McNelis_CLUE_Guestionaire

Person 1 (African Male) 1. Why did you decide to come to Bloomsburg Univeristy? - "I am the first generation in my family to attend college and i wanted to get a good education" 2. What made you chose Blooms burg Univeristy? - "I thought it was cheaper and i liked the diversity of the school" 3. How did you chose your major? - "Where i am from in Africa their is a lot of poverty and diseases killing people, i chose biology because i want to help people and cure these problems" 4. Do you feel it is intimidating to go out and talk to people of different races, cultures etc.? - " No i am not intimidated to interact with people of different races and ethnicities. 5. Do you have friends of different races or cultures etc? - "Yes but, the people i hang out with are people of the same race or culture as me" 6. Do you see diversity among students here at BU? - "" Yes, BU is a diverse school as a whole but as far as seeing diverse people interacting, i do not see that as much" 7. Do you think racism still exists? - 'Yes but, it is not as common as it once was"

Person 2 (Caucasion Female) 1. 2. 3. 4. Do you feel its intimidating to to go out and talk to people of different races, cultures etc? - " Sometimes i am intimidated" 5. Do you have friends of different races or cultures etc? - " Yes, but they are not really my best friends" 6. Do you see diversity among students here at BU? - "Sometimes but, usually i see people of the same races and cultures hanging out more often then not" 7.Do you think racism still exists? - "Yes, but not as much as it used to be"

This informations suggests a lot to me about college life. The first thing that sticks out to me is the fact that both people that I interviewed said they have friends that are different than them, but both also stated that they were not best friends or very close with these people. What i want to know is why? Why are we willing to interact with these people but not hang out with them on a day to say basis? The next thing that stuck out to me is that both people said that they see diversity among people occasionally but not all that much. What i thought about this was that i think people like to be associated with people who are in a sense "like" them. Whether that is skin color, where they come from or what their beliefs are, but how do we know that people of different races or back rounds do not share similar interests,values or beliefs as them? I think that we are scared to go outside of our comfort zone. When people think about college they think about branching out and making connections with different people but in reality is that what we are really doing? I think we are saying these things but not actually doing them.