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Ad For “Non-White Roommate” Sparks Debates In Claremont Colleges

West and East Halls At Pitzer College - Photo from Wikipedia

The seemingly innocuous task of finding a college roommate became a heated controversy on racial discrimination after three students at the Claremont Colleges posted Facebook ad looking for “POC (people of color) only.”

Karé Ureña stated in the post that non-white students seeking accommodations off-campus should reach out to them. “I don’t want to live with any white folks,” she added. Ureña is an Afro-Caribbean junior at Pitzer College in Claremont.

Needless to say, comments blew up in a barrage of both criticisms and support of the ad, fitting the ongoing debates on race, identity, freedom of speech, culture and “safe spaces” that have been a mainstay in American universities and colleges from north to south.

A user named Dalia Zada expressed concern over the anti-white sentiment, saying, “‘POC only?’ Maybe I’m missing something or misunderstanding your post, but how is that not a racist thing to say?” Another student posted that “housing segregation is illegal.”

Others say the request was understandable, especially given the heat on racial climate Claremont McKenna — one of Claremont’s campuses — went through last fall, leading to the resignation of Claremont McKenna’s dean of students.

One of Ureña’s roommates, Pomona College student Sajo Jefferson, said that they have been receiving hate mail and have consistently been harassed since the story got out. Jefferson and Ureña explained in a statement to the Washinton Post that their point was not to discriminate or propagate racism, but that “students of color seeking a living space that is all-POC is not only reasonable, but can be necessary.” They added,

We live in a world where the living circumstances of POC are grounded in racist social structures that we can not opt out of. These conditions threaten the minds, bodies and souls of people of color both within and without the realms of higher education. We are fighting to exist.

Members of the Pitzer Latino Student Union argue that the ad was for “self-preservation” purposes and that people of color are allowed to create safe spaces for themselves. “It is not reverse racism,” union member Sara Roschdi said.

However, Pitzer College‘s President Melvin Oliver, the first African-American to be named the head of a Claremont campus, called the ad “inconsistent with our mission and values” in a message to the campus community. He said, “This is but another example to us that social media is not an effective platform to engage in complex dialog on seemingly intractable critical issues that have varied histories and contested understandings.”

Given the college’s small population, the issue at heart is that of creating spaces where marginalized community members feel safe. According to data from the college, 48% of Pitzer’s 1,067 undergraduates identified as white. 15% were Hispanic, 9% Asian-American, 9% multiracial and 5% African-American. The rest were international students or did not identify any race or ethnicity.

There are five Claremont colleges: Pitzer, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd and Scripps, which make up a community of well-regarded schools east of Los Angeles.

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