Students from campuses all over the country respond to the phenomena of self-segregation.

Self-segregation definitely takes place at college. There are so many kinds of different people on campus that it can often be intimidating to start hanging out with those who are unlike you. Individuals often find it easier to hang out with those who are more like them-- those with similar cultural backgrounds and the same type of upbringing. They might also share common beliefs or views on certain topics. Although this may at times be true, I believe that self-segregation is very detrimental-- by associating yourself with only the same type of people, you're missing out on others that may also share your same beliefs. Other people may also be afraid to talk to you or develop a friendship with you because they might think that you don't like other races, or are uncomfortable with other races.
--Jennifer Lai, University of California, Los Angeles ‘10

I'm currently a second year student at UCLA. Although we have a fairly diverse set of students at this school, there is definitely a higher percentage of Asian students. Before college, I came from a city in Orange County, California in which a minimal percentage of Asians resided. Despite the fact that I myself am Asian, coming to UCLA was kind of a culture shock to me. I was not accustomed to seeing so many Asian students around me. However, as the course of my first year panned out, I realized that I had a hard time making new friends with non-Asians. It was definitely not a conscious decision on anyone's part. My closest friends at this school are now mostly Asian. I don't think that it self-segregation hurts anyone, but it does limit our opportunity to meet people of more diverse backgrounds. At UCLA, the fields of science and liberal arts are definitely a marker in the divide between races. More particularly, there is a clear correlation of race to field of major on this campus. I'm disappointed sometimes only because I thought I would be able to meet many new kinds of people in college.
--Andrew Nguyen, UCLA ‘09

I, myself, don't self segregate. I have a diverse set of friends. Nothing can really be done about the segregating of people. It all depends on how they were brought up and whether or not they accept other races.
-- Kevin Ip, University of California, Davis ‘10

Each time I brush my teeth or wash my hands I happen to stumble upon a reflection of myself. The mirror reveals the exterior, superficial shell of my individual identity. Am I really “white”? Can a word actually encapsulate who I am? 
 
UCSD is a campus with varied architectural designs, a unique college system and, especially, diverse demographics. I am a first year American Caucasian male, if I go about subjecting myself to labels and categorization. Personally, I think all labels strip the individuality out of a person and, instead, it replaces individuality with a generic, standardized representation. Any standardized label only enforces stereotypes and generates profiles represent the group under that label. I prefer to let my unique name “Brian Lamb” govern who I am. All of my actions reflect upon my name, and not a group of “American Caucasian males.” Self-segregation is subjective; it only exists due to the perception of individuals. Since it is only exists out of perception it cannot exist out of perception as well. If all students of all colleges look past the superficial labels that inevitably stimulate racism, and ultimately produce self-segregation, the primary focus would be on the individual. I’d like to judge a person by his actions rather than by a category (i.e. a race) he/she falls into.
--Brian Lamb, Univeristy of California, San Diego ‘10

Self segregation is inevitable on college campuses because people will always shy away from the unknown.  The best way to feel comfortable in people's minds is to be with people most like them, eliminating many variables that could cause conflicts.  By identifying with people of the same skin color, more often than not, those people will have the same cultural background and political/religious views. Self segregation can be detrimental because without complete unity of all races, conflicts will always arise over the issue of skin color.  Here in LA, I have many friends of different ethnicities, although most are primarily white and Asian simply because whites and Asians vastly outweigh all other ethnic groups at UCLA. Nothing lawfully can be done to eliminate self segregation. People can't be forced to become friends with people of other races because that will cause more conflicts than there are already. It must come from the people's free will to eliminate the ethnic disunity. We must be patient and continue to be open-minded to friendships with all races.
--Tyler Peters, UCLA ‘10

I am currently a first year college student, attending Kansas City Kansas Community College. KCKCC has a fairly mixed group of races, with white enrollment at about 70%, black at 15-20%, and other at about 10-15%. This is something that I wasn't used to considering I went to a predominantly black high school in the heart of the ghetto. I was the only white guy on the football team, making team captain, had a lot of friends (none of them being white), and was fairly popular. I was figuring that KCKCC would be a lot like high school, mainly because the campus is only a few miles from my high school. So having classes with maybe 1 or 2 black people isn't what I’m used to.

I've noticed that most of the black students here excelled in basketball or track, and the white students excelled in academics. I was born and in raised in the ghetto, so i had views that white people were just stuck-up snobby, suburban brats. Boy was I wrong, coming to KCKCC, I’ve learned that everyone is different, everyone is unique. Being a cool person, or being someone I'd rather not hang out with has extended the race barrier I had in high school. There are groups here, just like in high school, but they extend beyond race. The basketball players hang out together, the choir hangs out together, the nerds hang out together, and then there are people like me who just hang out with whoever. But I’ve yet to see whites hang out with only whites, in every study group I’ve seen or every lunch group I’ve seen, there has always been a different set of races in that group.
--Jeff Phillips, Kansas City Kansas Community College '08

UCSB has been notorious for its overwhelmingly white population. Despite increasing rates of minority admission, the campus is very, very white. I believe the second largest group is of Asian background, and they're less than 10-15% (If I'm not mistaken). I grew up in Los Angeles, and the population demographics of that city are unbelievably different. I was used to a white minority, hand-in-hand with a massive collection of cultures, races and experiences that all culminated in the city. I went to school there for over 20 years, and worked in the city for about 6 years. My experiences dealing with the Los Angeles crowd is far different than what I'm used to at UCSB. This has its positives and negatives. Examples such as increased familiarity with the population as a plus (when everyone's the same its easy to relate, right?) and of course the nasty side of things, such as a misrepresented minority as well as a general sense of non-understanding of non-white populations among certain groups of students who perhaps never grew up in a diverse community.

This is not to say the campus propagates segregation, in fact, that is definitely not the case. I believe the extreme amounts of white kids at my school encourage more exploration of minority groups among themselves; simply said: groups stick together to grow together. The bottom line is that we're all a bunch of kids who want to learn and want to party. And ultimately, we all do things together, while keeping in touch with our cultural sides on our own time. Sure it's not LA conditions, but its working fine and we all love where we go.
--Eric Shakelian, University of California, Santa Barbara '07