Assistant Dean of Students for Diversity & Leadership Development at Wofford College
About
Taifha Alexander, JD, is from a low-income, racially diverse household in Jamaica, New York. Taifha's lived experiences and the injustices she witnessed between people in her neighborhood and the police contributed to her decision to enroll in the legal studies program at St. John's University in New York. While at St. John's University, Taifha combined her passion for diversity and the law. Taifha followed her passion to law school at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC where she utilized her legal skills to advocate for marginalized students. Her most recent research paper, "We Can't Breathe: How Top Law Schools Can Resuscitate an Inclusive Climate for Minority & Low-Income Students," provides tangible recommendations to assist top law schools in creating inclusive climate for their most vulnerable student populations. After Georgetown Law, Taifha served in Diversity & Inclusion roles at University of South Carolina Aiken and UCLA before her current role at Wofford.
Current Work:
Taifha is currently working on two research projects. The first project is entitled "How to Avoid the Fire This Time." It details how student life professionals can assess repressed racial tensions within the campus environment and redress those tensions before a racist incident results in an even more divided campus. The other project, "Chopped & Screwed," focuses on how the law has unjustifiably used hip hop, and not other forms of artistic expression, to contribute to the mass incarceration of Black men.
Research Area Keyword(s):
diversity; inclusion; equity; higher education; law
