Since the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in May 2020, many groups of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students and student allies have banded together through various platforms to create safe spaces for BIPOC voices to share their own stories of racial injustice within higher education. For example, many students have come together to write letters to their educational leaders regarding discrimination and harassment on campus across universities nationwide. Another notable example includes the Instagram account @blackatusd, which is an account created by students at the University of San Diego to allow their peers to share their experiences with microaggressions and inequality. The response to such efforts has been mixed and has demonstrated the need for an informed approach in response to the limited awareness of higher education systems. Some administrators come forward as a united front to take ownership of their culpability in the racist culture of their programs and others fail to respond, or worse, react by diverting the problem away from themselves.

The OPA Public Education Committee strives to educate the public about how the application of psychology can benefit society and improve lives. As student members of the committee who have both experienced such injustices and work with other students to fight against them, a few things come to mind that align with our mission of educating the public. First, we feel the words of the late John B. Lewis to be particularly pertinent at this time: “Never ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” Reading the stories of other students’ experiences from our university and universities across the country sparks an urgency to get in reasonable and necessary trouble. Second, the underwhelming documented responses nationwide by educators and administrators are troubling. We call upon our OPA community to start a discussion for actionable steps that higher education can implement to ensure the well-being and education of BIPOC students.

Campbell and Khin (2020) noted the importance of culturally grounded and trauma-informed care to BIPOC students. These practices build upon Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Model (1979). It is suggested that this model is imperative for clinical psychologists and members of higher education to facilitate culturally grounded care for BIPOC students. According to Campbell and Khin, culturally grounded practices promote healing within systems and in BIPOC students’ personal lives. These authors further urge readers to recognize that minority stress is unique, persistent, and socially-based. This recognition then further supports the need for universities and institutions to implement actionable steps to support BIPOC students.

Knowing that minority stress is unique, persistent, and socially-based is crucial for psychologists and educators to understand, as these are attributed to BIPOC students’ experiences of discrimination, systemic oppression, and institutional racism (Campbell & Khin, 2020). Having this awareness further supports the need for universities and institutions to implement actionable steps to support BIPOC students.

Some university-based advisory committees have created and documented steps to promote change on an institutional level; however, these proposed action plans allegedly take years to implement. This alone illustrates how institutional racism is deeply embedded in higher education and, moreover, that the need to implement more immediate and strategic change remains dire. If not, we risk contributing to further racial trauma as BIPOC students continue awaiting justice. Fish and Syed (2018) provided more immediate, actionable steps to assist in dismantling racist systems including correcting historical inaccuracies (e.g., Columbus Day) and removing inappropriate stereotypes (e.g., culturally appropriating mascots). We must remember that the time directed towards implementing change does not take away from the continued injustices that BIPOC students face until real justice ensues.

Thank you,

OPA Public Education Committee
Oregon Psychological Bulletin
@OPAPEC (Facebook)
@opapubliceducationcommittee (Instagram)

References

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Black @ USD [@blackatusd]. (n.d.). Posts [Instagram profile]. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.instagram.com/blackatusd.

Campbell, C., & Khin, P. P. (2020). Building resilience through culturally grounded practices in clinical psychology and higher education.