The Value of Love in Higher Education

Ethical Dilemmas for Faculty and Students Racialised as Black in Britain

Abstract

In the context of the rise in open racism following post-credit crunch Brexit Britain, movements seeking educational reform to address racism within the academy emerged. However, such efforts must grapple with the ever-increasing corporatization of higher education. This article aims to disrupt the duplicity of widening participation rhetoric, which makes claims to moral values but in practice is governed by a neoliberal agenda. Using bell hooks’ ethic of love, I discuss a case study of a widening participation program and a liberal arts university. I claim that so-called resource dilemmas are better understood as moral dilemmas and that centring a love ethic in this process of reframing enables us to rethink how we navigate such dilemmas in higher education.