Officials Seek to Limit Race-Specific
Dorms At UMass-Amherst
AMHERST, Mass.
Officials at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst are phasing out self-segregated dormitories, the latest effort to rid the campus of separate programs for minorities.
“There’s nothing healthy about segregation,” says Dr. Michael Gargano, vice chancellor of student affairs and campus life.
Currently, minority students can choose to live in residence halls designated for particular races and ethnicities. There are residential clusters dedicated to students of Asian, African-American and American Indian backgrounds, and one dedicated to students seeking a multicultural experience. They were initiated as a means of providing comfort and comradeship on an overwhelmingly White campus.
But beginning this fall, there will be no floors set aside for minority students when an 860-bed cluster of residence halls open. The university also plans to discourage students from choosing to live with students of the same race or ethnicity, according to a recent article in The Boston Sunday Globe.
“Students who come to the university need to be exposed to different opinions and ideas. When you have segregated pockets in our residence halls, we are allowing students to shut themselves off, and then they are missing out,” Gargano says.
The school does plan to offer living quarters that bring together people with the same interests. For example, students pursuing African-American studies could choose to live together.
