Harvard's Housing Myth

At Harvard and at colleges nationwide, one of the most hotly debated campus issues has been the tendency of minority students to socialize and live together. Both students and college officials often refer to this association as "segregation" or "self-segregation." But this is an appalling definition--minorities who enjoy the company of their own communities engage in congregation, not segregation, as ex-NAACP head Benjamin Chavis has pointed out.

The word segregation conjures up images of the vicious injustice of the South's Jim Crow laws, with its separate, superior facilities and opportunities for whites. Non-violent demonstrators, freedom riders and students who participated in sit-ins in the struggle for desegregation were spat upon, beaten, maimed and sometimes killed. The term segregation carrier as disgusting legacy of oppression. Using it to describe the actions of minorities today is a nasty reactionary play on words, like calling defenders of civil rights and affirmative action reverse racists.

Segregation not only has a racist connotation, but also implies discrimination and haughty exclusion. The dictionary definition of segregation focuses on a "separation" or "isolation" of groups. At Harvard, most of the concern over congregation of minority students is focused on Black students who choose to live in the Quad. But these students do not completely seclude themselves from students of other races. They interact with white, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans students every day, in classes, in athletics, in social settings, in student organizations, and yes, even in their houses and dining halls. These Black students do not congregate with each other because of a sense of superiority over others or a dislike or hatred of other groups.

The hysteria over the congregation of Black students is largely unfounded. That it is even a concern at all is primarily due to the immutable characteristic of skin color. The congregation of other student groups, like athletes, is much less noticeable. And American society has often been nervous and suspicious of large groups of Black people.

What makes all the fretting even more senseless is that even in houses with high concentrations of Blacks, these students are still overwhelmingly in the minority. In 1993, the last time that the University released housing statistics that included racial breakdowns, the house that had the highest percentage of Black students was only 17 percent Black. Many of the Black students who live in the Quad have evidently decided that they want to enjoy the benefits of a strong, vibrant ethnic community. For such a community to exist, there must be obviously disproportionate percentages of Black students somewhere within the housing system, since the Harvard student body as a whole is only eight percent Black.

The administration seems to favor randomization, but this misguided remedy would destroy the mecca and haven that Black students have established. Under randomization, Black students would lose the option of joining a substantial group of students who often share common bonds, interests and experiences. Instead, they would be arbitrarily split into numerous smaller groups for no good reason.

The administration seems to think that interaction between different racial groups is currently limited. Yet, if Black students really wished to avoid contact with others, randomization would not fix this problem. A greater percentage of Blacks in Mather House, for example, would not guarantee more contact between the races. Furthermore, one of the greatest barriers to student interaction is that most houses have entryway systems instead of common hallways.

The administration believes that diversity should promote learning experiences. While Black students should not have to shoulder the burden of educating other students about their history and culture, the Harvard community already has the opportunity to learn from its minority community. Black students challenge the views of the majority everywhere--in discussion sections, in formal debates and informal political discussions and in erudite editorial columns in the Crimson.

David W. Brown's column appears on alternate Wednesdays.