Protest travels to Capitol Hill

The Frist filibuster — which began two weeks ago with a handful of students, a single music stand and modest aspirations — is headed to the steps of the Capitol.

A group of about 50 Princeton students will arrive in Washington, D.C., this morning, transporting their around-the-clock filibuster from the north lawn of the Frist Campus Center to the reflecting pool just west of the Capitol building.

"We decided that we wanted some culminating event because we couldn't keep it going on forever," filibuster coordinator Peter Turner GS said Tuesday.

Once in Washington, the students plan to stage a 24-hour protest filibuster aimed at convincing Senators to vote against a possible Senatorial rule change known as the "nuclear option."

The nuclear option, which was proposed by Senator Bill Frist '74, would reduce the number of votes needed to end a filibuster from 60 to 51. Senate Democrats want to use the filibuster to block the appointment of some of President Bush's judicial nominees who they believe hold extremist views.

"We hope to have galvanized enough support and demonstrated sufficiently the deep running enthusiasm in this country for the Senate rules as they now stand," Turner said of the group.

"And we hope by being a focus for that enthusiasm, we can convince those senators who want to abolish the filibuster [in its current form] to rethink their position and respect popular opinion," he added.

Students were expected to leave campus by a charter bus at 4:30 a.m. and arrive in Washington by 9 a.m.

After settling in the Capitol, Princeton filibusterers will be joined by students from D.C.-area universities including Georgetown, George Washington, Howard and American University, as well as a Georgetown professor and a constitutional law scholar, according to the group's website.

Organizers are also planning a rally and press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday, which they hope will attract senators from both political parties, Turner said. "We are hoping to have senator participation, but we haven't had any confirmation at this time," he said.

Democratic Senators Barack Obama of Illinois, Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, as well as Republican Senators John McCain of Arizona and Olympia Snowe of Maine, are at the top of organizers' wish lists, Turner said.

As of Tuesday night, organizers had raised approximately $5,500 for the road trip through the group's website.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The group is bringing one tent, but students should not expect much rest, Turner said. "We're not going to be doing a lot of sleeping because we're going to be filibustering," he said.

In its final full day on campus Tuesday, the Frist filibuster attracted several notable speakers including Paul Muldoon, professor of creative writing and winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

"I think it's really important that students take an active part in political life, particularly when so many others seem to be taking no part whatsoever," Muldoon said in an interview after reading some of his poems. "I used to worry about Princeton students being slightly reserved in this matter. I don't worry about that anymore," he said.

Student filibusters have spread to universities across the country, including Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Berkeley, according to the protest's website.

The Frist filibuster has been successful because it raises the right issue at the right place and time, Karen Wolfgang '06, an organizer of the filibuster, said in an interview Sunday.

"The issue is important enough and the way we've gone about it is so exciting," she said. "Because people can bring whatever they want to read, everybody's gotten a chance to give a piece of their mind and their life in this effort to keep our checks and balance system in place."