Nowadays, everything offends someone. Celebrities can no longer act foolish (by accident or not) without having to make sure that they or their publicists make a formal apology. Politicians can never ever say the wrong thing, or they suffer the punishment of the 24-hour news cycle constantly taking apart what they said and discussing it to no end. Musicians are berated when they try something new in terms of style, performance, or lyrics. CEOs and higher ups have to be careful with what they do in their free time, or they become quickly distrusted by their shareholders and clients. Everything offends someone.
Why is this important? The fact that University of Dayton students, for generations now, call our student housing neighborhood "The Ghetto" is more recently than ever offending many people. While it may have offended some in the past, not many were as vocal about it as they are now. The school is actively trying to erase the nickname and stigma that goes along with it.
I can understand the defenses for not wanting to call it "The Ghetto." I understand that just because it is tradition, that is not a good enough reason. I understand that people think it's offensive because the word ghetto actually means a slum area in a city, usually occupied by minority groups, and that UD students at first glance don't fit that definition. I can understand all of that.
However, I simply don't agree with it. Senior Jeremy Carson also recently wrote an article in "Flyer News" defending the term, pointing out that we are not calling our student neighborhood a ghetto, but the ghetto, and that is a big difference. But with that being said, he even backs it up by saying that UD students can be defined by the word "ghetto." We are a minority population, students in the Dayton area, and we live in a segregated neighborhood (that used to be a slum area) as a result of our economic restrictions, college tuition, and high rent prices.
Moreover, the term ghetto, contrary to popular belief, is not a racial term, and just because it involves the term "minority groups" doesn't make it so. That can be applied to much more than just race. And because of that, the idea that some students and the school are trying to change the name seems futile.
Halloween shenanigans in The Ghetto.
The Ghetto is our home. It's where our best friends live down the block from us. It's where we fell in love with UD our first night out at college. It's where we go to sit on our porches after a hard day of classes and watch those sunsets we're all so fondly Snapchatting all the time. It's where we hang out on Saturday mornings with some cold brews and hot jams. It's where we go on spontaneous trips to Ben & Jerry's on Sunday afternoons.
We call our student neighborhood The Ghetto because we like to. The Ghetto is our home, and because of that, our point is not to offend anyone. While The Ghetto isn't necessarily a unique student housing system because there have been others like it (some even called the same nickname) in the past, the sense of being a part of the UD community that comes out of it is incredibly unique. So yes, I still call it The Ghetto. It's my home, and I believe I reserve the right to call it what I want.
