2008 Woodie Awards
Comparison of USC and UCLA reveals different racial environments
Jessica Gelt--Daily Trojan (U. Southern California)
Issue date: 4/16/03 Section: News
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(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES - On a hot, bleached-blue Monday, two black students stand conversing with a white student in front of University of Southern California's Leavey Library at USC, while at University of California at Los Angeles, three giggling Armenian girls sit on a fountain and share gossip with a first-year Japanese student. Witnessing these scenes against the vast backdrop of similar relationships that exist at both universities, it becomes difficult to imagine the world of higher education during the 1940s and 1950s when minorities were markedly under-represented, and people of different races were not encouraged to interact.
Students on both campuses, however, worry that even today, social cliques tend to form somewhat exclusively within separate ethnic circles.
Each campus has more than 20 registered student groups for minorities, ranging from Afghan to American Indian to Indian, but the three dominant student associations on both campuses are for blacks, Hispanics and Asians.
E. Brown, a junior majoring in neuroscience at UCLA, said there are ample resources for minorities at UCLA but expressed concern that those resources are too insulated.
"I'm of the mind-set that clubs and student organizations should be more diverse," Brown said on his way to attend a meeting for black students studying medicine. "We're segregated enough as it is, and I think we should bridge that gap," he said.
At El Centro Chicano, USC's center for Hispanic, Latino and Chicano students, Priscilla Quintanilla, chair of the Latino/a Student Assembly, takes a break from stuffing student mailboxes to reflect on why students often stick to their own ethnic group.
"Branching out is a challenge," said Quintanilla, a senior majoring in international relations. "It's very easy to stay concentrated in one community. Seventy-five percent of my day is spent with the Latino community, so I tend to keep my focus there."
Cindy Panuco, a senior majoring in public policy and management, said her experience at USC has been similar to Quintanilla's.
Students on both campuses, however, worry that even today, social cliques tend to form somewhat exclusively within separate ethnic circles.
Each campus has more than 20 registered student groups for minorities, ranging from Afghan to American Indian to Indian, but the three dominant student associations on both campuses are for blacks, Hispanics and Asians.
E. Brown, a junior majoring in neuroscience at UCLA, said there are ample resources for minorities at UCLA but expressed concern that those resources are too insulated.
"I'm of the mind-set that clubs and student organizations should be more diverse," Brown said on his way to attend a meeting for black students studying medicine. "We're segregated enough as it is, and I think we should bridge that gap," he said.
At El Centro Chicano, USC's center for Hispanic, Latino and Chicano students, Priscilla Quintanilla, chair of the Latino/a Student Assembly, takes a break from stuffing student mailboxes to reflect on why students often stick to their own ethnic group.
"Branching out is a challenge," said Quintanilla, a senior majoring in international relations. "It's very easy to stay concentrated in one community. Seventy-five percent of my day is spent with the Latino community, so I tend to keep my focus there."
Cindy Panuco, a senior majoring in public policy and management, said her experience at USC has been similar to Quintanilla's.