<p>At which colleges do students self-segregate among racial, ethnic, or religious lines? At which colleges do students break down these barriers? Thanks for your anticipated responses!</p>
<p>I think this happens at most colleges, you could probably name off every university and someone would say, "Yes I go there and I've seen it going on at that particular school". but just because some groups of people do this doesn't mean that everyone at the school is like that. My school is in the South so there is definitely still some black/white self-segregation here, plus the Asians tend to go off in their own groups as well, but I have a lot of black, white, and asian friends and I am white, so... I think it is all how you look at it.</p>
<p>I attend a state university in the south and as AUlostchick noted, there's some self-segregation among whites, blacks and asians. For the most part, the racial atmosphere at my school is pretty chill, especially when compared to the state's other major university.</p>
<p>This happens at every single school, but you will also see groups of people from different backgrounds as well.
I agree with AU, racial segregation is definitely more common place in the south between black and white students but that doesn't mean you won't see black and white students hanging out with each other.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. If you are comfortable stating which school you attend, that would be great! I am wondering, though, if this is the cultural norm everywhere, or if there are schools where it is more commonplace for barriers to be broken down. So far, all of these respondents are from the south, so I am wondering about the rest of the country. Also, I am talking about informal social relationships, but I am also wondering if there are schools where formal efforts are made by students, administrators, or faculty to promote interactions among students. For example, which schools have a kosher/halal dining facility (even a snack or sandwich place) or a common Ramadan/Yom Kippur break fast meal when these coincide? Are there schools where the Indian Student Association and the African American student group might co-sponsor an event featuring the relationship between Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.? Do groups co-sponsor events for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day, an Armenian Day of Remembrance, or any other remembrance day? Are there dialogues between groups that might have historic or current political issues to discuss? Do students know to say "Happy New Year" to their Chinese or Jewish friends at the time of those holidays, even if they belong to a different group (This may seem trite, but I am just referring to awareness here and the greeting is very much appreciated.) Are there representatives from the different ethnic or religious associations that meet together as a board to plan programming or put into effect efforts to promote understanding? Please respond if you are or are not aware of such efforts, and also please could more people respond to the original question about which schools have a culture of social segregation and which do not. My original question was inspired by someone who stated, "All my friends from college are Indian because no one else would be friends with me." I was surprised by this and wanted to learn more.</p>
<p>At my school, minorities typically self segregate. The AA's have their own group, unless they're on a sports team. Asian def. hang out together, intern'l's hang out w/other internat'ls's, Indian kids hang out with mostly other Indian kids.
It's pretty sad that our school accepts people to diversify the student body, and groups decide to keep to their own race/ethnic groups.</p>
<p>I'm in Manhattan, and there's a good deal of segregation between blacks and whites and Hispanics. It also feels tense, sometimes. I think it just might be the school. However, at my old college there was absolutely no segregation and none of that under-lying racial tension that seems to be prevalent here.
The only people who were off on their own were Asians.</p>
<p>PlattsburghLoser, where did you attend college before?</p>
<p>SUNY Plattsburgh, it's in a small town where everybody is ridiculously friendly and accepting. I loved it so much there that, after I graduate and provided there are decent job opportunities there (probably not), I'd definitely consider moving.</p>
<p>One has to wonder what the root cause is for self-segregation. Is it as simple as "Birds of a feather . . ." or is it expressed/implied overt racial preferences? With all the emphasis on colleges celebrating diversity, there should be more mixing and less separation, IMO.</p>
<p>why do people get so ticked off over race?</p>
<p>different races self segregate the same way that jocks like to hang out with jocks, nerds like to hang out with nerds, rich people like to hang out with other rich people, etc.</p>
<p>Most people who notice self-segregation tend to be Caucasian- I think there is subtle racism here because they expect that American culture is so great that everyone should try to conform and melt together in a big ol' pot.</p>
<p>I am not particularly ticked off, just wondering where a culture exists where there are informal or formal interactions among students of different cultural backgrounds. I absolutely understand the truly important need for establishing strong identity and I agree that people want to have something in common with friends. On the other hand, we have a world full of problems that could be addressed through interaction, communication, getting to know one another, learning to respect cultural history and uniqueness, learning to understand and respect different points of view. We have so much emphasis on the development of technology in our society. But....we are not failing in technology; we are failing in diplomacy! Why not start improving our efforts at diplomacy with our nation's college students, the best and brightest who are in such a perfect place to start appreciating each other as people?</p>
