Author: Sarah

Sarah Fogel

Interview analysis essay

12/4/13

The way students at Trinity College view race and social class varies from person to person. These variations often depend on if the student is white or non-white or on financial aid or not. Students who were non-white and white had about an equally high perception of racial barriers. Non-white students not only felt racial barriers from white students but also from other minority groups on campus. Racial barriers less often directly affected white students, but many admitted to seeing situations that opened their eyes to the racial barriers on campus. Another discrepancy was between financial aid and non-financial aid students. Students who were receiving financial aid equally cared and did not care about self-presentation, while a higher amount of non- financial aid students did care. Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton describe these ideas about social class in Paying for the Party. The book analyzes how certain girls living in a known party dorm fare in school and in the party scene based on their social class. Beverly Tatum’s book Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? focuses more on race and talks about different stages people go through in understanding and accepting their race. Both these books support the patterns revealed in the interviews. The patterns seen in the interviews illustrate how significant race and social class are to people’s interpretations of life and their interactions with others.

To investigate this topic, our seminar conducted an interview-based study of students’ perceptions of race and social class at Trinity. Our interview guide posed ten open-ended questions and three demographic questions that explored topics such as personal awareness, social interactions, and other students’ assumptions regarding racial and social class differences at Trinity. The Office of Institutional Research and Planning provided our professor with a stratified random sample of 55 sophomores from the Class of 2016, categorized by race (white or non-white) and first-year financial aid status (receiving or not receiving). Our professor sent personalized email invitations to this group and assigned each of us to conduct an interview with all who responded and agreed to participate. The typical interview lasted about ten minutes and was transcribed by the interviewer. The final sample consisted of 18 interviews: 10 students who received financial aid (4 white and 6 non-white) and 8 students who did not receive financial aid (4 white and 4 non-white). All names are pseudonyms and personally identifiable details have been masked in accordance with our research ethics confidentiality agreement approved by the Trinity College Institutional Review Board.

It would be easy to assume that students of color would perceive racial barriers differently, but in fact it seemed as if both white and non-white students had a similar perception of racial barriers on campus. For non-white students only 3 out of 5 had little perception of racial barriers and for white students only 3 out of 7 had little perceptions of racial barriers. The students who saw a separation of race mentioned how they found it sad to see. One non-white student Juan talked about how he experienced a Caucasian student changing his way of speech and mannerisms around him.  “He would always greet me using the phrase ‘hey what’s up brotha’” (Juan 4) even though this was not consistent with how he spoke. Another non-white student talked about the racial separation he saw within minority groups on campus not just between whites and non-whites. Luisa talked about wanting to join a minority group on campus, but she felt even it posed a racial barrier as she said, “I guess like it’s hard to explain but I feel like they were really like cliquey in a way because I didn’t exactly come from like wherever they come from and I didn’t speak fluent Spanish” (Luisa 10). Interestingly other students felt similar racial barriers from other students of color. Andres talked about minority groups on campus that he felt did help him, but also as he said, “I go to the events and stuff, but in a sense I feel like they’re harboring the kids a little more than they need to” (Andres 13). This creates more of a social barrier because students in a sense get “stuck” in these groups and don’t branch out and meet other students. It is interesting to think about what stage of racial formation they would be in according to Tatum. It would seem as if Andres, Juan and other non-white students are in the immersion stage “characterized by a strong desire to surround oneself with symbols of one’s racial identity” (76). Even so, when trying to join minority groups, they feel a lack of connection with them and that separates them even more from other students on campus.

Comparatively many white students experienced a high degree of racial barriers on campus. They talked about seeing these barriers rather than feeling them directly. Abby said her perception of racial barriers was heightened because of a class she took freshman year and also because of her interactions with Hartford residents. Even though she does not feel barriers personally she said, “I just see less people making assumptions about my race than I do see people make assumptions about other people’s race” (Abby 40). Another student Abe reported a different experience; he went to a discussion put on by a group and was one of two white kids in the room. “ I felt really uncomfortable because I felt like the conversation was about like you know uh basically what minority students receive on campus” (Abe 46). With white students there were two types that saw racial barriers, one group that did not believe they were directly affected by it but saw judgment being passed and another group that did feel barriers between themselves and non-white students on campus.

