This is from 2018, but many more students came from SF, LA counties or out of state than from SLO county. Only the San Joaquin Valley is less represented in the freshman class, so I’m not sure that Cal Poly SLO is less diverse because it mostly draws students from the surrounding county.
Geographic Origin of Freshmen: San Francisco Bay Area: 26.6% Central Coast (San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Monterey counties): 7.1% Los Angeles area: 21.7% San Joaquin Valley: 6.7 % San Diego area : 8.4% Sacramento area: 7.3% Other California Counties : 4.4% Other U.S. states: 14.8%
That is assuming African-Americans apply (and are accepted) at the same or similar rate as white, asian, etc. If there are not many applications – and given the fact that CA public schools cannot take race into account in admissions – then there isn’t a whole lot CPSLO can do to increase that number to better match the overall population numbers. (except increase marketing and other outreach, I suppose, to bolster apps in future classes)
But this is true for all California publics and SLO’s numbers are even lower. There does seem to be a vicious cycle because the numbers stay low in part because the numbers are low, but few kids want to “sacrifice” their college years when they have other great options, which many underrepresented students who are accepted into cal poly SLO have.
This is what I believe is the main root of the problem. It’s not about the composition of SLO county now, but rather in the past.
This pattern was established back when nearly all college students where white. Once minority students started attending college, they did just what the majority of white kids did, went to schools close to home.
Since there weren’t many minorities in SLO county, most of the students were white. That created the self perpetuating issue you referred to.
Cal Poly does try to address it by giving algorithm points to students of Hayden Partner schools (assuming the MCA is grossly unchanged). They also have the Multicultural Scholars Program.
At the end of the day, it takes students choosing to go against established precedent to change the tide. That’s understandably a hard choice.
We were having a productive conversation about a poster’s concern over a lack of diversity at Cal Poly. Many of us who have sent children to Cal Poly gave our feedback on our children’s experiences at the school. If you are uncomfortable discussing race, then maybe this isn’t the thread for you.
To be clear, the OP did not express concern about lack of diversity. They expressed concern about race-related incidents at SLO. Clearly many of us see some possible overlap in these 2 topics, hence all the statistics and anecdotal observations of those who have visited or attended.
I do think it’s important to recognize that there may be correlation, but not necessarily causation. I’m not sure we’ve emphasized that enough in this thread.
I am the OP and I have found insights shared on this thread to be very helpful and productive. I have no idea where your comments about “whiteness,” “blackness” or “brownness” is coming from. And I totally reject the view that the discussion is racist. We are parents who believe and understand the importance of giving our children a chance to be exposed to the diversity of America – a goal that we believe and understand can be difficult to achieve. But that will not stop us from engaging in a dialogue. Thank you everyone for sharing.
I agree that it’s an important discussion. CC has many posts about students who decided against schools because towns lack nearby coffee shops or the campus are too hilly or the dorms too old. This is a significant issue with major social and mental health implications that can be off the radar for those in the “majority” group, whatever that is at a given school. Better to hear for a wider range of voices so students make an informed decision.
This thread is drifting again and reminder to all to keep this focused on the OP’s original question. This is NOT to be a discussion about race and admission but about specific incidents and experiences at Cal Poly.
Also a reminder that CC is supposed to be a welcoming and friendly community. As such I edited out some snark.
And we truly appreciated your sharing your insights into and even questions about why Asian students tend not to go to Cal Poly as well as your child’s experience. As I mentioned earlier, these insights are really helpful and we understand there are no easy answers.
At the end of the day, the question really is what will an under represented student’s experience be like, right?
Depending on your demographic, there might not be many students that look the same. In and of itself, that has to be a little jarring.
That said, my son’s friend group was very diverse. They simply knew each other as engineers.
Cal Poly, like many other schools, seems to have an intentionally malicious or just tone deaf action by one of their students every four years or so. When it happened during my son’s tenure (bros and navahos, yes, spelled incorrectly), he and all of his friends were deeply embarrassed, both for the school, and their association.
My take, and this is of a white dad of a white alum, is that most students are simply friendly living a shared experience.
That’s easy for me to say, because my son looked like the majority of students. I think though that the percentage of white students is simply a red herring for the occasional rare racist action, intended or not.
When this came up several years ago, I googled “racism” at every school he applied to. Not one was unscathed. It’s a testament to our American history more than it is about Cal Poly.
We don’t really know about the frequency. That relies on each incident being reported to authorities and being made public so that your google search finds it.
Also, less obvious race-related incidents may be off of our radar because the victim is so uncomfortable that they don’t tell anyone about it. This might include micro-aggressions like making fun of someone’s food or clothing choice, or how they cut/style their hair. When these comments are made specifically in reference to someone’s race or ethnicity, they become race-related incidents.
I suspect these happen in dorms all across America. The question is, are they more frequent at SLO than the typical university?
CPSLO would not be the only school where this may occur. Some forum favorites like University of Alabama and Washington & Lee University likely have the same issue. Historically Black schools have similar issues with respect to non-Black students.
Of course, another vicious cycle is that if a minority group on campus is barely present in person but is known in stereotypes, the few students of the minority group may not find the most welcoming treatment or find being treated as stereotypes too often. This could result in negative reputation spreading and deterring future students of that minority group from applying or matriculating.
Yes, these are encounters that affect students’ day to day- we’re not just taking about the rare events that are picked up by national media. I believe this was already shared up thread but for those interested this article touches on many issues that have been raised. https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2022/11/cal-poly-black-students/
I don’t think that @momofboiler1 was calling you a racist, they were referring to prior posts which I, myself, have flagged. (or maybe I missed something.)
No, it isn’t. But the proper procedure is to flag such a post for a moderator to deal with rather than engaging with the user. The problematic post was up for 11 hours before someone (and only one) flagged. Mods do not read every single post, but we do quickly act on flags.
