With 29% of students on campus belonging to a minority, it is not hard to spot those who are not considered to be “white”. And wouldn’t you think that those 29% are predominantly friends with “white” students? Seeing as 71% of the campus is Caucasian. It’s not as simple as that.

Personally, upon arriving at BC, it was not obvious that there would be such racial, cultural, class, and ethnic divisions among the students. I was unaware of the social divisions. Yet, conversations with my fellow freshmen have led me to realize how nondiverse BC is and how affected “minority races” are by the nondiversity of the campus. As an anonymous source simply stated, “Asians stick with Asians, Black people stick with black people, Hispanic with Hispanics, etc.”

Minorities could be compared to magnets. They attract each other. It is so easy to bond with someone who has a similar cultural upbringing. Some freshmen believe that BC makes the minorities want to stick together. They maintain it seems to just be the social norm here. And once you’re in an “Asian” group, for example, you become labeled and sectionalized. You are associated with that particular group’s ethnicity, culture or race. “People travel in packs. Packs of Asians, black people, and so on,” another anonymous freshman observed.

Now that I know of these divisions, I see them everywhere. It’s safe to say that unless you know about the boundaries holding people from different races or backgrounds away from each other, you can remain entirely unobservant to the issue. Perhaps if everyone was ignorant of this, there would be no social disconnections. People would not have a reason to not interact with students of different societies or cultures, as one’s background would simply merge into one’s being and not label them.

Walking by a large group of people from the same ethnicity, however, is intimidating and noticeable, for the most part. Perhaps “ethnic packs” are more detrimental than most recognize. Everyone wants a comfort zone to go back to after a long hard day in college, especially when one is far away from home. These packs destroy any chance for one to meet new people with different mindsets and backgrounds. In addition, many members of the “ethnic packs” don’t feel happy with their choice. They would much rather prefer to interact and socialize with people from different cultural backgrounds. It seems to be a large circle of presumptions, associations, social stigmas, and deceptions.

So what does Boston College do about the mismatch between minorities and Caucasians on campus? Well there’s AHANA, the Armenian Club, the Cape Verdean Student Association, the Irish Society, the Korean Students Association…wait, aren’t these clubs an exact replica of the already existing “ethnic packs”? Why make an official club when it is already present within the student population? Don’t these clubs further widen the gap between different nationalities and races?

Yes, we wish to celebrate our beliefs and cultures. Yes, it is important to make others aware of our backgrounds and in forming these clubs it enables us to demonstrate how important our different cultures are within the world. Yet, walking along the tables displayed on Student Activities Day in the Dustbowl, a quarter of the clubs represented were ethnic clubs or nationality clubs. Even clubs not associated with culture or nationality were racially selective. As one student complained, “I wanted to try out for an A Capella group. But the group was predominantly Asian and I didn’t feel welcome because I wasn’t Asian. They made me feel like I needed to be Asian to even audition for the group. In the end, I just didn’t audition because I felt they would decide not to take me due to being Caucasian.”

Boston College does not lack diversity. Just as freshman Michelle Dyer states “Coming from a diverse high school, it’s really interesting to see the lack of interaction between races here.” BC needs to work on the socialization between the different ethnic groups for more campus unity and an integration of our plethora of differences. Although it is a good thing to celebrate one’s culture, because it is a fundamental part of every human being, one’s culture should not become the sole focus on campus or in one’s life. Every aspect should be balanced and shared with others. Race, class, culture: these should be embraced and should create relationships in the pursuit of broadening horizons

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