Racial Discrimination in Higher Education

By their efforts to hire and retain students, teachers, and staff of colour, colleges and universities play a vital role in furthering equity. Despite significant progress in educational equity since the 1950s, racial discrimination in higher education institutions remains a problem in the early twenty-first century. Institutions of higher education must make serious pledges to greater racial justice on campus to overcome the impediments to racialized people’s advancement in higher education. Such promises are made in the form of people, time, and monetary and community resources, rather than proclamations. Educational institutions must analyze the racial climate on campus and work for ideological shifts that will eliminate any current barriers for racial and ethnic groups. As a result of such engagements.

Historically, colleges and universities have not provided equal educational opportunities to students of colour, and as recently as the early 2000s, students of colour were underrepresented in higher education in proportions that reflected their numbers in the general population.

As per the 2000 census, 12.5 percent of the population in the United States classifies as Latino/Latina, 12.3 percent as African American, 3.7 percent as Asian American,.9 percent as American Indian/Alaska Native,.1 percent as Pacific Islander, and 69.1 percent as white.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Racial_Equality

Issues with the students:

One would think that the number of students getting doctorates would be more closely aligned with these figures. This is not to imply that the ratios should be identical, but the disparities point to a lack of access to and retention in higher education institutions. Clearly, some racialized groups face challenges in accessing higher education institutions.

Affirmative action initiatives are one technique for boosting admissions, retention, and hiring in higher education institutions. A number of academics have campaigned for race-based affirmative action policies in higher education, and they are frequently supported by traditionally marginalized students.

Nonetheless, attacks against these programmes have been strong, and the elimination of affirmative action in certain areas has resulted in a considerable decrease in the number of students of colour applying to and attending colleges and universities.

Although there are many arguments in favour of need-based affirmative action programmes over race-based affirmative action programmes, a number of scholars believe that higher education institutions have a moral legal obligation to pay communities of colour for past injustices and that need-based programmes are more likely to divert resources away from race-based programmes.

Once students arrive at school, the institution’s racial climate plays a critical role in determining whether or not they continue their studies and pass. Students are less likely to stay and graduate if they encounter a negative atmosphere on campus, even if higher education institutions are able to attract a more diverse student body.

Since the 1980s, a lot of studies have been done on assessing the racial atmosphere on college campuses. According to a 1991 poll by the American Council on Education, 36% of all institutions (and 74% of research institutions) reported cases of race, gender, or sexual orientation intolerance.

Furthermore, despite current attempts, many students—including minorities, white women, gay and lesbian students, and disabled students—continue to find the campus climate insensitive to their needs, prior experiences, and educational aspirations.

When studying the racial climate and racism on college campuses, researchers must analyze not only overt racial occurrences but also characteristics of social recognition of coloured students and how racially marked social spaces are. Microaggressions faced by students of colour on college campuses around the country have been the attention of critical-race scholars.

Researchers have also found that racism causes more emotional stress for students of colour, and that ethnic prejudice is much more likely to be observed by students of colour. These unfavourable racial climates have an impact on students of colour’s academic success, making them less likely to succeed in college.

Access to higher education institutions is insufficient to assure equity within these institutions, because the campus climate experienced by students of colour is frequently unfriendly, posing a barrier to their academic success.

Issues with the teachers:

The percentage of persons of colour in academic posts tends to struggle behind that of whites, and it closely resembles the rate at which people of colour receive doctorates. The poor increase of faculty of colour since the mid-1990s is typically blamed on the low number of doctorates conferred to people of colour.

However, the issue of low numbers of faculty of colour is more complicated than the “pipeline” argument suggests. Issues of psychological and behavioural diversity, as well as the historical legacies of specific institutions as well as the broader organization of higher education, all play a role in establishing structural diversity.

Discrimination against persons of colour “contributes to unwelcoming and non – supportive workplaces for teachers of colour,” according to the report. Tokenism, isolation, ethnic and racial bias in hiring and recruiting, hurdles identified in tenure and promotion practices, the devaluation of “minority research,” and separation and lack of mentoring are all examples of direct and indirect racial barriers.

Tokenism is a phenomenon that occurs frequently in situations with limited structural diversity. Researchers have shown that when teachers of colour are the only scholars of colour in departments or institutions, they feel isolated and invisible.

Faculty of colour also have a difficulty in terms of the number of organizational services individuals are asked or forced to provide. Indeed, “heavy counselling obligations” is something they “frequently complain about.” Faculty of colour are required to represent the “minority voice” on a variety of institutional bodies.

These professors also serve as mentors and counsellors for students of colour in their disciplines. Departments with only one or two employees of colour on staff are frequently expected to serve a larger number of students of colour.

While faculty members appreciate the time spent on these activities, it takes away from research obligations, which are more highly appreciated in the selection and promotion process.

Focusing on institutional change in connection to prejudice and the advantages of diversity helps to shift the focus away from the concept that students of colour arrive at college with deficits. By focusing on the institution rather than the individual, the involvement of organizational strategies and policies in the culture of exclusions on many college campuses can be identified.

Also read: Importance of Time

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does racial discrimination arise in institutions?

Ans: Historically, colleges and universities have not provided equal educational opportunities to students of colour, and as recently as the early 2000s, students of colour were underrepresented in higher education in proportions that reflected their numbers in the general population.

2. How does racial discrimination increase the dropout rate?

Ans: Once students arrive at school, the institution’s racial climate plays a critical role in determining whether or not they continue their studies and pass. Students are less likely to stay and graduate if they encounter a negative atmosphere on campus, even if higher education institutions are able to attract a more diverse student body.

3. What is Tokenism?

Ans: Tokenism is a phenomenon that occurs frequently in situations with limited structural diversity. Researchers have shown that when teachers of colour are the only scholars of colour in departments or institutions, they feel isolated and invisible.