<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I'm hoping someone can help me here! My child has applied to Elon, but recently became aware of several incidents of racism on the campus. I have always known Elon to be a fairly liberal school that embraces diversity. </p>
<p>I would love to know if these incidents are unusual and how accepting is the Elon Community of students with different racial backgrounds. </p>
<p>Any input or advice would be appreciated. </p>
<p>TIA,
Mommaguru</p>
<p>I have the same question. Would also like to know how the administration deals with complaints of racist behavior.</p>
<p>The incident in question occurred in September, and the school dealt with the problem very quickly. The dean of students sent out an email reinforcing the need for tolerance and inclusion, and several discussions and panels were held to discuss the incident. Overall Elon is a pretty open minded school, and you really won’t find tons of racism or exclusion here. For a Southern school I would say Elon is quite tolerant. I’m from the Northeast and haven’t noticed any major problems with racism or exclusion!</p>
<p>Elon’s administration takes events like this seriously.</p>
<p>As the parent of a student of color at Elon, I can tell you that the university’s quest for a tolerant, diverse campus is very much a work in progress.</p>
<p>Elonguy19, do you know what happened after the administration responded to the September incident? I know there was a letter that went out from Smith Jackson to the campus community, and several other students who were not involved wrote a letter to the editor of the Pendulum. Pres. Lambert met with Hillel. But did they ever find out who wrote the letters “KKK” and drew a swastika on the female roommates’ whiteboard? Perhaps the culprit(s) were never caught. I know Elon has a formal, online system for reporting acts of intolerance, but am not sure what happens when someone is reported. Are students who practice hate speech expelled, or counseled, or what?</p>
<p>You really have to distinguish between the university as a whole and the unfortunate actions of a few ignorant/misguided students. Elon is doing everything possible to promote diversity and tolerance. They are constantly running programs on the topic. I don’t see how you can hold Elon responsible for the actions of every student. Google any university and you will find racist incidents, anti-Semitism, etc. It is a national issue - not confined to university campuses.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.elon.edu/docs/e-web/administration/registrar/winter14book.pdf[/url]”>http://www.elon.edu/docs/e-web/administration/registrar/winter14book.pdf</a></p>
<p>The link provided is for the Winter 2014 course booklet and the 2nd page has a listing of scheduled diversity events.</p>
<p>Also wanted to add some statistics on diversity from the Class of 2017:</p>
<p>Ethnic Diversity: 17%
African American: 6%
Asian: 2%
Hispanic: 6%
Multiracial: 3%</p>
<p>Certainly moving in the right direction. I am impressed with Elon’s commitment to Jewish students - having progressed from very few Jewish students 10 years ago to 10% of the Class of 2017. Very active Hillel and a new Jewish fraternity - which is open to all interested male students - not all brothers are Jewish and several are African-American. Elon was known as the Fighting Christians - which was later changed to the Phoenix. But all of this progress is not a guarantee against an act of anti-Semitism, such as the whiteboard incident back in September. Students enter Elon, like any university, with the predjudices they learned at home. I don’t hold Elon responsible for these incidents and I do think President Lambert took it seriously.</p>
<p>rockvillemom, I am encouraged to hear that Elon has made a commitment to Jewish students. That’s important and commendable. I was also happy to hear that following the swastika/KKK incident, President Lambert met with members of Hillel. I never did hear, however, whether he met with minority students at the MultiCultural Center. I recall someone on this board saying that the African-American student involved didn’t want to make what happened a big focus, but nonetheless, it seems to me that equal time and care should have been given in that direction. (Perhaps it was and I just don’t know about it. However, my daughter is involved in the multicultural center and the mentoring program for minority students and she didn’t know about it, either.) </p>
<p>As to being able to Google any university and find racist incidents, anti-Semitism, etc., you are certainly right, as universities/colleges are part of the real world and the real world is still rife with intolerance. However, different schools have different atmospheres and personalities, as well as different levels of diversity and tolerance. Google “NYU” (a school with about 45-50% diversity) and “racist incidents” or “racism” and up comes an article where NYU professors are giving their opinion on New York City’s “stop and frisk” law (recent) and then the next stories are from 1989 or so. Google “University of Alabama” (80% white) and “racist incidents” or “racism,” and a number of articles with recent datelines come up.</p>
