As it pushes aggressive legislation against Syracuse University students, the South East University Neighborhood Association crosses a line. SEUNA seeks to have the Syracuse Common Council pass a law that would make it illegal for more than three unrelated people to live together. By pushing this anti-student agenda, they encourage social segregation.

Social segregation is as egregious as it sounds. Instead of SEUNA not wanting to live with people of color or people of an alternate religion, they don’t want to live with college students. College students are a social group just as families are, and frankly, I don’t see why the two can’t get along.

They clearly have a prejudice against college students, whom last I checked were legal, voting adults, too. They operate on old stereotypes of college student behavior and would unfairly punish all students hoping to save money by exercising their privilege of living off campus. They can’t live with students, so therefore hope to use the law to enforce a policy of discrimination.

The way SEUNA seeks to socially segregate the community is akin to redlining – the practice of barring minorities from moving into white neighborhoods. It occurred in almost every major city across the United States starting in the 1930s and was finally legally ended by the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing act.

Allowing the zoning laws to be changed sets a dangerous precedent, with ramifications beyond the student community. A past editorial in The Daily Orange already acknowledged how dozens of rentable lots in the university neighborhood are set up for occupancy by more than three people, but students aren’t always the ones who rent. Anyone could take advantage of the low rates from splitting a house or apartment, but as the editorial pointed out, rates would increase.

Do the math. If rents increase then fewer people could live in the neighborhood. This is acceptable when it occurs on its own, but not when it is artificially constructed through legislation. What SEUNA really is saying is that not only do they not want to live around college students, but they also don’t want to live around poor people.

The members of SEUNA want too much. They want to live near the university but not with students. They hope that this bill would pressure SU, already at capacity for housing, to change its policy by extending the on-campus housing requirement. They essentially want SU to cater to their segregationist special interest.

And it’s all on the line tonight, as SEUNA’s proposed legislation will be heard at the Common Council meeting at 6 at City Hall. If you care about continually letting students rent in the neighborhood or just care about social justice in general, I urge you to join me at the meeting.

Ben Peskin is a featured columnist whose columns appear Thursdays in The Daily Orange. Email him at [email protected].

Published on February 27, 2007 at 12:00 pm