Asian nerds, cool Asians, Unfriendly black hotties - the scene from Mean Girls could have been describing a college dining hall as easily as a high school cafeteria. Maybe the titles would be different but the delineation between groups, particularly along racial lines, is still as clear as day. They persist even though no one is demanding that these divisions exist. In actuality, a lot of us have the tendency to naturally self-segregate ourselves.

Sometimes we unintentionally create boundaries when we find our own bubbles and never leave them. Not everyone can be a floater and drift from group to group. Not everyone wants to be. Often we are able to find refuge with those who are similar to us due to a lack of acceptance from others.

On smaller college campuses it is really easy to learn who all the Asian (or Black or Latin@) kids are, they stick out! From there, a lot of time can be spent with people in your racial group. They may be strangers at first, but they are strangers with a shared trait.

After becoming a Peer Liaison, it is indeed true that a significant portion of my closest friends are now Hispanic, but to frame that development in a way that makes it seem as though my friends and I are purposely forming a selective in-group is both wrong and harmful. It is not a crazed, revolutionary claim to say that common backgrounds ease the forming of friendships…The problem is not that these commonalities cause people to gravitate to one another, but that there is a lack of cultural understanding between people of different backgrounds that should be better bridged. 

Gravitating towards people of a similar background can be enriching. From sharing and growing with each other, you can then go on to share with other groups. Even just having conversations and interactions within your group can be helpful and fulfilling (it can also be a coping mechanism for shifting).

There's a lot of push towards diversity and cross-race interactions but for many people, self-segregation is necessary aspect of their lives. It provides spaces for conversations. It leads to vital friendships. It creates opportunities to understand culture, within the group and beyond. Self-segregation is a natural phenomenon for many students of color who are looking for comfort and understanding on campus.

Sources:

Borja, Yvette. "In Defense of La Casa at Yale." Huff Post Latino Voices. Huffington Post, 24 Sept. 2011. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

Edwards, Isabelle. "Why Do All The Black Girls Sit Together?" Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 6 June 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

"Have we self segregated? Look at Chicago, it seems like it."