Color-Blind or Racially Conscious? How College Science Faculty Make Sense of Racial/Ethnic Underrepresentation in STEM

Scholars across disciplines and throughout PK-20 education have argued that color-blind ideology works to perpetuate racial inequities in education via policies, research, curriculum, instruction, and student-teacher interactions. This study explores an underexamined issue in relation to color-blind ideology in STEM education. Specifically, it examines how a sample of college science faculty members use color-blind framings to make sense of the underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students in their fields. Interviews were conducted with 42 professors (majority tenured/tenure-track, white, male, and continuing generation to college) in a College of Sciences at a research-intensive, historically white institution in the United States. Thematic analysis showed that while many faculty members implicated systemic racism in their sense making about the underrepresentation of racially minoritized students in STEM, the majority used color-blind frames (abstract liberalism, cultural racism, and minimization of racism) by focusing on individual behaviors and choices, cultural deficits, under-preparation, and poverty. Consistent with the research on color-blind ideology, professors were able to explain racial phenomena without implicating race/racism, which allowed them to absolve themselves from responsibility in addressing racial inequality issues in higher education. Faculty members who made sense of underrepresentation through systemic racism framings tended to recognize that they had a role to play in ameliorating these issues for students of color. These findings have implications for future research and professional development efforts.