Month: November 2011

The racial and social disconnect that exists between minority students and non-minority students on Trinity’s campus is due to an ineffective First-Year Program. Though the First-Year Seminar was designed to acquaint a small group of students with one another while exploring an academic topic with a faculty advisor, the development of academic skills often takes precedent over the development of camaraderie. Many of Trinity’s seminar topics are fun, but do not push students to get to know one another’s stance on sensitive topics like race and class, nor do they engage students with the campus community. With the current condition of the First-Year Program, students are not taking advantage of the opportunity to learn how to discuss the kinds of topics that affect us more than we know in a small group environment, nor are they learning what it takes to become a true, active member of the campus community. Additionally, the activities at First-Year Orientation lack transparency and fail to encourage dialogue that makes students think about the campus community in a broader sense.

As a solution, Trinity should implement more learning communities into its First-Year Program. Students would be placed into small groups and taking the same “cluster” of classes based on a shared academic interest. Research shows that other factors like a student’s area of study can shape students’ perceptions of campus climate just as much as a student’s race and social class. For students who are relatively decided about which area of study they’d like to pursue, this is an opportunity for professors to engage students in a way that accommodates the perceptions that are unique to students in that field and build upon them positively. Additionally, all students should be required to take a course—much like the “General Studies: The Campus Community” course at University of Washington—that has students study prevalent issues on campus and in the surrounding community and think about what role they must play in creating change. Additionally, as the component of the First-Year Program that has the most impact, Orientation should include more activities that address the current state of interactions between race and social class on campus, as well as encourage students to start thinking of ways to improve those relations and contribute to the development of their new community. In this way, this topic will no longer be one that is overlooked or deemed inappropriate to discuss.

Bibliography:

Timothy W. Gordon, Jamie C. Young, and Carlye J. Kalianov, “Connecting the Freshman Year Experience through Learning Communities: Practical Implications for Academic and Student Affairs Units,” College Student Affairs Journal 20, no. 2 (2001), http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?recid=0bc05f7a67b1790ef8fc999322d46b

This journal article presents results from a study conducted at a university in the Midwest that suggest that students who participate in learning communities are more apt to become involved in rich ways around campus, and to excel academically.

Peter Schmidt, “Much Research on Campus Diversity Suffers From Being Only Skin Deep, New Studies Suggest,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 13, 2010, sec. Students, http://chronicle.com/article/Much-Research-on-Campus/65051/.

The research conducted in this article suggests that perceptions of campus climate are influenced by more than a students’ race and social class. After distributing a survey to upperclassmen, the author discovered that each area of study had similar perceptions. Thus, adding to my ideas of how race and class can be addressed most effectively in the learning communities I propose.

Christopher Shea, “Orientation at Penn,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 15, 1993, sec. Archives, http://chronicle.com/article/Orientation-at-Penn/92558/.

This article talks about how students and staff at the University of Pennsylvania presented prevalent campus issues related to race, social class, and dating violence to the incoming first-year class as an Orientation activity. Though its effectiveness was debated, this article inspired my idea for Trinity to incorporate more activities at Orientation that exposed students to campus culture in a more transparent way.

University of Washington, “UW Freshman Interest Groups – GEN ST 199: The University Community.” First Year Programs, 2009. http://fyp.washington.edu/figs/genst199.php.

This source provides information about “Freshman Interest Groups” at University of Washington, which are much like the learning communities I propose. This source also contains a link to the syllabus for their required “General Studies: The University Community” course, which encourages students to examine issues on campus and the surrounding community.

The events of previous years have brought to light a number of racial issue on Trinity’s campus. Many of the Minority students have felt there is a great divide between the White students and themselves. This was made all too clear last spring during the racial protests after and Black student was hit with a beer bottled and called a racial exploitative. The Campus seemed to be divided between the Minority students and a few White students that supported them, and the rest of the White community who felt the incident was an isolated incident, and was nothing more than an action by on student. There is a visible schism in the Trinity community between Minority and White Students.

There are numerous ways for us to bring the community together. Instead of having a orientation for just minority students, PRIDE could incorporate white students into the program also so that cliques don’t form composed of just minority students. The Cultural Houses could also open on weekend nights so that there are places for students to go other than the fraternities, and also help mix the Minority students and the White students in a social environment.

1. Ben Gose, “Do Minority Orientations Encourage Segregation?,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 4, 1998, sec. Students, http://chronicle.com/article/Do-Minority-Orientations/2236/.  Talks about whether Minority orientation programs are out dated and need to be redefined
2. Laurie Fendrich, “Let Us Orient You,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Brainstorm, April 14, 2009, http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/let-us-orient-you/6779. Talks about the Racial Orientation at Mount Holyoke College and how it involves both Whites, Minorities, and international students
3. Tom Bartlett and Karin Fischer, “Orientation Programs for Minority Students: Segregation on College Campuses?,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 2, 1998, sec. The Chronicle Review, http://chronicle.com/article/Orientation-Programs-for/16783/. Argues that Minority orientation programs don’t create the divides on college, but rather incidents like racial profiling.

