RACISM ON A SOUTH AFRICAN CAMPUS: A SURVEY OF STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES AND ATTITUDES

Abstract

Racial experiences and attitudes were examined in a sample of 433 South African university students. Two hundred and forty-two respondents (55.9%) reported that they had experienced a total of 926 racial incidents on campus in the 12-month period reviewed. The majority of these experiences (71%) involved discriminatory behaviors, with members of the university staff being the modal perpetrators (56% of all incidents). Although racial experiences elicited a range of negative reactions (becoming upset, fearful, or angry) none of the incidents had been reported to campus authorities. Respondents' racial attitudes were found to vary as a function of both gender (males being more likely to endorse racist statements) and race (white students scoring highest on a measure of old-fashioned racism, and Indian and white students scoring highest on a measure of modern racism).