To the Editor:

Re: “Enlightened, At Least From My Perspective,” Opinion, Nov. 4

Zach Murray’s ’10 statement at the program house panel, “white students don’t have to think about diversity,” was expressed as a result of what I deem a growing frustration that he, I and many other students of color on this campus feel because of the inability or lack of effort on the part of many — not all — of the majority white community at empathizing with the minority experience.

The contention resulting from Cornell’s ongoing review of residential program houses brought a large crowd to the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium in Goldwin Smith yesterday to hear a panel discussion about the value of program houses and their place in the Cornell community.

The discussion, sponsored by Students to Unite Cornell and The Sun, covered a range of topics including the administration’s support for program houses and diversity inside and outside the houses.

What does it take for a group of people to be listened to — to be heard loud and clear? Riots, rallies, picketing and sit-ins are so ’60s. It is the age of Facebook groups, twittering and blogs; but it should not always have to come to such things.

Black Students United, Ujamaa and Students for Ken Glover marched in the homecoming parade on Saturday in support of Ujamaa residential housing director Ken Glover.

How would you feel? How would you feel if you were randomly and unexpectedly called into your boss’s office one day and told that you were being moved? No questions asked. You have two weeks to move from the place that you have been working and making a living at for 20 years. I would feel completely disrespected, but at the same time, I would feel powerless. And I would feel powerless because a large institution treated me with so much cruelty, that my 20 years of service to this institution and to an entire community garnered no respect. Not even enough respect to give me any sort of choice whatsoever.

Rosa Clemente M.A. ’98, the first ever female Hispanic vice presidential candidate, urged Cornell minority students to organize and revive the University’s tradition of racial activism at a lecture on Friday.

We have been debating program houses since their inception. What are we actually arguing about?

Proponents of program houses, including fellow columnist Navid Farnia ’09, have argued that they allow students to “reaffirm cultural unity and identity” amidst, in Farnia’s words, a normative “white” culture. They believe that the reevaluation of Ujamaa, Akwe:kon and the Latino Living Center reflects a widespread desire to forcibly assimilate “distinct” students into the general culture.

Opponents, on the other hand, criticize these houses for promoting a “self-segregation” counter to the very concept of the University.

On June 29, 2009, Ken Glover, Residential Housing Director of Ujamaa Residential College was contacted by Cornell University administrators and notified that he had been replaced as Ujamaa’s RHD and had been reassigned to High Rise 5. Mr. Glover, having been the director of Ujamaa for over 20 years, was shocked by his sudden reassignment, as he had no intention of moving from Ujamaa.

When Kenneth Glover, the veteran Ujamaa housing director, was abruptly reassigned to another dormitory this summer, backlash from the Cornell community reflected overwhelming support for Glover and his community-building initiatives within the residential college. Many saw the move as an attack on Ujamaa, which was established in 1972 to foster and promote black heritage at the University, and the outcry prompted the administration to temporarily reinstate Glover’s position for a year.