The Problem
1. The specific problem with race that I believe is present on Trinity College’s Connecticut campus is that race is an issue that people prefer to sweep under the rug or to keep their views silent about the issue. It seems that at Trinity and other colleges, racial-charged events have to occur before talks are even considered. People are unaware and unexposed to the sentiments of their peers on the topic such as race and as a result there is the polarization on issues that Trinity has been known to experience but also at other colleges. For example, the racist incident in which racial slurs were written on the white board hanging off of a student of color’s door. As shown in Alfonso Bui’s “Some Place i Call Home” it was not until after this event that change was demanded. I believe that we cannot wait for incidents to occur because when these incidents occur people are angry and as people choose sides many are more stubborn or less likely to speak, listen and understand each other.

My Solution
2. Race is a delicate subject and one that will make even the most composed person uncomfortable. However, people are only comfortable with what they have been exposed to regularly, what has been made a habit. I believe that the solution to the problem is that students and people at Trinity have to interact with each other about race, their own experiences and whatever else develops from that. I believe that during the academic year people should have an experience like the students who were participants in the movie Skin Deep. These meetings should have a frequency that will not irritate or deter students from participating but not so little that topics discussed are forgotten or put aside. The point of these discussions would be to make students aware of their peers on campus around them and possibly understand and adapt their behaviors to their peers. However, with dealing on the question to finding a solution the question will have to be asked?: Is conversation enough? Is expulsion to harsh? What is the proper mix of pre-emptive action and punishment for various acts?

Bibliography
Pickens, Allison. “Recent Racist Act at Trinity Provokes Campus-wide Response – News – The Trinity Tripod.” The Trinity Tripod. 26 Apr. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
This source is from an article in the Trinity Tripod that is about the questions that were asked about how the image of Trinity will change because of this incident and actions that will be taken after it.
Diallo, Ibrahim. “Trinity Demands Zero Tolerance Policy – Opinions – The Trinity Tripod.” The Trinity Tripod. Article. 2 May 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
This source is from the Trinity Tripod and it about the demands and reactions that students had to the racist incident that occurred at Trinity last semester.
Cernera, Karisa. “School Sponsors Conversation on Resolving Racist Issues – News – The Trinity Tripod.” The Trinity Tripod. 15 Mar. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
This source is yet another from the Trinity Tripod and is about the forum for discussion about race and social problems at Trinity that was documented in “Some Place I call Home.”
Williams, Johnny. “An Open Message Regarding Campus Racism – Opinions – The Trinity Tripod.” The Trinity Tripod. 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
This source is not only about the visible symbols of racism that were put on campus property but also what a neighboring college reacted to acts of racial insensitivity on their own campus.
Ravisankar, Rejeer. “Next Step is Acceptance.” LexisNexis® Academic & Library Solutions. Jorunal Article. 12 Feb. 2007. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
This source is about two separate incidences where racist feelings were displayed publicly at Ohio State University and the questions that were asked after those messages were seen.
Iris Films/Iris Feminist Collective., and Frances Reid. Skin deep. Berkeley, CA :: Iris Films,, 1995. Print.
This source is the fifty-four minute lone movie, Skin Deep, which is about the experience students had when students from all over the country and various racial identities sat down and talked about race.
Bui, Alfonso, and Kingsbridge Productions Video. Some Place I Call Home. Hartford, Conneticut: Kingsbridge Productions, 2007. Print.
This final source is a student- made documentary that is about the turmoil felt at Trinity College after a rash of racial incidents occurred at campus. It also followed how students felt about the incident and the actions taken by not only students but also the faculty at this time.

Ben Gose, “Do Minority Orientations Encourage Segregation?,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 4, 1998, sec. Students, http://chronicle.com/article/Do-Minority-Orientations/2236/.

This article addresses the issue of whether or not minority orientations are important on college campuses.  Although the article was written in 1998, it is still a very important issue on many campuses.  Further, it is interesting to note the negative sides to minority orientations as many campuses have already decided to stop these programs.

Peter Schmidt, “From ‘Minority’ to ‘Diversity’,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 3, 2006, Volume 52, Issue 22 edition, sec. Archives : Government & Politics.

This article was written by an author we are familiar with already, Peter Schmidt.  The article discusses the issue of college programs for minority students only.  By isolating minority students in certain programs, the idea of diversity is being lost. Specific colleges are discussed that have opened effective programs to all races without discriminating on minority students.

Christopher Shea, “Orientation at Penn,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 15, 1993, sec. Archives, http://chronicle.com/article/Orientation-at-Penn/92558/.

This article, although from the year 1993, addresses issues still contemporary and prevalent to 2011.  The issue of racism on campus between white and black students at the University of Pennsylvania is the main focus of the article.  It explains that the University dealt with these issues by performing skits for the younger students during orientation week.

