<p>My son is applying to Muhlenberg ED and I'm just really nervous when I think of the diversity on campus. I see that alot of the student body is Christian or Jewish and mainly white, and though my son's friends are of many ethnicities, i do hope there is at least one other like him. He is muslim and he gets along with everyone but I just need another voice out there to assure me that he'll be in a safeplace with students who don't discriminate? Thanks so much! :D</p>
<p>[Muhlenberg</a> Magazine](<a href=“http://www.muhlenberg.edu/cultural/magazine/fa01/32.html]Muhlenberg”>http://www.muhlenberg.edu/cultural/magazine/fa01/32.html)</p>
<p>This article may help address your concerns…</p>
<p>from what i saw on my visit (i was accepted ED this year), the campus isn’t too diverse. I saw some students who were black and asian, but the majority of them were white. Having said that, all of the kids seemed very accepting and tolerant of others around them and I didn’t hear one negative remark out of anyone’s mouth on both of my visits. I am Jewish and i have a good friend who is Muslim. I think that if he’s a good kid and gets along easily with other kids that he will be fine</p>
<p>Good luck and i hope he gets accepted!</p>
<p>Just curious as to why he applied ED if diversity is such an issue.</p>
<p>That being said, while the diversity may be lacking, he definitely will not be ostracized. They are a pretty open-minded group of students.</p>
<p>I echo Belgiancow post but my daughter is still a Junior. We visited Muhlenberg and Lehigh University yesterday and we did NOT see 1 single colored student ever! But we did not feel out of place (we are from South East Asia) Everyone was very friendly very accepting. Then we went to Lehigh however that was another story. Even though we spotted a few Asian student the vibrations were very unwelcome. Even the parents who came to visit with their kids just like us were extremely unfriendly and obnoxious almost.It was like the parents teach their children to be mean. We walked out of the info session. We will not go there even if my daughter got a full ride. But Muhlenberg had a warmth and the Dean of Admission was an amazing speak. All positive about it. I’m sure your son will be made welcome and be happy there. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>If you look at the student blogs on Muhlenberg’s website, one of the recent blogs was done in the form of a video blog by an African American student He filmed it at a recent event in the multi-cultural center and I think it shows beautifully how Muhlenberg embraces diversity. It made me a very proud mule mom.</p>
<p>Is the population super diverse? Not so much, but do students celebrate together and accept one another? yes.</p>
<p>Dear Belgiancow and others… Muhlenberg is enough of an oasis and full of enough smart people that the great majority of students would welcome people of diverse backgrounds… Your son’s attendance would make the place better… + I think it is a benefit to be a minority in a welcoming place…</p>
<p>Thanks so much to everyone who replied to this. and to the one who asked why my son applied ED to muhlenberg if diversity was an issue, it is not an issue to my son, he loves the campus and everything about the school and the academic programs. I just wanted a bit more info on how minorities feel about the school. hope that helps you understand :)</p>
<p>Junior Mom your statement confuses me- you wrote- “We visited Muhlenberg and Lehigh University yesterday and we did NOT see 1 single colored student ever”</p>
<p>From another post you wrote:
We have visited over 40 schools in a span of 3 years. My kids go to a primarily Jewish affluent high school which is 95% white.</p>
<p>So certainly you saw “colored kids” at Muhlenberg- your daughter goes to a college with 95% white kids. Isn’t white a color?</p>
<p>Muhlenberg is about 6 miles from our house. Lehigh only another 12 miles or so. My D was accepted at both but decided not to go to either school. We spent a lot of time at both campuses and talking to students. By far the more tolerant environment is Muhlenberg. It’s true that their racial diversity is rather low, but during my D’s interview visit (last year) half the dorm windows still had “Obama” signs. Half! We didn’t see a single “McCain” sign anywhere. McCain was invited to visit and speak at Lehigh during the prez campaign. Obama was not. But Obama was invited to visit and speak at Muhlenberg and did. That tells me something about the two schools. </p>
<p>Another revealing demographic difference: Lehigh is about 55 to 45 percent male. Muhlenberg is the opposite–majority female. And the heavy, Greek-oriented culture at Lehigh was a total turnoff. She only considered the university because they showed a great interest in her. </p>
<p>I think Muhlenberg does want more racial diversity but may not have the endowment to offer financial aid packages attractive enough to URMs who have the stats, because colleges with bigger endowments steal them away. </p>
<p>My D seriously considered going to Muhlenberg (a match for her), and diversity was a factor in her decision-making process. She wasn’t put off by the low numbers of minority students, and the proximity of the campus to home would’ve given her some attractive options in living arrangements.</p>
<p>If a college only had signs for one candidate, that actually suggests less tolerance rather than more. Tolerance is where all points of view are welcomed and expressed. Having said that, I don’t think Mberg is intolerant, I do think the “only Obama” signs was one person’s way of saying he thinks Mberg is tolerant (which I agree with). We are probably going with Mberg… and yes our soon-to-be college student is a minority in race and religion…</p>
<p>^
Good luck to your student at Muhlenberg. It’s a very good school. My D might’ve attended but she managed to get into one of her reach schools, so she decided to go in that direction. Interestingly, she chose an LAC that has a far more liberal reputation than Muhlenberg. We actually felt Muhlenberg was sort of center-left. It feels very liberal only when you compare it to Lehigh. :)</p>
<p>Two of the fascinating things about Muhlenberg: Despite the extremely large contingent of Jewish students, the college was founded by Lutherans. They even have a scholarship for students of Swedish descent and one for Lutherans. And there is a beautiful little Lutheran chapel on campus. It’s small but impressive. We went inside (my wife is Lutheran). How they came to attract so many Jewish students is puzzling. I don’t think they even know. That’s not a bad thing at all, but it is interesting.</p>
<p>The other fascinating thing about Muhlenberg is its the only LAC we visited that is huge in the performing arts, especially theatre arts (ranked #7 in the country), but accounting is also one of the popular majors. At a large university that wouldn’t be unusual. I find that odd for a small LAC. Actors and CPAs. Wow.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg College attracts so many Jewish students because of its success in getting them into medical and law school.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg does have some diversity and they are currently making attempts to increase their diversity as they do seem to recognize the benefit to the entire campus. They are also one of the few LAC’s that welcomes students with disabilities with open arms. I have found the accepting nature of the entire campus as inspiring. It starts at the top and campus follows their lead.</p>