There remains the feeling of an old school boys’ club, given that older male professors still retain positions of power regardless of their histories of gender discrimination.
—Mixed Race Female

Any work Asian students do would often be referenced to an 'Asian idea'. A student had a circle in a drawing, and the critic referred it to a Japanese flag. There was not a single thread in that connection, we were confused.
—Asian Female

Due to being female, my projects were often described in reviews as "cute" as opposed to "strong" or "effective." Due to being a Muslim woman, I was told that the possibility of a teaching opportunity at YSOA after graduation might be an issue, as students might not relate to me or see me as an approachable mentor due to my age, gender and headscarf.
—MENA Female

[I was] questioned about if I have written the essay on my own.
—Asian Male

There are a lot of white Americans that think that they can imitate the way I speak Spanish or call me “amigo.” They also try to make a stereotype of me of the sexy Latino, which is very sad to see.
—Latinx Male

Students reported to the administration the "unprofessionalism" of a black faculty member and said black faculty member was not at the meeting to defend himself.s
—Black Female

Consistent mispronunciation of other students’ names, particularly Asian students’ names.
—Asian Male

Critics call out international Asian students for "taking too long to communicate their ideas," interrupt them mid-sentence and offer feedback via a tripling-down of dense academic speak. It's like they're punishing [students] for their own discomfort at having to navigate a language and cultural barrier. To have some of my peers approach me after pin-up to confess that they could not understand the majority of the critique offered makes my blood boil for them. Some white, neoliberal peers have attempted to speak on behalf of some of these students under the racist assumption that they're "too shy"; "too easily steamrolled"; or "don't seem interested/engaged enough." The actual problem is that these same white folks take up all the space and are too busy breathing in all the oxygen in the room to even notice that their BIPOC peers have been pushed to the sidelines, they didn't arrive there by choice.
—Asian American Female

I witnessed a female friend get an unnecessarily harsh critique from a male TF, [while the same] TF was laughing and having friendly "bro camaraderie" critiquing male classmates who clearly deserved a harsher critique.
—Asian Female

Teachers would regularly dismiss non-Eurocentric ideas and architectural histories.
—Asian American Male

When I proposed writing a paper on Indian architecture, the professor's response was, "if you're from Beijing, why don't you write a paper about the Forbidden City?" You can tell many professors are proud of such comments because it shows their knowledge of other cultures, but honestly this is just the same as telling an Italian student to "go learn about the Pantheon." After revealing to [professors] that I'm in fact an international Chinese student, instead of Chinese-American, I often receive comments like "you speak great English" or "you don't sound like you're from China, I had no idea." I don't feel like I need to explain here why such comments upset me, but I also want to point out that no one ever comments on a European student's English. But I'll take this back and stop feeling upset if I ever hear someone also compliment the English of an international student from Europe.
—Asian Female

The administration didn’t seem to care about students that needed more time to process visas [for studio travel.] When we brought it up with the administration, their response was simply, ‘That’s the way it is.” They didn’t feel like it was worth reconsidering, they even said since it is only a problem for a very few number of students, it isn’t worth working on (paraphrasing). It broke my heart to hear that. Yes, it may not be many students, but for those handful of students, it was EVERY SEMESTER. Imagine coming to Yale with the promise of travel studios and then learning that the administration isn’t willing to work with you to find a solution. I saw my friends miss out on valuable class time making multiple trips to NYC to try and get their visas in time. I don’t care if it’s only a handful [of students,] let them pick studios earlier so they can work on travel arrangements. This is a classic example of equality vs. equity.
—Latinx Male

I was in the [Advanced] Classical Studio led by [a white female critic.] It was possibly the worst experience I have had regarding my ethnicity...The whole studio was clearly divided in two groups. One was exclusively white people. They received constant support and praise for the smallest things while [the rest of us] were categorized as under-performers who resisted too much or did not listen to them. This continued into our studio trip as well. We even brought this up with the Registrar during the semester. None of us ever received any formal response about any action they took. The studio was about the refugee crisis [but] the faculty didn't even understand the difference between refugees and immigrants. When we would bring up [the refugee crisis], we were constantly shut down [in favor of] discussion of the Roman architectural order. It was a mockery of the adversity and pain that refugees have and are still going through.
—Asian Female

