So many things went wrong at Friday night's BlackBox, and after two attempts to present the story in news section of The Daily Princetonian, many students remain unsatisfied.
To recap, a group of young men from the area attended the party ...(back to the article)
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why do the black students here always seem to think that they are separate from everyone else? when they are, it's of their own volition. self-segregation is an unfortunate trait of princeton, but no one should complain about racism when they themselves can change it.
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I was at the first Princeton Preview, not the second, but when I read about this issue in the DP, my initial reaction was also concern over the negligent security at Blackbox that was compounded by the "Orange Bubble" mentality. Race did not enter my mind at all as an issue in the Princeton community's reaction to this incident, although I did notice the high percentage of African-Americans at Blackbox when I went. I am not completely discounting Walter's supposition, but I wish that he could have expounded more on his viewpoint rather than interjecting a vague sentence or two claiming his point.
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I think what'so upsetting (and of potential concern to pre-frosh) is that the assault took place on campus. At least at Yale they can tell people you're reasonably safe if you don't stray too far from campus at night.
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I find it a little upsetting that this unfortunate event has become a "black issue," in that the significant responses have come from the university's African-American community. And while its obviously great to see that students are being supportive of one another and trying to facilitate healthy and productive reflection on the occurrence, I'm afraid that once the African-American community takes charge of responding to the issue, it makes it so easy for the rest of the communiversity to just ignore the issue, like "Oh they have it under control, so we don't have to worry about it." Furthermore, I don't think that this is a "black issue," but rather when a fellow student is attacked, it concerns us all.
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I'm with beeker. I did not assume any particular race when I heard about the incident, and neither have I heard anybody discuss the assailants' skin color.
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I assumed the students involved were white until I read this column. Please stop jumping to racially charged conclusions; I hadn't heard anyone mention the race of the students involved, just the general shock that an undergraduate was attacked *in* a residential college building. And why on earth would this require a "discussion" afterwards? More like A.D.A.'s and police officers...this isn't a Hamlet precept, it's a *crime.*
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Mr. Griffin’s fears are not completely unfounded. The event did occur at Blackbox after all. It is no secret that the majority of Blackbox attendees are African-American, while they continue to be a clear minority at Prospect parties. Moreover, the comments posted under the original article on the fight indicate that at least a few students feel that Blackbox is generally not as safe as the Street. As Walter points out, this incident started with female harassment, something that has not yet been reported at Blackbox before now, but has occurred repeatedly on Prospect Avenue. A punch in the face is a much less severe fate than rape, and students commenting on the relative safety of Blackbox and the Street would do well to remember that there have been no reports of such harrasment at Blackbox. That said, clubs on the street have been infiltrated by unwanted outsiders before – professional security and all. Anyone remember the reporter who snuck into Cottage (and other clubs as well) during bicker last year? Luckily, he wasn’t a gang member, and he had no intentions of physically harming anyone, but hired professional security had no way of knowing that, just as Safeguards had no way of knowing Friday’s assailants were gang members.
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Walter, Thanks for the well thought out article. I'd like to talk to you about this incident sometime.
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I second the first comment. If this had been an all-white gang, the reaction would have been the same. It is paranoid, in my view, to think that students are reacting mostly because the perpetrators were black, rather than out of a general concern for their safety.
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"it seems that all of a sudden, people are on edge about security...I am of the mind that the only reason people will feel this way is because it mainly involved ... the black community." Mr Griffin should try this interpretation out, first, maybe: "Princeton students are freaked out because one of the nation's most violent gangs entered a University-sponsored party where minors were present, assaulted a female University student, and then were able to escape from the club because of the inaction of some and the incompetence of others." Sure we assume that Princeton is safe, and with reason. Though gangs may exist _around_ Princeton, they should not be on its campus, putting its students in the hospital. The same reaction would have come if this had happened at Ivy or Cottage, but those clubs hire professional security. The real story here is how the University failed to protect students from violent criminals, and the reaction his severe not because black students were involved, but because Princeton students were.
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