Author Archives: princetonsjp

With re-election looming, Princeton mayor reflects on first term

By Allison Scharmann
Southwick, MA

Liz Lempert, mayor of Princeton, N.J., is the kind of politician who chooses her words carefully. She’s coming to the end of her first term and four years filled with controversial battles including gentrification, wage theft, infrastructure, and other issues that reflect the town’s changing demographics.

A former journalist, Lempert jumped into politics with Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, and served as Princeton Township Deputy Mayor for four years. Since being elected mayor in 2012, she’s governed a town that’s experienced growing tension amid urban development and gentrification, especially in neighborhoods consisting largely of people of color. Continue reading →

The Princeton Summer Journal – 2016 Masthead

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The following students and staff participated in SJP 2016:

Students

Skye An
Anterrica Brady
Kieona Buchanan
Jamal Burns
Aracely Chavez
Berenice Davila
Taylor Fetty
Anahi Figueroa
Jadelyn Flores Sierra
Miriam Garcia
Kasandra Gonzalez
Maria Gonzalez
Hector Gutierrez
Kay-Ann Henry
Meherina Khan
Amy Kim
Amanda Koym
Jesus Lino
Angela Loyola
Katie Marciniak
Trapetas McGill
Elia Morelos
Katherine Okumu
Luis Ortiz
Breonna Reese
Tommie Robinson
Talaya Robinson-Dancy
Mirna Rodriguez
Angel Santana
Sarah Santiago
Allison Scharmann
Alexess Sosa
Ashley Standafer
Aisha Tahir
Yahaira Torres Ledesma
Xuan Truong
Michael Williams

Program Staff

Founder & Executive Director
Richard Just ’01

Directors
Marin Cogan
Amanda Cormier SJP ’07
Eliza Gray
Tonya Riley SJP ’10
Amanda Rinderle ’08
Brian Rokus ’99
Chanakya Sethi ’07
Tasnim Shamma ’11 SJP ’06
Katie Zavadski SJP ’08
Simon Van Zuylen-Wood

Program Associates
Caroline Lippman ’19
Mim Ra Aslaoui ’18

Counselors
Adrian Alvarez GS ’04
Kina Carney SJP ’13
Shemaiah Clarke SJP ’13
Andie Coller
Imani Ford ’18 SJP ’13
Megan Greenwell
Liz Gonzalez SJP ’11
Mariya Ilyas SJP ’08
Stanley Kay
Suzy Khimm
Franklin Lee SJP ’10
Lyne Lucien SJP ’08
Mike Mishak
Rebecca Nelson
Ashley Powers
Lorena Aviles Trujillo SJP ’12

Steven Uccio: red candidate in a blue state

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By Mirna Rodriguez and Xuan Truong
Mission, TX and Springfield, MA

The carnival played out in the distance underneath last Saturday afternoon’s baking sun. The sunlight perfectly lit up a sign that read Middlesex County. Laughter and screams rang out from the twisting rides, drowning out a man’s demure voice as he stood in a field. Face clean shaven and hair neatly cut, he looked down at his pin, the sun blaring against the name: Steven Uccio.

Behind him were two other men in bright red shirts with large, bolded letters saying “Uccio For Congress: It’s Our Time.” Beyond the three were a crowd of young journalists, with pink umbrellas and notebooks on their laps, awaiting his answers. Continue reading →

Princetonians discuss Christie and Trump

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By Ashley Standafer and Xuan Truong
Hyden, KY and Springfield, MA

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is a polarizing politician who inspired both outright anger and respect among those interviewed on a recent Saturday night in Princeton, N.J.

“He’s a bully and it shows who he really is as a person,” said Robert Delanty, 47. He believes that Christie “sold himself out on the Trump endorsement,” referring to the governor’s support of the Republican presidential candidate. Continue reading →

Calmness and continuity: the story of Princeton mayor Liz Lempert

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By Jamal Burns
St. Louis, MO

Liz Lempert sits in a beige conference room in Princeton’s municipal complex. The room is utterly silent, besides the faint hum of central air conditioning. But the calmness of the room belies persistent tension in the Princeton community, whether about the environment, the cost of housing, or racial prejudices on Princeton University’s campus.

