To the editor,
Yesterday, Kerri Martin asserted that students were to blame for the lack of racial diversity in the Tufts' freshman class, stating that we were reluctant or unwilling to "branch out" and "desegregate the self-segregated campus." I beg to differ.
Undeniably, students tend to interact with those most like themselves. But if students are not in an environment that is diverse, they do not have an option. The problem starts here.
If students choose to make their friendships based on the most overt commonalities - race and socio-economic status - then it is a personal decision. However, the amount of "mixing" is constrained by the amount of different people available to "mix" with. Martin states that diversity begins with "mixing," but I believe understanding begins with mixing. Diversity - at the most basic level - begins with numbers.
Martin also bemoaned my mention of a black/white paradigm, which she called "outdated." And though I wish "the problem of the color line," as W.E.B. Du Bois called it in his 1903 novel, "The Souls of Black Folk," was outmoded, it is not: Many secondary schools in America - like housing areas - are divided by race.
This translates into later inequalities, such as a 2004 U.S. Census Bureau statistic stating that 18 percent of African-Americans aged 25 and older held a bachelor's degree or higher.
Because of this, contrary to Martin's thoughts, heavy recruitment is imperative for African-American students, as well as other students of color, whether they be Latino or Native American. Only when Tufts' student body is more reflective of the country as a whole will recruitment become irrelevant.
There are 52 African Americans in the freshman class. What if there were 42 instead of 52? How about 22? And though, as Kerri Martin states, the big picture - who we choose to interact with - is still an issue, the larger subject, presumably, is that students are in an environment where they are given a choice.
So let us talk numbers, recruitment and diversification. Let us also talk justice. Not me "doing justice to my African-American peers" as Martin stated she assumed my purpose was; let us talk justice for a Tufts community,-a community that thrives on differences, opportunity and intelligent decision-making. Let us talk justice for a community that, by increasing racial diversity, becomes far stronger than the sum of its parts.
Paula Kaufmanfreshman
