Does racism endure? Should it still exist in an open, liberal multicultural society particularly with the establishment of anti-discriminative laws and societal development? Racism should be minimal among the educated populace in a university where individuals are more likely to be motivated to act in an objective and non-prejudiced manner. Have the programmes and policies that stress on fairness and equality suppressed the manifestation of racism into modern racism? Racial microaggression is an indirect and subtle form of racism that happens in everyday life that may be intentionally and unintentionally executed by the perpetrators and often catch the recipients off-guard. This research aims to unearth the themes of racial microaggression experienced among Malaysian public university scholars. It also explores the reactions of people experiencing racial microaggression. A qualitative study involving personal, one-to-one in-depth interviews was conducted with 40 undergraduates, from 4 racial groups (Malay, Chinese, Indian and East Malaysian) recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. Interpretational Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data. Results indicated 11 common themes such as: (i) Paradox of over-scrutiny/ overlook, (ii) Differential treatment towards people from different race/ religion, and (iii) Assumption of superiority/ inferiority/ intelligence due to race. The reactions include thoughts (e.g. disbelieve) and negative emotions (e.g. disappointment). The results of this research are important in revealing and understanding the phenomenon of racial microaggression. The present research may deliver informative insights into the reality of inter/ intra-ethnic interaction in a university raising awareness and helping to develop effective measurements to reduce such behaviours among scholars.