The ASU RISE Center is hosting a series of events this term focused on racial justice to find ways in which the School of Life Sciences (SOLS) can be inclusive and anti-racist. On September 2nd, we had 19 students of color attend a listening session to discuss problems and challenges for students of color in SOLS. SOLS PhD student Miranda Bernard facilitated the session. Thirteen faculty/staff attended this session and listened silently. We report here on the issues and challenges that emerged from this discussion. Note: these are experiences and perspectives of the individual students who attended the session and they do not represent the perspectives of all students of color.
Many students mentioned that the SOLS department is too white and that because of this lack of representation, it can cause them to feel as though they don’t belong. They don’t have faculty role models or mentors who understand the experiences of being people of color in science.
Lack of community and support in SOLS for people of color
Many students echoed this theme where they did not feel like there was a sense of community in SOLS generally, but more specifically for students of color. Students highlighted that they often felt as though their own experience was different from a lot of other students, so particularly for graduate students, it was hard for them to connect in social situations. Students felt like they were missing social support, especially when they had moved away from friends/family at home to come to ASU.Lack of representation
Issues related to race or events that disproportionately affect people of color need to be discussed with more caution
There is trauma associated with asking students of color about certain events (e.g. killing of George Floyd, Hurricane Maria) and well-meaning people in SOLS who ask about these issues are bringing up those instances of trauma with the student of color. White people need to be more respectful and (a) ask if someone wants to talk about it, (b) provide warnings before talking about it in class, and (c) not place the burden on a student of color to explain or describe how all people of color feel.Students of color should be paid if asked to help with diversity and inclusion initiatives
If we ask students of color to take on greater responsibilities, we need to compensate them.Some of the SOLS curriculum was highlighted to be centered on whiteness and not inclusive of students of color
Specifically, a student mentioned that an ethics course that used the Tuskegee experiment did not discuss race or how race impacted the ethics of the decisions related to that. Specifically, the student said that they overheard the instructor saying that it isn’t about race. However, there is no venue for students to voice these concerns and they feel as though it should not be their job to voice these concerns.There was a general consensus that SOLS has been too silent on issues of race/racism in light of recent events
Students mentioned that SOLS only addressed racism after George Floyd through two emails, and they felt forgotten and that the school did not care about the trauma that they were feeling. Further, students of color indicated that it only seems like white people care about race when a major event happens, but they are experiencing racism and trauma every day.
Here are student-generated ideas for possible solutions/ways to address some of these problems:
- Hire more faculty of color and help support these faculty
- SOLS needs to be more reflective on a more regular basis about issues of racism, not just in response to a major event
- SOLS needs internal mechanisms for supporting students, especially in response to traumatic events. The counseling/mental health center is often too busy and has turned people away. The Disability Resource Center feels “too white.” There is nowhere in SOLS for these students to go.
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