At Triangle, an unprecedented president

Kelvin Dinkins '09 slinks onstage in his black glasses, black hat and gray-and-white pinstripe suit. Though hardly inconspicuous at six feet, one inch, he is the master of disguise in the Triangle Club's latest production, "Heist Almighty," scamming a wealthy Princeton alum and planning a vault robbery.

As the show ends after the notorious kickline, he walks onstage with the cast to take a bow. Dinkins smiles, out of character for the first time. He is the only black actor in the 2006 fall show.

The Triangle Club elected Dinkins as its first black president on Jan. 10. His election marks a historic moment for the club — made up largely of white students — that has delivered laughs to the University for 116 years. Dinkins' election also brings up the larger question of black leadership across campus.

"[As] the first black officer ever ... it's pretty empowering," Dinkins said. "This was a personal thing. I wasn't doing this to prove that black people will have to go into every organization to become a leader just to show we can do it."

But Dinkins and many cast members do see his presidency as an opportunity to put a new face on the club and attract a more diverse membership and following. "There are other races represented, but I don't know who the last black Triangle actor was," he said. "It's been a white club, so to speak."

Kendall Crolius '76, chairwoman of the Triangle board of trustees, said Dinkins' selection marks a "great moment" in the club's history. She added that Dinkins was not elected because he is black, but rather because his peers think he will be a great leader.

Crolius is the first woman to chair Triangle's trustee board. She joined the club a few years after the group debuted its first women actors in 1969.

"One of the things that makes Triangle different ... is that our show went coed when the University went coed," Crolius said. "I feel like that has caused and required that the quality of our shows improve."

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Dinkins said became hooked on Triangle when he sat down in McCarter Theatre to watch his first show freshman year. He auditioned and was accepted as one of the four freshmen actors last year. The next semester, he applied and was selected as the club's tour manager. As an actor and tour coordinator, Dinkins gained both an up-close and broad view of the club and where it could be improved.

His first order of business will be to facilitate communication among "the four sides of the Triangle": the cast, the tech crew, the writers and the pit. Dinkins will coordinate efforts to hire a professional director and choreographer and manage the budget. He will launch a new marketing strategy — in addition to the drag-clad actors who race through lecture halls the week of the show. Dinkins also plans to use facebook.com to attract a larger audience and a more culturally diverse and talented audition group.

"There are very few artists of color outside of BAC [Black Arts Company], because that's an environment that very much dictates a multicultural cast," Dinkins said.

He added that in his two years at Princeton, he has seen very few black actors cast in leading roles despite their talent. Dinkins wants to see more nontraditional casting — where a mother could be black, a father white and a child Indian — in Princeton drama.

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"An entire leading cast could be played by African-Americans," he said. "It's never happened ... I'm still wondering why."

Black leadership across campus

Dinkins' election raises the issue of black leadership in other organizations historically dominated by white students. Several black student leaders interviewed said that while black leadership has increased in the past years, it still is concentrated in certain groups.

"I believe black students are well represented in leadership positions of groups that focus on historically black issues, but looking at all organizations on campus, those with more diverse membership or non-race related focuses, I'd say we are underrepresented," BAC Dance director Amber Wedges '08 said in an e-mail.

Dwight Draughon '08, president of the Black Student Union (BSU) and manager of the Campus Newspaper Delivery Agency, described black leadership on campus as "progressive." He cited growing membership in student groups dedicated to race issues and black influence as residential college advisers, eating club presidents and other non-race-related groups. He also said the administration has made strides with initiatives such as the Black Alumni conference and the Center for African-American Studies, which will replace its 37-year-old program namesake, double the program's faculty and expand course offerings. The center will open in Stanhope Hall following renovations.

Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06, who served as president of the BSU in his sophomore year and was USG president in 2005, said he has witnessed black campus leadership fluctuate, with some periods of strong activism.

"Numbers aren't as important as the voices that are being heard and what's being said," he said. Joseph said his race didn't always play a defining role in his campus activities, though it was the main factor in his first campaign for USG president during his sophomore year.

He lost the election, but Joseph said, "it was a great opportunity for me to say things that needed to be said." He raised the issue of creating social alternatives to the Street, where, he said, "people are treated either based on their sexual orientation, the color of their skin or based on who they hang out with ... I don't think any of the other candidates were either ready or willing to say that at that time."

Race becomes an issue for some black students in cases where they are the clear minority. Morgan Kennedy '07, business manager of The Daily Princetonian, said her father was one of the few black students in the Class of 1970. "A large part of my drive to succeed at Princeton comes from a desire to honor the strides my father made when he was a student in order to pave the way for me and other black students that come after him," Kennedy said in an e-mail.

Other students rarely notice that they are a minority among their peers. Meka Asonye '07, president of Cap & Gown Club, said race hardly played a role in his election.

"I think I've always been in the situation when I'm a minority, and I've gotten to the point where I don't even think about it," he said. "I got elected because people thought I would do a good job."