<p>So while intolerance (toward Jewish and Muslim students) and racism (toward students who are visually identifiable as not white) is unfortunately still experienced, it not only is experienced by minority populations more at certain schools, but is also tolerated differently (or not tolerated) at different schools. For instance, at my daughter’s very racially and socioeconomically diverse high school, if kids overheard another student saying anything racist or intolerant, that racist student would have been chastised immediately by people who overheard what he or she said. The message would immediately have been “Being intolerant is NOT OK in this community.”</p>
<p>Other posters are right, as a current student here, Elon does not joke around with stuff like this. I would guess most of the culprits has been found, I know for sure one has through a friend. Both the students and the university have thrown their full support behind supporting the victims and finding the perpetrators. At college coffee, all the students signed and put their thumbprint on a big Elon banner about acceptance after the incident, and it is now being displayed in the Moseley lobby.</p>
<p>Overall the students here are wonderful, nice people, and if they openly saw an act of racism or intolerance, they would speak out similarly to how NotMamaRose mentioned in her last sentence. Definitely not okay here. Hope that helped!</p>
<p>Atlas26, do you mind me asking if you are a minority student at Elon?</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! I appreciate the comments and information. </p>
<p>rockvillemom - I would certainly not hold Elon responsible for the actions of its students; however, I would (and do) hold them responsible for sanctioning students found guilty of perpetrating any hate crimes. I understand the September incident was handled with regards to the anti-semitism; however, I’m not sure how it was addressed for the racial slur. </p>
<p>I also have come to learn that several of the fraternities are overtly racist towards AA students and do not allow them to attend parties. If that is,in fact the case, I believe the Panhellenic Council should be addressing those fraternities - and those fraternities, if they are guilty, should be sanctioned. </p>
<p>I would love to hear from a minority student; I suspect their take may be a bit different. </p>
<p>To the person who PMd me - I am unable to reply because I have not met the minimum requirements to answer a PM (not sure that’s a great rule…)But, I appreciate your insight - very much!</p>
<p>I can’t comment about the climate at Elon as I’m only a parent, but my daughter’s roommate is a minority and I can tell you that Elon goes out of their way to make it good for minority students on campus. They are working hard to increase diversity of all kinds and I’d be very surprised if they were turning a blind eye to anything negative that happens in that regard. From my brief exposure to Dr. Lambert, I can tell you I’ve been very impressed with his vision, particularly his desire to build a diverse campus that fosters respect among different ethnic and cultural groups. </p>
<p>Students come in with whatever prejudices they learned at home, but I believe that part of the value of a college education is the time spent with students from other backgrounds and the understanding that this fosters. I know that Elon is actively working toward creating a climate where this will happen. As an example, winter term has a “diversity” theme with events on campus designed to promote interaction and understanding.</p>
<p>Speaking personally, my daughter has several friends from non-white backgrounds (the only way I knew they were minorities was from the photos – she never mentioned it when she was talking to me about them). I bring this up because at other campuses I’ve been to that appear more diverse in terms of numbers, you have students hanging out only with others from their same ethnic/cultural background, and the end result is that in terms of student experience, they are not really exposed to “diversity”. I don’t know how prevalent this is a Elon, but it has not been my D’s experience.</p>
<p>If that’s true about the fraternities it needs to be addressed (though most fraternities allow very few non-member guys into their parties so it may not be because they are AA but because they are male. This is something that occurs on every campus except maybe very small LACs). </p>
<p>That being said, Elon has a ways to go in terms of numbers, so if your child would feel more comfortable at a school with a higher minority population that’s something s/he has to decide. </p>
<p>I’d suggest making a visit to campus and maybe asking ahead of time if there’s a student or two in a similar situation that you could talk to and find out what their experience has been. I would think you would get a more realistic perspective that way. You might even be able to arrange an overnight so your child could see if s/he feels comfortable there. Elon doesn’t do this as a rule but their website mentions that it is possible on occasion if you prearrange it. It would be worth checking into anyway.</p>
