MIT is 28% Asian American, 10% Hispanic, 6% African American, 2% Native American, and 8% International. However, in talking with any student, one can quickly gauge the unequal distribution of these races on campus. As reported by a resident of Next House (one of the larger dormitories), "Next House has five African Americans, zero female." Next House is home to Chinatown, its well-known second floor, where an overwhelming majority of the residents are of Chinese heritage. New House, known as "the minority dorm", is home to Chocolate City, an African American version of Next House's second floor and the closest thing to an African American fraternity. Baker is "the white dorm", while many of MIT's female South Asians live in McCormick. Fraternities and sororities display this trend even more than their on-campus counterparts, with populations predominantly Caucasian. Of course there are exceptions, but the stereotypes about various living groups are overwhelmingly true. Why is this so? In an environment comprised of over 46% people of color, how do the living groups become so polarized? This generation has not seen nation-wide race riots, the public hatred propagated by George Wallace, the World War II Japanese containment camps, the relocation of the Native American race, Hitler's Final Solution, or the Ku Klux Klan. Growing up in the aftermath of such racially tense times, it has been enriched with much diversity training in an attempt to raise a generation whose eyes don't see the color of one's neighbor's skin. Decades after Brown vs. Board of Education, schools put much effort into appeasing the public by sponsoring programs geared towards such training for students of all ages. Summer programs, seminars, lectures, classes, retreats, and student groups exist in every school across the nation promoting the benefits of racial integration. The minorities of this generation, now integrated with other races, are the first to have the choice to self-segregate. As lines of race and gender blur more and more, it is interesting to see the future's leaders divide themselves so blatantly. Toni, an MIT student and Baker resident explains,
For people who grow up in one-race neighborhoods, the majority of their friends will be of the community-featured race. When they come to college, they look for something familiar. As Toni states, ties to home make things easier for people. That this separation of races is not done intentionally is a frightening reality. This unconscious search for people similar to one's self stems from one's upbringing. Looking at other schools, we learn that this behavior does not only appear at MIT. From school to school, students revert to days better forgotten. Derek, a student at the University of Pittsburgh, describes what he sees at his school, which exhibits dramatic similarities to MIT's situation:
The University of Pittsburgh's minority population makes up a smaller percentage (17%) of the total population than that of MIT. It is interesting to still see self-segregation despite the relatively small minority community. Although it would seem much more difficult to avoid other races, it still occurs. Eden, a student at Brown University (whose demographics are similar to those of MIT), states,
It is clear that this behavior occurs at many institutions of higher learning, but its source remains ambiguous. Eden's comment specifically addresses the existence of this segregation after the elimination of racist law and the integration of diversity training into educational models. In addition to students from one-race neighborhoods, many minorities from primarily Caucasian neighborhoods come to MIT and find others of their own race. They actively seek out this new option to discuss similar cultural heritage as profoundly eye-opening. Being with similar faces all the time is, as told by both Toni and Derek, comforting. Pallabi, a McCormick resident explains in her essay "I Am an ABCD:"
This comfort is a positive outcome to such separation, but does this behavior display any negative aspects? Is this segregation by choice self-defeating? There is no one with the authority to say what is wholly right for the student body, but one of the most important lessons taught by higher education is how to live in a diverse community. The ability to work with different people is an invaluable tool. In a time when we see mass globalization in every aspect of life, experience with different cultures can make future human interaction much easier. When students graduate, they will be faced with a workforce that is predominantly Caucasian, which will leave those minority students who separated themselves from other races at a loss. On another level, exposure to other races is necessary to overcome stereotypes formed from centuries of racial division. The widening of racial gaps due to these self-created groups creates a very unfavorable environment. These benefits should be promoted by the administration of all schools. Carlos, a member of New House's Chocolate City at MIT, feels that the Institute has not been involved enough in the fight for a diversified campus, and has in fact implicitly encouraged it. In regards to Project Interphase, a summer program for incoming minority students:
Carlos joined Chocolate City because he had friends there and wanted to eliminate stigmas surrounding the living group. "If I can change just one person's comfortableness when walking into [Chocolate City] I will have succeeded." He has gathered students and faculty to help with his crusade, and has a lot planned for the years to come including the restructuring of the Office of Minority Education's programs, specifically changing Interphase's recruitment policy to target those students in need of an academic boost rather than all underrepresented minority students; management of social events to improve lines of communication between different on campus groups, and facilitation of a large discussion about MIT's self-segregation. Carlos' primary goal, however, lies in the creation of academic legislation requiring a "Communications Intensive Requirement… implement[ing] a class or classes based solely on discussion about different topics that are meant to let different peoples become acquainted on a more personal level not readily available." This project, when completed, will do much for the situation at MIT. It will force students to solve a problem that Eden sees at Brown: "People skirt around anything remotely controversial because they're afraid the general population would break down." The important aspect of this plan is that the problem will be solved through student involvement, not simply administrative decree. On February 15, 1994, MIT President Charles Vest formed the Committee on Campus Race Relations (CCRR). This motley crew of undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff is "charged with fostering better relations among the races of people at MIT and helping the community realize the benefits of its cultural and racial diversity." The CCRR is active on campus, funding events devised to increase racial awareness, hosting diversity training to develop relationships between those working to improve race relations, and participating in many other aspects of student life. The creation of this group is proof enough that MIT believes its voluntary segregation to be a problem, and states the reason for such belief in the CCRR's charter: "the benefits of its cultural and racial diversity." Although change needs to come from the student body and not the administration, the administration still needs to put its hands in student affairs to get change started. It is difficult for students alone to initiate massive change in such a large community without help from those in charge. An extreme solution to voluntary segregation would be forced dormitory integration. MIT could easily revoke the rights of the student to weigh housing options, or could severely dampen them by enforcing race-driven quotas on each living group. Although hitting the problem at its root, this option, any observer can see, would anger a large number of people. College life gives young people new freedoms. MIT has recognized this basic right and does a good job of allowing students to make decisions for themselves. MIT cannot hope to force people to like each other; MIT must help people realize what they are missing by separating themselves. Returning to Eden's comment, the difficulty of "re-education" is important to recognize. Making people live where they don't want to, with people they don't choose to live with, will only flare tempers. The Association of Student Activities at MIT recognizes 67 ethnic/language/international groups and 31 religious groups. It is very rare that these groups communicate with one another and multi-group events are even scarcer. MIT, using the financial and administrative muscle of the CCRR, can help these groups work together. It would be a great success if MIT mandated that all groups must co-mingle at least twice a year, fully sponsoring any school-wide, multi-group events. Through this method, groups would not feel forced to act. The funding would encourage groups to throw events, allowing access to a large number of students from very different backgrounds. Bringing these people together is what MIT wants to do, and needs to do. MIT has a large challenge to overcome. The pre-existing situation at MIT makes change difficult. As Dian, a Baker resident, explains: "when a group of people of the same race stick together, it makes them very unapproachable." Applying this reality to large living groups, the difficulty of integration is almost unimaginable. Although this generation has not heard Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, or the peace-loving hippies, they could learn much from their messages. The figureheads who fought for desegregation in the past would be greatly offended by the current state of college campuses. MIT must transfer its significant amount of financial and administrative influence to socially active students with big goals in mind. A student body motivated to make change can do anything when coupled with an encouraging administration. |
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