The decision to provide segregated accommodations comes just nine months after the university’s Black Student Union presented a list of demands to the university’s authorities to challenge what they perceived as endemic racial discrimination.
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“[It] would provide a cheaper alternative housing solution for Black students”. One demand was for a “CSLA housing space delegated for Black students”.
In an email to College Fix, CSULA spokesperson Robert Lopez described the living space as a community that “focuses on academic excellence and learning experiences that are inclusive and non-discriminatory”. University officials, members of the Black Student Union, and other campus staffers also declined to comment for the website’s piece.
Lopez said the black student housing is within the existing residential complex on campus. While these housing options are technically open to all students, they’re billed and used as arrangements in which black students can live with one another.
The school established the Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community after the Black Student Union demanded a separate housing space. Lopez refrained from detailing how numerous apartments will be dedicated to segregated housing.
The College Fix noted that other universities, including the University of California, Davis; the University of California, Berkeley; and University of CT, offer similar housing arrangements.
Cal State LA is not alone in offering themed housing.
The other demands in the letter include $20,000 dollars per quarter allocated to the Black Student Union, mandatory cultural competency training to all school employees, and a $30 million dollar scholarship for black students.
Young America’s Foundation quoted from the Halisi housing application prior to university officials taking it offline.
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Cal State Los Angeles is not the first school to offer segregated housing, instead of encouraging students to meet and interact with those who hold different life experiences and views.
