Students weigh in on race relations at the University

Freshman Janelle Greene has never met another black student majoring in classics.

“I really… Freshman Janelle Greene has never met another black student majoring in classics.

“I really might be the only one,” Greene said, “but that doesn’t bother me because I love antiquity. As long as I know about myself, where I come from and where my people are going, I’m fine.”

Unlike Greene, many students feel uncomfortable stepping away from the comfort of similarity.

Professor Janet Schofield of the psychology department has done research on race relations, especially in schools. She says that in competitive environments, students tend to stick with their in-groups.

“I think in the college situation, many people, both white and African-American as the two major groups, come from environments where they haven’t had a huge amount of experience with the other group before college,” Schofield said. “It leads to more of an ethnic grouping, not through hostility, but through a sense of anxiety and not knowing as much about the other group.”

Adam Nelson is a prime example.

Growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, his only exposure to diversity in high school was a few black students who moved from New York.

“I’m not ethnically anything. I’m just a white male, the whitest white boy you’ll ever meet,” Nelson said. “So I don’t get to put myself into a category of anything. I am the none-category.”

Nelson explained that he has had more opportunities at Pitt to meet people from different backgrounds. He does, however, still find himself with friends who “look like him.”

Nelson said being white does have some disadvantages.

“The thing about being a white male,” said Nelson, “is that you have to apologize for everything because white males have a history of oppressing anyone that’s different than them. But I haven’t oppressed anyone, and I don’t think I should have to apologize.”

K. Chase Patterson – president of National Pan-Hellenic Council, the umbrella organization for all black fraternities and sororities on campus – said that the initial purpose of establishing black fraternities and sororities on campus was the same as other Greek life, “to create a network for the leadership, address one issue with one voice, and give that voice a stronger power.”

Schofield said that it makes sense to have some separate groups on campus. She said that some students are in groups to “pursue things that might be hard without that grouping, like African-American students in a gospel choir.”

“When there are those kinds of groupings that help people feel accomplished in what they want to accomplish,” Schofield added, “it makes them feel at home.”

Students often join Greek life in order to have a comfortable environment similar to communities from back home.

“All of our frats and sororities have become integrated. We never said they were only for black people,” Patterson said. “Though they were founded to strengthen the bond of African-American students at traditionally white colleges, we have never segregated anyone from our organizations. The doors have always been opened.”

Pitt has a population that is 77 percent white and almost 10 percent black. This leads to the creation of several ethnic, religious and minority groups on campus, often leaving members of the white majority feeling left out.

“There’s a Society of Black Engineers, but there can’t be a Society of White Engineers because that would be too much of a controversy,” Nelson said.

Patterson doesn’t blame the institution of diverse groups on campus, but the failure of the groups to work together to promote positive race relations.

“In this current state,” he said, “we as the three councils have not worked together, planned together or set common goals. In that, we have proven to be [as] ineffective as the core of academics and social life at the University.”

Research on inter-group relations, Schofield said, indicates that students feel anxious about spending time with people from other backgrounds.

But Greene said that she thinks spending time with one group is detrimental to society.

She added, however, that it was “weird [growing up in a white neighborhood] because I lost my sense of self. I grew up disjointed.”

“Now, I don’t specifically hang out with anyone. I don’t have groups,” Greene said. “Two of the people closest to me here are black females because we can relate to each other culturally, but the majority of the other people I spend my time with are white.

“That’s the beautiful thing about being here at Pitt right now, I finally get a mix.”