bj....that's just the introduction to a thesis. Michelle was merely setting up the central theme. She's basically making the statement that bias may exist on the Princeton campus, and that bias may effect or change the attitudes of black students toward poor blacks. Variables of all types and empirical evidence would be discussed by the main body of the thesis.
On the other hand, mt, the question that popped into my mind as I read this was, "This is what passes for a thesis at Princeton?!" While the main body of the thesis was not presented, I think her attempts at finding empirical evidence to support her contentions would be problematic at best. In addition, I found her literary style to be plodding and pedantic.
Her concern seemed to be that blacks who attended Princeton might be changed by the bias inherent in the faculty and the student body. That change would manifest itself in an increased callousness toward lower-class blacks. At least that's my take on it. I found the entire premise to be flawed, if for no other reason than no student completes a four year stint in college without being changed in some way. Yet, why would I lose all interest in poor, lower-class whites? I have no way of proving it, but I doubt that most people would so readily turn their backs on those less fortunates within their own ethnic groups.