Eric Hoover, “Keeping Sophomores in College,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 20, 2006, Volume 53, Issue 9 edition, sec. Letters to the Editor : The Chronicle Review.

This article, found in The Chronicle of Higher Education, addresses sophomore year retention rates, and ways in which orientation programs for sophomores can be implemented in order to be effective.

The problem we are facing on campus at Trinity College is the issue of race and social class cliques.  Most students tend to stick to a group of friends that they feel the most comfortable with, which is commonly fellow students of the same race or social class.  Further, the varying perspectives of diversity on campus makes it difficult to combat the issue.  Many white students feel as thought being at Trinity has exposed them to more diversity then they have ever seen, while students of color feel as though they are the obvious minorities on campus.  It is essential at a Liberal Arts college for students to be exposed to new things and be open to change.  Currently at Trinity, because of the cliques, students are not fulfilling their college experience.  Since students are mostly interacting with those similar to themselves, they are not learning about new cultures, places, or new experiences.

In order to resolve the issue of cliques on campus, we propose to revamp the first year orientation program, and to implement an innovative, effective second year orientation program to further integrate each student into the college community after their “new” label has worn off.  In this orientation program, students will interact with peers outside their primary group of friends.  The anticipated effect of this new program will be an increased sense of unity amongst the members of the class after the members have had a year to settle in and find their comfort zones.  These comfort zones will be pushed and expanded further in order to enhance the liberal arts college experience.  Additionally, having recently gone through the first year orientation, we have clear perspectives on what works and what doesn’t within the first week of school, and can therefore suggest new ideas in order to improve the activities.

Revised Proposal:
Trinity College—the community, the work environment, and the home of our faculty members, Professors, and students—has been long affected by issues regarding violence, hate, bigotry, racism, sexism, sexual abuse, sexual orientation, and social class. What is the main issue here at Trinity? After acclimating to Trinity’s atmosphere for the past three months, my eyes—the perception of a college freshman— see racism as the main issue on campus.
The “Color and Money” freshmen seminar has recently conducted interviews from students here at Trinity College. We interviewed fifteen sophomores—from different racial backgrounds and social classes—from the Class of 2014. At the interviews, we asked these students questions about their perceptions of race and social class at Trinity College. After finding trends and writing a six page paper of race and social class at Trinity College, I have discovered that race plays a much bigger role here on campus than social class. Students here at Trinity are equally conscious of their social class. However, race at Trinity College has a different meaning from its students. Trinity College students have experienced many different forms of racism. Acts of racism in educational institutions are controversial. Racism does not only occur in colleges, but it is also one of the main global issues. However, acts of racism are very common in small, prestigious college environments like Trinity College.
Trinity College has a program for ALL first-year students called P.R.I.D.E (Promoting Respect for Inclusive Diversity in Education). “P.R.I.D.E is a program organized by the office of Multicultural Affairs aimed at supporting students from diverse backgrounds and encouraging interaction among all first-year students at Trinity College. P.R.I.D.E is a yearlong initiative, incorporating a mix of programming and outreach from the P.R.I.D.E leaders to build a community that is helpful to all first-year students” (The P.R.I.D.E Pages pamphlet). Faculty members, professors, and students hope that this program would prevent segregation and hope that students of all races would get along. P.R.I.D.E came to existence because social life at Trinity College began to pale. Moreover, issues of gender inequality and power inequality are also what drove to create this program (Spurlock-Evans). The P.R.I.D.E program is not responsible for racial tension here at Trinity College. P.R.I.D.E students are not cause of acts of racisms on campus. Old and recent videos, newspaper, and articles where privilege students throw a beer bottle at a student of color, profanity and scribbles all over a student of color’s door, theme parties where there is exclusion did not happen because of P.R.I.D.E. However, the problem with P.R.I.D.E is that it is not promoted enough to ALL first-year students here at Trinity College. As a result, only the students of color partake in this program without the participation of most white students due to the lack of publicity. Since the majority of students in P.R.I.D.E are non-whites, it forces these non-white students to segregate themselves from white students before they start their first year at Trinity College. P.R.I.D.E starts on the Sunday afternoon before school year begins. There are not that many white students in P.R.I.D.E which is an issue because these programs will therefore only help students of color create their own group among themselves. Students who participate in P.R.I.D.E tend to only hang out with other students who have also participated in P.R.I.D.E. Since color students are the main ones that participate in this program, then they are only going to great bonds and friendships between themselves—with hardly any white students in the picture.
In Peter Schmidt’s “Diversity-Program Administrators Fear Challenges to Their Spending” in the Chronicles of Higher Education, it talks about diversity programs at University of Colorado at Boulder. There was a problem with managing expenditures on these programs. The article states that “the state’s flagship university had little idea how much money it spends promoting diversity and poorly manages such expenditures. University officials denied that they were spending any such money wastefully, but two Republican state representatives in Colorado have cited the report in calling for the state auditor to thoroughly examine the university’s diversity expenditures (Schmidt 1). At the University of Colorado at Boulder, money apparently is not used wisely to better create diversity on their campus. Moreover, the money that is not put into good use to better help the campus climate is a waste of resource, and it will not help fight acts of racism in college. Damon A. Williams, the University of Connecticut’s assistant vice provost for multicultural and international affairs, states, “I think many institutions are greatly at risk … Colleges have only in the past few years begun documenting the benefits of diversity … and while they generally can make good arguments that the diversity programs serve a valuable purpose, they have not done enough to track the money spent on such efforts and their results” (Schmidt 1). This connects to issue I brought forth with P.R.I.D.E in the beginning. The lack of publicity is not enough to get EVERYONE involved. This diversity program does serve a valuable purpose in our educational community. However, I feel that in order to prevent acts of racism, everyone—white and color students—should be involved in programs like P.R.I.D.E.
Money is a great resource that, if used wisely, can better promote P.R.I.D.E in many creative, interesting, and fun ways. Karla Spurlock-Evans, the Dean of Multicultural Affairs, states that “there are gaps in the orientation programs.” If given more resources, those gaps would be filled with more activities. Moreover, I believe that the extra resource would also help better expose P.R.I.D.E to all incoming students. Here is my solution: P.R.I.D.E has to have a different structure if given the extra resource. Moreover, every incoming student at Trinity needs to participate in a P.R.I.D.E type program to educate themselves and learn about another student’s culture. It will help open and widen white and color students’ perspectives about each other. This will hopefully diminish acts of racism on campus because all students will understand inclusive diversity. Also, during orientation week, we need to combine aspects from the P.R.I.D.E program to make orientation more beneficial for all students. More resources in orientation can help beat fraternities on campus and help get rid of acts of racism. Hopefully in the future, you will see both color and white students’ faces on the P.R.I.D.E Pages pamphlets that shows everyone promoting, respecting, an diversifying pride at Trinity College.
Bibliography:
1. Schmidt, Peter, “Diversity-Program Administrators Fear Challenges to Their Spending,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 2, 2007, Volume 53, Issue 22 edition, sec. Archives : Government & Politics.
2. Spurlock-Evans, Karla, P.R.I.D.E information session, fall 2011.

