<p>Plainsman: Several posters on this thread have mentioned that students of color have felt uneasy about going to Amherst or Swarthmore but end up finding that they were welcome at their colleges and that (and this was said by several people) race and economic status don't seem to hinder their enjoyment.</p>
<p>I can't speak for Amherst but I can say that at Swarthmore we don't have theme dorms by race. In my dorm floor, we have white students, Chinese students, at least three international students (Germany, India, and another country-I'm not sure), a student whose family is from Colombia, gay students and straight students, and a bunch of other people with different backgrounds and experiences. The notion that all the Chinese students would be lumped in one hall and all the Latino students in another is absurd at Swarthmore. In fact, most of the students would probably stage some kind of protest against it if the Housing staff decided to segregate people by dorm and nobody would follow those rules. In our dorms, each hall has something written on the doors to kind of unite them. In the first floor there are nerdy pickup lines posted on each person's door. In another floor they're dinosaurs. In another floor we have NY Times front pages from the day we were born. Nothing related to race or any kind of status. Separating people based on a certain status at Swarthmore would be unacceptable.</p>
<p>About the cafeteria: Let me just say that people in general, for psychological reasons, tend to associate people who are like them and so hang out with them. So you'll always see white people sitting with other white people and African-Americans sitting with other African-Americans. But it's not so much like that here. People here sit with their friends, and people don't just find friends among people with similar status. They sit with their hallmates, people who are in the same classes and who became friends through their classes, or who have similar interests, or play similar sports. Rugby players sometimes eat together because that's what they do in the rugby team and because they've become friends over time. International students sometimes get together and eat but they often don't eat together too--they eat with their friends. Some black students here eat with other black students because they identify with each other and are friends, but they have friends of different backgrounds and they have lunch with them too. Similarly, we have an Asian organization at Swarthmore, and those people tend to eat together, because they're very good friends. You don't see a lot of self-segregation here. The campus body is very diverse ethnically at least, and people don't let race or any other type of status getting in the way of being friends and having a meal together. Examples: In my math class, every Wednesday we have a 'math lunch,' where we get together and eat. We weren't assigned to do that; we decided to do that on our own. Yesterday for lunch I sat with four international students, my roommate, a few white students, and a few Chinese students.</p>
<p>This thread is starting to make me nauseous. Over and over students with actual real life experience on these campuses have said that other students will feel welcome on campus, regardless of race or income status.</p>
<p>If someone is looking for Utopia, it doesn't exist. Most colleges are a lot more mixed-up with people of different backgrounds than the students' lives after college are likely to be. That's a wonderful thing about college.</p>
<p>As to themed dorms, if a group of students wants to live in a culturally associated dorm... well, that's a good question. Should a college respect that wish or should the college refuse it? Good people (of all races) can come to different conclusions about that. If it's a point of great importance to an applicant that students are or are not allowed to establish such purely voluntary living communities than that's something to consider in making a decision. But to malign good people who come to a different conclusion is just more discord-sowing for no productive reason.</p>
<p>I'm on a plane now coming from Spring Break with my daughter from Amherst. Plainman, I don't really understand your fear about your daughter being biracial and the way she looks. Black kids who aren't biracial often have pressures to associate with just their own race as much as biracial kids. But, I have not witnessed this at Amherst. I think people interact with those that they feel they have something in common with (be it academic majors, extra-curriculars, geographical and yes, race - socio-economics are also sometimes relevant). I know my daughter was happy to meet other middle-class black kids, not because she's exclusive but she was often put down because she paid full tuition throughout her academic career and had traveled widely and had experiences that other Blacks kids hadn't had. She went on a Spring Break trip with five other students from Amherst - two of the students were Black, three were white. No problem. Her closest friends are of all races. As for the theme dorms, you don't have to be in a theme dorm to select friends who are similiar. Eventhough my daughter has friends of all races, her roommate is African American. They are very close and have much in common. Does that mean they are racially exclusive - no. I think bi-racial kids who are comfortable with who they are don't have problems. Bi-racial kids who have a Black parent who has issues with being Black themselves, are, of course the most tortured when it comes to identity issues. Some biracial kids have had little contact with Blacks (if they are bk/white). Many have stereotypical views of Black kids and feel that they are "different". Others, like people like Halle Berry, Alicia Keyes, Barak Obama, acknowledge them biracial backgrounds but know realistically, they are viewed as Black and accept rather than lament this. I know many, many biracial kids. The most well adjusted ones (bk/white) are those who do have a close relationship with Black culture and Black people. Your daughter will be just fine if she decides to attend Amherst. My daughter has a good biracial friend from our city (half-white, half-Latina) who attends Amherst- no problem.</p>