The Advantage Of White Privilege
I have lived a sheltered life. Not in the sense that I don’t know about the bad in the world or have abstained from any teenage temptations, but in the fact that I have never realized how easy my family had it, at least not until I got to college. I grew up in a county with a predominantly white population of 25,000 people. All of the cars in my high school student parking lot cost a pretty penny, mine not being an exception. This was normal. Other school’s student sections would mock us during basketball games and scream, “Daddy’s money can’t buy you all a win”. This confused us. We truly believed the life we were living was the life of the majority. Little struggles lead to little thinking about the world outside of our own. When I began my college journey at the University of Kentucky, this mindset was still sealed into my brain, despite me not knowing so. A few weeks before I moved in, I remember seeing an article congratulating UK as being one of the most diverse college campuses in the nation. I did not think anything of this article until I began walking on campus.
Everyone I passed was white. Over half of my professors are white. Nearly every girl in my sorority is white. This was normal to me, yet I could not stop thinking about the article I had read. I never understood the privilege I 2 experienced growing up because it was draped in a cloak of invisibility, and that invisibility is the privilege in white privilege. This cloak makes it difficult for us to see outside our circle we were placed in at birth. We do not feel different from those of color because consistent inclusion does not have the same mental and emotional impact that consistent exclusion does. Inclusion for whites on college campuses is a given. The top 50 schools in the United States have a white student population of no lower than 84%, with 5 of those schools being in Kentucky (www.collegeexpress.com). As I walk across campus, nearly everyone I see shares my skin tone. Nationwide, 40% of enrolled undergraduate students identify as a race other than white, so then each separate minority’s percentage is even lower, creating a smaller sense of community. At UK in particular, 75% of students are white, whereas 8% of students are African American. I am able to walk across campus with an absolute guarantee that I will see someone who shares my skin tone. In fact, the majority of the students I will pass will be white. To us, we would notice if we passed someone of color. Likewise, due to the statistics at hand, someone of color is logistically more likely to pass more people of other races than that of their own. I walk into class and do not automatically scan the room for the first white person, because nine times out of ten the first person I will see is white.
That sense of normalcy and privilege I as a white student live in my daily life is not how students of color live, making this campus feel less like a home than it does for students like myself. Not only does the fact 75% of students at UK make the campus very susceptible to white privilege, but so does the fact that only 82% of college professors are white, as well (www.higheredtoday.com). When I walk into the classroom, I do not consider the fact that my 3 professor is white. It is what I was accustomed to in high school and is an attribute to the normalcy I feel everyday, a constant privilege blinder to many. Many students of color feel intimidated to reach out to their college professors. A study conducted at Stanford University found that 70% of students of color felt as is their professors thought they lacked equal academic competence as their white peers. For students of color, this not only makes them feel as if no professor will understand the challenges they are facing and the emotions they are feeling, but if there is no connection present between the two, the student will have trouble finding a reliable and relatable mentor. While it may not seem to be an important factor in finding comfort on a college campus, mentors on a college campus play a critical role in creating a pathway to success for students. Lacking this support system and failing to have someone who teaches you and leads you from experiences that mirror their own will cause students of color to feel as if their success may not be as essential as the success of their white peers.
On the other hand, when the success of people of color is viewed as of utmost importance by their white professors, it is portrayed as though they have had to fight through many trials and tribulations to reach the same of level education as their white peers, whereas for me continuing onto higher education is seen as a normal and logical next step and you’re viewed as inferior if you fail to do so. As a senior in high school, I was never asked if I would be attending college; I was always asked where I would be attending college. My friends and I would be shocked when we heard a fellow classmate was opting to enter the workforce upon graduation because to us, college seemed to be the natural next step to take in our lives. Students of color encounter this lack of support and circumstantial speculations from white faculty on campus, typically thought 4 to be a form of microaggressive racism. In turn, this can lead to higher dropout rates for students of color. White students have a dropout rate of 26%, African American students have a dropout rate of 45%, and Hispanic students are at 35%. The average dropout rate between races is 31%, making those of color, on average, more likely to dropout than their white peers. These high rates of dropout are not only confined to the matter of a high white student and professor population, but also to the microaggressive racism that is just as invisible as white privilege to white students.
When I walk into the William T Young library, the hub for students on campus, I see a large tapestry with a white man standing proudly. I do not blink an eye and continue walking to grab my next Starbucks order. I walk into our new state of the art student center with the name of a white man displayed proudly along Avenue of Champions. I see the imprint everyday but it doesn’t cause me any concern. Most of the buildings on campus, academic and residential alike, are named after white men. This subtle design portrays the message that those of color have not done enough to earn recognition on our campus. This branches into students of color feeling as if they may never amount to the level of excellence UK pressures us to strive for. Microaggression relates back to the idea that students of color have had to jump hurdles to land where they are today. It is society’s stereotype that has yet to reversed therefore yet to be forgotten. The stereotypes, lack of diversity in student and professor population, and microaggresive racism found on college campuses all contribute to an underlying problem for students of color in college: they are far less likely to seek emotional or academic help when they are the ones who need it the most due to the disadvantages that greeted them the moment they 5 stepped foot on campus. As a white student with socioeconomic advantages and familiarity with college due to my brothers both attending, I feel willing and comfortable to seek help when truly needed. Fellow students with complain of the same issues I am experiencing and I never feel alone. If I were to walk in seeking emotional support right now, I truly believe the support I would receive would be different than the support a peer of color would receive. My feelings and emotions would more than likely be taken more seriously. This would not be intentional, but would stem back to the idea of microaggression.
In 2015, the Jed Foundation conducted a survey and found that 62% of white students claimed they had an excellent first semester in college, whereas only 48% of African American students felt the same. On the contrary, 51% of African American students claimed to have felt constantly overwhelmed. Only 40% of their white peers agreed with the statement (www.huffingtonpost.com). Statistically, I am three times for likely to admit to and seek help for an mental disorder such as depression or anxiety. I am also 14% less likely to keep my emotions to myself and to seek emotional or academic support when needed. Most mental disorders onset before the age of 24, so students of color are already in the prime age range to become diagnosed and their discomfort and difficulty feeling adjusted to college offers no help to preventing them from falling to these disorders.
As a white student on a predominately white campus from a majority white town, I have been blinded by the privileges I have in front of me. I have a pre-made path to success with my name written on it. Attending college was never a question and neither is the success I will see after this chapter of my life. A few things are guaranteed as I attend college: most of my classmates will be white, most of my professors will be white, I will not have deal with microaggressions, and my mental health will be a priority. I did not recognize these as privileges until I took off the cloak surrounding me and opened my eyes to the reality around me. My peers of color are constantly and consistently made to feel inferior, even when it is not intentional. They do not share a similar background from those who sit to their left and right in class, their professor will not understand their background, but will assume they do and jump to stereotyped conclusions, and the subtle microaggressions I overlook everyday will take a toll on their mental health and will lead them to lack the confidence to seek help. As a privileged white student, I urge and push peers like myself to take off the cloak of invisibility and realize how easy we have it. Our struggles may seem large to us, but to others, they are minor bumps in the road and the obstacles they are enduring are more like mountains. Let’s come together and help them move mountains.
