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Microaggressions are brief, intended or unintended, commonplace verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities that communicate derogatory, hostile, or negative insults and slights toward people who do not classify within the 'normative' standard. Those who microaggress are often unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with people who differ from themselves. In the workforce, these interchanges are exacerbated, as issues regarding implicit biases tend to play themselves out in communal settings. In response to this, the discussion of microaggressions in its numerous forms, coupled with its manifestations in the workplace, adds to the growing knowledge base on aversive behavior and its short- and long-term impacts. The authors begin by investigating the residual effects of everyday “isms” on the work productivity and quality of life of those on the receiving end. They conclude with suggestions for institutional-level education, training, and research—specific to organizational settings—in the effort to reduce microaggressions in the professional environment.

Raising the educational standards for police officers represents a perennial police reform theme in the United States. Among other benefits, proponents herald college degree requirements as key to improving the quality and fairness of policing outcomes, including the chief formal response to crime: arresting suspected lawbreakers. However, the evidence base regarding college education requirements’ consequences for agency arrest behaviors is formative for various reasons, namely, the absence of studies examining whether these policies contribute to racially equitable arrest outcomes. The presented data show steeper decreases in the racial gap in Black and White people arrested for degree-requiring agencies compared to nondegree-requiring agencies between 2000 and 2016. Albeit encouraging news, the disparity rate for agencies with a college standard remains relatively higher. While what is implied is that college degree requirements alone will not resolve racial disparities in police arrests, it is premature to draw concrete conclusions about this often taken-for-granted association until more rigorous research is conducted.

A study of more than 60,000 police traffic stops found that college-educated officers were more likely than other officers to stop drivers for less serious violations, perform consent searches, and make arrests on discretionary grounds. These results are consistent with those of prior research indicating that college-educated officers are more achievement-oriented and eager for advancement based on the traditional performance criteria of stops, searches, and arrests. The results raise questions regarding the recommendation of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing to improve police-community relations by hiring more college-educated police officers, especially in urban communities where concerns about over-policing are widespread. If community engagement were to become a primary basis for professional advancement, however, the current results suggest that college-educated officers may adapt to the new standards as diligently as they have to the traditional criteria for reward and promotion in U.S. police departments.

Microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward people who are not classified within the “normative” standard. Perpetrators of microaggressions are often unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with people who differ from themselves. This review of microaggressions in its numerous forms seeks to address the current literature regarding aversive behavior and its impacts; this includes investigating the manifestation and influence of everyday “isms,” on the quality of life of those on the receiving end of these acts. Ensuing suggestions regarding institutional-level education, training, and research—particularly in the higher educational realm—in the work towards reducing microaggression-inducing behaviors are discussed.