Is Emory diverse?

Parents Forum
21

<p>


and I responded to the question about Emory and Georgia, not Atlanta and Georgia, the state.They (the OP) didn't ask about Atlanta. Y'all started that discussion.


Oh, come-on people! LOL. Disagree with what, exactly? None of us were asked about Atlanta's liberalism, or diversity for that matter. Y'all went ther on your own, and it was a legitimate detour from what the OP asked. The OP was worried about whether Emory being in the South and in Georgia in particular was a diverse place. I responded that Emory bore little resemblance to Georgia , not to Atlanta. To the whole state. It doesn't. I don't think that can be argued. </p>

<p>The Emory demographic is the most unique demo of any southern university that I have researched. I hold Emory in great esteem. I have a great deal of pride that it is in my home state . It has done wonders for Atlanta, for Georgia, and for the whole of the South. It has stood as a lamppost in the darkness of the Lester Maddox years (which coincidentally were some of the same years of the enlightened Atlanta political leadership mentioned above). It also , long ago and more importantly, saved my prematurely born nephew's life. I was trying to quell any fears the OP had of attending a fine school just because of some skewed view based on their view of what a southern school might be .</p>

<p>Now, I will also defend the record of progress in the south as a whole in racial and ethnic diversity/harmony over the past 45 years, but I didn't think the OP was interested in a history lesson. Just trying to pick a college. ;)</p>

22

<p>Curm, FWIW, I agree with you re: Emory not resembling the rest of GA (at least, the parts of GA I have seen).</p>

23

<p>Jym626 obviously misunderstood Curmudgeon's point. But I'll say also that sometimes a little history lesson is in order, and it wouldn't hurt a 'yankee' applicant to southern college to know what may lie ahead.</p>

24

<p>I remember Emory mostly as the center of the "God is Dead" movement in the early 60s.</p>

<p><a href="http://emoryhistory.emory.edu/enigmas/GodIsDead.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://emoryhistory.emory.edu/enigmas/GodIsDead.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

25

<p>Curmudgeon:</p>

<p>I "went there" with the history lesson because I truly believe that you cannot understand Emory without understanding Atlanta -- they are inextricably tied. The quintessential "New South" university in the quintessential "New South" city.</p>

<p>The ties between Emory and the city are everywhere you look, starting with the fact that Emory's endowment started with Coca-Cola stock from the Woodruff family. The Emory student center was designed by John Portman, Atlanta's most famous architect and so on and so forth.</p>

26

<p>Interesteddad, I knew that you understood. Emory in the context of Atlanta was , like I said, a legitimate detour. The OP should realize that all of us have agreed on at least one thing (if not everything) , they should not shy away from Emory because of southern stereotypes.</p>

27

<p>"I remember Emory mostly as the center of the "God is Dead" movement in the early 60s."</p>

<p>Now if that doesn't spell tolerance, I don't know what does.</p>

28

<p>Yes folks-- I see that I should not post on CC before my morning cup of coffee. I did "read" 'mudges earlier post as contrasting Emory with Atlanta, rather than Ga. But, in all fairness, those of us who live here tend to take it for granted that people know that the biggest problem with Atlanta is that it is surrounded by... Georgia. All kidding aside, Georgia has changed a LOT in the last 25 years. I recall about 15 yrs ago the late Hosea Williams, a local civil rights activist, leading a march to Forsyth County (a county 30 mi. north of Atlanta) because supposedly no African American had ever slept overnight in the county. With urban sprawl and massive growth, this county is now part of metro Atlanta. I can't speak to it's diversity, and I will let the fact that they pride themselves in their annual Antique Tractor Parade speak for itself <a href="http://forsythcounty.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://forsythcounty.com/&lt;/a>. :) Does anyone recall when (in 1982) the city of Kennesaw Ga (now also a metro Atlanta bedroom community) passed an ordinance <em>requiring</em> all homeowners to own guns (in response to Oak Park, Illinois' ordinance against handguns)? The times, they are a' changin'. I can't recall the last time I saw truck with a gun rack on it around here. Atlanta is wonderful, metropolitan city. It has the cosmopolitan and "4 seasons" feel of the north, but the charm of the south. Interesteddads historical description is excellent. They've just opened Atlantic Station, a new "live-here-work-here-shop here" community in the downtown area that is predicted to be "THE" new hotspot <a href="http://www.atlanticstation.com/concept.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.atlanticstation.com/concept.php&lt;/a>. The aquarium, the baby of Falcons owner/ Home Depot founder Arthur Blank, is scheduled to open next month. </p>

