I have several issues with identity based housing. The first is that mods go to
identity based groups before the rest of the students. If a student is more
comfortable living in an environment with people with the same orientation or
with other people of color... the student is fully able to get a group together
and join the lottery like everyone else. Ensuring a mod to identity based groups
isn’t fair, in fact it’s rewarding segregation. The way to embrace and welcome
diversity is not by separating students into identity based groups. Another way
to look at it is if a group of straight white students were to get together and
go for identity based housing because they felt more comfortable living
together, that would be looked at as racist and homophobic right? Why is the
current system not seen that way?
I’m a second year, and a lot of my friends live in identity based housing. The
majority of them chose identity based housing as means to get a mod, that’s it.
I’m from Minneapolis which is a huge immigration hub and home to a beautiful
range of diversity, my family includes many different races and orientations.
In my community kids weren’t raised paying any attention to differences in skin
color or sexual orientation. Coming to Hampshire I was astounded at the focus
brought to differences in people. Really we should all focus on the connection
we have in that we are students away from home for the first time, we all have
that in common. Giving students the option for identity based housing to
increase their comfort level, tells them that they have reason to be
uncomfortable.
