Towards a Whiter Woodlawn: Racism and the University of Chicago's Employer-Assisted Housing Program

This article investigates the racism inherent in the purportedly race-neutral University of Chicago's Employer-Assisted Housing Program (EAHP) and its drive to encourage employee homeownership in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The paper demonstrates that the program's eligibility requirements means it is most accessible to White people. It further shows that the EAHP marketing works to sell Woodlawn in specific ways in order to attract White homeowners despite the current racial makeup of a neighborhood that is majority-Black. Finally, in light of the University's longstanding efforts to expand its physical sphere of influence through the creation of Whiter, wealthier spaces in neighboring communities, it outlines how staff, students, faculty, and broader community members might organize around the issue and put pressure on top administrators to alter such programs.