Dear Mrs. Obama,
I care what you think about this University. I want Princeton, just like I want this country, to live up to its promise. I’m talking about race. Just as your ascension to the White House has given our country cause to think about race in America, your comments as the Class of 2010’s Class Day speaker on May 31, 2010, could encourage our campus to look inward at our racial problems. While racial dynamics here have improved since your time, we still have much work to do. It’s one thing if I write a column about racial issues on campus and quite another if you come tell us what we need to hear.
After your husband’s election, The Daily Princetonian ran a story about what campus was like for you during the 1980s. Your classmates mentioned professors who questioned a black student’s work because it was “of too high quality,” drunken white boys calling you and your friends “brown sugar” and the difficult and hostile environment you experienced, especially at the eating clubs.
These issues haven’t gone away. Our faculty and administrators are overwhelmingly white. We have a diversity center, but a 2004 survey of students revealed that many had never been there or even heard of it. The University supports the Program in African Studies and Center for African American Studies, but the students who minor in those fields are generally students of color.
By and large, the eating clubs remain segregated institutions, with only two clubs featuring sizeable minority memberships. A few “bicker” clubs have only token minority representation. The eating clubs are often cited as integral to the Princeton experience, yet many black students feel unwelcome at most of them. In fact, a USG survey of the student body released this week found that being white and having higher parental income increased the likelihood of being in an eating club, all other factors held constant.
Black students on campus are less happy than whites. The USG survey found that black students were only one-fourth as likely as whites to report being “very happy” and almost twice as likely to say they were “not too happy.” Differences in income, grade and family experience with education explained only a small part of these findings. An analysis of the data suggested that students who reported being “not too happy” are more socially isolated than the rest of campus.
These are all causes for concern.
When we talk about these issues, we do so in confined areas of the campus community — through Sustained Dialogue, a program established only a decade ago to bring small, diverse groups of students into conversation, or through ethnic student groups on campus, like the Black Student Union, that may preach to the converted. Outside these spaces, a culture of silence and segregation permeates our campus. Racial issues rarely become topics of conversation campus-wide.
Yet just last week the campus was embroiled in what became a very destructive discussion about race. A fight broke out at a party hosted by the Princeton Caribbean Connection, and the ‘Prince’ reported the story. While there was some controversy over the reporting, readers who wrote in the article’s comments section provoked a fury. Here’s a quote from someone identifying himself as “11,” indicating his membership in the Class of 2011: “I don’t mean this in a racist way at all. I just think that given the propensity of many Blacks and Hispanics to move in packs and carry weapons, there should be more police at these events to prevent a full scale riot on an institution perceived as white and upper-class.”
I know. I’m sorry. I hope this person is not actually a Princeton student. Unfortunately, there were other similar negative comments posted. If in fact Princeton students authored some of these, which many of us believe to be the case, I attribute part of the problem to a lack of open dialogue that made these individuals think that their remarks were acceptable.
Princeton has made progress. The eating clubs are at least more integrated than they were during your time here. Classes in African-American studies and African studies draw some non-minority students. For every racist or racially insensitive comment posted below the ‘Prince’ article, there was another denouncing it. The University community is responsive to diversity within the black community itself, supporting a variety of groups like the Black Student Union, Caribbean Connection, African Students Association, Black Men’s Awareness Group and the Association of Black Women, groups that reflect the dynamism of black students on campus in the face of racial tensions. Nonetheless, we can do better.
The least we can do is talk about race. Talking about race may lead us to understand why black students are unhappier here. It would allow us to confront the stereotypes we may hold and reverse the culture of hostile anonymity typified by the comments on the website of the ‘Prince.’ Talking about race on campus could lead to greater awareness of the racial problems that mar our nation. Madam First Lady, come tell us what we need to hear. Tell us you’re waiting for Princeton to live up to its promise and you expect better of us, but you believe in us. Princeton students, faculty and administrators possess the love and ability to overcome these problems, but they won’t take my word for it. The president got his race speech. Maybe it’s time for yours.
Molly Alarcon is a Wilson School major from Mill Valley, Calif. She can be reached at malarcon@princeton.edu.
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