2016 Newsletter

PPro’s 2016 Newsletter, reviewing in detail our last year’s activities and our plans for the upcoming year, is available here.

 

Princeton Progressives

Winter Newsletter

February 2016

http://PrincetonProgressives.com

 

Thank you for your support of Princeton Progressives! We’ve had a busy and productive summer and fall, with more projects in the works.

At Reunions, PPro co-sponsored with the Princeton College Democrats a panel discussion on political activism on campus, both now and in the past. We provided continuing financial support for The Princeton Progressive, Princeton University’s only left-leaning student political publication; brought a group of alumni to see Manuel vs. The Statue of Liberty by Noemi de la Puenta *86 at the New York Musical Theater Festival; organized the third annual Beyond Wall Street Career Panel on campus; organized a day on campus with Reverend William Barber, leader of the Moral Mondays civil rights movement, which happened to coincide with the first student sit-in at Nassau Hall in 20 years; helped Princeton for Bernie buy campaign t-shirts; helped the Princeton Black Justice League set up a new website; and more.

We are always looking for new members of PPro. If you would like to become involved in PPro and have suggestions for events or initiatives to support, please e-mail us at mike@princetonprogressives.com or become a member by signing up on our website at http://princetonprogressives.com. If you are already a member, please renew when you receive the e-mail reminder. You can stay in touch with us through our website, post on our groups on Facebook or LinkedIn, or reach out to one of the members of our Executive Committee.

Here’s a listing of upcoming events and a summary of accomplishments in the past half-year:

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

PPro General Membership Meeting – 3 February 2016

Our annual membership meeting was held on Wednesday, 3 February 2016 at the home of John Oakes ’83 in NYC. We discussed what PPro has been up to and what we already have planned, plus the important issues of PPro’s growth and of fund-raising to support further on-campus programming and student activism and volunteerism surrounding the upcoming presidential election. A more complete write-up, with pictures, is on the website.

 

Historic Thousands on Jones Street 10th Annual Moral March

Civil Rights March in Raleigh, NC, 13 February 2016

We are organizing a student/alumni trip to attend the tenth annual HKonJ People’s Assembly Moral March on Raleigh on 13 February. We’ll be leaving Princeton by car in the late morning of the 12th and returning to Princeton late on the night of the 13th. Please let us know if you’re interested in joining us and if you’re able to help drive the Princeton contingent to and from Raleigh.

 

Reunions

PPro is working with students to build on the successes of our past Reunions events. Students will organize a panel discussion that will be part of the official Reunions programming, and we’ll have a Progressive Mixer social event as well. Let us know if you have other ideas for building a progressive presence at Reunions. It happens every year — we might as well use it as an opportunity to gather, meet, and plot the revolution.

 

Summer Fund-Raiser

PPro is planning a fund-raising event in mid-June in NYC. Stay tuned for further details! As mentioned above, this is support our ongoing efforts in the following areas: bringing top-tier speakers such as Reverend Barber to campus; supporting student action surrounding the upcoming presidential election; establishing permanent funding for The Princeton Progressive—which if you haven’t read it, you should (link here); establishing a fund for student and alumni actions and events that can arise as swiftly and unexpectedly as, for example, this fall’s Nassau Hall sit-in.

 

Presidential Election

PPro has already been in touch with student organizers and activists to ask what kinds of actions, activism, and events they would like to undertake in connection with the upcoming elections. We will definitely keep you posted on this! You may recall that in the past we’ve helped students campaign for Obama in Florida, campaign for the Marital Equity Amendment in Maine, and campaign for Wendy Davis for Governor of Texas, as well as participate in political actions and marches in NYC and DC. The students know that PPro is there to help.

 

Other Elections, 2016

PPro has also begun to compile a list of progressive Princetonians who are running for public office. If you are such a candidate or know of one, let us know too.

 

Fall Career Panel and Speaker Series

After three successful “Beyond Wall Street” career panels, including one this past September, PPro will certainly be planning another such event for the fall. Please let us know if you have experience in a non-Wall Street career that you’d like to share with the students. We are also in the process of contacting prominent progressives to speak to undergraduates at Terrace Club in the spring. Please let us know if you have any ideas and/or connections in this regard.

If you would like to support PPro’s efforts, you can make a donation on our website.

 

RECENT EVENTS

 

2015 Head in the Sand Award

This award, given annually by PPro to the Princeton alum who best represents Princeton in the nation’s disservice, has been given to the long-overdue Donald Rumsfeld ’54. A full write-up is on the website.

 

Reunions 2015

The College Democrats and Princeton Progressives presented a panel at Reunions on Campus Activism, Present and Past. Moderated by Avery Stewart ’16 of the Princeton College Democrats, this panel brought together student and alumni activists including Jimmy Tarlau ’70, of the Princeton chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, and Larry Hamm ’78 *80, of the Front for the Liberation of South Africa. PPro also sponsored a Progressive Mixer, a social event at Terrace Club, immediately after the panel discussion.

 

The Princeton Progressive

PPro has continued to provide funding for The Princeton Progressive, which strives to provide progressive students with a dedicated platform to share their views and voices. At the Student Activity Fair at the start of the current academic year, more than 30 students signed on to work on the publication. In order to establish permanent funding for the publication, we may need to help them set up a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation along the lines of what The Daily Princetonian, The Nassau Weekly, and WPRB already have. Students are working with the University to see if they will be able to remain under the University’s corporate umbrella or will need to set themselves up as an independent entity.

 

Reverend William J. Barber II

PPro, led by the energetic efforts of Board Member Sandy Harrison ’74, hosted Reverend William Barber II for a full day of events on campus. Barber attended meetings and a lunch with faculty from the Religion and African-American Studies Departments, had an inspirational Q&A and dinner with student leaders at Terrace Club, and delivered an erudite, moving, and far-reaching address at the University Chapel about the need for a Third Reconstruction Civil Rights Movement. That same day, students occupied Nassau Hall to demand greater acknowledgment of and sensitivity to issues of race on campus. The Reverend was able to sit and pray with the students in Nassau Hall and share his experiences as a life-long activist demanding social and economic equity.

 

“Beyond Wall Street” Career Panel

On September 21, PPro hosted a panel discussion on campus featuring the following alumni panelists: Lorraine Goodman ’83, actor and non-profit theater development; Seth Hahn ’04, union organizer; John Oakes ’83, progressive publisher; John Sichel ’81, classical composer; Amy Weisser’86 , Director of Exhibitions, National 9/11 Memorial; Adam Yarinsky *87, architect.

 

Manuel vs. The Statue of Liberty

PPro purchased a block of tickets to Noemi de la Puenta *86’s new musical, Manuel vs. The Statue of Liberty, presented as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival. The show is based largely on the experiences of Dan-el Padilla Peralta ’06, who attended Princeton as an undocumented immigrant, was a Sachs Scholar at Oxford, and will be returning to Princeton this fall as a professor in the Classics Department. Afterwards, Noemi invited us to a reception with cast and crew at a nearby restaurant. Our block of tickets sold out fast to this one; we’d love ideas for further progressive arts events!

 

Please help us to continue and expand our exciting initiatives, 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, President

Sandy Harrison ’74, Vice President

Michael Southwell ’60, Secretary and Webmaster

Tom Hughes ’82, Treasurer

Annette Lamoreaux ’81

Will Mantell ’14

John Oakes ’83

Noemi de la Puente *86

Jimmy Tarlau ’70