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Several years ago the first author of this book was asked by an Ivy League institution to conduct diversity training related to making the university a more welcoming place for students, staff, and faculty of color. Apparently, many students of color had complained over the years that the campus climate was alienating, hostile, and invalidating. To address this observation, the university held a one‐week event with many diversity activities. Professor Sue's part was to conduct a half‐day training session with all the deans of the respective colleges.

As Professor Sue was being introduced by the coordinator, he looked around the audience and was struck by the fact that not a single dean or representative of the office was a person of color. He also noted that most were men and that women were also underrepresented. Standing before the group, he made the following observation: “As I look around the room and at the sea of faces before me, I am struck by the fact that not a single one of you seems to be a visible racial ethnic minority. Do you know the message you are sending to me and people of color on this campus?” Several participants shifted in their seats and looked at one another but remained silent.

Macroaggressions hold their power because they often send hidden, invalidating, demeaning, or insulting messages. From the perspective of students and faculty of color, the absence of administrators of color sent a series of loud and clear messages:

 “You and your kind are not welcome here.”

 “If you choose to come to our campus, you will not feel comfortable here.”

 “If you choose to stay, there is only so far you can advance. You may not graduate (students of color) or get tenured/promoted (faculty of color).”

 “You must conform and assimilate to our way of being if you want to succeed.”

When people of color and White women see an institution or organization that is primarily White or when they see that people at the upper levels of the administration or management team are primarily White and male, the message they take away is quite unmistakable and profound: The chances of doing well at this institution are stacked against them (Ahmed, 2012; Bonilla‐Silva, 2006; Inzlicht & Good, 2006). Linking microaggressions to health disparities for Black Americans, Gómez (2015) explained, “[M]icroaggressions in mental health care settings could be a form of institutional betrayal … such as an institution with no Black therapists employed … [or] lack of culturally‐responsive therapies offered” (p. 130). Similarly, gender macroaggressions can also be systemic or environmental. When women in the workplace enter a conference room where portraits of all the past male chief executives or directors are displayed, the macroaggressive message is that women are not capable of doing well in leadership positions and the “glass ceiling” is powerful. When a male colleague's office wall is filled with seductive pictures of women or when Playboy magazines are present on desks at a place of employment, women employees may feel objectified, demeaned, and unwelcomed.