To the Editor:
In response to: "Temporary affinity rooms assigned at Fields Center", published in the Daily Princetonian on January 10, 2016.
Full disclosure: I'm a bleeding-heart New York liberal. I'm also an older upper-middle-class white male. I live in Princeton, haveworked for many years at the University and keep up closely with campus issues and discussions.
Having said all that,I am amazed that the creation of racial and cultural "affinity rooms" has been decided uponand enacted with such incredibly little public discussion on campus. I am not aware of the university community as a whole having been asked for thoughts on "affinity rooms" or of any opportunity for open discussion.
Now, given my certainly privileged status and the clear fact that I have never experienced what it is like to be a member of a minority, I hesitate to jump to conclusions. However,my initial reaction is that this is an extremely unfortunate decision.
Why are we going the route of formal segregation? Wouldn't it be much better to encourage the view that we are all in this together, rather than espousing the view that we need protection from those of other colors and cultures? If people do want to hang out with those of asimilar race or ethnicity, can't they do so in any public area, or inanyone's private room?
This is not to mention the absurdity of the implication that just because you are "black, African-American, Latinx, Asian, Asian-American, Arab [or] Middle-Eastern,"you share your culture with others in that group.
How is this is not a major step backwards, toward segregation and "otherness" and away from that ideal time when all people "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?”
Brian Zack '72
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