Difficult times for college students of color: teaching white students about White Privilege provides hope for change

The prevalence of racism and racial microaggressions on college campuses is discussed, as well as the negative effects of these occurrences for students of color. An important teaching tool for changing white students' attitudes about racism is presented with an empirical evaluation of its effectiveness. Students read McIntosh's list of White Privileges rating their agreement that each item is a White Privilege in modern US society. Pre-test and post-test questionnaires revealed that white students became more sensitive to issues of racism after this experience. Specifically, these students became more likely to agree that: racism occurs today, racism affects their behavior, they personally benefit from White Privilege, whites in modern society can be viewed as racist, and that they reported that they would be more likely to join student organizations or attend campus events focusing on reducing racism. Regression analyses identified examples of White Privileges with the greatest effect.