COLUMN: Why free choice is so important

From Shiraz Allidina's, "Asian Hil Lizard," Fall '96 From Shiraz Allidina's, "Asian Hil Lizard," Fall '96 Well, it's the end of the semester and since there's no Thursday issue this week, I thought I wouldn't bother to write a final column. Then something happened that pissed me off. It so incensed me that I actually got off my posterior to write this column I assume you are about to stop reading. Please don't. But today, I turn my pen toward A Very Serious Matter. There is one thing that really gets my goat, boils my blood and weakens my bladder. My pet peeve is one part of humanity looking at another part and saying "they shouldn't be allowed to do that." Like Don Vito Corleone, "I believe in America." Not, I stress, the Moral High Ground America that invades Granada or forces sanctions on Cuba. I believe in the type of America that allows its citizens to snort coke, engage in sodomy, marry more than one woman or watch something as stupid as Oprah. (My American friends now inform me that the first three are illegal in most states, although the fourth isn't. I can't imagine why.) Bear with me, faithful reader. I'm getting to the point. Recently, numerous attacks upon W.E.B. DuBois College House have been advanced by columnists and letter-writers on this page. DuBois, they allege, fosters racial discord and impedes the fluffy, wonderful life we Penn students would like to experience on campus. Stupidity well-packaged can sound like wisdom, and these meretricious arguments are no exception. They're a load of tripe. DuBois is a collection of individuals who have freely chosen to live with each other, united by their common pursuit of a particular academic interest. The red herring is that most of them happen to have the same skin color. This is not, I emphasize, a race issue. It is an issue of liberty. We have the Science and Technology Wing, we have Modern Languages College House, so it is not inconsistent to have a house dedicated to African-American culture, if there is demand for it -- and, of course, provided that residents foot the bill. Most freshmen at the University live on campus, in mediocre accommodations with outrageous price tags. To suggest that these freshmen shouldn't even be allowed to choose where to live, in the name of "racial harmony" or the "greater good," goes against the principles upon which this country was founded. Furthermore, DuBois residents should not feel even the slightest bit obligated to defend their decision to live there. In a free society, their choice is valid regardless of the reason behind it. I do not believe in racial segregation. Neither do I believe in a type of forced diversity where one coerces individuals to divide up into neat little multi-cultural groups. Realistically, humans tend to associate with people whom they share common bonds or experiences with. Whether any of us likes it or not, language, ethnicity, religion and race tend to be the significant factors in determining these commonalities. But all of this is irrelevant, for the real issue is guarding against the coercion of one societal group by another. This can be coercion by special interests, or it can be the tyranny of the majority over a minority. Today, it seems, a small vocal minority is attempting to coerce the entire school into living in a manner that befits an ill-defined Ideal Diverse Society. Who gets hurt? Anybody who has the audacity to believe that he knows what's best for him, as opposed to having his life run by a random number generator, an administrator or a columnist. I am not a polygamist or a homosexual, I don't snort coke and I never, ever, ever watch Oprah. But I'll be damned if I'm going to stop other people from performing these activities because I happen to find them distasteful. I can't justify the prohibition of DuBois house in the same way I would never legislate the disbanding of the Ku Klux Klan. Nor can I, in the name of an ephemeral concept of "social good," justify prohibiting freshmen from freely choosing their location of campus residence. Most importantly, the University has no business in seeking to shape our opinions or our behavior. Suppose, for example, that an individual chooses to behave in a bigoted fashion, never speaking, let alone living, with left-handers like me. In a university environment that supposedly advocates diversity, such a student should not be subject to policies that seek to change his attitude. Diversity means some people do things with which you may not agree. It also means living with it.