Black Student Support of Institutional Reparations at a University With a History of Slavery

• In Event: A Call for Institutional Response: Racialized Experiences on College Campuses

Abstract

This study utilizes survey data from a pilot study conducted at a university with a history of slavery to explore black undergraduate support of various types of higher education reparations. Using Squire, Williams, and Tuitt’s (2018) framework of plantation politics, descriptive findings show that black students have wide support for the various forms of institutional reparations included on the survey, while the regression model reveals that background characteristics as well as particular college experiences predict black students’ support for institutional reparations on this campus. Responses to the open-ended questions on the survey also reveal students’ perception of institutional efforts to amend its history. Implications of the findings for the higher education reparations movement are discussed.

Authors

• Juan Carlos Garibay, University of Virginia

• Christopher Lee Mathis, University of Virginia

• Christian P.L. West, University of Virginia