<p>I'm an African American looking to attend next year...could you describe what it would be like for African Americans? Any discrimination? Who do they tend to hang out with, people of their own kind? Just general info would be nice.</p>
<p>First of all, as an African American attending UT, I can say there really seems to be a lot of African Americans here. At orientation fellow African Americans made me feel like we would be a rare species to find on campus, but I don’t find that true at all. I have never felt discriminated against, but that’s just my experience as a a freshman so far. African Americans do tend to hang out with each other a lot, like almost all the time. I do, but I also like to hang out with other races of people. There are also a lot of African American run theme weeks here where they put on programs and offer helpful information and have activities. Overall I can say that it has been a positive experience, and if you are worried about being a “minority” definitely don’t be there are plenty of people to meet.</p>
<p>Dear god…seriously?</p>
<p>good job answering the question.</p>
<p>i’m black as well (i don’t feel the need to be politically correct, sorry) and i also want to attend. since my parents went there and my brother and father have lived in austin for years, they don’t think i have anything to worry about. discrimination has never been an issue for me before; i’ve only lived in austin for 2 months (plus many summers) but i never felt discriminated against, not even for a split second. </p>
<p>don’t let the statistics scare you, you’ll be fine. i can’t speak on whether or not the black students at UT austin only talk to “their own kind”, but i’m sure that’s not the case all the time. if you’re from a primarily black background, i can understand your concern. you should try to be colour-blind though, it may inspire others to do the same as well.</p>
<p>Hang out with people of their own kind???
what…?</p>
<p>Um anyway, I’m black so I’ll answer from my perspective and keep it real.</p>
<p>I feel there’s “enough” (for lack of a better word) black people here. I’ve heard of others who feel there are fewer black people than they anticipated. We’re about 4% of the school…14% of the nation. It depends on one’s background. I think the black people who come from really black schools (I’m talking >70%) have a lot of adjusting to do.
I’m a freshman, and I’ve never been discriminated against. I’ve heard of people who have been discriminated against (I also was told by an Asian friend she was told something racist).
I mean this is Texas…there will be racists, but they shouldn’t hinder you from doing anything.
And yes, black people are glued together for the most part. But that can be said about…any group…I see large groups of Asians, Muslims, Indians, you name it. People don’t do it on purpose. We befriend people who are like us, and people who are like us tend to be of the same ethnicity. I honestly think most people are open to befriending anyone.</p>
<p>“And yes, black people are glued together for the most part. But that can be said about…any group…I see large groups of Asians, Muslims, Indians, you name it. People don’t do it on purpose. We befriend people who are like us, and people who are like us tend to be of the same ethnicity. I honestly think most people are open to befriending anyone”</p>
<p>Exactly, it makes me sad that the campus isn’t as diverse as I thought it would be</p>
<p>I don’t think that means it’s less diverse. People aren’t unfriendly towards people of other ethnicities, it’s just that they tend to gravitate towards people that are similar… It happens everywhere, not just at UT.</p>
<p>It’s Texas, were you REALLY expecting much “diversity”. </p>
<p>Also “African American” is just so ridiculous. </p>
<p>Just say black folks.</p>
<p>Texas: 51% White/Non-Hispanic, 20% Asian, 21% Hispanic/Non-White
State of Texas: 48% White/Non Hispanic, 36% Hispanic, 3% Asian</p>
<p>Michigan:71% White/Non-Hispanic
State of Michigan: 79% White/Non-Hispanic</p>
<p>UCLA:32% White, 40% Asian, 17% Hispanic
UC-Berkeley: 30% White, 42% Asian, 11% Hispanic</p>
<p>State of California: 42% White, 36% Hispanic, 12% Asian</p>
<p>UVA: 59% White/Non-Hispanic
State of Virginia: 75% White</p>
<p>I hate the phrase “African American.” I live in GA, and most of these morons dont even know where Africa is. BTW in a REAL African (Nigeria), so if anyone is an African America it would be people like me.</p>
<p>Cheers for FutureVp!!! You gave the perfect response.</p>
<p>How does FutureVp’s response correlate to the topic???</p>
<p>Anyway, I have a few friends at UT and they say the school’s great when it comes to diversity. If you want to branch out to people who are unlike you, go ahead. People are not as mean as you think.</p>
<p>lmao you guys are so anal. overlook it, yeah?</p>
<p>what omgseriously said wrapped it up enough.</p>
<p>and most people say “African American” to be politically correct, because some people still get touchy when you just say “black”. and from what I understand, african american = an american of african descent. black usually = anybody of african descent. so saying black american/african american is just being specific.</p>
<p>mabroka- I was reinforcing a comment made by GOPTexas. not really related to the topic, I know. I just think that if I (or anyone else) can call someone white, asian, latino, etc than being called black shouldnt be a problem because it’s really no different.</p>
<p>I’m an African-American student at UT and I’ve been here for three years. Orientation just states the facts in terms of numbers, but because the black community at UT is pretty tight-knit, it feels as though there are a lot of black students here. However, once you step outside of the community and go to class, or other events that are not geared towards black students, you start to see what they mean when they say that African-Americans on campus are few in number. But hey, if you involve yourself in the black community, it doesn’t feel that way. </p>
<p>Also, just because people tend to associate with those that are like them doesn’t mean that people don’t talk to other individuals. I have friends of all races and ethnicities here at UT because I branched out and involved myself in a lot of different organizations, not just those in the black community. </p>
<p>I haven’t encountered much discrimination here at UT except for the random ignorant comment here or there, or a drunken comment in west campus, but hey, we live in Texas, so these things tend to happen (not that it makes them okay).</p>
<p>Um, those things happen in Maine, too!</p>
<p>@Ezra: I’m black and I plan on attending as well. At first I was a little concerned about this topic, but over the summer I spent weeks at UT Austin attending various camps. I know that a summer camp can’t truly give me the full spectrum of the actual students attending, but my general experience definitely eased my worries. </p>
<p>Outside of the camp participants and within I did notice that there were few black people around. (Let me explain the camp participants) They usually consisted of mostly white, asian, and hispanic/latino people. I surely wasn’t the only black person though. Honestly I don’t even recall any of us black people hanging around each other anyways so it was never even significant. </p>
<p>Outside of the camp while there were still few black people, I could tell that the ones that I saw had a deeper sense of comradeship. I also saw some hanging around in more diverse environments. No one of any race made me feel slighted in any way. </p>
<p>Anyways, my point it that I was never made to feel uncomfortable. I know this testament is pretty weak but I’m not concerned about race issues. However, everyone has there own experiences and are effected by them in different ways. Maybe I’ll see you there in fall 2011?</p>
<p>my history professor said there are around 600 black male undergrads and 200 of those are athletes. </p>
<p>So out of 40k people there are 400 non-athlete black males so i imagine they are pretty cliquish</p>
<p>@bottlecap, possibly :)</p>
<p>@sketchedout, well info from collegeboard say that there are 38kish undergrads there, not 40k, and of those 50k, 5% are black. that would be more like ~2000.</p>
<p>thanks all</p>
<p>I said black males 
and my prof actually said 600 black males in all of UT including graduate programs</p>