Friday, October 7, 2016

Campus Segregation, Nothing New

College and university campuses are being pressured by students who self-identify as something other than white to set aside separate facilities for members of their groups. You see articles like this from The Daily Beast concerning the rise in official student segregation.

The increase in official campus-sanctioned segregated groups is new. What isn't new is the segregation of students when not involved with official campus settings like classes, dorms, and the like.

I spent a whole career on college campuses in five different time zones. In 40 years I saw literally tens of thousands of students hanging out together in student unions, coffee shops, bars, libraries and commons as well as sitting on lawns.  

More times than I can count I've walked into a student union or the library and seen the following: here a table of Hispanic kids, there a table of Asian kids, perhaps a table or two of African-American kids, a table of kids from the Middle East, or from India, and a dozen tables of white kids. Nobody told them where to sit, they chose to group with others like themselves.

Probably if you interviewed them about segregation they'd all be against it ... strongly. And be offended if you pointed out they practice it unconsciously.