<p>Princeton was the last Ivy to allow African Americans to be students. I belive that it desegregated in 1945. Many consider it the most conservative of the Ivies, and the Ivies' flagship bastion of the good ole boys' network. </p>
<p>"From a June, 2008 address at Princeton by Robert J. Rivers Jr. '53, a former Princeton trustee and a vascular surgeon, </p>
<p>"Princeton University was a Southern school with strong Southern social preferences. It just happened to be above the Mason-Dixon Line. ...</p>
<p>In 1940.... this University would not have been able to identify a single African-American who ever received a baccalaureate degree from Princeton University. John Chavis became the first enrolled African American in 1792, and reliable sources have concluded that Robert Lincoln Poston was a
student at this University in the early 1900s before he became Marcus Garvey's secretary general. Princeton's total for 200 years? Two undergraduates, and neither graduated.
The following is a quotation from The Daily Princetonian in 1942:
"While 13,000,000 Negro Americans look for signs of their admission to a rightful place in American democracy, Princeton continues its principle of white supremacy and, in an institution devoted to the free pursuit of truth, implicitly perpetuates a racial theory more characteristic of our enemies." Frank Broderick '43" Princeton</a> Alumni Weekly</p>
<p>Also check out "Member of the Club" by African American Princeton grad Lawrence Otis Graham. Part of the book describes his experiences at Princeton in the early 1980s.</p>
<p>Good point. As of the 2006 census estimate, 80% of the U.S. population is white. Presumably a smaller percentage of the college-aged population is white, however.</p>
<p>The thing that's always been on my mind is that the point of affirmative action is to give certain groups that don't normally go to college a little boost in order to get the collegiate population to match the overall population. </p>
<p>Now, the percentage of non-hispanic whites in America is around 64%. So aren't these colleges that have 40-45% white students overdoing AA? I mean, now technically whites are underrepresented lol considering their collegiate population doesn't match the American population. </p>
<p>Oh well, I'm happy that more minorities are finding a place in institutions of higher education, so I suppose having an inflation of URMS (rather paradoxical lol) is alright, but still, colleges should work harder to make sure that their populations are split evenly. I mean, if a college for whatever reason one day had 25% African American students, that would be absurd, considering that only 13% of the population is Black.</p>
<p>EDIT: Northstarmom, is the White population really up to 80%? I guess you're probably more accurate than I am though as I used wikipedia estimations for this post.</p>
<p>I think one would have to look very hard to find a mainstream college that hs a higher percentage of African Americans or URMs than there is in the general population. The exception might be some colleges like Marygrove that are located in cities that are predominantly URM.</p>
<p>The colleges that have 40-50% white students typically have lots of Asians, not a disproportionate number of URMs.</p>
<p>The colleges that have 40-50% white students typically have lots of Asians, not a disproportionate number of URMs.</p>
<p>Very true. I admit I forgot about Asians for a moment there lol. But then that just means that colleges aren't making sure that the collegiate Asian population matches the overall population. But then again, that would be impractical since soooo many Asians apply to college, to try to limit them to their overal population percentage would result in a devastatingly low 2% admit rate or so, which wouldn't be fair to them.</p>
<p>"Oh well, I'm happy that more minorities are finding a place in institutions of higher education, so I supposed having an inflation of URMS (rather paradoxical lol) is alright, but still, colleges should work harder to make sure that their populations are split evenly. I mean, if a college for whatever reason one day had 25% African American students, that would be absurd, considering that only 13% of the population is Black."</p>
<p>Did you just say having 25% of a school population as African Americans is absurd?</p>
<p>But if a school has more diversity than a random subset of the applicant pool, then doesn't that indicate that race is a deciding factor in admission? Yet you're opposed to the high legacy rate, which indicates legacy as a significant factor. Seems kind of contradictory that you're opposed to adcoms favoring legacy over merit but not race over merit...</p>
<p>Did you just say having 25% of a school population as African Americans is absurd?</p>
<p>Don't take what I'm saying out of context. I'm saying that if a college had 25% of its student body be of a certain race (in this example it's Black) when the overall population of Blacks in America is around 12-13%, then that is a little extreme don't you think? I'm not racist, I would feel the same about any race being like that (like if for example a college was 90% white even though whites are around 65-70% of the population. That would also be absurd). </p>
<p>I mean, in this scenario, how could this college continue to consider Black Americans to be URMs, when they are clearly no longer underrepresented (at that specific college)?</p>
<p>Sheesh, next time actually read what I'm trying to convey instead of seeing the words "black" and "absurd" and getting flabbergasted.</p>
<p>I know what you're saying, but asp may be thinking of historically black colleges, where African Americans are in the majority -- in that case, though, the majority of the APPLICANTS are black. I think that instead of looking at things in terms of the overall population, we should look at it in terms of the applicant pool for the particular school.</p>
<p>Sorry but I think it's alittle absurd you think that way. It's not about the color of your skin, but the content of one's character and one's intelligence.</p>
<p>this shouldnt be looked at in terms of us population, but rather applicant pool.
and if you know anything about today compared to twenty years ago. you will know that the current young generation applying to college now, is more diverse than the older generations. probably more diverse than the national average.</p>
<p>^You have a point there Poseur. But I don't think that asp was thinking about HBCs. He was shocked because he thought that I meant that any college with too many blacks is a bad thing, which, if he actually read my post, he would realize isn't true. </p>
<p>Let's say at school A, 6% of the applicants are Black, even though 13% of Americans are Black, but when decisions roled around it turns out that 25% of admitted students are Black. Now this would be AA taken to the extreme. I would hope and expect that the college would give some boost to these applicants in order to get a class that is 13-15% Black, but going all the way up to 25% would be a bit much because by that point Black students at that college would now be ORMs instead of URMs. </p>
<p>Now of course, I don't know of any colleges where this is the case. It's merely a hypothetical situation that has crossed my mind that seems a bit absurd to me (if it were to ever happen).</p>
<p>Sorry but I think it's alittle absurd you think that way. It's not about the color of your skin, but the content of one's character and one's intelligence.</p>
<p>Um...we're talking about AA and the racial profiles of certain schools. The content of ones character and one's intelligence don't pertain to this conversation. </p>
<p>Yes, colleges seek out these qualities, but they are irrelevant to the discussion at hand. It is a fact that colleges use race as a factor in determining admissions, so yes, in a way, it is about the color of your skin.</p>