With great privilege

Privilege can isolate us from our responsibilities.

For example, many Congressmen are privileged: their average net worth is over $1 million. Living in posh Washington, D.C., and funded by huge corporations and banks, they pass laws for special interests rather than for their constituents. A recentPrinceton studyfound that the U.S. political system is closer to an oligarchy than to a democracy. CEOs are also privileged. However, many simply focus on making more money rather than using their power to help those who lack it. Ninety-five percent of2009-12 income gainssince the crisis went to the wealthiest 1 percent. Bankers and stock traders, too, are privileged. They would play games with people’s livelihoods and the national economy in order to help themselves.

Why does this relate to Princeton students? Well, those lawmakers, those bankers, those multibillionaires? In 15 years, we will be them. More than one-third of Princetonians enter finance after graduation. Princetonians found and run huge businesses: just look at Jeff Bezos ’86 (Amazon), Steve Forbes ’70 (Forbes) and Meg Whitman ’77 (eBay). There is a whole Wikipedia page on Princetonians in government.

Because many of us will become powerful and influential, our Princeton experience should teach us to recognize our own privilege and understand our responsibility to society. Only so can we fulfill our informal motto “Princeton in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations.”

One possible policy to help us move toward this ideal is to build civic engagement into our graduation requirements. Just like most American high schools, Princeton can require us to complete a set number of hours of service. Community service at the undergraduate level could be even more important than at the high school level because, with the free time, freedom and superb resources in college, we could work on bigger and better projects. Moreover, service could influence our career decisions. Service would extricate us from the Orange Bubble, in which everyone is laser-focused on the next step: finance, graduate school, law school, medical school. By interacting with and serving those who lack our privilege, we would gain a clearer perspective on our motivations and goals. I suspect prestige, peers, power and parents’ wishes play larger roles in our career decisions than they should. Service reminds us of our higher calling as Princetonians.

In the vein of forcing us to check our privilege, the University could also institute a distribution requirement specifically designed for us to consider others’ viewpoints. Princeton for Ferguson has advocated for distribution requirements in issues of identity and diversity, such as African-American studies or sociology. Engaging alternate and unheard viewpoints takes us out of our own insular world views.

The University could also build a privilege-examining program into freshman orientation. For example, we could hold discussions on the privilege we have at Princeton, just as we did on diversity and the meaning of life. Such a beginning could drive us to take a new class or a new major, at the time most ripe for exploration.

Finally, classes could be supplemented with projects that engage the underserved. Politics classes could assign research papers to investigate how local underserved populations are helped or hurt by certain laws. Economics classes could partner with local businesses and retailers to show how those without privilege earn their living. Science and engineering classes could investigate science literacy and perform outreach (projects, presentations, classes) to those who never considered STEM careers. Princeton is a superb place for academics, but we risk losing sight of our place in the broader social context if we don’t apply what we’ve learned.

Official policy won’t be enough. On paper, we can say that we understand the world beyond our privilege, but we must truly take it upon ourselves to be aware. Through activism and dialogue, we should fight the blind self-interest prevalent on this campus. It’s a given that many of us will gain great power. However, we must take the responsibility that comes with it.

Jonathan Lu is a freshman fromFremont, Calif. He can be reached at jhlu@princeton.edu.