On October 4, 2022, Alize Roberson, the Residential Life Coordinator (RLC) of Forbes, one of Princeton’s residential colleges, announced the commencement of bi-weekly study breaks titled “Melanin Mondays.”
Roberson is one of the University’s newly hired Residential Life Coordinators (RLCs), whose appointments were announced on August 26, 2022 by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS), making 2022-2023 the first academic year on campus for RLC staff. According to the ODUS press release, RLCs are meant to “assist in cultivating a welcoming and cohesive residential community” and to “maintain a safe and supportive residential environment for all students.”
Roberson advertised Melanin Mondays as an “opportunity to connect” with her and the series co-host, Dr. Monica Johnson, a psychologist with University Health Services. Study breaks are frequent occurrences at Princeton, meant as opportunities for students to take a break from studying, socialize, and decompress. Some examples of study breaks hosted by Forbes College this year have included titles such as “Late Night Study Break,” “Pies,” “Fall Comforts,” and “Good Vibes Only.”
“Melanin Mondays is something that Alize and I have talked about, and the goal is just to provide a space for BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] students on campus that may or may not already exist,” Dr. Monica Johnson said during the study break on November 7th.
Around 20 people attended the first study break, hosted on October 10th in the Forbes Black Box Theater. The event commenced with introductions from the hosts, who described the environment as a “safe space” for minority students.
“It’s just nice having a space for people with melanin to just be,” Breanna Goyea ’23 commented during the November 7th study break. “It’s a good way to start your week.”
A digital poster advertising Melanin Mondays
The conversation at both study breaks primarily consisted of pop culture debates and individuals’ “hot takes” on controversial issues. Topics centered around issues of race and sex relations, such as “colorism” in the music industry and the “heteronormativity” of surname conventions.
“I enjoy being able to talk about relevant things that are happening in the black community, like the Kanye situation,” Anicia Henry ’23 said at the November 7th study break. “There’s not always space to engage with those things, and I can talk how I talk – the AAVE [African American Vernacular English] is out, and it’s something normative within the space.”
According to University spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss, Melanin Mondays is part of the Live Well & Be Well at Forbes initiative, which “focuses on empowering students and inspiring a healthy lifestyle and sense of well-being.” “All Forbes residents are welcome at all Live Well, Be Well programming,” Hotchkiss wrote in a statement to the Tory.
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