Culturally Relevant or Cultural Cover: Understanding ACUE’s Fostering a Culture of Belonging

Colleges and universities are increasingly utilizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Diversity training (DT) is one kind of DEI initiative designed to help faculty and staff, but it is understudied, especially for higher education. This study seeks to expand the literature by examining the Association of College and University Educators’ (ACUE) Fostering a Culture of Belonging (FCB) course, its participants’ experiences, and its effect on students rooted in Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP). Using mixed methods, this study collected faculty participant interviews and contextualized any changes based on analyses of student course evaluations. I report that while faculty educators did profess experience benefits, they also struggled to recall content, implement transformative changes, and did not significantly impact student evaluations. Ultimately, more research is needed to understand the effects and implementation of DT for higher education faculty, especially if the goal is to effect transformative changes for student learning.