Diversity

6.7 percent of the ‘Prince’ identifies as having a disability, a decrease from 10.1 percent in 2023. The proportion of editors and staffers identifying as having a disability is roughly equal.

Overall, perceptions of ‘Prince’ coverage of disability-related topics are generally positive. However, 25 percent of respondents with disabilities somewhat disagree that the ‘Prince’ covers issues related to disability representation comprehensively and sensitively. This marks a significant shift from 2023, when no respondents with disabilities expressed disagreement. By contrast, respondents without disabilities tended to view the coverage more favorably.

About three quarters of respondents indicated that they were staffers at the ‘Prince,’ with the remaining quarter indicating that they were editors or initiative directors. Similarly, over 48 percent of respondents have been on the ‘Prince’ for one semester. Over half of respondents spend between one and two hours on the ‘Prince’ each week, while over five percent spend over 10 hours per week. Over half, or 58 percent of respondents, indicated that the ‘Prince’ was their first journalism experience.

Almost 20 percent of the ‘Prince’ identifies as first generation, meaning that none of their parents completed a college or university degree. This is an increase from last year’s staff, of which only 16.8 percent identified as first generation. 20 percent of staffers and 10 percent of editors identify as first-generation students.

Only 3 percent of non-first generation students somewhat disagree with the statement that “The ‘Prince’ covers issues related to FGLI (first–generation, low–income) representation comprehensively and sensitively.” The number rises to 11.1 percent for students that identify as first-generation.

The Opinion, Puzzles, and Sports sections have the least amount of first-generation students whilst Tech has the most with 57 percent.

20 percent of the ‘Prince’ members are legacies. Additionally, 64.2 percent of the ‘Prince’ staff’s parents have a Master’s, Professional Degree, or Doctorate, almost 20 points more than the parents of the Class of 2028, according to the ‘Prince’ Frosh survey. In 11 sections, the minimum parental education is a high school diploma.

Half of the staff went to a non-selective public school and only 0.5 percent went to a charter school. Features has the highest percentage of members that went to private school, with 46.7 percent. Comparatively, 72.7 percent of Podcast members went to non-selective public schools.

According to the latest DEIB survey, 66 percent of the ‘Prince’ staff identify as heterosexual or straight, showing virtually no change from last year’s numbers. However, this figure differs notably between general staff and those in leadership roles — 72 percent of staffers identify as straight, compared to only 46 percent of editors and other leaders.

Bisexual representation has risen to 20 percent, up from 16 percent last year. Additionally, about 10 percent of respondents identify as queer or questioning. The survey also reveals that 5 percent of the ‘Prince’ identifies as gay, 2 percent as lesbian, and another 2 percent as asexual. Compared to the Class of 2028 Frosh Survey conducted by the ‘Prince,’ which found that 73 percent of students identify as straight, the DEIB survey’s 148 respondents highlight a notably lower percentage of students within the ‘Prince’ who identify as straight at 66 percent.

When it comes to LGBTQ+ coverage, more than 60 percent of ‘Prince’ members across various sexual orientations strongly or somewhat agree that the publication addresses LGBTQ+ issues comprehensively and sensitively. However, there are exceptions—about 13 percent of bisexual staffers strongly disagree, indicating room for improvement in coverage.

The gap between the percent of international ‘Prince’ staffers and incoming international first-years was reduced this year. According to the Class of 2028 Frosh Survey, 11.6 percent of first-years are international students, 2 percent higher than the number of international staff (9.6 percent). Last year, this was a 3 percent difference. The largest number of international students are from Asia. The second largest group is from Europe followed by Africa. Domestically, New Yorkers and New Jerseyans are most represented. 18 states are not represented at all.

Staffers are 3.1 percentage points more likely to be international students than editors. When asked to what extent they agree that “The Prince covers issues related to the international student experience comprehensively and sensitively,” 22.2 percent of international students strongly agreed versus 29.3 percent of domestic students. No students in either category strongly disagreed. However, 11.1 percent of international students somewhat disagreed, 6.4 percentage points more than domestic students. The biggest gap was found with 20.9 percent more domestic students remaining neutral than their international counterparts.

