My top schools are Trinity College, Bowdoin College, Skidmore College, and Leigh University. All of which the majority is white.I saw handfuls of minority students on campus at Lehigh and Trinity but still am reluctant and have heard some racist stories. I know I will face racism everywhere but I still want to know people will be willing to become friends with me. Also the small minorities on campus I’m not sure if I will become close with since I am not lower income and wouldn’t be in similar programs to them.
Can any black, Hispanic, maybe asian current students share your experience at pwi’s. I have some white friends but I don’t feel 100% comfortable with them and like I can be myself without them secretly judging me or not being able to relate to me, the cultural gap cannot be closed overnight.
If you visit, you may want to pay attention to whether random groups of students tend to be racially integrated or segregated.
If there is heavy fraternity and sorority participation, you may want to pay attention to whether they are highly segregated.
I think its important for you to find a college that fits you, and as a current freshman at a PWI I understand the overwhelming feeling of “I want to feel comfortable in a higher learning environment.” While its true that racism is everywhere, I feel that in certain spaces you can expect to find intolerance of that type of behavior. At my university there seems to be a strong since of community among black students of all backgrounds, so in regards to your concerns, class doesn’t seem to factor into choosing friend groups.
I do feel like PWIs push black students together in a way that can be uncomfortable at times, and we don’t seem to branch out into more diverse friend groups as I would like. I think that the population of Black students at PWIs should ask ourselves if the way we latch onto each other is good for us in the long run. Is our chosen separation from our counterparts healthy for our social lives? And do we have a choice?
Because of the distinct separation between black and white students, I cant say that I interact with many white students outside of the classroom. There are microagressions; whispered conversations you overhear in the library, the surprisingly loud “■■■■■” you will hear while a mostly white frat party sings along to recent hip-hop, etc. But overall I can’t say I ever felt threatened.
Being as though my university in in the South, there will always be an aspect of underlying racism and prejudice. During Orientation we were taught that the University was built by slaves and even owned slaves in the past. In the library there are wall pieces reinforcing rhetoric that black people chose to be slaves and were “happily docile.” As I have no experience in the North I can’t speak to the racial climate but I do think it can be said that racism will follow you wherever you go.
I think its important for you to find a college that fits you, and as a current freshman at a PWI I understand the overwhelming feeling of “I want to feel comfortable in a higher learning environment.” While its true that racism is everywhere, I feel that in certain spaces you can expect to find intolerance of that type of behavior. At my university there seems to be a strong since of community among black students of all backgrounds, so in regards to your concerns, class doesn’t seem to factor into choosing friend groups.
I do feel like PWIs push black students together in a way that can be uncomfortable at times, and we don’t seem to branch out into more diverse friend groups as I would like. I think that the population of Black students at PWIs should ask ourselves if the way we latch onto each other is good for us in the long run. Is our chosen separation from our counterparts healthy for our social lives? And do we have a choice?
Because of the distinct separation between black and white students, I cant say that I interact with many white students outside of the classroom. There are microagressions; whispered conversations you overhear in the library, the surprisingly loud “■■■■■” you will hear while a mostly white frat party sings along to recent hip-hop, etc. But overall I can’t say I ever felt threatened.
Being as though my university in in the South, there will always be an aspect of underlying racism and prejudice. During Orientation we were taught that the University was built by slaves and even owned slaves in the past. In the library there are wall pieces reinforcing rhetoric that black people chose to be slaves and were “happily docile.” As I have no experience in the North I can’t speak to the racial climate but I do think it can be said that racism will follow you wherever you go.
I found that there’s a lot of self-segregation at PWIs, but you learn a lot about your identity, but where I have learned the most are in spaces where people are forced to interact with each other / where I don’t feel like I totally fit in. I currently attend a PWI and its a great opportunity to carve out spaces for minorities (such as advocating for more programming, building community, etc) but also it is definitely hard. I felt super iscolated from my suitemates my freshman year because they were “very white” and rushed sororities, and they would say things that made me question if it was a microagression or not (such as asking me if I liked a certain type of food or knew multiple languages). It’s really hard to say if I would have liked to go to a school with more people like me, but I think right now I’m really glad I was exposed to this and being constantly challenged. (pro tip: highly recommend also finding a supportive community, whether thats through the form of a sports team, a cultural club, or people who share the same political views as you, because they really help you overcome being challenged all the time.
I know an older adult urm that attended Skidmore, he made friends but regrets not choosing a more diverse school. It is more diverse now than it was then. At the time there wasn’t even enough to self-segregate.