DD just got admitted to Bates. We visited the campus months ago and she sat in two classes. While the small liberal arts environment is appealing, the lack of diversity is a big concern. We ate lunch in the large cafeteria and over the course of two hours, we could count the number of ethnic minorities we saw as about 30 out of 300 or so in the cafeteria. Also, there was one table where the African American students all sat to each lunch. We did not see any of them mingling with others. My concern is that is the lack of diversity at Bates so pervasive that a minority student would feel unwelcomed socially and if non-minority students would miss the opportunity for interaction with minorities. DD was also admitted to Rice, Colgate and Pomona College. While Colgate also suffers from dearth of diversity, Rice and Pomona enjoy unusually high diversity.
Yes,
Unfortunately there is not a lot of diversity at Bates, which is typical of many small liberal arts colleges on the east coast. I have seen many people complain that a lot of ethnic groups stick together and it has led to some exclusion but this is just because most people are upper to middle class whites who are used to hanging with similar people. But even if the diversity is excellent at a school you probably will feel some exclusion and hostility from people. I highly recommend Pomona if diversity is one factor for you. Pomona is a highly ranked, excellent liberal arts school and your daughter would have the consortium which brings in more diversity, especially on pitzer’s side.
Last year close to 40% of the accepted class were minority and first generation students. Whether they attended is anyone’s guess.
Minority students self-segregating as you saw in the dining hall at Bates was more than likely their choice. This is a problem everywhere. It also is an issue with international students.
Don’t be so quick to blame a school or other students. Also, self-segregation is an issue everywhere.
Agree with OnTheBubble, self segregating happens everywhere.
Based on this, Pomona being some bastion of harmony looks a little shaky.
http://claremontindependent.com/safe-spaces-segregate-the-claremont-colleges/
First, congratulations to your D on her acceptance! My son just graduated from Bates last year. He is Asian. He had no problems fitting in at Bates at all, He was on the sailing team and student govt for all 4 years (as an at large rep. and as a member of the executive council) among other things. Honestly, he never felt any hostility or ever felt excluded. Also, during his 4 years there was never any issues on campus that I am aware of.
He loved his time at Bates, had a job lined up before graduation and is living now in Boston - where tons of Batesies move after graduation. He has a built in network of friends there and the Bates Alum Club is very active - which is all great for networking.
If you have any questions, please feel free to pm me.
Regarding self segregation at colleges, read Frank Bruni’s article, “The Lie About College Diversity.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/opinion/sunday/the-lie-about-college-diversity.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0.
Thank you all for your responses regarding diversity at Bates. You bring up different views on diversity which together make a more reasonable picture. Yes, I agree that self-segregation is a choice, but that the environment in which a student finds herself/himself can influence that choice. I also believe that an individual might project her/his preconceptions onto others and behave in a way to realize that preconception in a self-fulfilling dynamic. For example, if a minority member has a preconception that she/he will face bias then she/he might act less open-mindedly and in fact make her/him less inviting to others.
Also, while racial harmony is a desirable goal, I also hope to see an environment where differences in ideology can find a civilized forum for debate and discussion. I hope my child will confront a wide spectrum of values and ideologies in college, some reassuring, some provocative, some anathema. If my child sails through college without being challenged to examine her beliefs, values and goals, then her experience will have been incomplete.
@Redpandabear Ok that sounds great but I have a question. So, are you saying that the situation at Pomona, where some students are denied access to certain facilities on the basis of race, officially sanctioned by the administration, is desirable? If so, would it be acceptable to have only white access periodically?
In your paragraph #2, are you suggesting that racial disharmony in some form has positive consequences?? If so, is this the same if white students provoke it?
As for preconceived ideas, are you simply being influenced by decades old perceptions of the Northeast versus California, which is presumed to be more liberal and inclusive?
Since there have been no reports at Bates, and many schools in the Northeast, describing voluntary institutionalized segregation, it might be fair to suggest that kids of all different stripes are getting along better?
Just chiming in here. My caucasian son is a junior at Bates–a geeky, non-drinking, board-game loving, non-mainstream kind of guy. He attended a public magnet high school where 25% of the student body was Asian, and a somewhat smaller percentage African-American. Bates is generally less diverse than that, but he is very active in a small club (most of the members of which are his best friends) that is very racially diverse. Not only that, but he grew up in the South, so just living in the Northeast (where his mother is from) is a cultural experience. Especially in this election year, he’s had lots of exposure and discussion around diversity in political views. Last fall he described a debate between himself and another student in a Moral Philosophy seminar that began in the classroom, was interrupted by the bell, and continued over lunch by request of both parties. In my opinion, one of the best college experiences possible. He loves it there.
