1. Racial Microaggressions
Toward Students of Color at
Historically White
Institutions
Presented by Ashley R. Delgadillo

2. What’s a Racial Microaggression?
“…brief and commonplace daily verbal,
behavioral, or environmental indignities,
whether intentional or unintentional, that
communicate hostile, derogatory, or
negative racial slights toward people of
color” (Sue et al., 2007, 271).

3. Why Racial Microaggressions?
▪ Inspired by a Menlo student
▪ Research Questions:
– How do Racial Microaggressions impact
the mental health and college experience
of students of color?
– How can this information be applied in
colleges to facilitate a positive college
experience?

4. Experiencing Racial Microaggressions
▪ Racial slurs written in shared spaces, racial
jokes & verbal comments, segregated spaces
& unequal treatment= denial and
minimization of racism (Harwood et al., 2012)
▪ Pretending to be “Colorblind” (Sue, 2004)
▪ Different Races & Different Ethnicities=
Different Racial Microaggressions (Torres-Harding
et al., 2012)
– “You speak English well!”

5. Mental Health & Distress
▪ Lack of research studying Mental Health &
Microaggressions (Revival in 2007)
▪ Stress (Pascoe & Richman, 2009), Depression (Nadal et al., 2014), & Binge
Drinking (Blume et al., 2011)
▪ African-American students report higher race-
related stress at Historically White Institutions
(HWI) than Historically Black
Colleges/Universities (HBCU) (Greer & Brown, 2011)
▪ High levels of perceived discrimination are
related to poor levels of mental health among of
all ethnicities (Pascoe & Richman, 2009)

6. How Do Students Of Color Cope?
▪ Faculty play an important part in
the conversation of race at
schools (Sue et al., 2011)
▪ Choosing what’s least
confrontational as a way to cope
(Harwood et al., 2012)
▪ Different cultures cope in
different ways (Armenta et al., 2013; Nadal et
al., 2014)

7. What’s Missing in the Racial Microaggression
Field?: Limits, Gaps, and Critiques
▪ No universal instrument to measure racial
microaggressions (reliability+ validity)
▪ Intersectionality : multiple oppressed identities=
experiencing multiple types of oppressions (Nadal et al.,
2014)
CONTINUE RESEARCHING!
PSYCArticles in 2001: 1VS 2015: 147 (Wong et al., 2013)

8. So What Can We Do?
 Counterspaces (Grier-Reed, 2010)
 Student and Faculty
awareness (Sue et al., 2009)
 Broken Glass (lookdifferent.org, 2015)
 Tiny but significant negative
impact
 Dialogue= self reflection of
biases+ develop skills to
educate
Words have power

9. Sairanet-
Women in
The
Workplace

10. References
- Bentley-Edwards, K.L., & Chapman-Hilliard, C. (2014). Doing Race in Different Places: Black Racial Cohesion on Black andWhite College Campuses. Journal of
Diversity in Higher Education, n.v., 1-18.
- Blume, A.W., Lovato, L.V.,Thyken, B.N., Denny, N. (2011).The Relationship of Microaggressions With Alcohol Use andAnxiety Among Ethnic Minority College
Students in a Historically White Institution. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 18(1), 45-54. DOI: 10.1037/a0025457
-Greer,T.M. & Brown, P. (2011). Minority Status Stress and Coping Processes AmongAfrican American College Students. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education,
4(1), 26-38.
-Grier-Reed,T.L. (2010).TheAfrican American Student Network: Creating Sanctuaries and Counterspaces for Coping with Racial Microaggressions in Higher
Education Settings. Journal of HumanisticCounseling, Education and Development, 49, 181-188.
- Harwood, S.A., Huntt, M.B., Mendenhall, R., Lewis, J.A. (2012). Racial Microaggressions in the Residence Halls: Experiences of Students of Color at a
PredominantlyWhite University. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 5(3), 159-173.
-Lookdifferent.org. (2015). MTV’s Look Different. Retrieved from: http://www.lookdifferent.org/
-Nadal, K.L., Griffin, K.E.,Wong,Y., Hamit, S., Rasmus, M. (2014).The Impact of Racial Microaggressions on Mental Health: Counseling Implications for Clients
of Color. Journal of Counseling & Development, 92, 57-66. DOI:10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00130.x
-Nadal, K.L., Mazzula, S.L., Rivera, D.P., Fujii-Doe,W. (2014). Microaggressions and Latina/o Americans: AnAnalysis of Nativity, Gender, and Ethnicity. Journal
of Latina/o Psychology, 2(2), 67-78. DOI: 10.1037/lat0000013
-Pascoe, E.A. & Richman, L.S. (2009). Perceived Discrimination and Health: A Meta-Analytic Review. Psychological Bulletin, 135(4), 531-554
-Sue, D.W. (2004). Whiteness and Ethnocentric Monoculturalism: Making the ‘Invisible’Visible. American Psychologist, 59(8), 761-769.
- Sue, D.W., Capodilupo,C.M.,Torino, G.C., Bucceri, J.M., Holder, A.M.B., Nadal, K.L., Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Implications
for Clinical Practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271
-Sue, D.W., Lin,A.I.,Torino, G.C., Capodilupo, C.M., Rivera, D.P. (2009). Racial Microaggressions and Difficult Dialogues on Race in the Classroom. Cultural
Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 15(2), 183-190.
-Torres-Harding, S.R., Andrade,A.L., DiazC.E.R. (2012).The Racial Microaggressions Scale (RMAS): A New Scale to Measure Experiences of Racial
Microaggressions in People of Color. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 18(2), 153-164.