Preaching to the choir: A critical interpretive study of the meanings of diversity.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Diversity, an elusive concept in higher education, is difficult to define and put into practice. This one word has produced competing and contradictory interpretations about race, gender, sexual orientation, increasing numbers of minorities, and affirmative action policies, among others. This lack of coherence is a result of colleges and universities treating diversity as a pre-existing idea that they can simply import into their structure and claim to be diverse. That the meaning of diversity is socially constructed through communication and negotiated between members of an organization is an idea yet to be explored, and thus, is the premise for this study.
Employing a meaning-centered framework, I chose to investigate the organizational discourses of Bowling Green State University and how meaning was produced and reproduced at various levels (macro/micro and organizational/individual) within the organization and through various organizational structures (i.e., a cultural sensitivity training program required of all incoming graduate students).
The methodology was critical and interpretive and combined participant observation with focus group and follow-up interviews. This triangulation allowed me to access the processes by which organizational members at Bowling Green State University made sense of their organizational reality and produced meanings of diversity. In addition, I employed a critical lens to expose where power was exercised and legitimated in each layer of meaning.
In this study, diversity emerged from organizational discourses and layers of meaning as something the university has as a commodity, but something that the university cannot manage in terms of organizational members' attitudes. Organizational members' personal experiences, identities, and roles became important factors that influenced how they made sense and produced meaning about diversity. Bowling Green State University is not a diverse campus, but is in the process of altering its image to become the premier learning institution that serves diverse communities. Several participants in this study have provided suggestions for improvement. These are included in the final chapter.