Exclusionary Experiences of Minoritized Students in Engineering, Their Description of Locations and Actors

This research category full paper aims to contribute to the body of research in sense of belonging in engineering education through a qualitative participatory research design in which students with minoritized identities contribute to an institutional goal of designing initiatives that address local problems of exclusion. While a lot has been explored about the dynamics of sense of belonging in the classroom, and faculty have been identified as key actors to enhance such sense of belonging, it is important to recognize that perceptions of exclusion or lack of sense of belonging can take place in any institutional space, and that institutions can have the leverage to enact inclusionary policies that can enhance student sense of belonging. Therefore, the overarching goals is to integrate the voices of minoritized students in the creation of potential solutions as a particular engineering institution in the U.S. northeast. This paper focuses on the descriptions of negative experiences described by our participants, responding to the research questions, where did racially minoritized students describe having had exclusionary experiences? And who were the actors involved in such exclusionary experiences? Our results show that while a significant number of exclusionary experiences (i. e. when students felt like they did not belong) still happen in the classroom, many of them are also taking place in alternative academic settings that have less accountability and can lead to enacting exclusionary cultures such as labs, office hours, and libraries. In addition, participants reported having exclusionary experiences in areas of student living, such as dining halls and student residences. These experiences included episodes of sexism and racism and shaped how minoritized students perceived their belonging at an engineering school and the whole institution. Furthermore, faculty were not the only actors involved in exclusionary experiences, but graduate teaching assistants, staff, and peer students were also part of such episodes. These results bring policy making possibilities to institutions that want to enhance equity and inclusion.