<p>1) Is Tuscaloosa extremely conservative?
2) Can Californian fit in ?
3) How would a Latino fit in ?
4) Campus Safe?
5) Have to ask it, Racism,prejudism
6) Any other minorities aside from African-Americans ?</p>
<p>Thanks guys, Im looking into UofA because the school is offering a good amount of money.</p>
<p>1) Compared to California, yes.</p>
<p>2) Sure, once you accept this isn't California and "the California way" doesn't alway fly with "the Alabama way".</p>
<p>3) There are way fewer Latinos in Alabama than in California. The numerical difference is probably what is gonna be the most shell-shocking. However, people are very friendly.</p>
<p>4) Yes, assuming you use common sense.</p>
<p>5) What about it?</p>
<p>5) Some. UA is compartively white-bread compared to UAB.</p>
<p>1.) It's the south so, you will run into a lot of conservatives (It's not Berkeley...which is probably a good thing). I'm a liberal who is happily going to Bama because from what I have been told by friends there, the political scene is fairly balanced and everyone respects and tolerates the others views, even if they disagree.</p>
<p>2.) There is a huge contingent of out-of-state students at Bama and you'd be just fine. In fact, the simple fact that you're from California would probably grab the attention of all the fine sorority girls who are only used to southern boys.</p>
<p>3.) Campus is predominantly white and black but from what I've seen from the many times I've been there while school was in session, people just don't seem to care too much about your race (Ha..didn't think you'd hear that about Alabama did you?). Bama is the more diverse of the two major schools in Alabama (Bama and Auburn). If you go to Auburn and you are a minority, you are probably there for sports (From what I've heard, racial tensions at Auburn run high).</p>
<p>5.) You will find this absolutely anywhere in the United States but I think it has really been brought under control. Most students hail from suburbs around Birmingham and are a generation removed from segregation and understand that they will not get far in this world if they are racist or prejudice.</p>
<p>6.) Same answer as 4</p>
<p>I totally differ from the last poster. My son encountered so many instances of prejudice and ignorance from local students that he tranferred. These ranged from daring to show up at a fraternity partyin a purple and white check shirt from JCrew—“■■■■■■” to trashing of out of state cars, to constant put downs as a “yankee” that said the kids from Birmingham were NOT like that. Sorority girls were only interested in Fraternity boys so don’t think that being from California makes you special unless you join a fraternity. And with regard to that, make sure you want the extra hazing (and yes it does happen at ALabama) because you are not a southerner. ALso, nice instance this year when a old row fraternity marched in front of the “black” fraternity with the confederate flag and dropped their drawers and mooned them. If you buy into the southern lifestyle and prejudice and ways you’ll be fine, but if you are looking for people that enjoy people from other states and cultures forget the deep south. That said, my son did enjoy the campus, the football games and the professors, but nothing could make up for the prejudice against kids from the north and other racial groups. Even the cops pull over kids with northern license plates. I was completely disgusted with the whole thing. I know the university is trying to get more national and recruit out of staters to broaden the base, but there is no way I would encourage ANYONE to go there. Bama might be diverse but it is not integrated and that is true with race or geographic location and yes folks, this is supposed to be America–one nation… It was a good eye opener for all of us and with five kids I will never let any of them go to the deep south.</p>
<p>1) Compared with the rest of the state, no. but that isn’t saying much. In the grand scheme of things, yes, it is pretty conservative, even for a university. There are liberals down there, but they are few and far between. </p>
<p>2) I guess so. It depends on what your lifestyle is. My friend from Cali doesn’t like the social scene down there at all.</p>
<p>3) I suppose so, but there aren’t that many down there from what I can tell.</p>
