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Critical Race Theory, Racial Microaggressions, and Campus Racial Climate: The Experiences of African American College Students
Abstract
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... Counter-spaces-safe spaces where marginalized students can advance their learning and build camaraderie (Solórzano et al., 2000)-offer a promising mechanism for tackling these issues. However, existing counter-spaces discussed in the literature (e.g., Ong et al., 2018;Solórzano et al., 2000) are often reactive and informally structured (Zuñiga-Ruiz, 2022), emerging from the efforts of struggling students or individual mentors without deliberate design. ...
... Counter-spaces-safe spaces where marginalized students can advance their learning and build camaraderie (Solórzano et al., 2000)-offer a promising mechanism for tackling these issues. However, existing counter-spaces discussed in the literature (e.g., Ong et al., 2018;Solórzano et al., 2000) are often reactive and informally structured (Zuñiga-Ruiz, 2022), emerging from the efforts of struggling students or individual mentors without deliberate design. This paper addresses this critical gap by presenting the design and implementation of a theoretically grounded and locally responsive counter-space for historically marginalized STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) students at the University of California, Berkeley. ...
This paper presents the design and implementation of a counter-space that integrates disciplinary rigor with identity-empowering practices to support historically marginalized STEM students at the University of California, Berkeley. Situated within a social design experiment, the counter-space fostered a collaborative community where students engaged deeply with core calculus ideas while cultivating positive mathematical identities and a stronger sense of belonging. The paper elaborates on the key design principles of the counter-space as well as its structure and curriculum. Analysis of students' weekly reflection journals revealed significant gains in students' mathematical understanding, performance, confidence, sense of belonging, and self-perceptions as capable mathematical thinkers. This study offers a model for disciplinary-rigorous and identity-empowering counter-spaces that institutions can adapt to address systemic barriers and promote sustainable STEM pathways for historically marginalized students.
... I joined EBCR during my third year in the counseling psychology doctoral program because the challenges of life on my campus as a Black woman necessitated that I identify and engage with collaborators who made me feel valued and who felt called to challenge the racist realities and isolation that contributed to making me feel unseen at our institution. Black women have a history of being made to feel invisible in predominantly White institutions of education (Gutiérrez y Muhs, Niemann, González, & Harris, 2012;Matthew, 2016;Solorzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000). I was EBCR's Visuals Co-coordinator, often engaging in the creation of infographics and using the arts as a way to build community among organizers. ...
Although anti-racist and decolonial scholars in community psychology have shared valuable ways professionals can promote racial justice and contend with potential barriers (e.g., Lykes et al., 2019; Makkawi, 2017), little consideration has been given to graduate students’ resistance to institutional oppression. This paper explores the experiences of five graduate student activists resisting institutional racism at their institution. Through co-constructed autoethnography, it provides narratives addressing three central themes: (1) isolation, racism, and community-building; (2) direct actions and institutional pushback; and (3) internal conflicts and endurance. It considers how graduate students, as individuals who are structurally disempowered in higher education, persist in the face of oppressive institutional structures to challenge them, risks they experience in doing so, and techniques and resources that aid them. It concludes with a discussion of the importance of embracing graduate student activism to advance anti-racist praxis in community psychology.
... The need for more equitable and inclusive pedagogical practices in postsecondary education is clear. Researchers Solórzano et al. (2000) explored African American students' experiences with microaggressions. In their qualitative grounded study, 34 students from various institutions reported encountering microaggressions which negatively affected their well-being on campus. ...
This study examines the perceptions and experiences of faculty members who participated in faculty learning communities (FLCs) centered on antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) pedagogy. Employing a hermeneutic phenomenological research design, the study identified recurring themes related to faculty perspectives, perceived changes in teaching practices, attitude shifts, and course content influenced by their involvement in these communities. The sample consisted of faculty from a range of disciplines at various traditionally white institutions (TWIs) across the United States. This research centers faculty insights from both professional and personal standpoints, shedding light on the role of FLCs as a form of professional development. Four major themes emerged from the findings: faculty motivation and commitment, self-reflection and awareness, changes in course content, and teaching practices and lastly, institutional challenges. A range of subthemes is also explored throughout this dissertation. These findings aim to support educators, particularly those in social work and related disciplines in learning from their peers' experiences to more effectively integrate ADEI-focused FLCs into faculty development initiatives.
... The centrality of oppression We take as a fact that structural racism and sexism plague the U.S. economic, political, and educational systems. Inequities in student performance result from systems-wide policies and approaches that implicitly and explicitly disadvantage broad groups of students (Solorzano et al., 2000). Society's power structures oppress learners across a myriad of social identities beyond gender and race, including ableness, religious affiliation, and socioeconomic status. ...
Multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (MAIHDA) enables intersectional quantitative educational research with distinct advantages over fixed-effects models. Using data from 9,672 physics students across 40 institutions, we compared MAIHDA to traditional fixed-effects models to assess the two methods' theoretical alignment with intersectionality and ability to model outcomes for diverse social groups. The results indicated that MAIHDA provided more precise measures of outcomes for 95 of the 106 intersectional groups. The manuscript offers guidance for applying MAIHDA in educational research, including R code, and emphasizes the responsibility of researchers to consider critical quantitative theory throughout the research process.
... Perpetrators and bystanders, lacking shared experiences with the targeted identities, may not recognize the harm caused. [1][2][3][4] However, these actions can profoundly affect the recipient's sense of belonging, safety, and self-worth. 5 In health professions education, including physical therapy, microaggressions are particularly detrimental. ...
Introduction
Microaggressions, although often subtle and unintentional, have a significant impact. These actions emerge from stereotypes and can affect the recipient's sense of belonging. This study aimed to report the prevalence of perceived microaggressions among student physical therapists and to explore these experiences during their academic journey.
Review of Literature
Microaggressions can disrupt the learning environment, hinder students' academic and professional development, and contribute to a culture perpetuating inequality and exclusion. To date, no studies have explored the impact of microaggressions on student physical therapists.
Subjects
Second- and third-year student physical therapists (n = 101) were invited to participate.
Methods
This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study consisted of a quantitative survey and a qualitative approach using semistructured focus group interviews. Demographics and frequency of microaggressions were collected, and data from the interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed to interpret and summarize students' perceptions and experiences with microaggressions during their Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) education.
Results
Forty-eight of 101 students completed the survey. More than half (52.1%) of the students reported at least 1 microaggression experience in the past month, mostly perpetrated by a classmate (55.6%). Twenty-three students participated in the focus group interviews. Five themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: 1) Microaggressions can exist in a DPT program; 2) hesitancy to call out microaggressions; 3) microaggressions negatively affect the student experience; 4) students often do not understand what microaggressions are nor do they recognize when they are offenders; 5) early education and awareness may help mitigate microaggressions and create a culture of inclusivity, belonging, and professionalism.
Discussion and Conclusion
This study described the prevalence of perceived microaggressions among student physical therapists and explored their experiences during their DPT education. Additional research on integrating microaggressions and implicit bias training into curricula to reduce the prevalence of perceived microaggressions would provide valuable information.
Efforts to enhance the diversity of STEM faculty within academia are abundant, but despite those efforts the representation of racial minorities remains drastically lower than that of majority races. Not only do diverse STEM faculty play an impactful role in diversifying an institution, but these individuals also present the opportunity to increase retention of minority students and encourage the success of these students through their unique perspectives and experiences. The purpose of our study was to analyze the impact of exposure to Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) institutions and understand what role those visits play in STEM diversification. With an exploratory approach using a concurrent design, surveys and interviews were conducted with 10 individuals across five years, with specific collection of data related to everyone’s unique experience. As part of a larger program focused on the diversification of the professorate, this study specifically investigated the impact of an activity designed to provide exposure to HBCU institutions. Data analysis reveals that providing opportunities for individuals to engage in purposeful visits to HBCU institutions yields impactful outcomes ranging from collaborations to employment.
Although research shows that Students of Color have negative experiences at predominantly White high schools (PWHSs) due to race, there is little research to show this impact in STEM at PWHSs. This study aims to analyze the assets of minoritized students at PWHSs and the impact on their experiences in STEM. The researchers utilized the Community Cultural Wealth model to analyze the assets minoritized students bring to PWHSs and its impact on student experiences. Findings demonstrate that aspirational, familial, navigational, and social capitals were the most significant contributors to their success in STEM settings at PWHSs. Additionally, the study demonstrates the need for institutions to recognize the cultural assets of Students of Color in STEM spaces.
This article asserts that despite the salience of race in U.S. society, as a topic of scholarly inquiry, it remains untheorized. The article argues for a critical race theoretical perspective in education analogous to that of critical race theory in legal scholarship by developing three propositions: (1) race continues to be significant in the United States; (2) U.S. society is based on property rights rather than human rights; and (3) the intersection of race and property creates an analytical tool for understanding inequity. The article concludes with a look at the limitations of the current multicultural paradigm.
The minority (nonwhite) can tell stories about institutional practices in academia that result in unintended benefits for the majority (white). One institutional practice in academia is affirmative action. This article presents a story about a minority applicant for a sociology position and his referral to an affirmative action program for recruiting minority faculty. One reason for telling the story is to illustrate how an affirmative action program can be implemented in a manner that marginalizes minority persons in the faculty recruitment process and results in benefits for majority persons. Another reason for telling the story is to sound an alarm for majority and minority faculty who support affirmative action programs that the programs can fall short of their goals if their implementation is simply treated as a bureaucratic activity in academia.
An overview of racial climate issues at four-year institutions indicates that one in four students perceived considerable racial conflict on campuses in 1989. Black, Chicano, and white students' perceptions reveal common and distinct views in the types of environments that are associated with racial tension. Developing efforts that create an environment of support for all students is an emerging principle for improving the campus racial climate.
