By Skylar Wolfe, Katie Wermus and Donna Baeck<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When developmental psychology major Dalicia Simpson finds that she is the only Black student enrolled in a class, she said she feels increased anxiety around asking questions or drawing attention to herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the professor is Black, things aren\u2019t as difficult, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel more comfortable asking the teacher questions, getting help in the office hours,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cI definitely feel more comfortable in the class in general.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a university where only 7% of students and only 3% of faculty are Black, the odds are pretty clear: Simpson usually ends up surrounded by white peers in her classes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simpson\u2019s view is one of several comments offered by Black students who spoke with AccessU: Black on Campus about how their racial identity affects them in classrooms on the Twin Cities campus. Their experiences varied widely, from occasional mild discomfort to challenges that included encountering microaggressions, feeling pressure to represent their race in discussions or feeling pressure to change their behavior in order to be accepted by professors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to an AccessU: Black on Campus survey<\/span><\/a>, being \u201cthe only one in the class\u201d is common and can weigh on academic performance. Black respondents were significantly more likely than any other group to say they \u201calways\u201d or \u201coften\u201d feel as if they are the only person of their racial identity in a course. Additionally, over one-third of Black respondents stated that their academic performance was \u201cextremely\u201d or \u201csomewhat\u201d negatively affected by this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt makes me not necessarily interested in participating,\u201d said Zyon Edwards, a strategic communications student. Zyon, as with other Black students in this story, agreed to conduct a follow-up interview about her responses to the survey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because Edwards is often the only Black student in her classes, she said she frequently thinks: \u201cI don’t really care to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Edwards also said she has witnessed several microaggressions from professors, which she said seem to happen more often in classes with primarily white students and faculty who sometimes feel free to comment on a student\u2019s racial identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey kind of put it right on \u2018front street,\u2019 like \u2018You’re the one Black person,\u2019\u201d Edwards said, referring to the embarrassment this causes her. She has also experienced teachers making assumptions about students\u2019 identities, such as mistaking an American-born student for an international student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One microaggression she recalls was in a Black Women Writers class when the white instructor referred to Black characters\u2019 speech as \u201cghetto and southern\u201d in Alice Walker\u2019s novel \u201cThe Color Purple.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe’s like, \u2018This is more like what Black people speak like naturally and this book allowed Black people to speak in a natural comfort zone,\u2019 and she just went on about that,\u201d Edwards said. When she and several of the other students confronted the teacher about her assumption that Black people speak \u201cnaturally\u201d with an improper, \u201cghetto\u201d dialect, Edwards said the instructor did not engage in discussion but merely responded, \u201c\u2018Oh, OK,\u2019\u201d then nodded and backed away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another survey respondent, Steven Reaves, a fourth-year developmental psychology major with a minor in sociology of law, criminology and deviance, said he experiences the overwhelming white composition of his classes as \u201cjust that vague sense of alienation\u201d that comes from not acknowledging the racial disparity in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSometimes you have to wonder if you’re just supposed to put on airs and act like this is normal,\u201d Reaves said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked if being the only Black student in his classes affects his academic success, Reaves said he was not sure. When asked if that racial makeup affects microaggressions against Black students, Reaves answered: \u201cabsolutely.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet Reaves said faculty often don\u2019t address microaggressions, and he believes some students do not feel comfortable confronting the incidents head-on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think a lot of it still is a reflection of passivity,\u201d he said. \u201cLike frustration usually comes second, kinda like…\u2018What just happened here?\u2019 And the second apprehension of, \u2018All right, if I overreact, what [are] the consequences?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some students said they feel pressure to speak on behalf of all matters related to their racial identity when no other students of color are in the class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSometimes you feel like you have to be the representative,\u201d said fifth-year journalism major Zainab Mohamed, another survey respondent. \u201cWhen there’s another POC student, it’s, I guess, maybe less pressure.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The AccessU survey found that respondents who identified as Black or African American were especially likely to feel this way \u2014 even in comparison to other respondents of color: 58% of Black or African American respondents said they they \u201calways\u201d or \u201coften\u201d felt pressure to serve as a representative of their racial identity, with only 6% saying they never felt this way. In contrast, 32% of Asian, and 40% of biracial or multiracial students responded \u201calways\u201d or \u201coften\u201d to the same question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The survey also found that Black students were more likely to feel pressure to change their behavior to be accepted by professors. Of the respondents who identified as Black, 50% stated that they felt this pressure from their professors compared to the 33% of non-Black respondents who answered the same way. Among those who answered that they do feel this pressure from professors, 83% of Black respondents attributed it to their racial identity while only 38% of respondents of all other racial identities felt similarly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many students say expanding the number of Black faculty would improve the experience of Black students who feel racially isolated in classrooms. Even having a Black guest speaker can be enlightening and helpful when the overwhelming class experience is white. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Edwards said that over the past year, following the murder of George Floyd, she has watched numerous Black and POC webinars. \u201cThat\u2019s been really refreshing,\u201d she said. \u201cBut beforehand, I\u2019ve never had a Black or non-white person speak in my class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is bothersome to not feel the diversity in the professors and teaching staff,\u201d Reaves said. \u201cI feel robbed of a truly immersive educational experience. It is like a persistent separation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020, less than 20% of U of M faculty members were people of color, according to the Office of Institutional Research. Only about 2% of faculty members were Black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data<\/span><\/a> show that this has been the case since 2010, with an increase of fewer than 20 Black faculty members in the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to MPact 2025<\/span><\/a>, the U of M\u2019s systemwide strategic plan, one goal for the next four years is to \u201crecruit and retain diverse talent,\u201d though no numbers are given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s really a matter of diversifying the whole campus,\u201d Robert McMaster, vice provost and dean of the Office of Undergraduate Education, said. \u201cAnd the university is working very hard at diversifying faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n McMaster said that there is a lot of effort being put into recruiting faculty of color, as well as training for search committees to learn how to diversify applicant pools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The University\u2019s Office of Human Resources has created an \u201cInclusive Hiring Checklist<\/span><\/a>,\u201d featuring statements such as \u201cmake sure the language is welcoming and inclusive of diverse audiences\u201d and recommendations to check potential job postings in a Gender Decoder<\/span><\/a> tool, which scans for bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat said, there is a limited pool of possibilities here for faculty of color,\u201d McMaster said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If the University succeeds in its plan to increase the number of BIPOC students, it is likely that fewer classrooms will have racially isolated students. \u201cBut for the short term there probably will be situations where students will experience some discomfort level,\u201d McMaster said. \u201cIt\u2019s both increasing the number of BIPOC students [and] improving campus climate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Black faculty are particularly lacking in the science departments at the University. Among 102 full-time faculty in the College of Biological Sciences and the 429 full-time faculty in the College of Science and Engineering, each college has fewer than 10 who are Black. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe lack of diversity in faculty, especially STEM faculty, is a large problem,\u201d said Deena Wassenberg, associate head of the department of biology teaching and learning. She said she makes special efforts to integrate diversity in her courses through conversations and class projects that encourage students to find diverse role models in science. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[I] talk to the class and explain how diversity might impact this class for the positive, and why it\u2019s important to have diverse classes and why it\u2019s important to give space to people who want to share their experiences and opinions,\u201d Wassenberg said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She also said she never forces students to speak about their identities, and provides people to contact if students feel that they are not being accepted. <\/p>\n\n\n\nMicroaggressions? \u201cAbsolutely\u201d<\/strong> <\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Pressure to represent<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Black faculty would help<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n