The majority of the ‘Prince’ receives some financial aid, with 25.9 percent receiving full aid and 46.6 percent receiving partial aid. Overall, 26.6 percent of the ‘Prince’ identifies as low-income, with 25.4 percent of staffers and 23.9 percent of editors identifying as such. 70.7 percent believe Prince covers first-generation, low-income (FGLI) issues comprehensively and sensitively, and 74 percent of those who agree identify as low-income. 18 percent of low-income respondents reported feeling neutral, while 8 percent reported that they somewhat disagreed. No respondents reported strong disagreement.

By section, 20 percent or fewer members of Design, Humor, Opinion, and Puzzles identify as low-income. Conversely, over 30 percent of Audience, Copy, News, Podcast, Tech, and The Prospect identify as low-income. Humor reported the lowest number of low-income members, at 11.1 percent. Tech reported the highest number of low-income members, at 71.4 percent.

Most respondents indicated that they considered English to be their first language. Around 19 percent responded that they considered multiple languages to be their first language, and around 12 percent considered themselves to have a first language other than English. The most common first languages other than English were Mandarin, Korean, and Spanish.

Over 75 percent of the ‘Prince’ — 79.1 percent — identifies as left wing. In line with previous years, more editors and initiative directors were left wing than the rest of the staff, with close to 90 percent identifying as either “very left wing” (46.8 percent) or “slightly left wing” (40.4 percent). Just 5.8 percent of staffers identified as slightly right wing, and no respondents identified as “very right wing.”

Cartoon had the highest percentage of staffers identifying as “very left wing,” with 66.7 percent. Opinion closely followed with 65 percent. More notable sections include Sports, with 76.9 percent of respondents identifying as “slightly left wing,” and News, with 45.5 percent “very left wing” respondents and just 9.1 percent “slightly right wing” respondents.

The majority of staffers agreed that the ‘Prince’ covers issues related to “diverse political affiliations” comprehensively and sensitively — 22.4 percent strongly agreed and 35.1 percent somewhat agreed. 16 percent of staffers disagreed.

The ‘Prince’ is predominantly composed of members of the Classes of 2026, 2027 and 2028, at 22.2 percent, 29.6 percent, and 39.9 percent, respectively. 8.4 percent of the ‘Prince’ are members of the Class of 2025. None are graduate students.

The percentage of the ‘Prince’ pursuing an A.B. degree has dropped from 87.3 percent last year to 79.8 percent. Of these, 35.2 percent are pursuing a degree in the social sciences, and 26.1 percent in the humanities, and 15.1 percent in the natural sciences. 20.2 percent of respondents are pursuing a B.S.E. degree.

The percentage of the ‘Prince’ who are varsity athletes has dropped from last year, from 5.6 percent to 4.5 percent. This is far less than the 18 percent of all undergraduates who are varsity athletes.

COS was listed only under BSE on this survey.

The ‘Prince’ remains predominantly Asian (39.3 percent) and White (50.7 percent), which is consistent with past surveys. 10.4 percent of the ‘Prince’ identifies as Black, 10.4 percent as Hispanic/Latine, 4.0 percent as Middle Eastern or North African, and 9.5 percent percent as Mixed.

The ‘Prince’ should continue working to improve the diversity of its staff-to-editor pipeline: While 9.6 percent of staffers identified as African American or Black, just 4.3 percent of editors identify as such. Meanwhile, 45.7 percent of editor respondents are White, 21.7 percent are Asian, 4.3 percent are Hispanic/Latine, 2.2 percent are Middle Eastern or North African, and 21.7 percent are Mixed.

Compared with last year, the perception of ‘Prince’ coverage of issues related to race and ethnicity has improved. 21.4 percent of Black respondents view this coverage somewhat unfavorably, a drop from 33.3 percent last year. Additionally, no Hispanic/Latine respondents viewed this unfavorably, compared with 11.8 percent last year. 5.2 percent of Asian students, 5.7 percent of mixed students, and 3.3 percent of white students view this coverage somewhat unfavorably.

All respondents who selected multiple races were placed in the Mixed category.

Over half of respondents identified themselves as either agnostic or atheist. Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism were three of the most common religions for respondents.