In his "I Have A Dream" speech, Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned a day when all mankind would unite in harmony. A day when "black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing..."
More than 40 years since King spoke these words, the fight for unity continues. Even at MSU, the largest public university in Michigan, students and staff say that non-academic interaction between students rarely strays beyond racial and cultural boundaries.
"I don't think a lot of interaction with other groups happens naturally without some sort of intervention," said Jeanne Gazel, director of the Multi-Racial Unity Living Experience, or MRULE, a university program dedicated to promoting positive race relations on campus. "Students bring their experiences from home with them.
"You can't assume that just because they're coming to MSU there's a transformation that occurs."
Gazel said Michigan is one of the most segregated states in the nation, with four of America's 15 most segregated cities, Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, and Benton Harbor.
Rodney Patterson, director of the Office of Racial Ethnic Student Affairs, or ORESA, and a member of The State News Board of Directors, said students' views will likely change when they come to MSU.
"Some change for the better, some change for the worse," he said. "If their interaction with other groups is positive, it can change their perspective. If it is negative, it can reinforce myths and stereotypes."
Beyond MRULE and ORESA, there are organizations such as the Alliance of Lesbian, Bi, Gay and Transgender Students and Black Caucus that seek to spread awareness for their cause.
And MSU students can attest to benefitting from the diversity at MSU.
Megan Halladay grew up in Rochester Hills, a predominantly white, affluent suburb of Detroit. The interdisciplinary studies junior said her perspectives have changed significantly since she came to campus.
"My high school had very few minorities or homosexuals, so I had never really been around anyone like that until I got here," she said. "I try to be an open-minded person, so I didn't really have any preconceived notions, but I've definitely gained a lot from going to State."
Kim Eure, a Racial Ethnic Student Aide in Armstrong Hall and former president of the West Circle Black Caucus, said being a minority on campus helped change her perspectives.
"You have classes where you are the only one like you, so you are forced to interact with different kinds of people," the marketing and communications junior said. "It's definitely helped shape my views."
In the end, Patterson said the lack of intermingling with people from different backgrounds can have detrimental effects.
"What it does is narrow perspectives on how the world operates," he said. "The ones that lose out are the ones who don't seek those interactions."