<p>I must say that rural Ga. really isn't that different from rural ^^^fill in the name of your state of choice here^^^. And in truth, few Emory students are likely to spend much time in the rural parts of the state (though the lakes and mountains are beautiful, whitewater rafting is lots of fun, and no, you will not feel like you are in the movie "Deliverance").</p>

<p>Emory has been fortunate to have had a rather significant cash infusion a few months ago ($525 million) from the royalties for a new HIV medication <a href="http://www.news.emory.edu/Releases/emtri/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.news.emory.edu/Releases/emtri/&lt;/a> . It remains to be seen how that $$ will be used at the university.</p>

<p>Back to the OP's question. When you are on Emory's campus or in the metro Atlanta community of over 4 million, you will feel like you are in a thriving, diverse, exciting community. C'mon down.</p>

29

<p>My son is a junior at Emory.</p>

<p>Originally, he wasn't at all interested at looking at any schools in the South--but his college counselor insisted to him that Emory was not a "sourthern school", rather, that it was just situated in the South. When we visited, he quickly learned that Atlanta did not fit his stereotype of a "southern " city and that it actually felt a lot like Chicago (where we are from originally) with all the different fun neighborhoods and myriad of things to do all the time. Once he finally set foot on Emory's campus, he fell in love with the school and the people he met there.</p>

<p>Emory, on paper, seems to be diverse by statistical measures. A lot of students complain about a lack of actual diversity on the campus itself, manifested by a lot of self-segregation. For all of the complaining about it, I wonder why so few students make an effort to move outside of their own comfort zones? </p>

<p>Emory is as diverse as one chooses for it to be. For my son, it has been very diverse--he has met students from all over and all walks of life and all sorts of interests who have become his good friends. I think that this would be the same at any school. A table in a dining hall can be all white, or all black, or all Long Island sorority girls or all pre-med majors-- and I am sure there are tables like these at Emory and at every other school--but no one needs to put himself or herself at that table. My son never did-- he was actively seeking someting different from the white-bread mentality of the area where we live. One of his roommates is of Mexican heritage and is a pre-med neurobiology major; the other roommate is from Long Island, a double major in comparative literature and economics with a minor in Chinese--and my son is from Ohio and majoring in middle eastern studies. His favorite study partner for his linguistics classes is a beautiful African American woman from Detroit.</p>

<p>My son is not unique--there are a lot of students at Emory who do seek real diversity, and I'm sure that this is true on all campuses.</p>

30

<p>Carolyn:
Your suggestion to pinkearmuffs about Emerson was a good one-- but where did it go??</p>

31

<p>
[quote]
the late Hosea Williams

[/quote]
</p>

<p>For those playing along at home, it should be noted that Hosea was quite the character, never one to miss a publicity stunt, usually the more outlandish, the better. I'm not sure he's the best, nor most influential, example of African-American political leadership in Atlanta.</p>

32

<p>Interesteddad-
Yes, Hosea was a hoot- drove around in an old "classic" cadillac, usually, but not always, on the correct side of the street. He was sort of the south's version of Al Sharpton, only less "edgy", shall I say? For all his flaws and publicity-seeking stunts, he did host the annual "Feed the Hungry" Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at the baseball stadium. His daughter has been trying to continue the "feed the hungry" legacy, but today's paper mentions how behind they are in their fundraising, attributed to the heavy fundraising that was done for Katrina victims. Her website says they feed over 35,000 at these events <a href="http://www.hoseafeedthehungry.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hoseafeedthehungry.com/&lt;/a> At any rate, my point in the above tongue-in-cheek description is to contrast the "old" vs the "new" south. Those of you who saw Alfred Uhry's "Driving Miss Daisy" (the film version of which was filmed in part at a house right by Emory) might recall that the 1958 bombing of The Temple was in response to the Rabbi's support of the Civil Rights movement and social justice. Atlanta has had a long-standing history of being far ahead of the surrounding area.</p>

33

<p>Are there any schools where this doesn't occur? My D & I visited colleges in all areas except the northwest. In every school but one the students in dining halls and cafetierias would be sitting with others of the same ethnic group only. The one exception was Guilford, in Greensboro, NC. Rebekah Nathan went into this in detail in "My Freshman Year".</p>

34

<p>Kriket-
I think the self-segregation is more obvious in some schoools than others. When I attended what is considered a bastion of liberalism in the NE, there was an "all-black" dorm for those who preferred this environment. That's fine. It is not unusual, or inappropriate, to sit, eat, or dorm with people with whom someone has something in common. I agree that one must look beyond the dorms and the dining halls to get a feel for any school.</p>

<p>Now, time to go watch the FLA-GA football game. As someone living in GA but cheering for FLA--- talk about segregation!!</p>

