#36 INTERVIEW OF BLACK STUDENTS ENROLLED AT WASHINGTON AND LEE 1. Have you decided upon a college major? lfyes, what? Yes I have. Accounting and computer science. 2. (lfthe answer to do question 1 is no, skip #7.) What is your grade point average (GPA) in your major field? Computer science I would say 2.8 and accounting about a 2.3. 3. What type ofdegree are you working toward at Washington and Lee? a BS. 4. What is the occupation or profession you want to do enter upon finishing your education? I haven't quite decided yet whether accounting or computer science, but I've been thinking about consulting. 5. Do you plan on working toward an advanced degree at some time after finishing your undergraduate program? Yes, but I'm not sure when. If I don't find a job upon graduation then I think I might go on to do graduate school. Otherwise I'd postpone it till later on. 6. While growing up, did you attend or were you personally active in church? Younger, till I was about 8, 9, I was in Church. Not every week, but often enough, but after that not often at all, well not really at all. lfyes, please give the denomination, and the type ofchurch activities in which you participated. Catholic. None, there wasn't that many activities at our church. I did my first communion classes. How would you characterize your church involvement in Lexington? Nonexistent. 7. How would you compare your level ofparticipation in extra-curricular activities in high school and at Washington and Lee? In high school I participated in quite a few number of activities, so I think about equal to do my participation here. 8. How did you learn about Washington and Lee University? My college advisor, his son had graduated from here, and a student from my high school had went here. To do what extent were you assisted during the admissions process by an alumnus of Washington and Lee? I wasn't at all. 10. Did you visit the campus before you matriculated as a student? lfyes, under what circumstances? Yes Please describe your reactions to do this campus visit. I came down for a weekend that started from Thursday and lasted till Sunday. Was that specifically a minority student weekend? No. there was minority students that came down, but there was other accepted students. It was just a huge students that were going to do be accepted weekend. And, the minority students had like, I think two, maybe three extra things that wasn't part of the whole weekend. We had a panel just for minority students, and a party, and that was about it. What kind offeedback did you get from the other minority students during that visit? Minority students presently here? Yeah, the minority students that were already enrolled. that it was a very small institution, predominately white, not much social activities here, but the education was good and you'd receive financial aid most likely. And that basically you'd have to do learn how to do deal with life at Washington and Lee to do get by. What were your reactions to do the campus visit? I enjoyed my weekend. I really liked the school, I liked the campus, the way it looked and everything, The professors seemed nice, the ones that I met, the department (at the time I was only interested in accounting, so that department) was really good to do me at the time, well it still does, and I met friends that weekend that made me want to do return. 1Oa. Was W &L your... After my visit, or .. Well, maybe ifit was different, why don't you say both? Before the visit, I was. I applied to do nine school and I would say it was probably my seventh choice. After the visit I would say it was about third or fourth. 1Ob. About how many other colleges did you apply to do? ... 1Oc. How many other colleges accepted you? I was accepted to do eight out of the nine. One of them I didn't get accepted to do, which was my number one choice, was because, it was Binghamton University, and the school I new I was going to do attend was going to do be the one that offered me the most financial aid, and my college advisor was trying to do get me into a special program that they have in the schools in New York where, I think it's called H.E.L.P., and its like an educational program, but it's built around students who haven't done as well as they probably could have. So their averages were to do 75 and 83, was like the lower range, and I was way up there, and he tried to do put me in there based on my SAT scores, but it didn't work so they had rejected me out of that program You were too good. Right, I was too good, so for that reason I wasn't accepted, but if I had applied the regular way I would have been accepted. 