Her first class at the University wasn’t until noon, and the freshman student thought she knew the right building. She was wrong. Lost, she asked a passing student for directions, which confused her even more. A second student guided her to the right building and told her the correct door was at the building’s rear. It wasn’t. She rushed back to the front of the building and went inside.
Twenty minutes late, she rushed into class, made her breathless apologies and sat in the first open desk she could find. Then, she looked around the room at her classmates and realized that she was the only minority student in a full class.
This experience isn’t an isolated one for freshman student Victoria Chang and other minority students at the University. With a campus that is 87 percent Caucasian, even the largest classes often have only one or two non-white students.
“Often in the classroom I am tokenized,” said Scott Lu, fourth-year student and member of the Asian Pacific American Student Union. “If I am the only person of color in a class, then I am expected to represent and speak for all people of color.”
With Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaching, people are celebrating the progress that has been made in diversifying the community and showing tolerance, examining current circumstances and asking how far they have come. Opinions vary as experiences vary. Some students say the University is relatively diverse. Others say it’s not at all. Students’ perceptions often depend on their personal backgrounds.
Freshman football player Kwame Agyeman said the University is more diverse than his hometown, Chicago.
“I lived in the northwest suburbs of Chicago; it’s not nearly as diverse as people think. I grew up and went to school with all
Caucasians,” Agyeman said.
He has also found that on campus people assume he is an athlete because he is black and people are quickly accepting.
“On campus, people are quick to know if you’re black, you’re an athlete, and you’re OK,”
Agyeman said.
Agyeman said it’s not just the campus that is more diverse, but that most people are more open-minded here.
“In Chicago, the parents were kind of the last generation with problems with things like interracial dating,” he said. “Here people are much more OK with it and a lot more laid-back.”
Lu had other perceptions. He grew up in Southern California and remembers his impression of the first day of classes at the University.
“I just looked around and thought, ‘Wow, it’s really white here. What am I doing here?’”
Lu said.
He also remembers that toward the end of spring term of his freshman year he was on campus and a couple came up to him and asked him slowly and loudly where a building was, assuming that he was an international student because he is Asian.
While the school doesn’t have an open problem with racism, Lu said it’s hidden and subtle here.
“It’s not that whites hate blacks. It’s a multilevel problem and it’s extremely subtle. People think it’s all OK, but it’s not, and it’s obviously not for the people who are always getting hurt by it and feel it every day,” he said.
Sophomore pre-business administration student Jael Anker-Lagos echoed Lu’s sentiments.
“Whether or not people notice, minority students don’t always feel comfortable,” she said. “We are used to a different culture. We come here to learn, not feel out of place.”
Chang had mixed feelings about diversity and racism on campus. Some of the things that are potentially the most hurtful are also the things that she has gotten used to laughing off or taking as jokes.
“My friends would joke around that I only got into college because I’m Asian, and I was used to it,” Chang said. “But I realized it’s things like that that are out there and are a big deal.”
Lu also pointed out the lack of faculty of color, especially among those who have tenure.
“There aren’t many professors of color,” Lu said. “And that’s a big deal. But you can’t always blame the University. There isn’t the ability for students of color to have equal access, and until there is, there will be a lack of people of color on campus.”
While most agree that racism and diversity are huge problems without any concrete answers or clear solutions, there are small steps that can be taken every day.
“Just notice. If you start noticing every day, it will be a part of personal growth and making a difference,” Lu said. “A white person can’t speak for a person of color, but they can be their ally. You can speak up for a person, but don’t try to be
his voice.”

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