"Voluntary segregation:" it's not so simple.

As a student at Syracuse University, I have faced many instances of racism and ignorance. In one of my classes, we read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and the teacher asked for comments. No one answered her request. Instead, everyone looked at me, the only Black student in the room. Since it was a book by an African-American author, they assumed I had some special insight. I was the telescope on the Black experience for students and professors who viewed the world through a European lens.

It angered me that students could spout names like Ishmael from Moby Dick and Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter, but did not know of Celie from The Color Purple or Blake from Martin Delany's novel of the same name. To be considered educated, I had to know the names of White literary figures, but White students did not have to know about Black literature.

When I entered other English classes and saw Black students, I smiled and sat next to them. I didn't always know them, but I immediately felt supported and understood. Their mere presence gave me strength and reassurance. With them beside me, I no longer stood alone.

Similar feelings lead Black college students across the nation to sit next to each other in class, engage in their own activities, and live in common housing. Some journalists and scholars have labeled this behavior "voluntary segregation." But that term provides a simple analysis of a complex problem. When Black students group together, it is not only a choice to remain apart, but a response to the many slights they face through campus-wide oppression.

Jennifer Braxton, 21, a senior from Philadelphia, also confronts racism in her classes. "My professor knows many of the White students by name and will call on them in class, she says. "I can have my hand up for five minutes or longer and when he finally calls on me, he says, 'OK, you in the back, what do you have to say.' Even though he addresses White students by their name, I become 'you.' I have no name, no voice and no opinion. I become the ... invisible student at Syracuse University."

Many students share this feeling of being silenced and devalued in the classroom. As a Black Latina woman, Veronica Rosario, a 22-year-old graduate student from Brooklyn, echoes this sentiment.

"I am in the Newhouse School [of Public Communications] and my professor made an announcement about a forum on the 'Changing Face of the Media.' When he mentioned one of the panelists, who had a Spanish-sounding name, one of the students burst out laughing. It's still foreign for White students to hear about people with different-sounding names and different-colored skin in positions of authority. It made me feel disrespected and mad ..."

This type of ignorance is a common aspect of attending a predominantly White university. People come to college from all different backgrounds and many bring their biases with them. James Carter, a junior, says he can never escape the feeling of being judged on the basis of his race.

"I can't go into classes and not think about it. Out of five classes, I am the only Black student in three of them." Carter says, "There is a greater weight on my shoulders. You feel like you're representative of Black students everywhere. I don't have anything to prove to them, but I know if I don't perform well it will reinforce their stereotypes about Black students."

When Black students sit near one another, they gain moral support and understanding in an atmosphere where Black culture is still not appreciated and valued. But the media do not document this fact. Instead they focus on how Black students separate themselves inside and outside class. Dinesh D'Souza, author of Illiberal Education, writes that the "separatist minority organizations [exist] on virtually every college campus." But Carter says that Black students need these organizations so they can have a place to be themselves.

"I look for an environment where I don't have to worry about breaking down stereotypes," he says.

At Syracuse University, Carter is the editor of The Black Voice, a newsletter that provides African-American news and information. He says that The Black Voice should not be viewed as promoting segregation, but rather as fostering an open exchange of ideas.

"The Black Voice is necessary because our views are not reported in The Daily Orange. Our concerns, our issues are not expressed. Some of the things we are interested in, the DO might not print. Also, The Black Voice serves a function in the community. It lets people know what's going on here. We address issues which are specific to Black people," Caner says.

The Student African American Society (SAS) at Syracuse University, is an organization that gained nationwide attention for its Black-only membership policy. Although White students have tried to gain membership, they have been denied. Instead, they are encouraged to attend the seminars and lectures that the group sponsors. Writers like John Leo of U.S. News & World Report have written about SAS to show an example to reverse racism, but Carlet doesn't see it that way.

"I understand why they do it. Some of the things that are discussed need to stay within the confines of the meeting," Carter asserts. "Within the environment we find ourselves in in the classroom, Black students must hold back their feelings and can't say what they feel. If White students come in, it would dilute SAS."

