Reevaluating Clark

On any given day while walking to class, you can see eager prefrosh on tours.

However, the only dorm that is shown on these tours is Clark. These potential students leave Wesleyan with an understanding that Clark is representative of the entire Wesleyan community. This misrepresentation of Wesleyan University is not only unfair to its prospective students but the current ones as well.

Although Wesleyan is ranked as having one of the most diverse student bodies, Clark does not show this eclectic community. Clark is the most homogeneous dorm on campus and creates a hostile environment for Wesleyan’s diverse population. Although this may seem like a harsh judgment upon Clark, personal experiences have made it clear to us that we are justified in our claims.

Our first incident happened when one night six of us tried to visit a friend of ours in Clark. Because none of us lived in Clark, we asked a few students who were lingering outside if they could let us in. They looked at us, six students of color, and asked us if we were going to vandalize or steal anything. At first we were surprised and didn’t want to believe that at Wesleyan this could be a race issue, so we put it aside.

Three weeks later one of us went to visit and deliver bagels to a friend of ours in Clark. Upon asking for entry into the building, she was asked if she was going to steal anything. Yet even after the second occurrence we allowed ourselves to believe that these were isolated incidents.

A week later, after a misunderstanding with a fellow student during class, we decided to go try to resolve the issue with her. She lives in Clark. We got into the building at 6:30 p.m., this time without anyone asking us if we were going to steal or vandalize. She was locked out of her room and went to a hallmate’s room to call public safety. The three of us were waiting outside of our classmate’s room when her second floor RA approached us. “Who let you in?” she demanded. “You’re not allowed to be in this building right now. Visitors aren’t allowed in Clark. Leave or I’m going to call Public Safety.” A male student on the hall then approached us in an intimidating manner and ordered us to leave. Shocked, we made our way to the staircase. Once there, we looked at each other and realized the ridiculousness of the RA’s request and the fact that we still had not talked to our classmate.

We went back and resolved the problem with our classmate. Because we had not been stealing, vandalizing, or making noise on the hall, the RA’s request could have only been triggered for one reason; we all looked different from the prototypical Clark resident.

Clark’s homogeneity allowed the presumption that being a student of color labels you not only as an outsider, but also separate from the Wesleyan community, a community in which you can visit friends without your motives being questioned, a community in which students shouldn’t have to feel like outsiders because of the color of their skin. We aren’t saying that all Clark students are inherently racist but by living in such an exclusive dorm it allows divides to develop.

Clark promotes many of the definitive tensions in our community. It is important for all of us to think what Clark, as of now, represents. It’s up to all of us to try to prevent homogeneous dorms from forming, especially those which house freshmen.