Building walls around ourselves

When I was a freshman, I lived in a residential program at Spruce College House called "Living Cultures." The premise of this program was simple: live and interact with people from different cultures, so as to broaden your social and cultural horizons. Oleg, the Russian roommate, Edwin, the Kenyan RA and Indian and Chinese housemates down the hall, among others, made this a truly valuable experience that helped me come out of my self-selectivity shell.

I wish, though, that I could say the same for Penn as a whole. Despite their diverse cultural backgrounds, Penn students tend to be overly self-selective along ethnic, religious, economic and political lines when it comes to student groups and activities, housing and even dating. It's a trend that we should all be aware of and should help combat by being more open to people unlike ourselves.

First things first, however: A certain degree of self-selectivity is never a bad thing. One is always happy to meet another person from the same ethnic or religious background or someone who shares the same political viewpoint, so it's only natural to form friendships along those lines.

However, at Penn, such lines have become walls. Here are some familiar anecdotes, which I'm sure we can all identify with.

Not too long ago, I was dancing with a girl at a party, until she whispered in my ear: "Are you Jewish?" "No," I said, and the dance was over.

My finance group needed one more person for our presentation. As we walked around the class looking for someone to fill the slot, we came across an Asian student who also needed a group. But when he realized that there was a group of four other Asian students looking for someone, he quickly left our group and joined them.

My friend Mike and I rushed a professional business fraternity filled with international students, mostly from Asia and India. Neither one of us is an international student. We didn't get a bid, but our friends from Hong Kong did.

There's more to it than that: self-segregation in housing -- whole floors of students of the same descent living together; "rich" frats, "Jewish" frats, or "crew" frats; self-segregation in dating -- phrases like "I just want to find a nice Christian Wharton boy"; and students using leadership positions in their student organizations to get their friends and acquaintances of the same ethnicity or political outlook into the organization.

Theses are all walls to enjoying the full fruits of Penn's diversity. They divide Penn into narcissistic cliques and make interaction with people from different backgrounds and characteristics all the more difficult. They elevate status and belonging at the cost of individuality and independent thinking. They cheapen our academic experience, since any presentation you're apt to see in a Wharton course will likely be conducted by friends or like-minded students from the same ethnic background or fraternity or sorority; cultivating new friendships and perspectives becomes all the more difficult. These are walls, in short, that must be torn down.

Here's where you come in.

If you constantly look for people like yourself in your social, academic and romantic interactions, try to give someone else a chance; look for someone different from yourself. If you've never dated someone of a different religion, give someone of another faith a try. One of my friends used to think that he'd never date a non-Jewish girl, yet the most rewarding relationship he's ever been is that with his current girlfriend, who is Christian.

If you're never lived with people of a different ethnicity, don't be afraid to live with friends who don't share your heritage. For example, my Kenyan roommate, Ben, despite having a wide network of African friends, has decided to live with my American friends and me year after year. I admire his courage and open-mindedness.

And if you're thinking of joining a fraternity or sorority while in college, don't just look for a house that's filled with people who are all alike or fit some conception of how you see yourself in the future. One of the reasons I joined my fraternity was that there were no two guys in it who were alike -- and certainly none like me. It has been without a doubt one of the most positive social experiences I've had at Penn.

To help ensure more such positive social experiences, Penn should be a little bit more like the "Living Cultures" program: We should not place any glass ceiling on our social interactions. I will happily dance with any girl, no matter what her religious affiliation -- provided that she is OK with me stepping on her toes and making her bleed -- and I expect the same in return. And so should you. So do your part: Tear down that wall.

Cezary Podkul is a junior management and philosophy major in Wharton and the College from Chicago, Ill. Cezary Salad appears on Mondays.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.