On Tuesday, sorority Sigma Lambda Gamma held a lecture with guest speaker Prisca Dorcas who speaks on her experience as a non-white person navigating her way through school while attending a PWI (predominantly white institution.) Like many who attend PWI’s who are non-white feel as if they do not belong, Prisca advise those how to overcome this and make the most of the PWI experience.
Prisca is from a Nicaraguan background; both of her parents migrating to the United States settling in Miami when she was young and speaking no English. While coming from this background, she experienced several disadvantages early on in her life but quickly overcame them. It was not until she was in graduate school at her PWI where she received no help in her study due to English being a second language for her.
On Tuesday, sorority Sigma Lambda Gamma held a lecture with guest speaker Prisca Dorcas who speaks on her experience as a non-white person navigating her way through school while attending a PWI (predominantly white institution.) Like many who attend PWI’s who are non-white feel as if they do not belong, Prisca advise those how to overcome this and make the most of the PWI experience.
“I remember receiving my first D on a paper and was told to go to the writing center. They could not help me there and told me to go to the international writing center due to English being my second language; still, they could not help me, and I knew I doomed to fail here.” Prisca said.
“Why did you allow me into this school if infrastructural there was nothing here for me to thrive?” Prisca asked the chair of her department. Like most PWI they are more geared towards providing white students with more resources and opportunities and will often leave non-white students to struggle on their own with little to no help in their academic careers. Prisca knew her three years at her PWI would be tough but she willing to challenge those who got in her way.
Soon Prisca race at her PWI became the butt of jokes and made her question her identity among her peers who were not the same as her. While it is evident, you are not the same race as your peers; it’s highly offensive and self- conscious when someone makes fun of it or points it out.
“At first I didn’t know how to respond because I have never experienced it,” Prisca says when encountering racism. “The first Halloween one of my friends [a white friend] came up to me and asked me could she be me for Halloween or the time when someone was like “Oh I have you saved in my contacts with the Flamenco dancer emoji because you’re so spicy.”
“It’s usually so subtle, and you’re like what is happening, or that feels weird. Once I saw people standing up for me in these situations, I had nothing to lose and started cursing people out, and they stopped trying me.”
When asked about ways to improve PWI’s for those who are non- white Prisca had this to say, “I don’t think PWI’s can improve to help those who are non-white since some schools are built off the back of others and are made specifically for white men and eventually white women.”
She then ends the lecture saying this, “Utilize all your connections, make all the friends and mentors and run with it. Exploit the school and make them work for you to be there.”
Abigail Fuentes, a member of Sigma Lambda Gamma and who also comes from a Latin background had this to say, “I’m happy there is someone I can relate who has also faced what I have as a person who isn’t white at a PWI. While you might think you’re alone in this experience, you aren’t, and there are many to help you along the way.”
While attending a PWI might be a breeze for those who benefit from it there are some who do not, and this experience is typical. It’s time to take a stance in the ways PWI’s operate, and it all begins with creating a more diverse atmosphere and equal opportunities for all its students.