Students question 'DP' columnist

Several students questioned and criticized The Daily Pennsylvanian columnist Jonathan Steinmetz at an open forum Friday for including "inaccuracies" in a column about W.E.B. DuBois College House last week. Approximately 50 students participated in the forum, moderated by Associate Medicine Professor Richard Sims and including DP Editorial Page Editor Michael Sirolly and Black Student League President Martin Dias, which was held at DuBois House. In his column, Wharton sophomore Steinmetz suggested that freshmen not be allowed to live in DuBois because he said it "perpetuates the lack of understanding that causes the racial tensions constantly gripping this campus." DuBois College House is a living learning program focusing on African-American culture. Since it began several years ago, DuBois has been in the center of several debates about segregation and racial relations at the University. Many students said they were upset and offended by the column and looked to the forum to clarify their position and gain an understanding of Steinmetz's views. According to Bill Gray, president of the University's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Steinmetz's column contained "eleven factual inaccuracies." Students at the meeting said they were also angry about an accompanying cartoon by DP art director Fred Chung which implied that DuBois is restricted to "Blacks Only." Steinmetz said that he attended a diverse high school which promoted racial harmony and where race relations were better than at the University because students were forced to mix. "The problem is that people view other races as generalizations, not individuals," he said. "The way to improve things is by mixing people of different races, rather than isolating them." The students retorted that a diverse setting is not necessarily conducive to better race relations. "Just because you live in a racially harmonious environment doesn't mean you're getting the kind of support you need to grow and excel at this university," BSL Vice President Kaplan Mobray said. Steinmetz insisted at the forum that racially homogenous environments are negative and that, ideally, "all living-learning programs should be abolished." The columnist added that he was not going to apologize for his views, and blamed cartoonist Chung for misinterpreting his column. "I'm very upset with Fred Chung for his misleading illustration," he said. Several students said they were disappointed with the fact that Steinmetz did not emphasize some of the positive things about DuBois House and voiced their dissatisfaction with his replies. Sims' wife Michelle, who also attended the forum, said she was worried that some of the inaccuracies in the article "did not help race relations." BSL President Dias said the issue was basically "a balancing act between racial harmony on a societal level and the survival of the black people." "As far as I'm concerned, the survival of the black people is more important," he said.