11. What made you decide to do attend Washington and Lee? The financial aid. The people I met on the weekend. I don't know. Being away from home. I only applied to do three schools that were out of state, and I thought it would be something like an adventure to do be that far away. Was it? Was it an adventure? Yeah, it's kind of an adventure. Do you want to do glance at this list and see ifthere's anything else you want to do comment on? Ifthere's any other factors you considered in making the decision? The academic reputation. My parents had wanted me to do come here. My mother had wanted me to do go far away. Because she thought my grandmother had sheltered me too much, cause I had lived with my grandmother. So she wanted me to do be far away on my own and I wouldn't be able to do call and "come get me" or something like that. She wanted that. And the career that I thought I would be able to do achieve after I attended here. 12. Once you decided to do enroll at W&L, what was the reaction offriends and relatives? They were happy for me, they were excited, no problem. Were there negative images about W&L that made you think seriously about not coming? Um, I was told a lot about W &L, that it was predominately white and rich upper middle class students and that some ofthem are real snobby and they don't accept you as much as you would think they would. So, you're kind oftoo yourself and you have a small group of friends and stuff. But it never seriously, it never made me think about not coming because of that, because the summer before my senior year I had went to do Cornell University for a summer program and the program I guess .. the people there were somewhat like the people here and my advisor was the one who told me that "If you don't think you could deal with it, being at a predominately white school, then I wouldn't advise you to do apply." But I didn't think that it would be a problem cause I'm a strong person and I'm very outgoing or social and I didn't think it would be a problem. 13. Once you were enrolled, did you find the University to do be as you had expected? Um, Yeah, it was like I had expected. In what way? The classes were what I had expected, small, .. It was what I had expected. It's changed. I guess my perspective has changed over the years. Cause coming in I thought I knew what it would be like, but then, it's a lot different then what I thought it would be. So atfirst it seemed like you, like it was going to do be the way you expected, and then with more experience you actuallyfound that it was different. Right. In what ways did it turn out to do be different? Um, the people, I guess, and their attitudes and just things they say, things they do, its just. I guess in the community that I live in I didn't really know the attitudes or the personalities that the upper middle class has, and that's something that's different. In what way? Um they're very closed minded. they're very naive to do a sense, because they live in the world they live, they think everyone lives in their world. and um like I hear a lot of comments, like I was doing a project with a group, and I don't know how the discussion came up, the students were discussing and he said, ... "Well, ifl was poor, or living in the ghetto, I think that would make me strive even more to do get out. and to do go to do college and do something with my life." And, it's easier to do say it when you've never been in that situation, you've never been in the ghetto, you've never lived in the ghetto, to do just say that and expect it to do be that easy. It's comments like that that you hear and it just [ chuckling] makes you wonder where these people live. Then you have some people say like "I've never, I don't mean to do offend you,[], but where I come from there's not many black people, and the black people that are in my town, they're all drug dealers." So, you look at them, and it's like "All right, whatever." I said, "Well, don't feel guilty, I didn't have any white kids in my high school either, you know, but that doesn't mean that I think that all ofthem are rich, or you know." The things that go through their minds, you have to do wonder some times. Well, there 'fl be more chances later to do talk about ways you found that things were different, so keep that in mind. Is there anything else that comes to do mind now? No, not really. 14. Please describe what you consider to do be your greatest challenge at Washington and Lee. How have you dealt with it? My greatest challenge. I think my greatest challenge is keeping my head up at all times and being focussed, remaining focussed. My friends and I, we've discussed this a lot. about our time management skills, and the conclusions that we came up with is that a lot of minority students here don't do as well, and it's partly because we have this perception that we have so much time on our hands, which we actually do, so then we procrastinate compared to do do the white students who have fancy dress weekend coming up next week and it's like "well, I have to do do get my paper done, it's due two weeks from now but I know that after fancy dress weekend I'll be tired, or I won't be able to do do do it." That's not a big thing for us cause they have all their closed parties and things so we view our time as being much more. They have their Friday and Saturday night parties every night. We might attend but it's not an every weekend ritual. So on Saturday afternoon when they're in the library pumpin away cause they know that Saturday night they'll be drunk and they won't do work until Sunday afternoon at 5, we're like "Well, we've got all weekend cause we don't have anything to do do, and we keep pushing it till like the last minute. And I think that's one of my biggest problems, is trying to do keep up and do well. Cause sometimes I do get discouraged and I do feel like it's a whole lot easier for them than for me because they have so many more resources than I do. In what way? Um, just exams wise, there, the fraternities, sororities, they have cold tests that go back years. that they can