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Races and Study Spaces

Prior to our observations, we had pre-conceived ideas of what we would find in our observations and interviews. However, what we did find challenged what what we thought we knew. We found that, in most cases, students are not consciously choosing to study with students of the same race. Although the segregation of study spaces exists, it is unintentional. Socialization plays a larger role in preference than race does.

Conclusion

  • Study spaces on campus are not typically occupied based on the concept of race
  • Students typically associate with students of the same race and prefer to study with friends
  • As a result, students of the same race will typically study in the same areas on campus
  • There were very few students who admitted to conciously studying in areas most commonly occupied by students of the same race
  • Resource availibility may also play a role in the occupation of study spaces across campus, students with lower incomes who may not have computers or printers available may have limited study space choices
  • Other factors of study space choices may just be based off of criteria for noise levels, popularity, etc.

The Law School and Ross Business School

Interviews

LAW SCHOOL

Ross school of business

  • Where do you study the most?
  • "Usually here in the cafeteria area or Subs below us." (Law school)
  • "The Ross Winter Garden. It's an open space, you can collaborate with people too. I don't like places that are too quiet." (Ross)
  • How many times a week do you study in here?
  • "Like, five" (Law)
  • "Pretty much everyday. I only study other places closer to finals, but it is usually still in Ross."
  • Do you feel like the study spaces here are racially segregated?
  • "I think the Law school is segregated more by degree than race, we get toucy about undergrads studying here."
  • "Not that I'm aware of. I think it has more to do with my major. Since I'm a business major, I'm always in Ross and everyone else usually is too."

Ugli 1st and 2nd Floors

1st Round Observations

  • The 1st and 2nd floors were mostly full with a majority of the students studying alone.
  • The floors were not racially diverse.
  • Only 2 African Americans and one Arab American were spotted across both floors.
  • The few Asians that were spotted were almost always in groups of two or more.
  • As expected, the rest of the students were white (usually in groups).

2nd Round Observations/Interviews

During Interviews, students were asked what they preferred in a study space and if they believed study spaces were segregated based on race. All denied the 2nd question.

  • Student 1 (Female, Asian): "My favorite study spaces are very quiet with not a lot of people."
  • Student 2 (Male, white): "I love studying in groups. Knowing every student around me has the same goal is encouraging. It's one ofthe definitions of the Michigan Difference.

Conclusions/Final Observations

Students on the 1st and 2nd floor of the Ugli choose where they want to study based on the tendencies of their friend groups (study frequency/time of the week) and personal preferences of noise, amount of people, etc.

The Union

The Union:

The Cafeteria

Vs

"The Booths"

Our Project:

  • Stark contrast between who usually studies in "the booths" of the Union basement and the cafeteria (note that this contrast is at night time)
  • Only one foot away from each other, and the demographics completey change

Interviews

  • Where do you like to usually study?
  • "Usually the Union, if not my room"
  • "I usually like to study in the fishbowl... I don't study at the union because there is too many people I know"
  • What do you find appealing about a particular study space?
  • "the atmostphere, the environment, the people I'm around"
  • "I don't like distractions"
  • Do you feel like study spaces are segregated?
  • "Not neccisarily segretated, I just think that people study where they are comfortable"
  • "No, I mean at the union it is more about socialization because there's a lot of people I know here. If I really need to study, I'll study in my room or somewhere quiet."
  • Cafeteria= Mostly white, with only a small minority representation.
  • No big groups present, maybe clusteres of 4 students at the most who seemed to know each other
  • The Booths= Mostly black students
  • All seemed to know each other

Methods

interview questions asked

  • Where do you study?
  • What is appealing to you?
  • What do you look for in a study space?
  • Do you go alone or do you go with friends?
  • Do you feel comfortable in this space?
  • About how many times do you study there a week?
  • Do you study at alternative places? Where?
  • Is the current space where you feel most productive?
  • What time do you go to this study space?
  • Do you feel more comfortable studying in spaces with students of similar or the same racial backgrounds?
  • Do you feel pressured to study in spaces that are “designated” towards your race?
  • Do you feel that study spaces on campus or segregated in a way?

*Disclaimer: Due to possible repetitiveness, not all questions were asked during interviews

Observation focus

  • The different types of races in a given study space
  • Where the races are allocated
  • Do they seem to be in groups or by themselves?
  • What times do we see different races?

There are a lot of factors that students consider when choosing where to study. So we asked ourselves: How does race factor into students' decisions for where to study?

  • We formulated our main research question
  • We chose areas of study and assigned group memebers to specific areas of study
  • We came up with a list of questions that we felt were relevant for our observations
  • For the first round of observations, we took field notes based on demographic trends that we noticed
  • For the second round of observations, we took interviews
  • For both rounds, we observed on different dates and different times of day.

