Anonymous, Class of 2025

Honestly, I do not feel represented. The Black population at UCSB is so small so if you were to take a picture of campus during passing times, there would maybe be 5 Black students amongst hundreds. People of similar races will tend to group together but they aren’t exclusionary. UCSB is a wonderful institution, but at its core, it is a PWI so the experience will be better in Black spaces. Find black spaces on camps! Whether that’s a club, sorority, fraternity, or cultural center, it will give you a sense of community that can be hard to have in a Predominantly White Institution. The best memories I have are in these spaces. I chose UCSB because I liked the location and it seemed like a respectable institution to pursue my education at. I would choose my school again because there’s no other place where I could see myself graduating from. At UCSB, there is the African Diaspora Cultural Resource Center (nicknamed the ADCRC) and the Office of Black Student Development (nicknamed the OBSD). My experiences with these resources are nothing but positive. The ADCRC presents a safe space for Black students to study and converse. The room is full of culture and is very homely. The OBSD’s whole purpose is to enrich the Black student experience at UCSB. They send out emails about internships, jobs, scholarships, and other opportunities for Black students. We have Cultural Resource Centers for most ethnic groups in the Student Resource Building and there’s the Multicultural Center where students of any culture can have a safe space to be in. Additionally, when picking housing, you can choose to live in cultural halls. There is also an LGBTQ+ house in Manzanita Village (a residence hall on campus) as well as Cultural Resource Centers in the Student Resource Building. I wish my school employed more Black faculty, staff, and professors. Also, I wish the greek life here was more diverse.