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Exhibit to showcase minority life at Princeton

In an effort to promote a greater awareness of minorities at Princeton, the Rockefeller College Core Group will unveil an exhibit addressing the theme in the college common room March 28.

"The general initiative is just to increase awareness of diversity and people of color on this campus," said Janelle Wright '00, an RA in Rockefeller who acted as a facilitator for early meetings on the project.

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RAs and MAAs doing research for the project plan to include in the exhibit many different groups and organizations such as Native Americans, women and the Third World Center.

They will try to raise awareness of the smaller "hidden communities" on campus, Rockefeller College Assistant Master Denise Dutton said. "The vision it brings will help make students more comfortable here," she noted.

History of women

"We each decided to take a different minority [group] at Princeton and do research," said Lisa Tan '01, a Rockefeller RA who is researching the history of women at the University for the project. "All of it's pretty interesting. In the 1870s there was a school founded in Princeton just for women. It was intended to be a sister school."

The school closed after about 10 years because of a lack of funds, she added.

Abigail Neely '01, an alternate RA in Rockefeller, said she is happy to be learning so much in her research on Native Americans. "I didn't know very much about Native Americans before doing this," she said.

Garrett Johnson '01, a Rockefeller MAA, said despite his thus far limited role in the project, he is excited to get more involved.

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Project coordinators said they believe there are several advantages to putting together an exhibit rather than hosting a more common type of event, such as a dinner discussion. "The general population gets a little tired of that form," Wright said.

"It's cool to have something visual," Tan noted. "It's always there. You can take it in small amounts."

The Rockefeller common room will provide an excellent venue for the project, Neely said. "We get more people to see it and we get more groups at once," she said, adding that the exhibit allows students to see things at their own pace and it reaches "as many people as possible at the level at which they feel comfortable."

The exhibit is part of a larger project — known as the Minority Affairs Advisers Initiative — through which all the residential colleges have been coordinating events and projects to celebrate diversity at the University.

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"All five colleges have to put together some kind of program about minorities at Princeton," Neely said.

Of the MAA initiative, Dutton said, "I'm really excited for the kinds of events that have started this. For the first year, I think it's been a success."

She said she hopes to keep the exhibit open for the rest of the academic year and improve upon it in years to come.

Some of the other events being held as part of the MAA initiative are Butler College's celebration of African-American contributions to popular culture, Forbes College's Persian New Year dinner and celebration, Wilson College's series on African artistic expression and Mathey College's program on "The Politics of Social Justice through Music and Poetry."