February 2023 Courage in Action

I am excited to share with you a new article from members of the Courage Team. In it we show how research can lead organizations toward institutional courage.

Led by Courage Board Member Dr. Jennifer Gómez, a group of Courage researchers and educators – including me - along with other colleagues, published an article: “Institutional Courage in Action: Racism, Sexual Violence, and Concrete Institutional Change.”

Our article describes a workshop event that happened in person on 18 March 2022 at Stanford University: the 2022 Center for Institutional Courage: Racism, Sexual Violence, and Institutional Courage Workshop. It was an exciting day in which 27 scholars and advocates discussed institutional courage in action with a focus on addressing institutionalized racism, inequities, and sexual violence. The first half of the day consisted of research presentations on institutional courage (Jennifer Freyd), the theory of racialized organizations (Victor Ray), and cultural betrayal trauma theory (Jennifer Gómez). The second half of the day applied this basic knowledge through a fireside chat discussion of institutional courage in action across inequalities and institutions: employing anti-racist approaches in research with Black families (Beverly Weathington), addressing campus sexual violence with male college athletes (Brenda Tracy), tackling salary inequity in academia (Jorge Delva), and addressing racism and sexism in the workplace using the small wins model (Lori Nishiura Mackenzie).

Our article discusses our learnings from this workshop – both the research and the concrete ideas. We acknowledge the difficulties in making profound change but we end on a note of hope:

“Finally, we discovered than even within these hardships, the fight for systemic change through institutional courage is absolutely worth it. One simple act of courage can have a ripple effect of radical change that transforms our world. Furthermore, the process of people coming together to be courageous is beautiful, even when the sought-after success remains unattainable. As Weathington stated, ‘When a flower doesn’t bloom, allow yourself to see the beauty of the bud.’ May we behold both the beauty of the struggling bud and the thriving flower within institutional courage.”

Jennifer Joy Freyd, PhD
Founder and President
Center for Institutional Courage