The governance of difference in higher education: retrenchment, strategy, and scholarly practice

Abstract

This three-manuscript dissertation examines how higher education institutions and scholars pursue legitimacy under contested terrain, a condition in which the terms of legitimate action and credible knowledge are unstable and politically contested. Using the governance of difference as its unifying frame, the study asks how difference and otherness are defined, managed, and made credible within higher education. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, the dissertation examines three empirical sites. The first manuscript analyzes national patterns of diversity, equity, and inclusion retrenchment among R1 universities. The second examines how Montana State University governs diversity, equity, and inclusion through institutional strategy documents. The third analyzes positionality statements in education journals. Findings show that higher education manages difference across organizational response, institutional planning, and scholarly knowledge production. Universities respond to pressure through retrenchment, restructuring, renaming, and symbolic repositioning. Strategic texts frame diversity, equity, and inclusion through climate, conduct, and measurement rather than deeper structural change, while scholarly disclosures function as negotiated practices for establishing credibility. Overall, the dissertation concludes that higher education often makes difference institutionally manageable in ways that narrow its transformative possibilities.