UCLA’s diversity is only skin deep

Going to a school as diverse as UCLA can sometimes make people
weird. Like they might think, oh well I attend an ethnically
diverse school and therefore by association I have the diversity
thing covered. But this is actually quite far from the truth.

I was sitting in Ackerman turnaround with my friend’s little
brother a couple of weeks ago and somehow the conversation turned
to ethnic diversity. He started talking about how it’s really
awesome that his older brother has such a diverse group of
friends.

I never thought this kind of thing was actually said except
in educational commercials, so when it really happened,
I thought it was kind of cool. He went on to say that
it’s nice because you get to learn about different cultures
and get exposed to interesting new things. It’s possible to
be like, yeah, yeah that’s very cliche and corny because
we all know that diversity rocks, blah, blah, blah, but it’s not
really that easy once you think about it.

UCLA has an extremely diverse student population, but walking
around campus, it is still typical to see large groups of friends
consisting of one ethnic group. From a distance, UCLA seems
extremely diverse, but once you get up close, this variation just
turns out to be a lot of segregation on a campus that’s
diverse on paper.

A large part of this segregation probably has something to do
with clubs. Starting college is different for everyone, but it
still takes time at the beginning for most people to adjust and get
settled, acquire some kind of comfort zone, and start making new
friends. It just sucks that for a lot of people this means
disseminating into various ethnic groups that are largely
exclusive.

I still remember that barbeque we had at freshmen orientation
when there was that gauntlet of tables recruiting for campus club
members. Of course clubs are always saying they welcome anyone who
is interested in a different culture, rather than determining
members solely based on race.

But for me, the experience was more of a process of elimination
than anything else, “Okay I’m not that ethnicity or that
religion or that or that.” And although I’m sure there
must have been more, the fact is that about two years later, I can
only remember one table there that wasn’t a club based on
ethnicity or religion: some environmental club.

We hear a lot that UCLA is a huge school. And since that number
can be kind of intimidating, we’re told not to worry
because there are a million things that can make our college
experiences more intimate. And while that’s definitely true,
I think it’s important to remember that as intimidating
as 33,000 students might seem, hanging out with a certain ethnic
group exclusively isn’t the best way to take advantage of
such a great population.

Even before my conversation with my friend’s brother, his
group of friends had made an impression on me. They just
seemed like an unnaturally diverse group of people, and it struck
me as wrong that the notion of being very diverse is unnatural. On
a campus that is as supposedly diverse as ours, varied groups
of friends should be the norm.

Society is pretty narrow-minded if we have so many different
kinds of people fairly dropped into our laps and all we can come up
with are carbon copies of ourselves. And what good is an extremely
diverse campus if we waste it by feeling superior or too proud
about our own ethnic groups? So many people waste their time
defaming and thinking poorly of other kinds of people, and by just
not caring enough to meet new people.

And while hanging out with only one ethnic group or joining a
club in which you hang out with only one ethnic group won’t
kill you, it sure as hell can make you boring. Go join an
environmental club or some other group where you can get a little
something more from the diversity department.

We’re in the 21st century folks ““ segregation is
out.