Flipping the Script: The Power of Student Voices in Anti-Racist Progression

By: Ricki Kreps

“Facing racial bias in higher education has made me feel like I am one in a struggle to change the overall stereotype of Blacks in America's eyes.” - EMU student

This past December, I initiated a research project about the experiences of BIPOC (Black Indigenous Person of Color) students at Eastern. The testimony above is a piece of four interviews I had with BIPOC students. I learned that despite decades of progression, BIPOC students continue to feel failed by EMU in many aspects of their educational experience. My peers' anonymous stories, in combination with a look at systemic racism at EMU, were presented at 'Flipping the Script,' - a student-led conference hosted by the Faculty Development Center. Dr. Ann Rall, from the School of Social Work, provided mentorship for this experience for which I am especially grateful. Flipping the Script was an enriching, impactful experience that carried momentum beyond conference limitations. The success of Flipping the Script illustrates the power of student voices and one method of amplifying them.

STUDENTS FEEL INVISIBLE

I do not speak for all BIPOC students when I discuss racial inequalities at Eastern. The experiences I share here were compiled from a small number of interviews that represent only four students' perspectives. My classmates’ testimonies are meant as a reminder of where our focus should lie in anti-racist initiatives - the students - as opposed to an indication of all BIPOC students’ academic experiences. With that said, a few themes emerged throughout the interview process, one of which was a feeling of invisibility at school. 

In one of the first interviews, my classmate described the constant feeling of having to prove themselves and work twice as hard as their white peers to be recognized by instructors. They told me they sometimes feel ostracized in majority white classes and are often on alert to be singled out by professors. Another student expressed the weight of having to educate others, including instructors, about their own oppression. Rather than sharing isolated incidents, my classmates showed me that racism permeates numerous aspects of their academic experiences. 

If my research was limited to data and statistics, I would be stuck repeating what we already know: racial inequality exists at EMU. Achieving social progress, to any degree, is not possible without first listening to why it is needed. No one knows inequality at Eastern better than the students who live with it every day. Student-teacher collaboration is imperative if we truly wish to achieve meaningful, enduring anti-racist progression. 

INSTRUCTORS MATTER

Individual growth is essential to anti-racist progression, but we should not stop there. One of the reasons it is so difficult to implement and maintain social progress at Eastern may be due to a focus on modifying individual attitudes rather than questioning why we have to do so in the first place. An individual approach neglects the broader systems of white supremacy, capitalism, and imperialism that cause individual biases. This ideological framework perpetuates the idea that racism starts and stops at the individual, and if every individual were to change, racism would cease to exist. But racism is not solely an ideological phenomenon. Racism is an expansive network of systems that are ingrained in every aspect of society. Racism is tangible, it is constant, and it is all around us. 

I urge you to seriously consider your role as a faculty member in anti-racist action. As faculty members, you are in a position to make progress possible. Don’t know where to start? Talk to BIPOC students. EMU has 42 social justice organizations eager for your involvement. The most powerful thing you can do as an individual is turn to people who know more and have different experiences than you do.  

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT

The Flipping the Script conference is an example of resistance. The Flipping the Script conference was created with the specific intention of amplifying student voices and fostering student-teacher connection. Students advocated around a variety of topics - such as disabilities, neurodivergence, first-generation students, alternative classroom techniques, student-teacher dynamics, and racism - from a student perspective. 

Flipping the Script should be recognized as an incredible success and a reminder of the astonishing power of connection. This conference pushed back on the power dynamic between students and instructors and begged those in attendance to question the status quo. It opened up a platform for meaningful, lasting connections that would not have been possible without it. 

Faculty members are in a position to ensure Flipping the Script is not the only event of its kind. Talk to BIPOC leaders on campus, collaborate with student organizations, and resist the power dynamic between yourself and the students you interact with. Anti-racist progression demands substantial, unrelenting action from all of us. Action not from students and their teachers, but from people working together towards the same outcome: improving the academic experiences of BIPOC students at Eastern.