@OnTheBubble I never said Pomona was a bastion of racial harmony, I just said that it will bring more diversity because of the consortium and the areas it is near to ( Los Angeles, Claremont, Riverside). I am originally from the area and I know the problems the campus faces, but it is trying to improve. Plus it is more well known so that attracts a more diverse group of people. I know administration has some serious issues but the question was asking for diversity among students.
There are really two pieces to the question – how diverse is the student body and how much and well do the diverse elements mix? The second piece may be even more important than the latter and often takes a concerted effort on someone’s part if it’s going to happen.
I know what everyone is trying to say (and that in good faith, everyone is trying to respond to the OP’s question), but I really hate the term “self-segregation”. You wouldn’t accuse a group of jocks who hang out together of self-segregation.
@gardenstategal I would certainly call it self-segregation. However, within sports cliques you don’t find the racial hesitancy as in the general student body.
What goes on racially, unfortunately, is that third parties get involved in the social dynamics on many campuses causing weak administrators to commit moral hazard after moral hazard.
The tone of the OP’s original post suggested, possibly more than suggested, that eastern schools like Bates have barriers. Historically you will find that Bates in particular opened enrollment to minorities far earlier than other schools, decades earlier in fact.
Why fewer minorities attend Bates, Bowdoin, Hamilton and Colgate in particular has more to do with geography, so really the choice of the students accepted not the schools or the students already attending.
If the kids were just left alone and not pressured into thinking barriers exist, things would be much better.
Unfortunately though, barriers to exist. I think it is part of white privilege to think that because you don’t think about race (i.e., “I don’t see color”) that a person of color is free to share that perspective. (At least, this is what I have been told. I’m still learning!) The fact that the OP feels that this needs to be considered, when most whites do not, sort of highlights this, no?
I am not blaming Bates, – they have a progressive history – but they are also operating in a society (and with students from the society) that continue to face challenges of equality. These are difficult conversations to have, and it helps when they are facilitated, which is something that – as you know – most administrations are struggling with. It’s important, though, that they are conversations, not debates, and to keep the civil, the language can matter.
As @redpandabear diplomatically notes, the environment can encourage or discourage self-segregation. If you’re in the majority at a place where it’s occurring and you’d like to do something about it, then you can ask what you can do to make the environment more inviting.
There is adequate evidence this type of segregation exists at all types of schools no matter the actual demographic breakdown. I believe there is a link above.
How do barriers exist when last year students of color and first generation students were 37% of the accepted students? In dozens of cases transportation was paid for as well as food and lodging for students and family through outreach programs.
What else should schools do?
When people cite barriers they should be very specific, not what they feel.
Perhaps the barriers are created by policies aimed at eliminating them. For example, isn’t entirely possible that in the current hypersensitive climate white students are afraid to socialize with minory students? I think that is certainly plausible as well as unfortunate.
I didn’t read the OP’s post that way at all. The word, “barriers” was introduced at post #12 and not by the OP. I think they were asking an honest question, whether, despite observations made during a two hour visit to the cafeteria, there was more to the story than what appeared on the surface. Based on what I have seen on CC and other internet venues, you’re not going to get an entirely satisfactory answer to that question strictly from reading white people’s responses.
The racial mix at my undergraduate college (another NESCAC) was not much different 40 years ago than it is at Bates right now, maybe 15-20% Black and Latino. If you judged strictly by what you saw in the cafeteria, you would walk away with the same impression, that no one ever talked to each other. But, the truth was much more granular than that. We didn’t have a word for it back then, but it’s clear looking back on it that we were all honing our skill at “presenting” different versions of our selves, depending on the demands of the situation. Athletes had their team mates, musicians could listen to each other jam for hours, everyone had at least one friend of a different race they could hang out with in the freshman dorm. Learning how to get along, if only through the next lab experiment, was an important part of growing up.
My hunch, is that if you make your college choice based on other components of “fit” (big or small, preppy or artsy, sports or no sports) that the racial component will take are of itself.
@circuitrider I don’t agree with your assessment of post #1 at all. A judgement was reached and this was said “My concern is that is the lack of diversity at Bates so pervasive that a minority student would feel unwelcomed socially and if non-minority students would miss the opportunity for interaction with minorities.” The use of the word “pervasive” implies a systemic or universal or intentional situation.
Had the poster actually been curious, the post would have been constructed entirely differently.
I read it as a question.
The “question” is the degree of pervasiveness. It was already concluded that something was already pervasive by saying “so pervasive”.
Everyone knows this group of schools has smaller populations of minority students despite acceptances that are much higher. Personally, I am interested why myself.
So the better way to ask the question is why this is the case but more importantly do the kids there get along and genuinely socialize.
Maybe minorities don’t realize this but others like me are sensitive to being called racist, no matter how artfully it is phrased.
Maybe, white people need safe spaces, too.