Reactions to percentage of Jewish students at Princeton

Courtesy of Princeton University

The Center for Jewish Life has found that, in 10 years, there has only been a 3 percent increase in the percentage of Jewish students. At 13 percent, it is almost half the percentage of Jewish students at nearly all of the other Ivy League schools. Last week, the Daily Princetonian article "Choosing the Chosen People" by Hannah Martins has garnered more than 4,000 hits and 100 comments — as well as a wide range of reactions.

Much of the debate centered on the numbers. A student from the Class of 2012 found it " 'statistically puzzling' that schools like Harvard are 25 percent Jewish, when less than 2 percent of Americans are." The student advocated for the University to accept more African-American and Hispanic students because they represent a larger percentage of the American population. Others responded with the statistic that Asian-Americans make up less than 5 percent of the U.S. population, but make up 16 percent of Princeton's student population.

Some readers asked for more data. Below, I've included statistics published by the Office of Admission in brochures for high school guidance counselors. For the 2009-10 school year, there are a total of 4,988 students. Of the 21,963 students who applied, 2,209 were accepted into the class of 2013 (for a 10.1 percent acceptance rate), and 1,301 chose to enroll.

Category ............. Number ............ Percent
Men ..................... 2,556 .....................51
Women ................. 2,342 .....................49
African-American ....... 392 ......................8
Asian-American...........790 .....................16
Hispanic/Latino.......... 374 ......................7
Native American.......... 26 .......................1
International.............. 533 .....................11

Some questioned why Princeton still has the stigma of being anti-semitic and whether this was affecting its yield rate. The commenter "@'11" wrote, "I think people have been pretty clear in these comments about what they think is 'problematic' about this. They think Princeton already has too many Jews. And their exhibiting that attitude probably does a pretty good job explaining why Jews prefer to attend other Ivies, where students and alums don't exhibit that attitude."

Some readers disliked Princeton's obsession with diversity, calling for the elimination of any affirmative action, and many comments were racially charged. One commenter stated, "Jews as a group ARE better- than minorities, I mean c'mon who are we kidding here?" A Princeton senior argued, "[F]rom a financial standpoint, Princeton is advised to enroll more Jews, especially Jewish males, because these students will disproportionately go on to success on Wall Street for example, compared to [African-American] students who study sociology and then who knows what after."

Another commenter suggested that other Ivy schools should follow Princeton's lead and "spend more time reaching out to Hispanics and African-American students. Seems to [me] Princeton has a solid number of Jewish students and could use a few more folks from the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum."

— Tasnim Shamma '11