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[strebensphilosoph]

I teach at an HBCU; several weeks ago, some students of mine approached me about a dispute they had with some friends of theirs who attend a PWI.  I asked, "What is a 'PWI'?"  They were shocked that I didn't know the acronym.  "Predominately White Institution."

Is it advisable for black students to think in primarily racial--or racialist--terms about colleges or universities?

[dellaroux]

Are they the disjoint set of all non-HBCU's?

[untenured]

Perhaps no more or less advisable than referring to certain colleges as HBCUs?   Maybe the students don't like the HBCU label and a counter-label neutralizes the sting.   I can only guess.

Untenured

[yellowtractor]

Agreed w/untenured, though I think the opposing adverbs--"historically" and "predominately"--are interesting.

I've never heard the acronym PWI before, either.

[locutus]

PWI is basically a catch all for any non-HBCU. Obviously, it's not always accurate, and is part of the larger alphabet soup language (POC, etc). I've never heard anyone complain about the term HBCU.

Is it advisable for black students to think in primarily racial--or racialist--terms about colleges or universities?

Short answer, no.
Though it can be tough to argue against it given the frequency of "racial" incidents. There was just one at UCSD last week, and many such incidents do not make the national news. There is certainly an impression that many PWI's don't care about minority students outside of getting their numbers up. That the students may find themselves somewhat marginalized. I'm not saying that it's true, but the impression is out there.

[untenured]

There is certainly an impression that many PWI's don't care about minority students outside of getting their numbers up. That the students may find themselves somewhat marginalized. I'm not saying that it's true, but the impression is out there.

Interesting.  I wonder what it means to 'care' about minority students.  What do minority students need or want that non-minority students don't?  Does that mean the establishment of a center or inviting speakers on diversity issues?  Something else?

Untenured

[locutus]

There is certainly an impression that many PWI's don't care about minority students outside of getting their numbers up. That the students may find themselves somewhat marginalized. I'm not saying that it's true, but the impression is out there.

Interesting.  I wonder what it means to 'care' about minority students.  What do minority students need or want that non-minority students don't?  Does that mean the establishment of a center or inviting speakers on diversity issues?  Something else?

Definitely something else. Inviting speakers and such seems like window dressing, at least in my opinion. Perhaps 'care' was a bad way of putting it. I'm thinking of things like the graduation rate of minority students (often low), the housing situation (highly segregated?), the administration's reaction or lack thereof to various incidents, black-face parties, noose hangings, etc (happen more often than you might think). Does the institution give the appearance of caring about whatever racial issues there may be on campus? Or not.

[frogfactory]

Agreed w/untenured, though I think the opposing adverbs--"historically" and "predominately"--are interesting.

I've never heard the acronym PWI before, either.

I suppose there could theoretically be PWIs that are also HBUCs.

[inthelab]

Perhaps no more or less advisable than referring to certain colleges as HBCUs?   Maybe the students don't like the HBCU label and a counter-label neutralizes the sting.   I can only guess.

Untenured

Oh then get rid of the label and free the money set aside by NIH, DoD, EPA, DoE, for HBCUs. They don't like the label but the schools have to identify as such to apply for those grants.

[offthemarket]

I was briefly at a PWI.  They worked hard to recruit for diversity, full scholarships and all.  But the Latinos and African Americans never lasted beyond freshman year, they transferred out because they were so alienated.  I think if the school had the label of a PWI, it would have spared them the ordeal.

[locutus]

I think if the school had the label of a PWI, it would have spared them the ordeal.

eh?

[msparticularity]

There is certainly an impression that many PWI's don't care about minority students outside of getting their numbers up. That the students may find themselves somewhat marginalized. I'm not saying that it's true, but the impression is out there.

Interesting.  I wonder what it means to 'care' about minority students.  What do minority students need or want that non-minority students don't?  Does that mean the establishment of a center or inviting speakers on diversity issues?  Something else?

Definitely something else. Inviting speakers and such seems like window dressing, at least in my opinion. Perhaps 'care' was a bad way of putting it. I'm thinking of things like the graduation rate of minority students (often low), the housing situation (highly segregated?), the administration's reaction or lack thereof to various incidents, black-face parties, noose hangings, etc (happen more often than you might think). Does the institution give the appearance of caring about whatever racial issues there may be on campus? Or not.

Agreed to all of the above--plus attention to and understanding of the ways in which systems and institutions have historically contributed to the struggles that many minority students encounter when they enter college. Racism can be far less a matter of personal acts and name-calling than one of large-scale institutionalized barriers.

[untenured]

What's an example of a large-scale institutionalized barrier in higher education that contributes to racism?  Or are these institutional barriers typically before college?

Trying to educate myself.

Untenured

[msparticularity]

What's an example of a large-scale institutionalized barrier in higher education that contributes to racism?  Or are these institutional barriers typically before college?

Trying to educate myself.

Untenured

First, there are large-scale institutionalized barriers that these students have already confronted, before they ever made it to higher education. It's what's referred to as the "Matthew effect" in educational literature: the tendency of the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer, specifically in terms of reading skills. What happens is that, absent actual disability, more literate homes produce more literate children--while less literate homes produce less literate children. This has nothing at all to do with "valuing education" or "caring": it's all about concrete knowledge and skills and parents' ability to pass along what they know--or don't know.

My point is that our minority students are also disproportionately represented among the poorer groups socioeconomically, so are more likely to have received their early education in schools that are affected by poverty, and not to have had family who could provide the additional educational support that might have helped to overcome the high-poverty school setting. (And our schools are the most segregated by race that they have been since the Jim Crow era, which is likely a result of economic segregation in housing.) Thus, from the very beginning, they have had to work harder than a child of parents who are well-educated to overcome these challenges and to even make it through school.

Then, our minority students are disproportionately likely to arrive in higher education with far fewer financial resources. On the personal and family level, this is a generational effect of slavery and/or of continuing poverty, since the rich get richer monetarily also. Some of it is lack of the cultural capital that would help them to locate the support that is available to low-income students. Applying for financial aid is pretty much a full-time job, and it is a baffling maze for someone who has never experienced it. School counselors at more successful schools are real experts at helping students and parents navigate this, and also the parents are more likely to have some knowledge. The school counselors at schools with high minority populations (which are also high-poverty schools, remember) are spending their time and energy just trying to deal with getting kids into classes, getting them to attend, and sorting out family and interpersonal problems. Many of them spend tremendous amounts of time trying to help families locate shelter and food.

Notice, here, that so far I haven't said a word about racism on a personal level. But the truth is that this still exists also. The small college town in which I live and work is very diverse racially. The surrounding areas are not: they are dominated by "sundown towns." Last week, two young women who are undergrads in my department needed to run an errand that involved going to a neighboring town. They were stopped by the sheriff's department at the county line going in both directions. They were not doing anything that would have attracted attention in a legal sense: not speeding, weaving, talking on cell phones, or anything else. The deputy just thought they "looked suspicious." They were stopped for DWB--Driving While Black.

[untenured]

Wow, that's pretty compelling.  Thanks.

'sundown towns' *shiver*  Makes you wonder if there are sundown campuses.

Untenured