Name: Tim Cheston

Hometown: Falls Church, VA

Activities at Princeton: Oxfam Princeton, Student Global AIDS Campaign, Princeton University Gospel Ensemble, BSU’s Leadership and Mentoring Program, Princeton Research Institute for the Region, Community Action, P-UNICEF

Before Princeton, I lived in an area where my local high school was well recognized for having the greatest diversity in the number of countries represented by its students, more than any other high school in the country. And yet I was attending a public magnet school on the other end of the diversity spectrum, where I couldn’t help but feel that I was moving farther away from reality.

I grew at Princeton by understanding that often times it is the case that I learn more outside the classroom than within it. Despite being white, upper-middle class, Catholic, and male, I grew by realizing that I too had unique experiences and beliefs to share, where many of my most memorable lessons have not come from reading the works of renowned scholars, but by engaging in real-world discussions with friends about issues and beliefs that effect them. In essence, I gained the insight that association does not require separation and that dialogue across diverse viewpoints provides real learning.

I supported “cross-pollination” by just being myself and surrounding myself with the people I enjoy being around. Never once did I go out of my way or actively attempt to engage in cross-pollination, but rather I think just often times it can be just being open to understand the basis for people’s opinions that cross-pollination naturally will flow. For me, it’s not even the sense of the proverbial “opposites attract,” but in fact the reverse is true: I enjoy being around those I have things in common with and have many of the traits that I find enjoyable to be around. Too often people also seek similar peers, but too easily write off personal traits for arbitrary differences. In a sense, then, I have always been supporting cross-pollination indirectly by naturally promoting dialogue and exchange, realizing that none of the problems we face today can be isolated within one group alone.

I learned that diversity and curiosity are often confused for one another. Curiosity leads people to taste new foods and to attend cultural events, but this is not diversity. And neither is diversity something limited to “diversity trainings”; rather, diversity requires real engagement of ideas and beliefs. It’s only when we understand the foundational experiences and beliefs that guide people’s actions that we can foster true understanding and “cross-pollination”.

After reflecting on my experience at Princeton, I have concluded that ignorance is not bliss, but leads to terrible overgeneralizations that result in more than stupid jokes, but also in poorly crafted public policies. If we are even to begin to understand the increasingly interconnected world we live in and the true expanse of values and outlooks that exist, we must begin by truly understanding the viewpoints of those around us. This, to me, is what cross-pollination is all about.

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