Attitudes of HBCU Students Towards the Police

Ashlynn UresteFlorida Memorial University

Senior Project

2/20/2022

Introduction

The study aims to investigate the attitudes towards the police among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Students. Specifically, this research will assess perceptions of law enforcement from the perspective of HBCU students utilizing a questionnaire and quantitative analysis. Additionally, this study will investigate how the media influences these attitudes and how these attitudes and perceptions influence the police interaction with the HBCU students. It is conjectured that the HBCU African American student population has unique attitudes and perceptions towards the police, which are a function of various factors, including fear of victimization, Police misconduct and the media. These attitudes lead to straining the quality of interaction between the police and students.

This section reviews research that aimed to address HBCU students’ perceptions of police by anchoring them in proven ideas. This section begins by analyzing numerous hypotheses crucial to understanding some other researchers’ results. Because most of the attitudes are characterized by racial identities, the theory addressed is the social labeling theory and its key tenets of how labeling reinforces the behavior, strains, relationships, leading to the confirmation of the social labels ADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISBN”:”042949811X”,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Short”,”given”:”James F”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2018″]]},”publisher”:”Routledge”,”title”:”Poverty, ethnicity, and violent crime”,”type”:”book”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=5c7d8c54-a207-4715-9932-8df2aa06fe58”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”2153-3687″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Rocque”,”given”:”Michael”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Race and justice”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issue”:”3″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2011″]]},”page”:”292-315″,”publisher”:”SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA”,”title”:”Racial disparities in the criminal justice system and perceptions of legitimacy: A theoretical linkage”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”1″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=b2724f60-61a7-414a-b0a1-3d95548ea14b”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Rocque, 2011; Short, 2018)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Rocque, 2011; Short, 2018)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Rocque, 2011; Short, 2018)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Rocque, 2011; Short, 2018). Socially labeling is discussed from two perspectives. The first perspective pertains to the history of the HBCU institutions being designed to give African Americans equal opportunities to higher education and the role of HBCU institutions to the identity of the progress of African AmericansADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1537-7938″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Webb”,”given”:”Patrick”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Frame”,”given”:”Kimberly”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Marshall”,”given”:”Pam”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of ethnicity in criminal justice”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2018″]]},”page”:”137-155″,”publisher”:”Taylor & Francis”,”title”:”Correlates of campus crime: An exploration of minority attitudes at an HBCU”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”16″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=7d3cacc1-c500-4963-9f43-46307a72a8c7”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1082-8354″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Murty”,”given”:”Komanduri S”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Roebuck”,”given”:”Julian B”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Race, Gender & Class”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issue”:”3-4″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2015″]]},”page”:”136-153″,”publisher”:”JSTOR”,”title”:”African American HBCU students’ attitudes and actions toward interracial dating & marriage: A survey analysis”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”22″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=d717ecf4-5cc4-4c74-b996-4d5275e67092″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Murty & Roebuck, 2015; Webb et al., 2018)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Murty & Roebuck, 2015; Webb et al., 2018)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Murty & Roebuck, 2015; Webb et al., 2018)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Murty & Roebuck, 2015; Webb et al., 2018). Regarding the criminal justice system, the African American population has been overrepresented, which has led to the criminal justice system labeling African Americans as more likely to commit crimes. However, various incidents highlighting the interaction between law enforcement have depicted law enforcement officers as racially biased against African AmericansADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1043-9862″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Cochran”,”given”:”Joshua C”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Warren”,”given”:”Patricia Y”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of contemporary criminal justice”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2012″]]},”page”:”206-227″,”publisher”:”Sage Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA”,”title”:”Racial, ethnic, and gender differences in perceptions of the police: The salience of officer race within the context of racial profiling”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”28″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=ebb97614-ed41-49c8-8669-8c750cd7210a”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lewis”,”given”:”Lisa Marie”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2016″]]},”title”:”Attitudes Toward Police among College Students: Differences among Race, Social Work Status, and University History”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=68b816ab-8496-4e27-80b5-a51d9d52c4c1″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Cochran & Warren, 2012; Lisa Marie Lewis, 2016)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Cochran & Warren, 2012; Lisa Marie Lewis, 2016)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Cochran & Warren, 2012; Lisa Marie Lewis, 2016)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Cochran & Warren, 2012; Lisa Marie Lewis, 2016). For example, black individuals may be arrested more often because they are more likely to be living in poverty, which may explain why they are more likely to be arrested. Therefore, the social labeling theory is discussed from law enforcement and the African American HBCU students’ perspectives.

