Yikes! I feel like this question is clear and concerns university culture/structure. It may help you get clear answers to edit and make it more explicit how you are characterizing the kind of incident you're asking about in this question. E.g., would you say this is a situation where students disrespect and exclude another student (in a way that might have academic consequences), and that student suspects that it may be racially-motivated?

Just a reminder that the story is an example, and the premise of the question is that the OP experienced something that they suspect is motivated by bias, and yet they know that there is no solid evidence of bias. How do universities deal with such situations? Quibbling with the premise does not help.

@user90678 I edited the question to make it clearer that the story is an example, and that part of the premise is that they are not openly expressing bias. Please feel free to edit further if I mischaracterized anything.

@cactus_pardner - The edit bothers me because (a) I don't see anything explicit in the question or in OP's comments to back up such a strong statement (although I'll grant you that objective evidence is certainly not present --or omitted-- from the scenario's description); (b) whether there is solid evidence or not is sometimes difficult for someone in OP's position to evaluate; and yet, the question is still very good for someone in that situation. Was your edit an attempt to prevent closure of the question? If so, I guess that might make it a little easier for me to live with.

I'll give you an example. Remember Anita Hill? What hard evidence did she have? And yet, from her consistent descriptions given to friends and colleagues at the time, who testified to support her story, the puzzle pieces came together quite convincingly for many observers. Maybe the outcome would be different in 2018 from what it was then.

@BryanKrause - "bad group project dynamics seems to be a pretty universal experience at the university level" -- true! But... here's an analogy. Let's say a student with a hearing impairment is having difficulty hearing and understanding a lecture given in a noisy environment. Everyone in the auditorium is having trouble. The hearing-impaired student has documented his disability and clearly requested the accommodations he needs. Would you say that just because other students are also suffering the effects of the noise, this student doesn't have a valid complaint?

@aparente001 Yes, I was hoping to avoid closure, as well as avoid people getting derailed by asking for evidence. I think it's crucial to identify what "this kind of situation" is. I can now see how my edit minimizes OP's own testimony as evidence; another possible edit would say "does not have evidence beyond her own testimony/experience." I was editing to make sure the question was clear enough to keep open; I was worried about putting words in OP's mouth, but I had not even thought about my phrasing being dismissive.

@arp - "I would leave out the racial motivation assumption" -- I don't think you have a full enough picture to be able to provide this specific advice. I can imagine situations where it might be very good advice. I can also imagine a situation where a university would be glad to receive feedback about even subtle racism/sexism, and I can even more easily imagine diversity staff working directly with a student who's experienced subtle bias to improve her knowledge of what the university has to offer in the way of support. A university that is truly supporting diversity will want to keep...

... its ear to the ground so as to improve its diversity workshops, pedagogical techniques, etc.

@cactus_pardner - Hi there, sorry, I didn't mean to suggest it sounded dismissive; I'm concerned about assuming too much. It's very hard to advise someone without a full picture! About the possibility of closure -- I personally think that questions like these are helpful at Academia SE because these are the discussions that help certain members of the site start to think

about things in a different way. I've seen questions get closed and reopened and then closed and reopened in a roller coaster ride. The good news is that the moderators are seasoned and I've seen them handle these polemics calmly and well, and to be interested in everyone's input about questions, comments, discussions, input about process, you name it.

@BryanKrause - good idea. I just added "group-dynamics" to the tags. // I've done something wrong -- I thought the whole chain of comments was going to go to chat but I realize now, only a moderator can do that. So could you ping me to let me know if you were able to see this? Maybe I should put it back on the main page.

@aparente001 Basically, when I saw this question come up, I thought, "This is a new user, who may not have asked this in 100% the right way, but who has a really important question. How can I help that come through without this being preemptively closed or degenerating into questioning whether racism exists?"

Thanks also for the broader view, beyond, "Oh no, is this going to get closed as a duplicate group dynamics question?"

@aparente001 I can see this since you pinged me. :) I probably should have commented here rather than on the main thread but I didn't realize your comment to me had been duplicated here in chat.