The petition by the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance for queer housing appears to have reopened the debate on affinity housing in general. The column by Adam Siegel '98 ["On Segregated Housing," The Dartmouth, April 8, 1996] attacks both DRA's proposal, the Shabazz Hall and the Native American House as destructive to the intellectual integrity of this institution.
Siegel completely disregards the fact that, like La Casa where he lives, both Shabazz Hall and the Native American House have academic components. To live in either, you have to apply to the African and African-American Studies and Native American Studies Departments, respectively. Race or ethnic background is not a prerequisite for either house, although the students who live in those places do tend to be of those ethnic backgrounds based on personal preference.
He also ignores the benefits to the entire Dartmouth community of the important cultural programming done by both houses. They serve as a center for discussion on African-American and Native American cultures both among the students who live there, among the entire communities of students active in the African-American Society and Native Americans at Dartmouth and the larger community as a whole.
Although Dartmouth has changed greatly from its former notoriety as a white-male bastion, it is no secret that this place can be difficult for those who are not white. In many cases, there is a general cultural difference between white students and those from other ethnic and racial groups.
Students bring their own distinct cultural assumptions, such as jokes, food, dialect, childhood upbringing and interests. Many spend most of their time here immersed in a culture that is unlike their own. There is no wonder that they might want to live in an environment with others similar interests and similar devotion to their unique cultures.
In the context of a campus centered towards a straight white culture, a request for eight beds of a residence hall devoted to queer housing seems reasonable. It would give the students who chose to live there an opportunity to discuss issues unique to the gay, lesbian and bisexual community and to build a queer community in the midst of a largely hostile and unreceptive environment. Because there are also several classes at the College devoted to gay and lesbian studies and many of the students who will chose to live there have done reading on their own, this housing would also contribute to the intellectual growth of these students. They would have the opportunity to integrate their intellectual and personal growth, which is supposedly the mission of this college.
Every time the subject of affinity housing comes up, so does the term "self-segregation." I cannot tell you how many times I've heard that term used on this campus. However, I've yet to figure it out. I have many friends who are active in affinity organizations and some who live in those houses. And yet, I see them on a regular basis, am in classes with them, am involved in various campus organizations with them and, yes, even eat with them.
What is completely ignored in this entire debate is the other affinity housing that exists, namely the Greek houses. Students choose to live in these houses based on the idea of common interests, most of which, as far as I can tell, are not based on academics. It is clear, for example, that Chi Gamma Epsilon serves as baseball affinity housing and Chi Heorot as the affinity housing for the hockey team. Not that every man who lives in those houses is a member of those teams, but many are.
Greek houses are often defended as places where students can find others who share common ideas and interests to live with. There is no reason why the other types of affinity housing is any different. Not to mention the fact that while all of the other housing complies with the College's non-discrimination code, both fraternity and sorority houses blatantly discriminate on the basis of gender.
The numbers in the fraternity system are also much higher. There are over 250 black students on this campus and only about 25 beds in Shabazz Hall. Consequently, at maximum only ten percent of black students could live in the house. If you compare that number to the percentage of white men living in their fraternity houses, the results of the math are pretty obvious. Who then is self- segregating?
