<p>I'm not sure she is going for engineering. Lehigh appealed because it was close to home (35 minutes or miles...). I am serious when I say that, based on the OP's prior thread, the parameters are so narrow that there truly is no school that will meet them all, with the exception of Oberlin and that might be a little far from home. The OP feels that the entire northeast (especially NJ and PA) is filled with bigots, but that remains the geographic parameter. Bucknell is out because of the aforementioned bigots as well as the Greek scene. The daughter is bi-racial and sounds like a lovely, intelligent girl and would likely do fine at a number of schools. She is applying to Ursinus, which is small and not diverse, in my opinion. I spend a lot of time in Collegeville and don't see this as a fit. The OP wasn't sure she has the stats for the Swarthmore level of school, which further narrows the choices. Ithaca is filled with "scary white people". </p>
<p>I went to school near Lehigh, and grew up near Collegeville. I would agree that if you're looking for a racially diverse and tolerant atmosphere, this is not the right area to be looking in. I'd agree with the recommendation to move toward Philadelphia, or NJ--NJ is a huge melting pot. My Hispanic husband experienced prejudice in PA, but not in NJ.</p>
<p>Based on what I'm reading in the link the OP posted, and based on onefour's comments, I wouldn't want my kids going to Lehigh. However, I still believe in letting kids make up their own mind about colleges as long as the parents feel they can afford the college.</p>
<p>In the OP's situation, I strongly recommend letting your D do an overnight visit or two at Lehigh before she decides to go there. She also should do overnights at other colleges so she has a basis for comparisons.</p>
<p>Good idea for any college, particularly when a student may be one of the few minorities on campus or may have other concerns that make it vital that the student see the campus up close and very personal.</p>
<p>Doesn't need to do the overnights, though, until she's accepted since travel, etc. is expensive. I strongly suggest that black students do their overnights at more than times in which black students are invited to experience the campus. If the students only visit during black student weekends, they can get a very distorted idea about how many blacks are on campus and how many events and activities there may appeal to them.</p>
<p>"I wouldn't let my D go anywhere near Dixie, and she wouldn't even if I didn't feel that way. The history of race relations there is just too peculiar and ugly."</p>
<p>Quote from Plainsman from another thread. You are quickly running out of places you will allow your D to go. I'll bet she is a strong person who will make a positive difference wherever she lands. Don't underestimate her. I think you should be able to tell by the election results, that although racism truly exists, that is not the majority of America. There will always be bad people and we all need to be positive role models for them. Leave her alone and let her find her own way.</p>
<p>If the OP feels so strongly tell his D there are a few schools he is not willing to pay for. My H did this with my kids. One was a private school that many people who like UCLA have a bias against. The other was U of Colorado in Boulder for child 2. Feeling on Boulder for this particular kid was that if he wanted a party school we had several in Ca that fit the same bill that were much cheaper. (truthfully for this particular child we vetoed the Ca public party schools as well)</p>
<p>"I wouldn't let my D go anywhere near Dixie, and she wouldn't even if I didn't feel that way. The history of race relations there is just too peculiar and ugly."</p>
<p>I've lived in the South including the Deep South. There is racism all over this country. There are places in the South that are far more liberal than you'll find in parts of many northern places including in very liberal places like Boston.</p>
<p>It's naive to write off an entire region of the country due to fears about racism.</p>
<p>Plainsman appears to have a problem with Lehigh specifically and Pennsylvania in general. Don't suggest New Jersey. Residents of that state are just as racist if not more so according to an earlier post he made. I am not an apologist for Lehigh and have no friends or realatives attending the school. I have been on campus a couple times recently and was moved to read the Fall 2008 Brown and White (the college paper) after Plainsman posted earlier. </p>
<p>From those sources and others I have concluded that Lehigh has a real balance of political views represented in the student body, with active Republican and Democrat clubs. Overall, the campus appears to lean just slightly left of center (which would make it seem hard right in comparison to Wesleyan and Swarthmore). </p>
