susanr64

My daughter is interested in Denison due to what she has heard is an outstanding English department. However, we have both heard that while the school is admirably recruiting students from diverse groups, they are not that comfortable on campus and there have been issues. My daughter is Hispanic. Does anyone have information on this?

Whistle Pig

It would seem a number of your observations are accurate. Like all selective LACs, DU is aggressively recruiting these students. And succeeding. Our student has numerous friends of color and various ethnic background. That said, there apparently continues to be self-segregation, AA's hanging with AA's, Chinese (of which there are many) w/ Chinese, etc. as would be anticipated. The very same occurs here @ Penn State. Simply more of them so perception is they "mix" it up better.

There was an incident 2-3 years back and the Pres immediately called for a day of meeting and discussing to reconcile the situation to the degree possible. We asked agressively about this last year ...students, faculty, admin, locals...heard not one word.

Not to unduly stereotype, but one of the student workers in the gym told us how "unfair" it all was, as the AA teams "always" win the hoops intramural competitions. Just like they do in the NCAA and NBA.

So it's not perfect, but we get no sense that it's disrupted, an angry scene, or disinterested in its continued improvement.

One particular note which you might want to check out on DU news (and Google...) DU has been recruiting and graduating students from urban communities (read: minorities mostly) in Boston and Chicago via Posse Fdn. which claims DU is one of its premier campuses for integrating bright, academically capable minority students from urban communities not like idyllic Granville (and it is!). Talk to them, get their reports. They've a huge investment in this.