[I have experienced microaggressions such as] responding to a question that is based on the type of background or ethnicity you are, and then the conversation ending because nobody else in the room (not even the faculty) knows how to even begin addressing the comment/perspective or even how to acknowledge it.
—Latinx Female

[A white male critic] called out a fellow classmate who is a Korean woman, told her that he knew her grandmother based on her name, and then continued to say he is in fact possibly her grandfather.
—Asian Female

It was one of the last reviews of the day and there were two presentations happening simultaneously. Even though the students were assigned to their studio's section, 99% of the students gravitated towards one side. The other student was left with her studio professor and guest critics. It was the first time that made me realize the limit in our classmates' ability to support one another, especially when the other was outside of our immediate social circle, which was often defined by race/ethnicity.
—Asian American Female

I think that sometimes when you can’t express yourself in English because it’s not your first language some professors stop listening and start telling you what your project is about.
—Latinx Male

My white professors constantly fetishize Japanese design concepts but actually know very little about and consistently misinterpret and whitewash East Asian design concepts. When I incorporate knowledge from my own culture into my work, it is deemed "too subtle" or "not rigorous."
—Asian American Female

When presenting with fellow peers who are men and/or white, the jury would often address [only] them both verbally and in eye contact even though the work is clearly collaboratively produced.
—Asian Female

Critics "expect" Asian students to make technically strong work—polished drawings in a complete set. However, I feel like it is sometimes used against me. Critics will say, “The drawings are beautiful, but..." without engaging as deeply with my ideas as they do those proposed by white or European students. My success in one area of a project is used as a source of criticism in another.
—Asian American Male

I am here on a large merit scholarship, and am of a completely different [educational] background; most of the faculty knew this because they hold other roles in the administration that disallows transparency in different positions. Therefore, my evaluations were sometimes based on what I could do— not what my peers could do.
—Latinx Female

Asians have frequently, especially in an Ivy league institution, been expected to perform at a level above average without recognition. While the prodigy white counterpart receives affirmation, the Asian student will be labeled as ‘overworked’ at their own discretion.
—Mixed Race Student

It's harder for an individual's work to stand out when Asian students tend to be viewed similarly, whether seen as having a "Japanese" style of work or having a more rational/technical sensibility.
—Asian American Male

Strangely enough, I have experienced professors of color looking down on me or other students of color more so than the White Americans in my class. It seems that they hold us up to a different standard, one with less patience.
—Latinx Female

Building Project was a heartbreaking experience to (unconsciously) be treated that way by people I thought of as friends.
—Black Student

I felt recognized when I made the extra effort to explicitly state my role and contribution, after having 'proved' my competence.
—Latinx Female

My white male peers are often perceived to be the leaders regardless of how much work they actually put in, and are slow to correct these assumptions and give their teammates their due credit. One of my white, European male peers in my BP team spent the entire time being ultra condescending to one of our Asian international female teammates, exerted very little patience in trying to understand her reasoning behind design decisions, and even scolded her for 'not listening' when the reality was that she had simply disagreed with his direction and had gone another way.
—Asian American Female

There are a handful of white students that have spent little to no time outside of the East Coast bubble that I have witnessed make borderline racist comments about Asian, international students. In one such instance, a white student expressed discomfort at having a Chinese student express the group’s ideas due to the fact that the international student's English abilities were not very good and that he or she may feel uncomfortable speaking out because of it. It was a completely unfair assessment of the international student’s abilities, and showed a pretty gross misunderstanding of the abilities of Asian students as a whole.
—Mixed Race Female

A field of whiteness. Personally, my feelings of being 'other-ed' are often exacerbated through actually seeing how different I am to the masses.
—Black Student