always go back and look at. It's like they come into the exams already having a feel for what it will be like, and I don't have that same feel. I don't know what to do expect. and they have so much more of an advantage in that sense than we might have, cause we don't have access to do that. Anything else that is an advantage ... Also the group. the group activities. a lot of times in my classes there'll be little groups that';; be like, "Oh, do you want to do get together and study", or "I'm going to do write up some notes on this chapter, and you write up some notes on that chapter and we'll get together and do this." And it might be people that you've known, that you've had groups with, like groups for class wise, but that never really consider you outside the classroom, that never really think about you any other way as just someone in your class. They don't include you.. Right, you're not included in anything extra that they wouldn't have to do. And I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, it's just the way it is, and I think that hinders a lot. cause there's not that many minorities that are in one class that can form a study group. If you're in there by yourself, then you're in there by yourself. Have you found that people have not been receptive ifyou've reached out to do initiate things? No, not that I can think of, right off the top of my head. Not that many times I've reached out to do ask [ aks ], just because -like, most of the times you get to do class like 5 minutes before, and you're sitting there, and this conversation's going directly across you, around you, no one cares to do speak to do you, so you would never think to do actually ask [ aks] that person, you know, "Well can I study with you?" It almost feels like you're imposing, almost feels like you're begging, like you're lowering yourself. I don't think I would ever do that. 15. How has your academic performance at Washington and Lee compared with your performance in high school? Considerably lower, considerably lower. High school I think I was more motivated than I am now, I don't know, I can't pinpoint as exact reason. I think there's many. But, I've just not been doing what I had to do or supposed to do get the job done. I think I need to do rewind a tiny bit, cause the second part ofthe last question was "how have you dealt with it?" andyou saidyou think about and work on your time management skills. Is there anything else that you would like to do say about how you deal with that challenge? It's hard, because I know that I haven't been dealing with that challenge very well. It's up and down and I haven't been consistent in my academic career on dealing with it, so I don't know. I seem to do do .. well, freshman year, my fall semester wasn't that great. And just coming out of high school you're used to do being at the top, so that was a motivation at the time. It was like "you could have done" cause I know I could have done better than that. So that motivated me the next semester to do go ahead and do the best that I could, and last semester I did really well, and that's because I had a poor sophomore semester and the poor sophomore semester motivated me to do do well. So, it's like you go up and down, it's like you, once you achieve what you know that you could to do achieve you relax and fall back into it and you have to do motivate yourself all over agam. 16. What academic resources have you used at Washington and Lee? The computer labs, I've had tutors before, I've used the language lab when I was taking Spanish. I've went to do professors for help. I did the study skills courses with Dean McCloud. Didyou use the library very much? For research papers and for things that are on reserve. I don't know, I've used the library and it's helped in studying, but I prefer to do study in my room. Do you have suggestions for the development ofthese or other facilities? One of the facilities, or resources that I thought would be necessary is forming a cold test that's open for all students. Not just for minority students, but for independent students also who don't have that connection, you feel so outside of everything. And I think it's hard sometimes. Anything else? No 17. What factors contribute or contributed to do your selection ofa major course ofstudy? Accounting, I don't know, I don't know where I got that idea to do be an accountant. I've had that idea since about seventh grade, so it's been a long time and I can't exactly say .. Math was always my best subject, and I think that's what geared me toward. Computer science. That was a recent thing. I took a computer science course in a summer program at Cornell and I did very well in that, where with the accounting one I took, I didn't do as well. When I came to do Washington and Lee I took a computer science course and I did very well in that and my professor at the time had advised me not to do drop computer science because I had did so well. She explained to do me that often people switch majors and it would be good if I didn't drop it so fast because I might want to do come back to do it. So since freshman year I've been doing the doubles all along. 