2008 Woodie Awards
UMass Phases Out 'Self-Segregation' in Dorms
Alexandra Neale
Issue date: 4/13/06 Section: News
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The University of Massachusetts (UMass) recently announced its decision to phase out self-segregated floors in its residence halls, a pronouncement which has angered some of its student body and has garnered the attention of the media.
At present, some students live on Legacy Floors, areas of residence halls which the school designates for students of color. Officials at UMass argue that living on these racially-partitioned floors results in self-segregation amongst the student body.
"When you have segregated pockets in our residence halls, we are allowing students to shut themselves off, and then they are missing out," said Michael Gargano, vice chancellor of student affairs and campus life in a Boston Globe interview. The new system would house students based on, according to Vice Chancellor Gargano, "academic interest, life style and social identity." For example, students who major in Chinese would live together, not necessarily students who are Asian.
The university also intends to house freshmen together in racially-integrated dorms for one year, in the hope that students of different ethnicities will choose to continue living together. Gargano insists they are not eliminating the Legacy Floors but rather, they are "looking for ways to expand and enhance these living options." Proponents of the floors, many of them students of color, argue for the benefits of comfort and solidarity which living on these floors provides them on a predominantly white campus.
This latest change in UMass-Amherst's housing policy reflects an ongoing decrease in the number of race-based programs at the university. The school no longer holds separate orientations for students of color, nor does it offer them separate advising offices.
UMass-Amherst's change in policy exposes the dilemma that plagues many other schools across the United States-should colleges and universities push for integrated living and grams amongst their students? The answer varies by school.
At present, some students live on Legacy Floors, areas of residence halls which the school designates for students of color. Officials at UMass argue that living on these racially-partitioned floors results in self-segregation amongst the student body.
"When you have segregated pockets in our residence halls, we are allowing students to shut themselves off, and then they are missing out," said Michael Gargano, vice chancellor of student affairs and campus life in a Boston Globe interview. The new system would house students based on, according to Vice Chancellor Gargano, "academic interest, life style and social identity." For example, students who major in Chinese would live together, not necessarily students who are Asian.
The university also intends to house freshmen together in racially-integrated dorms for one year, in the hope that students of different ethnicities will choose to continue living together. Gargano insists they are not eliminating the Legacy Floors but rather, they are "looking for ways to expand and enhance these living options." Proponents of the floors, many of them students of color, argue for the benefits of comfort and solidarity which living on these floors provides them on a predominantly white campus.
This latest change in UMass-Amherst's housing policy reflects an ongoing decrease in the number of race-based programs at the university. The school no longer holds separate orientations for students of color, nor does it offer them separate advising offices.
UMass-Amherst's change in policy exposes the dilemma that plagues many other schools across the United States-should colleges and universities push for integrated living and grams amongst their students? The answer varies by school.