Lempert, 46, is the first mayor of the newly consolidated Princeton Township. But she hasn’t always been in politics. She started her unconventional journey in journalism, as an editor for the Stanford Daily, and later, as a graduate student at Boston University. “I thought I was going to go into print [journalism] because you gravitate to what comes easy to you, and I always loved writing,” she said. Continue reading →

First-generation Princeton students speak out

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By Anahi Figueroa and Jesus Lino
Commerce City, CO and Los Angeles, CA

At the country’s most selective colleges, all first year students commence their college experience in the same way. Armed with over-packed suitcases, they stroll through a manicured lawn passing a medieval Harry Potter-style library to arrive at their empty dorm. After sliding their freshly minted I.D’s, they open the door to new faces with differing backgrounds. They all arrive to the room in the same fashion, yet the subtext of their past experiences shapes their new ones. Whether you’re the daughter of a farmer or the son of a Wall Street shark, your upbringing shapes how you navigate in a new environment. For first-generation and low-income students at Princeton University, their backgrounds can present unique obstacles for maneuvering their education, especially without support from family or the administration.

While administrators believe that Princeton University is doing a marvelous job in assisting first-generation students, some students say that a lot of work still needs to be done. Continue reading →

Construction on $300m arts and transit complex moves along

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By Hector Gutierrez
McFarland, CA

Through the glass walls of Princeton’s new arts complex, viewers can see rooms hanging from the ceiling, as though they are waiting to be secured into the rest of the building. But the rooms will remain where they are, held by strings attached to the ceiling. The unique structure is designed to isolate the rooms from each other so musical vibrations do not travel.

The beauty of the building cannot conceal the fact that Princeton has not always emphasized arts in this way. As the Princeton campus prepares to welcome the $300 million architectural marvel that will house the production of myriad masterpieces as well as a new Dinky station, it marks a transition from the period when arts weren’t integrated as an important component of the curriculum. Continue reading →

Residents discuss police-community relations

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By Aracely Chavez
Pacoima, CA

Because of the violent, often fatal, acts police have committed toward people of color—such as the killings of Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner and Michael Brown—some Americans currently have a negative perception of police. But recent interviews with people in the John Street neighborhood—a historically low-income neighborhood of Princeton—suggest that this is not the case here.

“I think they treat us better” because now “they even greet [us],” said 40-year-old Juan Orellana. Similarly, 35-year-old Consuelo Retanalo said that police help a lot and “do a good job.” According to local resident Joanne Rice Parker, “I respect the police…They look out for us.” Many of the sources, such as 44-year-old Oliverio Sanchez, had never had an interaction with police, but made sure to clarify that “not all” police officers are racist and sometimes need to use force on those that resist them. “To tell you the truth, they’re awesome…They don’t bother me,” said Winston McFarlane. Continue reading →

Bridging the gap: Princeton’s Hidden Minority Council

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By Trapetas McGill
Philadelphia, PA

To Princeton Sophomore David Lopera, Princeton University’s manicured campus seemed such a world away from his native East Boston that he almost didn’t apply. “I was obviously scared. Nervous. I had my doubts. I anticipated wealth,” he said. Little did this 19-year-old son of migrant Colombians know, he wasn’t alone. When he got to New Jersey last fall, he joined a growing number of Princeton students with exactly the same worries.

Now, Lopera is a member of Princeton’s Hidden Minority Council (PHMC), a group founded in 2013 to raise awareness about first-generation college students on campus and the challenges they face. While Princeton covers students’ full financial aid, says PHMC treasurer Melana Hammel, “it doesn’t bridge the gap.” Socioeconomic status can have huge effects on low-income students’ experiences on campus. “[The PHMC is about] building an understanding,” Hammel says. And the group, which won Princeton’s 2016 Martin Luther King award for community service, is only getting started. Continue reading →

A moment in time: Princeton senior theses

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By Skye An
Brooklyn, NY

For a moment, Ethan Coen was a person no one would recognize today. He was not in Minnesota where he was raised, nor in Hollywood where he ascended as a filmmaker with his brother Joel. He was a philosophy major at Princeton University. And like all Princetonians, he faced the university’s most daunting undergraduate task: the senior thesis.

For nearly a century, students who have gone on to find fame in politics, law, literature and entertainment have completed senior theses at Princeton. But is it fair to judge people by the theses they wrote decades ago?

Continue reading →