Ethnic Housing and Self Segregation
In everyday life, it is a common observation to notice cliques of groups, mostly pertaining to sex or racial background. However, in the hotly debated topic of ethnic diversity of colleges, it may seem wrong to some to allow segregation. Some may prefer to mix colleges with even distribution of all ethnicities; however, it seems to benefit all groups to allow partial segregation, be it for security and comfort, or for academics. Although it may seem advantageous for colleges to mix housing over the whole spectrum of their demographics, it is most beneficial to have somewhat ethnic themed segregation as a sphere of influence inside the student housing.
In order to make colleges a racially diverse place of learning, colleges have been recruiting heavily from ethnic communities from around the world. Harold A. Nelson posed a statement in his article in the Journal of Negro Education in 1963, by saying "If certain ethnic groups are the object of prejudice and discrimination, their lives as students may be profoundly and adversely affected." With racial prejudice involved in education, it is somewhat harmful to intermix everyone as a factor of race. If they are arranged by ethnicity, it would put them alone in a sea of people who they have no relation to, resulting in a hindered educational experience. This is why some schools have begun to allow ethnic housing. These ethnic themed houses were described as "provid[ing] an opportunity for students to congregate around similar interests and join with others in activities and programs" (Suvansilpakit, 2004). The ethnic themed houses spawn creative opportunities and foster a well rounded learning environment. A slightly divided housing system allows for partial segregation while allowing a degree of integration.
In any case regarding segregation, there is always opposition and support. When coming under fire, many places clarify their options of student housing segregation saying "many of these racially based houses make it very clear in their mission statements that their goal is racial consciousness and identity, thus precluding the concept of a unified campus" (Devasher, 2002). With student housing an arena for debate over segregation, many campuses have had to either decide for or against these houses. Additionally, Rebecca Lee Parker states that "the controversy about ethnic-theme houses becomes especially heated if membership is restricted. Should these environments be limited to members of the ethnic group, as in the Cornell University experiment a few years ago, or should they be open to anyone? It depends. Philosophically, I am not a proponent of restricting membership, because special-interest housing serves intellectual needs as well as cultural ones, and I believe that no student should be denied the opportunity to pursue specific intellectual interests. Furthermore, just as academically average students have benefited from living in honors houses and American students have grown tremendously in international houses, the perspectives of white students have been enhanced by their participation in ethnic houses" (Parker, 1997). These houses, when restricting membership, allows to voluntary segregation, but prevents any hint of integration. If and only if segregation was allowed only to have spheres of influence like many industrialized countries had in China's early industrial years, then segregation regarding race would be tolerable. However, when regarding majority students, it may seem unfair to disallow integration to further the benefit of integrated schools. Davis, a student at Cornell in 2002 said "the incredible amount of racial segregation on campus is further propagated by university-sponsored ethnic-themed dorms like the Latino Living Center and Ujamaa, a dorm with an African-American theme." With a partial integration in a school, it would create a more beneficial learning environment.
I agree. GRADE 95/100
Reference List
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Nelson, H. (1962). Expressed and unexpressed prejudice against ethnic groups in a college community.
JSTOR Archives. Retrieved October 30,2008, from http://www.jstor.org/pss/2294021.
Parker, R. (1997). Why special housing for ethnic students makes sense. The Chronicle of Higher
Education. Retrieved October 30,2008 from https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/hschein/www/readings/diversity/ethnic-housing.html.
Suvansilpakit, V. (2004). Themes house more opportunity. The Daily Bruin. Retrieved October
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http://dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2004/oct/12/themes-house-more-opportunity.