Ever in the service of humanity, many members of the Class of 2022 have spoken up on a variety of issues. We asked how they feel about the Honor Code, President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, the Black Lives Matter movement, bicker, and universal healthcare. Crucially, regardless of how they view Nassau Hall, the vast majority of seniors are happy with the Best Damn Place of All: 88.9 percent would still have chosen to attend Princeton if they could go back in time.
77.6 percent of seniors who participated in the 2020 general election voted for President Joe Biden, but just 44.1 percent noted a favorable view of the commander in chief. His opponent, former President Donald Trump, earned votes from fewer than five percent of 2022s, consistent with only four percent viewing the former president favorably. 79 percent of A.B. respondents who voted in 2020 selected Biden, compared to 73.2 percent of their B.S.E. peers, but the difference is made up in indifference, not support for Trump: over 12 percent of eligible B.S.E. students did not vote in 2020, compared to 4.4 percent of A.B. students.
If they could go back in time, 88.9 percent of students would choose to attend Princeton again and 56.3 percent intend to show their gratitude by donating at some point in their lifetime, including 14.3 percent in the next year.
Despite love for Old Nassau, many seniors held negative views of the figures and institutions who lead it. A minority of the class reported favorable views of numerous prominent campus institutions and individuals including, but not limited to: USG (17.3 percent indicated a favorable view), Dean of the College Jill Dolan (17.9 percent), President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 (19 percent), the Honor Code (23.4 percent), housing quality (34.3 percent), and PSAFE (35.4 percent).
Bicker similarly stands among highly unpopular establishments — 19.3 percent of all respondents stated a positive opinion of the system, with results that are highly stratified based on one’s eating club of choice. 45.7 percent of bicker club members reported a favorable view of the selective admissions process, in contrast to just 3 percent of students who joined sign-ins.
Conversely, students expressed support and optimism for certain campus causes — 70.4 percent favored proposals to divest Princeton’s endowment funds from fossil fuel investments while 61.4 percent favored grading senior theses on a PDF basis.
Seniors overwhelmingly agreed on a litany of prominent social issues. Over 80 percent of respondents expressed a favorable opinion of same-sex marriage, widely accessible abortion services, the Black Lives Matter movement, the #MeToo movement, expanding limitations on firearm purchases, and proposals to adopt a universal healthcare system in the United States. This, along with the fact that 74.1 percent of students identified as “somewhat” or “very” left-wing earlier in the survey, points to a campus political culture which is significantly more liberal than the nation as a whole.
The only social issue included in the survey which failed to attract a supermajority of students to one side centered on law enforcement: 43.2 percent of 2022s reported an unfavorable view of “proposals to abolish the police,” while 40 percent stated a favorable view.
Over half of respondents indicated that they had never tested positive for COVID-19, with the majority receiving their initial vaccinations from Pfizer-BioNTech and their boosters from Moderna. 2022s reported wearing surgical masks (40.1 percent) and KN95s (34.5 percent) most frequently, and 10.4 percent always masked up, regardless of requirements. 55.3 percent of students held a favorable view of the University’s decision to lift the indoor mask mandate in March, but that number jumps to 71.1 percent among those who have had COVID-19.