The humanities benefit from FGLI voices. Let’s reach out to these students.

In the 12th grade, I had the privilege of reading three novels for AP English: “Hamlet,” “Pride and Prejudice,” and “Beloved.” It was a challenging curriculum, but it felt rewarding to work through what I considered to be an intensive workload.

But my syllabus was smaller than even the summer reading lists of the nation’s most prestigious private schools whose alumni populate Princeton’s yearly incoming class. At the Bishop’s School, 12th-grade students in the school’s most rigorous English class read five titles over the summer. At Deerfield, the title count is four.

While I have no experience with classical languages, I’m taking Latin this year. Although I enjoy the language, it was surprising to learn that around half of my LAT 101 class last semester had taken Latin in high school — often, at the AP level. This realization demoralized me, and I considered switching — I ended up staying, and I’m glad I did.

This problem is bigger than a Latin class. A large percentage of public school students — a substantial portion of whom are first-generation/lower-income (FGLI) — did not have the chance to take a philosophy class in high school, or a classics course, or Latin or Greek. But well-funded private schools, such as Andover, offer a diverse range of course offerings in these disciplines. This means that humanities students come to Princeton with vastly different levels of course offerings and experiences. Because of this, the humanities must expand their outreach to FGLI students, for the sake of both these students and the departments as a whole.

This disparity is also demonstrated in incoming students’ prospective choice of major. According to the 2027 Frosh Survey, a mere 34.7 percent of incoming first-years on full financial aid intended to major in either the humanities or social sciences. The same was true for 51.4 percent for students on no financial aid. When seeking out prospective majors, humanities need to tap into the large pool of FGLI students through targeted outreach.

A potential avenue to advertise their departments is the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity (EBCAO), for which I work as a community ambassador. EBCAO hosts “Dinners with Departments,” which provide opportunities for FGLI students to have conversations with faculty from specific departments.

At one of these dinners, I spoke to the English department’s Russ Leo and Jeff Nunokawa. Hearing their personal stories made me feel more comfortable with majoring in English. I related to the culture shock which Nunokawa experienced attending Yale in the 70’s — and both professors empathized with my academic stresses.

Only the English and Spanish & Portuguese departments hosted “Dinners with Departments” this semester. Other humanities departments should follow suit, and reach out to EBCAO to organize similar events. There’s room for other events too, such as alumni panels. It’s important for students to see the success stories of low-income humanities majors — to see that these people are financially and personally successful.

Of course, it’s also on students to take academic risks in exploring the departments that they’re most passionate about. I empathize with the hesitation of FGLI students to major in these fields. No one is wrong for selecting a major that they expect will yield a higher income, especially if they’re from a modest financial background.

But students who have faced financial struggles are essential voices in the humanities — and the careers which often follow from this field. We need lawyers who understand the difficult situations which lower-income people face, politicians who can personally empathize with the working class, and philosophers whose understanding of the “human condition” involves the condition of financial hardship. The world is better off with these people.

Princeton has done an admirable job of establishing programs that advertise the humanities. Now, it’s time to introduce more programs and initiatives that specifically target FGLI students to close that initial discrepancy in students’ intended majors early on in their Princeton careers.

Raf Basas (he/him/his) is a first-year opinion columnist from Elk Grove, California intending to major in the humanities (probably English, but he’s a little indecisive). He can be reached at rb4078[at]princeton.edu or @raf.basas on Instagram. His column, “Out of the Ivory Tower,” runs every two weeks on Tuesday. All of his columns can be read here.