You’ve seen Jewish men in yarmulkes and Muslim women in
hijabs around campus, right?
They sure do stand out on Bruin Walk and in lecture halls, so
you would have noticed them if they lived on your floor in your
residence hall. But although you’ve seen them on campus, you
seldom see them in on-campus housing. These students are a part of
the rich diversity on our campus, and yet on-campus housing policy
discourages them from participating in residential life.
Many traditional Jews and Muslims observe dietary laws,
respectively called kosher and halal. As all residents of on-campus
housing are required to purchase a meal plan, these students are
required to pay for food they cannot eat while not having a kitchen
to prepare their own food. Because of this, many traditional
students decide not to live in the residence halls and are left out
of the opportunities for student interaction and personal growth
that flourish in residential life.
Diversity is much more than skin deep. Inclusiveness of
diversity in on-campus housing should not mean telling people to
bring their physical selves but to leave their identities, cultures
and traditions at home. To be truly inclusive, residents of the
Hill must be able to live the lifestyle of their choice, be it more
traditional or more modern.
For residents of the Hill to grow the most from living in a
diverse environment, students must be able to bring diverse
lifestyles to their residential life community. All of our college
experiences become richer with more opportunities to learn about
people of different ethnicities, students who one day could become
our neighbors and co-workers. Students should not be forced to
choose between celebrating their ethnic identities and being a part
of residential life.
Unfortunately, many students do. In the Jewish community, some
students stop eating kosher although they would prefer otherwise
because the inconvenience is too great. No less tragically, other
students decide not to live in on-campus housing so they can have a
kosher kitchen.
This is a shame since students who live on campus have more
opportunities to meet other students and are more likely to become
involved in extracurricular activities and succeed academically. No
students should miss these opportunities because they are unwilling
to compromise the traditions they have grown up with, treasure, and
will one day pass on to their children.
The Jewish Student Union and Muslim Student Association are
working together this quarter to bring kosher and halal food
options to on-campus housing. California might pride itself on its
diversity, but UCLA has been left behind by the large public
universities in many other states, including Connecticut, Maryland,
Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Ohio, by not providing or
facilitating kosher and halal options for our on-campus
residents.
The kosher food programs around the country provide many
different models for how kosher and halal food options can be
offered in UCLA’s dining halls. Among these systems are some
simple solutions, such as refrigerators with kosher and halal
sandwich meats and other simple products. These solutions would
easily enhance the lives of traditional Jewish and Muslim students
at little cost without causing much disruption.
Although this small change might not seem exciting to the
average student who eats a different hot entree every meal of the
week, this would be a huge improvement for students who keep kosher
in the residence halls and therefore eat cold cereal and peanut
butter and jelly every day for lunch and dinner.
The Office of Residential Life’s mission statement calls
for creating “inclusive living-learning communities.”
With a few small changes, Housing and Hospitality Services can help
ORL better achieve this goal for the benefit of all students.
Schuster is president of the Jewish Student Union.