Objects Are Closer Than They Appear: Online Racism's Mirroring of On-Campus Tensions

• In Event: Examining the Impacts of Racism and Transborder Realities on Undergraduate Learning and Development

Abstract

Racism continues to be a pressing concern as racialized aggressions via student sharing of campus-specific memes are a common occurrence within undergraduate settings. However, limited research has sought to explore the unique dimensions of online racial climates as they relate to students’ on-campus experiences. This relationship is important to investigate given the rising number of institutions tasked to arbitrate racialized incidents online as a virtual extension of students’ campus environments. This qualitative phenomenological case study, therefore, seeks to examine the relationship between the online and on-campus racisms experienced by Undergraduates of Color. Findings have implications for practitioners and administration committed to interrogating how institutional racial dynamics have changed over time to meet the needs of racially diverse student bodies.

Author

• Michael Wade Moses, University of California - Riverside