Saida Harpi

First Year Seminar

Color and Money

Jack Dougherty

Revised Proposal

Race on campus is a problem because we make it one. The fact that people are taught to accept different people’s races instead of the person themselves. Although race plays a factor in a person’s upbringing it does not always define a person. People on campus are taught to watch what they say,  to not ask ignorant questions or to not say anything at all. I believe that is the problem, everyone is taught to keep it inside, but how do you learn without asking any questions? The problem on campus is that there are many people who are ignorant to other races and are taught not to ask but to just accept without reason. It’s hard to accept the person if you are not able to see past their skin color. Humans are naturally curios, and often one would not be able to know anything without experience or asking questions. The problem is that people are scared to ask questions for fear of being judged or told not to ask questions so they remain ignorant, which the cause of most racist comments.

While have been on campus a short while I have already learned a lot about the cultural dynamics on campus. Race is such a big deal on campus but it is not often spoken about. It can be the white elephant in the room at times. In the movie by Alfonso Bui (Trinity Class of ‘08), Some Place I Call Home, there were multiple forums documented where students spoke out about the hate on Trinity campus and the possible solutions. When students spoke about the problems and solutions they spoke only about the Fraternities on campus. There was no statement about the cultural houses on campus, when there main job on campus is to spread awareness of different cultures and help bring an end to racial discrimination. One student said that the fraternities were the center of Trinity that brings everyone together as well as the most vital part of Vernon. The cultural houses were not even mentioned as a part of Trinity’s campus. The lack of acknowledgment shows that the cultural houses are not doing their jobs; they are not even being recognized on campus. Mr.Voitsekhovsky from University of Maryland says “There must be a genuine commitment to immersion.” There needs to be a general agreement that there is a problem and then the cultural houses can become the popular solution. It is hard to force a person to learn about a culture unbeknownst to them or where there is a general lack of interest. It is the hope of the cultural houses that people would attend in the hopes to learn new things about the specific culture affiliated with the house. But from experience people seem to just come for the food. They eat then they leave, often not caring to ask where the food has come from. It is then up to the cultural houses to find a medium where they don’t only enjoy themselves but learn something new as well.

Sources:

Schuman, Jamie. “Language-Immersion Houses Expand to Serve More Students, Cultures.” The Chronicle of Higher Education 18 Nov. 2005 : A38. Print.

Alfonso Bui (Trinity Class of ‘08), Some Place I Call Home, Kingsbridge Productions video, 2007,

One problem that often takes place not only on the Trinity Campus but in many other places is that when it comes to issues regarding hate acts about race many of these times these get pushed under the rug. I am interested in researching college judiciary procedures in order to understand why after hate incidents have occurred on campuses the college/university doesn’t always get to see the follow ups that come with these incidents.

