Do Black Doctoral Students Face Discrimination in the Awarding of Teaching and Research Assistantships?

The National Science Foundation reports that black doctoral students are significantly less likely than their white counterparts to receive teaching or research assistant positions to help finance their graduate studies. For doctoral recipients in 2009, 18 percent of white students were employed as teaching assistants and 22 percent had research positions. For African Americans, 9.5 percent had teaching positions and 12 percent were research assistants. Some 40 percent of all African-American doctoral students primarily relied on their own resources to finance their education compared to just 26 percent of white American students.

Is racial discrimination a factor in these disparities? Tell us what you think in this week’s poll.

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