Opinions of Middlebury

ohsobored
Thu, 25 Aug 2005 17:41:26 +0000

there was one particularly awful situation where a student of color was victimized last spring, but since i am shaky on the details (especially the end outcome) i do not feel comfortable recounting what happened. what i will say, however, is that the diversity at middlebury is as bad as advertised. coming from a background of being surrounded by diversity, i have felt that too many middlebury students who fit the billing of your typical upper class white east-coast stereotype. a few of these students feel particularly “within” their comfort zones, being surrounded by so many people who are just like them, if that makes sense. sometimes these students are racist: sadly, this kind of thing can’t be avoided anywhere. that being said, i think that the incident last spring was a freak and unfortunate occurence that was based moreso on one student’s personal racism causing a giant uproar than on a general campus feeling or leaning. the attitude of the student body seemed to one of great disappointment and sadness, seeing a fellow student be singled out because of their race.

middlebury is obviously trying to improve this situation, as i’m sure you saw that posting on another thread about the chances of getting in as an african american applicant. the matriculation rate is still pretty low, though, and i’m not surprised. quite frankly, if i were anything other than caucasian i’m not sure i would want to be at middlebury. i imagine it must be quite isolating.

i happen to be strongly opinionated on this matter, though, and so i’ve obviously failed to mention the extreme popularity and strength of minority led/organized/based student organizations, etc. compared to other comparable LACs/NESCAC schools, though, such as amherst or williams, i think middlebury has a long way to go before it’s in the same league in terms of minority presence.

i hope that your daughter still considers and loves middlebury!