When Racism Is Hidden in Plain Sight
University campuses send messages of exclusion without saying a word.
Posted November 18, 2025 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma
Universities today are eager to broadcast their commitment to diversity. They publish glossy brochures filled with smiling students from various backgrounds, release statements on inclusion, and point to their demographic numbers as proof of progress. But for many students of color walking through these predominantly white institutions (PWIs), there is a jarring disconnect between the institution’s words and the world they see around them.
Environmental Microaggressions in Everyday Spaces
This disconnect is the focus of our new paper, Examining environmental racial microaggressions on a university campus . We wanted to move beyond the overt incidents of racism that make headlines to explore something more subtle but equally corrosive: the messages of exclusion embedded in the very physical environment of a campus. These environmental microaggressions are the portraits on the walls, promotional posters at construction sites, and the images on university websites. These are the artifacts that wordlessly communicate who belongs, who is valued, and who is an afterthought.
To investigate this phenomenon, I encouraged graduate students in my cultural psychology course to become visual detectives on campus. They were asked to photograph and reflect on the campus imagery that conveyed messages of either inclusion or exclusion. What they found was a powerful, and often painful, narrative hidden in plain sight.
Central Themes on a New England Campus
Four central themes emerged from the student observations:
Tokenism and the Illusion of Progress Students pointed to a hallway of portraits of past university deans—a long line of White men, now joined by the first-ever woman of colour to hold the position. While her appointment is a milestone, her singular presence visually reinforces her token status. Her portrait was framed differently, lit more dimly, and placed at the start of a lineage she did not seem to belong to. The unspoken message is not one of genuine change, but of exceptionalism, subtly communicating just how rare it is for someone like her to reach a position of power.
Selective Visibility and Stereotyping In images advertising a new, state-of-the-art recreation center, White students were depicted as the default participants. Of the very few images featuring students of color, one showed only a pair of Black legs running, the person's face and identity completely erased. In computer-simulated images of the new facility, Black individuals were shown running past the building, not using it. They were visible, but not fully participating—present, but not central. This sends a subtle message about who the space is truly for.
White Saviorism in Global Outreach In the campus library, a display celebrated a working abroad program. The photographs exclusively featured White students and faculty providing aid to communities of color in Africa, South America, and Asia. There was not a single student of color from the university depicted as a participant. There were no White people receiving aid. These images perpetuate a White savior narrative, where people of color are framed only as passive recipients of help, not as active agents of change or as members of the university community who provide aid to others.
A Pervasive Lack of Belonging and Empowerment Taken together, these environmental cues create a campus climate where students of color are constantly reminded that they are not seen or valued.
When you don’t see yourself reflected in the images of leadership , depictions of student life, or prestigious global programs, the institution is saying this space is not for you.
This is not a matter of hurt feelings but of academic and psychological well-being. These ubiquitous and persistent messages of exclusion undermine self-worth , contribute to psychological unwellness , and create a barrier to the very sense of belonging that is essential for academic success.
Our institutions must move beyond superficial impression management . It is not enough to simply add a few faces of color to a brochure while the walls of the institution continue to tell a different story. True inclusion requires a deep and honest audit of the environmental messages we are sending. It's time to take down the portraits that reinforce exclusion, and start building a campus that truly, visibly, and unapologetically reflects our diverse world.
But this is about more than just images. This visual transformation must be a direct reflection of a deeper, structural change. For our campuses to be truly inclusive, diversity must be present not only in the student body, but in the professoriate that teaches them, the deans who lead them, and the board of trustees that governs the entire institution.
Zare, M., Dasgupta, A., & Williams, M. T. (2025). Examining environmental racial microaggressions on a university campus. Academia Mental Health and Well-Being, 2 . https://doi.org/10.20935/MHealthWellB7958
Neikirk, K., Silvers, S., Kamalumpundi, V., Marshall, A. G., Scudese, E., McReynolds, M., & Hinton, A. O., Jr (2023). Recognizing and addressing environmental microaggressions, know-your-place aggression, peer mediocrity, and code-switching in STEMM. Frontiers in education , 8 , 1270567. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1270567
Nepton, A., Farahani, H., Williams, M. T., & Faber, S. C. (2025). Exclusion and racial trauma: Mental health costs for Canadian university students of color . Academia Mental Health and Well-Being, 2 (3), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.20935/MHealthWellB7836
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Monnica Williams, Ph.D., ABPP, is a licensed clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Ottawa in the School of Psychology, where she is the Canada Research Chair for Mental Health Disparities.
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.