18. Have you changed majors since you have been enrolled at Washington and Lee? Ifyes, please describe that change. Well, no. I've just added on one, haven't actually changed one. 19. Ifyou saw a person or group ofpersons lying, stealing or cheating would you report it as an honor violation? Please elaborate. No. Just because I, not that I don't believe in the honor code, but I wouldn't, whether black or white, for two separate reasons. For whites I wouldn't report it, just because I believe that my wouldn't be taken. I don't think that I would be believed. I wouldn't want to do put myself through all the stress and agony of going through a whole trial just for them to do say you know, well, who knows if you are telling the truth or not. Do you have reason to do believe that your word wouldn't be believed? Yeah, just based on stuff that I was told about a previous W &L student who graduated, about her situation, in an honor trial. It wasn't about a white person. But, I think we're here at this school, but only as puppets or toys. Just to do say, yeah we have them. Not really because we're wanted. Meaning we black students. Right. OK, and so, I think you said there were two reasons One was because you didn't think your word would be trusted. Right, and I was saying that for a black student I wouldn't report it just because there are so few of us here, and one less, I don't think we could get any smaller number than we have now. I just wouldn't care to do do it. 20. Do you find Washington and Lee professors easy or difficult to do approach? Please describe in what way they are easy or difficult. Depends on the professor. Most of the professors that I've had have been quite easy to do approach, and quite friendly and I feel comfortable talking to do them. I haven't had a problem about discussing, I mean approaching a professor. Have you been able to do establish close working relationships with a member or with members ofthe W &L faculty? In what sense? Well, people have interpreted it in a couple ofways. Obviously ifyou've done any sort ofresearch projects with a professor that would be one -working closely together. Another interpretation is having gotten particularly close to do a professor. Spending more time with them or talking to do them very freely.. Um no not that close of a relationship, well not as of yet. Next year I have to do do my senior project, in computer science and that calls for choosing a computer science professor and working with them, so then I will be working in a more close relationship. In computer science a lot of times you do your programs and you apply it and if it's not working right you go see your professor and they will help you do your programs. But a close relationship as in ifl had a personal problem talking to do the professor, no I have not established that. 21. What has been your experience at W &L with regard to social life? The experience hasn't been very good. There's not much for minority students to do here, socially. I've had some bad experiences at a couple of the fraternity parties over the years I've been here. Freshman year I didn't attend a fraternity party, had no desire to, no reason to. Sophomore year, when I was hosting, we decided to take our prospective to a fraternity party, just so they could see how it was, what it looked like, the whole scene. Freshman year was the first time I went to a fraternity party. But sophomore year, it was like in early September, the sophomores and the freshman all decided to go this one party, we had just got back to school. When we got to the party, we went to the back, where they had a garbage can full of beer. A guy stopped us and said, "Wait a minute, do you go here?" At the time, numbers of us had on W &L jackets. We're like, "Yeah, we go here," and we showed him our ID cards, and he was like , "Oh, OK." This year I went to a party at Chi Phi, I think, across from the post office. We had a couple of friends from VMI there. They were just standing on the walk doing nothing. So when a fraternity brother of the house asked them to leave, there was no reason. He just said, when we approached him about it, that he was asking all non-W &L students to leave. We kind of snickered because it was quite funny. It's hard to tell exactly who goes to W&L and who doesn't if you're a white student, but if you're black, there are only about 40 of us. Everyone on this campus knows who and who does not go to W&L if they're black. It's that simple. So obviously, he could easily pick out all the black students that he had never seen and say "You have to go." And that's basically what he did on two separate occasions. A half an hour before this, we were just standing around, and a guy bumped into my friend and said "excuse me, I'm sorry" and then he asked if she went here. My friend answered yes, and he said, oh, I don't. He was white, but he was still in the party. So obviously you didn't ask everyone in the party whom you didn't know to leave. Things like that. So you are saying that you've had a number ofexperiences that have made you feel unwelcome or singled out in relation to fraternity parties? Right. I mean the social life here is just non-existent for blacks. Homecoming, Fancy Dress, those big weekends, most of their formals and things are closed. They are not inviting us. There's not a lot of interracial dating here. I don't think a lot of these students are into interracial dating anyway. But most of the activities are closed so there is no social life for us. How important to you is alcohol