<p>4) Yes, it actually is very safe, provided you have some common sense, but that goes for pretty much every place.</p>
<p>5) Overt-racism, no, prejudiced, very much so.</p>
<p>6) Well yeah, but not a substantial amount I don’t think. I did see a ton of Asians though, but I think they were foreign exchange students.</p>
<p>Castleknock, </p>
<p>If what you say is true, I as an alum want to offer my sincerest apology for what your child experienced. Again, if what you say is true, it is intolerable. Did you ever discuss this with university administration? </p>
<p>As for the Frat’s marching by the Black Sorority house, and “mooning them”, I highly doubt that part of your story. The incident was well covered by the local media, and Never was there any allegation of the Frat boys mooning the Sorority! Furthermore, though the Frat has agreed to end its annual march on Sorority Row, the incident was not intentional. The Frat did NOT know that the Black Sorority was having a reunion that day. What the Frat did was nothing that it had not done before. And certainly, there was no collective “Mooning” by the Frat. We need to give the UA admin. credit for getting the Frat to agree to hold its annual “Southern Heritage” celebration on its Frat house grounds. I am one of the last people to defend the Frats at UA, but I really think your account of the incident is not completely factual, and it is unfair to extrapolate the incident to the whole campus. Frats after all, are a minority of the male student population.</p>
<p>Also, people need to realize that to many Southerners, the Confederate Flag is not a symbol of hate, but of heritage. I certainly oppose flying the flag on state or university buildings, and I personally feel no need to fly the Confed. flag, but people need to understand that in most Southerner’s minds, the Civil War was about more than slavery. Im not trying to get into a debate here about this issue, but just want to provide some context to what many across the nation assume is racism. </p>
<p>Finally, while the overall percentage of Latino students at UA is small compared to schools in states like CA and AZ and Texas, it is impressive as compared with other Southern schools and given the small but growing Latino population in Alabama. Several years ago, about 60 (might be higher, I dont have the exact number, but you could ask UA officials) Latino students from Texas alone came to UA on National Hispanic Scholar Awards. I believe there is a Hispanic Students Organization at UA as well. </p>
<p>Why don’t you call contact that group and get feedback from them? Also, check out this news item about UA students helping local Tuscaloosa Latino children to gain higher achievement in school. [University</a> of Alabama News Volunteer Work Inspires UA Students to Start Summer Program for Hispanic Students](<a href=“http://uanews.ua.edu/2008/06/volunteer-work-inspires-ua-students-to-start-summer-program-for-hispanic-students/]University”>http://uanews.ua.edu/2008/06/volunteer-work-inspires-ua-students-to-start-summer-program-for-hispanic-students/)</p>
<p>As for the “■■■■■■” comment, homophobia is still a problem everywhere, but there has been a student group for UA’s gay students since at least 1987. And the UA admin gave it prime office space in the Student Center. I think you will find that few schools are as agressive about hiring minority faculty or helping minority students achieve as UA. Please review the links below to get a taste of the outreach efforts of UA to help minorities. These links do not include the well known community service projects that UA students take part in to help the poor and underserved areas of the Black Belt region of Alabama (named to describe the soil of that region, but it does have a particularly high percentage of Black residents).</p>
<p>[University</a> of Alabama News UA Hosts Workshop to Introduce Minority Faculty to Engineering](<a href=“http://uanews.ua.edu/2008/05/ua-hosts-workshop-to-introduce-minority-faculty-to-engineering/]University”>http://uanews.ua.edu/2008/05/ua-hosts-workshop-to-introduce-minority-faculty-to-engineering/)</p>
<p>[University</a> of Alabama News UA to Host Silver Anniversary Multicultural Journalism Workshop](<a href=“http://uanews.ua.edu/2008/02/ua-to-host-silver-anniversary-multicultural-journalism-workshop/]University”>http://uanews.ua.edu/2008/02/ua-to-host-silver-anniversary-multicultural-journalism-workshop/)</p>
