Confronting yesterday's Princeton

I am of course not saying that we should not be proud of our alumni. Many of them have achieved great things in the name of Princeton and in their own names that have contributed to our legacy. But last year as I sat in my room in Campbell and looked out onto a sea of 70-year-old white men, I couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable. I couldn’t help thinking of the 70-year-old women, blacks, Catholics, Jews and poor people who were not among them. Then I thought about the Princeton that they must have attended, one full of social and economic exclusivity and elitism. The scene out of my window in Mathey Courtyard became a manifestation of all that was wrong and, to some extent, remains wrong with this place.

We have made huge strides toward equality in the past 40, 20 and even 10 years. The Class of 2014 is exactly 50 percent female, there are many strong black and black culture groups on campus and President Tilghman spoke at the LGBT center’s Lavender Graduation over the weekend. And yet we still live in the shadow of a different Princeton: The computer science department is only 20 percent female, undergraduate life survey COMBO II stated that non-whites were less happy than whites and there are still students who aren’t comfortable enough to show up to Lavender Graduation. Perhaps most drastically, social groups on campus, particularly eating clubs and Greek organizations, are still delineated on economic grounds, and, according to the same survey, members of eating clubs are for the most part happier than nonmembers. Princeton used to be typified by this across-the-board inequity, and the legacy of the Princeton of yore is difficult to overcome. Often called the “Conservative Ivy,” the Princeton of today retains many of the institutions that perpetuates social elitism within Princeton as well as the perceived social elitist role of Princeton in society.

And yet, as I walked down Elm Drive at last year’s P-Rade with the 75th reunion banner, I was completely overwhelmed by the collective pride of 20,000 alumni. I felt myself getting caught up in it, feeling a strong sense of community and spirit with the chanting crowd. How could I be proud of this Princeton, the one that hinders the advancement of equality at my Princeton? How can I celebrate an institution that upheld and institutionalized the sexism and racism that in many ways still permeate campus and society?

And Princeton, in its timeless brilliance, presented me with the answer. As I walked down the hill presenting Princeton ’35 to all the graduating classes in chronological order, I saw progress before my eyes. Slowly color was added to the faces of the cheering crowds. In the early ’70s I started to see women, and by the time I got to the 1990s I was being cheered on by people of every race, language and way of life. Everyone was wearing the same jacket or blazer — no one wore any mark of poverty or wealth. So when I got to the graduating class of 2010, I knew that the point of Princeton is that it is this coveted procession, that it is the sum of all its classes. Maybe there are still many problems in Princeton and indeed many more than my oversimplification can account for. And maybe they were more pronounced 40 years ago. But there is not a Princeton of yesterday and a Princeton of today. There is one Princeton, a Princeton we all can and must share, and we can only hope that we all leave her a little better than she was when we found her.

Luke Massa is a sophomore from Ridley Park, Pa. He can be reached at lmassa@princeton.edu.