SUNY Binghamton

Qi Lin and Ying Liu ][ Due to the fact that we have graduated from SUNY Binghamton we can only speak from our encouters and experiences while we were at SUNY Binghamton. Binghamton University enrolls ethnically diversified students. We have over 20% of students with Asian heritage, in which the majority are Chinese Korean, Japanese and Indian descendants, and that number is increasing yearly. Because of the highly diversified student population, every year students organize the annual celebrationevents for their heritages, such as China Night, Japan Night, etc. During these annual events, there would be special programs, which intoduce the cultures and customs of the particular ethnic group to the campus community. Performances are conducted and organized by student organizations. There are also various ethnic clubs, like Latino Club and Vietnamese Club that students can join. There are also inter-culture clubs for students to discover the beauty of other ethnic groups. For example, an organization named "Friend Aboard" with members from Poland, Turkey, and China and Korea, etc. Has hosted metings for students to come together to know each other and learn different cultures. There are a significant number of international students who enroll in SUNY Binghamton.

SUNY Binghamton's administration has organized some special projects, like English Conversation Partners Program, to help students get know each other and share the treasures of their cultures. SUNY Binghamton also offers study abroad programs to countries like China, Japan, United Kingdom, Brazil to name just a few. However, these curriculums are not widely known on campus. The university could have done a better job informing students regarding these programs. Several years afo, SUNY Binghamton modified its General Education curriculum to include Ethnicity. Every student who wishes to graduate from SUNY Binghamton is required to take a class that involves Ethnicity.

With all that has been said about diversity in SUNY Binghamton, we do have our share of prejudice and racism. For example: a couple of years ago there was an incident where Binghamton's wrestling team (all Caucasian, 6ft and above with and average wrestler weighting of 200 pounds) beat up 3 Korean guys on campus. The fight broke out because the wrestlers made ethnic slurs against the Korean guys. One of the Korean guys suffered concoction as a result of the fight. SUNY Binghamton's Administration issued a statement regarding this incident stating all the facts after students rallied. Itis unfortunate that this kind of incidents occured, but could have been prevented if students have the appreciation for diversity.