LETTER: You Are Invited

To the Editor: Steinmetz's comments and the unfortunate accompanying illustration, with its "Blacks Only" caption, present the erroneous misconceptions that DuBois is, by design, Penn's "black house," and that most black students live in DuBois. Neither characterization is true. Neither the Academic Programs in Residence Office nor the Department of Residential Living discriminates in its housing policies. We state clearly in the Residential Living Options booklet (sent to all incoming students) and in the Application for Residence to DuBois House (available to all sophomores, juniors and seniors) that, "The W.E.B. DuBois College House is designed for students of all ethnic backgrounds who have a particular interest in and commitment to African American culture." Over the years, students of various races, ethnic backgrounds and countries of origin have participated in the program. Moreover, most black students at Penn do not live in DuBois College House. In any given year, the large majority -- roughly eighty percent -- live elsewhere, and most students who do live in DuBois do not live there all four years. Low Rise North, the building in which the DuBois College House program is situated, is a racially-mixed building with black students frequently making up a minority of all students living in Low Rise North. Is it a shame that more white students, particularly, don't take advantage of one of our most impressive College Houses, with its strong ties to the Afro-American Studies Program, its exceptionally rich offering of programs exploring Afro-American culture? Yes. But the burden of explaining why they don't should not properly be put upon those black students, especially who do, for a time, choose to live in the House and choose to deepen their own Penn experience by exploring the diversity of Afro-American culture. The students, faculty and staff in DuBois College House work exceptionally hard to create and to advertise house programs to the campus at large, and people of all ethnic backgrounds are invited, both to live in the House and to attend the programs. In recent years, DuBois College House has hosted writers Toni Morrison, John Wideman, Lorene Carey, Elizabeth Alexander, Stanley Crouch and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Other visitors have included Bishop Desmond Tutu, Sister Souljah, actor Danny Glover and film makers Spike Lee, Julie Dash and Maureen Blackwood. Julian Bond taught a course on the "History of the Civil Rights Movement." The House held discussion seminars with visiting faculty on subjects such as the African slave trade, health care, television's portrayal of Afro-American culture, the political process in the 1990s (with Professor Mary Berry) and the history of gospel music, to name just a scant few of the topics. The program also sponsors study groups, film series, field trips, social programs, career programs and an annual conference exploring the influence of W.E.B. DuBois on American culture. Such a brief list does not begin to do justice to the variety and number of programs designed and offered by the House. In addition to its usual complement of fine programs, DuBois College House will celebrate its twentieth anniversary this academic year with some special events. All members of the community are invited to attend. In January, we begin our annual College House and Living-Learning Program recruitment for the 1993-94 academic year. As usual, students of all backgrounds and races are invited and encouraged to apply to any of the houses. Steinmetz writes that, "We learn things by living with other races and ethnic groups that are impossible to learn solely by sharing the same classroom." Let each Penn student, no matter what race or ethnic background, make the most of that learning opportunity in their housing and other choices. And rather than fix blame on the choices of others, let each individual challenge himself or herself to explore Penn's rich cultural variety. You are invited. CHRISTOPHER DENNIS Director Academic Programs in Residence