Housing, Dollars & Racism

One of the recurring themes of thedigitalquad is the intersection of academic scholarship and the “real” world. Academic presses may not sell all that many books, but without them – and the hard work of scholars and faculty across higher education – we would, in many ways, be clueless. Why is so much of American…

Reading, Racism and the L

I wrote the following piece in late July. The violence and hatred from white supremacists over the past weekend at the University of Virginia makes it clear that the battle against racism has to be fought 24/7. We cannot avoid it if we want to live in a just society. Higher education has a great responsibility…

Access ≠ Access, and Other Lessons from the Digital Divide

My college, like many other institutions of higher education, is working to increase the number of students who complete degrees and certificates in IT fields. We partner with high schools, external organizations, other colleges and universities, and industry. There is genuine enthusiasm for the goal and widespread agreement that information technology knowledge and skills are essential…

Spurs to Rethink Race

The recent race-hatred murders in Charleston, South Carolina and the heightened debates about reforms to mass incarceration and criminal justice, highlight the urgency of examining race as a critical factor shaping contemporary American life. It is inescapable – whether we think we are beyond it, whether we focus our attention on it, or wish that we have…

Institutionalized Inequity and Chicago Real Estate

Beryl Satter’s Family Properties: How the Struggle Over Race and Real Estate Transformed Chicago and Urban America is a brilliant book. A historian with a personal history with Chicago real estate, Satter’s father, Mark Satter, was a lawyer and landlord in Lawndale, a working west-side neighborhood in Chicago. Mr. Satter died in 1965, short on funds and…