Winner: Student Affairs (Undergraduate)
Co-authors: Kish Parikh, Cole Fontenot, Kennedy Coleman
Abstract (click to view)
Racial Battle Fatigue (RBF) among college students at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) is an issue of high concern. While higher education research has examined RBF concerning its prevalence, manifestations, and impact on various affective and academic outcomes, relatively few studies have sought to conceptualize this construct within an ecological systems model. This presentation presents findings that examine contributors to racial battle fatigue among Black undergraduate students in a nested environmental model. The study also sought to uncover how these relationships relate to student-level outcomes and how students utilize coping strategies to navigate these systems.
Student Affairs Undergraduate Research Team
Mentor: Allison Kanny
Tara, Kish, Cole, and Kennedy: Your team provided a strong theoretical framework for your study. The findings from your interviews with Black students at SMU represent themes that are disturbingly consistent with racial battle fatigue. The implication is the need for our SMU community to be more supportive and inclusive (which is consistent with your team’s other research presentation). I’m curious to learn more about your teams’ next steps to expand your research.
Stephanie, thank you so much for your feedback.
We agree that the direct reports of racial battle fatigue by Black students are indicative of the lack of support and inclusivity present within SMU’s racial climate. They imply that there is a stagnancy in terms of improving policy and the structural systems at our school, despite the numerous cries for help, that induces the feelings of RBF in Black students.
As students working on the Student Affairs Undergraduate Research Team, getting to interview our peers and talk candidly about the racial climate at SMU was extremely informative, and we are excited to continue this conversation with the larger campus community. We are currently refining this study, as well as preparing it for publication. Stephanie your input is extremely valuable, we’d love to get more feedback from you as we continue to look further into this field and potentially work on some actionable steps we can deliver to the school based on our findings.
Thank you for the presentation of this important work. I applaud you all for your efforts to bring this study to a larger audience. In the future, I would like to see this type of study applied to other racial/ethnic groups like Asian, Latinx, etc. to compare and contrast across groups.