Throughout the years, NIU’s population has grown and evolved by welcoming different ethnic groups and cultures to the campus.

“NIU has a very diverse population,” said Residence Program Coordinator Gregory Ross. “If you walk across the campus on any day, it shows how diverse we are.”

This fall, the NIU Institutional Research department surveyed out of 17,886 students their ethnical background. For the 2010 fall enrollment, of the students who answered, 67.4 percent students are white, 16.1 percent students are black, 8.9 percent students are Hispanic and 5.9 percent students are Asian.

Posters advertising different cultural clubs and fraternities are seen throughout campus to help students see different opportunities that are available.

Eric Domingo, freshman electrical engineering major, said diversity was one aspect he wanted his school of choice to have after attending a diverse high school.

“I was able to see a lot of other cultures and how they were different,” Domingo said.

Exposure to multiple cultures growing up can affect a student’s outlook on ethnic groups other than their own in a positive or negative way, Ross said.

“We live in a diverse society,” he said. “Living in a country that has such a rich history dealing with racial diversity makes a student question how they’re personality may have been affected.”

Meerae Zastoupil, senior family and child studies major, she said she believes that being Korean and adopted by a Caucasian family helped her stay open-minded to other ethnic groups and cultures along with attending a diverse school.

Junior anthropology major Matt Grodoski said he attended a mainly Caucasian high school.

“When I came [to NIU] I didn’t realize how many international students there were,” Grodoski said. “I kind of assumed all colleges were diverse, but I didn’t think to what extent.”