<p>what if you get a racist roommate? considering this would probably be an awkward and hard type of problem to address to that person, what do you do? do colleges allow students to choose which race they prefer to be roomed with? </p>
<p>note: i havent had this experience, but im just curious of how you go about handling that.</p>
<p>I would like to think that most people getting a higher education would be smart enough to NOT be racist, but we all know stuff like that can happen. I'm sure the university would understand the student wanting to change rooms (not the racist student, the other one) because they can't force you to live with a roommate who causes mental or emotional harm (assuming the racist roommate would probably make it clear they didn't like your race) although probably the racist roommate would want out first (which they wouldn't change just for that reason). Colleges would never do a thing like letting you choose the race of your roommate (that's discrimination) but it always seemed like to me that, in my dorms at least, black people almost always got paired with other black people. It was really weird. Not always the case, as my friend Sophia has a white roommate, but in my dorm last year all the black people also had black roommates. Now, whether they were paired intentionally or not is the question, and I have no idea.</p>
<p>This happened to my daughter's good friend this year. He is white and was paired up with a black student from DC. He tried to be his friend and invite him to join in various activities and social things but the guy flat out told him that he " just doesn't like white people ".
After returning for the second semester, he now lives elsewhere and is happy and doing well. He is a great kid all around...a mother's dream boyfriend ( daughter not in agreement with me on that one :) )</p>
<p>
[quote]
" just doesn't like white people ".
[/quote]
I don't know if the guy was racist. He might have meant to say that he would not feel comfortable participating in an activity that was full of only White people. It's never fun for anyone to go anywhere where he or she will stick out like a sore thumb. Just another perspective.</p>
<p>If you end up with a roommate you can't work it out with, there will be a procedure for petitioning the housing department to move you to a different room.</p>
<p>Generally they'll try to help you work it out before taking that step. But generally the problems are the sorts of problems any two people might have in learning to live in a small space together.</p>
<p>maybe you are right Newjack, but it was perceived as a racist remark.</p>
<p>The school is very diverse and my daughter's friend is Jewish. </p>
<p>He has grown up in an area with very little diversity, but in high school he was liked by all of his peers, not just the ones that looked like him.</p>
<p>He is the kind of kid that can befriend anyone, so it was hard for him to grasp someone who was closed minded to him....it wasn't just parties, it was every attempt at his gestures of friendship...eating together in the dining hall, watching a movie in the common room.
He is fine, not shattered by the experience by any means.</p>
<p>racists are people too..</p>
<p>lje62, just remember there are two sides to every story.</p>
<p>I'm a black guy, and I've made good friends with racists before. You have to know how to befriend them FIRST, then change how they look at things... but subtly.</p>