SpeakOut | Nolan Cabrera

About

Speeches

Dr. Nolan Cabrera is an award-winning scholar and nationally-recognized expert in the areas of racism/anti-racism on college campuses, whiteness, and ethnic studies. He is currently a Professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona, and was the only academic featured in the MTV documentary White People.

Dr. Cabrera's book, White Guys on Campus: Racism, White Immunity, and the Myth of "Post-Racial" Higher Education, is a critical examination of race in higher education, centering whiteness, in an effort to unveil the frequently unconscious habits of racism among white male undergraduates. It was the winner of the 2019 Outstanding Book Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).

Dr. Cabrera has given hundreds of lectures, keynote addresses, and trainings, throughout the country on challenging racism/whiteness, working through unconscious bias, creating inclusive college campuses, and the expansion of ethnic studies programs. Dr. Cabrera was an expert witness in the Tucson Unified Mexican American Studies case (Arce v. Douglas), which is the highest-profile ethnic studies case in the country’s history. In his just-released book, Whiteness in the Ivory Tower: Why Don’t We Notice the White Students Sitting Together in the Quad, Dr. Cabrera explores how racism is deeply embedded in higher education and centers the harm that whiteness causes to communities of color. And he offers a critical but concurrently hopeful view that anti-racist futures are both possible and necessary

He moves beyond the “few bad apples” frame of contemporary racism, and explores the structures, policies, ideologies, and experiences that allow racism to flourish. He calls upon institutions of higher education to be sites of social transformation instead of reinforcing systemic racism, while creating a platform to engage and challenge the public discourse of “post-racialism.”

Dr. Cabrera's numerous publications have appeared in some of the most prestigious journals in the fields of education and racial studies. He completed his graduate work at UCLA in Higher Education and Organizational Change and earned his BA from Stanford University in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (Education focus).

BANNED: The Fight for Ethnic Studies and the Battle Against Censorship Across the country, Critical Race Theory, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and ethnic studies are under attack. But what’s really at stake? Dr. Cabrera takes audiences inside the landmark battle over Mexican American Studies in Tucson, exposing the state-sponsored racism, legal resistance, and grassroots activism that shaped the case, and that now shapes current discourse and attacks on further rights. This session offers key lessons for educators, students, and advocates fighting to protect truth in education and build a future where history is taught, not erased.

Whiteness at Work: How White Supremacy Persists and How We Dismantle It White supremacy isn’t just about extremists—it’s about the everyday ways whiteness operates in institutions, policies, and cultural norms to maintain power and evade accountability. Dr. Cabrera breaks down how whiteness adapts, reinforces itself, and avoids scrutiny—whether in higher education, workplaces, or public life. This session moves beyond surface-level conversations, offering concrete ways to challenge white supremacy as a system, not just as individual bias—and to push for meaningful change.

Beyond Optics: Creating Truly Racially Inclusive Campuses Higher education often promotes diversity and inclusion without addressing structural racism. What does it take to move beyond tokenism and into real transformation? This session explores how universities can create truly anti-racist campuses by confronting implicit bias, institutional barriers, and performative allyship—equipping leaders, faculty, and students with tools to build inclusive and equity-driven learning environments.

Masculinity & Men of Color: The Self-Inflicted Wounds We Must Heal Why are Men of Color underrepresented in higher education? Dr. Cabrera explores how toxic masculinity creates self-imposed barriers that prevent young men from seeking support and fully engaging in learning environments. This session offers a critical, self-reflective, solutions-driven conversation about how to redefine masculinity in ways that empower young men to lead, learn, and succeed—without falling into the traps of hypermasculinity and self-sabotage.