Worse, she may feel like she needs to compete for unusual-ness.
5. BECAUSE to ignore the particular needs and struggles of departmental minorities is to maintain the
sexist/racist status quo. Notions of fairness are meaningless when the playing field isn’t even - and given the
number of racist and sexist micro/macroaggressions
women endure throughout their lives, the playing field
is not even.
6. BECAUSE women and minorities enter academia
with a lifetime of exposure to sexism and racism that
can engender an enduring sense of alienation and selfdoubt. Male-dominated departments must be aware
of the psychological obstacles that women face when
pursuing their analytical dreams, and take initiative to
provide support for girls!
7. BECAUSE when women are required to collaborate
with their male peers - on problem sets, labs, etc. - they
often find themselves ignored, talked over, or written
off as a non-contributing member of the group. Often,
men will disengage, do the work among themselves,
and then return to “tutor” the woman, or worse, give
her his work to copy.
“Get your fucking hands off my computer!” -- Sayer
Rippey, a Computer Science major, in regards to male
peers wanting to “fix” her code
8. BECAUSE students who struggle are alienated, and
academic alienation compounds with alienation due to
minority status.