Imagine you are sitting down to lunch, eating your favorite dining hall meal and you opened up The Tufts Daily to read about the latest happenings on campus April 7. After skimming the headlines, you settle on a column entitled "Cliques." As you read the article, it becomes clear that it is not about "cliques," but rather the writer's dissatisfaction with the Group of Six and the university's attempt to promote diversity. Unfortunately, Will Ehrenfeld failed at expressing this idea, by instead claiming that the Dean of Student Affairs pushes self-segregation on the student body.
This column is definitely not the first time that this argument has been brought up and surely will not be the last. By expressing your ideas through a column that mimics the blog "Stuff White People Like," you dismiss the fact that race, class and other dividing factors are important social factors to acknowledge in a college environment. Maybe if you brought it up among friends, in a class or another space where it would seem like a bad parody I could understand your surprise at this being offensive. I take offense to what you said about cultural groups that welcome incoming freshmen by placing door tags on their door. If you did not understand the importance of this welcome sign, you should have walked over to any of the Group of Six Centers and asked. The nametag is a way for cultural centers to introduce themselves to new students. The invitation is public, and thus you or any other interested student is welcome to visit the center. The students there would have readily explained its purpose. As a peer leader for the Africana Center, I saw tags from pre-orientation groups such as F.I.T., F.O.C.U.S. and even athletic teams, in addition to the ones I myself placed on doors. However, you made no mention of these in your article.
If I am correct, the Centers are given a list of students from admissions based on the information in each student's application. Some students note what race they are and others do not, but that is their choice. Those that chose to identify, however, should not be ridiculed. While some of us identify with a variety of different groups, this does not mean that we choose to segregate ourselves from the majority. If you have not noticed, we chose to attend a school that is predominantly white. More so, we all go to class together, ride the Joey together, ride the T together and eat together. Heck, we all do our laundry together. Honestly, I don't think minority groups self-segregate themselves on this campus; it is physically impossible. And honestly, it would take too much energy and effort. Although it might appear to be a "clique" when more than three of us are standing together, that is only because we are usually surrounded by different groups of white students. Visually, it is similar to having a white canvas and placing a dot of blue or brown paint on it. The non-white paint stands out. Someone could say white students choose to self-segregate by going to predominantly white colleges where they are the majority, or choosing to live in all-white neighborhoods. In all fairness, I must mention that there are white students that choose to go to historically black colleges and universities but that is the exception, not the norm.
Yes, Mr. Ehrenfeld, you are allowed to express your opinion since the First Amendment protects it, but words do hurt. I am proud of my black heritage, and more importantly, of using the Africana Center as a resource during my time at Tufts. Hence your comment, "Tufts people love belonging to a minority group or, at the very least, a group that at one point has been discriminated against," is incorrect. In addition to living at the Africana Center during my sophomore year, I was also a peer leader; I cannot remember any conversations with my housemates or fellow peer leaders about our love of being targets of racial injustice. If anything, many of us were aware of how hurtful and stressful it is to be part of a group that is always singled out. I'm not saying that a person who is not part of a minority group cannot understand what discrimination is, but by mocking a group's social injustice you no longer portray yourself as an ally.
This is my last at semester Tufts since I will be graduating in May. Sadly, I thought I could end the semester without reading another unfounded claim that the Group of Six is a self-segregating mechanism on campus. A study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities has found that campus diversity provides important socio-educational benefits to all college students and that self-segregation is not as prevalent a factor on college campuses as is assumed. At the risk of sounding like I'm standing on a soap box, the Group of Six is not an elitist, separatist organization, but instead a group that is here to foster understanding and educate the student body. I'm surprised that someone who went through our excruciatingly long Resident Assistant training could miss the boat on this important issue. But then again, if you believe that a minority group likes being the minority, I'm not surprised.
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Naeema Campbell is a senior majoring in economics.
