The "Cost of Inclusion" and why white male students benefit most

Having committed my life to a career as a student development educator who advocated for deeper engagement for all students, reading the summary of the interview of Blake R. Silver was to say the least disheartening. Silver's book, The Cost of Inclusion, is based on his qualitative study of an institution that should have been more inclusive of students from various backgrounds but, in fact, perpetuated white male privilege in its extracurricular experiences.

One of Silver's conclusions was "that white men frequently have an easier time acquiring a durable sense of belonging in extracurricular outlets than peers who identify as women or racial and ethnic minority students... white men were able to draw from raced and gendered assumptions about authority to take on styles of self-presentation that positioned them as group leaders or intellectuals." The result of this is that as white men are elevated through "deference and mentorship of peers" as other students disconnect. Silver found that even when white male students started out with a commitment to openness and full participation by all, they were intoxicated by "centripetal elevation," becoming part of a system that marginalized their female and non-white peers.

The summary interview entices me to dig into Silver's book. I look forward to discovering more detail of how our best attempts to include all students still fall short of the goal of equal access and opportunity. At the core of the commitment to inclusion is the power of peer influence which has long been identified in research as an intervening variable that is very difficult to control. Silver offered advice in the interview which I particularly look forward to further exploring. He opined that "Faculty involvement outside of the classroom is one way to equip young people with tools for engaging with diversity on campus. Partnerships between professors and student affairs practitioners could bring curricular frameworks to the social realm of college, offering models for student engagement that extend beyond the imperative to fit in and make friends."