Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus Top Questions

There are numerous clubs and activities to participate in at IUP. Also, as many of my friends have done, students can start their own clubs and recieve IUP funding. Again, I feel that this is also dependent upon student motivation.

I don't like frats, but thats what most guys that don't play sports turn to. It's just not my cup of tea I guess. I basically hung out wiht the guys from my team, ate with them, did everything together and didn't really venture out past our team.

The campus is not particularly liberal or conservative, or even all that politically active (In general, mind you.) There is some latent racial tension, which is hard to describe-- The best I can say is that there's a large disparity in the socioeconomic background of many of the students. A good-sized number of African American students come to Indiana from Philadelphia and there is some culture shock involved, for both them and for Indiana (which is not even remotely racially mixed.) IUP's been recently tearing down old dorms and putting up suites, such as the completed (and pretentious) Upper and Lower Suites on Grant. The facilities are nice even if the walls are too thin, so if you're rich, that's where you want to live. If you're like the rest of us, you get stuck in the remaining dorms with cinderblock walls, terrifying bathrooms, and a general miasma of body odor. (This particular summer semmester as of the time of me writing this, most of the summer students have been crammed into Lawrence hall, which lacks air conditioning. Great idea.) For all of that, though, I do find the campus generally pretty friendly and pleasant. I /do/ like the changes being made to the housing, but if the other stuff being built is as expensive as the suites, I worry that IUP may be catering to the rich students and leaving the rest of us out to dry. I'd also like to note that there's an initiative known as IUP Safe Zone, with the idea of making the campus a secure environment for LGBT folks, but I've noticed a serious undercurrent of homophobia that I find disturbing.

The student body at IUP is very diverse and there are lots of organizations that you can get involved in. The one problem is the organizations are not going to be as big or as active as some of the larger schools.

There's alot of different people on campus and I loved it, everyone tends to stick to their cliques much like in high school, but there are some friendly people who will float from crowd to crowd. I dont think anyone would really feel out of place, there's alot of international students and alot of student orginaztions to get you involved. You can usually find atleast one person like you. Some students will wake up for class throw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie and run to class, some people, alot of the fashion majors seemed like they woke up 3 hrs before class just to look nice. It all depends on if your really trying to impress anyone. You could really get away with wearing anything. When you meet a new student some of the first things you find out are their name, major, where they're from, and where they're staying on campus. If your trying to get to know someone better or make a new friend the best thing I would say to do is invite them to eat, the dining hall is always on meal plan so thats a free dinner. And maybe even to study. People are pretty nice and usually wont turn you down.

At IUP most people hang with there kind...there is some brief intermingling but that is our society. Most students are either from philly or pittsburgh, but you will find your occasional out of state person. I would say there is a little racial tension between the African American Students and the surounding area police, but it is getting better.

IUP has a just about every type of student imaginable. I have had class with elderly people, students still in high school, people from all over the world with different beliefs. There are many politically, religiously and LGBT active students on campus that bring different issues to your attention without forcing their ideas on you.

There is a pretty good span of politically minded people. Lots of opportunity to be apart and meet people of like mind, while still getting a wide spectrum of thought.

The student body at IUP is less then diverse. Because of the setting, white out number other minorities by a lot. I don't think its a problem though, because the school does have some diversity, and the minorities on the campus are strong individuals that let there presence be known in a fair nonjudgmental way. I don't think anyone would feel out of place at IUP. Everyone has a place here. It really is a terrific school. Most of the students here are from Western PA The financial backgrounds differ and are not apparent at all on campus.

This is a cheap school so I would assume that mostly everyone here is cheap I would guess.