It will next seek to examine and incorporate research that sought to determine the prevalent opinions of HBCU students towards the police. Because perceptions impact student-police encounters, a brief discussion of police viewpoints will be conducted (Lisa M Lewis et al., 2017; Posick et al., 2013). The origins of the prevalent views will also be addressed. This will help explore how attitudes have evolved and continue to change.

The media’s influence in shaping impressions is discussed next. The emphasis will be on how the media portrays Police-African American relations. They consider it as their obligation to reject injustices starting with racial discrimination since it is the most directly impacts the history and identity of HBCU institutions. The part will examine how media coverage of police violence leads to internalization of police prejudice against African Americans and bad opinions of policing (Davies et al., 2017). The literature review will end with how unfavorable police attitudes reinforce one other. When HBCU students regard law enforcement authorities as racist, they are less likely to comply. This will lead to confrontations between police and students during campus protests and rallies. These hostile exchanges might lead to violence, which reinforces unfavorable impressions. Because such incidents may be quickly posted on social media, it promotes bad impressions of police to other HBCUs.

Literature Review

Social Labelling Theory

Social labeling refers to how different groups of people attach different labels to different types of people based on whether they are perceived as acceptable or unacceptable ADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISBN”:”1315864258″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lynch”,”given”:”Michael J”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Race, Gender, and Class in Criminology the Intersections”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2019″]]},”page”:”3-28″,”publisher”:”Routledge”,”title”:”Class, Race, Gender and Criminology: Structured Choices and the Life Course.”,”type”:”chapter”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=551438eb-f752-458e-acb2-557bbafa4d82″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Lynch, 2019)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Lynch, 2019)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Lynch, 2019)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Lynch, 2019).

Social labeling theory can be applied to several different aspects of life. It is applied in the different types of research conducted, including intergroup relations, social cognition, and intercultural communication. One area of research that the social labeling theory applies to is a student’s perspective of law enforcementADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1572-8315″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Rosenbaum”,”given”:”Dennis P”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lawrence”,”given”:”Daniel S”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Hartnett”,”given”:”Susan M”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”McDevitt”,”given”:”Jack”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Posick”,”given”:”Chad”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of Experimental Criminology”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”3″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2015″]]},”page”:”335-366″,”publisher”:”Springer”,”title”:”Measuring procedural justice and legitimacy at the local level: the police–community interaction survey”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”11″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=3ed10a08-d43d-49e5-b025-543b6a2c71a7”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1043-9862″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Cochran”,”given”:”Joshua C”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Warren”,”given”:”Patricia Y”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of contemporary criminal justice”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issue”:”2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2012″]]},”page”:”206-227″,”publisher”:”Sage Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA”,”title”:”Racial, ethnic, and gender differences in perceptions of the police: The salience of officer race within the context of racial profiling”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”28″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=ebb97614-ed41-49c8-8669-8c750cd7210a”]},{“id”:”ITEM-3″,”itemData”:{“author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lewis”,”given”:”Lisa Marie”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”id”:”ITEM-3″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2016″]]},”title”:”Attitudes Toward Police among College Students: Differences among Race, Social Work Status, and University History”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=68b816ab-8496-4e27-80b5-a51d9d52c4c1″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Cochran & Warren, 2012; Lisa Marie Lewis, 2016; Rosenbaum et al., 2015)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Cochran & Warren, 2012; Lisa Marie Lewis, 2016; Rosenbaum et al., 2015)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Cochran & Warren, 2012; Lisa Marie Lewis, 2016; Rosenbaum et al., 2015)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Cochran & Warren, 2012; Lisa Marie Lewis, 2016; Rosenbaum et al., 2015). This perspective begins with the idea that being African American will place some African Americans in a disadvantageous position when dealing with law enforcement officers. This disadvantage can come from discrimination by the police based on race discrimination or from interactions with police officers where students may feel uncomfortable due to negative beliefs within society. This is with regard to Unjustified labels that police put on people and subsequently spread to others in the same community who have not had direct contact with law enforcement are included in this category.

