When members of the Class of 2004 — then hopeful high schoolers and would-be tigers — carefully completed their applications for admission, they wrote brief essays describing steps they would take towards improving race relations in both the United States and the world.
Recently, students representing all class years have asked themselves and those around them a similar question that hits closer to home: what can be done about improving race relations at Princeton University?
In an effort to promote open discussion of this issue, Tdinner series chairs Jessica Colter '02, Jonathan Gomez-Trochez '02 and Laura Kaplan '02 put together a dinner series centered around the discussion of the racial dynamic on campus.
Terrace hosted the first dinner Tuesday, filling its library to capacity with students from a wide variety of both minority and non-minority backgrounds.
Kaplan said she hopes the dinner series will "complement and build upon existing initiatives to improve campus climate."
She said she feels "an effective community-building campaign must be student-led and broadly supported" and was pleased at the number of students who attended Tuesday's dinner.
Joining the students were University Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson, Assistant Provost and chair of the Race Relations Working Group Joann Mitchell and Director of the Third World Center Heddye Ducree.
Each administrator gave a brief presentation detailing ongoing University projects to improve the racial climate on campus. All three agreed that positive change needs to take place in a number of areas, including the recruitment of more minority professors, graduate and undergraduate students.
They added that they hope to make the campus environment one in which students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds can feel at home and at ease.
Many students in attendance echoed such concerns, sharing their own personal experiences on campus.
Selih Eissa '03, a member of the Black Student Union, said, "At times, it's very difficult to be a black person at Princeton. Coming to a place like Princeton is very intimidating, and sometimes you wonder, 'Where is the heritage that I was built in?' "
A number of students expressed concern over the lack of space on campus devoted to multi-cultural exhibits and organizations, observing that the Third World Center — the most prominent campus organization devoted to raising multi-cultural awareness — is a long walk from the main part of campus.
Both the administrators and the dinner organizers emphasized the importance of active involvement on the part of students in improving the existing campus racial dynamic.
Gomez-Trochez noted, "If we can get people involved and give them concrete tasks, we can really accomplish something."
Mitchell spoke of a diversity fund, in which the University sets aside $40,000 annually to be used toward promoting diversity on campus. She encouraged students to create events that would help in this effort, and to take advantage of the fund to make their ideas realities.
The attendees of the dinner and its organizers agreed that there must be a better integration of effort on the part of different student organizations in addressing race relations.
Colter said, "Our goal is to provide a forum for students and administrators to get to know each other, interact face-to-face and keep each other informed."
Colter added, "Because so many student and University-organized initiatives have been established to attack this problem, it is often difficult for members of the community to have a firm grasp on what sort of progress is being made."
She also noted that "it's crucial to involve the eating clubs in this project, seeing as they play such a major role in the social lives of students."
The general consensus among the students in attendance was that the dinner series was a positive step towards addressing concerns about the racial dynamic on campus.
In reflecting on the night's dinner and discussion, Eissa said that it was "good to be in a candid setting with people of different backgrounds to express openly and honestly" feelings about the campus racial dynamic.
Dickerson was also pleased with the variety of students in attendance and pointed out that in order to improve the racial climate on campus, "It's important to expand the conversation to include more non-minorities — people who don't have issues of comfort at Princeton."
Randolph Wiggins, vice-chair of the Third World Center, said, "The goal is cultural enlightenment along all racial lines."
For Wiggins and those in attendance on Tuesday night, the dinner series marks a step in the right direction.
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