2008 Woodie Awards
Staff Editorial: Smith Housing System Promotes Diversity
Issue date: 4/13/06 Section: Opinions
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With the changing dorm situation at UMass, Smith students react and discuss how the racial situations at the two schools differ.
Smith cares and wants to have a multicultural community, but placing so much focus on this issue is unnecessary. It is true that diversity makes a huge difference as it affects how comfortable a person of color feels on a campus. When you look around and realize you're the only person with dark skin within a mile, it influences your comfort and self esteem. This is not the way it is at Smith, and that is because Smith makes the effort to bring diverse students to campus.
However, it is possible to feel that Smith stresses diversity too much. Some students feel that when they visited the campus as prospective students during Discovery Weekend, ethnic and racial diversity was over-emphasized. Some current students felt the experience as a whole was exhausting and pointless. Instead of a lecture or two, diversity consumed thought and activities for more than two days.
Even with so much diversity, overstressed or not, there are still racial tensions on Smith campus. Yet we're a lot better off than UMass. Our current system is pretty good - there are Unity orgs for minority students to get a sense of community and support, but we also have integrated housing. The Unity orgs are fantastic: not only do they provide support for minority students, but also teach other students not in their groups about other cultures. However, Unity orgs don't create situations in which one group only associates with members of that group, and offer what ethnically divided floors at UMass claim to be: a place where minority students can come together with people of similar backgrounds and experiences.
However, even though people often feel more comfortable in a community with peers of their own race, college is a great time to push your own boundaries and branch out. Living in a dorm with different people can teach you a lot about what you think you know of others and can change how you think you are perceived by others.
It is good that we have integrated housing so both minority and non-minority students have the opportunity and experience of living with each other. Support within racial and cultural groups is important, but it is clear that the housing and organizations on Smith campus provide that.
UMass is taking the right step by eliminating choice regarding residence halls for its incoming freshmen. While after the first year, these students will find friends whom they'll want to live near -- and yes, these friends may have a similar racial background -- giving the students little choice of whom to live with as new students may allow them to broaden their worldview and meet people they wouldn't get to know otherwise.
Smith cares and wants to have a multicultural community, but placing so much focus on this issue is unnecessary. It is true that diversity makes a huge difference as it affects how comfortable a person of color feels on a campus. When you look around and realize you're the only person with dark skin within a mile, it influences your comfort and self esteem. This is not the way it is at Smith, and that is because Smith makes the effort to bring diverse students to campus.
However, it is possible to feel that Smith stresses diversity too much. Some students feel that when they visited the campus as prospective students during Discovery Weekend, ethnic and racial diversity was over-emphasized. Some current students felt the experience as a whole was exhausting and pointless. Instead of a lecture or two, diversity consumed thought and activities for more than two days.
Even with so much diversity, overstressed or not, there are still racial tensions on Smith campus. Yet we're a lot better off than UMass. Our current system is pretty good - there are Unity orgs for minority students to get a sense of community and support, but we also have integrated housing. The Unity orgs are fantastic: not only do they provide support for minority students, but also teach other students not in their groups about other cultures. However, Unity orgs don't create situations in which one group only associates with members of that group, and offer what ethnically divided floors at UMass claim to be: a place where minority students can come together with people of similar backgrounds and experiences.
However, even though people often feel more comfortable in a community with peers of their own race, college is a great time to push your own boundaries and branch out. Living in a dorm with different people can teach you a lot about what you think you know of others and can change how you think you are perceived by others.
It is good that we have integrated housing so both minority and non-minority students have the opportunity and experience of living with each other. Support within racial and cultural groups is important, but it is clear that the housing and organizations on Smith campus provide that.
UMass is taking the right step by eliminating choice regarding residence halls for its incoming freshmen. While after the first year, these students will find friends whom they'll want to live near -- and yes, these friends may have a similar racial background -- giving the students little choice of whom to live with as new students may allow them to broaden their worldview and meet people they wouldn't get to know otherwise.