By Cynthia Guerrero
Chicago, IL
On a spring day in 2016, cries echoed throughout Princeton University’s Alexander Hall as students and faculty members chanted, “What do we want? Divestment. When do we want it? Now.”
Students for Prison Education and Reform (SPEAR) had organized the protest to demand that Princeton divest from private prison companies, a practice which they claim makes the university complicit in one of the greatest civil and human rights violations of our time.
By Diana Gonzalez-Castillo
Littlerock, CA
It’s not easy for an Ivy League school to make the NCAA tournament. So when Skye Ettin, an assistant head coach of Princeton’s men’s basketball team, led his players onto the NCAA tournament stage this past March, it was a big deal.
This was his first season as a coach and, at only 25, Ettin is still learning “how to run a program,” he said. But he also considers his age to be a positive.
By Delsee Choudhury and Takyra Moore
Atlantic City, NJ and Cary, MS
Princeton University was one of the last Ivy League schools to implement a gender-inclusive housing policy for its students, but starting this fall, students will be allowed to choose roommates regardless of gender.
Gender-inclusive housing allows different genders to share a dorm room. It has become increasingly popular as campuses aim to be more welcoming to transgender students. “It was eye-opening to see how far behind we were,” said Vice President for Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun.
By David Agoha
New York City, NY
College Republicans living on the majority-liberal Princeton University campus in the era of President Trump say it is difficult to state their beliefs without receiving backlash from people.
By Amina Diakite
New York City, NY
When President Trump enacted a travel ban during week of his inauguration, the controversial move shocked the world. Few places felt the impact more than Princeton.
Ten percent of the undergraduate population are international students. On January 27, a number of them found themselves in limbo, unsure whether they would be able to return to campus, let alone the United States. Immediately, Princeton pounced. Princeton and 30 other colleges joined a court brief challenging the travel ban and condemning the action.
By Berenice Davila and Katie Okumu
Texas City, TX and Berea, KY
In the basement of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, an exhibit tries to provide a fuller understanding of Wilson’s complexities: He was a U.S. president, a university president–and a bigot. One dimly lit section is dedicated to arguments scribbled on bright orange four-by-six index cards.
“Black Lives Matter, but not to Wilson,” reads one card.
“Way overblown, get over it,” says another.
It’s a sign of how the debate surrounding Wilson’s legacy refuses to die. Continue reading
By Aisha Tahir
Annandale, VA
Last year, on the morning of November 18, nearly 200 students gathered outside Princeton University’s Nassau Hall. They came together from many diverse backgrounds to advocate for one cause: demanding that the school remove the name of Woodrow Wilson—the 28th president of the United States and a former president of the University—from its buildings.
The news immediately went viral around the world, with headlines like “The Case Against Woodrow Wilson at Princeton” in The New York Times, “Erasing Woodrow Wilson’s name is not that easy” on CNN, and “Expunging Woodrow Wilson from Official Places of Honor” in The Washington Post. Continue reading
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
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
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