The first step to solving and stopping  hate crimes is to make sure that everything that can be done to figure out who was part of this hate acts is done. It is also really important to make sure that the community knows that these acts will be intolerable and that the biggest punishment will be applied to those individuals that take part in these activities. Part of this solution is also to figure out that those people coming into Trinity are not gonna be part of this group of people that are responsible for these hate acts. I think that idea of final report of asking a question regarding community/diversity to Trinity’s applications is a good idea.

Bibliography:

United States. Responding to Hate Crimes and Bias-Motivated Incidents on College/University Campuses. Washington, D.C.?: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Community Relations Service, 2000. Print.

-Responding to Hate Crimes and Bias-Motivated Incidents on College/University Campuses are responses from students, college administrators, civil rights organizations, etc regarding the way in which colleges are handling hate crimes. They also offer possible solutions to this problem and recommend to unite with other colleges against these crimes .

Downey, John P. “Hate Crimes and Violence on College and University Campuses.” 1999 40.1 (1999): 3-9. Print.

Gueve Ataie
Revised Proposal
The problem with race at Trinity College as well as many other places in the world is that many people do not recognize that there is a problem and will not speak up when they see an act of racism occur.1 On top of that people need to understand the factual advantages and disadvantages of their race in today’s society. White’s inherently have more power and privilege than African American’s because of their race while Latinos and African American’s and Latinos are still, to a certain extent, racially oppressed.2 This is a problem in today’s society and this transfers down many college communities including Trinity’s. The frat life and many social scenes on campus don’t seem to include the minority population of Trinity very much and this is a problem. There needs to be a racially equal social scene on campus which means that everyone feels comfortable integrating and joining different friend groups. In relation to that the frats, parties, and other events should make people of all races and backgrounds feel equally comfortable to take part in.
The solution to the problems regarding race at Trinity lies within different organizations on campus. PRIDE is a huge part of making minority students feel more welcome on campus but PRIDE needs some adjustments in order to be even more helpful. PRIDE needs to be a support system for minority students but at the same time not restrict them to staying attached to PRIDE because that will in turn cause the reverse effect than what is desired. Although PRIDE does welcome white students they should make it more known so that white students don’t feel uncomfortable joining. On top of all this there should be more classes on the subject of race in school so that whites do understand what the minority students are going through and realize that for the white students it is easier to fit in than for students of color2. There needs to be more effort on the schools part to get white students involved with racial diversity on campus because no matter how much PRIDE tries to make minority students feel comfortable they will never be completely at ease until they feel like they fit in with the majority of the students on campus.

1Trinity College, “Protesting Hate at Trinity College, April 2011,” College Archives – Documents (April 1, 2011): 4.
Discusses the occurrence at Trinity College last spring where there was a hate crime on a student of color and how the college campus was affected.

2Helen Fox, When race breaks out: conversations about race and racism in college classrooms (Peter Lang, 2009).
This article talks about specific races in college and how they are treated and certain possible solutions to some of the problems.

Casey Tanner & James DiBlasi
Color and Money
November, 2011
Paper Three:
The admissions process is complicated and extraneous to all students. The difficult decision of choosing where to spend the next four invaluable years of school is based solely on the way people can display themselves. Criterions such as grades, standardized test scores, community service, etc all have an impact on the decision process of applications. However, many colleges and universities place a heavy amount of the decision based on the conditions many cannot control. Factors like financial status, alumni connection and racial background play a vital role in who is accepted and who is denied. As we have seen in our own simulation in class, it is often those with advantages in these backgrounds that are accepted over the real qualified students.
Trinity College should revise its application process to enhance the consistency of applicants by evaluating students on their future potential rather than assessing them on their past. The qualifications of an applicant should be looked in terms of factors that can controlled by students opposed to those aspects that cannot. These sections should compare the success students had up until high school given both their educational and socioeconomic background. Privileged individuals do have an advantage in the admissions process. However, this system should be set in place to minimize the influence these privileges have in the final decision and evaluate them based on their success given certain advantages. Although it may seem impossible to make a perfect system to determine who is accepted and who isn’t, there should be revisions to the current process to provide more consistency.

Annotated Bibliography

1. Bryan G. Nance, “For a Fairer Admissions Process, Read Between the Lines,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 19, 2010, sec. Diversity in Academe, http://chronicle.com/article/For-a-Fairer-Admissions/124444/.

The author discusses the problems with the current way the admissions process is set up. He discusses the need for a more updated process that looks below the surface of standardized test scores, and instead looks for qualities that show future potential.

2. Richard Kahlenberg, “The Troubling Rise in Early Admissions,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Innovations, October 29, 2010, http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-troubling-rise-in-early-admissions/27737.

This article discusses the advantages of legacies and those that apply early in the admissions process. The privileges of coming from a higher economic background serve as another benefit in comparison to those who cannot apply either early decision because of the binding aspect with the college.

3. Tom Bartlett and Karin Fischer, “Race Is a Factor in Admissions at a Third of Colleges, Survey Finds,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 10, 2003, Volume 50, Issue 7 edition, sec. Students.

