Quinnipiac Students Divided on Race
Do racism and cultural insensitivity exist at Quinnipiac? It depends on who you ask. We distributed an informal survey to students in October and November asking them to share their experiences with racism.
Many of the comments (shown anonymously below) reveal that students see the campus in vastly different ways.
“There is no racism on this campus”
“Some guy wanted to fight me because I disagreed with him politically, and he went on to say it was because of my race that our country is messed up.”
“I think that it’s blown way out of proportion. I’m not saying there aren’t racist students at this school, I’m just pointing out that it is not nearly as prevalent as some people may want others to believe.”
“My freshman year, someone wrote “ching chong lee ugly” on me and roomates door (she was asian). We never found out if they fully investigated it.”
“I feel like we aren’t a very diverse campus but racism isn’t necessarily a problem because majority of students are very respectful and considerate of others”
“There have been a few instances where security guards have asked to see my school ID, even in situations when it was NOT warranted, or while giving exceptions to other non-POC students.”
“Liberals act as if there is an issue. I have a diverse friend group and there are no problems regarding race or ethnicity. Anyone who acts like Connecticut is overrun by racists is clueless.”
“From nooses being hung on minority student doors, to hearing white students scream the n word. And most recently, a student in black face being posted on snapchat and going viral.”
“Haven’t seen much of it. Lived in the north east my entire life. There isn’t racism on this campus.”
“It’s incredibly concerning. What may seem like relatively minor, isolated incidents are in fact symptomatic of a larger failing cultural attitude towards race on campus.”
"Students and faculty have been accepting”
“Last year when an african-American student received death threats for sharing his opinion on a Safe Space article.”
“I think Quinnipiac does a great job at handling things in a fair manner and does not look at any incident different by the use of race.”
“A general misunderstanding of struggles some groups go through and therefore racism and slight discrimination.”
“I think that overall the atmosphere at Quinnipiac promotes safety to all ethnicities, religions, and races, something that I know affects not only myself but others around me, such as my roommates.”
“It’s horrendous. We’re trying to make strides in certain clubs but the overall feel is that there’s kids who just don’t respect other races.”
“The school is trying very hard to make sure everyone on campus is respectful and inclusive regardless of race, which is a great thing in my opinion.”
“There needs to more awareness that racism is very existent in the world — within and beyond the bubble that we live in. People also need to help accountable for their actions and their words so that students of color feel safer on campus and do not have to deal with ‘white-splaning’.”
“I think we have gone past trying for equality and have moved to reverse racism in a sense. I believe we are shifting towards a culture of trying to uplift the minority population so much that we put down the majority population in the process.”
“I think this school body has A LOT to learn. People need to stop being so afraid to speak their minds about things and the school needs to stop brushing things under the rug and ignoring it.”
