NEW YORK (U-WIRE) — A recent proposal for voluntary special-interest housing for African-American students at New York University has sparked a heated debate on campus. Some students believe such a housing program would unite African-American students on campus, while others feel it would further isolate black students from the entire NYU population.
The idea originated from Gallatin senior Alphonso Saville. An African-American residential adviser at Goddard Residence Hall, he noticed he was having poor attendance at many of his floor-sponsored events and programs and felt it was due to a racial barrier.
“My residents didn’t want to go to my ‘black cultural events,'” he explained, “and in my two years as an RA, I never had a black resident.”
Saville has taken his proposal to the Office of Housing and Residence Life. As of now, that is where the proposal stands.
The idea specifically calls for specific floors of a single dorm to be reserved for those interested in living in such a housing arrangement. It would not be mandatory for all African-American students, and it would be open to anyone interested, regardless of race.
“The idea of randomly sprinkling black students throughout housing is isolation and segregation of sorts,” said Saville.
Both supporters and opponents of the plan point to a lack of black representation in the residence hall staff. As a result, students were not seeing African-Americans in positions of authority within housing. He felt it would be difficult for a black student to confide in a white RA on issues specific to the black population.
But perhaps the ultimate indicator of the possible success of such a program is dependent on the reaction of the students, particularly African-American freshmen and sophomores, whom the program housing would affect in their junior and senior years. Mecca Scott, one of two African-American building hall managers at Goddard, has not completely made up her mind either way on the idea. To her, program housing could provide a comfort zone for students. But, she added, “In the real world, it doesn’t exist.”
Freshman Christina Bonne Annei felt that it would be a good idea as well, but recommended that students only be allowed to participate for one to two years. According to Annei, “It will make the college transition easier.”
But the plan does have detractors. Andrea Donkor, a junior in CAS and an African-American RA at the Lafayette Residence Hall, agreed there was a disproportionate number of black RAs at NYU. Yet she felt that program housing for African-American students would be a source of animosity.
She agreed with those who called it reverse discrimination, pointing out, “If they said ‘all white dorm,’ black students would be screaming ‘KKK’ and ‘discrimination,’ and you know what? It would be true.”
Freshman Leighton Gordon believes minority housing would further stigmatize African-American students.
“It implies that the minority doesn’t like the majority and wants to segregate themselves from the majority,” he said.
Nathifa Fearon, a School of Education freshman raised the question of where the plan would stop once started — wouldn’t lesbian, gay, Islamic, Latino or Asian students want the same thing, she asked. She felt this would polarize the campus.
In response, Saville points out that many schools, such as Wesleyan and Cornell, do have program housing. He pointed out that NYU already has special-interest housing for fraternities and sororities and felt that expanding this would be a positive thing.
Only time will tell whether or not this plan will be implemented at New York University. Although the Office of Housing and Residence Life now has the proposal on the table, the final decision will not be made until the spring semester of 2003. Saville, who is graduating next month, remains hopeful NYU will agree to try out his proposal for the 2003-2004 academic year.