<p>The incidents cited in the links are certainly troubling. Yet they represent the actions of one or two dozen morons out of more than 6,000 students. I have trouble condemning the vast majority of Lehigh students for the actions of a small minority of jerks. I think it is only fait to note that both the Lehigh administration and the majority of the student body condemns those actions.</p>
<p>Now if you want a liberal, activist student body don't go to Lehigh. But don't try to paint it as Ole Miss Circa 1960 transplanted to the north.</p>
<p>Whether hidden or exposed, I generally assume some degree or form of bigotry exists in most places. That's not to suggest I seek it out or have a paranoia about it. It just means I'm not shocked or especially alarmed when the issue rises to the surface. It also means I don't condemn an entire community of people, or an institution, based on the actions of a few of its members. </p>
<p>The exception, of course, is when a community or institution cultivates or promotes an environment that tolerates such bigotry and/or provides a safe haven for it to be practiced openly with impunity. </p>
<p>Does the OP's article provide evidence that Lehigh is such a place? I guess it depends on which aspect you choose to weigh more heavily: the fact that certain incidents apparently occur there, or the fact that the administration is listening and plans to implement policies to mitigate such problems in the future. </p>
<p>Given my limited knowledge, and admittedly meager attempt to put this in some kind of context, if my kid had a legitimate interest and desire to attend a school such as Lehigh, I don't think I would attempt to dissuade them based fears of racism. These are not violent acts (in which case, my opinion would be completely different); just some random name calling and comments from what seems a small minority of students. The possibility of being confronted with such experiences at a school, that in all other ways, is a good fit, wouldn't bother me too much. I'm confident they could handle it appropriately and still have no problem making plenty of friends and accomplishing whatever they set out to do. Thus, unless there's more to the story, this would not be a deterrent. </p>
<p>However, I realize perception of such matters varies widely from person to person.</p>
<p>Yes, Lehigh is conservative and b/c of the lack of racial diversity (more specifically the low black and Latino enrollment), a black student may encounter more racial hostility there and perhaps a less than responsive administration. These facts haven't changed since OP's original thread.</p>
<p>We crossed Lehigh off D1's list early on (despite her interest in engineering/architecture) and never looked back: too conservative, too much drinking, frats to prominent, black enrollment too low. Also, White friends/colleagues who are Lehigh alumni affirmative (sometimes aggressively) discouraged D from applying - - they got great educations, but considered the atmosphere toxic and insist that Lehigh has changed much less in the past 20+ years than other top LACs or small unis. Perhaps even more significantly, this couple discouraged their own son, now a frsoh at NYU, from applying to Lehigh.</p>
<p>Lehigh is not the only conservative school (Hamilton, Trinity, Bucknell, etc.), but there are soooo many choices that I think post #2 was correct. Forget Lehigh and move on. Or, if being w/i 35 min of home is significant enough to keep Lehigh in play despite it's conservative atmosphere, keep it on your D's list - - but continuing to complain about the campus' racial tone won't change it or assist you in identifying schools that are a good match for your D.</p>
<p>Trinity is another school that, like Lehigh, CC posters assume is conservative or racially intolerant. An incident that took place there recently produced some surprising -- to some folks -- results:</p>
<p>I think Franklin and Marshall has an engineering program. It is a very diverse community and not too far from home. Enough prestige for engineering, I am not sure. It is a great school!</p>
<p>Oberlin and Lehigh are barely in the same universe. If the OP is interested in an Oberlin-like college within three hours or so of Lehigh, and if she has the record to be a legitimate candidate for admission at Oberlin, I would suggest looking at the following:</p>
<p>Haverford. (My son has two friends there who love it, one African-American -- and Muslim -- the other Puerto Rican.)</p>
<p>Connecticut College.</p>
<p>Hamilton. (I know it used to be conservative, but the two kids I know there now aren't conservative at all, and don't give the impression that they feel out of the mainstream. One, a senior Environmental Studies major from a rural community, has had a dream career there, with tremendous support from the faculty.)</p>
<p>F&M and Ursinus aren't bad choices, either, at a less-reachy level than the foregoing.</p>
<p>First of all, as a parent, we let our kids pick their colleges and did not influence their decisions. We feel it is their education and their experience, even if we are writing the checks. </p>
