Much left to be done: U. must rededicate itself to reaching minority students

When I was recently asked by 'Prince' editors to prepare a column on something to do with "race relations" on campus, in conjunction with Black History Month or the recent student survey, I was initially uninspired. In the main, my reluctance was because these issues have been notably chronic over decades, with student generations coming and going but little true institutional commitment and accountable process for improvement. Even more than a decade after the comprehensive 1992 (then Vice-Provost) Ruth Simmons "Report on Race Relations" on campus, it is a challenge to identify the impact of many of the report's critical recommendations.

So, who am I, and why were my thoughts sought? As a member of the Class of 1969 I was among the first classes in which Black students began to number in the double digits, and therefore participated in what might be called "the beginning." During the decades since, I have had perspectives on campus life from a number of involvements, including: being a Fellow in two colleges, teaching in the Psychology Department, serving on the Tower grad board, being a founding member of the Class of 1969 Community Service Fund and participating on the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) and its executive committee.

I have an experience of a type as a Princeton student/graduate, but rather than a background attempt to characterize the lives of "Black Princeton students," I would suggest that those interested should seek out the video "Looking Back: Reflections of Black Princeton Alumni," an excellent document by Melvin McCray '74. It was done for Princeton's 250th anniversary, and in conjunction with the Association of Black Princeton Alumni (ABPA). I reference the video in part because last semester sociology professor Thomas Espenshade asked me to speak to his freshman seminar on campus diversity. I was struck that after viewing "Looking Back," one of the Black students commented that some of the same critical statements presented by alums regarding their long-ago campus experiences, she had heard from her peers the day before.

An article in the Feb. 15, 2005 'Prince' presented quotes that presented race as a "a perennial issue that keeps coming up here at Princeton," and self-segregation as a "truly deep problem." Without debating whether self-segregation exists as a problem, or may even be "desirable," I have long suggested to students that their undergraduate years are a unique time in their lives, and that if they don't take advantage of the "universe" of their University there will never be another time like it. As a psychologist I believe that so-called self-segregation can occur when individuals are uncertain about their environment, and when any student feels that the University is not theirs too, they may also choose to miss out on something for which significant money is being paid on their behalf.

To illustrate this phenomenon, a few years ago a group of us founded Princeton-in-Africa. One of my reasons for doing so was to give Black students an opportunity to have a service experience on that continent. As we selected the first year of interns I noticed that few Black students applied, though we had made efforts to get the word out to them. After about four years I asked a former PIAf director — an alum and former intern — why she thought that was the case. She responded that many Black students saw the program as a "White thing," which is more than ironic. Hopefully this has improved in the time since I left the board.

OK, then what is to be done so that this same rehashing is not inevitable ten years from now? First, we can't fix the problem before we identify and acknowledge it (and no, Dr. Phil did not invent this notion), something that has repeatedly been done. Then the phenomenon needs to be understood as well as possible, using all available resources to do so. Next, there has to be a commitment to act to improve things, with the accompanying behavior, process, monitoring, adjustments and accountability. In considering one of these factors, I was a longstanding board member of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni. To our frustration, we too often struggled to be included in institutional activities that might address campus race relations, though ABPA includes mature and accomplished professionals from many fields who would involve themselves for free. Approximately five years ago we initiated a series of supper meetings with interested faculty department heads to discuss the much-publicized concern over the limited hiring of Black faculty. Though the effort resulted in little change, we did try, and in hindsight we should have been welcomed guests in the process rather than hosts.

Again, as a psychologist, I would suggest that those sincerely interested in remedies also consider the relevant social science literature. I recommend the work of Stanford professor Claude Steele, who has served as an adviser to the Princeton psychology department, and spoke on campus a few years ago. In the June 1997 issue of American Psychologist he presented the theory of "domain identification and stereotype threat," which "assumes that sustained school success requires identification with school and its subdomains; that societal pressures on these groups (e.g. African-Americans) can frustrate this identification, and that in school domains where these groups are negatively stereotyped, those who have become domain identified face the further barrier of stereotype threat, the threat that others' judgments or their own actions will negatively stereotype them in the domain." Steele's reported research supports his theory, specifically that stereotype threat can cause "disidentification with school," one manifestation of which might be self-segregation.

Included in the article, Steele offered a set of practices that can positively impact stereotype threat. Among these "wise" schooling practices and policies to support students who identify with the school domain, the institution should affirm the student's domain belongingness, value multiple perspectives and provide role models. He described such role models as "people from the stereotype-threatened group who have been successful in the domain (who) carry the message that stereotype threat is not an insurmountable barrier there." To bring this back to Princeton, I cannot recall a minority undergraduate alum of the University (of any "minority") in a visible decision-making role since the departure of Dean of Students Eugene Lowe '71 over a decade ago. What message might that send to applicants, students, families and those for whom this has salience?

In closing, I would like to clearly state that I believe that most minority students go through the University with a basically positive experience, whatever that personal path and experience is. I also acknowledge that The Princeton Experience Survey (Spring 2003) findings could leave me questioning this belief somewhat. But my true concern remains for that smaller group of Princeton students who struggle socially and/or academically and withdraw in silence due to the effects of stereotype threat; reluctantly drop their intended more challenging major for a less challenging one; or just disappear from campus one day.

Jim Floyd '69 is a recipient of the Alumni Council Award for Service, the ABPA Award for Service and a University Service Award for Commitment and Contributions to Students.