Denison University Top Questions

Diverse amoungst its whiteness... Depends who you are friends with, most of the population is white and waspy, but there is a big international group of kids (who tend to keep to themselves since they were on a separate Denison orientation). However two of my good friends are from Bombay (Mumbai). My girlfriend is foreign, I have a number of African American friends, but some of them also keep to themselves and seem to cause more of a racial issue than the white students. Denison had a forum throughout last year about problems perceived by black students, which I had no idea existed. The president tried to ignore which made it worse. If they perceive a problem, it should be addressed - I am just not convinced it exists.

Denison has made it a point to raise awareness of all ethnicities and social backgrounds. Many students that attend Denison are well-to-do financially, but there are many that are receiving large amounts of financial aid from the school. Not many students are politically aware, but discussion can be fueled by hot topics in the media and feed academic discussions in and out of the classroom.

Mostly a white campus and the minorities are trying to change that, but it's not going to happen

There are some groups that, to an extent, are easily recognizable: the Chinese (and some other Asians), who often hang out together and speak Mandarin; the African-Americans, many of whom are involved in the Black Student Union; the South Asians (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), who make up a comparatively large section of a population, and whose "group borders" are frequently more porous. There is a sizable Catholic population, as well as the panoply of Protestant sects, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and the proudly irreligious. Most of the time, people dress well. There is an emphasis on putting forward an image that, though not necessarily made of the most expensive clothes, is one of careful appearance. Conversations range depending on the students; it's not uncommon to walk through the dining hall and hear one table discussing the YoYo Ma concert yesterday, another table arguing about the place of religion in democracy, and another talking about how freshman chick X fucked two Delta Chi's (in the same night). Politics and religion do matter to people here (in conversation, anyway). There's a pretty wide spread in terms of socio-economics, with the majority stretching across the middle class, a few from the lower class, and a larger section with quite a bit of money. The vast majority of Denison students are socially liberal, and I'd say a lot of the students are centrist-left fiscally (although there is much greater variety along the "conservative-liberal" spectrum outside of individual liberties). Most students are welcoming of LGBT individuals, and it's not uncommon for gay and straight friends (guys included) to room together.

People do dress up for class though when you oinly have one class like on a tuesday or thursday, it is common to get through it in sweatpants.

I would say that most students are from the midwest. Different types of students interact. I have learned a lot from people who have different beliefs, thoughts and opinions from my own. People wear a range of clothes to class, some people wear swats, others jeans and tee shirts, other people dress up for class. I personally dress to my mood because I do not feel over dressed or under dressed.

This past year on campus was fairly active with regards to racial and LGBT awareness and oppression. There were incidents of hate crimes, both race and LGBT related, and there was a day-long campus discussion forum to raise awareness and discuss many of the problems at hand. Denison constantly brags about our so-called "diverse" atmosphere, but I think that it is not quite as friendly to race and sexual orientation as people would like to believe. Steps are constantly being taken to increase diversity, and I hope they really pay off because I think this campus could turn into a great liberal arts school with a greater number of diverse perspectives on campus.

While I will say that Denison is not the most diverse campus, they do work hard to promote and encourage cultural understanding and diversity. Most students study abroad their junior year. You could pretty much talk to anyone anywhere on campus and they would invite you to hang out or offer you help. There is a very "midwestern" kind feeling. Studnts are active in on campus organizations, there are tons of them.

While there is not a whole lot of diversity at Denison, I think any student could find a niche at Denison. There are a ton of extracurricular groups for students to join, and if there isn't one you like, you could very easily start a group. Most students are generally preppy, and girls get really dressed up for going out at night. There are a lot of students from the Northeast, many of whom went to either private schools or boarding school. I think different activities on campus bring different types of students together.

I feel like Denison's campus is not super-diverse, even though we do have different racial, religious, and socio-economic groups represented. I feel like there are certain cliques at Denison, and people generally stay in their respective groups, but I feel like this is pretty common at a lot of schools, even though it's kind of unfortunate. I feel like Greek Life is pretty big at Denison and a lot of times you are identified with what sorority, fraternity, or athletic team you are on. On the whole, Denison likes to dress well. Most of Denison's students look good, a lot of the time. Even to class at 8:30 in the morning, which is something that I really will never understand. I'm not trying to say that girls and boys from their respective groups or teams only talk to each other all day long, but there is definitely a divide.