<p>Why is that distinction “key?” If you look at Oberlin’s Chinese club website and every single officer has a Chinese name and looks Chinese, and every candid photo of their events portrays only students who look Chinese, does it matter that “EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO JOIN THEM” is the policy? Either non-Chinese students do not, in fact, feel welcome and therefore do not join, or whatever is being offered by this club only appeals to one type of student based on his/her race. Ergo, it is not at all being inclusive of the campus community.</p>
<p>Using your examples, if a non-high-SES student lived with rich kids at Oberlin or went to their parties, and no one “had a problem” with it, then why wouldn’t it make thier clubs okay like it does with the race and religion based ones?</p>
<p>The three society houses at Wellesley are owned and funded by the societies through society endowments and dues. The college doesn’t own them. They were built a long time ago and probably wouldn’t be possible today. The college does, however, get to use them for lectures and events, so it’s a win-win for them.</p>
<p>Also, no one lives in the houses. They aren’t dorms. They aren’t sororities in the residential sense. None of them exclude people on an SES basis. The maligned TZE has a fund for students who cannot afford their dues (reputed to be the largest).</p>
<p>My feeling is that a girl who really wants to tea a society at Wellesley can find a niche at one of them, even if it’s not her first choice. It’s not like Mean Girls or something, where everyone rejected is wandering around cursing the cool kids. No one cares.</p>
<p>What’s so rude about a college mandating inclusiveness for club recruiting policies/hosted social events? </p>
<p>Moreover, there is a school of thought that one purpose of attending college is to expand one’s horizons by not always hanging out with “your own crowd”/being in your comfort zone. A school of thought I happen to agree with and lived considering my choice of college. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The rich Oberlin kids can theoretically form their club…they’d just have to accept everyone who wants to be a member and any social events they host must be open to all Oberlin students. </p>
<p>Of course, considering the campus culture and inclinations of most Oberlin students…a club like that would probably go over as well as a lead balloon unless it is being done in a hipstery-ironic manner meant to poke fun at themselves/socially exclusive clubs.</p>
<p>Not to mention the fact such a club would be very large considering most Oberlin students when I attended came from upper/upper-middle class backgrounds.</p>
<p>cobrat, You may have picked Oberlin because it felt like a good fit for you and many of the students there may have felt like “your own crowd.” Oberlin may have been more in your “comfort zone” than many other colleges you may have attended instead.
And yes, Wellesley, Oberlin, most privates are going to attract many upper/upper middle class students. This is nothing new.</p>
<p>You’ve got it completely backwards. One of the reasons I selected Oberlin on my list of colleges was precisely to get out of my comfort zone and thus, broaden my horizons. :)</p>
<p>As for fitting into a given crowd, I am part of many “crowds” whether it’s hardcore engineering/CS techies, mechanical tinkerers, history/politics wonks, musicians, artists…especially performing artists, academics/aspiring academics, etc. </p>
<p>One thing about me is that I tend to get bored if I stick with one group for far too long. Being able to mix in with multiple crowds and randomly chat up folks in public keeps life interesting. :)</p>
<p>It seems to be in your comfort zone in many ways in terms of how you seem to relate to the “campus culture” and “inclination of most Oberlin students.” That is what I was referring to.</p>
<p>I’m going to tell my son that he can live in the African-American heritage house at Oberlin even though he’s not African-American. That will make his day! After all, most of his friends in high school are African-American women, so I don’t see why that would change in college.</p>
<p>I am merely describing the campus culture at Oberlin much as an anthropologist or ethnographer would describe a given culture. </p>
<p>In many ways, my personal inclinations/perspectives and those of most Obie classmates were very different/diametrically opposed. Granted, back then…if one was a Green or further right politically…you’d be too conservative for most of my Oberlin classmates. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Careful. Oberlin does have a lot of PC going on and being White…your son may be browbeaten or argued at incessantly by many on campus and especially at houses. </p>
<p>Moreover, unless you live in an unusually progressively-left radical lefty area, most Oberlin students will probably be more lefty than he’s used to…and not shy about proclaiming it. </p>
<p>However, if his mental constitution and sense of humor and tact are good enough, he could overcome it. :)</p>
<p>Granted, I’ve heard from younger alums that Oberlin’s campus culture/students have mellowed greatly compared to when I attended in the mid-late '90s.</p>
<p>Does anybody else see the irony in people attempting to get into the best school they can and then complaining that some organizations are “exclusive”? Maybe it’s just me.</p>
<p>People who strive to reach the inner circle frequently are disappointed to get there and find out there’s another even tighter circle inside that one.</p>
<p>Yes; I know of a Phi Beta Kappa Harvard grad who was shut out of Harvard MBA, settling for Stanford, and a Phi Beta Kappa Princeton grad who was shut out of Harvard Law, but going to Yale (notice I didn’t say “settling” for that one ).</p>
<p>There’s a gulf of difference between being admitted to a given college where the most/all of one’s admission is based on academic merit and being excluded from student clubs/organizations because of SES status or “Because some self-important officer doesn’t like you”. </p>
<p>The former has some basis in meritocracy…the latter is frivolous at best and promoting greater SES/social inequality which goes against the ideas of American egalitarianism where one’s merit and hard work should trump other considerations. </p>
<p>I’m arguing from the perspective that American higher ed institutions should at least attempt more than mere lip service for the idea of promoting greater egalitarianism and encouraging the social mixing of registered students from all social backgrounds. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A reason why my friends and I do our best to only crash the ones with plenty of good food and drink. :D</p>
<p>cobrat, Most people still go to their community college or state universities. Finances play a big role for most people in college choice. Admissions is not always based solely on “academic merit.” Finances usually play a role as does self selection in where people choose to apply.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I never heard of inner circles at the tech schools. Perhaps I missed something. </p>
<p>At Smith, they have French houses among others. Anyone can join. I don’t think the Wellesley houses are different. I’ve known rich people who help their Ugs and grad students rent very nice apartments, rather than live in dorms or share with several others. i guess that sets them apart.</p>
<p>Not nearly to the same extent as it was in the college years of John Kerry or W. </p>
<p>If that was the case…I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to attend a private LAC on a near-full ride FA/college scholarship that I had. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Many residential colleges like my LAC mandate all undergrads stay on campus for 2 or in the case of my LAC all 4 years unless one has a legitimate medical need for living off-campus. </p>
<p>And getting an exemption I heard was exceedingly hard unless one’s a senior. Result is that most students…including seniors live on campus when I attended. </p>
<p>Another example of mandated residency requirements is how Harvard mandates freshman and sophomores to stay in dorms even if they live within close commuting/walking distance to the campus.</p>
<p>You obviously had the drive and will to go to a private school. That is great. If you needed financial aid , that is also great that you received it. Those in the middle incomes sometimes then and now had/have difficult choices to make in terms of funding college. Luckily, some schools have been addressing this more recently.</p>
<p>"The rich Oberlin kids can theoretically form their club…they’d just have to accept everyone who wants to be a member and any social events they host must be open to all Oberlin students. "</p>
<p>If I’m an Oberlin student and I simply personally don’t like another student, am I obligated to still be his friend? Sit with him at dinner? Invite him to my parties? If he asks me out, am I obligated to say yes?</p>
<p>A handful of rich girls form a club and socialize together, benignly ignoring or leaving alone the other students. </p>
<p>The majority of Oberlin students (according to you) actively mock, make fun, sneer at, loudly disdain fellow classmates who have different or more conservative political views.</p>
<p>It’s not the rich girls who are the jerks here, cobrat.
And it’s not the rich girls who are being conformist.</p>
).</p>