Socio-Economic and Geographic Diversity? How Much?

Given the homogeneity of Maine, from which Colby draws much of its students, it’s not surprising to see a modest amount of diversity at Colby. How does that translate to social interactions on campus for minority students? We visited the campus and enjoyed the friendly atmosphere. But it was a brief visit so we’re wondering about how others see the issue of diversity at Colby. Thank you.

Hi Redpandabear,

As a current Colby Student I can tell you that there is a decent amount of diversity on campus(unfortunately only related to race), socio economic diversity is still lacking by quite a few margins and this can easily be seen on campus. However that is true of almost any major “elite” college, especially in the middle of Maine.

Interactions between groups is near non existent in a real manner, sure everyone says hi to each other but that does not translate into real social interactions ie good meals together, or chilling together on the weekends etc. The pugh centre aims to facilitate conversation and interaction between racial minorities and the rest of the community.
However before you leave thinking all is bad on this hill, it isnt that bad things are definitely getting better. David Greene has been launching initiatives to combat issues on diversity and things are moving on the right track.

So the question no comes do you want to come to a school where you have the ability to shape the discourse on campus? On the contrary feel content going to a large school where you are oblivious in the crowd but will find some type of people just due to the sheer size ?

Hope that helped
Phantom

@phantom0308 Thanks very much for your candor and insights about diversity at Colby. I have heard great things about President Greene and so am optimistic about the growth of Colby. My brief visit of Colby witnessed positive student relations and a fair amount of interaction among all races in the cafeteria. Thanks again.