at a social event or social engagement? Not really important at all. All of the parties that .............. throws are non-alcoholic events, just because we don't have the bank account to host a big keg or beer. It doesn't take away from the event, because the parties are so full and the VMI people can come or other students can attend. So it's not very important. It's never been important. I never knew how important it was until I started going to the fraternity parties. It's like not one fraternity party would ever occur if there wasn't any type of alcohol there. That's kind of sad to think about. The reason that you couldn't have a function or party unless there was some type of alcohol served. How important to you are drugs at a social event? Not important. I don't do drugs so it doesn't matter to me. 22. What experiences, ifany, have you had with Greek organizations on campus? I haven't had any experiences except what I described with fraternity parties. When I was a freshman, these girls came to my room and asked me to rush. I said "Thank you." They said that a lot of minorities don't participate in Rush and we really enjoy having you in a sorority. I don't want you to have any negative feelings or think that you wouldn't be accepted or anything like that. I was like, "Yeah, that's fine, but I still don't have the desire." What is it about sororities that made you feel that way? When I think about sororities, I guess I think of people that you feel close to, people that you would naturally be friends with, people that if you have a problem you could go talk to, people who share the same backgrounds. It's not the same background y'all have .... But with those definitions, that just does not meet the sororities that are presently on campus. I just don't feel that being in any one of them would help me in any way. It just wouldn't be something that I'd like to do, just because I don't feel close to any one person. Not to say that I don't have white friends that are female, I do. The majority are independent. I believe some are in sororities, but tho they're my friends, there's still a limitation on actually what we discuss in our friendship, just because they have different backgrounds. That's the major reason why I just have no desire. Have you been involved in the effort to organize a black sorority on campus? ..... president is trying to do that currently, and I'm not in the effort. I'm not working with her to do that, but I am willing to join, once it's here. I've just not been active in that, because that's something that she and two other people started. Mostly, that was one ofthe things that I didn't think about when I considered coming to school. A lot of minority students have an idea of what fraternity or sorority they want to be in, or if they want to be in one and then come and decide what one they want to go to. Basically, my mother told me I wasn't going to be in one, just because ofthe negative publicity at that time about fraternities and sororities in general, with hazing and people being locked in cars and dying. My mother was like, "No, none of that for you." It was never a desire of mine. I would do it now, because basically I would want it here as an attraction for black student, something that could draw black students here. A lot of times, when I'm hosting or recruiting black students, they ask about fraternities and sororities, if black ones are coming, and I think that is something that if we had them, we could pull in more minority students. How would you evaluate or describe any experiences you may have had? 23. Evaluate your experiences with regards to athletic teams/athletic facilities/and physical education classes. Since freshman year, for the past three years, I've been the manager for the women's basketball team. So I've traveled with them and done a lot with them. I finished my P.E.s at this time, which I'm happy about. Got the chance to learn how to swim, which is fun. It took me a while, but I did it. That's all the experiences that I've had. I haven't had any negative experiences. 24. How would you characterize your opportunities for "dating" while enrolled at Washington and Lee? Limited. More [black] women than men have enrolled at Washington and Lee in the past couple ofyears. VMI's next door, and they have a lot of black men there, but the cadets would have to be ............. and stuff like that. But, overall, it's just limited just because at VMI the guys are pretty well locked up. They might have maybe one day out of the week that they might be able to get out. So it's not easy to form a relationship with someone who's not on your campus. So it's really non-existent here. 25. Have you ever considered transferring from Washington and Lee to another college/ university? No. Why/why not? Things have been bad, but I was always taught to deal with things. For that reason I don't view things as bad, or that bad that they would cause me to transfer. It there were hate signs on my door and stuff like that, maybe I might think of transferring. But there's not blatant racism, it's always subtle. It's just a way oflife, and I think that it's good that I learn to deal with it. I probably speak for a lot of kids. Ifyes, what factor(s) influenced you to stay? 26. Have you had a paidjob on campus (including work-study)? Yes, I work in admissions as