Culture Shock at Cal Poly? Impossible

Greeted by the rolling green hills draped in golden wildflowers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, we are also greeted by an issue that is often brushed over the way the wind brushes over the picturesque hills. This issue is the lack of diversity.

 

 

If you come from a town similar to San Luis Obispo, quaint and cordial, then you may not have recognized the lack of diversity right away because you’re accustomed to a less diverse environment. In fact, you may have never considered it to be a distinguishable part of Cal Poly culture. 

Adjusting to college is something every student has to go through. Finding a balance between academics and a social life is an adjustment in itself, and throw in other factors such as a job or playing a sport and that balance becomes harder to find. If the place where you attend college resembles your home, this adjustment is likely be a little bit easier because you can find many similarities between home and where you attend school. If you came to San Luis Obispo from a city, you may not have seen many similarities, but probably noticed many differences.

 

In some people’s experiences, including my own, home stands in high contrast to San Luis Obispo. Seeing cowboy boots on a daily basis and living in a small town was something completely new to me. What stood out the most was the lack of diversity. Coming from the city of Chula Vista, California (South San Diego), I grew up surrounded by many cultures, which I did not realize I had taken for granted until coming to San Luis Obispo. Growing up around many different cultures is beneficial because you are exposed to a variety of people, which enriches your perspective on the world and teaches you to find beauty in your differences early on. 

In the puzzle of Cal Poly that includes a quality education, useful resources, wonderful professors, a beautiful coastal location and promising opportunities, diversity is the puzzle piece that doesn’t seem to fit right. Yes, there are a variety of majors offered at Cal Poly and a variety of clubs or organizations you can get involved with on campus, but despite this variety, large disparities remain as far as demographics are concerned.

 

If you were to look on Cal Poly’s ‘Quick Facts’ section of the school web page, you would find statistics regarding Cal Poly’s campus, academics and student body. However, in the ‘Student Body’ section, there is no ethnicity breakdown. Compared to other CSU websites, having no ethnicity breakdown available on the university’s main web page is quite unusual. There has been speculation that this is due to the statistics being unflattering. More information regarding that issue can be found here. To access information regarding the ethnicity breakdown of students at Cal Poly you can go to www.csumentor.com. 

Degree seeking undergraduate student breakdown:

0.2% American Indian or Alaskan Native

11.9% Asian, non-Hispanic/Latino

0.7% Black or African American, non-Hispanic/Latino

15.2% Hispanic/Latino

0.2% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic/Latino

58.7% White, non-Hispanic/Latino

7.0% Two or more races non-Hispanic/Latino

1.5% Nonresident Alien

4.6% Race and/or Ethnicity unknown

As I previously mentioned, if you came from a diverse area before attending Cal Poly, you probably noticed this quickly and possibly experienced some culture shock. Regardless of your hometown, it is essential to be aware that a lack of diversity exists on campus and the way that it affects campus climate. By doing so, we can prevent and speak out against discriminatory acts.

In the past year alone, there have been multiple discriminatory acts, which include a death threat to one of the members of SLO Solidarity and a hate crime against a student by his own roommates. If we look back even further, other portrayals of racism have occurred over time at Cal Poly as well. These events directly relate to diversity and our demographics here at Cal Poly through a significant lack of exposure to other races.

 

By understanding that people’s hometowns have a lot to do with their perspective on the diversity of Cal Poly, we can see why this lack of diversity may appear to be obvious to some people and less obvious to others. If we take this into consideration, it is more likely that we can actually talk about diversity because we see where the other person is coming from. We can then begin to raise awareness so that issues regarding diversity can be improved in the future, whether that means speaking out against any discriminatory remarks or preventing acts of racism.  

 

In the words of Maya Angelou, “We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry.” At Cal Poly, we must recognize that there is in fact a lack of diversity and a lack of awareness. By doing so, we can move forward to embrace the fact that beauty lies in our differences in order to create and embrace a rich tapestry of our own.