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Ethnic Housing Ethnic housing on college campuses has been a debatable topic for many years. “Since the early 1970s, ethnic theme dorms have been among the most visible manifestations of Stanford’s commitment to promoting diversity. But the idea of residential theming and programming that focuses on members of a certain race has never been immune to controversy.” (Devasher, 2002) Many people can say they have a better experience if they can share the experience with people who have the same interests. I believe that ethnic housing can be a growth stunting experience to one’s character. Separation by race can lead to possible segregation or negative interactions amongst races. As colleges strive to be more ethnically diverse, ethnic housing steers away from this goal. “Many of these racially based houses make it very clear in their mission statements that their goal is racial consciousness and identity, thus precluding the concept of a unified campus.” (Devasher, 2002) Students of diverse cultures would not get to share their cultures with other students of different ethnicities. Students may feel more accepted in ethnic themed housing but will lose the interactions among other races. Each student should feel that they bring something unique to the college campus. Diverse housing would let students share their unique aspects with others. For example, colleges these days "choose students because of something unique that he or she could bring to the campus," (Davis, 2001). Ethnic housing would defeat the purpose of ethnically diverse college campuses. It would create unnecessary segregation between races and could lead to potential violence. These interactions can truly take away from one’s college experience. I feel ethnic themed housing could hurt a students educational opportunity in college. Reference List: Byer, E. How cornell student housing really works. (1994). The New York Times.com. Retrieved December 14, 2008 from:http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE2D91E30F937A35756C0A962958260.
Davis, D. S. (2001).
College housing policies should avoid ethnic and religious
balkanization. In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell (Eds), Patterns
for college
Devasher, M. (2002). Campus defends its ethnic theme houses. The Stanford Daily. Retrieved December 14, 2008, from: http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2002/11/19/campusDefendsItsEthnicThemeHouses.
preclude. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved December 14, 2008 from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preclude
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