ABSTRACT
Despite the promise of a community-facing institution that upholds utopian ideals, higher education has succumbed to neoliberal ideology, resulting in individualizing logics that center normative student experiences over socially engaged and critical democratic participants. This essay, using public speaking as a case study, engages with a failed diversity moment that exemplifies curricular practices that uphold the mythical norm through individualization. In response, I offer promising pedagogical practices that foreground reflexivity to combat White supremacy. Failure is situated as a normal and necessary component that enables pedagogical possibilities to unfold and, in turn, re-situates education as a public good.