This article talks about the recent Supreme Court ruling to allow colleges to be awareness of race. However, despite governmental changes, this ruling did not alter the admissions process in colleges showing that race had already contributed in the process.

4. Tom Bartlett and Karin Fischer, “Unknown Factor Hampers Minority Students’ Performance in College, Study Finds,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 6, 2003, Volume 49, Issue 39 edition, sec. Students.

Studies have found that minority students are less likely to succeed in college because of the structural and cultural make up of college universities. The configuration of college institutions is “geared primarily to white culture”; making the transition for first generation college students more difficult.

5. Anne West, Hazel Pennell, and Philip Noden, “School Admissions: Increasing Equity, Accountability and Transparency,” British Journal of Educational Studies 46, no. 2 (June 1, 1998): 188-200.

This paper goes into depth about the needed reforms to the college admissions process as well as its impact on in universities. In order to provide consistency and equality amongst all applicants, changes need to be made by looking at an ideal admissions process and making it applicable to today’s process.

Gueve Ataie
On Trinity College’s campus there are many problems regarding minority students fitting into the social scene and social groups on campus. At Trinity there is a group called PRIDE and its goal is to make minority students transition from high school to college be smoother. The PRIDE group brings many minority students together at the beginning of the school year in order to make them feel more comfortable on campus and feel like they have a group that they fit into. The group almost sets the minority students on a different start than most of the other students on campus by automatically putting them in a group of friends rather than having them make friends on their own like most of the other freshmen. This is the problem with PRIDE, it starts off by separating minority freshman students from the other freshmen on campus and doesn’t give them opportunity to join friends groups with many different people like most other students on campus. This in turn causes the students not in PRIDE to unconsciously exclude PRIDE students because they feel as if they already have their friend group and social scene and do not want to intermingle with the other students.
As a solution to this problem PRIDE must change the way that it tries to make minority students feel more comfortable. PRIDE must do what it is doing now and make minority students feel comfortable and welcome when they first arrive to Trinity but also allow them the space and opportunity to incorporate with the whole student body. Right now PRIDE schedules too much of the students’ first experiences here which takes away from the students’ opportunities to mingle with people in their dorm, floor, and grade to figure out who their friends group will become. PRIDE should be something that minority students know is there if they need it but it should encourage them to first try to make friends the way they regularly would rather than just putting the students in a group with other minorities and secluding them from the rest of the student body. If PRIDE wants the Trinity campus to be a diverse campus then it should allow for white students and minority students to have more opportunities to interact when they first arrive to campus like social gatherings amongst all freshman students rather than just the minorities. If PRIDE continues to put minorities in their own bubble when they arrive to campus they will always feel left out from the rest of the students because in reality they are left out, not because they are minorities but because they were never given good chances to make friends with students outside of the pride group.
The events that occurred in the spring of the last school year caused many divisions among race on Trinity’s campus and this was not good for making minorities feeling included. That feeling may have been brought over to this year as well and the Trinity student body will never benefit from these feelings. Trinity’s PRIDE should research and explore what similar groups to it at other schools are doing that are proven to be very effective in integrating and making minorities feel included on campus. On top of that, Pride can see if there are any information groups that can be created to let the white students understand how the minority students feel on campus so that events like the ones from last spring can be prevented from now on.

1. The Problem
The problem that i see on Trinity’s campus specifically regarding race, race is not discussed or it is ignored in order to avoid discussion on the subject. There is this mindset at not only Trinity but other locations as well, to not dive into topics specifically about race. This is why i believe that racial events occur at Trinity as they happen. Because people are unaware of their peers and the racial experiences that they have had. In my own experiences people say things because of what they have experience but also because of who they think is around.
2. The Solution
Race is a delicate subject and one that will make even the most composed person uncomfortable. However, people are only comfortable with what they have been exposed to regularly what is a habit for them. I believe that in order for racial charged events to be stopped at Trinity people have to interact with each other about race, their own experiences and whatever else stems from that. I believe that all people at some point in their schooling or year here at Trinity should have an experience like those students in the movie SKIN DEEP. To begin understanding i strongly believe that however uncomfortable it can make people, people should have a deep discussion on the effect that race has had on their lives. So that people will be aware of those on campus around them and possibly understand and adapt their behavior to their peers.
3. Information
In order to write a paper on this topic i believe that i will need information about how colleges react to positive and negative events regarding race. I will need this because all colleges although they have similar goals handle racial events differently. Also, i believe i will need information on students first hand experiences on race and their opinions on the matter. Lastly, i believe that information on the different programs like PRIDE and mono-racialur frats and frats in general would be useful for my paper as well. This and possibly more would help be to develop a strong paper.

Problem:

Based on student experiences and the research we have already conducted as a seminar, I would offer that one of the major causes of issues related to race and social class at Trinity would be an ineffective First-Year Program. Currently, first-year seminars exist to acquaint freshmen with other freshmen of like interests, as well as to strengthen skills necessary to manage a college workload. However, though people might enjoy the wide variety of seminar topics, which can range from the Beatles to energy policy, few topics pertain specifically to the Trinity community.

