OSPE - The Voice - Winter 2021 - 57

RESEARCH
in Figure 1, they attended a variety of universities in Ontario, with
most, not surprisingly, from University of Toronto.
Figure 1 - Interview and focus group sample by institution
circ챐क़ 37% University of Toronto
circ챐क़ 21% Ryerson University
circ챐क़ 16% McMaster University
circ챐क़ 11% University of Ottawa
circ챐क़ 5% Ontario Tech University
circ챐क़ 5% University of Waterloo
circ챐क़ 5% Queen's University
There was no significant distinction drawn between the
experiences shared by undergraduate students compared to those
of graduate students and recent graduates. Across the entire
sample, there were at least 5-6 experiences shared which touched
on the topic of targeted discrimination towards participants that
identified as East Asian. The most commonly shared statement,
with regards to East-Asian students, was " Oh, you're Asian so you
must be smart " . In a separate instance, a participant describes a
time spent with peers where this student, of East-Asian identity, was
questioned on getting low grades despite being Asian. In another
instance, a participant shared that while sitting in a lecture hall,
preparing for a quiz that was about to take place, another student
could be overheard saying, " I'm going to ask the smart Asians " .
In other cases, participants shared personal experiences
detailing how they felt they had been the subject of targeted
discrimination right after the COVID-19 pandemic began. More
than three participants recall being given the " cold shoulder " ,
receiving verbal messages or assaults from other individuals in
public, or completely being ignored. In this instance, " public " is
described as anyone outside of the institution the participant is
attending or attended, and/or a physical space that is outside of the
institution's boundaries. Participants that shared these types of
instances believe that these rude remarks and occurrences took
place as an aggression towards the individual because of their Asian
identity.
In a similar manner, participants shared that they had
experienced various acts of microaggressions throughout their
schooling experiences, and many of these instances occurred, in
their perspective, as a result of their Black identity. Quoted below
are some experiences that participants drew attention to.
" People tend to think that because I'm Black, I don't have the
knowledge to study engineering " .
" They're surprised I'm studying engineering because I'm Black " .
" They tell me I'm not like the typical Black person. I don't know
what that means " .
" They said, " I didn't expect you to help me today. Or I wasn't
expecting you to do this " .
" Oh, you GO Black Queen " , when completing a task.
" I like your hair! "
Many participants, and primarily self-identifying as women, shared
that they had experienced gender biases in interactions between
peer-to-peer, professor-to-student, and TA-to-student. During the
interviews and focus group discussions, some of the experiences
shared were the following:
" As someone who identifies as a woman, I've faced some challenges
with feeling that I need to work harder to get the same opportunities
and get the same job opportunities as my male counterparts " .
" I feel like I need to earn marks and then feel that my value comes
from marks that I earn. Part of that is just ingrained in the way that
education is run " .
" I have had people make offhand comments about a " woman's place "
is in the home or in the kitchen " .
Summary and Mitigation Strategies
Based on the responses collected during interviews and group
discussions, there were three major recurring themes among the
participants, as listed below:
1.
Anti-East Asian discrimination has become more prevalent
since the start of the pandemic and many identifying equitydeserving
students are concerned that this will continue;
2.
Anti-Black discrimination has been experienced repeatedly
and students feel that microaggressions towards Black
December 2021 THE VOICE
57
OSPE - The Voice - Winter 2021

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