It seems like every single American University undergraduate student has complained about it. And no matter how many races and ethnicities coexist within the university's gates, ethnic and racial self-segregation is so commonplace that students often identify it as part of the school's culture.

"There are issues of race at AU," says School of Communication senior Jennifer Lucio, who describes herself as a Cuban-American. "It's very segmented according to whatever race and category you belong to."

Recent statistics show that AU undergraduates are a bit more than 50 percent white, about 14 percent foreign, and close to 16 percent Asian, Hispanic and African American. The rest is unknown.

These numbers are visible. They manifest themselves when many minority and international students gather around campus, often in front of the School of International Service Building, the couches at the Mary Graydon Center, or at the Terrace Dining Room. Yet, one can quickly notice little interaction between the different ethnic and racial groups.

"You have the group of Caucasian kids, the alternative ones, you have the mainstream Valley girls," says an Arab-American freshman from New Jersey who preferred not to be identified. "In regards to ethnic groups…the Indians stick together, the Arabs stick together, the Africans stick together."

Racial self segregation at AU is so obvious that sociology doctoral student and adjunct professor, Kate Lasso, helped conduct a study two years ago to explore the phenomenon.
Lasso and her colleagues closely observed 75 students eating dinner and socializing at TDR and noted their interaction with others. Of these students, 51 were coded as "segregated" and 17 as "integrated." Eight were sitting by themselves.

The study also included a survey. The results show that most students have at least some friends of other ethnic backgrounds. However, more than 16 percent reported having no friends ethnically different from themselves.

"What we found is that students did self segregate, especially in the terms of the Caucasian Anglo-American students tended to be in groups of Anglo-American students," Lasso says. "But quite often, what I remember from the study is that ethnic minority groups tend to be mixed groups."

Campus ethnic fragmentation among undergraduates becomes more complicated and controversial when trying to see what ethnic or racial group self-segregates the most. A senior at the School of Communication says it is mostly the international students who self-segregate. Others agree with Lasso that the big division is between minority and white, Anglo-American students.

But with all the racial and ethnic variations present at AU and their unique levels of cross-cultural interaction, it becomes impossible to make any sweeping statements.

The Big Why?

U.S. News and World Report ranks AU among the most diverse and international universities in the United States and, according to Lasso's study, so do students. But she says lack of diversity is still to blame.

"The other drawback from the study is that AU is predominantly white," Lasso stresses in a critical tone. "There's not that many people of ethnic minority background to be associated with."

Lasso agrees with many minority students, especially foreign students, who express an imposition of mainstream attitudes by the white Anglo-American majority. She says this is why minorities at AU tend to interact mostly with other minorities.

"AU is trying to be liberal and open to all ethnicities," the Arab-American student says. "I think they're accepting of ethnicities that conform to the mainstream…foreign students may feel that they don't belong to the mainstream group and search out and seek people that they can relate to."

Two white and one Egyptian-American student disagreed with the Arab-American student's statement and blamed minority students for wrongfully alienating themselves from the majority.

Sociologists like Lasso say it is healthy for people to create bonds with others who share their racial or cultural background; especially when seeking comfort and understanding. Most students surveyed in Lasso's study agree. Yet, both students and experts draw the line when people of any race or ethnicity go out of their way to self-segregate.

"People just tend to be more comfortable with the race that they pertain to," Lucio says. "I think its something that you can't help…but it should be worked on. That's the reason for coming to college, you should be able to meet different people and experience other cultures."

The Administration Acts

Students tend to agree that racial and ethnic self-segregation is not unique to AU. That does not mean they are happy with the situation.

"I think it is a conscious decision in the part of offices and also in the part of students," says Office of Multicultural Affairs director David Owens. "A consistent thing that freshmen have told us every year is that 'we came here for diversity and we want that cultural interaction."

Owens says the administration is aware of the self-segregation situation because students consistently complain about it, and of course, it is widely visible. As a result, a major part of the University Strategic Plan is to make AU more ethnically inclusive.

This fall, the Office of Multicultural Affairs is sponsoring 25-30 discussion groups followed by a campus wide forum next February concerning diversity on campus. Owens says the faculty is also trying to reduce racial and ethnic cliques by facilitating discussion groups and teaching classes that center on diversity.

"I think it is incumbent for us as an educational institution that preaches diversity to get folks out of those zones every now and again," Owens adds as a testament of his ten-year commitment to making AU more diverse.

Ethnic and racial organizations, like the Latino-American Student Organization or the Black Student Alliance, are essential to Owens. Although some students say that these groups divide more than they unite, Owens says they help students strengthen their own communities within the university. He hopes healthier minority populations will increase their participation in student government and campus life in general.

Where does it end?

Although students want to see more multicultural interaction at AU, there is little desire for the administration to impose racial and ethnic unity. According to Lasso's study and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, most undergraduates are comfortable with AU only promoting and not enforcing diversity.

Lasso's study included several recommendations, which are not often addressed because of their controversial and far-reaching nature. The first called for the university to increase affirmative action programs and the use of scholarships (university or government sponsored) to recruit more minorities and to reduce the "numerical dominance of White-American students."

One third of the students surveyed in Lasso's study also stressed the need to desegregate Leonard Hall as the international/multicultural Hall. The university's administration promotes this view of the dorm as a way to secure a haven for multicultural and multiethnic interaction. But Lasso says it does more harm that good by leaving other dorms with little diversity.

"Despite a policy of diversity and cross cultural understanding, there are also visible signs of segregation," Lasso says, referring to Leonard Hall. "It is important to expose people through dorm living to people of other cultures."

Owens says that racial and ethnic integration at AU is much better than it was 10 years ago, when he first arrived.

"I probably would give us a B-minus; we're passing and doing well but I want an A," Owen says. For Owen the ideal situation would be, "a place where we can have significant cross-cultural interaction happening automatically, where it didn't take a lot of creative thinking."

Clearly, not everyone self-segregates. At the same time, it is hard to find students who say they do. And the students who do try to integrate think of themselves as examples of healthy cross-cultural interaction.

"I have Greek friends, I have French friends, and I feel I'm a better person for understanding and knowing these people," Lucio says. "I have things to offer them from my race and so do they."

Every student surveyed in Lasso's study said that having friends of different backgrounds was beneficial to understanding others. Perhaps the challenge is for students to live up to their own expectations.

"The thing I value about myself is that I can talk to any social group," says the Arab-American student interviewed for this story. "That's where I shine."

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