A place called home
By Hannah Benoit
One student describes it as a sisterhood, another as a think tank. Still another calls it simply, "a place where we can just be girls." Renaissance House, Wheaton's residence for women of color, is many things to its 12 members. But for every one of them, it's a home away from home.
The women of Renaissance House differ in their academic interests and their ethnic backgrounds-various combinations of African American, Colombian, Costa Rican, Dominican, Dutch Caribbean, Ecuadorian, Haitian, Nigerian and Ugandan. But they are united in their passion for supporting one another.
"This is a predominantly white campus," says Oneda Horne '07, president of Renaissance House during its first year, 2006-2007. "People of color need a safe place, and women of color in particular need a support system 24/7-a space where you can be an individual, where you're not just a woman of color, you're Oneda." 
While there has been a house for men of color for eight years (see sidebar about student-proposed residences), Renaissance House is new to the scene, serving as a home base for a growing and vibrant population of women of color. In its inaugural year, the house has already established itself as a place where women of color-whether residents or not-can build friendships, hone their leadership skills and stretch each other intellectually.
"We all take very interesting classes, and we come back and have debates at three in the morning about what it means to be an American," says Horne, a sociology major from Boston. "I'm learning about so many cultures."
Her housemate Dania Diaz '07 says, "I see it as a think tank. The deconstruction that goes on in that house is amazing....We talk about gender issues. We do a lot of critiquing of the 'idiot box,' or things that happen in class. As a Latina, I always bring up race.
"My identity changes everywhere I go," continues Diaz, a Posse scholar and Hispanic studies major from Harlem. "At Wheaton, I'm a woman of color. In New York City, I'm a Dominican American. In the Dominican Republic, I'm a gringa, because I'm American."
At Renaissance House, she is Dania.
Melissa Lozano '07, a psychobiology major from Miami, relishes the academic diversity. "I talk to Oneda about sociology and to Dania about Hispanic culture. We definitely bring together our disciplines in an intricate manner that's hard to find. It's beautiful." 
As Lozano speaks, a transformation takes place. She sits forward. Her eyes light up. Passion animates her voice. Talk to any resident about Renaissance House, and the same thing happens.
This stimulating environment gives rise to programming that enriches campus life. Last November, the house sponsored a performance by Valerie Naranjo, a Native American musician. The following March, they collaborated with Wheaton's Distinguished Women of Color Collective (DWOCC) to produce the "Hair Show," a runway-style event in which women of diverse backgrounds shared monologues and poetry that explored the relationship between hair and identity. In April, they worked with the Pride Week Committee and Tree House, the men-of-color residence, to host an open-mic night related to sexuality.
Renaissance women
Renaissance House is located in "Lindens," a rambling wood-frame house tucked away on Pine Street in the southeast corner of campus. Inside, the kitchen sink is often stacked with dishes, and bureau tops abound with cosmetics, jewelry and personal treasures. The walls are adorned with colorful textiles, snapshots of the residents and encouraging "love notes" they scribble to one another. Above the mantelpiece hangs a poster depicting the abolitionist Sojourner Truth, with a quotation from her 1851 oration, "Ain't I a Woman?" It's an environment that speaks of both solidarity and comfort.
"For me, Renaissance House has been that blanket that children walk around with...a security blanket," says Diaz. "It's a sense of belonging, friendship, a network. Living there was the first time I've ever called a living situation on campus 'home.'"
If a Renaissance woman is a person of many talents, the house certainly lives up to its name. Its residents are a formidable bunch. They hold leadership positions in student government and on college-wide committees. They develop cultural programming, organize student-leadership conferences, interview prospective students and tutor current ones. They include the director of Trybe, the student-run dance troupe; a co-founder of Voices United to Jam, the gospel and R&B group; officers of DWOCC and more.
House member Sarata Toriola '07, winner of a 2007 Fulbright scholarship, feels the house empowers its members. "Renaissance House has been an awakening for me," she says, "just being with a group of women who share the experience of being a woman of color on campus and being a leader. You reach a point where you can't just be an individual leader, you need collective leadership.... You need someone to help you along."
Jennifer Salazar, the house's only freshman, tapped into the skills of her housemates when she helped organize the open-mic night at the Lyon's Den coffeehouse. "I had to figure out so many things, like how to book the space and get tab money. They knew all about that. We help each other and we complement each other, even though we're so different. It's like a sisterhood."
And the help they give takes many forms. On the playing field behind their house, Salazar taught two of her housemates how to ride a bicycle. When Horne was in a crunch to finish her thesis, her housemates never let her oversleep.
It was Monique Wright '07, a women's studies major, who gave the house its name. "Her thought was that we were embarking on this new enterprise, and we wanted to be Renaissance women," says Horne, "and we wanted other women of color to be Renaissance women-to be able to move into different roles on campus." 
