HFC’s Claybourne coauthors CCSJ antiracism glossary

HFC’s Chardin Claybourne was one of eight authors who wrote the article, “Antiracism Glossary for Education and Life,” in the Journal of College Academic Support Programs, published through the Colleagues of Color for Social Justice. This is the first coauthored publication from the CCSJ.

“I must admit feeling a sense of pride. I hope the article can be a useful tool for educators, but also beyond the education profession. I expect, just as people grow and change, the glossary will evolve. Language is dynamic, and I hope this will spark conversations and subsequent work will build upon this article,” said Claybourne, HFC Lead Faculty, Learning Lab and Tutoring Services and co-faculty advisor of the Black Male and QUEENS Focus Group.

A preeminent component

When discussing diversity, equity, and inclusion, there is sometimes an attempt to dance around the topic of race, according to Claybourne. When creating this glossary, the authors decided that terms specifically related to race should be included to assist practitioners in learning assistance, developmental education, and related programs. When student success data is disaggregated, the data is clear – and must not be ignored – that race is a preeminent component of these discussions.

Thus, the genesis for expanding the scope of this glossary to focus on race and race-related terms, building upon prior articles – "Terms of Endearment: Words that Define and Guide Developmental Education" and "A Glossary of Developmental and Learning Assistance Terms" – both written by Dr. David R. Arendale, Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, one of the coauthors. The glossary is grounded in experiences from the coauthors’ lives to illustrate terms.

“My contributions were adding examples to many of the definitions to help readers understand how these words are not merely abstract concepts, but how they manifest in very real ways, in everyday life, and how the actions these words describe can have a lasting impact on people – in ways both positive and negative. I also served as an overall reviewer, providing edits over multiple drafts, including a substantial revision of the introduction,” said Claybourne.

A collaborative effort

In addition to Claybourne and Arendale, the coauthors include:

• Richa Pokhrel of the Center for Student Learning at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC
• Juan Jimenez of General Studies & Services at Western Technical College in La Crosse, WI
• Dr. Cassandra Green, Asst. Vice President of Student Success at Delaware State University (DESU)
• Dr. Sarah Felber of the Writing Department at the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC)
• WyKeshia Atkins, Director of the Learning Assistance Programs at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO)
• Dr. Mursalata Muhammad, Professor of English at Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC)

“Writing this article was an interesting collaboration, because we didn’t work from a shared document, where everyone could view changes to the article in real time,” explained Claybourne. “For the most part, I was working in a vacuum, except for when we met to discuss our progress at meetings. Amazingly, it all worked out well. I must give credit to the leadership of Dr. Arendale for managing the process.”

For Claybourne, this was a distinctly different type of writing. Although he enjoyed the process, it was not without its challenges.

“The challenging part of this was dredging my thoughts and emotions to fuel the writing, especially for the negative examples,” he said. “The most unfortunate aspect is that it’s not difficult to draw from my own personal experiences to mine for negative examples. Between my own life and the anecdotes of my friends and colleagues, I had plenty of material. I didn’t necessarily realize that would be part of the process; I think I originally saw it as more of an academic exercise, but it quickly became something much more, and hit closer to home.”

Open invitation to join

The CCSJ formed in 2020 to collaborate on writing and media projects involving classroom instruction and educational equity programs that intersect with race and social justice. Examples of equity programs include learning assistance and grant programs such as TRIO. CCSJ has a collaborative approach for publishing articles relevant for application in classroom instruction and educational equity programs that intersect with race and social justice.

The CCSJ is Arendale’s vision. It became a reality last October after he sent open invitations to email listservs and received an overwhelming response from professionals of color in higher education from across the nation. Arendale welcomed more than 40 colleagues to establish the CCSJ. Members are working on several writing projects involving classroom instruction and educational equity programs that intersect with race and social justice.

“Dr. Arendale posted an open invitation on a listserv to which I’m subscribed,” said Claybourne. “The funny thing is, on the day I saw his post, I was searching the listserv for information on an unrelated topic. When I came upon his post, I decided to join the CCSJ, because I strongly believe in the mission and values of this collective.”

For questions or more information about the CCSJ, contact cocsocialjustice@gmail.com.

To read the glossary, download the JCASP PDF. The article begins on p. 75.