Reports: U. dorms racially divided

Highland Park High School '92 Highland Park, Ill. When racial separation and the prospect of randomized housing were at the forefront of campus debate last semester, Leo Greenberg's political science paper had everyone talking. The paper -- written as a project for Professor Ian Lustick's Introduction to Political Science class, entitled "A Separate Campus" -- blamed Residential Living programs for racial separation on campus. Attached to the paper was a document obtained from Residential Living, which showed the racial distribution in all University residences and demonstrated that students tend to cluster themselves by race. The document indicated that African Americans in W.E.B. DuBois College House make up the highest percentage of any ethnic group in a single dorm, constituting 80.9 percent. White students in Kings Court make up the next highest percentage at 68.4 percent. The Residential Living report also showed that while African Americans make up about seven percent of the campus population, they only constitute 1.8 percent of the Quadrangle, the largest campus dorm. At the same time, while whites are a vast majority on campus, they only make up six percent of DuBois House. Greenberg also calculated an "Index of Dissimilarity" which determined what percentage of an ethnic group would have to move to a different residence in order to make the campus evenly distributed. He found that 41 percent of African Americans on campus would have to relocate to have evenly proportioned dorms. Presumably, he said, the same number of white students would also have to be relocated. "[Separation] leads to less communication between members of different backgrounds which then promotes racial tension and the prolonged existence of racism itself through lack of contact," Greenberg stated in the paper. Former United Minorities Council Chairperson Jun Bang said she disagreed with Greenberg's statement. "I think he's completely inaccurate in being able to make assumptions that less communication and interaction leads to racial tension," the College senior said. "Idealistically it would be great if everything would be equal, but that's not going to happen." Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone said she was interested in Greenberg's project, but did not agree with his findings. "I would not say that the Residential Living system is the cause of separation on this campus," she said. "We have a system based on choice and based on student preferences, and that of course has resulted in certain patterns of living. "But I think it's important to look at the whole picture and the value of all of [Residential Living's] programs?and what they contribute to the entire campus." In his report, Greenberg also suggested that the idea of randomized housing -- an issue which was discussed at length by the Commission on Strengthening the Community -- is a good one. Student leaders were divided on the issue all semester until it came to the forefront with the Commission's recommendations. Currently, freshmen are able to decide where they want to live, filling out a preference form for Residential Living before they arrive on campus.