The Mis-education of Latino/a Undergraduates: Institutionalized Racism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Across the Midwest, Latino/a students are enrolling in four-year public universities in higher numbers than ever before. However, they are quite dismal if compared to the overall Latino/a populations of the same Midwestern states as well as compared to enrollment figures at community colleges and other public universities in the U.S. The historical lack of access and discrimination imposed on this particular group has not been taken into adequate consideration by the universities, which are traditionally white institutions. Unfortunately, it is the administrations of these schools that create the learning environments Latino/a students must enter. What is the campus climate for Latino/a students at these institutions? Particularly in the undergraduate level, there are varying levels of racism in constant play. Whether it is isolation or seclusion from participation in the classroom or unstated hiring and retention policies for Latino/a faculty, much of the racism encountered by undergraduates is covert. More so, part of my research was to show how this racism is actually institutionalized, where it goes beyond specific incidents and becomes an actual part of the Latino/a experience at a public, Big 10 university. It should also be noted by the reader that the actions taken by university administrations to improve the campus climate for Latino/a students have always been a response to student initiative and, thus, not proactive.
I will be using the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a focused case study. As an undergraduate Latina at this university, one may consider my role on the campus as a participant-observer. It is because of my active participation in the struggle for Latino/a concerns that I was able to gather and had access to most of the data presented in my project, as it is my own collection that I have accumulated within the past two years. Using that data as a foundation for my research, I will present a history of the Latino/a experience at the U of I during the last decade. I also conducted interviews and requested written submissions from past and present Latino/a undergraduate students, respectively dating back to 1992 to the present. These will serve as evidence of how little the U of I has changed in ten years, despite promises by the administration for improvement. I will also display the similarities of student accounts of Latino/a life on campus to show just how racism is part of the fabric of the institution that is the U of I.
I will be using the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a focused case study. As an undergraduate Latina at this university, one may consider my role on the campus as a participant-observer. It is because of my active participation in the struggle for Latino/a concerns that I was able to gather and had access to most of the data presented in my project, as it is my own collection that I have accumulated within the past two years. Using that data as a foundation for my research, I will present a history of the Latino/a experience at the U of I during the last decade. I also conducted interviews and requested written submissions from past and present Latino/a undergraduate students, respectively dating back to 1992 to the present. These will serve as evidence of how little the U of I has changed in ten years, despite promises by the administration for improvement. I will also display the similarities of student accounts of Latino/a life on campus to show just how racism is part of the fabric of the institution that is the U of I.
School:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department:
English / Philosophy
Research Advisor:
Wanda Pillow
Department of Research Advisor:
Educational Policy Studies
Year of Publication:
2002