Black-Focused Housing Option Opens at California State University Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CA — In response to the campus’ Black Student Union’s demands, California State University, Los Angeles unveiled a new African-American-only co-ed housing option in time for the start of classes this school year.

The Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community opened on the campus this fall as a response to the demands presented to the university last fall. In a letter to William Covino, the school’s president, the Black Student Union cited “(r)acially insensitive remarks, and micro-aggressions, by professors and students” as a few of the reasons for the opening of a black-focused dormitory.

The students also cited a lack of affordable housing for black students as a reason for the housing demand. Cal State Los Angeles is located near Alhambra and Monterey Park, two of the more affluent areas in the county. The median rent for an apartment around the campus ranges between $1,000 to $2,000 a month, according to Rentcafe, a rental search website.

The students said the black-only housing would “serve as a safe space for Black CSLA students to congregate, connect, and learn from each other.”

The university has a residential complex with 192 furnished apartments on campus, and the new black-focused housing is located there. Twenty-four students are already living there with many more on a wait list, according to the Los Angeles Times. The school already has several themed living spaces in the complex, and Halisi will be one of them.

Such themed housing communities are nothing new and are featured at many universities, according to the school.

“This community is open to all students,” Cal State L.A. spokesman Robert Lopez told Patch. “This living-learning community focuses on academic excellence and learning experiences that are inclusive and non-discriminatory.”

UC Berkeley has Asian Pacific Islander, Native American and African-American themed living communities. Other schools such as the University of Connecticut, UC Davis, Stanford, Cornell College in Iowa and Reed College in Portland, Oregon, all have themed living communities catering to students of color.

Photo courtesy of Cal State L.A.