The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 38, No. 2 & Volume 39, No. 1 - 194

Dametraus Jaggers • Susan V. Iverson

not the stereotypical Black guy they have in their minds.” greg noted that “the struggle is fighting through stereotypes” and Xavier added, “You cannot get away from it [fighting stereotypes].” the result, as stefan noted, is having “to fight to let my voice be heard.” this struggle to prove oneself is compounded by the feeling of isolation and lack of a support system. as michael’s comment exemplifies, “You make friends along the way. But most of us are coming here as the only

“You can’t call nobody back home and say ‘well, I’m struggling’ . . . because they going to tell you ‘I never went to college; what am I supposed to tell you?...’” “We got to make it on our own . . . . We have to keep struggling and pushing forward.”

had an example of how disciplinary actions were unevenly applied, and they described residence life practices as racist. For instance, terrell described the response of the resident assistant (ra) to two incidents in his room. in the first, the ra confronted his caucasian roommate for having alcohol in the room; in the second, “my alarm clock was going off and nobody was in the room.” terrell noted that he was written up for his alarm clock and told “if i do it again, i’m gonna have worse consequences” but noted that the ra “let the alcohol go.” another participant, evan, also noticed the differential treatment, noting that if a Black male were to get in a fight with a White male, the Black male would be “going home.” as he explained, if “they [caucasians] f *** you up, they get a pat on the wrist. ‘don’t do that again.’ [But if ] you f *** them up, [you better] pack up after you’re done whooping his a**, because judicial affairs is coming and it’s a wrap.” Xavier added that the White males know this: “if you beat them up, they know that you’re going home.” and adam concluded, “they want to see you leave.” the participants in this study described numerous incidents of being treated unjustly as compared to their White counterparts, being unfairly judged and stereotyped and having to continuously defend themselves to others living in the residence halls, as well as resident assistants and authority figures, such as the police. a story by Quinton powerfully illustrates this. He described how he and some friends were stuck in an elevator. the police were called, and after some time the elevator doors were opened. Quinton explained that the police officer and the ras started yelling at the group on the elevator. He thought “are

male in their family going to college. there’s no support. You can’t call nobody back home and say ‘well, i’m struggling’ . . . because they going to tell you ‘i never went to college; what am i supposed to tell you?’” adam added, “We got to make it on our own . . . We have to keep struggling and pushing forward.”

I’m Gonna Have Worse Consequences
in addition to fighting stereotypes and proving oneself with peers, participants were braced to prove themselves with staff. most participants
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The Journal of College and universiTy sTudenT housing

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 38, No. 2 & Volume 39, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 38, No. 2 & Volume 39, No. 1