May 2014 PPro Newsletter

The May 2014 PPro Newsletter is now available here. In it, we recap what we’ve been doing over the past year, and list plans for next year. We also encourage you, if you haven’t done it already, to become a member, which you can do here.

Thank you for your support of Princeton Progressives! Because of you, we’ve been able to accomplish so much in this past year, helping student activists bring their fight to Washington, bringing prominent Progressives to speak to the Princeton community, providing crucial information on the University’s investments in fossil fuels, and much more. And we are putting together a full agenda for the upcoming year as well.

To make all this happen, we need lots more Princeton Progressives and so we are looking for more Princeton alumni, students, faculty, and staff to become involved in PPro. This organization belongs to all of us. If you are not already a member, please support our common purpose by joining PPro at www.princetonprogressives.com. And if you are already a member, please renew when you receive the email reminder. We welcome suggestions for new events and initiatives. Or please take on an existing project or volunteer your time, energy, resources, experience, or expertise in any way. Please be in touch with us through our website, write us at mike@princetonprogressives.com, post on our groups on Facebook or LinkedIn, or reach out to one of the members of our Executive Committee.

Here’s a summary of what we’ve accomplished in the past year and what irons we have in the fire:

UPCOMING EVENTS

Reunions 2014

The Princeton College Democrats, with PPro’s support, will present a panel discussion on the stereotypes and realities surrounding the state of politics on campus. The panel will be moderated by the College Democrats and will include student leaders of campus political groups, including Whig-Clio, the Pride Alliance, the Dream Team, and the Princeton United Left. This event will take place on Reunions Friday, May 30, at 2:30 p.m. in Robertson Hall, Bowl 2, in the Woodrow Wilson School.

Summer 2014 – PPro Annual Meeting

Our annual meeting will once again be in NYC this summer, at a date to be announced.

September 30, 2014 – “Beyond Wall Street” Career Panel

Following on the success of last year’s “Beyond Wall Street” career panel, we’re planning another. We welcome your participation and your suggestions for participants. We’d like to ensure that a wide range of progressive viewpoints and potential career paths are represented.

Fall 2014 – Midterm Elections

We are working with the Princeton College Democrats and other campus groups to support student campaign work on the upcoming midterm elections. We are also looking to support progressive Princeton alumni who are running for office. Our own Jimmy Tarlau ’70, an original PPro Executive Committee member, is running in the Democratic Primary for Maryland State Delegate in District 47A. Learn more about his campaign at his campaign website.

Fall 2014 – Campus Speakers

PPro is looking to increase the number of Progressive speakers whose voices and ideas are heard on the Princeton campus. If you would like to speak on campus or know someone—especially an alum—whose work or ideas would be interesting and exciting to the University community, please let us know!

RECENT EVENTS

March 2, 2014 – XL Dissent

PPro supported transportation and legal costs for 12 Princeton students, members of Princeton United Left, who were among the more than a thousand students protesting in Washington, D.C., against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. More information about the protest, with photos and links to articles, can be found on the PPro home page.

November 13, 2013 – PPro Open Meeting

21 PPro members gathered at a member’s home in NYC. Attendees enjoyed pizza, wine, and beer as they marked the presentation of the Head-in-the-Sand Award to Ted Cruz ’92 for “sheer obstinance, meanspiritedness, and reckless disregard for the common good.” The discussion was wide-ranging, touching on a number of activist projects members might like to support in 2014, the list of Princetonians nominated to the PPro Honor Roll, and the pros and cons of our current 501[c]4 tax status.

October 22, 2013 – An Evening with Representative John Sarbanes ’84, D-Md

The congressman was the special guest speaker at a PPro Open Meeting in Washington, D.C. He primarily discussed his advocacy of campaign financing reform and engaged in a lively and interesting question-and-answer session with the attendees.

