Black dorms for black students at UConn? I dig it absolutely!* Or I would, if ....
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Race-Focused Dorms at UConn and UMN Challenged at HUD by Equal Protection Project
Under the Fair Housing Act, “this kind of ‘steering’ toward or away from housing based on race is strictly prohibited … even if the housing program does not physically bar members of other racial or ethnic groups from participating.”
UConn
We bring this complaint and request for investigation against UConn for operating three discriminatory university housing programs that classify students on the basis of race, color, or national origin, in violation of the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”). These programs are:
• the “ScHOLA²RS House,” promoted as being for Black male students;
• the “BSOUL House,” promoted as being for Black female students; and
• “La Comunidad Intelectual,” promoted as being for Hispanic/Latino students***
I'd have no objection if they also had all-white dorms for students who are interested in studying and don't want to live with black "culture" of all-night rap music parties; I don't believe those are offered, however.
BTY, here’s a question I asked, first, of Google AI, and when that system’s filters prevented the search from finding the article I was looking for, XI Grok came to the rescue, locating the article and summarazing it in about 5 seconds.:
Q: A few years ago a female writer of color (or Hispanic, I forget) penned an article (NY Times? Atlantic?) on her bad experience with a white roommate, who complained about the author and her friends satying up partying in the room, playing music, etc. Can you find that article/
Thoughts
Yes, I found it—it's "Why Do Rich People Love Quiet?" (also subtitled "The sound of gentrification is silence") by Xochitl Gonzalez, published in The Atlantic in August 2022.
Xochitl Gonzalez is a Latina (Puerto Rican) writer and novelist. The piece is a personal essay reflecting on cultural differences around noise, joy, and "quiet" as a marker of privilege/gentrification. A key section describes her Ivy League college experience (Brown University, class of '99): During minority-student orientation, she and other students of color partied, gossiped, danced, and played music (e.g., Blahzay Blahzay on a boombox) late into the night. Once the white students arrived, things shifted to enforced silence. Her group faced passive-aggressive hints (roommates getting ready for bed early) and direct complaints: "point-blank requests to make less noise, have less fun," knocks on the door with "Please quiet down," and shushing in study areas. She frames this as white students prioritizing their comfort over the group's joy and cultural expression.
The essay ties this into broader themes of gentrification in Brooklyn (noise complaints about music, parties, loud talking from people of color) and historical efforts to suppress "unnecessary noise." It's not solely focused on one specific roommate incident but uses the college roommate/housemate dynamic as a central anecdote.You can read the full article here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/09/let-brooklyn-be-loud/670600/. It was part of a body of her work nominated as a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary.
This seems to be the one you’re recalling—no other matching articles from the NYT or elsewhere turned up in searches for similar details. Let me know if it doesn't ring a bell or if you have more specifics!
*If you’ve never read Tom Wolfe’s 1970 Atlantic article “Radical Chic”, or if you haven’t revisited it during the past decades, do so. Wolfe writes about “That Party at Lennie’s house”, a fundraiser for the Black Panthers hosted by Leonard Bernstein in his NYC penthouse. Fifty-six years later, nothing’s changed since Lenny wet his pants and gurgled to one of the men who advocated the impoverishment, even murder of rich white men like him, “I dig you — I dig you absolutely!”
Nothing changed, that is, except for The Atlantic itself, which published Wolfe’s article in 1970, and Gonzalez’s essay in 2022. You won’t see the likes of Tom Wolfe on the new version of Atlantic ever again.
