White students saw cross-racial interactions as because of the “difficult” “carefulness” needed to avoid which in turn can precipitate accusations of racism. Interaction “offending” within ones racial group was viewed as much less problematic, you get paired with “…when white people, I mean, just saying, you kind of just start joking around with them and stuff. But when you get with a person on another ethnicity, you kind of want to feel how they are and kind In addition to this fear of offending that seemed to underlie cross-racial of see what’s up.” communications, these white students also evidenced a belief that the students of color were purposefully avoiding them. This second assumption -- that students of color were actively avoiding interactions with white students seemed to coalesce around stories about Black students. In reference to the – experience of group work, one of the white women students observed, when we have to group up for something-- I see the clustering and I --. There “Usually are people you know, I think like more African-American, Mexicans, whatever, they’ll kind of, like, get into their group or people who they have something in common with or another class with and they will quickly run to them.” In this case the student identifies two racial groups African Americans and Mexicans – – as more likely to and people they It is the “cluster” “run to” “have something in common with.” behavior of these students of color that is posited as initiating the separation between racial groups. Other students were more explicit in blaming Black people for the racial divide between Blacks and whites. As the following transfer student made clear; “I don’t feel they even want to hang out with white people. Like I tried-- there was a girl in another class of mine, and she’s African-American. And she was having problems with
White students saw cross-racial interactions as “difficult” because of the “carefulness” needed to avoid “offending” which in turn can precipitate accusations of racism. Interaction within ones racial group was viewed as much less problematic, “…when you get paired with white people, I mean, just saying, you kind of just start joking around with them and stuff. But when you get with a person on another ethnicity, you kind of want to feel how they are and kind of see what’s up.” In addition to this fear of offending that seemed to underlie cross-racial communications, these white students also evidenced a belief that the students of color were purposefully avoiding them. This second assumption -- that students of color were actively avoiding interactions with white students – seemed to coalesce around stories about Black students. In reference to the experience of group work, one of the white women students observed, “Usually when we have to group up for something-- I see the clustering and I --. There are people you know, I think like more African-American, Mexicans, whatever, they’ll kind of, like, get into their group or people who they have something in common with or another class with and they will quickly run to them.” In this case the student identifies two racial groups – African Americans and Mexicans – as more likely to “cluster” and “run to” people they “have something in common with.” It is the behavior of these students of color that is posited as initiating the separation between racial groups. Other students were more explicit in blaming Black people for the racial divide between Blacks and whites. As the following transfer student made clear; “I don’t feel they even want to hang out with white people. Like I tried-- there was a girl in another class of mine, and she’s African-American. And she was having problems with
Campus%20Climate%20Focus%20Group%20Final%20Student%20Report%20Fall%202011.docx