An interesting pattern that could be seen was that students who experienced some kind of racial judgment were very nonchalant about the situations. One would expect more anger towards the situations they encountered, but mostly students said it was not a big deal and it only happened once in a while. One student did seem upset by a situation involving racial judgment, but it was directed at his friend not himself. More than once a non-white student mentioned being stopped by campus police and asked if they were a student at Trinity College. Fred was a student who had been stopped by campus police but in one of the questions before he revealed that he had been a non-white student stopped by campus police, he said, “I think it’s an encompassing campus so there aren’t many people who are defining you because of your race.” (Fred 22). Then he went on to reveal that “ A couple times Campo [Campus Security] has stopped me because of it…they’ll stop and ask me…I well I assume it’s because of it [his race]…they’ll stop and ask me if I go to school here.” (Fred 23). Yvonne also talked about racial profiling.  She said on days that she wears sweatpants and dresses down, people have asked her if she goes to the school or if she lives in Hartford (20). Many white students have “dress down” days where they might wear sweatpants and none of them talked about this happening. Other situations where someone would expect a stronger reaction were when other students either teased people because of their race or assumptions were made. Ruby, an Asian student, said,  “People assume that just ’cause you’re Asian you’re gonna be great at math and chem, and stuff like that.” (Ruby 30). Ruby just laughed these assumptions off and said she even failed chemistry twice. This pattern of not fully acknowledging the reality of racial assumptions on campus was prevalent throughout the interviews.

Another aspect of the interview involved social class and its effect on the Trinity College campus. How concerned students were with self-presentation differed on whether or not they were on financial aid. Out of students on financial aid 4 out of 5 did care about self-presentation but for students not on financial aid 6 cared while only 3 did not. The 4 students on financial aid who were more concerned with appearance often talked about how others’ reaction towards them changed according to what they were wearing. When they dressed up, people were more likely to be polite to them. For example Kaylie talked about the repercussions she feels for not dressing the same as other students. She said, “If I am not wearing that particular jacket or pair of boots, they would assume that I am not on the same level as them. They wouldn’t speak to me.” (36). She understands the importance of keeping up appearances. Ethan had another reaction to appearances. He made an effort to dress in a certain way so that people could not make assumption about his class. He was happy with the fact that people cannot “pigeon-hole him,” which is a good thing he believes and he strives to keep that up (Ethan 50). The students who did not care as much about presentation and were on financial aid often discussed how so much revolves around materialistic things on Trinity’s campus and that did not interest them. Andres explained how he can see that people try to conform to a certain look, but he does not feel the need to join in. He said I see  “groups of people walking together that are…they all look alike.” (Andres 11).

Paying for the Party by Hamilton and Armstrong elaborates more on the idea of social class. They discuss sorority rush and explain the importance of appearance regardless of social class “…the way that recruits signaled commonalities in social class [was] via the expensive accessories” (page 81). For students not on financial aid there was a much bigger difference between students who did care about self-presentation and students who did not care.  Abe, a non-financial aid student, observed at Trinity a large spectrum of social class and said, “I never really cared about social class and then when I came here I felt like it’s like, you basically hangout with your own social class” (Abe 45). Abby, a student who is not on financial aid because of a merit scholarship says she does not openly discuss this fact, “but when she does [and] when people do hear [that she is on a merit scholarship] they’re usually very surprised” (Abby 38). It is what people wear that can indicate their social status. On the other hand there are students not on financial aid who found the whole materialistic aspect immature and pointless. Luisa talked about the fact that people associate with those in the same social class and said, “ It’s just really narrow-minded and child-like and like when we graduate like obviously you’re not gonna be like it’s just like kinda stupid to do that.” (Luisa 51). She doesn’t see the point in only associating with others who appear to be similar in class and dress. This mind set resembles a few girls in Paying for the Party who were not interested in the whole partying and Greek scene and chose to leave their floor or not interact with the girls that only cared about social status. Brooke explained that she “viewed [other girls] behavior as immature and from a position of superiority extricated herself” (116). Not everyone, even if they can fit in socially, chooses to act a certain way because it is expected of their social class. Although some people do conform and care about their presentation, to others it is seen as frivolous and unimportant in the long run.