<p>[University</a> of Alabama News UA Receives NSF Grant to Fund Bridge to the Doctorate Program](<a href=“http://uanews.ua.edu/2010/06/ua-receives-nsf-grant-to-fund-bridge-to-the-doctorate-program/]University”>http://uanews.ua.edu/2010/06/ua-receives-nsf-grant-to-fund-bridge-to-the-doctorate-program/)</p>
<p>[University</a> of Alabama News UA Engineering College Ranks Fourth in Country in Percent of African-American Enrollment](<a href=“http://uanews.ua.edu/2002/01/ua-engineering-college-ranks-fourth-in-country-in-percent-of-african-american-enrollment/]University”>http://uanews.ua.edu/2002/01/ua-engineering-college-ranks-fourth-in-country-in-percent-of-african-american-enrollment/)</p>
<p>Sadly, I think you will find that few schools in this country have blacks and whites mixing as much as we would like. Compare UA’s enrollment of Black students to UCLA’s or other big schools. The reality is that a Black student at UA has a much greater ability to feel at home than at a school like UCLA, where they are a very small part of the campus. </p>
<p>When I attended UA in the late 80s and early 90s, there were a significant number of Arabs and Asian students, though sadly, that may have changed since 9/11. In one of my years on campus, I shared a room at Rose Towers with a Black, a Brazilian, and a Jersey guy. And we got along fine. My guess is that the UA Greek system would not be as inviting to the avg. Latino as the Independent student community, though there would surely be exceptions as some Frats and sororities are more progressive than others. And there are now a few multicultural Frats and Sororities at UA. I would argue that the intolerance displayed by some Frat and Sorority members has more do to with classism than racism.</p>
<p>Guys, castleknock’s first post on CC is to bump up a two and a half year old thread and make extremely accusatory remarks about a school. I would take it with a grain of salt, if even that.</p>
<p>"Also, people need to realize that to many Southerners, the Confederate Flag is not a symbol of hate, but of heritage. I certainly oppose flying the flag on state or university buildings, and I personally feel no need to fly the Confed. flag, but people need to understand that in most Southerner’s minds, the Civil War was about more than slavery. Im not trying to get into a debate here about this issue, but just want to provide some context to what many across the nation assume is racism.
I appreciate you providing this explanation. During our tour, the guide pointed out the four antebellum structures and talked about how proud they are of their confederate soldiers for protecting these buildings. Being from the north, it’s certainly a different perspective that takes some getting used to, but it helps when you put it in the context of the war being about more than slavery.</p>
<p>As a native Californian, I can offer…</p>
<p>1) Is Tuscaloosa extremely conservative?</p>
<p>NO. BTW… California is not that liberal. Much of Calif is pretty conservative. Tuscaloosa is not San Francisco of course. It’s more like Orange County.</p>
<p>The campus was Obama-land during the last election. So, no, the campus isn’t “conservative”…I would say it’s more “middle of the road” with the left and the right existing, but most are probably around the center. </p>
<p>2) Can Californian fit in ?</p>
<p>Absolutely. No problem.</p>
<p>3) How would a Latino fit in ?</p>
<p>Fine. </p>
<p>4) Campus Safe?</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>5) Have to ask it, Racism,prejudism</p>
<p>There is some degree of racism everywhere…even on Calif campuses which was reported over the last couple of years. Virtually every campus in this country complains that blacks and whites do not socialize enough together. There is even a book, <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Black-Kids-Sitting-Together-Cafeteria/dp/0465083617[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Black-Kids-Sitting-Together-Cafeteria/dp/0465083617</a></p>
<p>6) Any other minorities aside from African-Americans ?</p>
<p>African Americans represent the largest minority group. Asian numbers aren’t “high” across the board within all majors, but Asians are more concentrated in engineering and science majors. Hispanic numbers are growing.</p>
<p>1) Is Tuscaloosa extremely conservative?
