CPSLO Graduating Senior Here to Answer Any Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
21

@Kayakingmama - We were also at the open house and were struck by the lack of diversity. After googling about cal poly, racism, diversity…I found the following.

http://www.newtimesslo.com/cover/14343/out-in-the-open-cal-poly-slo-confronts-its-diversity-problem/
http://www.hercampus.com/school/cal-poly/racism-cal-poly
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/education/article112798308.html

What I’d like to know is:

  1. Beyond what is covered in the news article, what else has the administration done to address diversity issues ? Is it working?
  2. What is the atmosphere of the campus like this year after these incidents have occurred ?
  3. What happened to the students that were involved in these incidents? I see one was arrested, but was he expelled? Are students just given a slap on the wrist?

Kayakimama - I am sorry that you had to witness that appalling behavior from parents. I hope that it was not a reflection of the student body as well. DS has many friends that are gay and bi. This would not sit well with him at all.

22

My DD visited for the first time on Monday as an admitted student. She dropped it from consideration because she found the lack of diversity as very uncomfortable. She attends a very diverse High School.

23

Tolerance:
Cal Poly is liberal by average American standards, but there’s a substantial population of Ag and ignorant right wing types that make it feel like you’re not a part of California. However, the majority are normal, decent people who are just not fully educated on why social justice is important, with an obnoxious but small minority of people who think its funny to trigger people (usually anonymously). Like when we had rallies against Trump, there were 200-300 strong that showed up and 5 people who came in MAGA hats to be annoying.

So, the intersectional community is small, but extremely tight knit.

The best way I can describe it is that CP is filled with white people who don’t think they’re racist because they have black/Asian/gay/etc friends, but then freak out if those friends stop acting like straight, white people. It’s usually subtle because most of them don’t realize it.

Administration:
ASI (student government) is fully on board to making Cal Poly as welcoming as possible. I, myself, drafted the resolution for genderless bathrooms on campus a few years ago and even our current student body president is a gay woman.
The school administration is a bit slower. Diversity and inclusion staff often leave but I heard its usually due to monetary reasons like high rent, difficulty to tenure (pay is determined by CSU trustees not CP, so we can’t even fix that). But they are doing things like changing orientation week, requiring diversity training, and basically throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks. I think the biggest thing is the introduction of queer studies classes (oh and there was a Beyonce class).

After Events:
Surprisingly, the campus rallies together autonomously to tackle these issues . Like the nazi/n*gger door scrawling incident got 400+shares on fb and a subsequent meeting was held by students (they can rally a few hundred), and by the time the administration tries to hold an gathering, interest for those is low as students are rallying already for each other. Most of this campus is decent people, and its the handful (usually hiding their identities) that ruin it once/twice a year.

http://mustangnews.net/two-students-suspended-after-racist-vandalism/
(he said even faculty contacted him to see if he was okay)

I’m not sure of all outcomes, but I do know we never catch the people writing the stuff on the free speech wall. The door incident students were only suspended, got misdemeanors for vandalism, and then booted from housing - although their names were printed online and they’ll have a much harder time finding employment.

24

Thank you for your thoughtful responses. My stomach has been in knots over the incident. I can barely hold back tears when I think about hateful and insensitive their actions were. As if young adults don’t have enough pressure and stress to deal with on a daily basis to have adults make fun and marginalize their sexuality.
Personally, I don’t hold the school or the student body responsible for the actions of these few, but I want to be assured my kid will feel welcome, included and SAFE.
The campus is beautiful, the curriculum is outstanding, the students seem caring and I am hopeful it will be a fantastic college experience for my son. He has already accepted admission and is very excited about his next four years.

25

First I want to thank you in advance for taking questions. Congratulations on Columbia. My D is having a tough time deciding UCSD Structural vs CP ARCE. UCSD is larger, big cityish, more diverse (40+% Asians), but the program is too theoretical. SLO has a nice campus, not much of a city, saw very few Asians but the ARCE is fantastic program. My D best friends are mostly Asians (all born here so very Americanized), a couple will be at UCSD but none to SLO. The ones she knows going there are Caucasians but only acquaintances. She loves Asian food and shopping, didn’t see much of it at SLO. My question to you is how easy was it for you to co-mingle? What about food? How often did you go home? We are in SOCAL so train is about 6 hours. She knows if she chooses UCSD she WILL have to go to graduate school but at SLO she can get a good job after 4, so that is very attractive for her. Will she really be so busy with schoolwork that she won’t have time to miss anything?

