Today’s Briefing:
“BLACK ACTIVISM, THEN AND NOW”: On Tuesday, Feb. 15, the Princeton Public Library hosted an event titled “Black Activism, Then and Now,” in memory of Paul Robeson, a musician, athlete, and prominent activist for racial equality whose legacy of activism at Princeton is still salient today.
Speakers at the event included Dr. Shana L. Redmond, Meena Jagannath, and Reverend Lukata Mjumbe, the pastor of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church. The panelists highlighted the importance of not separating Robeson’s name from the activism students have participated in regarding the demands to change the name of the School of Public and International Affairs, formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
“I think it is important what you said about Paul Robeson, and that relationship between President Woodrow Wilson because the students were fighting against the naming of the [public policy] school being under Woodrow Wilson, but not always seeing ourselves in the tradition of a Paul Robeson who had already been fighting and resisting these broader structures that go back to the very beginning of Princeton history,” Fort said.
READ THE STORY →
PRINCETON TOWN COUNCIL MEETING: On Valentine’s Day, the Princeton Town Council held its bi-weekly meeting where it continued discussing plans for the second phase of construction on Witherspoon Street which will take place on the section of the road between Green Street and Franklin Avenue.
Jim Purcell, the assistant municipal engineer for the municipality, stated to the council that “the main purpose of the project, as it was with Witherspoon Street Phase One, is to provide some additional pedestrian-friendly streetscape.” An issue raised by council members and members of the public was potential hazards on Witherspoon in relation to bike lanes and how the lack of bike lanes for the planned project could make it more dangerous for cyclists who bike on the road.
READ THE STORY →
DIVEST PRINCETON FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST UNIVERSITY: Divest Princeton filed a legal complaint against Princeton University to the New Jersey Attorney General on Wednesday, Feb. 16. The complaint alleges that the University’s continued investment in fossil fuels has violated a New Jersey law.
The complaint claims that the University “failed to consider the charitable purposes of the institution and the purposes of the institutional fund by financially supporting the degradation of the climate, widespread damage to ecological and human health, and massive injuries to environmental and social equity.”
READ THE STORY →
EISGRUBER AT CPUC: At the most recent Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting, University President Christopher L. Eisgruber ’83 answered questions about Princeton’s endowment investments and gender-inclusive housing accommodations on campus. He also responded to concerns raised by CPUC members regarding the University’s support of faculty with young children and the University’s recently announced decision to withhold admissions statistics.
READ THE STORY →
MARIA RESSA ’86 BARRED FROM LEAVING THE PHILIPPINES: Nobel Peace Prize winner and journalist Maria Ressa ’86 has been barred from leaving the Philippines. The news, which Ressa broke herself via Twitter, comes one day before she is slated to speak at a panel on repressive governments hosted by the Princeton Journalism Program and three days before Princeton Alumni Day, where she would have been honored in person with the Woodrow Wilson Award. She may still be able to attend Alumni Day in person if allowed to leave today.
Ressa has filed a motion to overturn the ban, tweeting that this setback “makes me more resolute to demand justice” and that “the upside is that I really have learned to appreciate rights I have taken for granted.”
READ THE STORY →
|