<p>lollybo - I disagree, I think everyone notices it. I'm brown I notice when I see a herd of all-brown kids together in the dining hall, or an all-black table in the library...white people do the same thing, but because they're not minorities, it's not considered weird to be at a party where 99% of people are white. It doesn't tick me off, but yeah, I notice it, maybe more so because my friends come in different colors.</p>
<p>i don't think it's racist or subtly racist to think everyone should come together in a big ol' pot. unless you're a 1st/2nd gen American, chances are your perspective is really not that different from everyone else's. seriously, people act like we're so different and we need to interact and share our different worldviews, but I haven't noticed my black friends having completely different worldviews than anyone else. it doesn't bother me when people self-segregate, but it does bother me when those self-segregators look down on others of their race who choose to interact with others...you know, the kind of idiots who use words like banana and coconut to describe their peers.</p>
<p>I go to a semi-south University. The Asians, Indians, and other typical international student groups tend to self segregate.</p>
<p>Blacks and Whites tend to have a majority of white or black friends depending on their race, but most Whites/Blacks socialize with each other. It's just the internationals really who self segregate.</p>
<p>I really haven't seen really any hispanics/latinos since I've been here.</p>
<p>I was the only brown kid at school</p>
<p>I adapted pretty well to the white kids, asians and pretty much all "groups"</p>
<p>It is a bit hard though, to break the social barriers.</p>
<p>May be off topic:</p>
<p>Oh wow, well at my school ( junior in high school) there are some tables that may seem segregated when observing the lunch room. Though I eat at a table of all different ethnic backgrounds and religions. Speaking same for classroom, which I see really no segregation of such.</p>
<p>My point is I don't think there is anything wrong with self segregation. People growing up in similar cultures are more likely to share the same experiences/have more topics to relate to. Unless the experience of every minority growing up is 100 percent similar to each other, self segregation is inevitable.</p>
<p>I can understand internationals self-segregating, but not second generation kids in America. The differences between an Indian American, a Chinese American, a Mexican American and a white person is very tiny. It's very likely that they watch similar TV shows, follow sports and generally know what's going on in the news. I mean, they did grow up in the same country? There are slight cultural differences obviously, but these are over exaggerated in my opinion.</p>
<p>I think a lot of foreign kids are simply scared that white people won't accept them because of their race, so they choose to not take the risk to associate with them. THAT is a problem.</p>
<p>White people are the majority in the country. If you grew up in this country and you don't have a decent amount of white friends, then you are segregating yourself by race and are not maturing socially in the way that you should be.</p>
<p>^ I agree with you that after 1st gen immigrants, skin color makes little difference, but regardless, why do you think it's immature to only associate with your race? white people do the same thing, it's just not as obvious - there are tons of white people who don't have colored friends.</p>
<p>I don't think foreign kids are scared that whites won't accept them. i'm not a foreign kid, but my family is pakistani and my mom has family there, and 2 of my second cousins are studying abroad in the U.S right now. I've noticed that most of their college friends seem to be brown - not south asian american, but internationals from india/pakistan/bangladesh. It's because many internationals, especially the ones from developing nations, don't come here to get the American college experience and learn about a new culture and all that - they come here because an American college degree is elite and will help them get a job, and they prefer to associate with other internationals from their own culture, and then after 4 years they go back home and land a sweet job with their American college degree, and don't really care about embracing another culture and all that. I honestly don't see what's wrong with that - everyone picks friends based on interest, and language/culture makes a difference.</p>
<p>Some kids at my school (Bowdoin) definitely, or mostly, only hang out with people of the same race but there aren't many of those. I honestly don't know if those people consider it self-segregation or if they do it because they only feel comfortable with people of the same race (I'm not sure I'm comfortable with either reason but whatever). For the most part though most people seem to be interested in socializing with a lot of different people. </p>
<p>As for breaking down barriers, I've recently realized something interesting that I don't think applies just to Bowdoin. The students who hang out with all types of races tend to make un-PC jokes and laugh about stereotypes, etc. The kids who are very PC and preach about tolerance, however, almost always hang out exclusively with people of the same race. May be a great way to break down barriers would be to make people feel comfortable enough with themselves to eschew political correctness?</p>