ILLIAAC ANNUAL ADVISING CONFERENCE MICAH HEUMANN AND STACY HARWOOD DECEMBER 11, 2015 Revealing Racial Microaggressions in Academic Advising.

ILLIAAC ANNUAL ADVISING CONFERENCE

MICAH HEUMANN AND STACY HARWOOD

DECEMBER 11 , 2015

Revealing Racial Microaggressions in Academic

Advising

Racism on College Campuses

Racial Microaggressions

“brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color”

Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, Bucceri, Holder, Nadal and Esquilin, 2007

Types of Racial Microaggressions

Racial assaults typically are conscious actions meant to demean a person through

deliberate and overt racial discrimination, which can be verbal or nonverbal.

Racial insults actions or comments that insult persons of color, by signaling

that the person of color is considered inferior to a White counterpart, less intelligent, a second-class citizen, and given to behavior and criminality inscribed upon race. Often unconscious.

Racial invalidations actions or comments that negate or ostracize the experiences of

a person of color. Often unconscious.

Racial assault, insult or invalidation?

“My Native perspectives are often not granted validity or even a chance for discussion because they assume my ideas stem from my heritage and not scientific insights… when the value of life or the environment is discussed my Native beliefs are often viewed as primitive.”

Racial assault, insult or invalidation?

“My friends and I were called sand n-word. It happened outside of a fraternity house…This happened my first semester, at nighttime. I was enraged. I did nothing but just walked away because I didn't want to start anything.”

Racial assault, insult or invalidation?

“In the classroom setting, someone behind me was discussing how they did not feel that African Americans deserves to be here, and that we only got in because the school has to let ‘them’ in.”

Racial Microaggression in Academic Advising

“When I was a freshman I went in to see my academic adviser to help schedule my classes for next semester. When I walked into her office her expression immediately changed, and throughout the whole meeting she kept questioning me on whether I could stay in the major. It seemed like after she realized I was African American, in her mind, I wasn't able to successfully complete the major. I felt insulted and disrespected by that meeting and every other meeting I had with her.”

Racial Microaggression in Academic Advising

“One instance is when I went to see a counselor about changing my major. He asked me if I was sure I wanted to do that and said the accessory courses (physics and calculus) might be too hard for me. This is the first time I ever talked to him, had never met him and he didn't know anything about me. He didn't know if I was first generation, middle class, James Scholar, etc. He just assumed that I shouldn't pursue the major. I have not been back to see him since that day.”

Discussion

Racial Microaggression in Academic Advising

I visited my advisor to ask for advice about a gen ed I was taking in which I was performing about average. Irritated to see me again, he went on to ignore my request for help, told me that he had experience with “students like me” who didn’t belong in higher ed, and even offered to help me transfer to Parkland if I was “stuck” on the idea of being in college.

Racial Microaggression in Academic Advising

At one of my first meetings with an advisor he seemed unduly surprised that I did so well in my classes, and it was implied that his surprise was a result of my race and gender.

For more information

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