Critiquing Institutional Diversity: Ethnic Minorities' Racial Identity Formations in Ideological and Physical Counter-Spaces

The term diversity within institutions has been used as a selling point for colleges and universities. Verbally, institutions pride themselves in committing to increasing 'diversity'. But what happens after more students of color enter historically White- serving institutions? Through a framework of Critical Race Theory, this thesis critiques how diversity is 'done' by highlighting the voices and realities of the students who represent diversity. The student voices included come from analyzing independent internet blogs written by students of color from varying elite institutions of higher education. The main purpose is to articulate the realities of the minority students' experience once they have been accepted to enter a predominantly White institutions. The blogs highlight the alienation and microaggressions experienced by students of color, leading them to look for a space of comfort. Ultimately, it is argued, that online blogs, in most cases anonymous, for marginalized students have become a space of empowerment where their truth can be told without reservations. The creation of this virtual space of solidarity ultimately indicates the fact that institutions are not adequately supporting the students they are seemingly so devoted to admitting.