Structural Racism

Structural racism is a society-wide system that enables our public policies, norms, and institutional practices to perpetuate racial inequity (The Aspen Institute, n.d.). Like structural oppression (see AOP Part I), structural racism operates at the level of our societal institutions, including within post-secondary institutions.

Due to the nature of their origins, part of the narrative of post-secondary education is a history of racism which is, unfortunately, a part of our institutions’ foundations. Many of the original policies of colleges and universities were created during times when particular races of people were being actively excluded from post-secondary education. Some of that foundation is still present today in both colleges and universities. Structural racism also plays a part in how campus policies are enacted as well. This manifests in many ways, including which types of students are approached aggressively by campus security and campus police (Tomlinson et al., 2022), what types of people are hired for roles on campus, and which people are assumed to be professors on campus (Eisenkraft, 2010)