Akash Kumar

Professor Brandon Floerke

English 100
June 27th, 2016

Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress in Academic Environment

At schools across the country, students of color are showing that they feel
disconnected from their universities, institutionalized racism creates emotional distance
between them and their white peers. Surviving and succeeding academically is made
much harder for a black student in white majority school as they face microaggressions
on top of the typical student problems, such as balancing between work and study. .
Daniel Solorzano, Ph.D., Walter R. Allen, Ph.D., and Grace Carroll, Ph.D. explains
MEES in their study, mundane, because this stress is part of our day-to-day experience
and is so common that we almost take it for granted; extreme, because it has an extreme
impact on our psyche and world view, how we see ourselves, behave, and interact;
environmental, because it is environmentally located, induced and fostered; stress,
because the ultimate impact is indeed stressful, detracting and energy-consuming.
(Solorzano et al, 2). The movie, Dear White People, paints a detailed picture of how a
black student in a predominantly white university experiences Mundane Extreme
Environmental Stress (MEES) and how each character responds to such emotional
problems.
Some students of color try to overcome MEES by trying to identify with the
oppressor and by trying to dissolve into the majority. One prime example from the movie

would be Coco. She tired to get her way in the university society by steering into the
curve. The way she talks, dresses, and how she puts on a weave she perfectly adopted
the white culture. She wanted to dissolve more into the white culture by trying to switch
her hosing to Bechet, a predominantly white house. Solorzano and his colleagues explain
the above behavior, Some Students of Color truly believe that they can be more
successful and live a better life if they just become more White. They adopt the
philosophy encouraged by the media and White power structure regarding the reason that
most Students of Color are part of the negative statistics: it is because of their laziness
and lack of ability (Solorzano et al., 26). Solorzano and his colleagues also assert that
students who abandons their characteristics and picks up the culture and lifestyle of the
oppressor, white people in this case, often rejects the fact the minorities are being
oppressed by the majority (Solorzano et al., 26). During the intense argument in the
Armstrong Dining hall, when others where describing their experience with
microaggressions on the Winchester campus, Coco intervened the debate she argued that
what the point is in blaming white folks for everything.
Troy is a complex character, which utilizes multiple respond modes for the
microaggressions that he faces. Students often try to overachieve in their academics and
career to disprove the stereotypical view of his or her group. Solorzano rationalizes that
students of color feel that they have to be twice as good to get the same privileges.
Students of color feel that they are still the targets of racism. (Solorzano et al., 25) In the
movie, Troy, son of the Dean of Winchester University doesnt necessarily show signs of
over achievement, but its his father that wants him to be better than the white counterpart
of the school. Troy was told to run for the head of the house and when he failed to with

the election, his father told him to run for the president of the student body. Troy faces
Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress when his father for smoking weed and writing
joke confronted him and requested him to not be like what they (white people) expects
him to be. One other response mode that Troy uses is to ignore and suppress
microaggressions that he faced on campus. Solorzano and his colleagues posit Many
students close their eyes to this as a means of avoidance. They ignore or suppress the
microaggressions. [] For some, this strategy is a lifesaver because they feel if they
cannot ignore nor suppress it, they would be spending all of their waking hours fighting,
getting angry or just being frustrated at the system. Troy uses this response mode often
throughout the movie. For example, during the dining hall debate Troy explains that he
never experienced a racial confrontation. As well as when his white girlfriend tried to be
black with him he tries to correct her instead. For example when she said thang
instead of thing in the scene before the election, he just simply corrected her instead of
be offended, unlike the other characters from the movie.
Lionel, a label hating, Mumford and sons listing, nerd tries to avoids every
situation in which hed have to face MEES and microaggressions. One of the most
common responses to MEES and the status of being a Person of Color combined with
many of the consequences there of is hopelessness, a sense that they are helpless in
making any real change in their circumstances. (Solorzano et al., 26). This explains
Lionels character from the movie he despises labels and having to take a position on the
racial issues that surrounds him. He had to silently endured racism and microagression
that was thrown at him by Kurt and his friends. When he was recruited for the news
school newspaper to report on race relations at Winchester, he suffers condescension,

curiosity and contempt as his white and black peers try to slot him into a pre-existing
stereotype, refusing to see him as what he actually is. Another example of how Lionel
ignored microaggression is when a staffer in the editorial room was playing whit his hair;
he was clearly annoyed and disturbed by it but he choose to be silent about it as well.
In conclusion, a student of color from all over the country faces Mundane
Extreme Environmental Stress (MEES) from the microaggressions they face every day in
their academic environment. Student of color try to resolve and overcome these problems
by using different types of respond modes. The movie, Dear White People, paints a
detailed picture of how black students respond and how they are expected to respond to
the micro aggressions and institutionalized racism in a predominately white university.