Brown ACLU Questions Homogeneity In Dorms

A group of Brown University students is demanding an explanation of a racial imbalance in the school's first-year dorms discovered earlier in November by members of the campus chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

After noticing a disproportionate number of students of color in the university's New Pembroke, Morris-Champlin and Emery-Woolley dorms, ACLU members David S. Brock, Damali Campbell and Andrew Dupuy investigated the anomaly.

According to the statistics they compiled, minorities make up 38 percent of first-years in New Pembroke, and a subdivision of New Pembroke is 52 percent minority. Only 25 percent of the class of 2002 as awhole are members of a minority group.

ACLU Treasurer Robert Letzler said the probability that this configuration of students occurred at random is only .001 percent, smaller than the 5 percent probability usually accepted as statistically random.

Arthur Gallagher, Brown's director of residential life, was not available for comment yesterday. The Brown Daily Hereald reported last week that he accepted the ACLU's finding that there was an imbalance, but he maintained that rooming assignments were random, completely blind to race and ethnicity.

The clustering is reminiscent of a situation at Harvard reported by The Crimson earlier this year. Homogeneous clusters of students, both in terms of ethnicity and interests, are noticeable in first-year dorms including the Union dorms.

Officials in the Freshman Dean's Office, which assigns Harvard first-years to their rooms, did not give reasons for the imbalances but maintained they were still committed to diversity in rooming groups.

Apart from losing the benefits of diversity, the Brown students said they are worried that uneven racial distribution will lead to additional strain on the school's residential minority peer counselors, who complete extra training on issues of race and class and offer workshops on those areas to first-years of color.

Throughout the year, these coun- selors reside in first-year dorms and offerassistance and support to minority students.

"If there are units that have 50 percentstudents of color, the minority peer counselors inthose units will have a lot more to do than thosein units with only 10 percent minorities," Letzlersaid.

According to Letzler, two of the three dormswith unusually high percentages of minorities alsohappen to be two of the least desirable dorms oncampus.

The Office of Residential Life at Brown isresponsible for assigning firstyear roommate pairsand deciding where each pair will live.

First-years are paired according to gender andsmoking preferences, according to Brownspokesperson Mark Nickel.

The office also does not permit two studentsfrom the same state to room together. Other thanthat, rooms are assigned randomly, and the officeis not even aware of students' minority ornon-minority status, he said.

Once assignments are complete, minoradjustments--such as removing smokers fromnon-smoking dorms--are made.

Letzler said he believes a new computer programused by the office may be responsible for theimbalance.

In a meeting last Friday, at whichrepresentatives from the office and the ACLU werepresent, Gallagher announced that the office plansto investigate the anomaly, determine the causesand make any changes necessary to ensure that itwill not happen again.

"[Administrators in the Office of ResidentialLife] have been very forthcoming" said Brock, thepresident of Brown's ACLU chapter. "It is obviousthat these are not numbers that they wanted."

The statistics originally ran in an article inThe Brown Daily Herald on Nov. 12. Since then, theHerald has been inundated with letters fromstudents both criticizing and defending the ACLU'sstance.

Some have criticized the ACLU for onlyexamining statistics from one year. ACLU memberssaid in a letter to the editor that they did nothave the statistics for previous years at thistime but intend to investigate those as soon asthey receive the data.

Brock said he expected to see similarstatistical anomalies because minority peercounselors told him they had noticed similarimbalances in the past.

Brock said he hoped that the controversy overthe racial imbalance would persuade the Office ofResidential Life to "compile and release data inthe future to see that this doesn't happen again."

Dupuy and Campbell could not be reached forcomment yesterday

"If there are units that have 50 percentstudents of color, the minority peer counselors inthose units will have a lot more to do than thosein units with only 10 percent minorities," Letzlersaid.

According to Letzler, two of the three dormswith unusually high percentages of minorities alsohappen to be two of the least desirable dorms oncampus.

The Office of Residential Life at Brown isresponsible for assigning firstyear roommate pairsand deciding where each pair will live.

First-years are paired according to gender andsmoking preferences, according to Brownspokesperson Mark Nickel.

The office also does not permit two studentsfrom the same state to room together. Other thanthat, rooms are assigned randomly, and the officeis not even aware of students' minority ornon-minority status, he said.

Once assignments are complete, minoradjustments--such as removing smokers fromnon-smoking dorms--are made.

Letzler said he believes a new computer programused by the office may be responsible for theimbalance.

In a meeting last Friday, at whichrepresentatives from the office and the ACLU werepresent, Gallagher announced that the office plansto investigate the anomaly, determine the causesand make any changes necessary to ensure that itwill not happen again.

"[Administrators in the Office of ResidentialLife] have been very forthcoming" said Brock, thepresident of Brown's ACLU chapter. "It is obviousthat these are not numbers that they wanted."

The statistics originally ran in an article inThe Brown Daily Herald on Nov. 12. Since then, theHerald has been inundated with letters fromstudents both criticizing and defending the ACLU'sstance.

Some have criticized the ACLU for onlyexamining statistics from one year. ACLU memberssaid in a letter to the editor that they did nothave the statistics for previous years at thistime but intend to investigate those as soon asthey receive the data.

Brock said he expected to see similarstatistical anomalies because minority peercounselors told him they had noticed similarimbalances in the past.

Brock said he hoped that the controversy overthe racial imbalance would persuade the Office ofResidential Life to "compile and release data inthe future to see that this doesn't happen again."

Dupuy and Campbell could not be reached forcomment yesterday