On my way back from former President Jimmy Carter’s lecture, I spotted an abnormally rotund crow perched on top of the University Chapel. It was so large that a group of students had gathered to gawk at it.
“It’s too big to fly away,” someone said to me.
It stood there, repeatedly screeching its ugly, guttural caw as I walked toward Frist Campus Center.
In the context of the bleak day, it reminded me of a death bell, ringing over and over again.
In light of recent events, campus protests and public statements made by many of my peers, I have been impressed by the number of students who have highlighted the importance of recognizing that racial tensions and aggressions — in the University and the United States at large — still haunt us today. I appreciate the anger that I see every day on my news feed. I applaud those who continue to challenge our University’s administration on the matter of race relations on campus, especially in light of what I view to be an embarrassment of a diversity panel.
But for those of you who are discussing this but not taking action, talking about these issues is simply not enough. While I feel that dialogue is important and essential to informing University students about the realities of being non-white (or holding other or multiple marginalized identities) here, I feel that we need to ask for more — more from each other and from the administration.
The word “diversity” will only exist in quotes at the University until I can actually name more than two faculty members of my race. As a junior majoring in the Wilson School, I have had one black professor and one Latina professor during my time at Princeton. The rest have been white.
The word “diversity” will mean nothing to me as long as I feel uncomfortable entering or getting a meal at a number of eating clubs here, solely because of how I look or the type of clothes I wear (read: brown and not Vineyard Vines).
The word “diversity” will be a farce when women are ridiculedand hold leadership positions that are not as publicly prominent or influential as those that men hold.
Diversity exists in many forms — socioeconomic, racial, gender, sexual. We must call attention to how many forms have not been integrated into our campus.With regard to faculty, I urge the administration to find faculty members of color in each department. Sure, there are South-Asian faculty members in the computer science department, but what about the Wilson School? While some might argue that there isn’t a great diversity of ethnic representation in certain departments to begin with (for example, Asian-Americans in the humanities), I would push back to say that this simply fuels the problem. Students are less likely to pursue an academic interest if they don’t see a role model in their professor. Role models aren’t solely based on race, but when you don’t see anyone in your department who looks like you, you begin to ask yourself if you’re doing something wrong.
With regard to students, I urge women on campus to care and rise up about the widespread lack of acknowledgement of blatant acts of sexism as they do about racial injustice. Women, protest the fact that your eating club hasn’t seen a female president since god-knows-when. Protest the fact that you are seen not as an executive nor a chair, but a secretary. Go to Women’s Center events. Ask yourself why your male counterpart imagines himself a cowboy, a jedi, a workout bro, a fifteenth-century A.D. ottoman aristocrat, while you, a woman at the top university in the nation, are designated a “slut” or a “ho,” night after night. It’s not just a joke if you’re the one being laughed at every single time.
To stop this, women need to hold more positions of power — in eating clubs, in the Undergraduate Student Government, in every aspect of campus life. We need to urge more women to run for election, and stop effeminizing certain lower-tier positions. And the responsibility to act certainly doesn’t just rest on women. Often, the most poignant messages of feminism are spoken by male voices — men urging their friends, peers and leaders to understand the urgency of this problem and to become allies and unabashed activists of this movement.
The scope of activism that we need at Princeton is in no way limited to what I’m suggesting. However, there is a multitude of problems here that we need to continue to work on. For those of us who care about these issues deeply enough to work beyond dialogue and into activism, the protests, social media outbursts and other forms of campaigning cannot end.
Get angry, folks. It’s time we catch up with 2014.
Prianka Misra is a Wilson School major fromfrom Castro Valley, Calif. She can be reached at pmisra@princeton.edu.Read More
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“If we in the Orange Bubble are supposed to be taught how to be changemakers, our education should not just stop at learning about change but also extend to the tangible application of it.”
Statement of solidarity with Columbia University students from Princeton faculty and staff
Guest ContributorsIn an open letter, Princeton University faculty and staff express solidarity with Columbia University and Barnard College student protestors by boycotting the universities until their demands are met.
In an open letter, Princeton University faculty and staff express solidarity with Columbia University and Barnard College student protestors by boycotting the universities until their demands are met.
Princetonians want political change. Why don’t more of us take action?
Frances Brogan“Understanding that this is how activism works — collectively — can empower people to go to protests and meetings because it undermines the stereotype that being an “activist” is an undesirable individual identity and the misconception that only people with that “identity” label can contribute.”
“Understanding that this is how activism works — collectively — can empower people to go to protests and meetings because it undermines the stereotype that being an “activist” is an undesirable individual identity and the misconception that only people with that “identity” label can contribute.”
