IMRaD Draft

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