Solution:

I would propose that faculty and staff re-vamp the First-Year Program to include more seminars like this one that would actively engage students with the campus and the issues that occur here. By encouraging students to examine and provide possible explanations and improvements for the current state of campus interactions and initiatives, students are made to feel like an integral part of the Trinity community much sooner, regardless of race or social class. Also, such seminars will allow students to feel more comfortable with addressing discrepancies on campus if the need arises later. Students will really feel as if they truly play a role in shaping the campus community because the institution will literally demonstrate how they can do so from the moment they arrive.

Additional Information:

In order to create a stronger paper, I will need more information about first-year seminars, past and present, to verify the number of Trinity-centered seminars that exist or have existed. It would also be helpful to acquire some syllabi to see how much seminars connect their topics to campus happenings. It would also be helpful to find some guidelines somewhere that outline the intended purpose of the first-year program, as well as student responses to see if it has fulfilled those expressed goals. It would be interesting to hear the ways that the first-year program influences students’ college experience in actuality, if it does at all anymore.

Race on campus is a problem because we make it one. The fact that people are taught to accept different people’s races instead of the person themselves. Although race plays a factor in a person’s upbringing it does not always define a person. People on campus are taught to watch what they say and to not ask ignorant questions but to just not say anything at all. I believe that is the problem, everyone is taught to keep it inside, but how do you learn without asking any questions? The problem on campus is that there are many people who are ignorant to other races and are taught not to ask but to just accept without reason. Humans are naturally curios, and often one would not be able to know anything without experience or asking questions. The problem is that people are scared or told not to ask questions so they remain ignorant, which is the cause for most racist comments.

A possible solution can be open discussions at cultural houses, where anyone is allowed to come and learn about another culture or ask questions they may have. These meetings would be judgment free and open to anyone willing to learn. But then how do you tech those who do not want to be taught? That is where the campus needs to come together as a whole. If a daily email with a fun fact came out about a different race everyday with the daily emails or there is a question box where anonymous questions may come in and be answered.  For every question there is an answer even if it not completely clear. There should be a campus wide campaign to end ignorance.

The evidence I need here is answers from the interviews and my own personal experience. While have been on campus a short while I have already learned a lot about the cultural dynamics on campus. Race is such a big deal on campus but it is not often spoken about. It can be the white elephant in the room at times. I could also use Tatum’s book to breakdown the mindset of people on campus and why the dynamic may be the way it is.

First Proposal:
Trinity College—the community of our faculty members, the school of our Professors, and the home of our students—has been long affected by issues regarding racism, sexism, violence, sexual abuse, and sexual orientation. However, racism has to be the main key problem here at Trinity College. The “Color and Money” freshmen seminar has recently conducted interviews from students here at this college. We interviewed fifteen sophomores—from different racial backgrounds and social classes—from the Class of 2014. At the interviews, we asked these students questions about their perceptions of race and social class at Trinity College. After finding trends and writing a six page paper of race and social class at Trinity College, I have discovered that race plays a much bigger role here at campus than social class. Students here at Trinity are equally conscious of their social class. However, race is whole different story.
Trinity College has a special program for incoming international students called PRIDE (insert full meaning of acronym later). Students and faculty members thought that this program would be better help their non-white students get accustomed to Trinity College where the majority population is white. Here’s the problem: PRIDE forces these non-white students to segregate themselves from white students before they come to campus. PRIDE is an early program right before college starts. PRIDE has helped these international students create their own group among themselves. Students who participate in PRIDE tend to only hang out with other students who have also participated in PRIDE. Some students do not even bother getting out of their comfort zone and start meeting other people who didn’t participate in this program.
Here’s my solution: PRIDE has to have a whole different structure. Half of the PRIDE program has to be white and the other half has to be non-white. We need to pair each of them, so they can get comfortable getting to know someone else’s culture. I really don’t know what really happens in PRIDE, but perhaps changing activities and the agenda around to get more international students be comfortable approaching people they do not know from the people they already know in PRIDE. Also, during orientation week, we can find other ways to better communicate these different type of students before segregation started becoming apparent and start taking place in their college lives. I want to get more information of PRIDE. Their current structure, the amount of people who take part of it, the kind of people who take part of it, what type of discussions are disscused, and such.

Race is a topic that continues to come up at Trinity. Whether it is being talked about in the class room or at a lunch table in Mather, every student has heard of racial issues on campus. Race is brought to the front of everyones mind the very first day a student steps on campus, the Pride program makes sure of that, but making ever student aware that race is an issue from the start is a mistake. Race is a problem in a social aspect at Trinity, but there are a number of ways to fix it.

