Race issues causing kid to want to transfer

<p>Hi, fellow parents. My daughter is a freshman at a medium-sized private liberal arts university. She fell in love with the school last year (her senior year in HS) and applied ED. Turns out that the university was a poor choice for her for various reasons, including that she is a minority and this school is not very diverse at all. When she was visiting (several times) senior year, we were told repeatedly that the school's number one priority was to be more global and increase diversity. I can now see why. Since she moved in, she has heard about, witnessed and been subject to a number of race-based incidents. She is doing well in her classes (A's and B's) but has become disheartened. She called me sobbing yesterday because, for the last more-than-a-month, one or two kids in her foreign language class have been mocking the teacher (who is from China) behind her back, and making racist remarks about Chinese music videos shown to the class. I think she is just fed up and feels it is a hostile environment. </p>

<p>So we are trying to decide how best to support her and what to do. My instinct is to have her finish the last month of the semester (she is earning A's and B's) and bring her home. She can get a job (she has had jobs before) and work, and we can take the time to support her and help her find a college or university that is more diverse and where a brown person doesn't attract attention. Of course, this puts her college schedule behind by a whole semester. But it seems to me that rushing to get a transfer application in to a college or university she hasn't even looked at seems too hasty and would be asking her to make another huge adjustment rather quickly. </p>

<p>In any case, thoughts? Also, how the heck are transfers handled? Do kids just go to the college where they are and tell their advisor they are leaving? (Sorry for the dual post, but I figured the original headline on the post wasn't telling the whole story, so I thought I would try again. The forum wouldn't let me edit the first post!)</p>

<p>My family is very “diverse” on the surface, yet very close-knit in reality. I am Latina, my kids are blonde, my brother married a Cuban girl and his kids have very dark skin. Yet we are more alike than we are different. If I would think about my family in terms of race, I’ll go crazy. </p>

<p>In my mind, I stopped thinking about race, at all. I know that I belong to (family name) family. That’s all. It really made my life much easier. Saved me from lots of disappointment. Honestly, try it.</p>

<p>“Where are you from?” - is a typical question. I don’t think it is racist. Instead of explaining my origin, I simply tell the name of the city, where I currently live. </p>

<p>“How do you like United States?”
“I love the weather in California”. (true)</p>

<p>“Are you (name) mother?” (do I look like her babysitter?)
“Her father is probably blond” (nice try to figure out why my D is blonde)
“No, her father is not blond. I used to be blonde when I was young” (That is true, although hard to believe).</p>

<p>One family once complimented my D on her English. It was so funny, because my D was born in USA and English is her prime language. </p>

<p>I take it as a compliment. It means that my effort to preserve Latino heritage works.</p>