The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 38, No. 2 & Volume 39, No. 1 - 195

“Are You as Hard as 50 Cent?”

Our participants spoke of the need for a social group where they could talk about being a man, a place for support, and opportunities for mentoring or coaching relationships with positive Black role models . Residence life professionals should explore how to create spaces, possibly in collaboration with other groups and organizations on campus, like fraternities, that serve and support Whites and males of color .

with a Black person to personal and lifestyle differences in comparison to their White peers. they also shared examples of having to continuously prove themselves as someone other than “the stereotypical Black guy”; of being unfairly judged and unjustly treated, especially as compared to their White counterparts; and of having their manhood tested by White males. growing scholarship on men and masculinities describes how men conform to the expectations of society regarding how they should behave (edwards & Jones, 2009; Hammond & mattis, 2005). Yet our participants could not reap the benefits of the privileges associated with masculinity; their identities as men did not afford them immunity from racist stereotypes. consistent with previous findings (Harper, 2009; Harper et al., 2011), these students’ energies were instead directed to resisting and responding productively to racist stereotypes. they reported persistent stereotyping in their classrooms and across campus (see Jaggers & iverson, 2010); yet, as resident students, they could not escape or retreat in the residence hall. these students faced still more interracial tension, on their floors and with their roommates. Further, they could not turn to staff for support or guidance; they were not “privileged and protected” or “given the same ‘benefit of the doubt’ enjoyed by their White counterparts” (Harper et al., p. 192). in light of these findings, we offer some suggestions for residence hall policy and practice. the findings of this study suggest that Black males would benefit from greater intentionality in housing assignments. this point is powerfully illustrated by one participant’s positive experience with his White roommate, which he credits to a residential program that
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you serious? . . . it was an elevator full of Black people of course, and so they’re yelling.” He continued, “she [residence hall director] wrote our information down [and i thought] ‘are we really gonna get in trouble for this?’” He said in the end it was determined “we did nothing wrong” and he noted “they were wrong . . . they tried to get us in trouble, you know, an elevator full of Black people?” He observed the disparity: “if it was an elevator full of white people or caucasians . . . we wouldn’t have been getting yelled at. it would have been ‘oh, are you ok?’ . . . not, ‘this is all your fault.’”

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
the participants in this study described many challenges that ranged from frustrations associated with living in the residence halls to White roommates who had never interacted

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 38, No. 2 & Volume 39, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 38, No. 2 & Volume 39, No. 1