Geneseo’s newest Living Learning Community committed to leadership and diversity, not segregation

SUNY Geneseo’s newest Living Learning Community (LLC), Umoja House, has recently drawn inaccurate criticism from right-wing groups and media personalities on campus. The claims made incorrectly accuse the college of segregating students based on race and skin color.

Geneseo’s LLCs are communities within on-campus residence halls with the aim of bringing together students with similar majors, professional goals, and hobbies. Umoja House, named after the first principle of Kwanzaa and located on the first floor of Erie Hall, is an LLC focused on nurturing leadership skills while celebrating diversity in culture and individual identities, according to the college’s website.  

On a segment of the Shannon Joy Show, a conservative radio talk show based in Rochester, NY, Geneseo student Owen Stevens made the erroneous claim on September 17 that, “SUNY Geneseo has opened a new dormitory that will segregate students on the basis of race and skin color.” 

This criticism comes following a string of conflicts between Stevens and the college, including his suspension from the Ella Cline Shear School of Education in April 2021.   

Contrary to Stevens’ claim, Associate Director of Residential Life for Educational Initiatives Meg Reitz says that race is not a factor considered during the LLC selection process. 

“We have a consistent rubric that's used for all the different LLCs. We don't look at anything about the individual students, we're just looking at their answers” said Reitz. “The questions and the criteria are the same for every LLC, they’re not specific to Umoja House.” 

According to Reitz, students are graded on their responses to questions related to the students’ academic and extracurricular interests, how they relate to the goals of the LLC, and how the student plans on upholding the values of the LLC while living there. 

None of these criteria relate to a student’s race, much less exclude a student based solely on their race like Stevens has claimed.

According to Reitz, determining a student’s race during the selection process is unnecessary and difficult. 

“I haven't looked at race prior to deciding who gets to participate in certain things. It’s actually quite difficult to determine things like that about a student while we’re in the selection process, all we know are their answers to the questions on the rubric” said Reitz.  

Per the college’s website, Umoja House is open to students of all years and all majors and attempts to foster a spirit of unity amongst a diverse group of Geneseo students.