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Discourse from #TheRealUW: What Tweets Say about Racial Concerns at a Predominately White Institution

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  • Karl Vachuska

    (Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA)

  • Jack Brudvig

    (Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA)

Abstract

In March 2016, after a series of hate crimes victimized students of color on campus, students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison started #TheRealUW movement against racism on campus. In order to exemplify racism on campus, students of color took to social media to share personal experiences and opinions on racism, affixing “#TheRealUW” to their posts. In this article, we analyze what students of color on the social media site, Twitter, spoke about and took issue against. The plurality of #TheRealUW tweets centered primarily on instances of subtle or explicit verbal racism. These experiences had impacted a variety of aspects of students of color’s lives, including mental health, housing, access to spaces, and overall quality of education. Students also discussed isolation, marginalized representation in the University’s decisions, and their relationship with authority. The many tweets clearly demonstrate the breadth of racism at predominately white institutions and indicate that inequality of peer and faculty social resources, opportunities, and experiences is a significant perpetuator of a variety of forms of racial inequality at predominately white institutions, but that racism in institutional and systemic forms is also an area of concern for students.

Suggested Citation

  • Karl Vachuska & Jack Brudvig, 2018. "Discourse from #TheRealUW: What Tweets Say about Racial Concerns at a Predominately White Institution," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-13, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:7:y:2018:i:2:p:21-:d:129284
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wallace, S. & Nazroo, J. & Bécares, L., 2016. "Cumulative effect of racial discrimination on the mental health of ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(7), pages 1294-1300.
    2. Esperanza Vera-Toscano & Victoria Ateca-Amestoy, 2008. "The relevance of social interactions on housing satisfaction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 257-274, April.
    3. Mitzi Davis & Yvonne Dias-Bowie & Katherine Greenberg & Gary Klukken & Howard R. Pollio & Sandra P. Thomas & Charles L. Thompson, 2004. "“A Fly in the Buttermilk”: Descriptions of University Life by Successful Black Undergraduate Students at a Predominately White Southeastern University," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 75(4), pages 420-445, July.
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