Vocaboly.com

[strychnine]

I was admitted to CSU Chico as an out-of-state applicant but now I've
reconsidered whether I should go there or not. I've read it's in a rural and
very conservative region of northern Cal where many locals aren't very
accepting of non-whites such as myself (I'm Asian-Indian). Since I live very
far from the region, I can't visit and see for myself. I applied at first
because I read they have good academics, including their business school,
and a good social scene. Most of the other Cal States weren't good options
for me since they were either commuter schools or weren't taking
applications for the spring term. I knew Chico was kind of out there in
terms of proximity to major metropolitan areas, but I really didn't think it
would be *that* bad. It's around 80% white, which seems like a good mix to
me and is the same percentage as many other colleges. I'm pretty used to
having white friends myself. The city of Chico has about 82% white. I'd just
like to know from someone who's been to the university or knows about the
area whether people are really that racist or not. I personally wouldn't be
comfortable going to a school where I feel like getting into fights all the
time because of race. Am I reading into it too much? Is it just considered a
very intolerant town due to higher percentage of minorities in California
overall?

[Bob Nicholson]

On 2004-11-01 09:06:27 -0800, "strychnine" <strych@nospam.com> said:

Like a lot of colleges, there's a split between the student population and the
town people... they don't mix socially too much.

You wiill certainly not feel out of place on campus or with students. A lot
of them come from the Bay Area. It's a ethnically and socially mixed
environment. The faculty is pretty mixed as well.

The town people fall into two classes. There are the "farmer" types,
who are very conservative. The business people and shopkeepers are
more mainstream. There are a couple of malls, lots of businesses, etc.
It's not a "tiny" town by any means.

As far as racism, I attended there for 4 years, and I can't recall ever seeing
an instance of racial discrimination or harassment. For the record, I'm
a white guy, so I might not have been as sensitive as you would be...
but I'm sure I woould have known if there were major racial issues.

Chico is a good school and a really nice place to live. Good luck!