How unconscious bias hurts poor kids

• Let's help people recognize bias within themselves and give them tools to think and act differently.
• Sandra Barnes is asst. vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion at Vanderbilt University.

When I got my acceptance letter to college in 1982, I was exhilarated and anxious in equal parts.

Proud to be the first member of my family to go away to college, but worried how I would juggle classes and a job and keep my grades up for my scholarship.

Family and church members from my working-class community pooled meager funds to outfit my dorm room and later sent perfectly-timed cards of encouragement with $5 and $10 tucked snugly inside.

On campus, a department secretary helped with kind words, and sometimes with food. But I also faced gatekeeping and subtle stereotyping from certain students who wore Izod polos or carried the latest Dooney and Bourke bag — students who seemed to associate material possessions with acceptability.

My experience wasn't unique. First-generation students — college students whose parents don't have college degrees — as well as students from poor or working-class families are often subject to unconscious bias.

That's when people make quick and often negative decisions about others based on perceptions and stereotypes. When this happens, these students can find getting to college and then succeeding there a real challenge.

I'm now a sociologist and I've researched the dynamics of race, class and gender. In my book, "The Cost of Being Poor," I detailed ways that these students may experience bias. They include:

• Applicants from well-funded, prestigious schools may tacitly be considered more impressive than equally gifted students from public schools
• Campus recruitment visits may be financially out of reach
• Other students may make assumptions about their abilities, aptitude and deservedness to “belong,” based on stereotypes and classism
• Lack of funding can put study abroad, internships and similar opportunities out of reach

At Vanderbilt, where I am the assistant vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion and a member of the Peabody College and Divinity School faculty, we want every qualified student to have access to a Vanderbilt education.

Our admissions process is need-blind. Every spring, our Mosaic program brings admitted multicultural students to campus to sample college life. With our Opportunity Vanderbilt initiative, Vanderbilt meets 100 percent of a family's demonstrated need with scholarships and grants, not loans.

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos said in 2015 that Vanderbilt's success as an institution was "inextricably linked to our ability to nurture a university community that is inclusive and respectful of differences," and he has taken many steps, including the removal of the word "Confederate" from Memorial Hall, appointing a vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion, and establishing programs to promote diversity on campus.

This year we, as a campus community, are tackling unconscious bias. We want to help people recognize it within themselves and give them tools to think and act differently. It won't be easy, because we need to change mindsets. But in my experience, people do better when they know better.

My college experience was successful because I had an unrelenting drive to succeed for my family and myself. Committed faculty and friends helped. Now my goal is to give a similar experience to every person at Vanderbilt — faculty, staff and student alike — so they too can find ways to contribute and be successful.

Sandra L. Barnes is a professor of human and organizational development and assistant vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion at Vanderbilt University.