1/: A story about checking ones privilege: One of my courses this year has a component that is a peer evaluation (and one of the two professors teaching the course made it clear that it is going to be based on what group members think of you).

2/: The professor acknowledged that "cliques" do form (and have in the past) in groups and that is why they have both the self and peer eval.
I asked if they will have some objective criteria - such that students who may have experienced racism when working in

3/: groups can feel safe and reassured that there is something that can check against them experiencing racism that would materialize on a subjective peer eval. (For what it's worth, I have experienced both first and second hand racism at UoG last year).

4/: The professor said they will most likely only investigate extremes in peer evals., even though they said they understood my concern. The other of the two professors teaching the course reassured me that if there are any concerns, it will be

5/: dealt with. One student in the teams chat, however, typed that she has had NO issues in the past when working with groups. My response was: That's great, but some of us have experienced racist team members and that's where the concern comes in. Another student said we

6/: should trust the system. It baffles me how people don't stop and think about their responses...like...you're white...you OBVIOUSLY wont experience racism at UoG. Im not talking about you. Im talking about those of us who are not white who HAVE experienced bullying/racism.

7/: i trusted the system before and it failed to stop it. It was only dealt with after the fact. That's why I brought up my concern in the first place. I shouldnt have to be going out of my way to ensure that I dont experience racism or islamophobia; those shouldnt exist in the

8/: first place. UoG has acknolwedged that racism exists and UoG is actively combating racism, this isnt a new thing. The professors acknowledged that (when I referenced the two memos that UoG sent out a while back) and only ONE other student did as well.

9/: About 17 put a thumbs up to trusting the system because they havent experienced racism - wanna know how many of them were white? 16 of them. Passive racism is a thing. It's hard to detect and it can result in the victim feeling vulnerable, helpless and isolated.

10:/ please students...dont assume that just because you have never had any issues in groups, that others havent either. Yes, I do trust the system, but sometimes additional measures are needed because no system is perfect.