NCJ Number
126936
Date Published
1990
Length
80 pages
Annotation
The National Institute Against Prejudice and Violence has been monitoring ethnoviolence on college campuses since 1986, and the institute has initiated a program of research and human relations training for faculty and staff.
Abstract
Campus ethnoviolence includes potentially lethal assaults, classroom and dormitory harassment, personal insults, graffiti, and property damage. Campus case studies indicate that about 20 percent of minority students experience some form of ethnoviolence each academic year. At least 25 percent of these students are victimized more than once. Most black students in the case studies report a chronic level of discomfort and a perception of the campus atmosphere as prejudiced and discriminatory. The National Institute Against Prejudice and Violence contends that the development of policies to cope with campus ethnoviolence requires a conceptual framework encompassing factors that influence the college campus' social organization and culture. Issues that must be considered in policy formulation are the changing ethnic composition of the population, economic and political insecurities of concern to most people, the level of public violence in society, and changes in prejudice and the stability of institutional discrimination. Four program categories relevant to minimizing campus ethnoviolence are discussed: targeting specific class groups and sites; programs to recruit and retain minority and culturally different students, staff, and faculty; involvement with local and State elementary and secondary schools; and creation of a human rights task force on campuses. An appendix contains abstracts of selected ethnoviolent incidents on college campuses from 1986 to 1988. 57 references and 2 figures