"I know I'm drunk, but I still want to sign up," a student says to her friend, walking over to the blue "Frist Filibuster" support tent.
It's 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning — hour 279 of the nonstop student protest filibuster on the north lawn of the Frist Campus Center — and the girls, both sporting party hats, are returning to their dorms after a night at the Street.
Minutes later, the girls have moved on and another 30-minute speaking slot in the muchpublicized, much debated political talkathon has been reserved.
Inside the blue tent, Nathan Gregory GS, the one who took down the girl's name and is manning the support table this cool but calm night, sends emails and surveys the scene.
A few yards in front of him, the little protest that could continues to rage — or perhaps ramble — on. Laura Clawson GS, enclosed on all sides by white barricades, reads aloud from articles in Vanity Fair magazine. Two Public Safety officers pace nearby, guarding against inebriated interference. On the support table, a small webcam records the scene for the protest's highly-trafficked website, filibusterfrist.com.
Ed Hughes, an older man from Long Branch, N.J., who read about the filibuster online, quietly watches Clawson speak. He is staying until 4 a.m., offering support in case the drunkenness of the nearby block spills over into the protest. "I was surprised that [the filibuster] got off the ground and stayed off the ground as long as it did," he says. "It's got legs, as they say." He isn't the only one who's surprised.
The makings of a protest
It wasn't supposed to last more than a day or two.
"I didn't even consider the possibility of going overnight," Juan Melli-Huber GS, one of the organizers of the event, said in an interview Sunday afternoon.
"The original plan was to do one or two days of 12 hours," he said. "We certainly didn't expect to be able to fill a week or two worth of spots."
Now in its second week and having passed its 300th nonstop hour, the filibuster has attracted the support of local politicians and the attention of news organizations across the country, including The New York Times, CNN and "Hardball with Chris Matthews."
At issue is the so-called "nuclear option," a possible Senatorial rule change proposed by Senator Bill Frist '74 that would reduce the number of votes needed to end a filibuster from 60 to 51. Senate Democrats want to block the appointment of some of President Bush's judicial nominees who they believe hold extremist views.
The filibuster is expected to continue at least through Tuesday, and organizers plan to announce a second part of the protest today or tomorrow. "Phase 2" will likely include a road trip, organizers said, but they declined to specify the destination. As of Sunday night, nearly $4,000 had been raised for the cause.
According to the Progressive Review, Phase 2 will "take the fight directly to Bill Frist." A filibuster "inspired by" the event at Princeton is scheduled for Capitol Hill on Wednesday at 10 a.m., according to filibusterfrist.com.
A 25-hour filibuster at Harvard is also set to start Tuesday at midnight.
"It happened very organically," Melli-Huber said of the process of organizing the protest. After several emails between graduate, undergraduate and postdoctoral students, the idea of a campus filibuster began to come together, he said.
The protest also received publicity from the prominent liberal blog talkingpointsmemo.com, operated by Josh Marshall '91.
"They had a huge influence," said Asheesh Siddique '07, editor of the Progressive Review and an organizer of the filibuster. "Once Josh [Marshall] picked it up, it kind of built and built."
The event continues
Perhaps most perplexing of all is how a filibuster protest on a campus not known for its political activism has maintained such longevity. "I guess it's the uniqueness of it," Melli-Huber said. "It's political theater and people enjoy it. Even though it is a protest, it is a fun protest."
Those taking part in the filibuster have read works ranging from Shakespeare to Seuss and have used their time at the podium to sing songs and recite thousands of digits of pi.
Siddique said that students have connected with the idea behind the protest. "I think that once people saw that so many political issues end up being decided by the judicial branch in America, they realized that every issue they care about comes down to a fair and independent judiciary," Siddique said.
After filibustering from 1 to 2 a.m. Sunday morning, Clawson said she felt compelled to protest the possible Senatorial rule change. "It's important to stand up to attempts to further consolidate power in the hands of people who are actually extremists, no matter how they try to portray themselves," she said.
The filibuster has awoken political passions among students, Melli-Huber said. "It shows that they're obviously interested," he said. "Maybe this says that they haven't had enough opportunities to express their interests."
Braving the challenges
Though the filibuster has grown continuously over the past two weeks — from a handful of volunteers to hundreds, and from a single music stand and an umbrella to a heated tent and a larger umbrella — there have been challenges along the way.
"The biggest obstacle by far is drunk people," Melli-Huber said.
After Houseparties last weekend, intoxicated students threw water balloons at the filibuster and harassed some of the female protestors, Melli-Huber said.
Students involved with the event have also had to confront inclement weather, a temporary shutdown by Public Safety for permit reasons, the occasional heckler and criticism from some campus conservatives that the protest disrespects Frist and the building his family funded.
"Most protests throughout history have tried to find symbolic locations," Siddique said. "This is about a difference of policy with Senator Frist, not an attack on him. And we're trying to follow in the great American tradition of finding symbolic places to protest."
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