Department or Program

Psychology

Abstract

In response to the Boston Globe’s article “Immigrant Students Learn Hard Lessons About Racism at a Historically White High School in Maine,” the Auburn Public School District has been debating how to address discrimination. To assist them in addressing discrimination, I collaborated with University of Maine-Farmington professor Virginia Dearani to examine the following research question in two studies: what is a sustainable model to foster belonging and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Auburn School District? In Study 1 I observed school committee meetings and a Facebook group on the district, spoke with stakeholders in the district, took fieldnotes on visits to the district’s high school, and read the Boston Globe article. Then, I used critical race theory to argue there is a need to address the diversity, equity, and inclusion challenges the Auburn School District has endured because of the events that occurred within the district (see Appendix A). To determine ways to resolve these challenges, I conducted semi-structured interviews with several stakeholders in the education field in Study 2. The results of the interviews suggested multicultural centers or offices, diversity committees, or chief diversity officers can help create safe spaces for marginalized groups and evaluate the equitability of district policies to address discrimination. The final product of this research provides the Auburn School District with five recommendations for how they can address racial bias and discrimination.

Level of Access

Restricted: Campus/Bates Community Only Access

First Advisor

Aronson, Krista

Date of Graduation

5-2020

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Number of Pages

111

Components of Thesis

1 pdf file

Community Engagement

1

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