A voice came over the intercom requesting that female students of color come to the auditorium at the end of third hour. When junior Lezley Linnear heard the announcement, she saw heads turn in her direction. Every eye in the room was focused on her. Linnear knew the question popping up in their heads: “Is she going?” Assumptions like this are exactly why these students were called down.

Dr. Subini Ancy Annamma and Dr. Dorothy Hines-Datiri from the Department of Education at KU are conducting a study about discipline and other issues faced by women of color in school. Dr. Annamma and Dr. Hines-Datiri were reached for comment but they were not willing to comment on the study until after it is completed.

Linnear is choosing not to participate in the study because she does not think that it is diverse enough, but she does feel that taking a look at issues for women of color is necessary.

“They think that we’re a lower class and that we don’t mean anything,” Linnear said. “I don’t think that’s true.”

The study is conducted as a series of one-on-one interviews with students about their perspective as a minority.

“That’s really all it is,” senior Ebony Gomez, who has decided to participate, said. “They want to know about [being a woman of color] and how they can help, if they can.”

Junior Dacia Starr plans to participate because she is interested in how other people are treated as women of color outside of Lawrence.

“[I hope] to actually learn how minority females are being treated,” Starr said. “My stories are different than the person next to me”

Although she does not feel that her Mexican heritage has affected her treatment in school, Gomez wants to be a part of the study.

“Honestly, a lot of people don’t think of me as a different race, they think of me as just a white girl,” Gomez said. “I feel like [the study] will help a lot of others that need it, they feel like they don’t fit in.”