Pictured above: The King Suite would be housed in Osprey Hall, but specifics about the hall and the program are still to be decided by the university’s housing department and administrators. Thomas Iacobucci | The Crow’s Nest
By Dylan Hart
After two hours of debate over the bill’s language, Student Government senators voted on April 6 to pass a resolution backing the King Suite, a housing plan for students of color.
The resolution, which was drafted by senators Jasmine Ayo-Ajayi and Karla Correa, supports creating a housing option for students of color and allies in the upcoming Osprey Hall, the university’s third residence hall, opening this fall.
The King Suite would “focus on creating peer support for (students of color) as they understand the experience of People of Color both on and off campus,” the resolution explains.
If created, the floor would work with the Office of Multicultural Affairs to give students workshops, study sessions, meetings and volunteer opportunities in the community.
While the resolution passed unanimously in the senate, it did not come without controversy.
When it was first introduced in late March, the resolution sparked debate on “USFSP The Know It All’s Guide to Knowing it All,” a Facebook group for students. Some decried the resolution as racist and discriminatory. Others defended the bill as an opportunity to build a community.
Alongside the resolution, Ayo-Ajayi conducted a survey of students of color on campus and found that the King Suite had support from them.
“We shared it on the Black Student Association page, GroupMe, Facebook on the Know It All’s Guide, and it’s been mostly supportive,” she said. “The people who don’t want it — it seems like it’s because they don’t understand it.”
Regardless, it received support from the BSA, of which Ayo-Ajayi is a member, and OMA.
The resolution cites demographic data from the university’s admissions department, referring to the St. Petersburg campus as a “predominantly white institution” because more than 50 percent of its students are white.
The primary purposes for introducing the King Suite regard the negative experiences of people of color on college campuses, especially predominantly white institutions. It also references studies from various researchers on black students at universities experiencing racial microaggressions.
In response, the resolution offers the King Suite as a way to provide a safe and inviting community for students of color who might otherwise feel excluded, unsafe or uncomfortable on campus.
The resolution also incorrectly states that only five black, five Asian and 26 Latinx students were admitted at the school last fall, among 178 students. Those numbers refer to students enrolled, not admitted. (See our previous coverage of admissions and enrollments below.)
King Suite was based on other affinity housing programs — programs that let students choose to live with people who share “a common interest or identity factor such as race, religion, or sexuality” — in places like Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University.
King Suite isn’t USF St. Petersburg’s first such housing option, either. The Stonewall Suites Living Learning Community, named after the prominent pro-LGBT Stonewall riots of 1969, allows LGBT+ students and allies to live together on the third floor of Residence Hall One.
There’s also the Global House on the fourth floor of RHO, which works with the Education Abroad department to focus on “exploring (students’) global interests while becoming ethical and engaged global citizens.”
At George Washington University, which last reported a total enrollment of 25,613 in 2014 — about 20,000 more students than USF St. Petersburg — there are 11 affinity housing programs, ranging from programs for Ultimate Frisbee and the business fraternity to programs for Muslim women and women of color.
At Cornell University, which had 21,904 students in 2015, there are 11 “program houses,” including the Ujamaa Residential College, a 144-resident building that celebrates “the rich and diverse heritage of Black people,” and Akwe:kon, a 35-resident building celebrating “American Indian culture and heritage,” where “roughly half” of the residents are Native American.
At both universities, the program websites are careful to describe the programs as celebratory of a particular interest or identity.
A two-hour debate
Although senators indicated support for the general idea of the resolution, the particular wording was contentious. Several motions to change language in the bill were called during SG’s April 6 Zoom meeting — and frustrations rose among constituent supporters throughout.
One such issue was the name. Ayo-Ajayi and Correa chose King Suite after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom supporters called “a unifier for all races and cultures.”
But senators Caitlyn Roland and Jonathon Hatzistefanou pushed back, hoping to change it from a floor for students of color and their allies to a multicultural program. Roland cited Cornell’s programs, which put a heavy focus on multicultural learning and inclusivity. Ayo-Ajayi disagreed.
“A whole program is something that can come after, but that’s not something that’s really being proposed,” Ayo-Ajayi said. “If we’re doing that, that means we have to change the whole resolution.”
Roland started a motion to change the resolution from requesting a space for “students of color” to requesting a space for “students of multicultural interest.”
Correa disagreed with Roland’s motion.
“I think that I understand the sentiment, because I, too, want this to be a multicultural floor,” Correa said. “However, this is something we specifically created with the intent of uplifting and creating a community for specifically students of color. Changing the language takes that away. We want to be specific in our intent.”
Roland and Hatzistefanou’s motions were shot down in a vote, and the resolution continued as it was originally submitted. Still, discussion continued about the wording and whether it was inclusive enough to students.
Amid the back-and-forth, several senators mentioned limiting speaking time to keep the meeting short. In response, SG advisor Dwayne Isaacs pushed for the discussion to be tabled for the next general assembly.
“I just want to remind everyone how important this discussion is to people of color,” Isaacs said. “If this conversation is not done, we need to continue this. Do not rush it because there’s some unexpected time limit. There isn’t. I’m sensing that our students of color are not being heard, and that concerns me.”
Despite Isaacs’ advice, the vote to table the discussion failed, with seven senators voting “yes” and six “no.” Hatzistefanou, who voted “yes,” left the meeting shortly afterward without notice.
Thus, the senate was forced to vote on the resolution that day. Roland made a motion to specifically include allies in the resolution, which passed.
Although several senators left before the meeting concluded, the remaining 12 voted unanimously to pass the resolution.
Now, it’s up to university administration to decide if — and how — the King Suite will be enacted.