<p>It’s very hard to know what administration is doing or not doing in response to campus incidents. Those are private matters between the perpetrators and the school (and apparently, in this case, the AA student involved did not want it to be a big public ordeal). It’s frustrating to not know, because it does matter if administration is reponsive to incidents like this, but keep in mind that just because you haven’t heard anything doesn’t mean that nothing was done.</p>
<p>Good luck with your search process. I hope your concerns get alleviated at Elon and that, regardless, your child finds the perfect match!</p>
<p>I can tell you that ZBT, the new Jewish affiliated fraternity on campus is approx 30% not Jewish and has several AA (African Americans) students as members. If there is a fraternity that is biased it should be addressed, but let’s not slant all the fraternities and not the whole campus. </p>
<p>I have met with members of the administration, and I can assure you that they are doing everything they can to address issues of diversity and tolerance, both with education, swift action, and programming. I think the students on campus, in general will speak out and do take action against intolerance. Unfortunately, like everywhere a few bad eggs can ruin an otherwise accepting community.</p>
<p>I am not a minority student, though I have many friends who would be considered minority, and they love it too! Definitely give Elon a chance! :)</p>
<p>Supruwoman, I appreciate all you have to say and the very respectful way you said it. Thank you. </p>
<p>One thing you said, though, caught my attention. You said “I bring this up because at other campuses I’ve been to that appear more diverse in terms of numbers, you have students hanging out only with others from their same ethnic/cultural background, and the end result is that in terms of student experience, they are not really exposed to ‘diversity.’”</p>
<p>Consider that at Elon, there are so few students of color that POC are pretty much <em>forced</em> to hang out with white students, aren’t they? Most of their classes are made up of white people, as are most social organizations, clubs and so on. (Yes, I know Elon does have black Greek orgs.) </p>
<p>Sp it would be nearly impossible for an Asian or black student (to use two examples) to hang around only with other Asian or black students, because their numbers are so small. But white students can, if they choose, pretty much hang out only with whites. (In fact, if you look at the photos of frats and sororities at Elon, and you will see that quite a number have NO members of color at all. So in the case of Elon, there are plenty of white kids who only choose to associate with other white kids.) </p>
<p>I am white and one thing I had to unlearn was <em>only</em> noticing when people of color are gathered together. Before I became a parent of a child of color, I would notice only that the black kids all sat together in the cafeteria and didn’t notice that the white kids, did, too. But yeah, they do. In fact, in most environments in my life and that of many people, white people are with a majority of white people all the time. </p>
<p>So while it is great for the white kids to be exposed to diversity via the low number of students of color at Elon, it is not always easy for the kids of color to be the ones affording the white kids that opportunity. Hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>I agree that the majority of the kids at Elon are great kids, but from comments my own child has heard, it sounds like quite a few have almost never been around racial minorities. </p>
<p>Evidence: On a visit for parents weekend, my husband and I witnessed two (white) girls mimicking (while laughing hysterically) an Asian boy who was eating in a dining hall. The boy was holding his bowl fairly close to his mouth (the way you see people do in China), which the two girls found beyond funny. They laughed loudly, imitated him, pointed at him and almost fell off their chairs with glee. Fortunately, the boy didn’t see them. Somehow, I doubt those girls will be attending any of the global/diversity related lectures and events being held during winter term.</p>
<p>Mm that is unfortunate, though I wouldn’t judge the whole off of the actions of a few. Regardless of which university you attend, there will always be people like that. The key is to look at it as a whole, which overall I feel like we are pretty accepting.</p>
<p>Atlas26, agreed. It is always the few bad apples that can spoil the whole bunch. One thing to consider, and that is that it is hard for those of us in the majority to really comprehend how a person of color feels, when, they overheard someone use the “n” word or someone say “My parents would KILL me if I dated someone who was (black/Asian/Hispanic.)” The person of color would feel a lot better if another white person overhearing this kind of thing would become an ally by speaking up then and there, and saying “Hey, you know what? That’s hurtful. We don’t say that kind of thing here. We’re an inclusive community.”(And yes, the person of color also could speak up, but the white students are in the vast majority there at Elon, and it can be intimidating when a POC hears those things. The POC is less likely to speak up.)</p>
