Housing policies cause possible self-segregation

Freshman Tianyi Xu left Hanjin, China, traveled across the world and moved into McNutt Quad in August.

But she said she still feels like she lives in China.

“I don’t have the feeling I’m in another country because I am surrounded by Asians,”
she said.

University housing policies can contribute to the isolation and subsequent self-segregation of international students on campus. Some residence halls have too many international students, while some have too few and a sort of double-edged sword sometimes ensues.

“If there are too many students from any one country, they can rely on each other so much that they form their own subgroup and don’t reach out,” said John Galuska, director of the Foster International Living-Learning Center. “If there are too few students from one country, they become isolated.”

He said this sometimes happens with groups of Chinese students that live in the same dorm. The Foster LLC has 40 students from China this year.

“They become a force of their own,” Galuska said.

Sara Ivey Lucas, assistant director for housing assignments for Residential Programs and Services, said about 130 international students were assigned to Forest Residence Center this year, in contrast with the 35 assigned to McNutt Quad.

One of the reasons for this is because of admission acceptance and registration dates.

“They’re on a different time line than U.S. students. Their time line for acceptance is much later,” Galuska said. “This leads to some strange housing situations.”

A great deal of the students assigned to Forest were placed there because they applied later, and because most overflow housing was available in that dorm, Ivey
Lucas said.

Most international students do not apply for housing until the spring and summer before their first year, Ivey Lucas said.

Of the 721 international students that arrived early to campus, 400 applied in April and May, 100 applied in June and the rest applied in July and August.

Domestic students, she said, will apply as early as November.

“It’s hard to take care of those international students that apply in July, but it’s just as hard to take care of the domestic students that also apply in July,” Ivey
Lucas said.

She said the housing department treats international students just like domestic students in regards to assignments. The earlier they register, the more likely it is they will get their first choice.

“It’s really much more evenly distributed than people believe,” Ivey Lucas said.
She said the problem boils down to preconceived notions and rumors of where all the international students should live — which dorms are “international dorms.”

“My staff is trying to dispel the rumors that every group has it’s pipeline and feeder system,” Ivey Lucas said. “Everyone falls into the same kind of trap.”

She said she and her staff do their best to find out where each international students’ interests lie and try to recommend a dorm that will be most supportive.

“Just because you’re a Chinese student doesn’t mean your necessarily interested in global business or in sharing your heritage with similar students,” Ivey Lucas said.

Despite the extra steps taken to avoid stereotypes, a change in the system could benefit international students.

“I don’t feel lonely,” Xu said. “But actually it’s like a circle that we would like to get out of.”