A recent study found that students at smaller campuses contain more diversity among their groups of friends in comparison with students at larger campuses, who tend to only socialize with people of the same race.

The study completed at Kansas University and published in the Chronicle of Higher Education also found that numerous students rated their friendships as closer, despite having less in common with their friends.

“I do see more diversity at [the University of Texas at Austin], but what I usually see are students hanging out among students of their own racial group,” St. Edward’s University Communication Professor Valerie Thatcher said.

Thatcher has been teaching at St. Edward’s for three years and has begun her first teaching semester at UT as well. As a former St. Edward’s undergraduate and UT graduate student, Thatcher agrees with the results of the study.

“Walking by the Meadows coffee shop, I notice all the different colors and flavors sitting together, and different ethnicities walking and talking and high-fiving,” Thatcher said.

In previous years as an undergraduate, Thatcher did not see an abundance of diversity on campus. However, she is now even more aware of the drastic rise in diversity in the last couple of years.

“As an active member in my East Austin community, working together with minorities in the surrounding neighborhoods, I have so much passion for working to make a connection with diversity. I live for it all,” Thatcher said.

Freshman Mohammad Abu Esba, a native Palestinian, is a fan of the apparent diversity on the small St. Edward’s campus that allows people to interact with so many people unlike themselves.

“Meeting all the diverse people here feels almost as if I’m getting an out-of-class cultural learning experience. I am happy that I was put in a position where I can meet all different kinds of people, thus leading to a better community,” Abu Esba said.

Freshman Kevin Thomas said that he felt a better sense of “acceptance and respect” from the people on this campus in comparison to the feelings of “ignorance and hate” found elsewhere.

“I was so close to going to [Texas A&M] for my undergraduate [degree], and I remember being so excited to find my group of ‘brown’ people that I was familiar with,” Abu Esba said. “Now, thinking back, that’s not what I want at all, though that’s what I thought I wanted.”

As a general rule, a smaller, more intimate place leads to closer relationships, according to Christian S. Crandall, a social psychology professor at the University of Kansas and one of the authors of the report.

“I can honestly say St. Ed’s was a better choice for myself and has allowed me to make friends with various people from all kinds of cultural backgrounds that I now feel very comfortable with,” Abu Esba said.