Tuscaloosa is less conservative than most of Alabama due to the University and the large African American population. I’ve been involved in causes that are historically very liberal and those causes do have a good amount of student involvement. The political views of the students in your classes will likely depend on what major you have. People are generally very respectful of a person’s political views.</p>
<p>2) Can Californian fit in?
Anyone can fit it provided they make the effort to be respectful to others and don’t automatically assume that certain aspects of their culture are better than those of others. UA is heavily recruiting California students and it has been very successful in its efforts. I have not encountered any Northern or Western bias. Yes, there are some aspects of the local culture that I was not previously familiar with, but that is to be expected anywhere. I’ve lived near Seattle all my life and still don’t fit in with all the cultural aspects of that region. Tuscaloosa is definitely not San Francisco, Boston or Seattle, but I was expecting that.</p>
<p>3) How would a Latino fit in? The Latino population is increasing, but it’s not to the levels seen on the West Coast, Southwest, or Florida. You will meet people who are not used to knowing many Latinos, let alone those cultures. Use this as an opportunity to teach them. If you are planning on going Greek, you may encounter more difficulties, but that is true almost everywhere.</p>
<p>4) Campus Safe?
The campus is very safe, but should you ever have a problem, call the police and they will be there very quickly. I’ve been in all parts of Tuscaloosa, both good and bad and have always felt safe. Take the normal precautions and you will be fine.</p>
<p>5) Have to ask it, Racism,prejudism?
Overt Racism is extremely rare. Prejudice is present throughout society and we all have to deal with it in varying degrees no matter where we go. As Gandhi said, be the change you want to see in the world. I’m of the belief that most prejudice is based on ignorance and misinformation, both of which can be fixed.</p>
<p>6) Any other minorities aside from African-Americans?
As others have said, there is a large amount of Asian and Middle Eastern students and faculty, but not to the degree you see on the West Coast.</p>
<p>7)The school is offering a good amount of money.
UA wants the best and brightest and is putting its money where its mouth is. The scholarships get one interested in UA and a visit to campus makes people intent on attending UA, even if the scholarship is lower than that of other schools. Still, UA is not for everyone and that is to be expected. It is my hope that people really consider UA in their college search. If anything, you can always say that you considered a possible opportunity that might be good for your friends and/or family members. </p>
<p>When dealing with people who dislike the South or any other area for whatever reason and spread false or hyperbolic information, I like to think of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song “Sweet Home Alabama” as my response.</p>
<p>Dear Castleknock, </p>
<p>You’re a low life scum sucking loser from that cow college across the state. Your transparency is evident. Next time at least get a few facts straight if you want to sound enlightened.</p>
<p>PS. auburn sucks.</p>
<p>NJBama, I’m concerned about the way you hold in your emotions. Tell us how you really feel, lol :)</p>
<p>ElTaco, I can only say that my D, who could be considered very liberal, chose to attend UA this fall as a freshman after visiting campus and really liking the vibe. She is Caucasian, so she didn’t have to consider some of the factors you ask about. However, she is coming from a large, very diverse public high school and wouldn’t have considered any college she thought too homogeneous. </p>
<p>Good luck with your search - visit as many campuses as possible and find the one that feels right and offers everything you need to meet your life goals.</p>
<p>Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Guys, please take note this thread is two and half years old, and the OP has long since gone elsewhere (looks like Vandy, judging by his recent posts). </p>
<p>Don’t feed the ■■■■■.</p>
<p>Ahhh. Yes. I’m not very observant.</p>
<p>
Much of inland California was settled by southerners and Okies originally. In fact, the “native” accent of Kern County is actually East Texan. </p>
<p>Also, even along the coast there are many, many conservatives. I always find it fun when I meet a surfer bro who starts complaining about gay marriage or fiscal reform.</p>
<p>Just an aside…</p>
<p>
Well it’s nice to get some insight, both positive and negative</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>It’s not really “insight” when the person is lying.</p>
<p>Well, not what the OP says, of course…but I think every thread is valuable in its own ways :)</p>