In a recent demographic report published online, the percentage of black doctoral students in the University graduate student body for the 2015-2016 academic school year was 3 percent — the same number that was reported in 2010 and only one percent higher than the value reported in 1980.
“The University recognizes it's not where it wants to be in this area,” Graduate School Associate Dean for Diversity Dale Trevino noted via email.
“When we talk about the challenges of the pipeline, we are typically referring to the fact that there are not a large number of underrepresented minorities earning Ph.D.s nationally,” he explained.
Even with the establishment of the Trustee Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity in January 2012 by former President Shirley Tilghman, as well as multiple comprehensive reviews of diversity across multiple campus populations that were publicly made available in April 2013, diversity among graduate students — especially black and Hispanic Ph.D. students and post-doctoral students — has been “disturbingly slow,” according to a 2013 Trustee Ad Hoc Committee report.
Despite an abundance of affinity groups like the Latino Graduate Student Association and the Black Graduate Caucus, the Princeton graduate school program for the most part remains largely racially homogenous. As the report notes, across all the University’s doctoral programs, white students make up 51 percent of the student body, while Asians make up 28 percent. In contrast, Hispanic students make up eight percent and black students make up three percent of the student body. Additionally, the majority of Asians that make up 28 percent of the doctoral program may be found in STEM-related departments or other science- and math-related programs, which complicates the overall effects of diversity across all graduate school programs.
Unlike the undergraduate program, in which the Undergraduate Admission Office makes the acceptance decisions, the University Graduate School and academic departments hand pick students themselves, according to the 2013 report.
This “eclecticism” has made it very difficult to set or execute University-wide goals about diversity, the report explained. Thus, Princeton’s lack of progress in diversifying its graduate students has been largely unaddressed, the report noted.
Trevino explained that departments are careful in reviewing all applications, paying particular attention to various factors that will yield a diverse and robust cohort. He noted that academic departments have been asked to commit to the development of a strategic plan to increase diversity within the department.
Trevino said that the Graduate School recently hired Vanessa Gonzalez-Perez as an assistant dean for diversity initiatives in the natural sciences. In addition, a search for a program coordinator to support the assistant dean is currently underway and a search for an analogous assistant Dean position focused on the social sciences will be underway soon, he said.
Yet, in looking at the online report of Princeton’s demographics, there is not a tangible distinction between international and American students in terms of diversity, said Cristian Alonso GS. Alonso, who is from Argentina and studies economics, noted that there is a large overrepresentation of graduate students from Latin America in his department and that this group is predominantly male.
Jeremy Borjon GS, president of the Latin Graduate Student Association, noted how sometimes diversity can become very one-sided, as in some cases international students are more likely to make up the percentage of their racial/ethnic group in comparison to American minorities.
Many international students come from a higher socioeconomic background and therefore have the ability to support and acclimate themselves in the graduate program, Borjon explained.
The disheartening reality of socio-economic imbalance impacts student experiences once they set foot on campus, Borjon said. Borjon highlighted how during his active involvement with the LGSA, he has seen several cases in which minority students have had to face external factors like trying to support a single parent in addition to trying to balance a rigorous academic course load and racial discrimination from faculty and other students.
According to both Travino and Borjon, for the last five years the University has been trying to make change and to increase inclusivity and diversity in the graduate program, even though the statistics may not reflect this.
Borjon agreed that the hiring of Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Dale Trevino in April 2015 was a great step forward, as well as the most transparent action that has shown immediate results.
Trevino noted that the question of diversity in Princeton’s graduate student body reflects trends across universities nationwide with a pervasive lack of academic privilege, specifically for minorities.
President of the Graduate Student Government Mircea Davidescu noted via email that the GSG’s mission is to give a voice to graduate students on campus and that diversity is a key element of this mission. He explained that the GSG maintains active channels of communication with cultural and diversity student groups on campus and that the GSG has representatives from these groups as part of its Assembly.
Davidescu noted that, regarding tangible issues, a lack of space is something acutely felt by graduate students, especially when graduate students hail from underrepresented groups. Creating a sense of belonging within the graduate student community for such students, and for graduate students in general, is central to the GSG’s mission, he explained.
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