- The Record Archives
- Volume CXVIII, No. XX - November 10, 2005 -
Trading spaces: Morehouse, SJU swap students
The Record
For SJU senior Ed Heisler, experiences last year were as distinct as black and white.
He was part of an exchange between St. John's and Morehouse University in Atlanta, Ga.
Except for a glaring difference, Morehouse is constructed like SJU. It's an all male institution with a sister school. However, the majority of students at Morehouse are black. Heisler said the student exchange allows men to learn in a new culture.
"When you're [at SJU], at kind of a comfortable, a very similar culture, you don't get a chance to examine yourself through a different lens," Heisler said. He said Morehouse gave him that chance.
Elvin Thomas, a Morehouse student, is studying at SJU this semester. Being from the Caribbean, Thomas said SJU has given him his first glimpse of white American culture.
"It's a pretty friendly atmosphere that you have at St. John's," Thomas said. "However, you do come across people who obviously seem to not know how to deal with minorities."
Thomas said he finds it intriguing that SJU and Morehouse are academically similar, but culturally miles apart.
"Being primarily white, middle class students makes them alien from sometimes what I could probably consider day-to-day issues," Thomas said.
Both Thomas and Heisler said they agree that their hardships lessened after they were immersed in the culture and are glad they participated. Both presented their experiences to interested SJU students last week.
Any SJU students interested in the Morehouse exchange should contact Gar Kellom.