Early on a brisk Thursday morning last month, Sharmaynne Roberts packed her bag for class, grabbed her coat and headed out of her Drackett Hall dorm room.The sophomore psychology major anticipated the shuffle of sleepy students and the smell of breakfast cooking. Instead, words of hate and ignorance greeted her as she closed her door behind her. “Nigger go to Africa” and “Unlock da’ door bitch” written in blue erasable ink decorated the metal door – a door which stood as the only barrier between her and the vandal. Despite the initial shock, Roberts said she wasn’t all that surprised something so ugly could happen at Ohio State. Before she came to OSU from San Francisco, she had heard Columbus described as the “gateway to the South,” and that the Ku Klux Klan rallied here. Racial tension didn’t surprise her. “Racism is pretty common,” Roberts said. “People are harassed daily.” The Drackett Hall incident got students, both white and black, talking about whether racial harassment is common in the residence halls, or if Roberts was a victim of an isolated event. Ohio State doesn’t keep track of the number of racial incidents in the residence halls but is currently working on a system that will make this information available by mid-January, said Steve Kremer, director of Residence Life. Tracking racial incidents is just one feature of a new system of collecting and analyzing data on campus crime. Residence life, university police and legal affairs are all working together, he said. Without hard numbers, gauging the racial climate in OSU’s dorms is difficult.Amber Jones, a white resident of Mack Hall, said she doesn’t see any racial segregation in her dorm.”Everybody’s treated fairly – at least on my floor,” said Jones, a freshman biology major. Not all students are so lucky.Last year, junior Erica Mahilo befriended a biracial student. Although one parent was black, the other white, his friends and girlfriends were primarily white. His lifestyle, however, was not accepted by black students and led to notes on his door ordering him “to stick with his race and find his history,” she said. Though he insisted that his friendships were not based on race but on character, the harassment continued. The notes, combined with difficulties adjusting to college life, led him to leave OSU. “(Students) need to be educated. Just throwing people together is not going to do anything,” said Mahilo. Not everyone comes to college with an open mind, ready to learn about other students and their cultures. Many students segregate themselves so as to avoid interaction and harassment. People congregate on the basis of race because they have more in common with their own group, said junior Larry Benton, a black exercise science major in Baker hall. He sees racial cliques in residence and dining halls. Cliques aren’t necessarily a bad thing, said junior LaTonya Swain, a black residence assistant in Stradley Hall. “People are more comfortable with their own kind,” said the criminology major. You can’t force integration or segregation, Smith Hall RA Keith Lofton said. Blacks sit with other blacks almost everywhere, he said. “Everyone wants a comfort zone,” said the communications major, who is black.A more obvious example of segregation is the Afrikan-American Living/Learning Center, said Carrie Dunn,a white RA in Steeb Hall. The Learning Center is a floor in Lincoln Hall reserved for people who are interested in learning more about issues such as history, politics, and African-American culture, said Andy Vogel, a contract assistant for the Housing Assignments Office.Students of any race and gender can apply to live on the floor, Vogel said. Dunn, who lived in Lincoln Hall last year, doesn’t think the center is a good idea. The whole point of Ohio State is to promote diversity and that floor was not consistent with those goals, she said. When she lived there, the residents segregated themselves from the rest of the dorm, said Dunn, a German major. Dunn said she could understand why students would want to live in such an environment, but still disagreed with the concept.Carlie Bell, a black resident assistant for the program, said the center, which was created in 1992, doesn’t encourage segregation. Most people don’t return after their first year, said Bell, an Anthropology and pre-dentistry major. Although the students appeared to enjoy their experience on the floor, they leave because they want more diversity, said Bell.The floor, which has 46 men and women, recently had an open house which was followed by a discussion on cultural sensitivity. Everyone seemed to like it, she said. Whether white or black, RA’s such as Bell have the responsibility to create programs that speak to students of all backgrounds. Some resident assistants believe a type of “all inclusive” programming will add unity to an socially diverse community. However, some programs unintentionally exclude students, Lofton said. In the beginning of the year there was an African-American social, he said. Though it was open to everyone, some white students may have felt uncomfortable attending because it was advertised as an “African-American” event.Minority students need activities like this to help them feel more comfortable, Lofton said. In addition to planning social activities, it is also up to RA’s to initiate issue-oriented discussions. The topic of race is not a priority, said Joshua Atkin, a white RA in Smith Hall. Discussing alcohol and drug abuse seems to interest morestudents, Atkin said.”It’s not that race is any less important. It’s just the way our programming schedule is,” he said. The only time race shoulders its way to the top of the programming list is when a “racial incident” is forced into the public eye, said Lofton. If incidents such as the Drackett Tower case are to be prevented, residents assistants like LaTonya Swain are the university’s first line of defense.”We’re trained to be unbiased,” said Swain. She believes the training is very effective. Some people come in with their eyes closed and training helps open them, she said. Carrie Dunn disagrees. She doesn’t think the diversity training is good, but she doesn’t know to improve it. “It’s hard to train people to be diverse,” she said. There was only one session on diversity. More time should have been spent on it, she said. “There’s so much ground to cover. It’s hard to decide what to talk about,” said Dunn.Hundreds of students from different backgrounds vie for RA positions each year. Throughout the interviewing and application process, diversity related questions are used to gauge tolerance and openness, Atkin said. “I think they do pretty well with recruiting. If someone has a really strong belief against race I really don’t see them getting the job.” Everyone is supposed to come into diversity training with an open mind, some are able to camouflage biases.Training is not very effective because people are not very open, said Lofton. “(The training discussion) encourages political correctness.” With all of the interviewing, training, planning and programming, RAs agree that the emphasis must be on their personal relationships with the students. What is most important, said Dunn, is that residents feel comfortable coming to her for everything. “It depends on how you start your relationship with them. You must be approachable,” she said. Students are usually very sensitive to different cultures and respect the rules, Atkin said. He too, has gained a greater appreciation for diversity. “One of the beauties about this job is you grow so much.”