Lewis & Clark College Top Questions

Racial: Majority of students are white, but not in a creepy, better than thou kind of way. Religious: Not really. Probably a handful of each religion represented, but nothing you really notice. LGBT: Kids are way more open-minded about sexuality here. Not perfect by a long haul- there are always assholes in the crowd (read adminstration: thanks for hauling in the jocks) But, it's nothing like the ridiculous nature of close-minded high school drama. Socioeconomic: It's hard to tell, actually, cause kids don't seem to flaunt any wealth they have. There are exceptions, but for the most part, you have no idea whether a kid got a full ride from the government or are here on mom and pop's pursestrings. Who would feel out of place here: Evangelists, racists, conservatives, Nazis... Ask yourself if you are hateful, rude, or superior to a lot of people: if you answer yes, I hope you feel you'd be out of place here There are a good number of kids from California, which can be weird since I've never been around a bunch of people from SoCal before, but they're good people, so whatever.

Students who are politically conservative would feel out of place at LC. Certain groups of students are very politically active, and everyone else pretends to be up on politics even when they're not. There are a lot of international students at LC, and a lot of students are interested in international affairs or the soft sciences like anthropology. There isn't much cliquieness going on, except that the hardcore athletes seem to really have their own clique, probably because they all have morning classes while the majority of students have most of their classes in the afternoon. LC is extremely supportive of LGBTQ students. Being a queer student myself, I was overwhelmed with how accepting students, professors, and staff were of my sexual orientation. United Sexualities (LC's gay-straight alliance) is very active on campus, and provides resources and a safe place for LGBTQ kids and their allies -- not that a safe place is really needed. Your sexual orientation/gender identity matters about as much as your hair color or what brand of shoes you wear to other students. It does not seem to affect how straight students or professors treat you. I have encountered zero hostility for being queer. So if you're hoping to find some place where you can rally together with other LGBTQ students and lament your oppression together, LC is not a good place for it. This "bubble effect" can make it kind of a shock when you shoot back out into the "real world" and discover that your sexual orientation/gender identity DOES matter to other people, and may even be a liability. (Although most of Portland is like LC, in that people either don't care if you're queer or are supportive.)

Barely any diversity--no matter what they say! There is quite the typical LC student, leaving very few options for difference in opinion or taste. The dining hall situation is fairly structured and many people sit in the same areas daily, kind of clique-ish. A lot of the food is vegetarian/organic which is awesome but it doesn't taste very good and is heinously expensive.

There is a wide variety of the kinds of people here on campus, especially in terms of sexual orientation. Most people are not religious and most people are white, but people come from all different economic and sexual backgrounds. People complain about there not being enough diversity in terms of race here and I admit it is not ideal, but there is enough diversity in other areas that it is okay. I am not sure anyone would feel out of place here. There are exchange students from Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany, even one boy on my hall from Muldova. The exchange students are, however, not integrated very well into the general population. They kind of have their own population going on and this is something I would really like to see change. The language assistants (who are from the country usually whose language they teach) are luckier because they have to interact with the general, American population of students here in class so integration is easier sometimes. There are definitely students here who do the sweatpants thing for class, but mostly people get dressed nicer than that not because they need or want to look good, but because it is more respectful to their professors and the overall learning environment. There is a boy named Chris in one of my English classes who wears a suit with a tie and a briefcase to class everyday. There are obviously a lot of students from Oregon but I think there are as many students from California, actually, including myself. It's very west coast oriented. There are people from other places in the US though, all over the east coast, Minnesota, Virginia, and Ohio. There are is a nice handful of people here from Hawaii. A lot of people want to be politically active but aren't. They like to talk but don't do much (me, perhaps). There are the students who do things, like the ones who organized Focus the Nation, which turned into a nationwide event (and I think even Edward Norton participated in a symposium via satellite). I think people like myself are okay with not being active but still being supportive of those who are because our primary goal in life, at this moment, is to learn and go to school. For some people that is not as much of a priority and that is good too.