While I accept full responsibility for the analysis contained in this report, I certainly could not have completed it without support and assistance from a number of sources. First, I would like to thank Wiggsy Sivertsen, the Campus Climate Committee, and the President’s Office for initiating and supporting this research project. Dr. Rona Halualani and the Campus Climate Committee were instrumental in the initial design phase of this research project. Thank you also to Chris Cox, Rona Halualani, Minna Holopainen, and Sunny Malatesta for their assistance with data collection. Finally, I am greatly indebted to Chris Cox, Julie Dixon, Dr. Amy Leisenring, Dr. Carlos Garcia, Dr. Angela Krum, Dr Marcos Pizarro, and Dr. Ruth Wilson for their comments on specific reports contained herein. In the end, this would not have been possible without the willingness of the administrators, faculty, staff, and students who participated in these focus group sessions. As a community we own them our gratitude for sharing their stories. Findings from Student Focus Groups
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
In the original survey, 5% (5) of student respondents commented that SJSU spends too much time highlighting diversity which they felt was “divisive” and created “separation among groups.” Has this been your experience? If not how might you explain it? Have you ever experienced sexual harassment on campus? What would you like to see SJSU do to improve the experiences of all ______? (request for their ideas of responsive action; using identity as expertise) Can you think of anything else that we have not covered that you would like to comment on? Thank everyone for participating: Hand out demographic questionnaires. International Student Focus Group Questions Bring: Consent forms, demographic questionnaires, pizza, voice recorders, lap top for notes. Introductory comments: Thank you all for agreeing to participate in this focus group on your experiences as International students on this campus. We want to assure you that your discussion today is confidential. None of you will be identifiable - nor will this group be named – in any future write up of our research. Hand out Consent forms. We will be recording the session and my assistant will be taking notes to assure that we get the most accurate representation of your thoughts. I have some general questions to prompt the discussion today, but I really want you to think of this experience as a conversation between all of you. We are interested on getting a wide range of thoughts on these issues. Please feel free to talk to one another, ask each other questions, and even disagree with one another. What have your experiences been like as a ______ at SJSU? Describe this for us. (grand tour question; description of experiences, details, context, the “how”) Tell us about a time when you felt your identity as a ______ was valued/appreciated by SJSU (or here at SJSU – is it the institutional treatment we are looking at; or the social relations/treatment that are part of the institution but also involve other factors?) (their interpretation of the “positive aspects”; how they deem “positive treatment” of their identity Tell us a time when you felt your identity as a ________ was NOT valued/appreciated by SJSU (or here at SJSU). (their interpretation of the “negative aspects”; how they deem “negative treatment” of their identity)