Roomate Lists Racial/Ethnic Preference

psydent
Sun, 09 Jun 2013 02:33:54 +0000

Off topic, but I applaud both of you for one of the more civil conversations about race I’ve seen. I agree it’s nice to see the (as you said) mixed families. Whatever floats your boat. Enter player 3, white guy. My first roommate was white and from California too. Peas in a pod? No. Worst roommate situation I’ve been in. Basically values separated us. Since then my roommates have been Non-Arab Middle Eastern (src: wikipedia), South-East Asian, and Indian. Minor differences of course, but similar values of respect, family, etc. We’re good friends to this day.

How does that relate to your situation? Even if he marked Prefers his own race, if you have similar values it’ll work out. Maybe he’s worried about other people judging him or what CPUscientist3000 suggests. Maybe he actually only wants to fraternize with his own kind. If that’s the case, then it’s likely he’ll be out a lot at least.
If you decide to not reassign: Talk to your RA about the concerns due to the preference you saw. Stay positive, tell them your concern and that you hope it’s a good situation. If it does go sour then you’ll have someone to talk to, possibly mediate, and can put a word in for reassignment if it’s really bad.

Something else to consider: You said you’re indifferent now, but if you do reassignment now, do you have a higher chance of moving closer to campus or further from campus (if this factor is important to you).