<p>I have been hearing lots of things about the lives of the black community at UVa. Anyone care to share their views?</p>
<p>Also, I would appreciate any tips on how to stay away from the whole "self-segregation" lifestlye that I hear about, mainly because I get along with all racial groups and I hope to maintain a diverse group of friends.</p>
<p>Does the black community at UVa seem to be happy? I am not really sure how to post my question perfectly, but I am opening this thread to any opinions/tangential subjects that may occur.</p>
<p>Not being an African American male, I didn't think I'd have any part of this discussion, but I will say that I'm surprised by Jag's comments over the last few days, not just on this topic.</p>
<p>I don't think lumping the entire population together and saying they "self-segregate" is accurate. </p>
<p>As for the comment that African American students don't participate in mainstream activities, that's ridiculous. I know African American students who are involved in a range of activities at UVa. Just the other day, one of my favorite summer tour guides came by to tell me that he had just been elected president of his fraternity. Obviously, that just one example off the top of my head, but he is not the exception to some sort of social rule here.</p>
<p>My only advice about staying away from "self-segregation" is not to give up on a club or organization if you encounter one person with a chip on their shoulder. You're apt to run into people with sheltered backgrounds and perhaps some ignorance about other cultures at almost every school in the country. I think our students are mostly friendly, out going kids who aren't going to make assumptions about you simply because you're a student of color.</p>
<p>the whole issue is so overblown at UVA it's ridiculous. Many, many people have friends from all different races and you will have no trouble finding people with open minds. that said, of course there is some self-segregation, but let's not pretend that this is isolated to UVA, because it's not.</p>
<p>I think the real reason you keep hearing trumped up charges of racism at UVA is because many people's jobs depend on there being racism. There is an entire "diversity" industry in this country that claims they want to end racism. but if racism was eradicated, they would lose their jobs and influence, so what they do instead is become "professional victims" and blow all incidences of racism way out of proportion. It is an absolute and total disgrace that UVA is sometimes labeled as a hotbed of racism, because nothing could be further from the truth.</p>
<p>Please do not let this hearsay affect your decision to matriculate.</p>
<p>I will have to agree with bigdirs in that this whole notion of racism has been overblown at UVA. In all honesty, it isn't really a problem. A few isolated case are portraying the unversity as having a problem.</p>
<p>Self-segregation is an inevitable problem at all universities but your group of friends is entirely up to you. A basic tip to avoid self-segregating is to get involved in activities that don't necessarily attract a particular race, however that's not to say you should avoid clubs or activities that do.</p>
<p>The responses here are what I first sensed from UVa actually. Personally, I know that I am not a self-segregating person. I need, and I repeat - need, a diverse group of friends to strive... Yes, it is nice to have people you relate too racially, but at the end of the day, without a diverse environment I will not learn or be happy. </p>
<p>I was seriously leaning towards UVa over Vanderbilt, solely because I thought the "tension" I sensed at Vanderbilt wouldn't exist at UVa. Then, I had my eyes open to a similar problem at UVa... however, this thread has sort of eased my mind about this issue.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone that replied, thanks to you... UVa remains #1.</p>
<p>However, any insight is still GREATLY appreciated! AKA PLEASE POST!!!
I will be back in the morning, thanks again to all who posted!</p>
<p>i don't mean to sound like a sour grape heh. and i never said "African American students don't participate in mainstream activities."</p>
<p>I said theres a disproportionately small amount of them (or the same recurring faces) who do participate in activities. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people who do nothing at the school--and thats fine. Also, remember, this is just <em>my</em> experience. I'll be the first to admit I don't participate in 10000x activities. I could be off base--I sometimes need to remind myself that black students only comprise 8% of the population.</p>
<p>However, my experience with the black student population hedges on my first year experience. I had a black roommate first year who didn't want anything to do with white people, and only wanted to hang out with other black people. The black people he hung out acted just like him. So maybe I should have prefaced everything with "take what I say with a grain of salt*</p>
<p>Also, for all my griping, I don't think the race relations at UVa are really THAT bad. I specifically remember going on tour at the University of Richmond, and feeling as if there was a black student planted for us to see during the tour. Fortunately THAT doesn't go on at UVa ;-) hehe.</p>
<p>doctorsboy, UVA has been making great efforts to recruit more students of color and diverse backgrounds. You might also want to read past issues of the student newspaper on-line for any further discussion of racism on campus, as well as the local newspapers - and come to your own conclusion. As someone else noted, self-segregation will probably happen - people are people - no matter where you go. But you need to be where you'll be most comfortable. Have you visited UVA overnight? Good luck to you.</p>
<p>I understand where you are coming from jags, you don't need to worry about coming off as a racist or whatever, because you are just expressing your honest opinion from a personal experience. Do you find that the black people who are really involved in the community and hang out with everyone are shunned by the general black community? This question goes to everyone who may have any information, not exclusively jags. Thanks again jags for your thoughts.</p>
<p>To LBP, thanks for the advice, and no i have not stayed overnight. I have a feeling that my stay during Spring Fling will be what determines whether I go or not. Yeah, and now I sort of realize that self-segregation is prevelant everywhere I guess...at first I thought Vanderbilt was a special case considering it is the Harvard of the South(emphasis on south lol).</p>
<p>Thanks to all who replied, I will be checking this thread periodically to answer any more that people have...
