NC State held its second Equity Research Symposium, offering a keynote address from famed diversity, equity and inclusion expert Dr. Shaun Harper as attendees and organizers looked to understand how equity informs research. 

Associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi, and associate dean for research innovation for the College of Education, Karen Hollebrands, returned to their positions as co-chairs of the planning committee for the symposium. 

“The work that we want to share at this event is all focused on equity-based research, and thinking about ways in which equity informs the research that we’re doing,” Hollebrands said. “NC State is a research intensive university, so our faculty are very involved in research in many different arenas.” 

Harper is a researcher at University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center. He has worked closely with NC State professor Dr. Joy Gaston Gayles, who was recently named head of the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Human Development.

“Shaun is one of the nation’s most highly respected race equity experts,” Gayles said in her introduction of Harper, citing his work for the Obama administration and the Biden-Harris campaign.

Harper said his speech and other diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are not what some have said is critical race theory, nor is critical race theory being taught to school children, and it’s up to academics to call out that misuse of such a term.  

“As scholars who know better, we have to use our scholarly voice with confidence to demand evidence,” Harper said.

Harper, beginning the keynote address, said it is important during polarizing political times to respond to “ridiculousness with facts, evidence and data.” Continuing, Harper pointed out the low number of Black students at NC State compared to the number of Black North Carolinians. His research shows that 25.5% of college-aged North Carolinians are Black, but 6% of undergraduates at the University are Black. Additionally, 67 of 2,177 of the University’s full-time faculty members are Black, as of 2016. Just 2.7% of NC State undergraduate students are Black men, but the group comprises almost 70% of the revenue-generating football and men’s basketball teams.

“What I was attempting to do here was to model for you what it means to have irrefutable data and evidence about racial realities, and using that evidence to clap back against those who are suggesting you are wasting taxpayers money on diversity, equity and inclusion,” Harper said. “These facts would suggest you need more institutional investment on diversity, equity and inclusion.”  

Harper said monetary investment is just one step many universities take and may not go beyond.

“The fact is, way too many presidents, provosts and other senior leaders pay our university to do campus [racial] climate assessments, either qualitatively or quantitatively, and they ultimately do nothing with the results,” Harper said. “They don’t use the results to shape and guide institutional strategy or to hold themselves accountable.” 

Harper said to combat this, diversity, equity and inclusion researchers should keep conducting rigorous research and have confidence in the evidence it produces, be good stewards of the data being collected, pursue research questions with potential for social consequences and ensure students see the impact this research can have. 

“When they come for you and your DEI initiatives, you have to show them the data and the evidence,” Harper said. “You have the responsibility to do that as a research university.”

After Harper’s address, attendees were able to view over 20 student research projects, as well as join together in working groups to discuss specialized topics in equity and research, an example being how equity can be promoted in a research lab.

“It might be that they have some general guidelines or principles or practices that they can work on and see how effective they are, and then potentially share that with others at the next symposium,” Hollebrands said. “The goal is to bring people together now, start the conversation around this important issue, and then see how it might further expand in later years.”

For more information on Harper and his research, check out his page from USC.