Racism and Diversity on Campus

Introduction

Universities often present themselves as progressive, multicultural spaces committed to diversity and inclusion. Yet for many racialized students, campus life is marked by subtle forms of exclusion, cultural isolation, and institutional practices that reinforce whiteness.

Universities as White-Coded Spaces

Oftentimes universities normalize white cultural norms in subtle ways. Institutionalized whiteness informs everything from how classrooms function to who appears in leadership roles and whose scholarship is legitimized (Joseph-Salisbury, 2019). You can see this visibly on many campuses: portraits of white founders, Eurocentric curricula, overwhelmingly white faculty in certain departments, and administrative structures that position whiteness as neutral. Even when no overt racism occurs, the environment itself communicates who is expected to be there, and who isn't.

The Emotional Toll of "Representing Your Race"

Beyond institutional structures, racism shows up in everyday interactions. Morales (2021) describes how racialized students are expected to “beast through” constant microaggressions, stereotype-based assumptions, and the pressure to act as the spokesperson for their entire community.

Microaggressions may seem small, but their cumulative impact is great. Research in student well-being shows they increase anxiety, impact academic performance, and create a sense of hypervisibility. They feel watched more closely, judged more harshly, or treated as an anomaly in academic spaces. When a student feels like an outsider in class discussions or group projects, inclusion becomes an ongoing emotional labour.

Tokenism

Tokenism is a familiar pattern on many campuses, where racialized students or staff are technically “included” but still shut out of real decision-making. They might appear on brochures or be invited to speak at diversity events, yet behind the scenes they often lack genuine support, authority, or community. Being tokenized can feel isolating, because it makes people hypervisible in moments when the institution wants to show diversity, and invisible when it comes to sharing power.

Tokenism is not only a personal burden but also a structural system that keeps inequality firmly in place (Childress et al., 2024). Institutions often highlight a small number of racialized individuals as proof of progress while leaving broader patterns of exclusion unexplored. This creates a quiet but very real competition for the limited opportunities that marginalized people are given, not because they are less deserving, but because the system only makes room for a select few. As a result, the success of one person can hide the barriers that many others continue to face.

Discussion Question

What signs can help us distinguish between genuine inclusion and tokenistic representation in schools, workplaces, or community spaces?

References

Childress, C., Nayyar, J., & Gibson, I. (2024). Tokenism and Its Long-Term Consequences: Evidence from the Literary Field. American sociological review, 89(1), 31–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224231214288

Joseph-Salisbury, R. (2019). Institutionalised whiteness, racial microaggressions and black bodies out of place in Higher Education. Whiteness and Education, 4(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/23793406.2019.1620629

Morales, E. (2021). “Beasting” at the battleground: Black students responding to racial microaggressions in higher education. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 14(1), 72–83. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000168