Published November 26, 2008.Discrimination (capital D)

dis⋅crim⋅i⋅na⋅tion

–noun

1. an act or instance of discriminating.

2. treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.

3. the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination.

4. Archaic. something that serves to differentiate.

During the past few months my roommate and I have been searching for the perfect apartment. We both earn enough income to pay for a desirable living space and decided that our monthly rent budget would be between $1 100 and $1 300. We wanted a place that was spacious, included 5 appliances, and was close to downtown so that both our school and work places would be convenient to get to. We must have viewed around 30 different apartments all across central and downtown Halifax. We realized that we might need cosigners for our lease due to our age but that was not going to be a problem as our parents were more than willing to cosign. So, after two months of intense searching we finally found our perfect apartment. We passed in our application along with our damage deposit and anxiously waited to hear back from the super. He called the next day with bad news; unfortunately our application for rental was rejected right away due to our age. The building feared that because we are both 19 years old we were of course, immature party animals and were not welcome in this professional building. He went on to say that most tenants were medical students, not business students, and that it was a very strict and quiet building. I of course, was completely surprised by this decision considering that it falls under the exact definition of discrimination. I explained to them that the professional and quiet atmosphere was what drew us to the building in the first place and I asked if they would consider meeting with us before casting us off as raging party animals. They immediately said no. They might as well have told us that we were too catholic, or too white. Think about it… too young…?

So, if you have an apartment available for two mature and respectful 19 year olds that meet our above requirements, please, let us know.

A.