a work-study and I also to catering for Evans Dining Hall. Ifso, has this influenced your level ofsatisfaction at W &L? Not more satisfied, but I think that with working in admissions I'm dealing with faculty and not with students as much and I really like the people I work with, they're people that I look forward to seeing and that I can talk to, not necessarily on personal matters, but just everyday interaction. That's been good. 27. Would you be willing to recruit other students for Washington and Lee either as a student yourselfor as part ofan alumni program? Please elaborate. I would be willing to recruit. I do it now as a student as much as I can in the recruitment process. I've hosted every year since I've been here, minority students, and I think I've been effective ... some ofthe student's I've hosted have come. I try and be as realistic as possible about what they can expect here. As an alumna I would and I would do it basically in the same role that I do it now, for the main reason that there are so few of us here, and I hate that. That hurts us because there are so few that you just have this one close group. If there were more minority student here there'd be more things that we could do, more functions that we could have or relationships that you could form. More is helpful. Now we ask some background information: 28. In what geographical location did you grow up: Country: State: New York State In what type ofarea or community did you spend most ofyour growing up years? Urban X Suburban Rural 29. Describe the type ofhigh school you attended. Urban X Suburban Rural Predominantly Black X White Mixed 30. Please give the kin relationship(s) between you and family members in your home when you were growing up. Up until the age of 8 [?], my grandmother lived with us. My mother and father and two brothers. From 11 to the present I've been living with my grandmother. 31. What was the highest level ofeducation achieved by your parents, guardians, or others with whom you lived when you were growing up? My parents and my grandmother finished high school. What are the occupations or professions ofyour parents or guardians? My grandmother is retired. My mother works for an ambulance service. My father, it's hard because I never asked him what he did. I never knew what his title was. He worked for The Bankers Trust in New York City for 20 years. He worked with loans. 32. As compared to other W &L students, how would you characterize your overall social class position (based on parents' education andfamily income)? Lower middle class, not lower middle class, just lower class. How do you think this has affected your experience? I don't think it has affected my experience all that much. I think it's helped me to understand a lot about the differences in the classes and the user perceptions that you hold, both black and white, from different classes. I think it's helped me deal with things. 33. In general how do you think about yourselffirst at Washington and Lee -­as a member ofa particular racial/ethnic/national/gender group, or as a student? As a member of a particular racial group ............black. I don't think being female ................ [simply too low to hear!] You get that idea, feedback, from your experiences? Uh-huh. Please explain. I guess the reason why I think that is because the total of my experiences here, freshman year my friends ... , which were all black, we would sit at the lunch table and just talk and our dorm counselor started complaining to faculty that it wasn't right, that we would exclude ourselves. If I was seen as a student, maybe it wouldn't have been a problem. But because we were seen as black, we were excluding ourselves. Whereas perhaps they wouldn't say that to all the fraternity guys that sit together, they weren't excluding themselves, because they were part of a group. Whereas we are part of a group, we weren't necessarily excluding ourselves. That's the way it would seem. So I think a lot of comments like those make me see myself as of a particular race. 34. How homogeneous do you believe black students are on this campus? In answering please consider racial identification, political perspective, and/or social class position. I don't think we are very homogeneous at all. We are moreso now than the first couple of years that I was here, just based on where we grew up and the people we grew up around. There are some students that .... are black but once they got here chose to not be black anymore. Like not associate themselves as black anymore. For the other students, it's a lot based on background. We have students here that are upper middle class minorities, and lower. Just because ofthe difference of backgrounds we view things differently and there's kind of a tier[?] there, in ways we might view other people who are not like us. I haven't got much of a political perspective, so I don't know about that. 35. How similar or different do you believe blacks and whites are on this campus? Consider the same categories that are mentioned in number 34 above and add any other factors that you deem important. I would say that both blacks and whites ................ [too low] ...get away from identifying themselves as black. But for the majority, both of us have strong racial identification. I think that politics is a touchy issue when it comes to blacks and whites, just based on classes that my roommates have had and discussion that they've said have come up in class. Most ofthe whites are very conservative, which is their choice, but they're naive and they just don't want to believe certain things. One example, my roommates were talking about a discussion that they had had in a course that is based on ............. , which is a type African-American instrument[?], it was a ............. course. In the course they were discussing the Tuskeegee Experiment that was performed on blacks. One of the white students said, "Well, I guess it could happen, but I don't think my country would ever do that." It makes you wonder that it's documented that it actually occurred and you choose not to believe that it ever happened just because -Well, ifyou think like that, then that's fine. It's like "People can get out ofthe ghetto if they want to." You may think that, but with the amount of people living in the ghetto, do you think there's a place in society for every one of us to succeed? The world is just not built that way. There's got to be people at the bottom and there's gonna be people at the top, and that's just the way the world is gonna be. We all can't be happy. That's a fact of life. So to sit down here and say that they can get out, it's not that simple. So you 're saying that socio-politically, there's quite a bit ofdifference between white and black students? Right. The social class is very different. Most of the whites are upper middle class and they have their cars and they discuss things like, like they have problems. You want to laugh at them. "My mom won't let me go to Cancun for spring break. She said I could only go to Florida." Well, she'll let them go somewhere, so relax. We might not have that opportunity. It's just altogether different. 36. Do you believe the size ofthe black student enrollment at Washington and Lee is adequate or inadequate? Inadequate. It's not enough for black students to socialize enough. All black students are not going to like each other, just like not all white students are going to like each other. I think you need enough students here so that people can have interaction with more than one or two or three people. Do you believe the number ofblack professors is adequate or inadequate? I believe that's inadequate also. We have one black professor, and we have two who are just here for the year. That's not enough, I don't think. If we had more black professors we could have more classes for the black students to identify with someone. The one we do have, he can't be everything for all black students. Therefore, if he is not meeting the requirements of some blacks, that's all they have that they can go to. So then they go to no one. Do you believe the number ofblack administrators is adequate or inadequate? Explain. We don't have black administrators either, and I think they are important...to provide a minority view. A lot of the time decisions are made on this campus without consideration for the minorities just because we are non-existent on this campus. Our views need to be taken into consideration, because there is no one there to express those views if there is no one present on a committee or in a department. They don't know how it might affect a minority student differently compared to a white student. 37. Should the university offer activities designed to bring new black students together? Yes. When I came, my freshman year, there was a program before actual freshman orientation, maybe two days before, when we came in for a little program where Anice McCloud introduced study skills ..................... what opportunities there were on campus, if we had problems where we could go. I think it was helpful, especially ifyou had been accepted and not had a chance to meet other minority students. You feel all by yourself. You coming to a school where you know no one else, no one from your school is here, you have no friends here, you need to forge some kind of friendship. I know that one ofthe reasons why that program was stopped was because they felt that black students were becoming too close in the program. The year that I came .... there were comments from my dorm counselor that maybe that's the reason why we were so close and so tight knit and weren't integrating. There were complaints and they decided to stop it. They felt that it was in some way negative, which I don't believe it was. I wish they hadn't stopped those before-orientation gatherings. Ifnot, why not? Ifyes...do you have suggestions? ... Has the Chavis House played a role in your life at W &L? Please describe. Not a big role. That's where we have our MSA meetings and our parties used to be held at the Chavis house. But it's not playing much of a role beyond that. Recently, I and some other minority students formed a Black Students for Campus Change, and one of the ideas that we had was to get a new house. The Chavis house is pretty small and we can't have formals, or functions there. We wanted to base it on a minority culture center, just so minority students could have something they could relate to, something that they could call their own or feel close to. Has the Minority Student Association played a role in your life at W &L? Please describe. I'm a member. It hasn't played a large role. It's the basis for my social