Events

Unwelcome and Invisible in the Classroom: Racial Microaggressions Experienced by Students of Color in Higher Education

Tina

This roundtable presentation at the AERA Meeting by OCCRL graduate research assistant HyeJin Tina Yeo will examine a study on the experiences of students of color in learning environments and relate the influence of diversity, or the lack thereof, in academic spaces. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed in the study.

Significant group differences in racial microaggressions and different patterns across race groups were found from the one-way ANOVA analysis and Post hoc Games-Howell tests at 0.01 of the significance level (α). Identified themes from qualitative data are: 1) unwelcome in the classroom, 2) racist conversations, direct or overheard, 3) offensive lecture content, 4) classroom participation: Ignored, invalidated or expected to perform, 5) stereotypes in class discussions, 6) stereotypes in small group discussions, and 7) exclusion and harassment in group projects.

The findings highlight the importance of training educators and informing students about the detrimental effects of microaggressions.

Contact: HyeJin Tina Yeo
hyeo8@illinois.edu