The college should instead have everyone arrive on the same day so everyone of different races mix with each other, rather then the minorities arriving first and forming groups with just minority students. There has also been a lot of talk recently about doing away the fraternities for cultural houses instead. Cultural houses exist already on campus, but very few people who are not of the culture of the house do not every visit them. The cultural house should instead open up on Saturday night in a similar way the fraternities do, and allow students from every race come and socialize.

After the incidents of last Spring our campus was divided, and it seemed like it was almost a race battle between the minorities and the white students. Instead of bringing to light everything that make us different the school should instead try to remind us of how similar we all are. There is bound to be another incident where a student make a regrettable decision, or says something racial, that is the reality at every college, but this one students views do no represent the views of the students on Trinity.

1. The Problem

The issue I am interested in addressing is the prevalence of cliques on Trinity’s campus.  Noticeably, students generally spend time with the same group of friends daily.  This problem brings about other social repercussions such as the feeling of exclusion experienced by those not “in” with a specific clique.  Our study of race and social class at Trinity along with observations of day-to-day interactions on campus show that students tend to associate predominantly with members of similar race and/or social class.

2. Possible Solution

As demonstrated in one of the interviews, the PRIDE program has ample room for improvement.  The student that shared her experience and reaction to this program expressed her distaste in the way it made her anticipate interactions with wealthier white students that were to arrive on campus later that week.  This creates a feeling of discomfort prior to the start of the academic year.  Also, a way of integrating students of different social classes is necessary.

3. Information Needed

In order to further explore this topic, I need information about the PRIDE program.  In addition, I want to compare other colleges’ means of addressing the issue of the integration of multicultural students into a predominately white setting.  I also plan to compare the racial diversity rates of the other schools in Trinity’s league.  In terms of social class, I would like to learn more about the amount of funding other colleges comparable to Trinity dedicate to financial aid.  I am wondering whether or not other colleges are facing the same problem of the diminishing middle class within its student body.  I would like to collaborate with Lucy Robinson on this project.

Sean Meekins

Trinity College is far from perfect in regards to race and social class. Although there are many problems one problem of race stuck out in my head from the interviews we conducted with the sophomores. PRIDE a program for minority students at Trinity College.  These students are asked to come a week earlier to get to know there way around and meet other minorities. I feel these is a problem and so did a minority student I interviewed. I feel that the Trinity campus is divided by race heavily and a lot of the burden lies in the hands of PRIDE. The fact that these students have already made friends before they arrived on campus, allows for an extra barrier to be climbed over in regards to making integrated friendships. This program might be meant to do good, but in the long run I feel it has caused an enormous race divide here at Trinity College. This program either has to be altered or removed, or else these racial cliques will be hard to break.

A possible solution to this problem is to make the program something that occurs once a week during the school year. This would allow for the students to arrive on Trinity with a total open mind and meet students from various cultures before they meet students from the same backgrounds. This would definitely break the divide. This could also let students who partake in PRIDE to bring over students who aren’t apart of PRIDE to these meeting so that more students can interact. I feel this would be a great way to open up the campus of Trinity College. It is just something that is a suggestion. There are definitely more solutions, but this one in particular could change a lot. I just feel the preconceived notion to be comfortable and interact with your race is intensified by PRIDE occurring before the school year starts.

Information I need to make this paper stronger is to go through all the NESCAC schools and see if they have a program like PRIDE and see what they entail. Go through schools from the most diverse to the least and see if their problems with race are intensified due to race-based programs. I need this information so that I can compare it to Trinity and see if this is truly a problem. I can see if diverse schools who have a good intermingling of students have different methods. I also feel that views from Trinity College students and faculty of all races on their views about PRIDE and whether it is good or not will allow for a good paper to be written.

Casey Tanner
Color and Money
November, 2011
Paper Three Paragraphs:
The admissions process is complicated and extraneous to all students. The difficult decision of choosing where to spend the next four invaluable years of school is based solely on the way people can display themselves. Criterions such as grades, standardized test scores, community service, etc all have an impact on the decision process of applications. However, many colleges and universities place a heavy amount of the decision based on the conditions many cannot control. Factors like financial status, alumni connection and racial background play a vital role in who is accepted and who is denied. As we have seen in our own simulation in class, it is often those with advantages in these backgrounds that are accepted over the real qualified students.
Trinity College should revise its application process to enhance the consistency of applicants who get accepted and those who do not. The qualifications of an applicant should be looked so that the sections of an application that can be determined by the students are weighted more than those areas that cannot be determined. Privileged individuals do have an advantage in the admissions process. However, there should be a system set in place to minimize the influence these privileges have in the final decision. Although it may seem impossible to make a perfect system to determine who is accepted and who isn’t, there should be revisions to the current process to provide more consistency.
To find a more efficient way to structure the admissions process, we will need additional information to help revise our current process. Factual evidence taken from our personal admissions process is a definitely necessity to see how our admissions staff makes decisions. The books we have read in class like Creating a Class and readings regarding admissions policies will also be critical to look at during this paper. With this information, we can design a stronger and more consistent way to accept students to Trinity College.