One of her present goals, Dickerson explained, is to “continue to work to create a level playing field,” so that students from different backgrounds can make connections in substantive ways, without feeling that they have to be members of selective organizations.
Dickerson reflected on the benefits of growing up in a campus community and told the audience about her childhood in the rural, “nuclear” community of Denmark, S.C., where she lived on the campus of Voorhees College, a historically all-black institution.
“We were really the children of the community,” Dickerson said, adding that she was in many ways “sheltered” from the harsh reality of segregation at the time.
She said that she was especially thankful that her family had placed a strong emphasis on faith and learning.
Among the values imparted to her by her faith, Dickerson said, was the concept of hospitality. “We should not reject what we do not know,” she said, adding that the community should “work together [to] create a campus climate that helps people feel welcome.”
Dickerson described herself as a “seeker” who aims to resolve problems by building consensus and finding “sustainable solutions.”
It is crucial to make the community more inclusive and “to understand what structures keep students from realizing their goals here on campus,” she explained.
In an interview after Dickerson’s speech, former RLC co-convener Elizabeth Jemison ’08 said that she was “touched by the way Vice President Dickerson’s life experiences had motivated her desire to make sure that all undergraduates feel included in the Princeton community.”
The discussion, held in an intimate dinner setting in Murray-Dodge Hall yesterday evening, was meant to allow students to meet Princeton faculty “on a less professional level and more on a humanitarian level,” RLC co-convener Kathryn Pocalyko ’10 explained. The lecture was not expected to be particularly religious, she said, but rather about anything that mattered to the guest speaker.
Recently Dickerson has worked to establish the four-year residential college system and to improve University Health Services, specifically promoting a council on psychological services that includes staff with a variety of cultural backgrounds.
“Health is extremely important,” she said, adding that it is “basic” for students to feel comfortable and happy within the campus community.
Dickerson also noted that the University is making additional efforts to provide financial aid to more accepted students so that the question of money does not impede social integration.
The lecture was part of a larger series sponsored by the RLC that invites two or three Princeton faculty members each semester to share their thoughts on “What Matters Most and Why.”
Previous speakers in the series have included professors Robert George and Paul Muldoon and President Tilghman. The next guest, expected to speak on April 28, is Acting Rockefeller College Master and English professor Jeff Nunokawa.
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