Poison in the Ivy

W. Carson Byrd

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780813589381
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Higher Education

The world of elite campuses is one of rarified social circles, as well as prestigious educational opportunities. W. Carson Byrd studied twenty-eight of the most selective colleges and universities in the United States to see whether elite students’ social interactions with each other might influence their racial beliefs in a positive way, since many of these graduates will eventually hold leadership positions in society. He found that students at these universities believed in the success of the ‘best and the brightest, ’ leading them to situate differences in race and status around issues of merit and individual effort. Poison in the Ivy challenges popular beliefs about the importance of cross-racial interactions as an antidote to racism in the increasingly diverse United States. He shows that it is the context and framing of such interactions on college campuses that plays an important role in shaping students’ beliefs about race and inequality in everyday life for the future political and professional leaders of the nation. Poison in the Ivy is an eye-opening look at race on elite college campuses, and offers lessons for anyone involved in modern American higher education.  
 

1

Easing into Views of Race and Inequality in Everyday Life on Campus

One evening near the end of the fall semester 2009, three law students at Harvard University gathered for dinner in the dining hall of the Law School. Throughout the evening, the conversation ebbed and flowed among the friends on a range of topics, but an email sent by one of the law students to her friends following the dinner set the Internet on fire with fierce debate. In conjunction with a lively discussion of affirmative action (Lat 2010a), the third-year law student felt her position on race and intelligence needed clarification, and took the time to elaborate her thoughts in an email:

I just hate leaving things where I feel I misstated my position.

I absolutely do not rule out the possibility that African Americans are, on average, genetically predisposed to be less intelligent. I could also obviously be convinced that by controlling for the right variables, we would see that they are, in fact, as intelligent as white people under the same circumstances. The fact is, some things are genetic. African Americans tend to have darker skin. Irish people are more likely to have red hair. (Now on to the more controversial) Women tend to perform less well in math due at least in part to prenatal levels of testosterone, which also account for variations in mathematics performance within genders. [_sic] This suggests to me that some part of intelligence is genetic, just like identical twins raised apart tend to have very similar IQs and just like I think my babies will be geniuses and beautiful individuals whether I raise them or give them to an orphanage in Nigeria. I don’t think it is controversial of an opinion to say I think it is at least possible that African Americans are less intelligent on a genetic level, and I didn’t mean to shy away from that opinion at dinner.

I also don’t think that there are no cultural differences or that cultural differences are not likely the most important sources of disparate test scores (statistically, the measureable ones like income do account for some raw differences). I would just like some scientific data to disprove the genetic position, and it is often hard given difficult to quantify cultural aspects. One example (courtesy of Randall Kennedy) is that some people, based on crime statistics, might think African Americans are genetically more likely to be violent, since income and other statistics cannot close the racial gap. In the slavery era, however, the stereotype was of a docile, childlike, African American, and they were, in fact, responsible for very little violence (which was why the handful of rebellions seriously shook white people up). Obviously group wide rates of violence could not fluctuate so dramatically in ten generations if the cause was genetic, and so although there are no quantifiable data currently available to “explain” away the racial discrepancy in violent crimes, it must be some nongenetic cultural shift. Of course, there are pro-genetic counterarguments, but if we assume we can control for all variables in the given time periods, the form of the argument is compelling.

In conclusion, I think it is bad science to disagree with a conclusion in your heart, and then try (unsuccessfully, so far at least) to find data that will confirm what you want to be true. Everyone wants someone to take 100 white infants and 100 African American ones and raise them in Disney utopia and prove once and for all that we are all equal on every dimension, or at least the really important ones like intelligence. I am merely not 100% convinced that this is the case.

Please don’t pull a Larry Summers on me (Filipovic 2010).

