A study conducted by the Higher Education Research Institution (HERI) claims that racial divides are becoming more pronounced on college campuses around the nation. The number of college freshmen socializing with friends outside of their own race continues to decline.
HERI released a report entitled, “An Overview of the 2004 Freshman Norms,” that noted a decreased interaction between races and students indicated a lower likelihood of mixing socially with different races. The study indicated that over the past ten years fewer students have considered interracial socializing or promoting racial understanding to be “essential” or “very important”.
According to the report, only 67.8 percent of freshmen nation-wide responded positively to being engaged in interracial socializing during high school. Only 63.1 percent claimed a “very good” chance of socializing with someone of another race during college. Both of these figures have decreased over the past three years.
When asked, students at Baruch readily agree with the study. Carel Percy, a freshman, does not believe the apparent racial segregation on campus is intentional, but rather it cannot be helped. “I don’t have a problem with it,” she said. “That’s just the way it is.”
Other students had similar reactions. “In class we chat with every one of all races,” said Alan Feng, a senior and member of the Chinese Students Association. “But outside of class, we just say ‘bye’ and it’s over. It’s the same way with everyone. Chinese students get together…Muslim students get together…“Career” students get together.”
Feng continued to say that he does have friends from other races, and although they are not the best of friends, they are more than mere acquaintances.
Warda Mir, a junior of Pakistani descent, rationalizes the predominant racial segregation by pointing out the language barriers and cultural discrepancies. “Among our own race we get each other’s jokes or problems.” With other races, we may not be able to have as much fun, she said.
On the other hand, Helen Chu, a junior who works for a student-run organization at Baruch that is racially diverse, believes we will always have racial cliques at college. “You need to be in a multi-cultural environment with a common purpose - irrespective of race - to be able to have a diverse circle of good friends,” she said.
Baruch has a variety of student clubs and organizations, but the most popular are those that share a common ethnic or cultural bond. As the most diverse campus in the country, undoubtedly groups of racially-mixed friends are seen around the Baruch campus. These students may be coming directly from class and still engaged in a group discussion or perhaps many have shared the same classes and now automatically gravitate to their racially diverse group of friends.
For those organizations that want to further cooperation and promote racial mixing and mutual understanding, the HERI study provides a perspective on student attitudes and a starting point for supporting interracial socialization.
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