“There used to be people with clipboards signing students up. They aren’t here anymore.”
Ralph Nader ‘55 made this remark in Princeton’s Whig Hall Senate Chamber on December 11 after discussing the historic importance of college students in the anti-war, Civil Rights, and feminist movements in the United States. At the event, sponsored by the American Whig-Cliosophic Society, Nader spoke about public perceptions of government, political efficacy, and the political engagement of young people. In particular, he stressed the importance of cultivating a sense of public proprietorship over common goods and institutions at a time when many Americans feel little control over their government, saying, “The civic community is the fountainhead for all democracy. That’s why it’s excluded.”
On a campus whose student body is frequently described as politically apathetic, several simple steps exist for Princeton’s progressive organizations to meaningfully engage a greater share of undergraduates. To resign students to apathy is to overlook the concrete measures organizations can take, starting with the recruitment process then continuing through collective action-planning and media strategy, to inspire campus wide engagement. Too many students, particularly first-year students, care deeply about progressive issues yet are not involved in any organized group. Even students who are on email lists and attend group meetings may be shy or struggle to find their entry into greater participation. On the list of institutions that Princeton students should feel a sense of common proprietorship over, their University—its actions, its culture, and its perception in the wider world—should be at the top.
Before first-year students even step onto Princeton’s campus each fall, progressive organizations miss opportunities to engage or inform them online. Since these students, hailing from across the U.S. and the globe, typically lack connections with other progressives at Princeton, groups need to make information and opportunities to get involved as accessible as possible. On its website, Students for Prison Education and Reform (SPEAR) lists when and where it meets and has a short form with steps to join its GroupMe messaging group and email list. The form also asks for times when prospective members would be available to meet and chat with an organizer. Conversely, most groups do not publicly list their meeting times or have minimal social media presence. These barriers to participation compound with the flood of other recruitment at the beginning of the year, so many potential activists fail to get involved. Like SPEAR, other groups should at least post their meeting times.
Given that several inactive activist groups that no longer operate still have some residual level of online presence, it is not unreasonable for first-year students to question whether some groups are even still around. On the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies (ODUS) online student organization directory, several progressive groups that appear to no longer exist, like the Princeton Equality Project and United Left, are listed, while the Princeton Environmental Activism Coalition, Princeton Students for Immigration Empowerment, and SPEAR are all missing. SPEAR is listed on a separate, smaller directory maintained by the Pace Center for Civic Engagement—which lacks ODUS groups like the Alliance for Jewish Progressives, Young Democratic Socialists, and The Princeton Progressive. Even incoming students who actively search for information about political groups on campus are likely to encounter only a small portion of them, scattered among a list of defunct groups and sometimes with only an email address and two-sentence description.
Progressive groups at Princeton primarily rely on the university’s fall activities fair for new members, giving them one shot to stand out among a maze of club tables. However, more visible partnership between groups, including publicizing each other’s events, would increase the ways of entry into different organizations. In addition, organizers could hold their own event for progressive groups in September, giving a second chance for groups to connect to first-year students. Through increased discussion with Princeton’s three student newspapers, members of organizations like the Princeton Environmental Action Coalition and Students for Immigration Empowerment could work to amplify stories, detail successes and setbacks in their activism, and deconstruct issues in a cogent way. There exist meaningful, actionable ways to expand activism on campus, via greater collaboration between groups to occupy space and reclaim their student community.
While the first weeks of each fall semester are the most important for recruiting new members, there are missed opportunities for capacity building throughout the year. Student-organizers should always have a sign-up or sign-in sheet at events, as NJ-CAIC (Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement) Digital Coordinator and New Jersey community organizer Crystal Mor advised at a recent Community Organizing 101 training workshop held December 7 by several progressive campus groups. She added that having people just show up at an event is not enough for building relationships—always have an ask of them, even if it’s small at first. Sunrise NYC organizer Nicole Karsch encouraged activists not only to advertise before events but also afterwards, providing the date and location of a next meeting or action to capitalize on a short period of publicity and engagement. This type of recruitment can then be followed up with one-on-one conversations, training and dialogical learning at meetings, and larger actions as part of an act-recruit-train cycle that Karsch discussed at the workshop.
While change is first needed to make organizations more accessible to already-interested students, these organizations can do more to engage a broader population of less informed or involved students and to convince them to contribute time towards civic work. Expecting incoming students to already be passionate and informed about issues or systems of oppression limits organizational potential when students really just need to show up. Then, they can grow more committed and informed through continued dialogue, training, and service. At a discussion hosted by the Carl A. Fields Center this past October titled “The Past Meets the Present: Race, Student Activism, and Higher Education,” American University Professor and author of The Black Campus Movement Dr. Ibram Kendi talked about how Black student organizers between 1965 and 1972 were often as pragmatic as they were idealistic, saying a small group of student organizers could often build wider support to make real change, even if not all those supporters were as educated or involved as the core activists. He shared the example of students simply throwing the best parties on campus—then once a crowd was there, taking a minute or two to briefly speak about the injustices facing them.
There is a long tradition of activism on college campuses, and there is certainly meaningful work being done currently at Princeton. This fall, the Young Democratic Socialists engaged in activism beyond the edge of campus, canvassing local, heavily immigrant communities to distribute know-your-rights information, while Students for Prison Education and Reform engaged with currently and formerly incarcerated activists around education projects, service, and a legislative campaign. The Princeton Progressive, reinvigorated as a biweekly publication, has dissected on-campus and off-campus topics, and in September the Princeton Environmental Action Coalition organized a Princeton Climate Strike march in coordination with local community members. Wider participation by the undergraduate population, however, is necessary to building lasting power and requires more innovative, expansive, and collaborative recruitment infrastructure. When threats to freedom and human dignity, to democracy and justice in the U.S. and abroad, and to the world’s environment are so dire, no one should be left on the sidelines.
Be First to Comment