Race and Dartmouth

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>Is there a lot of self-segregation at Dartmouth College? Does racial stratification have an obvious presence on campus? Thank you for your time and input.</p>

2

<p>Check out this picture. It’s from Dartmouth Dimensions weekend. I knew these people for less than an hour before we decided to hang out.

<a href=“http://i700.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/ww9/09surebo/DSCN1311.jpg[/IMG]”>http://i700.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/ww9/09surebo/DSCN1311.jpg

</a></p>

3

<p>That is what I like to see. I already know that the answer is minimal, but I just wanted to see what people had to say about it. Thanks.</p>

4

<p>During parents’ weekend, we went out to dinner with a group of friends from S’s floor: two kids of Indian descent, one black kid, two white kids. My impression is that there is a LOT less self-segregation than there was when I was in college, when black students were struggling with identity issues and separatism was in vogue. Obviously there is still some–I noticed that when we went to the coffee house and the cute (and very talented) Asian guy performed, the audience suddenly included an influx of mostly Asian girls <g>, but it really doesn’t seem extreme.</g></p>

5

<p>it seemed very open and mixing when I visited during Dimensions. (which is part of the reason why I chose Dartmouth over Williams). At one point during Dimensions, I was hanging out with a Hispanic girl, two African-American girls, several white girls, and an Asian girl. I’m Asian myself, and I felt VERY comfortable talking to any people of any race during the entire Dimensions. The existing student body seemed VERY open and mixing as well.</p>

6

<p>I wish I could have gone to Dimensions. Sounds like fun.</p>

7

<p>That’s a bit funny – I know someone who went to Dimensions a couple years back and complained about how everyone self-segregated. I do think there is a tendency to self-segregate at Dartmouth, if only because your social circle is almost completely defined by who you hang out with your freshman fall, and/or which Greek society you join. (This is not necessarily a bad thing – freshman fall is basically Dimensions redux, so everyone has a good time and finds a bunch of people to hang out with.) This typically results in what we call “shmobs,” where huge groups of frosh walk around everywhere together. But you’ll find that upperclassmen have their own mobs, which are usually subsets of their original shmobs and/or friends from their Greek societies.</p>

<p>Dartmouth social sorting is pretty interesting and it doesn’t result from anything intentional, I think. It’s just the case that international students go for a lot of international-specific orientation programming, and so primarily meet other international kids. Meanwhile, the African-Americans and Hispanics have their own programming too. And so on and so forth. Athletes will for example have their own circle of friends who mostly play the same sport as them.</p>

<p>If you’re the type who isn’t into this, though, you’ll spend your freshman fall with other folks. It’s nothing to worry about. I’m just warning you that there is substantial self-segregation that often coincides with certain groups – it’s something you’re completely free to opt out of (as I have), but it does happen.</p>

8

<p>Depends, but there is a ton of self-segregation.</p>

<p>Many frats have few minorities…less obvious in sororities because they’re larger.</p>

<p>Self-segregation is the norm</p>

9

<p>Since people are talking about self segregating based on frats and sororities, are there black ones at Dartmouth? Like AKAs, Deltas, Q’s, Alphas, etc? I guess I should have checked when I visited but the thought never crossed my mind.</p>

10

<p>There are AKAs and Alphas on campus.</p>