Mary
Religious groups like Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, the chaplaincy, etc. are undervalued. If you participate in them, you are not considered "cool" by the Greek half of campus. There are not many black people in the general fraternities and sororities. There is not much racial mixing. Students will dress up for class. Students will dress up all the time. It doesn't make sense. Why are you trying to be sexy in the library?? Honestly! People wear polos, button downs, Ralph Lauren and JCrew sweaters, headbands, you name it. Some newbie will come to class in pajamas and they will be shunned until they straighten their hair and put on some makeup for their 8:15 because what ungodly creature wouldn't.
This is not a very politically active campus.
If you had to divide the dining hall into groups it would work like so. The Right side has fraternities, sororities and the hopefuls of said groups. Since the big tables are over on this side, occasionally a club will take over a big table. The middle has jocks, internationals, jokers. The right side has arts and sciences students, people who have no one to sit with, visitors to campus. Exchange students just sit anywhere because they don't recognize boundaries.
If you try to sit somewhere else with your group of friends then normal, they will likely get all confused.
Dylan
Racial, religious, LGBT, Socio-economic... I could write about this forever. This campus is "whitewashed" and the black people on campus bond and stick together. Even the ones that came from predominately white schools who don't care are forced to be friends with all the other black people because then they would be disowned as a black person. There was a racial problem last semester where a bunch of people thought a friend of mine had depicted a black woman being lynched which was SO WRONG. It's very tense on campus. in terms of LGBT. Nobody cares about that. There are LGBT's and nothing really happens to them and they don't get crap. In terms of socio-economic, well, we have divisions. It's called greek life and those without enough money to afford greek life. But then again it's also those that want to fit in and make tons of money and those that don't care as much and are on scholarship here.
If you were not a lover of polo, pearls, aka the preppy look. If you want to make a difference in your life. If you aren't really attractive and skinny. If you aren't from a private school or NJ or outside NYC ... you will feel left out.
To class students are dressed up. As a friend of mine and I commented... we have learned how to casually wear a dress. We look good for each class. No PJ's and you must shower everyday.
Different types of students interact to get a grade for a class... outside that they may interact while they're drunk.
Four tables:
First table: This table would be located on the right side of the dinning hall. Here it would contain classic richmonders. Greek life loving, private schoolers.
Second table: This table would be in the middle of the dining hall. It would contain the atheletic kids who are on one of the many collegiate teams we have.
Third Table: This table would also be located in the middle but nearer to one corner. This table would have all Black students with a few football players because the area where the football players eat and the black kids eat is the same.
Fourth table: this table would be on the left side of Dhall and would contain either internationals, normal people (intellectuals), or IV (the largest christian group on campus) kids, or a combination. The left is also where the professors eat.
Most Richmond students are from NEW JERSEY!!!!!!!!! Therefore I hate it here because I'm from NY and people from NY hate people from NJ.
Financial Backgrounds: Well, wealthy...
Politically active? let's just say I met someone at a pro-choice lobby day who was amazed that we were there because she had gone to Richmond only 5 years prior and it was not politically active at all.
I would say it is predominantly apathetic.
yes, students talk about the money they are looking to make.
Becky
Richmond is definitely a predominantly "preppy" school, and everyone is usually very well dressed and put together. Coming here from a hippie town in Oregon was a small shock to my system last year, I'll admit - I certainly wasn't used to girls wearing sundresses to class and found it silly that they chose to teeter on heels while traversing the cobblestone hills on campus. I was also introduced to the phenomenon of Vera Bradley, (which has after many years finally trickled over to the West Coast, as I discovered over Winter Break) which no Richmond girl can be without and a vast array of which lines the shelves in our campus bookstore.
The impression I have of the student body is predominantly white, Christian, and wealthy - yes, a little on the homogenous side. There is a significant population of international students, who are great people to hang out with, but there seems to be an unspoken segregation between the different cultural groups on campus, which isn't necessarily the fault of any one group. In terms of religion, the University has a Christian chapel and the students most active in their faith are Christian, but there is also a specific "Interfaith" room for the use of several different religious groups in their services, which have followings as well. Politically, I feel there is a good balance between liberal and conservative students, and that students are politically aware and involved - in a polite sort of way, and never through anything too demonstrative.