Abstract
There have been many reports and
surveys that analyze how racial discrimination is still occurring, however,
these results have failed to prove if it is commonly seen on campus. This
report analyzes if racial discrimination takes places on the University of
Iowa’s campus and how people react to it as well. For this, a survey was
conducted to see if any of these students had been confronted by this
situation. In this survey U of I students were asked basic questions about
their experiences with racial discrimination in their past and now in their
present. Overall, the data showed that almost all students believe that racial
discrimination still exists on campus and if they witnessed an act of it, a lot
of they would say something. These results can be useful for college campuses
to make a safer environment for their students.
Introduction
One of the many things that students
encounter while in college is racial discrimination, but it isn’t often talked
about. Meaning that students often don’t know what to do when they encounter an
act of racial discrimination. Racial discrimination hasn't
been seen as big of a deal compared to the segregation era which was from the
1900-1939. People were often treated differently because of their nationalities
for many years in places such as work, school or even a simple grocery store.
This report is to see if there is any racial discrimination happening here on
the University of Iowa's campus. A way to find out if it is occurring or not is
to survey students anonymously so that they are not afraid to speak up and
answer truthfully. Things are obviously different compared to how they were
back in the day. Almost everyone one treats each other equally now with the
exception of a few and this report is to see if it happens on campus.
The gap in this research would be that there isn’t one
specifically for the University of Iowa. There also isn’t any recent studies
that have been done on racial discrimination on college campuses either.
Methods
Participants:
This report is focused more on a college campus, the
University of Iowa to be exact. The participants are U of I students from any
age. There are about 30 research subjects for this particular report to get a
decent amount of data to prove some points. Some of these participants were
from my rhetoric class and the rest are friends that attend the U of I as well.
Procedure:
The participants were asked to complete an online survey that is completely
anonymous, and they were asked a variety of questions about racial
discrimination on college campuses. The first question was, “Do you feel that
racism is still present on college campuses today?” The second question was,
“Have you noticed a big change in the presence of racism throughout your time
in high school to now?” The third question was, “Have you ever witnessed an act
or been a part of an act of racism here on campus?” The fourth question was,
“What would you do if you witnessed an act of racism on campus?” The fifth question
was, “Do you see professors being fair towards all races and every ethnicity?”
The sixth question was, “What ethnicity are you?” The seventh question was,
“What is your gender?” Participants were then allowed to answer most of these
questions with yes or no, male or female, chose what race they would consider
themselves, etc.
Data Analysis:
The results gathered from this survey were converted into percentages. The
percentages were put into bar graphs so that the reader can visually see and
compare the results in a more accurate way. It is
necessary to have a good amount of participants when analyzing data to be able
to tell if there is more of a difference between them when you begin to put
them into graphs and charts. It is important to note that not everyone will
have many experiences with some of these encounters so that might be difficult
for them to answer some of those questions.
Results
Figure 1: Participants response to
if they believe racial discrimination is present on campus
Figure
1 shows that almost all the students do agree that racial discrimination is
still present on college campuses. 91% of University of Iowa students believe
that racism is still present on college campuses. While 9% of the students
believe that it is not present anymore. These results show that most students
believe this is true while very few said otherwise.
Figure 2 participants response to “Have
you noticed a big change in the presence of racism throughout your time in high
school to now?”
Figure
2 shows that a majority of college students did not notice a big change in the
presence of racism thought out their time in high school to now. 66.67% of the
students responded no, while 25% of the students said yes, and 8.33% of the
students were unsure if there was much of a difference. Figure 1 illustrated
that many participants believe that racial discrimination exists on campus.
Figure 2 elaborates the fact that it hasn’t changed much throughout their time
in high school to now.
