Trinity’s campus suffers from many problems regarding race and social class, one of which is the fact that the minority students feel isolated from the every day activities on campus. The P.R.I.D.E. program at Trinity “is a program organized by the Office of Multicultural Affairs aimed at supporting students from diverse backgrounds and encouraging interaction among all first year students at Trinity College” P.R.I.D.E. offers a “three day pre-orientation program, called “The Welcome Weekend”, that helps international students and students of color become acquainted with Trinity’s physical and social atmosphere.” “The Welcome Weekend”[1] helps create a social atmosphere amongst the first year students that from the beginning of school separates the students of color from the White students.
“The Welcome Weekend” sponsored by P.R.I.D.E. is sought to do good for the incoming students at Trinity College, but in fact has caused a separation among racial minority and white students. P.R.I.D.E. is not the problem driving racial separation on campus, but rather the lack integration amongst students that is caused by “The Welcome Weekend.” The pre-orientation program helps facilitate racial division on campus. P.R.I.D.E. students have already made friends within the first three days of their pre-orientation program, similarly to how football players make friends with kids on the football team before the rest of the freshman class arrives. This gives these students a sense of community and comfort that they do not wish to break as the majority of students enter campus. The difference between “Welcome Weekend” and the football team’s preseason is that there are both racial minorities and racial majority players on the football team compared to “Welcome Weekend” that highly recommends racial minorities to participate. Arriving to campus early, unfortunately, creates a divide amongst students that already have made friends and students that have not had the chance to make friends yet.
Imagine that you are an incoming freshman student at Trinity. In this scenario, you are part of the _________ group on campus. This particular group asks you to arrive on campus before the rest of the incoming freshman. Without having the chance to meet anyone outside of the group, you begin to form friendships in this _______ group. You start doing everything with the other members of the group. You participate in the same activities as them. You eat all your meals in Mather with them. You hang out with them during the night etc. Once all your all-fellow students arrive on campus you continue to hang out with the group of friends that you have already made because you are now comfortable with them. In the scenario we described above, can you tell if we are talking about the football team or the racial minority students that participated in “The Welcome Weekend?” The reason that all programs, who ask students to come to school early are not being questioned is, that unlike the “Welcome Weekend”, no other program only allows “international students and students of color”[2] to participate.
When Trinity sophomore students were interviewed about how race and social class affected them on the Trinity campus the P.R.I.D.E. program was brought up and specifically the “Welcome Weekend.” Mary, who is a racial minority on financial aid on campus, spoke about “ The Welcome Weekend” and said “A feeling that I got from them (Welcome Weekend Leaders) was like be aware of the wealthier students, the wealthier white students they will treat you, it’s like there a difference between you guys.” Mary goes on to say, “We were like set up to hang out with one another (Other minority students) instead of embracing the maturity and like promoting respect, right. And of different um-different cultures, did not necessarily happen because we stuck with the minorities rather then mixing or, like getting to know other students from Trinity, or having a full on orientation.”[3] Mary’s comments about the pre-orientation program reflect the exact scenario described above. Mary’s comments are saying that the program ended up making her feel more different from the norm on campus. Mary ends her statements on “Welcome Weekend” with saying “Initially I hung out with minorities because I was too timid to approach anyone else that hadn’t participated in P.R.I.D.E.”[4]
In order to find a plausible solution to this problem of racial division on Trinity’s campus it is necessary to look at other similar institution’s orientation programs. Amherst, a racially diverse NESCAC school, is completely doing away with its pre-orientation program. There solution might be drastic, but the president of Amherst feels that as freshman the school should “stand first for integration and secondarily for the special adjustments required by ethnicity, race, religion, nationality, or other aspects of identity[5].” Amherst’s ideal situation with their pre-orientation might be a little extreme, but the problems arising at Trinity College throughout the years must be solved. Amherst’s solution is not the answer to the P.R.I.D.E. program, but it shows that there are barriers, in dealing with race, that we must work on overcoming [6] and the solution that Trinity is using is not working to integrate these students. Amherst has not had any notable racial issues, since they did away with a racial pre-orientation program; whereas, Trinity College has experienced multiple racial issues with the “Welcome Weekend” the way it is. In fact, similar to Amherst, Trinity cancelled “Welcome Weekend” for the class of 2015, due to a hurricane this year and hasn’t had a notable racial problem thus far.
The dean of Yale, Mr. Brodhead, says that if “Any program powerful enough in one week to alter the way people think about things would have to be one hell of a good program.[7]” This sarcastic claim proves that all the statements made by the people in P.R.I.D.E. who wish to integrate students who are minorities coming into Trinity College can be refuted. One week, let alone three days, cannot change the way students perceive new surroundings.
P.R.I.D.E. is not a program that can be removed from the Trinity College campus, it does a lot of good to be removed, but it is something that can definitely be altered to do more good. We feel that “The Welcome Weekend” should be removed from the program. It is something that is causing racial separation as said by the Amherst president. Incoming freshman need to interact with all of the students, it is what makes the college experience. Students should not be grouped with a small group of students during P.R.I.D.E., and never interact past that group because they feel so comfortable in it. If P.R.I.D.E. allows freshman orientation to play out and students to interact with peers of all races, and then they can incorporate their programs into the student’s life. “Welcome Weekend” can be replaced with meetings or gathering once or twice a week, and make them optional, yet highly recommended. With meetings during the week, this would allow for the P.R.I.D.E. program not to have to compete with the immensely popular fraternity life. P.R.I.D.E. should encourage a student in their program to bring a friend, not from the program, to the meetings. This would allow for a chain of new students interacting with one another not just during the first 3 days of school but rather throughout the whole year. This gives students a chance to integrate themselves, by brining friends from outside the P.R.I.D.E. program, and encouraging them to interact with one another. If P.R.I.D.E. could manage to keep their program meetings interesting, even the idea of food outside of Mather Hall would get students of all races to the meetings.
The P.R.I.D.E. program as it is right now remains a mystery to the majority of the Trinity campus. Students know so much about events like 80’s night, a popular dance ay Trinity College, but really don’t know much about P.R.I.D.E. Removing “The Welcome Weekend” from P.R.I.D.E. will help students who aren’t racial minorities know that they are allowed to join. “Welcome Weekend” in a way has become an initiation to P.R.I.D.E. that white students don’t know they can join after the weekend is over. We feel that if students can interact with people on their own, the program will thrive mightily as the year goes on. People from all different races can come to meetings because their friends are members of P.R.I.D.E. and tell them what it truly stands for.
The P.R.I.D.E. program is not a problem regarding race or social class at Trinity’s campus. It is our belief that “The Welcome Weekend is. By removing the welcome weekend and making slight changes to the P.R.I.D.E. program will dramatically help with racial issues that the Trinity campus has.
[1] P.R.I.D.E. Official Newsletter. Brandon Lewis.
[2] P.R.I.D.E. Official Newsletter. Brandon Lewis.
[3] Interview Transcripts
[4] Interview Transcripts
[5] Gose, Ben. “Do Minority Orientations Encourage Segregation?” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 4, 1998, sec. Students. http://chronicle.com/article/Do-Minority-Orientations/2236/.
[6] Bartlett, Tom, and Karin Fischer. “Diversity Programs and Social Norms.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 19, 2007, sec. Letters to the Editor. http://chronicle.com/article/Diversity-ProgramsSocial/1867/.
[7] Gose, Ben. “Do Minority Orientations Encourage Segregation?” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 4, 1998, sec. Students. http://chronicle.com/article/Do-Minority-Orientations/2236/.
