I appreciate the concern Student Volunteers Council alumna Melissa Schettini '96 expressed about the content of recent SVC Hunger Awareness Weeks in a letter to the editor last Thursday. Ms. Schettini criticized the SVC's choice of Peter Singer as a Hunger Awareness Week speaker, charging that this decision contradicted our commitment to respecting all people. As was stated in our January newsletter, cited incorrectly by Ms. Schettini, we invited Professor Singer to speak during our 1999 HAW because of his ability to stimulate debate about world hunger issues. Our most recent Hunger Week had a local focus, featuring a panel of advocates, service providers and government officials designed to inform students about hunger in Mercer County's working poor families. The speakers for both Awareness Weeks were chosen not because the SVC endorses their views but to challenge students to think about hunger and poverty issues in relation to their daily lives. Professor Singer, who gives one-fifth of his income to famine-relief agencies annually, uses a utilitarian framework to argue that each of us, once we have fulfilled our basic needs, should give as much as possible of our remaining wealth to those experiencing life-threatening deprivation. His lecture was an excellent contribution to HAW, bringing many students to reflect on how their daily decisions affect those living in extreme poverty.
I wonder if Ms. Schettini's confusion regarding the content of the most recent SVC Hunger Awareness Week is attributable in part to the failure of the 'Prince' to cover any HAW 2000 events. I am surprised and angered that editors chose to print a misinformed statement about a week-long series of events when it did not find those events, which involved more than 600 students and several campus and community organizations, newsworthy.
Although the SVC is the largest student-led organization on campus, with our volunteers performing over 50,000 hours of service annually, The Daily Princetonian has run only three stories this academic year about the SVC, all of which negatively portrayed the organization.
Its coverage of the SVC is only one example of its larger failure to adequately report on the full range of student-initiated events and activities. Where are the stories about the more than 100 undergraduate student organizations that are not sports teams, theater groups or the USG? About student involvement in Black History Month events? About graduate students when they aren't protesting mistreatment by the administration? I hope that the 'Prince' staff will make a concerted effort to broaden its coverage of student activities.
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Campus is isolated: Be the voice that speaks out
Wynne Conger“Although today’s encampment represents a significant and monumental stride in campus activism, the culture of the Orange Bubble must fundamentally shift in order to ensure long term change.”
Protesting for peace and justice
Nura Liepsner“To me, the work that pro-Palestine protesters at Princeton, across the nation, and abroad are fighting for can be viewed as a part of a much larger dream of liberation.”
“To me, the work that pro-Palestine protesters at Princeton, across the nation, and abroad are fighting for can be viewed as a part of a much larger dream of liberation.”
Encampments are not ‘inherently unsafe.’ Princeton should not arrest or expel students for them.
Daily Princetonian Editorial Board“We urge Princeton to cease student arrests and to refrain from expelling students simply for engaging in prolonged protest.”
“We urge Princeton to cease student arrests and to refrain from expelling students simply for engaging in prolonged protest.”
