| |
| author |
Virginia Leach
| | title |
Exclusion of the Included: Racialized Microaggressions at Predominantly White Universities
| | abstract |
This project explores the challenges black students face when completing their
undergraduate degree. When enrolled at predominantly white institutions (PWIs), black students
are subjugated as "the other" and are forced to come to terms with learning in often if not
regularly hostile academic environments. The hardships are crucial to examine, as attending
college in contemporary U.S. society is becoming a prerequisite to entering the workforce and
decreasing wealth gaps (UNCF). I argue that the increasing diversity enrollment of black
students at PWIs does not go hand-in-hand with the lives of the students enrolled there being
positively affected. The presence of more black students does not necessarily increase the
amount of resources and pathways for black students to graduate successfully. To investigate this
notion, black students from a small (fewer than 2,000 students), liberal arts college in the
Northeast of the U.S. were interviewed twice and asked to complete the method of photo
elicitation to better comprehend how their college experience may or may not be impacted by
racial discrimination on campus. Nineteen students participated in this study and 17 completed it.
The students who completed it were compensated for their time and efforts. After transcribing
and coding the data using the computer-based programs Trint and Dedoose from 36 interviews,
the challenges black students experienced were revealed. Black students identified and described
several challenges that adversely impacted their lives, including the lack of black faculty, the
lack of a diverse curriculum and the racial profiling by public safety. Their race not only affected
them in academic buildings, but in non-academic spaces as well. Racialized incidents took place
in the dormitory area and on the university's path. The near daily encounters and experiences
having to do with racial microaggressions, (colorblind) racism, hierarchy/domination and
isolation communicate their relationship with their institution. This project contributes to the
research documenting black students' experience at PWIs, as well as identifies future research
worthy of exploration regarding the experiences of black students at the nation's PWIs.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2020)
|
| advisor |
Dr. George-Harold Jennings
|
| full text | VLeach.pdf |
| |
