Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, mental illness, and substance use.

Arriving at his Yale accommodation, Jeff Hobbs found Rob and Jackie in the common room, quietly studying their surroundings and the largely white, wealthy students outside. Their other roommates were Danny Murray and Ty Cantey. Danny was white and, like Hobbs, the son of a doctor. Ty was “black-asian [sic]” and the son of a NASA engineer. Hobbs and Ty agreed to share a room as they both were track athletes. 

Rob put up two pictures in his room: one of Jackie, and one of the Burger Boyz. He stood out from the other freshmen. Standing apart from the group and smoking in his baggy jeans and skullcap, Hobbs thought that he looked more like janitorial staff. Hobbs made an effort to bond with Rob. Although the students at his private schools were predominantly white, he had befriended Black athletes at Junior Olympic events. Rob gave no indication of how different their backgrounds were. However, when Hobbs asked what his father did, Rob stated he was in jail.

Hobbs’s older brother had warned him that the Black students at Yale did not integrate; he said they stuck together and showed “reverse racism.