I’m not used to engaging with faculty or non-white adults. I get nervous around them. It’s a behavior I picked up watching how nervous my parents get around their white employers or police, etc.
—Latinx Male

I believe my year, in particular, has formed groups based on race and ethnicity. I personally found it difficult to fit within a certain crowd and it was an extremely uncomfortable situation to be in, at the age of 26. Throughout the years, people have become more open. But there is still a group that has yet to be as inclusive and that is unfortunately, the white Americans in my year.
—Latinx Female

I just feel most topics that people talk about at the social events are very American culture-oriented [and] I find it hard to relate as an international individual.
—Asian Male

The need to constantly prove oneself at YSoA in order to get into electives, get awarded for teaching fellowships, and be nominated for other awards, puts BIPOC at a disproportionate disadvantage and perpetuates the impostor syndrome and a culture of inadequacy among BIPOC students.
—Asian American Female

Bias (by critics and the administration) has made me feel inadequate throughout my time at YSOA and culminated in a job offer that didn't go through due to my gender, ethnicity and age. It left me crushed and depressed to [this day]. No one deserves to be treated like they [didn’t get] where they got based on merit.
—MENA Female

As a joint degree student, I also enrolled in courses at [another graduate school] and was amazed to find that their course enrollment process was much more democratic. If you wanted to sign up for a course, you would do so online. You could drop it online and someone else could sign up for your spot.
—Asian American Female

I just picked the ones [I’m interested in that] I’m almost sure of getting because they are not too popular.
—Asian Female

The process benefits students who are better at writing persuasively in English, and again leaves room for the professor to exercise personal bias in the selection process.
—Asian American Female

Fellowships were even more political than electives. These [positions] were super important to gain access to teaching experience and to create relationships with important educators, and they were treated just as exclusively as anything else- based on how well you play the game, who you know, and how well you’re liked by the powers that be.
—Asian American Female

White students are generally given preference over non-white students. Someone in my [M.Arch II] program got [a teaching fellowship] in her first semester while most of us were rejected because we didn't know the system enough. M.Arch I Studio TF positions are most often not given to the most qualified. M.Arch II students come for a shorter [time, yet] they are generally more qualified with a professional undergrad degree and on average 2 years of work experience. 100% of the time I have applied to M.Arch I Studio TF positions, I was rejected and someone less qualified than me was picked.
—Asian Female

The courses I TF’d for were ones I enrolled in the previous semester. I was asked by one of those professors to be the TF before a general announcement was made to the school: while this seems unfair, I think it is important for teachers to express a preference for the students they want to work with to make sure the course runs smoothly.
—Asian Male

Asking the faculty to submit their decision in 24 hours is unfair, because they would all go for students they already know. For example, for first year studios, the coordinator's students often end up being up chosen, and the students that weren't in the coordinator's studio basically have no chance to be selected.
—Asian Female

I believe that in the first three semesters many of the best projects were not published because they did not follow the formula of certain professors and the aesthetics and methods they [were] trying to impose.
—Latinx Male

I recall only being asked to nominate peer projects in the first studio. I feel that the instructor's opinion shouldn't be the sole opinion that matters.
—Asian American Female

It is hard to say what is the "best" work when the criteria we use to evaluate work is inherently based on Eurocentric values, which we and our critics have been taught in schools. The only way to reform this process is to interrogate architectural education and criticism for its implicit biases.
—Asian American Male

There are not that many awards for M.Arch II students. The school should give the same amount of awards to this program as they do to M.Arch I (or have all awards be for both). At the end of the day, students from both programs graduate with the same degree: Master in Architecture.
—Latinx Male

BIPOC students have to work twice as hard to prove themselves in studio settings [despite] produc[ing] excellent work and are not adequately recognized through YSoA awards and fellowships.
—Asian American Female

There was no elaboration of the process of selection for many graduating awards. For some of the fellowships, there are clear guidelines and committees responsible for picking students. This should be implemented for other prizes too.
—Asian Male