ABSTRACT
Yolanda Flores Niemann shares an inspirational essay in which she discusses how being a Chicana feminist administrator at two top-tier, predominantly white universities required her to choose between upholding biased and inequitable institutional policies and practices, and advocating on behalf of women, people of color, untenured faculty, and other disempowered groups. By sharing examples of how she spoke against her supervisors, created a community for faculty of color, helped create a Latino/a and Mexican-American Studies major, and other brave acts, Yolanda articulates how she repeatedly chose to fight for what is right despite accusations of unprofessionalism and race-based favoritism. She turns an oft-negative perception of gendered and racial tokenism in leadership positions into a positive opportunity to “do the right thing by my personal, political, and professional values and identities.” In sharing her story, Yolanda hopes to inspire other women of color academics to not be afraid of administrative positions, but to instead, move forward bravely while acknowledging the risks of fighting the color-blind, neoliberal paradigm of academia.
