UA minority enrollment doubles in a decade

Of the 33,504 students enrolled at the UA, 69.5 percent are white, 12.7 percent are Hispanic, 5.3 percent are Asian American, 2.4 percent are African American and 2.1 percent are Native American.

In the past 10 years, the University of Arizona's minority student population has nearly doubled. In the fall of 1987, 11.75 percent of students were minorities. By last fall, it reached 22.42 percent.

Despite the rising numbers, many students and administrators think the UA is not an integrated campus.

"When people look at our rates they think we're doing real well, but that's not true," said Cecilia Lou, assistant dean of Asian American Student Affairs. "Until we learn to become more sensitive and inclusive, we're not going to have a campus that is integrated."

Although Lou said she has not encountered any major racial problems on campus this year, she said several students have come to her with personal problems related to ethnic differences.

On one occasion this year, Lou said an Asian American student asked her for support after another student called her a "banana, yellow on the outside, white on the inside."

Lou said she tries to mediate minor ethnic conflicts, but in more serious, hurtful cases she often recommends counseling.

"It really is a struggle (for minorities). They've grown up here but yet, there is something different about them," Lou said. "Most minority students go through that."

Seung-eui Hong, an Asian American junior majoring in optical engineering, said students of different ethnicities need to develop a better understanding.

"You can't just ignore the other person," Hong said.

Hong said that when he lived at Hopi Lodge his freshman year, he tried to become close to white students, but "it was kind of hard."

He said it was easier to develop friendships with other minority students.

"I have black friends, not white. Maybe they (blacks) consider themselves a minority too," Hong said.

Frances Stone, a geography junior who is white, said people of the same ethnicity tend to stay together in isolated clusters around campus.

"I don't feel that a lot of Americans are interested in the different groups of people and that really disgusts me," Stone said.

Aimee Wiluz, a media arts sophomore, said she sees a lot racial separation in areas where students tend to congregate at lunch time, such as the Memorial Student Union.

At the Student Union, "there's a group of white people and a group of black people and they don't intermingle," said Wiluz, who is white.

"A lot of whites don't take into consideration that they (minorities) have a different take on life and experiences because of their ethnicity," she said.

However, many students and administrators argue that the segregation on campus reflects a natural social process rather than racial tension.

Spencer Harvey, a Native American junior in computer science, said it is normal for people of different cultures to form separate groups.

"You hang out with people that are most like you," Harvey said.

Likewise, SalomĒn Baldenegro, assistant dean of Chicano-Hispano Student Affairs and Resource Center, said there is no systematic self-segregation among minority students.

"Students all over campus self-segregate on the basis of interests," he said. Athletes, people in the same majors and old high school friends practice this form of self-segregation, he said.

Students of the same ethnicity cluster together in the Student Union as a way of claiming their space on campus, said Associated Students President Gilbert Davidson.

"They know that's their area," Davidson said. "The Union has so many different microcosms of society.

"I don't think you're ever going to get 35,000 people to hug each other."

Reshea Bristol, an African American freshman majoring in sociology, eats lunch with her African American friends on the main floor of the Student Union. Bristol said she sees minority students and white students interacting freely all over campus.

Jeff Nadeau, an African American junior majoring in creative writing, said he sees a lot more racial integration on the UA campus than in his hometown of Los Angeles.

However, Nadeau, a wide receiver on the UA football team, said university officials need to do more to increase the number of minorities on campus.

"I think it's getting there, but it's not close to where it needs to be," he said.