<p>BlueRoses that is a great point. White students at Elon have that choice to segregate themselves, wheras minorities at this time really don’t. And when I hear stories like the one you told about the girls making fun of the Asian young man in the cafeteria I am angry and embarrassed for them. You are probably right that some of the students haven’t been around diverse cultures in the past. My hope and prayer is that they will develop friendships and learn to respect the backgrounds of people who are different from themselves.</p>
<p>You said: “So while it is great for the white kids to be exposed to diversity via the low number of students of color at Elon, it is not always easy for the kids of color to be the ones affording the white kids that opportunity. Hope that makes sense.”</p>
<p>Yes, this makes total sense. I don’t have any way of knowing what it feels like to be a minority, or how hard that is for them, and I don’t in any way want to minimize that. My reference point is the experience I had as a student a small LAC that was known for diversity – there were students from all over the world,as well as from ethnic groups in the U.S. Because it was so small we were all “forced” to get to know each other and my experience (and theirs too) was much richer for it – I think so because those friendships lasted all 4 years and I’m still friends with people who are back home in Costa Rica and Indonesia, as well as American friends of different ethnic backgrounds and religions. These friends are very grateful as well for the opportunity to integrate with so many others, and, even those that are back in their home countries desperately want the same experience for their children --so it was good for them too in that respect. I guess This is what I thought of when I saw those photos of my daughter with a (relatively – for Elon) diverse group. But, of course, as freshmen they are hanging out with their dorm floors and Elon 101 groups right now. I don’t know how this plays out in the upperclass years, although I know that my daughter and her Asian roommate are planing on rooming together next year.</p>
<p>I have seen universities (even small ones) where the racial/ethnic/cultural groups are so insulated that there is no interfacing and no understanding, and that isn’t ideal either. I do believe that minority students should have a group where they feel comfortable (a Hillel, club, fraternity etc.) and know that it’s normal for humans to hang out with friends who are like them and understand them. When these groups are inclusive and invite outside friends to events etc. I think it’s a great way to foster understanding. I didn’t mean to insinuate that it’s a bad thing to have friends in your own ethnic/cultural group, just that I like the idea of mixing outside of those groups as well, which seems to be happening at Elon.</p>
<p>Elon needs more diversity; that was on our “con” list - but we were in love with everything else about it and were impressed with the global focus and commitment to becoming more diverse as a campus. I truly hope that more and more minority students will be willing to come to Elon help make that change.</p>
<p>I would also be interested in hearing from a minority student at Elon about their experience. Our tour guide was African American and spoke very positively about the climate there, and I know my D’s roommate couldn’t be happier, but that has been my only exposure.</p>
<p>The topic of self-segregation has been discussed by academic leaders like Dr. Beverly Tatum, whose expertise certainly exceeds anything I would have to offer on the subject. One interesting comment on Amazon of one of her books presents the idea that organizing around how someone looks is a level of social organization that we wish to transcend. The possibility of transcendence is one of the goals of the aspiration to create a diverse community. It takes a pioneering administration to choose to change from a small church founded rural college to a diverse university, where 18 year olds, away from home for the first time, fresh from their individual perspectives and high school experiences are brought together to form a new community. An administration also has to have a firm belief in the potential for human growth and transcendence to even consider this, and it needs pioneering students who also believe in this too.
While no college administration can prevent all hurtful or insensitive actions on the part of every student, neither can it force the many acts of kindness and goodwill that probably occur on a daily basis that are never reported. Those, as always, are the choice of the individual. I think any college administration would welcome students who are interested in building an inclusive community, and who see this as an opportunity to make a difference. Elon has made a significant transformation in less than ten years, and it will likely continue to grow. Because of its commitment to diversity, it’s become a choice for students who may not have chosen it years ago. While some students are excited to have this choice, others may feel the changes are not adequate for them. No single college is the right fit for all students and it’s understandable to want to decide which one is the best fit for yours.</p>