Integration

This University prides itself on its diversity. As well as people of african and hispanic origins, there are special programs for minorities, for refugees from dangerous countries, and a big international department as well. My Major is in International Development, so for me having all these different kinds of people around is a big asset.

I have to say, though, that the integration is only partly successful. There are lots of cliques and they are mostly racially dependent. Asians, Middle Eastern kids, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, city kids - they all stick together. The profs suggest coming together but there is not enough dialogue. People don't want to go into other people's zone. There are staff people in the University whose job it is to promote it, and I can't help feeling that if that's what they want, they need to do something a bit more than what they're doing now. I think that you can't prevent a lot of the segregation by teaching students about it while at college; it has to come before they get here. They have to ask the right questions on the application form to get the right people to come and maybe, do a bit more to prepare them before they get here. What actually would be done, I'm not sure. Perhaps it might also help if they did something to prepare the rest of us too, but again, I'm not sure what.

In class, it doesn't matter much. As I've mentioned, I'm in classes where having different kinds of people from different backgrounds all over the world is a big asset. Having someone explain their own life to you is a lot different from reading about it in a book.

But it's outside class, in the cafeteria and other places where people socialize, that you see people from the same ethnic group congregating together. I wish it didn't happen that way, because I'd like to get to know some of these people better, who I've met in classes and seminars. I guess the reason for it is that everyone feels more comfortable with other people with similar experiences. You know how someone will react to something you say, so you don't have to worry about offending someone or being taken in the wrong way. I know it's easy for me to complain, because I'm part of the majority and most of the time I don't need to pay much attention to these things anyway.

And I have noticed that the older people get, the more integrated the groups get that they form. Maybe my ideal of complete integration isn't hopeless; it's just harder than I'd thought and will take more time than I'd thought.