Horne and her friends had been active at Wheaton since their freshman year, helping to develop campus programming of interest to students of color. But by junior year they were beginning to burn out-and they still lacked a solid sense of community. They had been dreaming about a residence hall for women of color, and they decided to make it happen. During January break 2006, they recruited prospective members via e-mail, then worked together on a proposal to the Office of Student Life.
The process was a lot of work, says Horne. Once they got the green light, the women were determined to make the house a success-and to make it last.
"Every single woman is passionate about the house-and not just for this year," Horne says. "They all came in saying, 'We have to create a foundation-we have to reach out. It can't just be about these twelve women. It has to be more than that.'"
A growing community
The women held a September open house to introduce Renaissance House to the campus. They invited the women of DWOCC for a movie night and sleepover. They reached out to friends and younger students to let them know the house could be their home base, a "place to hang out and exhale," as Horne put it.
"Thankfully, our community of women of color is growing, so there are a lot of women outside the house who can relate to it," says Diaz.
Indeed, the numbers of non-white students at Wheaton have climbed steadily in recent years, according to data recorded by the college. Female students who identified themselves as women of color (Asian, Black, Cape Verdean, Hispanic, American Indian, Pacific Islander or multiracial) constituted 11 percent of the first-year women entering in fall 2002. By fall 2006, that figure had risen to 18 percent.
"Giving twelve women of color a place to foster each other was a big step" for Wheaton, notes Lozano.
"There are some under-represented groups on campus," Diaz says, "and we need more people of color. But Wheaton does a great job of identifying issues and addressing them."
While life on campus may sometimes pull minority students out of their comfort zone, she feels that "being uncomfortable doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. That's the place where you do the most learning and growing. Wheaton has been a great place to develop my voice."
At Renaissance House, Diaz and her housemates can recharge their batteries. Dean of Students Sue Alexander observes: "Some people have asked us if having houses for students of color encourages separation. On the contrary, they provide the kind of energy and initiative from which the whole campus benefits." 
Living with 11 housemates can be a challenge. Like Wheaton's other theme houses, Renaissance House is entirely student-run. The residents have a constitution, house rules and a cleaning schedule, and every other Sunday they hold house meetings to hammer out issues. They even called in Associate Dean of Student Life Claudia Bell to help them structure their meetings more effectively.
"People say, 'Twelve women living together-how do you do it?'" says Basannya Babumba '09, a psychology major. "There's not as much conflict as people would imagine. If there is a conflict, we are able to identify it and resolve it. You can get things off your chest at meetings."
Lending an ear
Of course, it hasn't all been easy. The women of Renaissance House have taught each other that you don't have to be superwoman.
"At the beginning of fall semester, people were stressed out, and it showed," says Babumba, of Revere, Mass. "You could tell when they'd had a rough night or were letting their schoolwork or social life get to them. So we figured out a way to check in with each other, to help with balancing the schoolwork and everything else."
Again the residents turned to Dean Bell. With a representative of the counseling
center, she facilitated some workshops that helped them build trust and open up to one another.
"Being strong women of color was something we were all trying to fulfill," says Diaz. "But there's strength in being vulnerable, too. We decided to 'let each other in.' With people you live with, you can't hide when you're feeling down. Support is not just about attending each other's programming and events and doing your part. It's also about lending an ear."
Through this conversation and encouragement, house members find support in a campus environment that often contrasts sharply with their own backgrounds.
One resident is from Miami and one from Lawrenceville, N.J. The others hail from metropolitan Boston or from New York City. "Back home, I live blocks away from an avenue with all kinds of restaurants-Indian, Thai, Japanese, Mexican," says Salazar, a Posse scholar from Brooklyn. "It's huge and noisy, and there are no stars at night."
In her traditional Costa Rican family, "a woman lives with her parents until she gets married." Salazar's older brother and sister are both married with children and living in New York. "I was rebellious. I said, 'I'm going' [to Wheaton], because you can't pass up an opportunity like this. My parents have been very supportive, but it's hard for them. I'm the youngest and I'm Daddy's little girl."
Salazar will be co-president of Renaissance House for 2007-2008, sharing the post with Yael Pineda '08. The house will welcome new members of Chinese American, Cape Verdean, Puerto Rican, Indo-Trinidadian and Jamaican descent, as well as women with biracial identities.
"These women will have different concerns, not only racially but academically," says Salazar, "so we'll be addressing new issues. There will also be more science majors. I'm so excited about that."
Seven of the founding members graduated in May. Their futures hold jobs, a Fulbright teaching post in Korea, graduate school in law, medicine and education, and much more. Some bonds will continue-Diaz, Horne and Lozano are rooming together in Boston this year-and some may be harder to maintain. But the women will always have Renaissance House in common, and the knowledge that they helped build it.
Recalling her first year at Wheaton, Horne says, "I don't want other freshmen to feel like they have to fight and carve out a place. I want them to be able to say, 'This place can represent my ethnicity, my race.'" About Renaissance House, she now says, "It has been more successful than I ever could have imagined. We did a good job of creating a safe space, not just for us, but for others."