Although these troubling comments from the law student regarding racial differences in intelligence were condemned from those within and outside of the Law School (Lat 2010a, 2010b), consideration of the educational trajectory of this student points to how unsurprising her comments are among current students attending some of the most selective and influential colleges and universities in the United States. Arguably, these budding elites develop their patterns of interactions and racial ideology in a world framed by both more diversity and less mobility and equality. That is, elite college students’ social worlds frame their interactions and views of race and inequality in disjointed ways. This framing of social interaction and race buoys their views of individuality and merit within and outside their social worlds. Students’ racial ideology provides the rationalizations, justifications, and possible challenges to the reality of racial inequality around them (see Bonilla-Silva 2014, 1997). Ultimately, elite social worlds found on these highly selective college campuses downplay students’ consideration of social structures perpetuating racial inequality in their social world as well as in broader society.

Prior to attending Harvard University’s Law School, the student whose email is quoted above was an undergraduate student at Princeton. Her academics at Princeton were buttressed by hands-on research within a department known for its commitment to studying inequalities in society. Majoring in sociology, she excelled in her academic pursuits and worked closely with a faculty member on their research examining race and inequality in higher education, specifically the influences of cross-race interactions on attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions among college students, which was incorporated into a larger volume examining elite higher education (North 2010).¹ Thus, this law student was actively involved in several ways with discussions of race and inequality in society during her undergraduate years. Yet her position stated in the above email to her friends is in stark contrast to the conclusions of the research she worked on with her faculty member. Her perception of race and inequality did not match the reality she was exposed to in her classes and research.

At the time of the email controversy, like many of her classmates at elite colleges and universities, the aforementioned student was set to work in an influential position in society, specifically under a judge on a United States Court of Appeals (Lat 2010a). The opportunity to work in such a position gives her the ability to help shape varying aspects of court decisions possibly influencing future policies. Thus, it is not hard to imagine a case about racial discrimination appearing on the docket for judgment, and this student’s prejudicial position toward racial and ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans, could influence the materials she selects and the summaries she writes of research and legal outcomes to assist the judge with their rulings and positions. The opportunity to clerk for a high-ranking judge is a product of the privileged position of the student and her attendance at highly selective universities affording their students with such opportunities, which are not available to others (see Binder, Davis, and Bloom 2016; Rivera 2015). Importantly, this student and most who attend elite institutions of higher education are afforded the opportunity to develop their views of race and inequality in differing social worlds, whereby social interactions take on differing meanings and influence their racial ideology in varying ways that may seem counterintuitive at first, but fit a larger narrative of openness, individuality, and diversity framing social interactions and racial inequality today (Khan 2011, 194–199; see also Khan 2012, 361–377; Khan and Jerolmack 2013, 9–19). As these students move into lucrative positions in political and professional sectors of society at much higher rates than other groups in society (Domhoff 1978; Mills 1956; Zweigenhaft 1993; Zweignehaf and Domhoff 1991), these different experiences in the elite social world have important implications for society as a whole in relation to future progress toward racial equality.

The most selective and prestigious colleges in the United States are often emulated and mimicked in relation to their varying policies, programs, and general openness to diversity and inclusion (see DiMaggio and Powell 1983; Kraatz and Zajac 1996; Meyer and Rowan 2007). Such emulation and mimicry extends to efforts to produce and sustain racial diversity and inclusion among students, faculty, and staff on campus. However, the contemporary positions situating these institutions as ideal models are often ahistorical and miss the inequality and racism of past and contemporary eras on these campuses, which influence student experiences.² As this volume indicates, the most selective colleges and universities in the United States exhibit a structure and culture inhibiting current and future generations of students from learning about the reality of race and inequality afflicting society outside of their elite social world. This extends to their social interactions on campus across racial and ethnic lines as these students frame what they learn about people who are racially and ethnically different from themselves, befriend peers from different groups, and adjust their views of race and inequality, which will guide their thoughts, feelings, and actions throughout much of their lives. I argue that much of what guides current and future generations of alumni from elite colleges and universities is the “ease” with which students can rationalize race and inequality in their social world to mean meritocracy and individuality. These views are buoyed by their perspectives of themselves and their peers on campus. It is the context surrounding these students as “the best and brightest” which influences their view that most peers from different racial and ethnic groups on campus are “normal” given their high achievements in a variety of ways similar to what they, themselves, have experienced in their lives. Thus, racial inequality is rationalized as a result of people who grew up in previous unjust eras, were unlucky, or have different priorities in life leading them to not achieve as much as elite students.³ For elite college students, the exceptions become the rules of racial inequality in a colorblind meritocracy in the decades following the civil rights movement. These views of themselves as the “best and brightest,” which frame racial inequality using narrow and often highly individualistic perspectives, are perpetuated by the colleges and universities they attend, which are often emulated for their diversity efforts as central to Supreme Court cases around affirmative action and justification for such policies (Berrey 2015, 55–123).