26

First of all let me say I’m Asian so I hope what I’m going to say doesn’t offend anyone.
I think the diversity issue is a little overblown. Yes CalPoly is majority white but how does that make it less diverse than say a school with +40% Asians? Couldn’t that be looked at being less diverse also?
How are we suppose to let our children see and experience the “real” world if we try to keep them sheltered within their and our own comfort zones?
Being a minority, we will always encounter “racism and discrimination” intentionally or not and unfortunately that’s a fact of life. We can’t let a few ignorant people dictate how we think and behave. Ok getting off my soapbox now
:slight_smile:
Fwiw one of the main reason my son (freshman) chose CalPoly was he felt more “comfortable and welcomed” than at any of the UCs he got into. And when he was home during spring break, his quote was “feels like I have two homes now, here and school”. Really can’t beat that!

27

@smhs101 -I’m glad your son is enjoying his year at CPSLO. I agree on all your points. Like Kayakingmama, I want to be assured that he will be welcomed and most of all, safe. I’m not worried that DS will make friends. He is outgoing, friendly, and has already met a bunch of kids at the open house. What i have read in the news articles though has given me much pause.

28

@AnxMom2021. We are in SoCal and my son will be taking the train to and from as well.
I researched the SLO regional airport and there are direct flights into LAX and back for a reasonable price. Two options from LAX would be to pick up at LAX or to catch an Amtrak bus from LAX to the train station, then train to SoCal.
Sounds like fun to me

29

@Kayakingmama @AnxMom2021 - don’t forget Cal Poly also has a rideshare facebook page. Lots of kids offering rides. My kid rarely comes home without a passenger or two riding along. .https://www.facebook.com/groups/250502971675365/

30

@Capecodder2014

I am non-traditional student anyways, and further compounded by NOT being the typical CPSLO student: white, blonde, blue-eyed, affluent 20 year old. NTTAWWT

I do not feel comfortable on campus but I’m slowly trying to not let it bother me.

For a while, I was convinced that the campus makeup was by design; I mean I have the empirical evidence to support my claim. No diversity in the administrators, faculty, staff, and student body. After having visited a few other campuses, I felt like something was definitely going on at CPSLO.

I think I’m a token minority admission because they did ask my ethnicity.

31

Ethnicity is not part of the admissions algorithm. Admission based on race is illegal in CA. They ask for IPEDS and CDS reporting.

Cal Poly does have a portion of their algorithm that gives extra points to students who have a parent(s) that didn’t finish high school and students who attended Hayden Partner Schools. This is a proxy to identify disadvantaged students who tend to disproportionately be minorities.

32

The administration is under tremendous pressure from WASC and Sacramento to increase the number of minority students and faculty, but is constrained by California law which outlaws affirmative action. The demographics of the Cal Poly student body is the result of a numbers based admissions process and a campus that is in a fairly rural area that is not attractive to many non-white students. And the under-represented minority students that have the numbers to get into competitive majors at Cal Poly have lots of other options with many elite private schools with lots of financial aid aggressively recruiting them. When USC offers a African American student with a 33 ACT and a 4.0 GPA a full scholarship it pretty hard for Cal Poly to compete with that- particularly when that student sees that the current student body at SLO is 1% black and the surrounding community is predominantly white.

I really do not think anything nefarious is going on at Cal Poly. Nor do I think a secret plan is in place at UCSD to exclude white and black people just because it has Asians over-represented threefold compared to the state’s population.

33

Thank you for that information. We will need to look into that further. Freshman can’t have cars so we will have to figure out how to get home and back.

34

Cal Poly Rideshare Facebook - is the best way to get to and from Poly: cheap, safe, convenient, fast (this is the transport of majority of students without car).

35

UCSD Structural vs CP ARCE:

Remember what she’s going to college for. I almost went to UCSD as well but I chose schools based on the math. What do you think the cost of 4 years at CP vs 4 years at UC + masters will compare, especially when considering that they will end up with equitable outcomes.

Making friends as an Asian man:

I have too much to say about this topic because I’m comfortable walking the line between either group so I will sum it up in this way. Some Asian friends hate having come here because they found not having other Asians to connect with was limiting. Others found it liberating because they were finally forced to break out of the Asian bubble that they lived in all before college.

The latter is doing a lot better in the job market because they’ve learned to interact with people regardless of race.

