The proportion of Chinese international students living in East Neighborhood, River Trail Neighborhood and South Neighborhood is nearly double that of Brody Neighborhood and North Neighborhood, according to statistics covering the demographics of MSU’s residence halls for the Fall 2015 semester obtained from MSU’s Residence Education and Housing Services department.
When factoring in the comparative population sizes of MSU’s different residence halls, the differences in the racial and national demographics are even more stark.
Twenty-eight percent of the Chinese international students living in MSU’s 24 residence halls live in either Akers Hall or Hubbard Hall.
However, behind these statistics lie a multitude of complicated factors.
“You have to look at statistics as a whole, otherwise you get a skewed story,” REHS director Kathy Collins said.
Many residence halls reserve rooms for students enrolled in a specific major or program, such as the College of Engineering’s Cornerstone and Residential Experience program housed in Wilson Hall.
“I think Wilson would have the most Chinese international students, it has the most first year Chinese students because a lot of those students choose engineering majors,” Collins said.
However, 8 percent of Wilson’s 1,057 residents are of Chinese origin, compared to 16 percent of Hubbard’s 1,121 residents.
This year, MSU’s incoming freshmen were permitted to select their own on-campus housing for the first time, of which 40 percent did, Collins said.
Special measures were taken during the housing sign-up period to promote a diverse living environment.
“We would turn rooms’ availability on and off so a group of students all from the same high school couldn’t reserve a block of rooms on the same residence hall floor,” Collins said.
REHS strove to give international students an active role in their first year housing assignments.
“We communicated broadly and globally electronically with these students,” Collins said.
These efforts are not always successful.
“I didn’t pick where I live, I was assigned to Wonders,” supply chain management freshman and Chinese international student Shuang Qiu said. “I didn’t really know what Wonders was like.”
Some student leaders on campus don’t believe the self-assign system is an issue.
“Throughout the year I attend International Students Association (ISA) meetings and communicate with them about their goals and needs. ... I have not heard this is an issue,” Residential Housing Authority Director for Racial, Ethnic and Progressive Affairs and political science junior Richard Metaj said.
Some student leaders believed this was more a reflection of RHA’s engagement with international students.
“There is no platform for international students to voice their concerns about residential housing that people really know about, freshmen especially I don’t really think they know about RHA,” ISA vice president Nicole Chidyaonga said.
ISA president and finance senior Boon Yau Ooi said he believes Chinese students might be self-segregating.
“International students stick together more because of the cultural and language barriers between themselves and American students,” Ooi said.
