The Racial Division at USC Aiken
Before starting my freshman year my father warned me not to be naive about racial division at universities. I didn’t heed my father’s warning and noticed the division early in the fall semester. I quickly learned that there were two sides to USC Aiken, the “Black USC Aiken” and “White USC Aiken”.
I was first exposed to “White USC Aiken” on my first night here. My suitemate and I went to a frat party close to campus and upon arriving I quickly realized that my suitemate and I were the only black girls there. I felt very out of place and thought that I shouldn’t be there, as we walked inside the house a friendly upperclassmen girl approached us. She quickly noticed that we were freshmen and encouraged us to rush for her sorority. While she was talking to us about rushing I started to wonder about the black sororities on campus. I asked her if her sorority were inclusive and she said yes, I wanted to believe her but I doubt that she was telling the truth.
After a few more frat parties I decided that they were not for me. One night, my black suitemates and I went to a party at the “Blue Building”. At this party, I felt more comfortable than at the previous ones that I had attended. They were playing songs that I knew and the Black sororities strolled. After that night I decided that I will go to the “Blue Building” parties more often.
As the semester progressed I notice the division of the school by the events that were hosted. When black greek organizations/clubs host an event, only black students attend these events and vice versa. I believe that students do not feel comfortable going to the opposite race events due to the feeling of not belonging there or not having anything in common with the other race.
USC Aiken strives to be diverse with the student body but we are still divided. We live in a very socially aware generation but in some ways, we are still closed-minded. A step towards unifying the student body is for black and white organizations to host events together and encourage all students to come. A unified university will eliminate discomfort and we would realize that we have some commonalities and that were not so different after all.
