(06-23-2020 09:37 AM)Intellectual_Brutality Wrote:  

(06-23-2020 09:35 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(06-23-2020 09:18 AM)allerretour Wrote:  I'd be pretty much done with Rice if they change the name or take down the statue (not that they'd miss my paltry contributions). I think I'd become anti-Rice if they put a separate black house on campus.

What is the black house that is part of the discussion? I haven't seen a good explanation floating around (but admittedly, I could have missed it). Is it a dorm/residential college? Or is it more like the Women's Resource Center - a permanent, physical space on campus?

I don't think it's yet clear. FWIW, Stanford has a dorm on campus that's for minority students only. That's been there for years and people seem to like it. There are Hillel houses etc on just about every campus. So having some building isn't exactly a radical idea.

Yeah - a dedicated, physical space shouldn't be viewed as problematic, or with hostility.

An entire residential college/dorm starts to wade into a territory that I feel uncomfortable with, as it goes beyond providing resources or a space for connecting with others, and starts to appear exclusionary/closed off. But as I just read on a Stanford blog, those sorts of dorms do raise an interesting question:

Quote:Why are the draw numbers for non-ethnic males and females into these theme houses always so high (note - high draws = less desirable dorms chosen by students)? Could it be that upon entering these dorms they become the minority in the house; finally understand the feelings and frustrations most minorities experience on a day-to-day basis? In another Stanford Review article entitled “Ethnic Theme Dorms Hinder School Diversity,” a Caucasian resident of Ujamaa expressed feeling “socially and culturally ostracized” and noted “being forced to associate [himself] with a culture was not [his] idea of a pleasurable experience.” He felt “clearly unaccepted by many of his fellow residents and was forced to find a social network in the other residences of Lagunita…[He] felt forcibly immersed in one dominant culture, with few outlets to other perspectives” (Theron). Does a Hispanic student at Branner, or an African-American student at Arroyo feel the same way?

Whether ethnic theme dorms in and of themselves perpetuate racial tensions is a debatable issue; however, if there are no attempts to become culturally aware and failures at interaction by non-minorities and minorities alike, there is no reason to expect a more unified campus in any near future.

http://web.stanford.edu/group/ccr/blog/2...eme_1.html