<p>I have no idea about this situation, but I know a little about minority (within the population involved) students’ photos on websites. </p>
<p>We had a friend who was one of two Asian-American students among the 400 students at her Brooklyn middle school and she was in many photos on their website. And that’s not the only example.</p>
<p>My D and I attended a workshop on HBCUs recently and all of the alumni who spoke said that they are becoming more diverse as people other than AA discover the many positives of the schools, including the generous scholarships. Undergrads go on to some of the “top tier” grad programs, should they so choose. One of the fastest growing student populations at some of the HBCUs is Hispanics-they identify well with being underrepresented. The other draw-for any student-is that most are small and all students will get as much personal attention as they want-and that keeps them from becoming just a number or data point. One graduate talked about a prof calling her mother to ask how they could help her pass a course in which she was having a particularly hard time.</p>
<p>My D has HBCUs at the top her list. Even though she’s in 8th grade, she’s been taken seriously by anyone from any of them she’s approached, up to and including faculty members and department heads. That kind of respect goes a long way in my book.</p>
<p>As for the girl in the story-it’s entirely possible to grow up in the diverse city and never know anyone but those who look, talk and live like they do. We ran into that in the special elementary program D was in for a couple of years. Some of her classmates had never been to our part of the city, others had never met a black person. D’s experiences shaped her future in ways we could not have imagined. </p>
<p>I’m sure the girl has been asked some hard questions about her choice to go to Howard, but it sounds like she’s sincere.</p>
<p>“Well he was our first black president.”</p>
<p>Second. You forgot Harding.</p>
<p>I think it’s worth noting that many people consider HBCUs inferior on their face. It was pretty funny when Rand Paul visited Howard U. and assumed that he had to teach the students about black history.</p>
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<p>[Rand</a> Paul acknowledges stumbles at Howard: ?It is harder for me?](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/04/17/rand-paul-acknowledges-stumbles-at-howard-it-is-harder-for-me/]Rand”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/04/17/rand-paul-acknowledges-stumbles-at-howard-it-is-harder-for-me/)</p>
<p>[University</a> Scholarship Overview - North Carolina A&T State University](<a href=“http://www.ncat.edu/admissions/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/univ-sch-rk-tm-bw.html]University”>http://www.ncat.edu/admissions/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/univ-sch-rk-tm-bw.html)</p>
<p>NC A&T Diversity scholarship, for NC residents</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>“I think it’s worth noting that many people consider HBCUs inferior on their face.”</p>
<p>They do. At the workshop we attended, several of the speakers turned down or transferred from “top tier” schools and manged to get jobs everywhere from Wall St. to getting into med school. But they noted some people still think they’re not very bright or educated. Except for those who recruited them…</p>
<p>It makes perfect sense that just as predominantly white colleges and universities (most of them) want to increase their minority enrollment to enhance their students’ experience by providing a diverse environment, predominantly black colleges would do the same.</p>
<p>Do the experiences of white students at any of the UCs which are >45% asian, or UH-Manoa correspond to her experience at Howard? I know one of my friends commented that he never appreciated what it was like to be a minority until he came to UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>If so, it seems odd that many white students desiring an urban environment dismiss the idea of attending Howard but list Berkeley as one of their top choices.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley is 29% non-Hispanic white, and Manoa is 21% non-Hispanic white. Howard apparently doesn’t have their CDS online; the best Google gives me is that they’re maybe 1% non-Hispanic white.</p>
<p>For my non-white kid, if she were at a school in which her ethnicity had 21% representation, it would feel like everyone looked like her. It’s all in what you’re used to.</p>
<p>One of my h.s. friends ( a single Mom…not a lot of money) has a S who went to NC A&T for the Diversity scholarship. He graduated w/ an engineering degree.</p>
<p>^^^^yep, have one that also just graduated from A&T with a mech e degree!! Best kept engineering secret…shhhhhhhhhhhh</p>
<p>small classes, tons of research monies, funding and grants, LAC feel, small size and the tuition, wow just wow (he choose it over NCSU) much to the chagrin over his two sibs who are NCSU grads!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>“While the article does make it sound as if she was raised in a bubble, I find it hard to believe that’s the case.”</p>
<p>I’m taking her word for it. I’m also taking her at her word that in her college search, location, money, and sports were all she cared about (if academics mattered at all, then they were low enough on the list not to merit a mention). I don’t think it’s a very good model for other students to follow.</p>
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<p>Were they too busy visiting Bob Jones University instead?
[Bob</a> Jones: A Magnet School for Controversy](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-02/25/045r-022500-idx.html]Bob”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-02/25/045r-022500-idx.html)</p>
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<p>Of the state universities in California, UCR is 18% white, SJSU is 24% white, and CSULA is 10% white. But no one (among white students) seems to think of them as “I’m going to be a member of a minority group there”.</p>
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<p>You are not the only one who has noticed that many non-black students posting here seem to think of HBUs as inherently undesirable.</p>
<p>“But no one (among white students) seems to think of them as “I’m going to be a member of a minority group there”.”</p>
<p>In fairness, it’s a different thing to be in one of many non-dominant groups, versus being outside the one group that constitutes the overwhelming majority. SJSU and UCR are like the United Nations. Everybody is a minority there – that IS the majority experience.</p>
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<p>But then what about UTEP (85% Latino), Florida International (69% Latino), CSULA (62% Latino), UH Manoa (60% Asian), UC Irvine (51% Asian), New Mexico State (51% Latino)? (percentages from collegedata.com )</p>
<p>Or, for that matter, what about all of the non-white students who go to universities which are more than 50% white?</p>
<p>Maybe schools like Howard should stop calling themselves HBCUs. The other 99.9% of higher education institutions in this country don’t call themselves HWCUs, even though they are…</p>
<p>The categories “Latino” and “Asian” are not comparable to “African-American.” They are U.S. umbrella terms for wildly diverse groups of ethnicities. The census groups people from Cambodia and Japan together, and ditto people from the Dominican Republic and Peru, but on a campus like UCR, they are the furthest thing from an ethnic bloc. The African-Americans at Howard are overwhelmingly from one ethnic group: the descendants of African slaves from the American south, with smaller groups of Caribbean and African immigrant families.</p>
<p>UTEP, on the other hand, is more comparable to Howard. It’s not just 85% Latino; it’s probably 84% Mexican-American. (Yes, there are ethnic subgroups within Mexico, but most Mexicans share a tangible national identity.)</p>
<p>“Or, for that matter, what about all of the non-white students who go to universities which are more than 50% white?”</p>
<p>What about them? I see non-white students expressing thoughtful concern about this all the time. Check the forums on schools like Washington & Lee and Middlebury.</p>
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Really, now? A schools isn’t called an HBCU just because it has a lot of black people.</p>