Diversity and Treatment of Minorities

<p>In your opinion and from your observations, how do you feel about the diversity and treatment of minorities (I'm mostly concerned with african americans, but doesn't matter) in public universities?</p>

<p>I'm asking this because it would help in deciding whether to enroll in a major public university or a HBCU</p>

<p>You should name the universities that you're considering. All public universities aren't alike. Some, for instance, don't have many minorities enrolled. Some are among the most diverse universities in the country.</p>

<p>If it's your own states major public universities, you can pretty fairly expect it to be a very similar situation to that you experience in the area in daily life.</p>

<p>People are segregated, Asian nerds are alienated. FOBs don't like American Born Asians, and American Born Asians have no idea about FOBs, or are generally reluctant to meet fobby friends.
White people have no idea about FOB or American Born Asians. Black people just chill with everybody. I prefer hanging out with Africans though. One of my best buddies is Ethiopian.
I don't usually hangout with white people, because I'm one of these nerdy Asian Americans.
As for Black people, I hangout with all kinds of black people. I like the friendly ones. I hate those annoying ones.</p>

<p>"I prefer hanging out with Africans though. One of my best buddies is Ethiopian. "
You're my buddy then. :)</p>

<p>"If it's your own states major public universities, you can pretty fairly expect it to be a very similar situation to that you experience in the area in daily life."</p>

<p>Not in California!</p>

<p>I've never seen any actual discrimination or racism at my public university, but students seem to self-segregate for the most part.</p>

<p>yes I'm worried about the segragation.</p>

<p>I'm African-born, but I live in Florida. I know that in Florida how you're treated depends on where you live, For example the east coast of Florida has more black-friendly areas than the west coast.</p>

<p>I went to a pretty much all-black Middle school and everything was cool. Decided to go to a more "diverse" college prep high-school and people are mostly self-segregated by color. I don't like the self-segregation. Race is never a consideration for me, but as I've seen, people are quick to judge on skin before beginning friendships. Almost all of my friends stick to their racially-respective cliques. Since this is a college prep school, I'm guessing it'll probably mirror the real deal.</p>

<p>If I'm going to go to a public university and end up self-segregating, I might as well go to an HBCU. For this particular question, I'm considering FAMU and FSU, both in Tallahassee.</p>

<p>I don't really think a major University reflects daily life because for the most part, the demographics aren't the same.. The type of people who go to universities aren't the type of people I live around. I've honestly no clue what to expect. My parents never had to worry about this, in Africa they were around fully motivated and friendly Africans.</p>

<p>I'd like to live out Martin Luther King's dream, but at the same time I want to have a good time and not worry about being a minority and "representing" all the time. feel me?</p>

<p>"If I'm going to go to a public university and end up self-segregating, I might as well go to an HBCU. For this particular question, I'm considering FAMU and FSU, both in Tallahassee."</p>

<p>I don't think this is a good way to choose. In spite of what you might read here, even when people APPEAR to be self-segregating, kids sometimes report a different experience. At my daughters school, CC folks describe "self-segregation", but SHE goes there, and does not. I am sure some kids at her school seem to chose friends who look like them, but it's nice to have a choice. I went to Howard BTW, and while I wouldn't have it any other way, it was not a choice I made because I "might as well". I was looking for a very specific experience. It was, BTW, a life-changing and unique experience, but there are still times when folks had to "represent".</p>

<p>I agree with Shrinkrap on this. My college supposedly has a lot of self-segregation, but that is DEFINITELY not the case with everyone. Yeah, there are clumps of people who have quite obviously self-segregated from the rest, but most tend to hang out with friends they made in their freshman dorms or in their classes.</p>

<p>...Then again, I <em>think</em> we may be talking about the same college here because Shrinkrap, your name sounds really familiar, as if I've seen it a lot on my school's forum/thread thing.</p>

<p>I KNEW I spent too much time on these forums! I mean come on! It's the holidays! And look what I'm doing.....</p>

<p>My school is pretty self-segregating, but one reason is that it is about 88% white, so the minorities tend to stick together as not to be "overwhelmed" I guess. Most of the fraternities and sororities are all-white (some asians), except the historically black ones which are all black. Another reason is that people still hold some prejudices against other races, since we are in Alabama. I think it's kind of silly, to be honest, but I'm an anthropologist and we believe race is a cultural construct. I mean, if you've got alot in common with a certain group of people that's fine, but I think most people would be surprised how much they have in common with different people too. </p>

<p>I personally have alot of friends of different backgrounds (rich, poor, black, white, asian, liberal, conservative, etc) and I've dated guys who aren't white... so I definitely do not self-segregate.</p>

<p>If you want to make friends with people of different races, it's definitely possible, even in a school that supposedly self-segregates. Personally, race has never been a criterion for me, so I neither go out of my way to make friends from different races, or stay away from certain people due to race. If you join groups that are affiliated with a specific race, like the Asian Business Leaders Association, you can easily make friends in that group -- perhaps some schools actually have large racism problems, but in my experience, people are just most comfortable around people with similar backgrounds and interests, which oftentimes means people of the same race.</p>

<p>I think your choice is something like picking between a public university and an all-female college. You can easily have the same experience at both (having only girls as friends at least), but you can also have a different experience at the public university if you so choose. It's up to you really, I'd personally recommend the public university as I think it's more beneficial to learn about how many different types of people live, rather than having a rather homogenous experience.</p>

<p>The experience is one of a kind, but the folks at HBCU's are not homogenous.</p>