Racial tensions surrounding Oxford College (Emory University)?

Right now I am currently deciding between Binghamton and Oxford, both are offering me about the same package. Don’t worry about my major or any other information. I know that the main campus has some history with intolerance among races and religions, therefore (for people that have attended Oxford in the recent years oR are currently attending) have you noticed or experienced any racial tensions specifically surrounding black people? And please don’t be rude. I Would rather not have to read through ignorant comments.

Wow. I sure hope not. That would be a travesty.

I hope that you feel comfortable at whatever school you choose.

I’ve only heard good things about Oxford and it offers to my mind a nice place, small LAC style, to start a college career, and then there’s the natural transition to the larger university.

Best wishes to you.

@Mylillife Where are you getting this from? Firstly I would say that racial tensions is everywhere from New York to Mississippi, there might be differing amounts of it but its always there.

Secondly, You are not thinking critically. If you " know that the main campus has some history with intolerance among races and religions" you also know that if you go to Oxford you would have to be on main campus in two years. Also if racial tension was severe enough for black students at Oxford, this would become headline news due to Emory’s caliber and black students would most likely not want to go, or at least transfer out at higher rates( which is not the case). It sounds as if you are going off of what a few people have told you about the south and haven’t done much research. Emory is the most liberal,diverse, and cosmopolitan school in the south. University is for education and opportunity, a racial utopia does not exist in the real world or at any university.

Third, I would probably advice you to go to Binghamton its a great University, you are probably familiar with the atmosphere of New York. However I cant for promise complete harmony at Binghamton either so I would look into Howard, Hampton, Morehouse/Spelman, more niche schools.

Hopefully this won’t taint the responses you get.

At many institution, especially private ones dominated by affluent whites … there’s a high likelihood you will experience discrimination of some kind. At some schools it is obvious and pervasive (check out Dear White People on Netflix and “I, Too, Am Harvard” on Youtube), at others it isn’t.

If you get there and feel the racism is too overwhelming, you have the option to transfer to a HBCU. @Mylillife

My suggestion would be to find out a contact from the respective Black Student Unions at each school and ask them about their current experiences. Also read the school newspapers for any relevant news stories.

You’re ASSUMING people would be ignorant when replying to your ignorant ASSUMPTION that emory is racist. Humorous. Emory is a very very liberal institution as are 99% of universities.

@AimingTop50 : I am really trying to understand why folks are coming on here singling out Emory. Is it trolling ? Anyone could easily find all the issues bought up lately at similar or higher caliber private schools. Also, Oxford, from what my friends tell me, is supposedly very supportive specifically of URMs. Main is pretty much like any pretty liberal research university. There are not many tensions, but it is larger and generally not as supportive toward specific groups (though Dean of Campus life Ajay Nair works really hard on these issues seemingly more so than other administrators at similar U’s). It runs like a machine/business. Welcome to American highered.

@Mylillife

My daughter is a sophomore at Oxford and has never said anything about racial tensions.

If you have friends at Oxford or contacts with students who work with admissions at Oxford, you should ask them or ask them for the names of URM students at Oxford who you can speak to.

Oxford’s community is very diverse in every sense of the word and very close and supportive.

@FourScoreFour: FERPA may prevent that unless they have any minority admissions reps (like tourguides) who may be happy to take questions from prospective students.

Reach out to this student - she is or was head of the black student alliance http://oxford.emory.edu/news/2016/03/goodman.html

Isn’t Emory pretty diverse?

@Dontskipthemoose Yes, lol.

Diversity does not necessarily mean that an institution is not racist @Dontskipthemoose

@bernie12 I chose to ask about Emory because it was one of schools I was accepted to. Duh. It was not like out of all of the universities I chose to ask about the racial climate at Emory. I have never visited and wanted to know the racial atmosphere. Period.

@AimingTop50 First off before posting a comment for my comment and sounding stupid, you need to read my post throughly. I never accused Emory of being a racist institution. I said that I know some racial events have happened in the past on the main campus. An institution being liberal does not mean that POC do not experience microaggressions (which often happens). And knowing the normal reactions of people from the United States of America I have every right to assume that people will have an ignorant view on my post. Re read my post before replying again. To be honest reading your rediculous comment made me chuckle a bit. You are now dismissed.

@VANDEMORY1342 I laughed throughout your whole comment. Was your response you thinking critically? Black people value education over everything. Therefore I doubt it that Black people would leave a top tier institution at an alarming rate because of racism. We deal with it. For an institution to have racist aspects, it does not need to make headlines. Have you ever heard of microaggressions? Look it up. Microaggressions do not normally make headlines, but best believe it makes us uncomfortable. Liberal schools still deal with microaggressions and diversity does not mean not racist. If you feel like I haven’t done much research then you do it. But you can’t because there is not an article that truly points to Emory having a positive or negative racial climate. That’s why I asked on here. Okay??? Especially since it would be better to hear from a first person point of view OF SOMEONE THAT HAS ACTUALLY EXPERIENCED THE RACIAL CLIMATE. Which I clearly asked in my question. Your rude comment served no purpose to me putting down my deposit for Emory. You’re dismissed now.

First off before posting a comment for my comment and sounding stupid, you need to read my post throughly. I never accused Emory of being a racist institution. I said that I know some racial events have happened in the past on the main campus. An institution being liberal does not mean that POC do not experience microaggressions (which often happens). And knowing the normal reactions of people from the United States of America I have every right to assume that people will have an ignorant view on my post. Re read my post before replying again. To be honest reading your rediculous comment made me chuckle a bit. @AimingTop50

@Mylillife

Here’s a relevant story about Binghamton (which you’ve mentioned as the school that’s also a finalist in your thinking):
http://www.globalblackhistory.com/2013/06/african-student-v-binghamton-university-stories-from-the-diaspora.html

Is this the kind of thing you’re asking about with respect to Emory?

All of this may be moot. You’ve probably already decided at this point. It’s late on May 1st.

Emory has been around for a long, long time and most of us have been acquainted with Emory on either a first or second basis for only a few years at most.

I, for one, have no idea what you’re referring to when you say there’ve been “incidents” “in the past.” You’ve never identified any particular incident(s) and no one can’t respond with any more specificity as a result.

Various posters suggested current or recent Oxford/Emory students who can answer your questions in detail. Hopefully, you had a chance to dig deeper and to make a decision accordingly.

@Mylillife : There is no period. You made assertions and wild assumptions about racial climate at EMORY instead of just generically asking about it, You came into this with expectations and pre-conceived notions and now seem upset that people view this as strange. Also, the initial “please do not respond with ignorance” certainly was not a great start. You took it to a different level, as have many other troll like folks who have been on here lately. I hope you find the info. you are looking for. Folks on this thread have made some suggestions about how to find out or contact someone who may be able to talk candidly. I would strongly advise that if you contact them, you avoid the tone of your first post. It was not very pleasant I must say and others seem to agree.