Last week’s panel on program houses, which was sponsored by The Sun and the aptly titled STUC, held the promise of reinvigorating our stale debates. Did it succeed?

In some ways, yes. The event allowed minority representatives to publicly articulate their concerns. Zach Murray ’11 noted the academic and social difficulties he faced as a freshman from a “90 percent black” neighborhood. As one of the few minorities in his dorm, he was not made aware of academic services or diversity resources. Ujamaa, he said, provided him with the support system, indeed the family, that would guide his undergraduate experience.

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.

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.

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.

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.