Ugli 3rd and 4th Floors

1st Round observations

During the first round of observations, conducted at 4pm on a Wednesday, it was remarked that:

  • Both the 3rd and 4th Floors were very full, with only a few tables available for seating. Many of these students were studying in groups, but were not conversing with one another.
  • Despite both floors being full, there was not a racially diverse pool of students
  • There were only 2 African American students present and only two hijabi students present
  • All other students, on both floors, were white students. A majority of these student wore clothing or had laptop stickers that represented their fraternities or sororities.

2nd Round observations/ interviews

  • During the second round, observations were taken again, but this time at 6pm on a Tuesday night and 9pm on a Thursday night. During these observations, a majority of the students were working in groups and it was surprisingly a talkative environment. This was assumed to be due to finals and group work. Again, a large majority of these students were white, with no regards to gender, and were in a fraterity or sorority on campus.
  • Also during the second round, two students from the 3rd and 4th Floors of the Ugli were interviewed. One student a white, male who was also apart of a fraternity on campus and the other a black, female student.
  • Due to the expectation for silence on both the 3rd and 4th Floors of the Ugli, these interviews were not conducted at the studied location. The first interview was conducted in the Fishbowl and the second was conducted on the 1st Floor of the Ugli.

Starbucks on South University

Interview #1

Interview #2

COnclusion/Final Observations

1st Round of Observations

In conclusion:

  • Students that prefer to study on the 3rd and 4th Floors of the Ugli are typically white, greek-life students studying with friends
  • Minority students who do study on these floors go to be isolated from friends with the intention of staying focused, which may be the reason why there are normally so few
  • The low noise-levels on the 3rd and 4th Floors may be a great attraction, and the lack of computers and other resources on these floors may discourage use of these floors by students who need access to computers, printers, etc.
  • Starbucks is most crowded during the late morning and early afternoon (betweem 11 am and 3 pm)
  • The great majority of the students studying in Starbucks were predominantly Caucasian and Asian (about an equal number of males and females)
  • I noticed quite a few laptop stickers denoting an involvement in greek life and very few people studying in groups

Conclusion

2nd Round Of observations/Interviews

  • Because this Starbucks location is right between the Landmark, Arbor Blu, and Zaragon apartments, it makes sense that I observed a significant amount of Caucasian students (Generally, it is these people who are involved in Greek life and who are fortunate enough to afford to live in these apartments)
  • While Austin did admit that he feels more comfortable studying in places with people of the same race/ethnicity, most students that I spoke with, including Jack, did not consider this as a factor in deciding where they chose to study.
  • In other words, Austin is an exception to the results my group and I collected at our various locations
  • Many students had headphones in and were very focused on getting work done so several were not at all willing to participate in an interview
  • Some students agreed to participate but in an unrecorded interview
  • Two male students were willing to participate in an on-camera interview
  • Austin: Caucasian
  • Jack: Asain
  • They both emphasized that they prefer studying alone with some background noise
  • Austin told me he feels more comfortable studying in places with students of the same race and similar backgrounds but Jack has no particular preference

Interviews

Areas of Study

Intro to the fishbowl

I had often heard from my friends who frequented the Fishbowl that it's a study space where mostly students of color gather. As I preferred other study spaces myself and only dropped by the Fishbowl to quickly print things I simply took their word for it. So before I started my observations of the Fishbowl that's what I expected to see: mostly students of color. But what I didn't expect was that the main reason why students of color were drawn to the Fishbowl wasn't necessarily because there were many there, as I had assumed, but because it offered them a variety of resources.

My observations

conclusion

So one student mentioned race on his own, while the other three that I interviewed did so only after I had prompted them to explain whether race informed their decision of where to study; however, from all of these interviews it becomes abundantly clear that race is not the primary driver of choice when it comes to study space. All of the students I interviewed remarked upon a variety of other aspects and resources of the Fish that they found appealing--resources and aspects such as computers, the central location (on campus), and the people that they share this study spot with and subsequently the atmosphere that these students create. The most important qualities these students looked for boiled down to convenience as well as comfort--what does the Fishbowl have to offer them in terms of material uses, and are the people there the kind who make them feel welcome and productive. Race is important to the students I interviewed, and clearly important in what I observed, but it seems to take a sort of reserved role in this decision making.

Computer area (Mac)

Observations

interviews

Races/ethnicities:

Mostly Desi students, Asian students, Middle Eastern students, and Black students. However, there was still a sizable amount of white students. Most days I went I saw that majority of students were poc.

Another thing that I thought I should note is that the fish is somewhat segregated, although students of different backgrounds definitely do interact and study with one another. One of the students I interviewed, Sean, described to me how the brown students sit in one section, while black students are sitting in another and so on and so forth. But as he notes, and from what I observed, the fish is a very welcoming and social place, and though students maybe sitting in certain areas there is a lot of socializing so whatever boundaries there may have been do not figure too greatly.

The Fishbowl

The Ugli

We chose to study the following areas based on popularity and diversity:

The Ugli: 1st and 2nd Floors; 3rd and 4th Floors

The Union

The Fishbowl

Starbucks located on South University Ave.

The Law School and Ross School of Business

Our Argument:

Starbucks

Law School and Ross

The Union

Fishbowl

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