Emotional Labor
This term describes a coping mechanism where one presents a professional, calm demeanor while feeling immense frustration, a common strategy for BIPOC staff.
What is Surface Acting?
Expanding consent means recognizing that silence, passivity, or lack of resistance does not equal this.
What is "Yes" (or Approval)?
This 5-letter term describes the "unspoken" rules and cultural norms of higher education that BIPOC staff must navigate.
What is Equity (or Culture)?
A key, often overlooked, benefit for BIPOC employees that includes mental health days, flexibility, and support services.
What is Equitable Workload/PTO?
: This phenomenon occurs when a BIPOC faculty member is the only representative of their racial group in a department.
What is tokenism (or "Solo Status")?
This consequence of high emotional labor, often experienced by female faculty of color, leads to lower retention and career satisfaction.
What is Burnout?
In academic settings, power disparities make true consent difficult, as subordinates may feel forced into this, the opposite of consent.
What is Coercion?
To increase diversity, these bodies often work on empowerment, accountability, and hiring.
What are Search Committees (or Equity Committees)?
This, not equality, is achieved when resources are provided based on needs, allowing for equitable outcomes, rather than just treating everyone the same.
What is Equity?
This type of exclusion occurs when a scholar's research on race or social justice is deemed "not rigorous" or "not mainstream" by committee members.
What is epistemic exclusion?
To avoid the trap of "cultural taxation," BIPOC faculty should learn to do this to excessive, non-promotable service requests.
What is Setting Boundaries/Saying No?
This 3-letter acronym governs student privacy, requiring strict, specific consent for sharing personal academic records with parents or third parties.
What is FERPA?
This type of mentoring, rather than traditional hierarchy, offers more career growth for BIPOC faculty.
What is Peer Mentoring (or Sponsorship)?
This type of acting, defined by deep emotional engagement, is healthier than surface acting and reduces burnout.
What is Deep Acting?
Often expected of BIPOC women, this "double" issue involves juggling both gender and racial inequities.
What is double jeopardy?
Often performed by faculty of color, this type of labor involves supporting student mental health and safety without specialized training.
What is "Untrained" counseling or pastoral care?
To practice "expanding consent" in the classroom, faculty must ensure that these are voluntary, not forced, and not used to shame or highlight a student’s identity
What are disclosures or identity checks?
Building these types of groups, both inside and outside the university, is crucial for well-being and combating isolation.
What are affinity groups (or) support networks?
This, according to studies, is the most common cause of stress for BIPOC staff, rather than student interaction
What is Interaction with Administrators/Parents?
This concept involves sacrificing personal well-being to combat systemic racism, leading to burnout.
What is John Henryism?
Often described as "invisible labor," this specific challenge disproportionately impacts BIPOC women faculty and staff in higher education, contributing to higher burnout rates and reducing time available for research and promotion.
What is the minority tax?
Defined as ongoing, enthusiastic, and informed, this key principle of modern consent requires that agreement be voluntarily given each time, rather than assumed based on past behavior or silence.
What is Affirmative Consent?
Due to a lack of formal mentorship and institutional support at PWIs (Predominantly White Institutions), many BIPOC faculty and staff rely on this emotional and physiological term to describe the exhaustion caused by constantly navigating racial microaggressions.
What is Racial Battle Fatigue?
Often described as a "gut feeling" or intuitive, this form of understanding allows leaders to act on inequities immediately, rather than waiting for a committee.
What is intuition (or instinctive leadership)?
Coined by sociologists, this "invisible" term refers to the uncompensated, time-consuming service work, such as mentoring or committee service, often expected of minority faculty.
What is the invisible tax?