Disciplining Diversity: Bureaucracy and the Reach of Institutional Policy

One of the purported goals of U.S. higher education is to help people live better. However, persistent inequitable realities in college for historically marginalized groups both subvert this purpose and have a root in the limited methods that institutions have used to diversify their student bodies, faculties, and administrators as well as the policies designed to produce equitable experiences and opportunities. This paper interrogates taken-for-granted institutional tools to achieve transformational change in higher education. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s theories on discipline and biopower, I explore taken-for-granted bureaucratic avenues and approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion work as power-laden discursive moves that (re)inscribe inequality and inequity in higher education institutions.