Orientation for Whites

Inside Higher Ed
April 13, 2009

Many colleges have special orientation programs, prior to those offered for all entering students, for those who are from minority groups. The idea is that minority students entering a predominantly white college benefit from talking about the issues they may face, and connecting with fellow minority students and with groups on campus that help them. The programs have also been criticized over the years -- and sometimes abandoned as a result -- for segregating students at the start of college.
Mount Holyoke College, which has for many years had a voluntary program for minority students in advance of the general orientation, plans this year to start a special section at the same time, also voluntary, for white students from the United States. (There is also a mandatory pre-orientation for international students.) Over three and a half days, the white and minority students will spend time separately and together, talking about race, before they join the four-day program for all new students.
Joyce Holl, executive director of the National Association of Orientation Directors, said that she had never before heard of a college creating a program at orientation for white students. She said she believed a minority of orientation programs have special options for minority students, and that the majority of orientations are -- in their entirety -- for all students.
As Mount Holyoke's plans have been discussed on some Web sites for college students, reaction has been mixed, but some of those reacting appear to think that the idea is to keep minority and white students completely apart. Elizabeth Braun, dean of students at the college, said that the reality is that that two groups will probably spend more than half of the program time together, but will also have time to meet separately as white and minority students.

Full Story: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/13/holyoke