Questionnaires examine race relations, student activities on campus

A University senior and a world-renowned research foundation might not appear to have much in common. But this spring, both found life at Princeton to be a subject worthy of study.

For her senior thesis, Monica Rosado '00 explored her observation that minority groups at the University often form cliques. She conducted a 500-student survey addressing the interactions on campus between students from different ethnic backgrounds.

At the same time, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation — which began investigating the benefits of participating in extracurricular activities at Ivy League schools five years ago — is now concluding a three-week survey of 100 University sophomores.

Rosado's study revealed that 64 percent of students surveyed feel uncomfortable in the presence of different ethnicities, and only 40 percent believe different groups mix frequently and well with each other.

"There is a lot of discomfort between minorities and Caucasians," said Rosado. "People notice that fewer minorities do Bicker clubs, but no one says 'What's going on? What's making this happen?' "

Rosado also discovered that the under-representation of Hispanics at Princeton causes division among ethnic groups. "There are very few Hispanics to run the many Hispanic organizations," Rosado said. "Most Hispanics are members of two or three groups, and we spend a lot of time together. It is not minorities saying, 'I do not want to associate with Caucasians.' "

Rosado said she believes it is easy for students at the University to stay in one social niche.

"All of a sudden you're thrown into a community where there aren't a lot of people like you," she said. "There is a comfort in people who speak like you or who eat the same food. It is as simple as that. I miss rice and beans."

But she also said she hopes students will work to reduce racial division at the University. "People are not being exposed to the diversity on this campus," Rosado said, adding that her study revealed most participants spend only two hours a year at events celebrating cultures other than their own.

Mellon foundation

Rather than exploring interactions among ethnic groups, the Mellon foundation study is analyzing the role extracurriculars play in student life. "We are interested in how activities affect a student's satisfaction in health, stress, school work and most every aspect of life," said psychology research assistant Thomas Trail, who is helping to conduct the study.

Starting three weeks ago, 100 sophomores filled out nightly questionnaires about "friendships, parents, workload, weather, everything basically," said Ali Bauer '02, who took part in the survey.

"We had to rate the topics on how much of a hassle they were or how uplifting they were," she said. "They even had us say who we ate lunch and dinner with."

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Trail said the foundation — which also is conducting studies at Columbia, Yale and Amherst — has predicted a correlation between the stress induced by an activity and student happiness.

"We expect the more hassles you have, the less satisfied you are," he said, adding that he believes activities in which the participants form a cohesive group tend to be less of a hassle.

The foundation paid students $40 to participate in the survey.