Princeton University has deepened the anguish and intensified the alienation of its graduate students of color, all in the name of expanding diversity.
On Oct. 2, 2014, the Graduate School announced its plan to add two diversity staff positions. But the Graduate School's said commitment“to build and expand upon the work”of an office that no longer exists is just that: something said. With the departure of Karen Jackson-Weaver, there is no longer an Associate Dean primarily devoted to issues of diversity, who can advocate at the senior level. Her former position as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Diversity has devolved into two subordinate roles.The two positions in Academic Affairs formerly supervised by Jackson-Weaver will now fall under the purview of Associate Dean Cole Crittenden, alongside his other commitments, and Associate Dean Lisa Schreyer, whose portfolio includes a host of other competing priorities, will oversee the two additional staff positions.Here diversity comes under the adopted supervision of Academic and Student Affairs. It retains no formal standing among senior administration.
The previous arrangement under the supervision of Dean Jackson-Weaver was not perfect, but it achieved something that this new administration has all but destroyed: A truce. Students of color are constantly besieged by the racism at Princeton. Surviving Princeton, for students like us, is more than a struggle: It is a battle for one's life and sanity, for the dignity of one's non-white flesh. But this reality has largely been kept from public view, because of the judgment of administrators we could trust. Well, that trust is gone. In failing to prioritize our issues, the new administration reveals its own lack of vision.
As graduate students of color, we demand more than idle words and expanded portfolios. We want tangible commitment, which implies empowering those who are thoroughly qualified and sufficiently protected to work on our behalf: Those who can stand in solidarity with our grievances and not feel threatened. When differences in perspective arise, we need the influence of persons who can relate to our concerns, while also attending to the oversights of other administrators. As the Report of the Trustee Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity affirmed, “If the senior administration does not include individuals with sufficiently diverse backgrounds and experiences, it will be virtually impossible for Princeton to achieve the cultural change to which it aspires.”
But diversity is a doing, not just a saying. An institution's ordering of its powers and resources reveals its priorities. Sadly, the reordering of positions devoted to diversity in the Graduate School is no sign of prioritization: it simply introduces more persons of color with less influence. In this way, the Graduate School administration has betrayed the trust it wishes to inspire concerning its talk of diversity. The new administration can hardly sense what it doesn't know about these issues and it possesses no discernible way of correcting for such ignorance — which is terrifying. This is why we are bringing the darkness of our underworld into public view: A veil is being lifted here at Princeton. Maybe then we'll be granted the priority we seek. If not for ourselves, then for those who are coming after us.
Signed,
Colin Watsoncolinw@princeton.eduBlack Graduate Caucus,bgc@princeton.edu
Vlad Medenicamedenica@princeton.eduLatino Graduate Student Association,lgsa@princeton.edu
Janeria Easleyjeasley@princeton.eduGraduate Women of Color Caucus,diverse@princeton.edu
Editor's note: Janeria Easley's name was added to this letter after its initial publication.
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