Morgan Browning begins her virtual presentation on the ZOOM platform.

I am Morgan Browning, a Social Work major and Spanish minor in the Fulbright Honors College. Over the summer and fall semester of 2020, I have been working on my thesis project with the help and guidance of my honors mentor Dr. Kim Stauss, Chair of the School of Social Work. Focusing on increasing the recognition and knowledge of white privilege among college students, I created a program with two interactive sessions and two optional reflective assignments. I tested the effectiveness of this program with participants from historically white greek organizations at the University of Arkansas. During the spring semester of 2021, I will be analyzing and writing about the data collected from pre-tests, post-tests, and qualitative interviews.

I began brainstorming ideas for my thesis topic at the beginning of my junior year. I wanted to create a project where I could work directly with people and attempt to alter their perspectives of a specific social issue. At this time, I was discussing, reading, and writing about privilege, race, and racism in most of my classes. Throughout the semester, I further recognized that the misunderstanding and denial surrounding white privilege aids in the perpetuation of racism in this country. By refusing to acknowledge that white individuals hold certain advantages because of the color of their skin, inequality and oppression will persist. I wanted to create a discussion around this topic that would encourage anti-racist action on campus. During this past summer, as world-wide protests in response to police brutality and the consequential murders within the black community became a forefront in conversation, I began researching more about racism in my own communities that I had previously neglected to learn about, including the University of Arkansas and its greek life system. As a member of a sorority, I felt that in order to begin creating change, I needed to recruit participants from the historically white greek organizations at this university.

After proposing my idea to Dr. Stauss, she immediately expressed interest in becoming my honors mentor for the project. Her passion for social justice and racial equality, along with her immense amount of knowledge in these areas, helped this project grow into what it needed to be. Dr. Stauss provided me with many resources, including her own published studies and lesson plans from her human diversity classes. She was with me at every step of my project, answering my many questions, helping me present to participants, and supplying me with information on race, racism, and research.

Through my research, I found successful ways in which others have taught about white privilege, combined many of these different methods, and adjusted them to create my thesis project. Due to COVID-19, my entire study was conducted through ZOOM, emails, and Google Forms. In the fall of 2020, 39 participants began this study by taking a pre-test that examined their opinions on white privilege. Next, 26 individuals participated in the first session that focused on the definitions and history of white privilege and racism in America. Participants watched the documentary Shadow of Hate and listened to me speak about examples of modern U.S. racism and definitions related to white privilege. They then engaged in discussions and an activity about social identity groups. The second session concentrated on finding examples of white privilege in participants’ own lives, comprehending the importance of recognizing it, and learning about what to do with that information. 23 participants watched video clips of Tim Wise explaining aspects of white privilege, engaged in an activity involving Peggy McIntosh’s “Daily Effects of White Privilege,” participated in a short discussion, and listened to three speakers talk about personal experiences with privilege or racism. The three speakers were Dr. Mark Plassmeyer, a professor at the University of Arkansas, Rodney Clark, the Director of Administration at a nonprofit in California, and Dr. Diana Gonzalez-Worthen, the Principal Investigator/Director of Project REACH. Each session was two hours long and there were two optional reflective assignments sent out during the three weeks between the two sessions. Following the sessions, 23 participants took a post-test identical to the pre-test, measuring changes in opinion regarding white privilege. Seven participants also took part in optional qualitative interviews.

During the upcoming spring semester, I will be analyzing and writing about the data collected. I will also be presenting my findings to conferences and administrators within the University of Arkansas with the intent to implement this program and research elsewhere. I want this to be a program used to teach many other people about white privilege.

I began this research project knowing that I had lot to learn about privilege and race, but I ended up learning more than I originally expected. Because of this study, I am now able to better recognize mistakes I have made in the past and biases I have held, and work to overcome them. I am able to also speak with others about privilege and racism using the knowledge I have learned. Regarding working with participants, I experienced the difficulties of recruiting individuals for a study with a topic that many fail to acknowledge and understand. One of my biggest challenges was persuading leaders within the greek organizations to send out my information to their members. I not only continued following up with these individuals for multiple weeks, but I also reached out to other members of those organizations who then sent out my information.

The Honors College Research Grant allowed me to provide monetary incentives for participation in my study. Without these incentives, I do not think many individuals would have participated. This grant will also provide me with the opportunity to present my findings to multiple conferences and individuals over the next semester.