Across the campus divide

  Grace Huang

By Marjorie Hernandez
Daily Bruin Contributor

In a campus known for its diversity, forms of tribalism or
affinity groups can create ethnic and cultural barriers among
students.

For fourth-year history and political science student Natasha
Saelua, who is also the president of the Pacific Islander
Association, the segregation of ethnic groups along Bruin Walk has
been alarming.

“You see a bunch of people kicking it on the steps and
they happen to all be from the same ethnicity,” Saelua said.
“They’re just very closed and not open to say
what’s up to other people.”

According to anthropology Professor Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, the
term “tribalism” often refers to political and social
organizations such as the tribal populations in Africa and
indigenous Native American tribes.

Although this type of political configuration doesn’t
exist in the United States, tribalism can be used as a metaphorical
extension to describe the self-segregation of groups in UCLA,
Mitchell-Kernan said.

“What we have going on campus are people forming
sociological networks that link to ethnicity and race,” she
said.

But this self-segregation doesn’t only exist among
minority students, Mitchell-Kernan said.

“It should also be noted that it is not all uncommon to
see white students congregating in what appears to be racially
homogenous groups as well,” she said.

Although Saelua said a form of tribalism occurs on campus, she
said the same isolation doesn’t exist within student-run
organizations.

She said there are not enough Pacific Islander students to
create tribalism among the undergraduate population.

“Tribalism is impossible for Pacific Islanders just
because there really aren’t that many on campus,”
Saelua said. “On a daily basis, I only see maybe two other
Pacific Islanders on campus.”

Third-year political science and sociology student Anwer Khan, a
student of Pakistani ancestry who is a staff member of the
Association of Chinese Americans and part of the Pakistani Student
Association, said not all of these groups perpetuate
segregation.

“At no point was it ever addressed that I’m not
Chinese,” said Khan. “I was totally welcomed and I was
really impressed by that.”

Numerous factors can cause division on campus, Mitchell-Kernan
said. Similarities in culture, language and ideology bring many
students together. Groups often provide a comfort zone for
students, according to associate Professor of anthropology and
Asian American studies Kyeyoung Park.

“I think people naturally want to be with people who can
understand them, whether it be where they are from or their ethnic
background,” said second-year law student Annette Almazan,
who is also co-chair of the Asian/Pacific Islander Law Students
Association.

“But it can be bad when people stop talking to each other
outside of that group,” she continued.

These groups sometimes provide a homey feeling in a large
university setting, according to Mitchell-Kernan. On the other
hand, there are also negative effects to such close
interactions.

“There is certainly a down side to students feeling
pressured to participate in ethnic or religious
organizations,” she said.

Some members of the group, she continued, may dictate what makes
someone “authentically” a member of a certain group,
thereby putting pressure on others to behave in ways they otherwise
may not.

Most young students may also struggle with identity issues
during college. Park said she saw this occurrence during her
research on the Asian American student culture.

“Students for the first time feel free to explore their
ethnic origins and culture,” she said. “When they come
to a college like UCLA, they are really awakened with their ethnic
awareness and who they are.

“They realize that there is no reason to be ashamed of
where they came from or who they are,” she continued.

A 1994 research on inter-group relations and campus culture
conducted by Mitchell-Kernan and Dr. M. Belinda Tucker, a professor
in residence in psychiatry and behavioral science, found that
“hanging out” with one’s own group was positively
correlated with having been a minority in a diverse high school
setting.

“One could reason that such individuals may not have had
many opportunities to be involved in peer activities with their
“˜own’ group,” Mitchell-Kernan said. “UCLA
provides the opportunity for them to get in touch with their
culture.”

Some people have have raised similar issues concerning
inter-group relationships among minority students at the UCLA Law
School, according to Annette Almazan, co-chair of Asian Pacific
Islander Law Student Association.

“It’s a really touchy situation right now at the
UCLA Law School because the number of certain minority groups are
really low,” she said.

For example, there are under 15 African American law students at
the school according to Songhay Miguda-Armstead, president of the
First-year Law Student Association, which is small enough to foster
relationships among students of similar backgrounds ““ unlike
UCLA in general.

“It would seem unfair to accuse other ethnic groups of
tribalism,” Almazan said. “I have a lot of friends who
are Asian, but there’s also a lot more Asians there. Whereas,
I think it would be easier, if you are black, to be friends with
all of the black students at school.”

Some club members, like Khan, said though interaction between
undergraduate organizations occurs, more should be done to promote
better relationships among groups.

“A lot of the clubs, including us, don’t make a lot
of efforts to expose our members to other groups as much as we
should,” he said. “If these clubs would make more
effort to break down these big group cliques, then it would be
great.”

Although club leaders and members say tribalism can occur, many
agree that these groups do come together when inter-ethnic
relationships are necessary.

For example, several ethnic clubs are closely working together
in the Affirmative Action Coalition, a group dedicated to
overturning SP-1 and SP-2.

But both faculty and students still feel there is much more to
be done to improve race relations at UCLA.

Park said university curriculum should be geared to promote more
cross-racial understanding.

“I think we have to approach it from many different
angles,” she said. “Racial and ethnic organizing
doesn’t solve everything.”

Others said people need to move beyond what is familiar to them
to improve the situation.

“We have a very dynamic university that can potentially do
so much together,” Saelua said. “We have a lot more in
common than we think.”