Coronel 1

Jazmin Coronel

Professor Granillo

English 101

12 September 2018

Self Segregation, Minorities, and College Campuses

College is another stepping stone in the adventure of education. We all know college can

be a difficult new experience for incoming freshman so to make it less stressful college students

create minority groups. In Gabriela Moro’s essay “ Minority Student Clubs: Segregation of

Integration?” she asses the pros and cons of ethnic specific minority clubs in a college

environment. Minority groups have been implemented onto college campuses to provide a safe

environment where students are allowed to speak freely and thrive in academic success with

students of similar backgrounds. In recent years many of the schools had made it a high priority

to increase diversity by having these minority groups for culturally diverse students. To prepare

them for upcoming difficulties that college has as well as society that can or cannot be inclusive

for all ethnicities.

On the other hand are having these culturally specific groups threatening for students of

other ethnicities who want to join or learn of different cultures? What if having these types of

specific oriented groups students get accustomed to just interacting with students of the same

background as their own? As students become more comfortable with peers of the same culture

they lose the desire or feel no need to branch out and learn about other cultures. Not only in

having these culturally specific groups give students no need to come out of their comfort

zone,but it also leads them to self-segregate themselves. In general college students tend to

separate themselves when they don’t feel comfortable so in having these groups it just reinforced
 Coronel 2

self segregation. While there are many downsides to having minority groups for specific

cultures, students that have these groups rely on help them through their college experience.

Gabriela Moro presents “I thought [cultural clubs were] something I maybe didnt need, but come

November, I missed speaking Spanish and I missed having tacos, and other things like that.

That's the reason why I started attending meetings more regularly (Moro 272).” Minority groups

help incoming freshman transition into a new environment also encourage them to make

connections to their own culture. These clubs not only help students stay connected with there

culture but help them find their place at universities. In having these ethnicity specific clubs the

issue of students segregating themselves will still pop up.Although instead of having these

biracial clubs we should bring diversity clubs that allow everyone to get together and learn about

someone else culture.

As more and more diverse students go to college having minority groups creates a tool

where it helps students strive and succeed in their college experience. As said before when

having these race specific clubs it does bring up the issue of students who are not of that

ethnicity create self-segregation. Yet can be fixed by having multicultural activities to encourage

more racial interaction to show races aren't so different for others and lesson the stereotypes

society creates. Having these types of events not only allows students to learn about different

cultures that aren’t their own but allows them to see what it like in someone else heritage instead

of their own. A balance needs to be found in giving these students support for minorities and

avoiding the segregation these specific clubs contain from the rest of the student body.Yet these

events can’t happen on just their own the participation of faculty and especially the students is

needed to encourage cultural integration in higher education.

 Coronel 3

Works Cited

Moro Gabriela. “ Minority Student Clubs: Segregation of Integration?.” They Say I Say, Gerald

Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst, 4th Ed., Norton, 2018.

Coronel 4