OSPE - The Voice - Winter 2021 - 56

RESEARCH
Identifying Microaggressions towards
Equity-Deserving Groups in Engineering
across Higher Education in Ontario
A SNAPSHOT OF EXPERIENCES SHARED
This article was written by Anum Khan, B.Eng., M.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering, Faculty
of Engineering and Architectural Science, Ryerson University, a11khan@ryerson.ca
O
56
SPE recently completed its fourth Mitacs project, a
federal program which funds and matches private/
non-profit corporations with universities to
co-supervise graduate student research projects. The
research focused on identifying microaggressions
directed towards equity-deserving engineering students at
universities throughout Ontario.
Acknowledging that discrimination and prejudice of various
sorts (e.g., verbal, behavioural, environmental) continue to exist
in the education system, the research sought to address how and
why microaggressions against Black, Indigenous, and Persons of
Colour (BIPOC), within engineering departments, show up across
interactions between students and professors, among peers in
classrooms, and across interactions in lab environments and
other group activities or projects. With a focus on the engineering
community, the research included findings based on experiences
shared by persons identifying as Black and/or of colour. While
efforts were made to gather many voices, Indigenous representation
was lacking in the research. The research was conducted in fully
virtual settings with students and recent graduates across higher
education institutions (HEIs) in Ontario, who were contacted
through OSPE's member network of engineering students. The
findings from this study revealed that there are several instances
of repeated microaggressions showing up towards specific equitydeserving
groups, including those that identify as Black, East Asian,
and/or women.
What are Microaggressions?
While the ill effects of bullying are taught in grade schools across
THE VOICE December 2021
Canada, the disturbing reality is that another form of bullying -
microaggression, is prevalent far into adulthood. Some identified
forms of microaggressions in universities and colleges include the
following (Portman, 2013):
* Failing to learn to pronounce or continuing to mispronounce
the names of students, peers, lecturers, teaching assistants
(TA), and others after you have been corrected by them
* Scheduling group meetings on religious or cultural holidays;
disregarding religious traditions or their details. (e.g., impacts
of fasting)
* Setting low expectations for peers from particular groups or
neighbourhoods
* Calling on, engaging, and validating one gender, class, or race
of students while ignoring others during class
* Assigning peers tasks or roles that reinforce particular gender
roles or not allowing flexibility across roles and responses
* Anticipating peers' emotional responses based on gender,
sexual orientation, race, or ethnicity
* Using inappropriate humour in class and in the lab that
degrades peers from different groups
* Expressing racially charged political opinions in class,
assuming that the targets of those opinions do not exist in that
class
Research Findings
A total of 19 students and recent graduates were interviewed and/or
participated in focus groups to gather a snapshot of microaggressions
encountered by them. They were almost evenly divided between
men and women, with a majority undergraduate students. As shown
OSPE - The Voice - Winter 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of OSPE - The Voice - Winter 2021