All of the interviews illustrate that people perceive race and social class very differently based on their background and other factors. At the Trinity College campus it was interesting to see how a small sample of sophomores reacted so differently to questions about race and social class. The books Paying for the Party and Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together? help explain the various reactions of the sophomores. These issues can often be uncomfortable to discuss but thankfully the students were willing to open up for research purposes. It would be easy to assume that all white students felt one way and all non-white students felt another, but in actuality there were some shared feelings and patterns as well as some differences among the students of different races and social backgrounds.

 

Citations

Armstrong, Elizabeth A., and Laura T. Hamilton. Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2013. Print.

 

Tatum, Beverly Daniel. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations about Race. New York: Basic, 1997. Print.

Tammy a white student who goes to Texas A&M discusses her experience with being a white female. One of the initial things we learn about Tammy is that she does not believe race matters but her family disagrees with this fact. She tells the story of when she was younger and had a crush on a boy. When she pointed him out to her mum her mum said, “you know he is Mexican and you know I was like I guess he is but I had always seen him as just another boy” (6:06-6:35). Tatum would classify this stage as “disintegration, [which] is marked by a growing awareness of racism and white privilege as a result of personal encounters in which the social significance of race is made visible”(Tatum 96). Before this moment Tammy might have been aware of racism but it had never been so explicit. She sees the direct affects of racism on people’s lives.

At the conference Tammy is seen in a different stage. She talks about how she wants to be considered as an individual not as a group member, which Tatum considers the reintegration stage. Part of the reintegration stage is blaming the victim and feeling uncomfortable “being seen as a group member, rather than an individual” (Tatum 102) Tammy does not fall under the category of blaming the victim but she does say I am an individual and does not like when other participants generalize about white people. There is evidence of progress for Tammy through the learning stages and at the end she seems close to the Pseudo-independent stage and is seen socializing with all members of different races and is understanding her systematic advantages.

 

 

 

 

Citations

 

Skin Deep. Dir. Francis Reid. Iris Films, 1995.

 

Tatum, Beverly Daniel. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations about Race. New York: Basic, 1997. Print.

This essay was assigned to be written from the perspective of a Race matters advocate, and does not necessarily represent the views of the author.                   

             In the admission process of elite education there are many aspects that factor into who will be accepted, declined, waitlisted, who will receive financial aid and how much they will get. In order to come to these decisions, an admission team must narrow down from a huge applicant pool to the lucky few that are offered admission and hopefully end up attending the school. Applicants must present themselves in the best way possible, and sometimes having a certain background can improve an application. At The College applicants are ranked using a numerical system that included high grades, high SAT scores, and a high GPA. One of these enhancing qualities that many admission officers focus on is race. Even so admission officers have to be very cautious in the way they approach race. Since specific races cannot be assigned a numerical value, admission officers have to find a legal way to incorporate it into their decision-making. In the admission decision for The College the category used was diversity and not specifically race. This allowed a numerical value to be assigned to diversity, but it did not define what it meant; whether it was skin tone or an interesting instrument that an applicant played, no definition was set. Since it was an open-ended category, the selection process was legal and fair. Having a Racially diverse classes lead to more interesting and in-depth discussion where many different viewpoints are brought to light. Making it very important to have a color-conscious admission board in order to gain the best possible class.

The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Regents of University of California v. Bakke that schools could not determine whether a student will be accepted based on race. It can be discussed but not given a numerical value (Regents of University of California v. Bakke). This case was kept in close consideration throughout the decision-making process. The College’s admissions committee was color-conscious throughout the process, but never was there a quota or a number assigned to race. Another Supreme Court case that the committee kept in mind was Grutter V. Bollinger where the court stated that race can be a “…modest factor among many others to achieve diversity, but an educational institution must ensure, through sufficient procedures, that each applicant receives individual consideration” (Grutter v. Bollinger).  Although legally schools can categorize race into five general types- “African American/black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and white” (Steven p. 154)- we the admission board still stayed away from these specific definitions and tried not to categorize anyone but look at applicants holistically.