An examination of elite colleges and universities in the United States expands upon Pierre Bourdieu’s seminal work on elites and educational reproduction to identify how the social structures and “mental structures” or ideologies of elites and their institutions intertwine in everyday life.⁴ As I discuss further below, it is important to keep in mind the prominent influence that racial ideologies and racism had on the creation and histories of elite colleges and universities (see Wilder 2013). Throughout history and into the contemporary era, these colleges have served as spaces to develop conceptions of “elite” identities and distinguish this segment of the population from broader society. Central to this volume is noting how the development of an elite identity is also interconnected with racial ideology, as these spaces were specifically created for and continue to be dominated by whites. The “consecrating” of elites by creating a clear separation from those not admitted to elite institutions reinforces their beliefs in uniqueness (Bourdieu 1996, 102), which has important ramifications for understanding how they view race and inequality within their elite social worlds as well as outside in broader society.

This book examines college students in the United States’ upper echelon of higher education to identify how elites develop inter- and intraracial networks and how these interactions influence their racial attitudes and beliefs. Furthermore, I examine how students’ race-related social identities influence their interactions and racial attitudes during college as well. Central to the analyses of this volume are the following questions:

1. How often do elite college students interact across racial and ethnic lines in their everyday lives on campus?

2. Do patterns of interaction depend on the social situation (i.e., friendships, dating, roommates, student organization participation)?

3. What is the relationship between elite college students’ inter- and intraracial interactions and their racial attitudes?

4. How do students’ race-related social identities influence their social interactions and racial attitudes?

5. How does the conception and construction of “elite” intertwine with “whiteness” at elite colleges and universities to influence students’ ideologies and social interactions?

These questions provide insight into how future generations of America’s leaders and professionals interact across racial and ethnic lines, but also how they view race and inequality, and what should be done to pursue a course of equality. The “college years” are an important time of development for many people, not just the students who attend these highly selective institutions, and an examination of the colleges and universities that young elites frequently enroll in can shed light on how their social world shapes the larger one we all live in and experience, particularly in relation to race and inequality. Ultimately, at the heart of this book lies the question: What can the study of the social worlds on elite college campuses tell us about the prospects for racial equality in the United States? Moreover, as little is known about elites who are not the prototypical image of this group (i.e., white, male, and Protestant), meaning little is known about elites who are people of color, this volume also expands research on how elites influence one another, including newer members (see Khan 2012).

