Let me start by saying segregation is far from dead. It might not be politically enforced, but institutions have ways of naturally segregating people, and colleges fall into that category.

From the moment students step on Syracuse University’s campus and are handed their first Otto’s Army shirt, they’re instantly pressured to find their place and community on campus. As humans, we have a fear of being left out, and develop our identity by the social groups we belong to. Our parents were right — we are the company we keep.

When it comes to forming social communities, college students want to surround themselves with people who are like them — those who share their interests, race and perhaps their gender identity. Our comforts lie with the familiar, and that’s what ultimately leads to our self-segregation.

SU’s strengths lie in its diversity. But sometimes this diversity can lend its way to self-segregation. For the most part, I believe SU students know the student body is self-segregated because, let’s face it, it’s extremely visible.

Just take a look at where SU students live. When you walk through the South Campus neighborhoods of Slocum or the UA Towers apartments, you mostly see minority students. I’ve even heard some students refer to the neighborhood as “the black stronghold.” Compare that to the Greek row streets of Comstock and Walnut avenues, and you’ll see a dramatic difference.

It’s not as though different groups or neighborhoods advertise themselves as being “for whites only” or “colored not allowed.” These organizations claim to be inclusive from an institutional standpoint, but many students still don’t feel that level of acceptance.

Barbara Applebaum, chair of the cultural foundations of education department at SU, said that while the term segregation often has a negative connotation, many students of color feel as though living in their own independent communities gives them greater fulfillment of their identity.

“At a predominantly white university where the needs and lives of white students often take center stage, and where microaggressions are experienced daily by students in a marginalized group, there is a lot of value in having separates spaces,” Applebaum said. “Such separate spaces allow marginalized students to discuss problems they share in common, without being dismissed, or ignored, or asked to educate those who don’t have those experiences.”

Brian Hamlin, a senior communications and rhetorical studies major, former Daily Orange opinions writer and former member of the Interfraternity Council, said a contributing factor of this separation is its entrenchment in the organizations that run SU. Hamlin said socioeconomic status also plays a major role in student segregation.

“At the end of the day, a lot of social life on a college campus has to do with where you live,” Hamlin said. “If you have a scholarship here, you have to live on campus to get your stipend from the school. But if you are an affluent student, you have more money to spend on other activities, like Greek life.”

Hamlin pointed to the separate recruitments conducted by the Interfraternity Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council, which encompasses nine historically black fraternities and sororities. While NPHC and Divine 9 organizations were created separately because of segregational policies during the Jim Crow era, independent recruitment processes continue today and still promote the outdated “separate but equal” mentality. And although recruitment itself promotes further self-segregation, the lack of a single NPHC fraternity house on Greek row solidifies the division.

Linda Bamba, president of the Panhellenic Council at SU, is in an interesting position as a black woman in a historically white sorority. Bamba said she believes SU students self-segregate not out of force, but out of comfort, which influenced her decision to join a Panhellenic sorority and not an NPHC — or Divine Nine — organization.

But her Greek affiliation doesn’t take away from her cultural understanding. Bamba is just one example of students judged for breaking cultural norms. Take this from a black man who loves The Lumineers just as much as he loves Nas.

And I’m not alone in this. We’re complex individuals who deserve to be judged by more than our appearance, and yet that’s exactly what society teaches us to do. We’re taught that our groups are one-size-fits-all, and that intermingling is against some unspoken code. Think of the kids in “High School Musical” yelling at Zeke to stick to the status quo.

SU should be a place striving to break this pattern, and the push must come from its students. We shouldn’t want to segregate ourselves out of fear of not being accepted. The entire campus should feel like a safe space.

Above all else, we should be trying to break boundaries and set the example for future generations. Because at the end of the day, we all bleed orange.

 
Obi Afriyie is a senior cultural foundations of education and history dual major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at ooafriyi@syr.edu.

Published on February 5, 2018 at 8:48 pm