I was recently accepted to Purdue for engineering and have been greatly considering the possibility of going there. Because of the distance from home, the out of state cost (don't know about scholarships yet), and rigorous engineering program, I want to make sure I'm picking a school I will be comfortable at. As an African American female, I am concerned about racism at Purdue. I was reading online and saw that Purdue had the second most hate crimes for colleges in America, which was kind of surprising to me. Have any people on this forum at Purdue experienced this or know of any efforts to remedy the problem?
Look on page 2. I count 6 instances in 3 years (if I read the table correctly).
Some people like to be ignorant ass-holes (I’m Asian-American). But these are the same guys who call other guys faggots and such (aka, ■■■■■■■■ to everybody). It’s unfortunate, but unavoidable.
There is some racism at Purdue, but if you just hang with the right people you probably won’t experience it on a daily basis. I’m white, so I guess I wouldn’t really know, but there seems to mostly be a lot of stereotyping (especially against those of Asian descent. ^Sorry.) Unfortunately there are a few racists on every campus. Just FYI, there aren’t very many African Americans at Purdue, or at least I don’t see very many. Most people I meet are white or oriental.
I personally have not seen any instances of people being racist towards others - only stereotyping in private (which is still bad.) I am a commuter student so that might play into it, but I think that friend choice has a lot to do with it. If you come to Purdue, I would hope that everyone would think no differently of you based on your skin color and that if they did, they would for heaven’s sake keep it to themselves. If you are able to make a visit to campus and take a group tour you might get a slightly better idea of how campus feels.
I’m an African American female too and was admitted into the engineering program! I was afraid of the same thing but I came to visit with one of my friends and stayed with her sister in the dorms. Even though there weren’t very many of us there, there was still a community and I was going to do the Minority Engineering program too so that I would be around people who look like me and be comfortable.
Purdue has subtle forms of racism. Mostly directed at international students though. Asians and Indians generally get hit the hardest. However, Europeans generally get their di**s sucked. As a non-european international student myself, I constantly sense that I am being considered inferior. A lot of international students have also reported the development of mental health issues like depression. My suggestion: don’t come here.
Purdue is a very racist school but as @Nar821 mentioned it is mostly directed to non-Europeans international students and it is never a direct form of racism. More sensitive people can clearly see when they are submitted to indirect forms of racism, others don’t realize that. At first it doesn’t matter too much, but wait until you stay here for one or more years. It can hit you hard. It is also a very conservative place, which only increases this type of negative behavior.
It’s the state of Indiana- the culture here. After 12 years of putting up with subtle racism we can’t take it anymore. You have to be tough, I don’t know what else to say.
Just FYI, there aren’t very many African Americans at Purdue, or at least I don’t see very many. Most people I meet are white or oriental.