School of Education and Human Services (SEHS) at Oakland University (OU) in Rochester, Michigan began developing plans to launch a new project entitled the Initiative for Eradicating Racism (IER). In order to frame the work of this initiative, this chapter defines key terms that are integral to understanding the work of eradicating racism, underscores the aim of this effort, and then highlights supporting frameworks that guide our work. Additionally, this chapter introduces current efforts in the SEHS that are focused on the topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, while also highlighting the challenges that this group has faced in doing this work successfully. The chapter concludes by sharing how this antiracism work advances the practice of Human Resource Development along with our strategy for developing the IER into a premier center for eradicating racism at OU.