Poison in the Ivy

"The world of elite campuses is one of rarified social circles, as well as prestigious educational opportunities. W. Carson Byrd studied twenty-eight of the most selective colleges and universities in the United States to see whether elite students' social interactions with each other might influence their racial beliefs in a positive way, since many of these graduates will eventually hold leadership positions in society. He found that students at these universities believed in the success of the 'best and the brightest,' leading them to situate differences in race and status around issues of merit and individual effort. Poison in the Ivy challenges popular beliefs about the importance of cross-racial interactions as an antidote to racism in the increasingly diverse United States. He shows that it is the context and framing of such interactions on college campuses that plays an important role in shaping students' beliefs about race and inequality in everyday life for the future political and professional leaders of the nation. Poison in the Ivy is an eye-opening look at race on elite college campuses, and offers lessons for anyone involved in modern American higher education"-- "W. Carson Byrd studied 28 of the most selective colleges and universities in the United States to see whether elite students actually have cross-racial interactions that might influence their racial beliefs in a positive way, since many of these graduates will be in leadership positions later in their careers. He found that students at these universities had a skewed idea of race, in which the context of the 'best and brightest' applied at their school led them to believe that differences in race and inequality were built around issues of merit and individual choice. Racial inequality was rationalized as a result of people who grew up in previous unjust eras, were unlucky, or who have different priorities in life that led them to not achieve as much as elite students. Their cross-racial interactions on campus were thus divorced from race and inequality in the broader social world of America. By looking at cross-racial interactions in friendships, dating, roommates, and in student organizations, Byrd shows how the student's experiences rarely informed these elite college students' racial prejudice, and why these interactions fail to influence their attitudes and beliefs about one another. Poison in the Ivy challenges popular and scholarly beliefs about the importance of cross-racial interactions as an antidote to racism in the increasingly diverse United States. He shows that it is the context and framing of such interactions that suggest that racial attitudes and beliefs are rarely thought of as part and parcel of everyday life for the future political and professional leaders of the nation. Poison in the Ivy is an eye-opening look at race on elite college campuses, and offers lessons for anyone involved in modern American higher education"--