<p>Lehigh is on my S's list. Recently, I came across some disturbing articles about racial incidents at Lehigh. I read that after Obama got elected, there were several ugly racial incidents, and the president of the university had to convene a town hall meeting to address this issue. There are some other stories regarding similar incidents.</p>
<p>My son is not black, but no way, I would recommend a school with this kind of stuff going on to him. I was pretty shocked - this is an elite schools less than 2 hours from NYC, not in some Dixie land. </p>
<p>Can anyone, current student, recent graduates, etc comment on this?</p>
<p>I am a current student at Lehigh University. I am involved in many activities on campus so I am able to relate to many students. My hall has a decent number of minority students. I would say for the most part there is no racism on campus. However, here and there on every campus across the country you are going to get a few ignorant people. </p>
<p>Another intersting fact someone said today was that if you took the United states and calculated the percentages of each race, Lehigh would be very equivalent to those numbers. Race is only an issue if you make it an issue. I have been here for a month and have not seen anything racist. The one time someone came close to being racist, everyone was offended. I truly believe Lehigh is not a racist campus.</p>
<p>Lizmane, My son is a freshman and I second what the last poster said. His floor is extremely diverse, he has white, black, hispanic and international students in his hall. They are all getting along wonderfully and enjoying learning about each other. Although the school does not have huge diversity numbers, it is pretty reflective of the general population and he has seen no signs of racism on the campus. His girlfriend is of another race so they would be prime targets and he has had no negative experiences.</p>
<p>Of course, there are small minded people everywhere, so by no means am I saying it does not exist, I am sure that it does!</p>
<p>can anybody tell me if they see any evidence of the school administration actually doing something meaningful during last two? </p>
<p>the articles were talking about various calls for change since Obama election. I wonder if this was just show and tell that lasted all 5 minutes, or whether the school administration is actually doing something that is sustainable.</p>
<p>I even read another current student’s post on issues like this on other forums/thread that said something to the effect that the problem/division is really between blacks and whites, and the Hispanic students shouldn’t worry (s/he was responding to a concern raised by a Hispanic student). AS IF THIS SHOULD COMFORT ANYBODY who is not black.</p>
<p>Your honest feedback would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I don’t know how you judge “meaningful” since a university administration cannot change a student’s character; however, I do know that Lehigh has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to hate speech and acts. In fact, tonight there is a vigil on campus for “a community of respect” in reaction to the Rutgers suicide. Although the event has been organized by LGBT students, the vice provost has publicly encouraged members of the Lehigh community to attend.</p>
<p>I think when it comes to bigotry, the best solution is frequent consciousness-raising events so that students understand that such behavior is offensive. I don’t think that Lehigh has any more bigots on the campus than on any other campus. All universities struggle with these issues.</p>
<p>I’m a current freshmen at Lehigh, and I too thought there would be some racism after reading the articles and hearing the general overview about Lehigh. After being here for a few months, and having a very mixed hall, I’ve seen zero racism or discrimination. That also goes for frats and sororities, whose parties have shown no sign of discrimination.</p>
<p>are there alot of asians at lehigh?</p>
<p>^^ since i’m an international, i dont know much about that.Hope to find a considerable amount of asians and other minorities.</p>
<p>^
My high school is kind of known for being an “Asian school” because it’s a math/science school so I’m hoping that I can meet more Asians at Lehigh as not to submerge myself into a completely different diversity ratio. With that being said, most of my close friends aren’t Asian, but I do have a lot of Asian friends, too. I think it’s true that people feel more comfortable with people of the same ethnicity, but I think I put up a good effort to be friendly with everyone.</p>
<p>On the Obama issue, I’m sure at every school there are a few ignorant people, or people who make stupid remarks without thinking of what they are saying.</p>
<p>There are Asians at Lehigh, don’t worry. I know a few myself.</p>
<p>We’re an engineering school… I mean, c’mon 
:P</p>