Thanks again and post away!</p>
<p>I am going to be a first year student this year and I am an African American Male. I think "self-segregation" will take place at any school. It might be more apparent at UVA but I'm not really sure. I'm going to Spring Fling next week and people keep reminding me that just because the campus will be full of black people while I'm there, that is not how it really is. Events like Spring Fling are good but I think they do add to this "self-segregation". UVA does do a good job of making African American students feel welcome though, which I commend. That's one of the reasons I chose it.</p>
<p>I think that people also have to remember that African Americans are 8% of the class. African American students are most likely going to join at least one club that represents who they are since they are a minority group on grounds. I don't think it is that black students don't participate in these activities. I think its that there are not that many of them and they participate in some different activities that white students.</p>
<p>Ok, well I may be going up to visit with a friend this weekend... It should be really fun! I invite anyone else to post their opinions, black or not, on this issue. Thanks for the posts, and I look forward to seeing more!</p>
<p>So I decided to re-dig up this thread in light of two events during my weekend spent on Grounds...</p>
<ol>
<li><p>African-Amer Frat Initiation - I was walking to the Corner with my friend when we made a side stop at Newcomb Hall to watch an initiation for a black fraternity (not sure if it was a co-ed, but i don't think so). Let me tell you, it was awesome. There were a ton of people (black and white) watching, and everyone knew what was going on: it wasn't so much of an initiation, but more a joining together of brothers, new and old, and uphold tradition and overwhelming pride. And the rest of the community could experience this and be involved as well, and that comes to show that while race can interact within their own race, the whole community interacts indirectly. And inter-racial activities will happen, no matter what.</p></li>
<li><p>Dorm room chit chat, the flip side - I was sitting around tonight with a bunch of other girls and guys and somehow the issue of diversity came up. Everyone except one girl came from schools that had a very diverse student body, and were tolerant and accepting. But, they mentioned that once they got to UVA they started being aware of minorities a lot more. This is simply because there are a lot fewer here than most places. While everyone still may be accepting, there is far less diversity than what should be expected.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>shoebox, let's examine your statement that there should be more diversity. Considering your post, I think you must mean racial diversity.</p>
<p>According to FastWeb, UVA has 69% White Students (not of Hispanic origin), compared to 69.5% in Virginia (wikipedia)</p>
<p>UVA has 9% African Americans, compared to 20.65% of Virginia's population. </p>
<p>UVA has 4% Hispanics, compared to 5.44% in Virginia</p>
<p>UVA has 11% Asians compared to 5.2% in Virginia</p>
<p>UVA has 7% unknown.</p>
<p>So, essentially, you are wrong that UVA has fewer minorities, because the white population is exactly the same as the state overall. The proportions of UVA's minority populations do not match the state however. If you make the case that African Americans are under-represented, who do you admit fewer of? The logical answer would have to be Asians, because they are the only over-represented racial group on grounds.</p>
<p>You see where this is going? Are you going to advocate granting fewer Asian students admission to UVA, or if not, what would be your solution?</p>
<p>Hey, thank you for all the responses once again. I have made my final decision, and I will be attending the University of Virginia in the fall. I considered everything that people told me on this thread among others during my visit at Spring Fling. However, once I got there, I found that even though there may be some racism hidden within some of the campus (with both white and black students), the unity overrides this fact. Cool people met up and became friends with other cool people. Events like Africa Day brought people from all races to come and celebrate a continent's heritage. The first act, a hip-hop drummer act, consisted of three drummers: one of them being white. I found that the racial boundaries are not that hard to break if you really get to know the people who attend the school. All i have to say now is: Go Hoos!</p>
<p>P.S. I saw you Dean J with your cool "Dean J" nametag!</p>
<p>I grew up in the south (GA), and am white (and 56 years old), and I know all about racism. Although we have come a long way, no doubt it still exists, to some degree, everywhere! My observation, after visiting UVA several times with my D, who will be attending next fall, is that it is not more prevalent there than any other place we have visited, and UVA has so many opportunities for everyone, that I suspect that won't be a problem for you - great choice on UVA ! Go 'Hoos!</p>
<p>bigdirs: I didn't say that UVA needs more diversity. And I guess I should have included more background info, including the fact that all except one girl came from the same area in NoVa where their schools had more minorities combined than whites. They all also live in Old Dorms. They were just mentioning that minorities were fewer and more far in between that they knew before.</p>
<p>Also, when looking at percentages, it's important to remember that UVA's population of 20,000 (total) is less than a percent of Virginia's total population of 7.5 million (<a href="http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51000.html)%5B/url%5D">http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51000.html)</a>. So while a large number of minorities in VA may make up that percentage, when UVA's minority population matches that percentage it's a very small number of students. Which explains my friends' comments.</p>
<p>This wasn't for or against minorities. The post was not designed to do anything other than show the OP two sides to his conflict.</p>