Figure 3 shows how many students
have witnessed or been a part of an act of racism
Figure
3 shows that there is an exact even amount of students who have been in a
situation and students who haven’t, with a small amount of students who are
unsure. 41.67% of the students said they had been a part of an act of racial
discrimination in some way. 41.67% of the students also said they have not been
a part of an act. 16.67% of the students were unsure if they had been a part of
an act here on campus. These results show that at least half of the students
are a part of acts of racism here on campus as either bystanders, victims or
perpetrators.
Figure 4 shows the results of what
students would do if they witnessed an act of racism
Figure
4 shows that a big amount of the students would say something to a perpetrator
if they ever witnessed an act of racism while on campus. 50% of the students
answered that they would say something to the perpetrator, while 8.33% of the
students said they would just watch, and while 41.67% of the students were
unsure of how they would react to the situation. These results show that while
at least half of the students would do something about the situation, there is
still another half that is unsure on what they would do.
Figure 5 shows how
the students believe in the fairness students are receiving from their
professors
Figure 5 shows that the majority of
the students believe that everyone is being treated equally when it comes to
their professors. 66.67% of the students said that they believe the professors
are treating everyone equally when it comes to their race. 8.33% of the
students said no and 25% of the students said somewhat. These results show that
from what these students answered, almost everyone is being treated equally by
their professors.
Figure 6 show what
ethnicity the participants are
Figure 6 shows that the majority of
the participants were white. 66.67% of the participants of this study were
White, 25% of them were African American, and 8.33% of the participants were
Hispanics. These results show that there were a mix of ethnicities that
participated in this survey and that it involved more than just opinion from
one race.
Figure 7 shows
that there are both male and female participants
Figure 7 shows that the majority of
the participants were male. 66.67% of the participants were male, while 33.33%
of the participants were females. These results show that the survey was open
to both males and females to express their opinions and beliefs of racial
discrimination on college campuses.
Discussion
The information gathered from the
participants on college campuses from this survey shows that racial
discrimination exists on college campuses. The results show that racial
discrimination is common on college campuses. In fact, when participants were
asked to if they had ever been a witness or been a part of an act of racism on
campus almost half of the participants (46.67%) said they had been a part of it
in some way.
The results in this survey indicate
the lack of knowledge on the subject of racial discrimination. Although half of
the students would do something when in a situation of racial discrimination.
The other half of the students are unsure of what they would do if they were in
this situation. With data the University of Iowa can take an approach towards
the students and teach them a safe way of approaching this situation if they
were ever caught up in it. For example, the university has an online class that
every student needs to complete at the beginning of the semester called
“success at Iowa”, in this little online class students are showed how to
approach a predator when it comes to consent and stuff like that. Adding a bit
on how to approach a problem like racial discrimination and where students
could get help if they needed it would also be a big help.
There were some issues with this
study that took place. The first issue was that there weren’t a lot of students
that took this survey, there were only 30. This little amount of students is
not a very accurate representation of all the students here on campus.
Further research can be done
regarding this issue over a longer period of time to a bigger amount of
participants. This report focused on racial discrimination on college campuses
and how people act upon the situation. With more research we could analyze the
opinions of students on if they think having a small class or presentation on
what to do if they were ever in this situation can be done.
References
The Civil
Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for FreedomThe Segregation Era (1900–1939).
(n.d.). Retrieved April 07, 2016, from
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/segregation-era.html
Appendix
1. Do
you feel that racism is still present on college campuses today?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Unsure
2. Have
you noticed a big change in the presence of racism throughout your time in high
school to now?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Unsure
3. Have
you ever witnessed an act or been a part of an act of racism here on campus?”
a. Yes
b. No
c. Unsure
4. What
would you do if you witnessed an act of racism on campus?
a. Say
something
b. Watch
c. Walk
away
d. Unsure
5. Do
you see professors being fair towards all races and every ethnicity?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Somewhat
d. Unsure
6. What
ethnicity are you?
a. Native
Americans
b. African
American
c. Hispanic
d. White
e. Asian
f. Pacific
Islander
g. Other
7. What
is your gender?
a. Female
b. Male
