Assessment of a Racial Issues Course on Racial Attitudes: The Changing Racial Perceptions of Students from the Obama Era to the Trump Administration

This assessment report describes the shifts and stability in students’ perceptions and conceptualizations of race and racism as well as the students’ the changing racial perceptions from the Obama era to the Trump administration. Pre- and post-test surveys were administered to samples of college students in 2010 and 2018. The data showed that there was a positive dramatic shift among the students in their conceptual understanding of race as a biosocial construct shaped by political, economic, and historical forces. The data also revealed a high level of awareness of ubiquitous racism in America. The analysis indicated that while an increasing proportion of the students perceived that Barack Obama’s race was a major reason why people opposed his policies, a shrinking majority of the students continued to believe that his election has led to better race relations. Finally, the change in the students’ perception of racial antagonisms in United States from the transition of the Obama administration to the Trump administration has been one in which race relations have gone from slightly negative to a much worse situation