35

<p>
[quote]
there was an "all-black" dorm for those who preferred this environment.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>IMO, the presence or lack of "theme" dorms (either official or unofficial) is probably the best way to determine the degree to which segregation is practiced on campus.</p>

<p>There is always some degree of segregation, thanks in part to the darn colleges instilling it as a good idea, starting with segregated prospective student visits (diversity weekends) to segregated freshmen orientation sessions, and so on and so forth. However, there is a big difference between schools. Looking at the housing situation is the place to start.</p>

36

<p>
[quote]
IMO, the presence or lack of "theme" dorms (either official or unofficial) is probably the best way to determine the degree to which segregation is practiced on campus

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I see it a little differently. Many schools have dorms that have become informal "themed" dorms-- they develop reputations as, for example, the party dorm, the jock dorm, the internationals dorm, the geek dorm, the study dorm, the "no drugs/no alcohol" dorm, etc. While this is equally segregationist, it doesn't, IMO, necessarily reflect the tenor of the college. Brown, for example, is known to have dorms with these kinds of reputations. Would you consider Brown segregated? Schools with a greek presence have different frats/sororities with different "reputations", and they self-select accordingly. Would that mean that schools with a greek presence are segregated? The LAC I attended many moons ago clearly did NOT have segregation issues. The offered an all-black dorm at the request of the students (this was in the 70's). While the majority of the occupants were AA, not all were, and there were plenty of AA students who did not live in this dorm. To assume that a school is segregationist because they offered this option at the request of some students is a bit of an overgeneralization, IMO.</p>

37

<p>
[quote]
Would you consider Brown segregated?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>A school divided up into jock dorms, party dorms, geek dorms, study dorms, and so forth is by definition segregated. So, if that is the case at Brown, then, yes.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Would that mean that schools with a greek presence are segregated?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Absolutely. The Greek system is often one of the most segregated housing structures imaginable, with an impact not unlike the Berlin wall running through campus. I don't believe that "GDI" is a term of endearment.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The LAC I attended many moons ago clearly did NOT have segregation issues. The offered an all-black dorm at the request of the students (this was in the 70's).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I know how segregated black dorms came about. The schools should have had the backbone to say to the student leaders, "If white kids live in one dorm and black kids live in another, what exactly is the point of integrated schools?" Separate but equal was not the goal of school integration.</p>

38

<p>
[quote]
I can attest that the rest of Georgia and Emory have about as much in common with each other as a Hooter's has in common with the rest of San Francisco.

[/quote]

Crumudgeon,
I have no idea whether or not this is true...but it was damn funny!</p>

39

<p>ID-
So, by your definition, any school that offers separate handicapped bathrooms, or separate male and female sports teams, is de facto segregated. Not sure how I'd evaluate schools based on this definition of "segregation".
Back to the OP's question. If you use a more narrow definition of segregation, I think you will find Emore diverse. See boysX3's comments.</p>

40

<p>Re: African American themed dorms:</p>

<p>From the perspective of an African American who might be part of a population of only 6-8% of the students on a campus of several thousand - there's a benefit to themed dorms. We're not talking about a campus where half of the kids are white and half are black - and they divide. We're talking about a very small %. </p>

<p>I venture to guess that many of the black kids on the campuses of selective colleges are kids who come from high schools where they were one of a very few african americans....often being "the only" in their class. The opportunity to select a housing situation which places them in residence with 200 or so African Americans is viewed as a nice opportunity to finally connect with others like them.....a new experience for many of them. </p>

<p>So, while white students might feel that it would be better for these few African Americans to integrate themselves into the vast majority population of whites, many of these african american kids have a "been there, done that" attitude about integration. </p>

<p>While the white students might be seeking true integration, the black students have been integrated all of their lives (those who weren't usually don't wind up at selective colleges). The black students are seeking something else - finally, a place where they can feel like a majority - even if it's only a dorm.</p>

<p>I've heard lots of talk on cc about black themed housing being a bad idea because it offers opportunities to self-segragate. That's an easy call to make when you are in the majority. Try being one of the 7% or so out of several thousand students. For some black kids, it's an opportunity to try something new - actually being around other black kids.</p>

<p>Part of embracing diversity is being able to see situations from the viewpoint of others. I support the themed housing. It's not mandatory and I bet most of the kids only do it for a year or two. AND - not all of the residents are black ;) (my son lives in one and has awhite roommate)</p>

<p>If white kids really want to integrate, they are welcome to sign up to live in the AA themed dorm. There are other white kids there, so it'll be just like what the black kids experience living in the general housing on campus. </p>

<p>For all of you who want to see black themed dorms eliminated, just tell your sons and daughters to sign up to live in them. There's more than one way to create an integrated campus....and it doesn't always have to be the black kids who put themselves out there.</p>