The financial aid that was awarded to our accepted students had nothing to do with race. This was not even mentioned when discussing the amount a student would get; it was based solely on the Trinity College net price calculator, which did not take race into consideration (https://trincoll.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx). All students were rewarded the full amount of financial aid they required keeping it a fair and legal process.

Everything was done legally according to race, but sadly the enrolling class did not show as much diversity racially as it could have and therefore did not result in the best possible entering class. The College ended up with two white girls who only got a one in the diversity portion of the chart and one African American boy (4^th round review). Although there is some diversity, looking at all of our applicants there could have been even more.  Out of three admitted and enrolled students one was not the admission board’s top choice. Even looking at the applicants who were higher up on the list of who to accept, there still would not have been much racial diversity. A racially diverse entering class brings different cultures, beliefs, and traditions creating an invigorating environment. Also because students will have come from so many different backgrounds, there is a plethora of opinions that will be brought to class discussion and interactions among students. Not only is diversity important for in-class discussion but a diverse college also can have benefits for life after college. Diversity in “…higher education prepares students to become involved as active participants in an increasingly diverse society” (Dancy). In one of her articles Heather C. Hills writes about how in two of her classes one with all white students and one with black students the discussion was very different. “Students in the morning class were prompted to think about African Americans and their interests…” prompting interesting and passion-filled discussion (Hill). This was completely lacking in her afternoon class that had no diversity. The College’s entering class will not be totally lacking in racial diversity but there is still not a lot of it.  Therefore, in the simulation it is not the best possible class that will be entering The College.

Even though this is not the most diverse entering class, there is still an equal educational opportunity for the students. It is not a solely white class one, of the entering students is an African American. Therefore interesting class discussions will still happen because there is different backgrounds within the classroom setting and therefore different viewpoints. If it has been an all white class to be accepted class discussion might have been good but they would be lacking more diverse perspectives. When all the students are in class they will compliment each other and no one will be at a disadvantage.

                The admission board should continue to practice a color conscious outlook in future years. A very important method that was used during the admission process was looking at applicants as a whole not as individuals. Every applicant was given an equal opportunity to present themselves in the best light. No one person made the decision about an applicant. Many different people reviewed the files to avoid anyone’s bias or personal feelings. Also a numerical system was used to rate applicants. Once every admission board member rated the applicants those numbers were used to rank applicants in order of most desired to least desired.

The College’s admission board should focus on accepting a diverse student body in order to have a unique class with many perspectives. One of the definitions of diversity is race but that is not the sole definition. Since there is such a fine line between legal and illegal when it comes to discussing race, the word diversity allows the board to discuss race legally. This crates a policy that ensures a diverse incoming class racially.

Overall the process used by the admission board was legal and fair when it came to the aspect of race. By using the word diversity race could be discussed legally. It was noted which students were racially diverse, but that was not a deciding factor on whether they gained acceptance. This is very important because having a racially diverse student body is very crucial. The College tried very hard in accepting a diverse class, which should always be done in order to have unique perspectives, different traditions and different backgrounds on the campus. A color- conscious admission board will always allow for the best entering class possible and should always be strongly considered throughout the admission process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works cited

Dacny, T. Elon, II. “Beyond Affirmative Action in College: Fostering Culturally Responsive Climates in a Political World.” Ebsco Host. N.p., 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

 

Grutter v. Bollinger Et. Al. Supreme Court. 23 June 2003.

 

Hills, Heather C. “The Importance of Minority Perspective in the Classroom.” The Chronicle Of Higher Education. N.p., 7 Nov. 1997. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

 

Net Price Calculator. Program documentation. Trinity College Net Price Calculator. Trinity College, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

 

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. Supreme Court. 28 June 1978. Print.

 

Stevens, Mitchell L. Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2007. Print.

4th round review, Color and Money Admissions Simulation Data, Trinity College, Fall 2013, http://commons.trincoll.edu/colorandmoney.

Hi my name is Sarah. I like the colour purple.