Time to preach to more than just the choir

If ignorance is bliss, then it makes sense that white undergraduates are on the whole more content at Princeton than their minority peers.

"I just didn't know this was a problem," one student at a recent panel discussion about race said rather timidly, referring to remarks by several others that the 'Street' proves a major social obstacle for minorities on campus.

One of only a handful of white faces amid 10 times as many audience members, she was clearly interested and involved enough to take part in the forum, so it was a bit disconcerting to find that the concept of social elitism, which affects most students, could be alien to her ears. Unfortunately, her unawareness is not an exception but rather is indicative of a general indifference to racial problems among the student body.

Latino, Asian and black students at Princeton have a slew of issues and legitimate concerns that have yet to be addressed by the administration and by campus organizations, and it's frustrating to think that their peers don't care to hear them. Just looking around the room and seeing so few white faces in the audience, one got just that impression.

The bulk of white undergraduates aren't paying attention when issues of race relations are brought up. "Preaching to the choir" is mentioned at these discussions because the sessions invariably end up being attended by the students who know the issues too well. Therefore they stagnate, and it will take a lot more work for the forums to produce results on their own than if the mainstream were to show its support.

When the WROC papered the campus with propaganda about workers' rights, it mustered about 200 students and staff of different backgrounds to rally during alumni weekend. But I doubt that if a similar event were held for ethnic studies or for including eating-club dues in financial aid packages, more than a handful of white students would be seen carrying signs.

Why did the workers' rights issue — which, at best, indirectly affects students — mobilize them so quickly, while the years of muffled concerns by their minority peers and friends have struggled to pierce the surface of mass campus attention?

Ameliorating race relations requires more than negotiations and the presentation of petitions to the administration; it necessitates student commitment over the long term. Maybe white students aren't ready to take the responsibility in the long haul, but the first step is to engage in reflection in a multipurpose room full of white students, and not just those who find themselves holding the short end of the stick.

Beyond Freshman Week — when issues such as sexual assault, homosexuality and race are thrown around in contrived group discussions among newcomers to the University — whites are never required to attend these discussions. Maybe we should start by soliciting the population directly by holding weekly racial discussions over dinner in residential colleges or in eating clubs — as Terrace plans to do this week.

It's not that I think white students are inherently more introverted or self-serving than others, or that they personally are the offenders of all the latent racism on campus. I bet they would sympathize if they heard the complaints, and given the right medium, I hope that they would take part in finding solutions to these issues. Ultimately, there is nothing "wrong" with hanging out with people like yourself, but it is the responsibility of every student — especially those in the majority — to at least be aware of the concerns of others.

Until the mainstream takes part, the rounds of panel discussions that sprout around campus will continue to reach too few ears to pick up substantive momentum. That is not to discredit the therapeutic and informative value of discussing race with those who feel the detriment most. But minority students know what their beef is. That hasn't changed.

What needs to change is the non-minority students' attitudes. And until that 75 percent of this undergraduate student body wakes up and takes any sort of action, it won't matter how many panel discussions we have. Emma Soichet, a politics major from Riverside, CT., is editor of the Prince Magazine. She can be reached at esoichet@princeton.edu.