Minorities share experiences

Sharing their insecurities, ambitions and successes, a group of minority students invited freshmen to experience a new and personal dimension of multiculturalism in a panel discussion Sunday in the High Rise East Rooftop Lounge. Wharton and College junior Martin Muoto, a resident advisor in HRE who organized the forum, began by explaining how the program was designed to bring the issue of diversity to an individual level. Though representing a diverse cross-section of the University, the panelists expressed many of the same conflicts and pressures as other minorities on campus. Inter-group hostility, misuderstanding, isolation and faculty members' lowered expectations for minorities were some of the common themes the panelists discussed as important factors shaping their college experience. Panel members included Engineering sophomore and Latino Students Association secretary Tania Caceres, Black Student League member and College sophomore Kaplan Mobray, College senior Robin Wood of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Alliance, and Engineering and College junior Alex Haidas, president of the Greek Club. Separatism was one issue that was common among the panelists' points of discussion and even aroused debate among those attending the forum. "I believe that DuBois House, the residence primarily for Afro-American students, is a very positive living experience for students," Mobray said. "It highlights a sense of culture that many students miss by going to predominantly white high schools." "Somehow when you see a table of 12 white students eating together, it is considered perfectly normal," Mobray added. "When 12 black students sit together at a table, it's separatism." Another theme in the discussion was the often presumed lowered standards of minority students. Many students said the stereotypes of minorities as beneficiaries of affirmative action quotas and sports recruiter's influence are ever-present on campus. "Sometimes you feel like nothing more and nothing less than an international student," Haidas said. "People think that the admissions officer looks at an application and says, 'Oh, he's from Greece, we'll take him. We need people from Europe.' " "People assume you must play a sport and that you don't belong here," Mobray added. "I believe teachers very often share this low expectation of blacks, but how can you expect people to excel if you don't expect the high standards that you expect from others?" Wood said that even her mother thought that her sex and race gave her an added advantage when applying. But once she arrived at the University she said she realized she was admitted based on her merits. "Once I got here I realized that we all got in here by our own initiative and you must believe in yourself and your abilities," she said. Following the panelists speeches, students at the forum raised questions on topics such as the controversy over the production of a yearbook for only black students, the positives and negatives of quotas in admissions, and inter-racial dating. Students at the forum said that they found it interesting and informative. "It was very worthwhile to hear what everyone had to say," said freshman Carrie Angoff. "However, I wish more people made the effort to come and take the time to listen to different people's opinion."

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