Diverse centers serve students

We commend The Daily Pennsylvanian for the amount of attention and space that it devoted to the series, Race: An Ongoing Campus Struggle. The series addressed matters which are of great importance to us -- and to all in the University community. We have two related concerns about the series: that there was little attempt to explain what is referred to as "self-segregation," (and also, that it has focused on the "self-segregation" of people of color, not of white people), and that no attention has been given to the many efforts devoted to bringing diverse groups of students together on the Penn campus. In his December 1 DP column, ("The stumbling block of white privilege") Vinay Harpalani establishes a connection between "white privilege" and the need for people of color to identify places on campus where they can feel accepted. A portion of the services and programs we offer at the resource centers we direct is intended to support students who feel alienated by the campus culture and to assist them in finding ways to build community among themselves. Considering its specific focus and content, the series might well have led readers to think that the separations between groups on campus are not being addressed by concerned members of the University community -- both students and employees. We are working hard in our respective centers to provide such spaces for minority students. At the same time, we are working together on several programs which strive to bring together diverse groups on campus in order to increase understanding which, in turn, leads students to build new relationships and increase their spheres of social interaction on campus. A sampling of these programs follows: * PACE (Programs in Awareness of Cultural Education), a peer-education program based at the Greenfield Intercultural Center, offering workshops aimed at improving understanding of the many cultures and groups found at the University and in the broader community. PACE includes a for-credit, semester-long course that trains students to facilitate such workshops for others. * Seeking Common Ground, a Penn Diversity Fund project; sponsored by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center and the GIC to bring together organizations of students of color and LGBT students to identify shared concerns and goals. The program has already succeeded in bringing students together who might not otherwise have interacted. * Alliance and Understanding, a project of Penn Hillel, the African American Resource Center and the GIC, aimed at fostering dialogue between black and Jewish students as they learn about the historic partnership between the two groups during the Civil Rights movement as well as its current relevance. * The Leadership Training Program brings together a highly diverse group of student leaders in a retreat once a semester which emphasizes, among other factors, the effects of diversity in organizational membership. * Research that is currently being done in a class led by Ira Harkavy focuses on patterns of social interaction on campus. Students in this class are working on class projects aimed at addressing greater interaction and many of the related issues. * The University Pluralism Committee has one subcommittee currently considering social interaction among students, especially related to diversity, and another subcommittee considering religious pluralism on campus. * Many campus student clubs and organizations aim to foster inter-group understanding or multiculturalism as part of their missions. These include ALLIES, a group of heterosexual students promoting understanding of and civil rights for LGBT people and the United Minorities Council, which brings together representatives of many campus organizations for students of color. There are many other activities at Penn that are seeking to bring diverse groups of students together, increase understanding among them and prepare them for life in multicultural communities and workplaces. In addition to recognizing the reasons people seek and are entitled to safe spaces on campus, it is vital to recognize efforts aimed at increasing social interaction and appreciate the important contribution they make to enriching life at Penn.

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