**While policies themselves are not inherently racist, academia in the United States has demonstrated racial bias and prejudice against African Americans in the interplay between policy and resource allocation, as well as in the direct treatment of Black scholars.** Academia is [_racialised_](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-021-00361-5); while not overtly racist, when policies interact with underlying systemic disadvantages, Black scholars and researchers face steeper financial, social, and career hurdles. - Principle investigators who identify as Black have a [lower rate of funding](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-021-00361-5) in comparison to white counterparts. As grant supplements are provided to those with active awards, Black scholars are, overall, less able to access such opportunities. - While employment policies themselves do not necessitate a social component and can be designed to guard against racial discrimination, employment is, in reality, "often linked to social networks within an institution." A smaller representation of Black people in powerful institutional positions can mean reduced opportunities through an inability to access these pipelines as effectively as non-Black colleagues. - Black and minority ethnicities are under-represented at UK and US universities, less likely to be promoted, and experience a pay gap in comparison to white colleagues - [according to statistical analyses](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02471-6). - Black people continue to experience microaggressions in academic workplaces. Shardé Davis, an assistant professor with a doctorate in Communication Studies at the University of Connecticut, [lists](https://news.mit.edu/2020/black-ivory-racism-academia-1208) "_unwanted touches to someone’s hair … being questioned if they’re the janitor if they’re in the lab after hours, being asked for identification when they’re trying to go into the lecture hall_," as some of the typical situations. - Disingenuous attempts to de-racialize academic settings can lead to racialised circumstances. Black graduate studies and faculty are [sought out](https://news.mit.edu/2020/black-ivory-racism-academia-1208) to diversify the ranks of numerous college communities, often resulting in disproportionate demands of their time. Non-black colleagues do not face this "extra burden of time, energy, and distraction". These are a few examples, both from statistical and experiential sources, of how Black people are especially disadvantaged in academic settings. On a more positive note, dialogues surrounding the mitigation of prejudiced histories and systems are growing, and institutions are being held accountable and/or pushed to de-racialise the academic space.