OPINION
STAFF EDITORIAL
Priority housing selection for Northside is flawed Residents of McDowell and Leonard Hall next semester will receive priority housing options when registering for on-campus housing for the fall semester. The University was rash to preemptively promise early housing registration to these residents. While the noise from construction of North Hall is indeed an inconvenience to residents, McKinley construction also causes noise hindrances to residents of Letts, Anderson and Centennial. Seeing as Northside residents have not been complaining about noise, the decision to create a policy to guarantee early housing registration seems unnecessary. The preference for housing
should not favor one side of campus over another, especially when based on faulty logic. If AU is going to create a system of preference for anyone, it
of a larger problem: the pure lottery system in place should be reconsidered with additional new housing options being added in upcoming years.
The entir e AU com e long term. munity w th in n o ti c u tr s n ill benefit m the current co fro would need to aid all students facing inconveniences. If preference is given to Northside students dealing with noise, students forced to live in the Letts Sky Lounge at the beginning of this year deserve to re-
Check your privilege DEREK SIEGEL | ETHICS WITH A SIDE OF TOAST We usually don’t think of ourselves as powerful, just as regular people. Systems of inequality, including racism, transphobia and sexism, distribute privilege to some people and take power away from others. But having power doesn’t make you bad. In fact, checking your privileges can be an opportunity to become an ally to marginalized communities on campus. Being gay, sometimes I feel powerless. No matter how poised and articulate I am, it
ceive preference as well. After a while, it’s just not feasible to offer that privilege to anyone. The entire AU community will benefit from the current
would take only one homophobic remark to wrest this power away from me. If somebody rejects my sexual orientation or confronts me for acting “too gay,” then the person I am and the things I have accomplished will cease to matter. Any situation I am in, no matter how confident I may feel, could be instantly reversed. I could go from feeling powerful to feeling invalidated, ashamed or even physically threatened. Because I am privileged in other aspects — I am white, male and able-bodied — my
construction in the long term. This being said, privileges shouldn’t be given to specific groups on campus for dealing with pieces of the construction in the first place. These issues are symptoms
Various criteria such as separate housing lotteries based on credits completed at AU, grade point average, semesters lived on campus and anticipated graduation date should all be considered. The Eagle does not
power is rarely threatened. But knowing that this power is temporary, that at any moment the situation can be swept out from beneath my feet without my consent, is terrifying. Marginalization is knowing that something could happen to you — slurs, threats, sexual assault — and fearing that nobody would lift a finger in your defense. Will they say that the threat didn’t really happen, and that you’re making it up? Or that you are to blame, that you were acting too gay or you were dressed too provocatively? We live in a society that blames people for their own marginalization. Feeling powerless, therefore, has nothing to do with being weak. If you are privileged, then you don’t need to worry about defending yourself because you
aren’t likely to be attacked. Feeling powerless has nothing to do with being emotionally vulnerable. If you are privileged, then you won’t need to worry about others trying to delegitimize your identity. People will see you as authentic. Marginalization includes the stress of never knowing if I’m completely safe, respected or welcome. On our campus, I’m set at ease by the explicit affirmation of rainbow flags. If you are privileged, however, you don’t need a special sticker to show that you are welcome somewhere because you are welcome anywhere you go. Even if you don’t feel personally powerful — and that includes those of us who are marginalized in certain aspects of our lives — you most likely have power that you don’t even know
feel that total credits completed would be an effective method to housing selection. Students coming to AU with sizable amounts of AP/IB credit are already given proper advantage with class selection. With more on-campus housing becoming available, upperclassmen should not be forced off campus simply due to a bad lottery number. As we expand housing on campus, demand will also increase, and AU will need to be prepared for that influx of students looking for a home. While there is no single solution to the housing selection process, AU should take into consideration alternative approaches moving forward. ≠ E EDPAGE@THEEAGLEONLINE.COM
about. It’s essential that you become aware of this privilege and that you use it to become an ally to those who are threatened on a daily basis. A great example of checking your own privilege is the organization “Men Can Stop Rape,” which uses male privilege to combat the normalization of sexual assault. Privilege is a zero-sum-game. If you are not directly marginalized, then you have the power to advocate, to threaten, or to do nothing at all with this privilege. But by not actively combatting oppression, you may be perpetuating social forces that systematically delegitimize, intimidate and discriminate against marginalized people. Derek Siegel is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. EDPAGE@THEEAGLEONLINE.COM