Multicultural Student Services helps change negative stereotypes

By Kallie Olsen

December 10, 2007 | It's hard to miss the ethnic minorities at Utah State. USU has about 1,500 international students, and 4 percent of the students are ethnic minorities.

Many stereotypes, assumptions and attitudes have a negative impact on the feelings of minorities themselves and how others perceive them. Being a minority student at a predominately white university is not something that every minority looks forward to because of these negative stereotypes. Even though they could be a good student with high aspirations, they are treated differently than many of their fellow students.

One way Utah State University has tried to tackle this problem is by forming the Multicultural Student Services. On their mission statement they say they "provide direction for Utah State University's commitment to cultural diversity and for the recruitment, retention, and development of its Native American, African-American, Asian-American, Pacific Island and Latino students. MSS provides assertive educational outreach and retention programs of academic, leadership and social support for american students of mulitcultural backgrounds."

So are they helping? Most white USU students would probably say they don't even notice or that they are indeed helping, but some minorities feel differently.

"People are always staring at me and it's really annoying," says Nathan Royster. "I really am a minority. There are maybe 300 black people at this entire school and I'm one of them."

The University of New Mexico is a predominantly white university, and according to their student health center, being a member of an ethnic minority group means encountering difficulties based on your ethnicity. Ethnicity is seen in values, attitudes, lifestyles, customs, rituals, and personality types. For the minority student on a predominantly white campus there may be a sense of isolation, a sense of invisibility (or being seen too much), direct attack on your intellectual capabilities, and a sense of a lack of respect. So it seems that Utah State University isn't the only campus where minorities feel inferior.

Utah State student Gregg Clark says, "It feels like I'm trapped in a world that contains sheltered people who have no idea what the rest of the world has to offer."

Another point the University of New Mexico made was that ethnic minority students face is social isolation, culture shock, cultural change, having to live and interact in two worlds, language differences, under-employment, lack of equal financial resources, and lack of hope. In addition to these other barriers, minority students are likely to come across attitudes, behaviors and assumptions by some faculty members that show ignorance or lack of respect for minority cultures.

"All the teachers know your name. They find it interesting why we choose to go to an all white college," says junior Sharvelle Hurd. "I don't think they're being racist, they just don't understand our decision to come to Utah State."

Many minorities come to Utah State simply for athletics. Hoping to continue their sport into college, and possibly even longer. So although they seem like they have it rough, many are choosing this lifestyle, through good and bad.

Sharvelle Hurd says,"nobody can relate to a black female here. I feel like I'm on my own."

In all reality she might be. While walking around campus, for every black person you see, you'll probably come across 100 white people. It's not balanced at all. As much as Utah State tries to diversify itself and become culturally aware, they are still very much behind. While Sharvelle might have the other minorities on the women's basketball team to relate to, that's all she has. As much as she tries to identify with others, her cultural background is so much different that she can only truly relate to those like her. That seems to be the problem that most athletes and minorities run into.

Is there anything we can do to prevent this and to make our school more diverse? Well for one, we could all become more culturally diverse ourselves. We need to be able to identify with them and make them feel more comfortable around us. They know the difference between fake people and real people, and the one thing they all tell me is, "be real."

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