We want to believe that engaging in anti-racism, dismantling structural racism, and achieving racial equity are things a policy school can and must teach us — not just as niche topics, but as core tenets and fundamental practices in our field of public policy.
We feel that we have not been prepared by the School to confront the structures of race and power which undergird policy crises.
As some of the oldest and most well-established organizations on campus, we recognize our and Princeton’s complex history with race and our role in directly recognizing and calling out the injustices that have impacted and continue to impact Black students.
As students, activists, and proponents of a better world, it is our duty to stand up against injustice and fight for the equal treatment of all.
Instead of addressing the inequities and burdens of online learning, the destabilizing effect of lost income or housing, or the trauma of a public health crisis, Betsy DeVos has devoted the Department of Education’s energy to making the Title IX process more difficult for survivors.
We hesitated to write you because we feel you've done an outstanding job leading the University, and with the gravity of the pandemic backdrop, because you obviously are facing many unforeseen and serious challenges every day. However, we feel compelled to reach out to you on this issue because we feel strongly that Princeton has made the wrong decision on not permitting its students to withdraw and come back next spring.
We, the Princeton University AASA E-Board, strongly believe that unity and community is the need of this hour of crisis. As such, we cannot sit idly and watch as racist attacks continue to threaten and divide our country.
We write with the hope that this opportunity is not yet lost. We write with the hope that the University will align itself with the NCAA and reconsider its decision.
The few voices which were upset at the decision to bring Marshawn Lynch to speak for Class Day are not representative of all of Princeton campus, but they do succeed in reinforcing elitist stereotypes and cynical exclusivism.