INEQUALITY IN BRICK AND IVY SOCIAL WORLDS AFTER THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Elites (i.e., the most socioeconomically privileged class) attend different colleges and universities from most in the United States (Bowen, Kurzweil, and Tobin 2005; Espenshade and Radford 2009; Khan 2011; Massey et al. 2003; Zweigenhaft 1993). Colleges and universities considered “elite” are those with inordinate restrictions on who is accepted for enrollment, and they carry high levels of status, privilege, opportunity, and most importantly resources, which establishes this upper echelon of higher education as a highly sought-after commodity in society.⁵ Furthermore, elite colleges and universities have relied, and continue to rely, on the admission of the most socioeconomically privileged students. These students are often legacy students, meaning their parents attended these institutions as well, averaging about one-third of the entering classes of Yale, for example, while receiving significant advantages in admissions overall at these institutions (Bowen, Kurzweil, and Tobin 2005; Karabel 2005; Massey and Mooney 2007; Soares 2007). Elite students are also increasingly from the wealthiest families, limiting the number of students from lower socioeconomic and racially diverse backgrounds who can gain admission to elite institutions (Bowen, Kurzweil, and Tobin 2005; Espenshade and Radford 2009; Karabel 2005; Soares 2007). These colleges are “often in the vanguard of innovative change in higher education” as well, which can influence many aspects of campus life (Espenshade and Radford 2009, 10). However, the value of attending an elite college is not limited to what is learned in the classroom or directly related to economic opportunity. The social world on these campuses is an extension of elites’ larger experience within organizations and institutions oriented toward their lifestyles and views that have evolved since the civil rights era in the 1960s (see Khan 2012, 2015; Armstrong and Hamilton 2013). Students at these elite colleges further develop their views of race and inequality established during the influential years of socialization in childhood and early adolescence (see Hagerman 2014; Johnson 2015; Lewis 2003; Lewis-McCoy 2014; Pahlke, Bigler, and Suizzo 2012; Van Ausdale and Feagin 2001), framing their individual achievements with meritocracy and diversity in mind. Further, most affluent students grow up in households that hold conflicting views around meritocracy, wealth, and inequality such that they and their families are aware of their socioeconomic privilege and the inequality existing in society, but frame their lives outside of this larger, unequal social world and view their position as the product of their individual hard work and merit, not of their privilege (Hagerman 2014; Johnson 2015).

The study of elite colleges and the social worlds they contain takes on more importance when reflecting on the changes occurring since the 1960s regarding inequality, particularly in the US context. The examination of economic and racial inequality since the post–World War II era documents a boom in economic growth leading into the 1960s and 1970s, with reduced inequality, more social mobility for Americans on the whole, and more openness to racial diversity in the market (see Khan 2012; Zweigenhaft and Domhoff 1991). This decreasing inequality did not last, as changes in government and economic policies in the 1980s initiated a continuing increase of inequality and a decrease in social mobility prospects throughout the 1990s and into the twenty-first century. Elites during the last thirty years have experienced a solidification of their position at the top of the economic ladder, and are wealthier now than at any point since the early decades of the twentieth century.⁶ Importantly, these changes followed the pinnacle of the civil rights movement as well as movements among women, immigrants, and gays and lesbians to secure a more stable foothold in society with more opportunity and less discrimination. As the rights movements pushed the nation toward more social equality, elites saw changes in their own groups as diversity increased in their ranks, particularly from the emerging global elite (see Bernstein and Swan 2007).

The shifts in who composes the elites influenced elite colleges and universities, and increasing racial and ethnic diversity is now found among students on these campuses. Specifically, following the rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, elite higher education saw an increase in the racial and ethnic diversity on campus, although this increase rarely mirrored the larger national population (Bowen and Bok 1998; Bowen, Kurzweil, and Tobin 2005; Espenshade and Radford 2009; Massey et al. 2003). These changes in student body composition influenced numerous aspects of higher education in the United States, from the actual number of students of color enrolled to the support and academic programs offered on campus. Change did not occur smoothly, evenly, or with complete success, as colleges and universities often struggled, and in many ways continue to struggle, to create an inclusive and supportive environment for students (Bowen, Kurzweil, and Tobin 2005; Peterson et al. 1978).

Shamus Khan accentuates a consequential shift among elites, specifically among students, following the rights movements, which influenced their views of race, inequality, and themselves. Young elites emphasize highly individualized views of achievement and inequality in society, supporting the belief in a colorblind meritocratic system (Khan 2011, 2015; Khan and Jerolmack 2013). Khan found students espousing views following the overall shift in American society, particularly ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Preface
• 1. Easing into Views of Race and Inequality in Everyday Life on Campus
• 2. Life before College: Factors Influencing Early Views of Race and Inequality
• 3. Mixing It Up on Campus: Patterns of and Influences on Student Interactions
• 4. Graduating Racial Ideologies: The College Impact on Views of Race and Inequality
• 5. When Things Fall Apart: Identities and Interactions within an Intersected Habitus
• 6. Interacting Futures and the Reproduction of Racial Inequality
• Appendix: Methodology
• Notes
• References
• Index
• About the Author