California State University, Los Angeles has drawn national attention to its new Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community.
There is a waitlist to get into the program, indicating its popularity on campus, but outside spectators have decried the new community as segregated housing, representing a step backwards in social progress.
This predictable bout of complaints largely came from critics in privileged positions who define segregation as a space that does not include them.
In a country built around the comfort of white men, communities not built with them in mind will forever be criticized and condemned without a shred of irony.
In the wake of coverage over Cal State’s actions, we commend their LLC and hope to evaluate UNC’s similar resources in Residential Learning Programs.
One such RLP is Unitas, a housing community based “on sociocultural diversity” between identities of race, sexual orientation and religion.
While we give no merit to the notion that Cal State’s LLC would be a form of self-segregation, we do understand the importance of conversations between people of different backgrounds.
Indeed, perhaps more cultural understanding comes from living with a person of a different background than classes on different cultures could ever teach. Unitas assigns roommates based on their differences rather than their similarities in effort to foster an “intense experience in diversity and thoughtful self-exploration.”
Still, the onus of teaching white people the complexities of racism should not fall on the backs of people of color.
