Students gathered at the University of Waterloo Thursday to talk about a Nov. 11 Maclean's Magazine article that raised questions about race and university choices.
The article dealt with enrollment and race, and it has left some wondering if it's racial stereotyping, or simply an opportunity for discussion.
The article quotes a graduate of a Toronto private school saying neither she nor her friends would apply to the University of Waterloo or the University of Toronto because the schools were "too Asian."
It goes on to suggest that some students believe they can't compete with hard-working, academically-focused Asian-Canadian or international students.
Kathryn Lennon, a member of the student-run Waterloo Public Interest Group says "I was deeply disappointed and disgusted to see that this kind of stereotyping is being perpetuated by the media."
She helped organize student meetings to come up with a response to the article.
She adds, "The painting of Asians as perpetual foreigners in this country, it also upset me to see that there was this sense of entitlement implied."
But Yvonne Zhang, and international student from China studying at the University of Waterloo says "It's kind of like the culture of the school, right. Waterloo, specifically Waterloo, is so many Asians here, so Asian people only want to hang out with Asians."
Aiden Stinson is a student at Sir John A. MacDonald Secondary School in Waterloo, who's almost ready to apply to post-secondary institutions.
He says race won't be a consideration when he applies, "That's kind of ridiculous, because when you apply to university it's more your dream of accomplishing what you want so I don't think it should matter if there's a lot of Asian kids or brown kids or black kids or anything."
Waterloo Public Interest Research hopes to have a response to the article ready in January.