Social labeling theory has been applied to African American HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) students in their interactions with law enforcement and the police. The theory states that different racial groups develop differential identifications with different social labels, such as “criminal. African Americans are usually more likely to be socially labeled as criminals by law enforcement agencies than Whites ADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISBN”:”1392244838″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Harris-Wyatt”,”given”:”Georgetta A”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2019″]]},”publisher”:”Tennessee State University”,”title”:”An Analysis of Factors that Impact Civilian Attitudes Toward Police Treatment of Minority Males”,”type”:”article”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=04037b4e-fef5-41a5-912f-53cb8c316a3a”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1572-8315″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Rosenbaum”,”given”:”Dennis P”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lawrence”,”given”:”Daniel S”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Hartnett”,”given”:”Susan M”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”McDevitt”,”given”:”Jack”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Posick”,”given”:”Chad”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of Experimental Criminology”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issue”:”3″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2015″]]},”page”:”335-366″,”publisher”:”Springer”,”title”:”Measuring procedural justice and legitimacy at the local level: the police–community interaction survey”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”11″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=3ed10a08-d43d-49e5-b025-543b6a2c71a7″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Harris-Wyatt, 2019; Rosenbaum et al., 2015)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Harris-Wyatt, 2019; Rosenbaum et al., 2015)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Harris-Wyatt, 2019; Rosenbaum et al., 2015)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Harris-Wyatt, 2019; Rosenbaum et al., 2015). Blacks and Whites differ in their use of social labeling to create differential identifications with what is labeled as good or bad. Whites used social labeling more often to assign positive labels, whereas Blacks used it more frequently to assign negative labels. African American students use higher levels of social labeling than White students, and that these differences exist throughout the lifecycle of their academic experiences at college (Riddle & Sinclair, 2019). This can be attributed to where they are coming from and what they have been going through. As a result of their hardships, they view the whites to be more privileged than them.

Other studies show that blacks are more likely than whites to have positive attitudes toward law enforcement officers with dark-skinned faces (Bowman, 2020). This shows the effect of reciprocity and social identity. Whereas law enforcement officers sometimes victimize African Americans because of their skin color, they may have general negative perceptions about the law enforcement while having more favorable perceptions to African American law enforcement officersADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1082-8354″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Murty”,”given”:”Komanduri S”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Roebuck”,”given”:”Julian B”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Race, Gender & Class”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”3-4″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2015″]]},”page”:”136-153″,”publisher”:”JSTOR”,”title”:”African American HBCU students’ attitudes and actions toward interracial dating & marriage: A survey analysis”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”22″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=d717ecf4-5cc4-4c74-b996-4d5275e67092″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Murty & Roebuck, 2015)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Murty & Roebuck, 2015)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Murty & Roebuck, 2015)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Murty & Roebuck, 2015). On the other hand, African American law enforcement officers are perceived as less likely to discriminate against black students than light-skinned officers. The positive perceptions among African American students about these officers may result from the fact that they are viewed as having a more personal relationship with the students.