activities, parties and things like that. 38. Do you believe that it is important that courses in the humanities/social sciences include recognition or study ofworks by persons ofcolor? Yes I do think that's important. Just in classes here, everyone should be exposed ........... even more racist.. ......... . Ifyou think works by persons ofcolor should be included do you think the recognition was adequate, inadequate, or excessive? Please explain. I've only had one course that was geared toward Afro-American studies. That I enjoyed .... Besides that, in my general ed classes I haven't experienced black authors or writers or anything to do with minorities. I think the recognition is inadequate. There should be a point made to include people of other racial groups and backgrounds and the works that they contributed. 39. How would you characterize the climate in the classroom for you [ as a black student}? I have a lot of problems in the classroom ......................... [too low!]. ......... Most of the time I'm the only minority student in the class. It's just quite hard when, because of the C-school and the way it is structured, there are a lot of groups and group projects. You go through the year and you'll have this group and that group and the next group. Once that group is over, most of those people don't talk to you, if they see you on the colonnade. It's not a Hi! or anything. There'll be random occurrences where someone will say hi, or I'll be shut in the computer lab, doing work, and someone will come and say to me, do you know how to do this? And I look up and wonder how they know my name. They've never spoken to me before, all of a sudden they want to know if I know how to do something. It just surprises me that they have never even spoken to me before, yet everyone knows who I am and my name. And then they won't speak to me again. It's very hard. And in class, when race issues come up, it's even harder, because you're that one or two black persons in the class and you feel like all eyes are on you, watching you, wondering how you feel or how you think. It's an awful situation to be in. Ifyou have encountered 'problems in the classroom, how have you dealt with those difficulties? Most ofthe time I try not to think about it. I just go on with my day. After a while I got used to it, and it doesn't bother me as much. 40. What is the role ofthe Office ofMinority Student Affairs? I'm not quite sure. The only thing that I know ........................ [too low!] How can the role ofthis Office be improved? I would like to see it have a more positive role on campus. As it is now, I don't think the person in charge of it has much power to do anything, to express her opinions and views. She doesn't have much freedom with the office. It's basically what the campus wants, what the administration wants it to be, not necessarily what it needs to be or what might be best for the minority students. Just what they [Dean Howison and I don't know who else is involved in the office] think is acceptable. The people who control the office, are behind the activities of that office, it can't be successful. I'm almost positive that it's a conscious kind of control, to keep it the way it is. I think it was just placed there to make us happy in some sort of way, like we have the office, but it's not like the office can do much. 41. From whom do you receive the greatest emotional support on campus? Do not use name(s), but please describe the person(s) in terms ofrace, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and position (i.e. fellow student, faculty member, administrator, staffmember). Ifappropriate, include more than one individual and describe the type ofsituations in which the person provides emotional support (i.e. personal, family, religious, etc.) Emotional support, I'd say from friends, my black friends ................ [can't hear!] ....................... . every day, ifl have a problem, ......................... .I'll come home ............................................... . Andyour roommates are black? Yes, well, no, I have one white roommate. Is she included in the emotional resource pool? Ah,no. What percentage ofyour friends are black, what white, and what international? I'd say, close friends, my closest friends are all black. People that I talk to, people .............. . [can't hear!] not necessarily people that I would go out with or that we'd go to the Palms and sit down or stuff like that, but, other than that, just friends that I consider friends, I would say about 95% black. I guess 3% white and 2% international. 42. Have you experienced any discriminatory behavior on campus directed against yourself? What form did that behavior take (written remarks including graffiti, spoken remarks, physical assault, discriminatory treatment). I would just refer back to the many times at the fraternity parties where they've asked me ifl go to this school and stuff like that. I had one incident freshman year. It was during finals week, actually I guess it was about two years ago, my friends and I were coming back from Harris Teeter. We had went down there one night really late to get some stuff and on our way back we were walking on the opposite side of the street from the fraternity houses and we heard someone scream Hey! and we turned around. And they were like, "What are you