By Tierney Elizabeth WernerUnigo Campus Rep at UCSC There are some things to know about before enrolling at UCSC. Enrolling at UCSC, most people think of Santa Cruz, they think tiny hippy beach town. Or at least that was the impression I was under when I applied to UCSC. Before enrolling at UCSC, I was thinking surfers, dread locks, and lots of greenery. I was stoked to meet different people from different states, with various backgrounds and cultures. While there are many different types of personalities at Santa Cruz, Kelly Rourke, an environmental studies major and one of the only out of state students I have met, agreed with that same sentiment. “Their isn’t much diversity on campus, and there definitely is a lack of people of color. There are also a lot of kids from Southern California, especially L.A. area.” The campus student government is actually trying to address the lack of diversity on all of the UC campuses. Santa Cruz has the least diversity of all the campuses, and it is at the top of the list of issues for our Student government this year. Pearl Engler, a marine biology major was impressed to find out how politically active the student body was after enrolling at UCSC. “I knew that Santa Cruz had an amazing science program. It’s location and the amazing outdoors make it perfect for science majors, so I assumed that it was an environmentally liberal school. I was most shocked to find out about our activist connections. So many of the students are involved in some sort of politically affiliated club or organization. It’s nice to be around smart, opinionated people who are actually trying to make a difference in the world.” Kelly Stanley, a bio major and recent transfer student from UC Santa Barbara had a different idea of what Santa Cruz was about before enrolling at UCSC. “I feel as if Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara always had a kind of competition going, and different ideas of each others social scenes. Everyone from Santa Cruz thinks we’re alcoholics, and everyone from Santa Barbara thinks you’re potheads. After being at Santa Cruz for a while I realize that neither place is as dramatic as their reputations hold them to be. People party everywhere, and that’s just college.” Know that before enrolling at UCSC, Santa Cruz has many stereotypes that are pretty easily taken to heart. Each of the colleges has their own cliché, as does Santa Cruz as a campus. The various personalities and activities are what makes Santa Cruz truly interesting, and as long as it keeps attracting the same outgoing, unique, crowd it will remain an exciting and fun school.