With progress comes controversy, and the University’s stated commitment to diversity is no exception. As in years past, some students are questioning just how racially mixed are the school’s dorms.
Though some freshmen dorms gain reputations for being “diverse” or “whitewashed,” numbers show that most dorms are essentially equal in racial diversity.
“We don’t place a certain number of students of color in each dorm just to make our numbers look good,” said Rich DeCapua, assistant director of residential life (ResLife). “Residential Life doesn’t play a board game to make things happen.”
Approximately 37 percent of the Fauver residents are students of color, according to a ResLife survey. Thirty-four percent of all total freshmen identify as students of color, making Fauver an accurate reflection of the larger population.
Although there are some predominantly white dorms, no dorm has less than 25 percent students of color. West College houses the largest number of white students; the dorm is 73 percent white, 25 percent students of color, and 2 percent unidentified. Clark, which has struggled with allegations of being whitewashed in the past, ranks surprisingly high in racial diversity, housing 40 percent students of color.
Current ResLife policy mandates that all students be placed in residential halls according to their preference, which incoming freshmen submit online over the summer. Of this year’s freshmen class, 81.7 percent of students received their first choice, 10.6 percent received their second choice, 3.7 percent received their third choice, and 3.6 percent received none of their requests.
The same housing policy applies to students of color, and ResLife asserts that a dorm’s diversity depends entirely on how many students of color request it.
This year, approximately one third of the freshman class selected Fauver as their first or second choice.
“Fauver really skewed the numbers this year because everybody wanted to live in the new dorms,” DeCapua said.
Students living in Clark agree with the numbers in seeing their dorm as diverse.
“My floor doesn’t seem at all whitewashed,” said Sharmeen Mazumder ’09. “It didn’t even occur to me.”
Students also took into account diversity outside of race.
“Our floor is completely diverse, racial diversity, athletic and non-athletic also,” said Clark resident Hannah McDermot ’09.
Fauver residents also said they appreciated the various kinds of diversity in their dorm.
“I think an overall diversity is important,” said Max Mechanic ’09. “If you’re limiting it strictly to something like ethnicity, you’re missing our on aspects like socio-economic and cultural diversity.”
Resident Advisors are trained to help their residents learn about the role diversity issues play.
“Promoting diversity would be letting your residents know that they are all different,” said Resident Advisor Mufaro Dube ’08.
Fortunately, most students feel that their housing arrangement fits reflects the University’s diversity credo.
“The school itself has a reasonable amount of diversity,” Mechanic said. “Wherever I end up, I have people around me that are in some way unlike me.”
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