<p>Intelligence and ignorance are not mutually exclusive. There are plenty of intelligent people who discriminate. This is the same with Vandy. </p>
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I know that most of my Asian friends report less strugles with discrimination than do African or Latino American friends. The latter two groups are still facing the most prevalent challenges because society at large still discredits many of the struggles and abilities and characters of these particular groups.
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<p>This is definitely a common misconception that really worries me. I've heard this before and I definitely cannot agree. African and Latino Americans may have their problems but so do the Asian Americans. Don't discount the Asians. I've experienced plenty of discrimination here or anywhere.</p>
<p>i dont think racism is a problem of the victim's personality. </p>
<p>at vandy, its not that you face blunt racism but you definitely feel like a minority. (more so than i have in chicago or cincinnati) then again, maybe it's only because im not used to southern cities and people. </p>
<p>its definitely an issue that is important at vandy. i think diversity is getting much better and once it does, even people who dont want it will have to deal with it.</p>
<p>As an Asian freshman at Vandy, I see two distinct types of asians on campus. One, sticks to the asian crowd almost exclusively. The other group of asians stays as far away as possible. </p>
<p>I don't really think there is much racism on campus...I believe it's more of an issue of exposure/experience; a lot of the people here from the South just haven't met many other asians, so they don't know much about asian culture, etc. But, there isn't any animosity between groups...like someone else said, each race pretty much sticks to themselves.</p>
<p>I was at Vandy recently and was actually pretty surprised by what I found. I expected to really like it, but found that the "beautiful" campus seemed a bit sterile. The most upsetting thing, though, was that I went with a Jewish friend and he heard from many of the students that it was uncomfortable there for them. In large part this was because there are so many active Christians there who either assume that you are also Christian, or try to proselytize you. I also saw the segregation between blacks and white's that others have mentioned. Things didn't seem tense, just very seperate. I left there pretty discouraged and am not going to apply after all.</p>
<p>this is definitely a southern school so it will take a while to get used to the south and the southern feel if you're not from around here. im a minority from north/midwest and it took me at least a year to get used to vandy but once you do, this place become your second home. If you're not willing to come outside your comfort zone, you'll suffer here and you're better off not attending here.</p>
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In large part this was because there are so many active Christians there who either assume that you are also Christian, or try to proselytize you.
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Just posting another viewpoint - my d is a fairly liberal, pretty much agnostic kid from New York who does not feel out of place at Vandy and hasn't, over the course of the past 3 semesters, been proselytized or even remotely pressured by her evangelical acquaintances. It's obvious that churchgoers are part of the college community (I've seen groups of kids dressed for church whenever I've visited on a Sunday), but Vandy is a big place, and, in my observation and my d's experience, more diverse than it's often given credit for being.</p>
<p>Diversity for diversity's sake is often silly and I'd argue this notion is very counter to what makes Vanderbilt's student body a fine group. The homogeneity of past Vanderbilt classes is changing for sure, but in a way that is not flattening what has always been great about being an undergrad between West End and 21st. </p>
<p>Vandy does have a personality and a culture growing out of this personality that is different than many, many, other places. (And VERY similar to other peer places.) Is it a different looking student body than the likes of Stanford or Berkeley? Yes. Some do kick this personality as prep school-ish or label Vandy a snobby place, etc. But to try to do some kicking at a Vandy personality driven by a Christian evangelical bent is to whiff every time.</p>
<p>Yes, Vanderbilt has let in more African Americans and Jews this year, that is not in question. How much mixing is there? Are the frats and sororities really mixed? How comfortable are people on campus? In Nashville?</p>
<p>if you wanna mix, there are plenty of people here that will do that too. but how often do you see mixing even in high school? i for one, don't like to label myself with as one race, religion or otherwise so i keep a good mix of types of friends. whether you find vandy comfortable or not depends on whether you can get along with the different types of groups here. we are catagorized as a "large" school so there are all different types of people but generally there are more preppy christian white kids than any other type. Although Vandy is hard at work to diversify, they are def still the dominant and always will be. so if you're not comfortable with preppy white kids, you'll have a hard time in any school. but honestly, it shouldn't bother you. what you want is a large group of people that you are comfortable with which vandy probably got.</p>
<p>I have been to Vanderbilt several times in the last few years. The faces have changed, there is more diversity, but it is, in my opinion, still a very "Southern" school. There is still a very white, rich, Christian ethic.</p>