I’d argue it’s easier to stand out. It’s not for everyone. Many of my Asian friends are bitter even after graduating. But then there’s others like me that go on to win school wide elections and see it as vitally formative to professional development.

Food:
I cook for myself so it’s not a problem. Saved money and gave me an edge when dating. Lack of good Asian food is a common complaint though

Home:
I’m from the SD area. Ride shares are 20$ and savior. I didn’t go home much because I was usually busy on weekends

School work:
She’ll basically be drowning in arch studio her first year, so I hope she’s good at managing her time. I’ve noticed the arch students all tend to bond with each other in studio though as a result, so she’ll likely have an easier time integrating than the other asian students.

36

@NLinsanity do Asians stand out a lot in CP? I’m from the Bay Area so I’m used to diversity and not standing out.

37

Sticking out:

Yea, we stick out more easily at parties and events. I felt during my freshman and sophomore year that I knew every asian person on campus especially since I ran into them all the time. Or were just easier to spot.

You can still stay in the Asian bubble as I know more than a handful have done throughout college, but they tend to be more bitter about their Cal Poly experience.

Likewise, if you do things in your field to stand out like win competitions or run comedy shows, Cal Poly will parade you around to show that they care about diversity. For example, when my team won the ASME international design competition, CP sent me and a dozen other winners on a “champions tour” to meet alumni and be honored at the state capitol. The group of students were far more diverse than actual make up of the school

38

So, @NLinsanity,
just out of curiousity of logistics, now that you are done at Poly, what are you gonna do 'til you walk the stage? Do you still visit campus? Are you out of the area now or working in industry? You’re moving to the East coast IIRC, right?

39

I suspect NLinsanity would have done just fine at UCSD had he gone there. It’s not like at CP people are saying hey there’s an Asian dude running for election that’s never heard of here so vote him… To that end I find it intriguing that CP, despite its strong Eng/CS programs, has a student body of such a low Asian %. After all, it’s California and Eng/CS is typically Asian kids/parents’ ‘sweet spot’. I think a lot of Asian families still hold UC of higher regard than CP and would only consider CP if fallen out of UC B/LA/SD, and even then, UC SB/D/I more likely would win out. This then becomes a self serving cycle of further deterring qualified Asians from coming to CP. Of course Asians would love to go to Ivies despite Asian being the more ‘normal’ minority there, because, you know, of the status being in the Ivies. But the reality is, no matter where you go, you may find that, kids with similar background (and yes that includes ethnic one) still tend to hang out together.

40

What I’m doing now:
Taking a much needed break. Columbia starts again in August and I’m planning on spending some time in Uganda to build and teach things at a school. I didn’t get accepted to grad school until later in the year when the intern application cycle was over, so I had to turn down some full time job offers and another stint at Apple in order to continue school.

Basically, I’m having fun doing side projects, building up my stand up set, and auditing classes at UCSD.

What would have happened if I was at UCSD:
You misunderstand. When I say I stand out more, no one voted for me specifically because I was Asian. However, if I was running for elections at SD, there would be a lot more similar names to mine, making my name and profile more difficult to stand out come election time. Making friends was the same way.

But since I’m going on this path, I think it would be fun to see what a different experience I would have had at UCSD.

If it’s a telling comparison, my brother is finishing his first year at UCSD and struggling to maintain above a 3.0 GPA. He cites his inability to focus in large classes and a lack of access to professors.

Another important aspect was the difference in social scene. You are correct in the Asian family ranking methodology, except (maybe it was just different in my area), anything that was not (LA/B) was piled into this pool of inadequacy without consideration for their world class specialization (Like UCD’s veterinary and animal science). As a result, the people from my hs at SD weren’t psyched about attending SD, just sore about LA/B. Whereas, the current student body president is one of many who are proud to have had her entire family line attend CP for generations. My brother also says he dislikes the student body because of their caustically competitive nature. For example, their current student elections mimic the smear campaign that went on in the general election last year, with one of the presidential candidates bowing out already because of certain pictures that the opposition surfaced.

Likewise, UCSD is extremely theoretical and far away from Silicon Valley. They didn’t even have a competition team for the ASME student design competition and I probably would never have landed the Apple internship where (according to my recent taxes) I was making twice as much as the average starting full-time engineer in California.

I will give that I’d probably have been able to do research and have a higher GPA because UCSociallyDead (as its amicably nicknamed) would have prevented me from goofing off as much as I did in CP.

My interactions and experiences with the other UC schools make me glad about CP, and I would really only consider UCB as the only public school where I could have been more successful.