October 14, 2013 – “Beyond Wall Street: More Careers for Princetonians” Career Panel

Sixty students and a dozen alumni participated in a career panels at the Frist Campus Center focusing on career paths outside of those most commonly pursued by Princeton alumni (finance, consulting, business, medicine, corporate law). Princeton alumni who participated included Gene Bruskin ’68, a labor organizer; Lorraine Goodman ’83, Grants Manager for Theatre for a New Audience; Marty Johnson ’81, President of Sustainable Development Group; Kiki Karaglou ’05, Assistant Curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; David Holiday ’84, an international human rights advocate at the Open Society Institute, Mike Salmanson ’82, an attorney representing people in need (death penalty, employment discrimination, whistleblowers); Paul Nehring ’10, Project 55 Fellowship Program Director at Princeton AlumniCorps; and Jeff Perry ’68, an independent scholar of African-American History. Will Mantell ’14 and the Princeton College Democrats took the lead in reaching out to students. Jimmy Tarlau ’70 and Jeff Perry ’68 of PPro were central to assembling the panel.

October 2, 2013 – Blue-Ribbon Panel on Energy, the Environment, and Endowment Investment

PPro organized a Panel on Energy, the Environment and Endowment Investment, hosted by the Princeton Association of NYC at the Princeton Club of New York. Close to 100 were in attendance, including 16 students whose transportation costs to and from campus were covered by PPro. Princeton Trustee Carl Ferenbach III ’64 moderated the panel, consisting of David Crane ’81, President & CEO of NRG Energy; Michael Oppenheimer, Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and the Department of Geosciences at Princeton; and Peter Singer, DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton. This event was spearheaded by PPro Executive Committee founding member Alison Holtschue ’82.

August 6, 2013 – PPro (Inter)national Teleconference

PPro members participated in a national teleconference call, which became international when joined by two alumni overseas. The call was designed to provide opportunities for discussion and participation for Princetonians who live outside of our primary membership concentrations in NYC and DC…and that’s exactly what happened.

July 24, 2013 – PPro Annual Meeting

PPro held its annual meeting at a member’s home in NYC. Attendees discussed the future direction of PPro and possible projects we could undertake, including the idea for the Beyond Wall Street career panel that took place on campus that October.

July 15, 2013 – PPro Progressive Open House, D.C.

PPro held a Progressive Open House at a member’s home in Washington, D.C. Fifteen students and alumni enjoyed dinner, off-the-hook views of the Potomac and the scaffold-enshrouded Washington Monument, and a great conversation about what PPro can be and how we can get there.

Reunions 2013

PPro joined the Princeton Campus Democrats at their Reunions gathering beneath the tent at New South. Thirty student and alumni activists discussed ways in which alumni and students can work together—a conversation that has led to many of the events in which we partnered later in the year. PPro also helped promote two other events sponsored by other organizations: the Class of ’70’s panel of student activists from the Counterculture and Anti-War Movements and AlumniCorps’s panel on Community Greening.

April 21, 2013 – PPro Progressive Open House, NYC

PPro held its first-ever Progressive Open House at the home of one of our members in NYC. Twelve alumni attendees enjoyed a fine Sunday brunch and discussed ideas for PPro generally and ways in which they can personally be more involved.

March 8, 2013 – An Evening with Representative Rush Holt, D-NJ

PPro and Terrace Club hosted Congressman Rush Holt, former Vice Chair of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab and the Democratic Representative of New Jersey’s 4th District, which includes Princeton. Representative Holt, Progressive student leaders, and PPro members had dinner together before Mr. Holt spoke with 60 undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni about the state of progressive initiatives in Congress. This event was organized by Sandy Harrison ’74, who is a founding member of the PPro Executive Committee.

Please help us to continue and expand this exciting endeavor, empowering Progressive activism,
education, discussion, and community among Princeton students, alumni, faculty, and staff across the
Progressive spectrum. Join PPro and get involved today!!!

Princeton Progressives Executive Committee:

Jason Gold ’81
Sandy Harrison ’74
Tom Hughes ’82
John Oakes ’83
Ruth Singleton ’82
Michael Southwell ’60
Jimmy Tarlau ’70
Susan Zilber ’76