<p>That said, if you or your D has reservations about Lehigh, there are so many other schools out there, why bother with this one? If the atmosphere on campus doesn't seem like a good fit, find ones where the fit is more to your D. I have no idea your D's stats or interests. But perhaps a more urban environment like a Carnegie Mellon or Johns Hopkins would be to her liking. Or a more liberal school (she likes Oberlin you say) would be a better fit or a school that highly values diversity. I agree with JHS about Haverford. What about Union College?</p>
<p>This girl needs to get much farther away from home than 35 miles. I suggest Lewis & Clark. Plainsman hasn't totally ruled out the entire Northwest yet, except for the distance from home? Can't wait for the search for a study abroad program.</p>
<p>I don't recall whether OP's D is definite about engineering, but I found many of the schools w/ engineering programs to be more conservative than your lefty, top-tier LAC. Among the more liberal schools w/ engineering: Smith; URoch and Tufts. Case wasn't bad either; I would have thought it too far away for OP, but it's no farther away than Oberlin. We didn't like F&M (remote, frats and, when D was looking, only 2% black). Conn College was fine, but I was a bit put off by the uniformly good-looking student body - - though D assured me she woudl, "fit in just fine."</p>
<p>"Yes, Lehigh is conservative and b/c of the lack of racial diversity (more specifically the low black and Latino enrollment), a black student may encounter more racial hostility there and perhaps a less than responsive administration. These facts haven't changed since OP's original thread.</p>
<p>We crossed Lehigh off D1's list early on (despite her interest in engineering/architecture) and never looked back: too conservative, too much drinking, frats to prominent, black enrollment too low. Also, White friends/colleagues who are Lehigh alumni affirmative (sometimes aggressively) discouraged D from applying - - they got great educations, but considered the atmosphere toxic and insist that Lehigh has changed much less in the past 20+ years than other top LACs or small unis. Perhaps even more significantly, this couple discouraged their own son, now a frsoh at NYU, from applying to Lehigh."
- foolishpleasure</p>
<p>Thank you, foolishpleaure. Exactly my feelings. No "toxic" atmosphere for my D. Fortunately, my D has zero interest in engineering. She really does not know what she wants to major in but is certain engineering isn't for her (Note: the majority of incoming Lehigh frosh are no longer engineering or math majors). She's applying to LACs and private Us, with one exception: our state's flagship State U. All the schools are either extremely liberal, radical left or center-left (Cornell), except for Lehigh, which is ultra-right wing. </p>
<p>Admittedly, I'm pushing her toward the lefty schools because of my own experience attending a center-right conservative private university. The FBI was a big recruiter on campus when I was there. I remember sitting in classes in Philosophy, Statistics and a few others, the only black in the entire class. Nobody would talk to me. Amazingly, the only students who wanted to be friends with me were a couple of Chinese-American students (one became my girlfriend). They too felt shunned by those conservative white students, so they drifted to the black guy. Me. By the time I graduated, I didn't have a single white classmate I could call 'friend.' I never would've gone to that school had someone in my family been able to advise me about things like campus culture and race relations, or dominant political views on campus. My parents didn't go to college. My dad didn't finish high school. And the guidance counselor at my urban public school didn't know her behind from a hole in the ground. </p>
<p>I won't let me D make a "blind" decision like I did. Most of you understand. A few like MomofWildchild, make themselves feel better by making sarcastic remarks about me. I hadn't said a word about Lehigh in weeks. Then the article came out this week on the front page of the biggest newspaper in my county here in PA. I couldn't ignore it.</p>
<p>What I am saying has nothing to do with making myself feel better. I have no idea what you are talking about. I have been clear since your first thread that I think you are on the wrong track with how you are trying to control your daughter's college search and how you base everything for her on your OWN past. You have slammed entire states, communities and regions of the country. I can certainly understand helping one's child pick a suitable environment, but when you set rigid parameters and then shoot down every suggestion you are given, it doesn't get you too far.</p>
<p>But honestly, unless you're looking at Bob Jones University, I doubt overt racism is present at previous levels. That's why it makes the news when something happens--it's much rarer now.</p>
<p>You can always transfer out of a college if you don't like it...</p>