Language is a critical social tool for communication in modern society. However, language's role is not often considered in efforts to combat historic and contemporary racism in higher education. Research analyzing racialized dynamics and the complex ties race has to our nation's development recognizes the hidden factors and inequitable systems attributing to norms and values in society. My work offers an investigation of the system of language in effort to reveal additional hidden structures. My dissertation addresses the often-unacknowledged positioning power higher education leaders exert through their language choice following racist incidents. In an effort to broaden the field, my study identified language's role as a tool to establish or reinforce implicit racist ideologies in higher education. Two theories framed the investigation of how higher education leaders addressed racism at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) in the midwestern United States during the Fall 2017 semester. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), a qualitative methodology grounded in critiques of power through language use and Critical Race Theory (CRT), a theoretical and interpretative mode examining race and racism across principal cultural modes of expression support a framework aided in designing the research. The primary research question was during the Fall of 2017, how did leaders' language used in on campus addresses (speeches and campus announcements) position (role construction or reconstruction) Black students at public predominantly White institutions in the Midwest? Three themes emerged from leaders' discourse. "Racism is real," "Think it through," and "We're in this together" represent how leaders framed institutional thought in response to racist incidents. Implications for my study highlight the need to move beyond studies of traditional barriers known to impede Black and other minoritized student population success to consider the covert messages that reinforce the positioning of student subgroups below other institutional groups and goals. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]