Dalton, Jon C. Racism on Campus: Confronting Racial Bias through Peer Interventions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991. Print.
Racial bias and ethnic hostility on college campuses is at an all time high since the 1980s. Bias related events occur very often on college campuses and they receive widespread attention from the media. These events are not new historically, and are influenced by a number of factors. Each college campus has its own culture in which whites are almost always the majority compared to other ethnicities. Different racial groups organize themselves, creating a space for them to discuss, vent, and share things about the culture that they share. Racial interaction occurs, but the racial groups are "voluntary separate." It was discussed that some of the college programs could use more diversity. A theoretical model was used to analyze student's behaviors and experiences in relation to their background and entrance into college. This is significant because "differences in students experiences may contribute to conflict and misunderstanding..." Ways to promote diversity on campus like peer training strategies, were stated with their theories and methodologies. Campus diversity models and racial identity models are key in the conversation of diversity at universities. Evaluating peer interventions is also important to see if the methodologies practiced and the diversity training were in any way successful.
This source is going to be crucial to my overall thesis question (Why does racism persist on college campuses?) because it addresses how racial issues have been addressed in the past and how it needs to be handled now. This source changed my thinking because I wasn't aware of specific issues that cause racism and how these issues can be addressed. It gave me a bigger picture of what's actually going on socially on college campuses. I agree with the source on its explanations for how racial issues exist among groups of students, but I don't agree that peer interventions can fix everything. Since this book was written in the 90s, some of the info of how to approach racial situations may need to be updated, especially after significant race-based events that occurred in 2014. This source does answer most of the components of the questions for this blog post.
This source can ultimately respond to all of the other sources because the sources are very related in nature. It can be in discussion with "The Impact of "Colorblind" Ideologies on Students of Color: Intergroup Relations at a
Predominantly White University," (Source 3) because they both touch on the topics of how racial groups interact with each other when attending universities where they are the minority. This source can also converse with "College Students' Perceptions of Equal Opportunity for African Americans and Race-Based Policy: Do Diversity Requirements Make a Difference." (Source 1) because the topic of diversity education is truly positive for both professors and students.
This source has led me towards a list of a lot information relates to race relations. My research question may change to focus on how racism persists on college campuses, rather than why, since statistical information can't always prove the truth. As far as looking at Mizzou specifically, the incident that happened with MSA President Payton Head and the other recent racially motivated protests could be used as examining a case study of racism that is very much present at a university like ours. My research needs now to gather all the information that was from news articles today.
-Do I still think that racism is persistent on college campuses today in this way?
-How do school leaders deal with such racism if it breaks out?
-How is racism handled by modern media?
-How does social media fuel the conversations about race?
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