Dear Higher Education: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain

Higher Education Broke My Heart — and Why I Still Stay

Precious Porras

Abstract

In Higher Education Broke My Heart — and Why I Still Stay, Precious Porras writes a reflective letter examining the emotional and structural realities of serving as a Chief Diversity Officer within contemporary higher education. Situated within the broader category of social justice leadership and institutional accountability, this letter interrogates how white supremacy culture persists not primarily through overt hostility, but through procedural delay, governance norms, budgetary choices, and institutional risk aversion.

Drawing on lived experience as a Black biracial woman in executive leadership at a Catholic Hispanic-Serving Institution, Porras argues that the heartbreak many equity leaders experience is not rooted in personal disappointment but in structural contradiction: institutions fluent in the language of justice often resist the redistribution of power required to actualize it. The letter names the CDO role as both transformational and precarious — positioned to advance equity while simultaneously absorbing institutional anxiety.

Rather than ending in resignation, the letter reframes heartbreak as clarifying. It calls for structural embedding of equity into evaluation systems, governance models, and financial priorities. By centering institutional design over institutional rhetoric, this piece contributes to critical conversations about leadership, accountability, and the future of justice-oriented higher education.