James Turner, chair of the Africana Studies Department at Cornell University, asks why Black students grouping together is seen as a problem. Authors D'Souza and Leo cite examples of Black students joining their own organizations and sitting together in the classroom as evidence of segregation, but they do not mention that White students do the same. In AAS 231, an African-American literature class at SU, approximately 70 percent of the students are Black. Angela Williams, teaching assistant for the class, says that White students also tend to sit together.

"Part of it is because it's the first environment they've been in when they haven't been the majority. They don't feel comfortable sitting with other people. But the difference is they know when they leave it is their world again," Williams says.

Turner says that separation only becomes a problem when it is Black people who are doing it. People overlook that we affiliate with others with whom we have things in common.

"All people tend to sit with other people they know," Turner says. African-American students tend to do the same. People look at Black students as if they are doing something odd. The emphasis is never placed on White students. What's the opposite, that [Black students] should avoid each other?" he asks.

Leo, in a U.S. News & World Report editorial, said that the point of going to a predominantly White college is to join the mainstream, not attack it. His assertion is shared by people at universities across the country. People like James Turner and Angela Williams ask, "What do these people view as the mainstream of culture?" It's the way that they pose the question that supports White supremacy," Williams says.

As a freshman at SU, I took an introductory art class and learned about one Black artist out of a whole semester. It is this type of ignorance that Black students face across the country. Black and White students will remain divided until the structure of predominantly White universities is changed. The question is, what can be done?

The answer may be found at Temple University. Molefi Asante is chairperson of African American Studies at Temple, the only program that offers a PhD in the field. He says that separation between Blacks and Whites is not as evident on his campus.

"Temple doesn't seem to have that problem. When I walk through the university, I don't notice it. But Temple also has one of the largest numbers of African-American students at any major university," Asante says.

He explains that Temple is located in a predominantly Black community in Philadelphia. He says that this fact combined with the comparatively high number of Blacks at the university makes all students more in touch with Black culture.

Asante also said that Temple requires entering freshmen to take a class about the history of different cultures. Some students think that this requirement might help to bridge the gap between Black and White students.

"If White students were forced to take an African-American studies course or a Latino-American studies course as part of their core classes, it might help," Rosario says. "It could give them a real understanding of our cultures and could help to sensitize them, make them more compassionate..."

"If that would happen, White students would become more sensitive to the needs of African Americans. A lot of White students are ignorant to the culture of Black students. It might help give them a better understanding. White students can come here and have nothing to do with Black students for four years and leave, but we can't do that," Braxton says.

But Braxton doubts that all students support an effort to unite the Black and White student body. She says Black people have labored too long in search of White approval. Now African Americans should concentrate on themselves.

"Even if the university set up more programs to promote cultural diversity, who's to say that we would attend? Attempts have been made at the university, but some students don't want it. We have too much to learn within our own communities," she says.

Carter told me that in one of the dorms at SU there is a poster with a picture of a puzzle. Words like African American, gay, Latino, and White are written on each piece. At the bottom of the puzzle reads the words: At SU, everyone fits in.

In this puzzle lies the key to understanding the problem at colleges and universities across the country. The issue is much deeper than simply fitting in. Students do not want assimilation, a society in which they have to shed their color and their culture in order to belong. W.E.B. DuBois wrote in the Souls of Black Folk that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," but the problems at colleges like Syracuse University are much deeper than the mere conflict between Black and White.

The problems of today are those of the culture line. They stem from the refusal of universities to redefine what constitutes American culture. They will not end by criticizing Black students for remaining separate, but will only end when universities recognize that Black people have contributed to America's history and development.

"It's a political move to have people arguing against racial separation and for color-blindness... These same people are against affirmative action and targeted minority recruitment. We don't want a color-blind society, we want economic justice and social equity. Color-blindness is a smoke screen for the refusal to talk about racial justice," Turner says.

Kelly Starling is a graduate student in magazine journalism at Syracuse University.