Have people been following what was going on at Syracuse with the hate crimes and subsequent demands of the protesters (sorry if there is already a thread on this)? What do people think about being allowed to choose your roommate by race?
http://dailyorange.com/2019/11/race-option-roommate-selection-step-backward/
This seems wrong to me, and possibly illegal.
“How will racist white people become less racist without a non-white roommate to teach them about diversity” is not exactly a compelling argument. You can’t have an environment where both wolves and sheep will feel comfortable.
@allyphoe where is that quote from? I didn’t see it in the article.
As much as I detest the idea, I don’t see a case for it being illegal. I would love to hear other people’s opinions on this.
I think you can legally choose a roommate by race (although if you’re a landlord you cannot choose a tenant by race).
People self segregate all the time. I would guess a lot of kids wouldn’t do this, but wouldn’t stop the ones who want to make this choice.
Are we talking about the school choosing roommates ie blind choice or random choice? Or are we taking about students not being able to choose their roommates?
I would think most schools would offer both as choices. It’s not clear based on that article if Syracuse offers both.
Frats, sororities & theme houses are all examples of self segregation.
While self segregating by race, religion or ethnicity is not politically correct, it is reality.
Give kids time to adjust & to grow as all share the same facilities, dining halls, classes, teams & activities. If someone prefers to live with another of the same race or religion, then let them. But no one can or should be excluded from clubs, classes, activities or any facilities based on race, religion or ethnicity.
Post #0 links to an opinion piece. That opinion piece links to an actual news article that may be more informative (regarding the protests and back story) than an opinion piece: http://ns60.dailyorange.com/2019/11/students-hold-sit-barnes-center/
I can understand and respect why a student may prefer to room with a specific race, but if I were a university administrator, I wouldn’t allow it. Basically telling students, it’s not a big enough deal to include on the housing application, and if you think otherwise, go somewhere else.
This is very disappointing and very concerning. I hope it is not allowed … on any campus.
What’s next? Allowing students to choose their roommate based on parental income? Choosing roommates based on what state they come from? Choosing roommates based on SAT score?
It is okay to choose a specific roommate: “I want to room with Tim Smith.” It’s not okay to opt out of certain ethnic/religion/race groups. Colleges should not assist in such behavior.
Thanks @ucbalumnus , it’s really good to have context. So in attempt to combat racism, the students demanded to have “Same Race” as an option for housing application. I have to think about this a bit.
I think they should allow it. The last thing I would want to do is room with a person who hates black people. For the majority of the year your for room is your home. Who wants to come home everyday to hate. I rather a racist have a choice than to be force and take it out on their roommate.
In this case, isn’t the demand for a “Same Race” option being made by a group of mostly black students?
I’ll go way out on a limb here and say that maybe institutions of higher learning should not be admitting students that they can’t trust to be an agreeable roommate to another student based on race. (I do agree I wouldn’t want to be the POC who got the white supremacist roomie!)
Sigh. Don’t you hate it when headlines or soundbites mislead? And we get caught up?
Rather defensible, imo. Nicely done. Not all can be implemented but a far, far cry from some first semester freshman writing about race-based choice.
We were told on our tour earlier this month that freshman are randomly assigned; there are no housing questions filled out, you just get an assigned roommate.
60 years ago the call was for government to remove barriers to integration in order to combat institutional racism. It is interesting how views have changed.
It doesn’t matter who is making the demand. The same thing in reverse. Would it be right to place a white student with a black student who thinks the white man is the devil. No one of any race should have to come home everyday to someone who hates them because of their race. Getting along with a new roommate is hard enough without adding a racist a-hole on top it.