<p>Colgate is no difference from any other college campus. Self-segregation is a fact of life on every college campus. The Latinos will be the the Latinos (where they self-segregate further by country of origin), the Asians with the Asians (where they do the same thing as the Latinos in further self-segregating), the blondes with the blondes, the gays with the gays, the vegans with the vegans, etc. All the calls for affirmative action and diversity on campus is moot since the students will choose with whom to live and socialize on their own, despite the best attempts of college administrations to encourage otherwise. Until assimiliation of people into a general culture is reinstated as the norm (like it was 40 years ago), students on every college campus in America will self-segregate. Go onto such campuses as Cornell where hundreds of Korean students will travel in a pack, as Stanford where all the Chicanos will assemble together at the Student Union and it'll be the Mexican-Americans who dominate, as Columbia where the Indians will only eat and live with other Indians, as USC where the blonde cheerleaders will always be with other blonde cheerleaders. It's human nature to choose your own, for like to seek out like. Even with all the theme houses at Colgate (which includes the Greek houses), there's still an attempt to get the student body to rally behind a common campus culture, especially at the athletic events. That may be one advantage to being a D-1 school since such unifying events as a championship team or a Saturday afternoon football game can go far to bringing everyone together.</p>
<p>Interesting, and I think you're right about the self-segregation. It happens in high schools too!</p>
<p>That's definitely true with the LGBTQ group at Colgate. Their meetings are closed to straight ppl, which I don't think does a whole lot for acceptance purposes.</p>
<p>What's a LGBTQ group? I think I know what the first four letters stand for, but 'Q'?</p>
<p>Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transexual Queer or Questioning -- there are chapters in high schools now -- at least in most of the "blue" states.</p>
<p>I think most schools have a gay straight alliance which would certainly be more open.
What was their reasoning for closing to members, were people being harrassed?</p>
<p>It was never open. I think they just wanted a particular atmosphere</p>
<p>How pervasive is the Greek system at Colgate? It seems to be a pretty big part of the social life, which really concerns me cuz its one of the things i was hoping to avoid in a school. Is there segregation between the Greek kids and those not involved, and is there a lot to do outside of fraternity and sorority activities?</p>
<p>Also, is there a Model United Nations program?</p>
<p>There is a Model UN program. I think that it just started this year. </p>
<p>You can read about it here: <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/community/colgate_u/37981.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.livejournal.com/community/colgate_u/37981.html</a></p>
<p>Greek life is pretty big at Colgate. The percentage of students involved is bigger than any public school, but frat parties are different that at public schools. Since its a small campus, they're open to everyone. Also, about 45% of upper classmen are involved, so there's a frat for everyone. And if after all of that you're still not interested, you can go all 4 years there without going to one frat party or being involved very easily. Basically, it's there for those interested, and they provide a service for the entire school</p>
<p>Colgate's too small to really exclude people and draw divisions between frats and non-frats.</p>
<p>Clarification:</p>
<p>HRC, where I currently live, is available to freshman through juniors. No one is "encouraged" to live there by the school. I actually lived in one of the dorms that weren't themed for the first half of the year... and I'm really glad that I have since moved. There are non black students who live in HRC... probably about 10-15 of 30 or 40. I'm not sure since I just moved in, but there are 7 that I know of on 2 of the 4 floors. What I DO find interesting though, is the fact that even though most of these white students are surrounded by us black folks everyday, they VERY rarely interact with us on any level. Not even to say hello in the hall (I don't say hello either, since I assume people who dont say hello dont live there, since everyone else does). This is probably the MAIN reason I wholeheartedly support HRC, and other dorms like it across the country. Which is suprising, because if you know my alias (lalai26) from the old boards... you'll see how against it I was in the past. My have I grown.</p>
<p>My opinion? Colgate is NOT diverse. Neither ethnically or personality wise. The vast majority of the students you see dress alike, and do the same things. Not because they really are like that, but because there is such a pressure to conform... at least, there is if you want to have a "rocking" social life. </p>
<p>Greek life doesn't seem to be that big of a deal to me... probably because Im more concerned with getting NPHC groups on campus than joining anything else. But fromm what I know, if you choose not to join anything, then you wont really miss out on much. Or, you won't reallly notice the difference.</p>
<p>"The vast majority of the students you see dress alike, and do the same things. Not because they really are like that, but because there is such a pressure to conform... at least, there is if you want to have a "rocking" social life. "</p>
<p>I went to a freshmen orientation event (a friend of mine was performing) and it was a little disturbing to see that the new class of freshmen, having been there not yet 2 full days, looked (dressed like, acted like) exactly like all the other pre-existing colgate students, most of whom weren't on campus yet. I guess Colgate just attracts a certain type of applicant.</p>
<p>Rabo, are you talking about the class of 2008 or 2009 that look like "classic" colgate students?</p>
<ol>
<li>2009 hasn't had freshmen orientation yet.</li>
</ol>
<p>I went to a freshmen orientation event (a friend of mine was performing) and it was a little disturbing to see that the new class of freshmen, having been there not yet 2 full days, looked (dressed like, acted like) exactly like all the other pre-existing colgate students, most of whom weren't on campus yet. I guess Colgate just attracts a certain type of applicant.</p>
<p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p>
<p>Yeah, its definitely a little frightening to get here and see all the people who will be your classmates for the next few years... for the most part, they have either had family go here and "coach" them on what to wear and do (buy a patagonia, a northface fleece and coat, and obey the catalogues of jcrew) or they've gone online and researched how to dress. The latter of the two is horribly pathetic in my eyes. </p>
<p>The thing about it though, is that it turns off the people who may be different from that mold, so I doubt Colgate will be changing much in the near future... but hey, I'm definitely putting on a few projects to try and get the momentum of change there. </p>
<p>BTW, There is NOTHING (well, for the most part) really wrong with dressing and acting the way these kids do... as long as thats who you really are. But since its more an attitude of conformity than a group of people with similar tastes coming together, its really repulsive... to me anyway.</p>