Perceptions Between Police and HBCU students

In a country where the Black population is a mere 13 percent, over 50 percent of all police killings in 2019 have been committed against black people (Bialik, 2021). For a greater context, it should be understood that as of 2019, African-Americans made up 54.9 percent of all murder perpetrators, whites made up 41.1 per cent, and “Other” made up 3.0 percent of instances where the race was known. 54.7 percent of murder victims in 2019 were black or African-American, 42.3% were white, and 3.1 percent were of other races (Expanded Homicide, 2019) This staggering statistic highlights how Black Americans, both on and off-campus, are subjected to arbitrary violence at rates disproportionate to their representation in society. Furthermore, according to a 2018 study from the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, HBCU students are more likely to feel unsafe on campus than other universitiesADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”2153-3687″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Posick”,”given”:”Chad”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Rocque”,”given”:”Michael”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”McDevitt”,”given”:”Jack”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Race and Justice”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”3″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2013″]]},”page”:”190-209″,”publisher”:”SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA”,”title”:”One scale fits all? Assessing racial differences in the measurement of attitudes toward the police”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”3″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=39c3cdd3-d84c-44a3-bf55-a794dbaad57a”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”0888-6601″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lewis”,”given”:”Lisa M”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Wilks”,”given”:”Scott E”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Geiger”,”given”:”Jennifer R”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Barthelemy”,”given”:”Juan J”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Livermore”,”given”:”Michelle M”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of Pan African Studies”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issue”:”1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2017″]]},”title”:”A Racial Divide: College Student Attitudes Concerning Police in South Louisiana.”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”10″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=09d5aecb-4373-47fd-a014-452c3fe5fcd2”]},{“id”:”ITEM-3″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”0734-0168″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Gabbidon”,”given”:”Shaun L”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Higgins”,”given”:”George E”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Potter”,”given”:”Hillary”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Criminal justice review”,”id”:”ITEM-3″,”issue”:”1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2011″]]},”page”:”5-21″,”publisher”:”SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA”,”title”:”Race, gender, and the perception of recently experiencing unfair treatment by the police: Exploratory results from an all-black sample”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”36″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=be923f59-a9e5-4d1a-8fcb-2dccda5efcc5″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Gabbidon et al., 2011; Lisa M Lewis et al., 2017; Posick et al., 2013)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Gabbidon et al., 2011; Lisa M Lewis et al., 2017; Posick et al., 2013)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Gabbidon et al., 2011; Lisa M Lewis et al., 2017; Posick et al., 2013)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Gabbidon et al., 2011; Lisa M Lewis et al., 2017; Posick et al., 2013). This fear can be linked to several factors: incarceration rates among Black teenagers have increased by 44% since 1990, while white incarcerations have only increased by 3%. In addition, according to a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Black students are more likely to be arrested on campus. Finally, the mere presence of police on campus can cause an environment of fear and self-preservation among studentsADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1537-7938″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Webb”,”given”:”Patrick”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Frame”,”given”:”Kimberly”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Marshall”,”given”:”Pam”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of ethnicity in criminal justice”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2018″]]},”page”:”137-155″,”publisher”:”Taylor & Francis”,”title”:”Correlates of campus crime: An exploration of minority attitudes at an HBCU”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”16″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=7d3cacc1-c500-4963-9f43-46307a72a8c7″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Webb et al., 2018)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Webb et al., 2018)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Webb et al., 2018)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Webb et al., 2018). If a student feels threatened by a police officer’s presence, there is no doubt that they will alter their behavior in some way for fear of being harmed or unjustifiably arrested.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 102 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States. Many of these schools were founded during segregation to offer education opportunities to African Americans who had been previously denied access to higher learning institutions. These colleges still retain many of their original values, including strong support for diversity and multiculturalism. HBCUs experience a very different college life than non-HBCU’s, which is heavily affected by their race/ethnicityADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISBN”:”1392244838″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Harris-Wyatt”,”given”:”Georgetta A”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2019″]]},”publisher”:”Tennessee State University”,”title”:”An Analysis of Factors that Impact Civilian Attitudes Toward Police Treatment of Minority Males”,”type”:”article”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=04037b4e-fef5-41a5-912f-53cb8c316a3a”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”0888-6601″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Lewis”,”given”:”Lisa M”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Wilks”,”given”:”Scott E”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Geiger”,”given”:”Jennifer R”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Barthelemy”,”given”:”Juan J”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Livermore”,”given”:”Michelle M”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of Pan African Studies”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issue”:”1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2017″]]},”title”:”A Racial Divide: College Student Attitudes Concerning Police in South Louisiana.”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”10″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=09d5aecb-4373-47fd-a014-452c3fe5fcd2”]},{“id”:”ITEM-3″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”0734-0168″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Gabbidon”,”given”:”Shaun L”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Higgins”,”given”:”George E”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Potter”,”given”:”Hillary”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Criminal justice review”,”id”:”ITEM-3″,”issue”:”1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2011″]]},”page”:”5-21″,”publisher”:”SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA”,”title”:”Race, gender, and the perception of recently experiencing unfair treatment by the police: Exploratory results from an all-black sample”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”36″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=be923f59-a9e5-4d1a-8fcb-2dccda5efcc5″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Gabbidon et al., 2011; Harris-Wyatt, 2019; Lisa M Lewis et al., 2017)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Gabbidon et al., 2011; Harris-Wyatt, 2019; Lisa M Lewis et al., 2017)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Gabbidon et al., 2011; Harris-Wyatt, 2019; Lisa M Lewis et al., 2017)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Gabbidon et al., 2011; Harris-Wyatt, 2019; Lisa M Lewis et al., 2017). A large body of research supports this notion. Due to the heavy racial segregation that HBCUs experienced, they are likely to attract students more concerned with race relations.

