mimblr.com

DURHAM, N.C. — Walking into his “Race and Politics” class recently, David Sparks, a white Duke University political-science graduate student, considered whether to move from his usual seat in the group of white students who always clustered at one end of the seminar table to sit with the black students who typically sat at the other end.
After classes and the occasional rally, many black and white students go their separate ways. Was there more interaction among blacks and whites when you went college? Can the rise of Obama lead to changes in the way blacks and whites relate? Join a discussion.
Mr. Sparks didn’t do it. “It would have felt too conspicuous,” he says. Still, on Tuesday’s primary here, Mr. Sparks plans to vote for Sen. Barack Obama for president. That’s an easier choice, he says.
“When you’re actually trying to change your behavior, you are putting more on the line compared to voting in the privacy of the booth,” he says. “There are millions and millions of people voting for Obama. In no way are you sticking your neck out.”
Across the country, college campuses have become hotbeds of support for Sen. Obama. Nationally, 70% of Democrats ages 18 to 24 favor Sen. Obama compared with 30% for Hillary Clinton, according to a recent poll by Harvard’s Institute of Politics. Many black and many white students wear their Obama buttons and “Got Hope?” T-shirts proudly as a sign that they are part of a post-Civil-Rights generation more welcoming of change and diversity than their parents.
But after classes — and after the occasional Obama rally — most black and white students on college campuses go their separate ways, living in separate dormitories, joining separate fraternities and sororities and attending separate parties.
“It’s much harder to be a white person and go to an all black party at Duke than vote for Obama, says Jessie Weingartner, a Duke junior. “On a personal level it is harder to break those barriers down.”

online.wsj.com