“My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my ‘Blackness’ than ever before. I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don’t belong,” wrote Michelle Robinson in her senior thesis (Robinson 1985). Thirty-five years later, I reflect on her experience. I ask how students’ race and class influence their social sense of belonging or alienation at Princeton. By conducting 55 interviews with Princeton upperclassmen, I have looked at the influence of race and family income on Princeton University students’ sense of social belonging. This study sheds light on alienation, isolation, and community for upperclassmen at Princeton University. Pre-existing studies on similar topics often look exclusively at first-year students at a variety of four-year institutions. However, by focusing on older students I am able to capture the changes and social patterns that have occurred throughout their time on campus. Additionally, because this study takes place at Princeton, I am able to understand the influence of an elite and exclusive environment on social belonging.
I explore the role eating clubs, office hours, and faith play in creating the social fabric of the campus. The research also explores ideas of affiliations, group-making, going out, and isolation as helpful indicators of systemic processes of inclusion or exclusion. I take an in-depth look at the experiences of student-athletes, low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color, as well as patterns of faith and other priorities. These experiences reveal a deeper understanding of what types of students feel alienated or unwelcome on campus. While students from low income backgrounds struggle to carve a path for themselves on campus, others glide through the social scene with ease. Often, students of color have created communities and spaces separate from the pre-existing social networks in order to find belonging on campus. Ultimately, this research reveals a drastic divide in the type of campus community students of different identities are able to find.