Read-ing culture

As I entered Read Residence Hall last August as an incoming freshman, I quickly became aware of the clandestine approach to dormitory roommate assignments and the likelihood of my assignment as a direct result of my ethnicity.

When I first met my roommate, “D”, I was excited to share the experience of dormitory life with him. It was a great experience, in the end, but it lacked complexity.

Most things were all too familiar. We were both black, poor, from lower income families with unbalanced parental influence and in pursuit of freedom from that familiar mutual monotony. We connected on that level, but nothing about our relationship was new or challenging.

I craved to connect with someone from an entirely different upbringing, an international student, or perhaps even someone from the West Coast.

With IU’s terribly unimpressive cultural demographics, an African-American student population of less than 4 percent last I checked, I started to wonder how probable my roommate assignment would be if randomly selected.

I noticed comparable situations among other African-American, international and non-white students on my own floor, the floors above and below and in other residence halls.

It has become apparent that this is by no means a coincidence, but a procedure.

I am not one to point fingers, but it is my belief that one of the most patriotic acts is in acknowledging the shortcomings of a foundation in order to make progress.

I am aware of the potential intentions of the University, as a technique to employ comfort and relation among new students, and I acknowledge that this is not the case for all roommate assignments. Nevertheless, the indications are clear, and it would be senseless to declare it otherwise.

As college is supposed to be a means to grow intellectually, it is also expected to be an avenue to stimulate social and cultural growth.

This, unfortunately, due to the frivolousness of the IUB Residential Programs and Services, is a missed opportunity to build bridges of concrete understanding and acceptance across manifest cultural margins — inevitably a social injustice.

So I urge RPS to challenge social margins by ceasing the de-integration of dormitory roommate assignments, allowing the otherwise evaded ethnic borders to be crossed wontedly.

­— iamartin@umail.iu.edu