Another aspect of research surrounding the HBCU student body is that of crime and perceptions of criminality. According to a 2016’s study by Columbia University’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC), even though there is little evidence suggesting racial bias in college campus crime, Black students perceived police treatment as biased against themADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”2153-3687″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Posick”,”given”:”Chad”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Rocque”,”given”:”Michael”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”McDevitt”,”given”:”Jack”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Race and Justice”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”3″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2013″]]},”page”:”190-209″,”publisher”:”SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA”,”title”:”One scale fits all? Assessing racial differences in the measurement of attitudes toward the police”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”3″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=39c3cdd3-d84c-44a3-bf55-a794dbaad57a”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1082-8354″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Murty”,”given”:”Komanduri S”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Roebuck”,”given”:”Julian B”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Race, Gender & Class”,”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issue”:”3-4″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2015″]]},”page”:”136-153″,”publisher”:”JSTOR”,”title”:”African American HBCU students’ attitudes and actions toward interracial dating & marriage: A survey analysis”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”22″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=d717ecf4-5cc4-4c74-b996-4d5275e67092″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Murty & Roebuck, 2015; Posick et al., 2013)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Murty & Roebuck, 2015; Posick et al., 2013)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Murty & Roebuck, 2015; Posick et al., 2013)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Murty & Roebuck, 2015; Posick et al., 2013). In addition, that same study reported that Blacks and Whites differ in their perceptions towards criminal behavior: Black people were more likely than white people to think the majority of crime victims were black and less likely than whites to think most members of society viewed blacks favorably.

The Role of Media in Influencing HBCU students’ perceptions of police

The past decade has seen numerous protests and demonstrations by HBCU students on issues of racial discrimination. These protests and demonstrations have a constitutional grounding based on freedoms of speech, assembly, and government petitioning. However, some of these pretests are accompanied by violence which necessitates the involvement of law enforcement. In most cases, the involvement of the police only serves to heighten tensions since the law enforcement institutions have negative connotations of being biased against African AmericansADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“ISSN”:”1537-7938″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Webb”,”given”:”Patrick”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Frame”,”given”:”Kimberly”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Marshall”,”given”:”Pam”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Journal of ethnicity in criminal justice”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2018″]]},”page”:”137-155″,”publisher”:”Taylor & Francis”,”title”:”Correlates of campus crime: An exploration of minority attitudes at an HBCU”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”16″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=7d3cacc1-c500-4963-9f43-46307a72a8c7”]},{“id”:”ITEM-2″,”itemData”:{“ISBN”:”9798662447943″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Robinson”,”given”:”Corey D”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”id”:”ITEM-2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2020”]]}