Emily Neville
Emily Neville
A rising form of segregation has occurred on our college campus, the Raleigh area and in every American town or city over the past several decades. It’s called economic segregation, and it is sure to continue.
According to a 2013 Brookings report, racial segregation in America has declined “slowly, but steadily over the past four decades.” At the same time, the report goes on to say, “the level of economic segregation has been rising.”
There is no denying that the two — racial and economic segregation — are linked together, and there is definitely evidence as well to support that. This past May, NPR did a segment on government segregation of America in the 1930s. People of color were pushed into government housing outside of white, middle-class neighborhoods. It’s not a well-known story (unsurprisingly).
What segregation still exists today is a result of racism well into the late 1900s that prevented black families from moving into quality housing.
The resulting economic divide has deepened among NC State students with new high-end student apartments going up and the university’s recent decision to require that all incoming first-year students live on campus.
While the university released a report along with the decision that revealed a connection between living on campus as a freshman and persisting after the first year, this is still a backwards step in increasing accessibility to higher education. Last year, 78% of incoming freshman lived on campus, which means 22% chose to commute from off campus.
With 100% of freshman living on campus in years to come, university housing will have a few more checks coming into their account.
The university will not only make more money from student housing, but meal plans as well. If you are a first-year student living on campus, you have to have a meal plan. I wasted thousands of dollars on the most minimum possible meal plan this past year because I had an off-campus job that required me to go through drive-thru or have food delivered most days.
I was fortunate to be able to afford living on campus and paying into a meal plan, but based on last year’s policies, I could have commuted from home, only an hour away, to significantly decrease the cost of attending college.
Sure, the ideal is for students to be engaged in the culture of NC State, but making the assumption that everyone can afford to move to campus and insisting the meal plan be a part of the first-year experience is a privileged point of view — or at least, a money grabbing one.
It creates a culture of expensive student living that only reinforces a divide that continues to settle in the world today.
I recently read an article in The Wall Street Journal entitled, “In 10 Years, Your iPhone Won’t Be a Phone Anymore.” The article described the world in 2027 in which the iPhone user will rely less on their phone and more on the technology that supports Siri; simply walking by a coffee shop will entice Siri to tell you to stop in for a cup of joe that suits your specific taste.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this image is accompanied by reduced flight times, smart-home technology and even more sleek and stylish apartment homes.
It sounds and looks like 2017 with better technology and innovations — the caveat is, they are only available for those who can afford it, because in this same image are people waiting in line for the Greyhound bus, dilapidated government housing and an opioid epidemic that was never resolved.
What are we doing to change it? We continue to dream up incredible innovations in every kind of industry, truly living out the NC State motto, but if we are only doing it for the wealthy, white neighborhoods of America, we are solving nothing.
And it looks like those wealthy neighborhoods are becoming available for the NC State student.
Live on Hillsborough has several unique properties for students looking for “luxury apartments” that feature “high end finishes.” Their website goes on to say that they “exemplify urban student living.”
This is not a community. This is not the NC State I know and love.
In Wake County, possible future students of NC State are struggling to achieve the success they are capable of achieving. The only thing they did “wrong” was grow up in the wrong neighborhood.
According to Think NC First, the number of high-poverty racially isolated schools in Wake has doubled in the 2000s. These are more commonly the schools to receive bad grades, Ds and Fs, as well.
It doesn’t stop at education. As a US2010 report of the Russell Sage Foundation and Brown University points out, “most children spend a great deal of time in their neighborhood … for children, income segregation can lead to disparities in crucial public amenities, like schools, parks, libraries, and recreation.”
The Wake County Public School System must do a better job of integrating their public schools for change to come. Parents may not like the extra bus ride for their child, and I promise the parent will kick and scream, but it is what has to happen. So long as we divide the good and bad parts of town, children will be doomed to grow up in a cycle of second-class citizenship.
What else? NC State needs to foster a culture of economic integration. We don’t need another high-end apartment or money-grabbing policy. City Planning of Raleigh can work with NC State on what buildings pop up around our campus. Luxurious student apartments should not “exemplify student living” any more than Canada exemplifies retirement living.
Or things can stay the same and the divide can deepen. If tuition, housing and the general cost of living increases, I will not be surprised when 2027 rolls around looking very similar to today; but not to worry, Siri can tell you what parts of town to avoid.