November 11, 2019

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Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Monday November 11, 2019 vol. CXLIII no. 101

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STUDENT LIFE

SPEAR protests solitary confinement By Rooya Rahin Contributor

Students for Prison Education and Reform (SPEAR) held a performance protest, “7x9,” in front of both Firestone Library and Frist Campus Center from 5 p.m. on Nov. 7 to 5 p.m. on Nov. 8. “7x9” is meant to bring awareness to the use of solitary confinement in prisons. SPEAR has held the “7x9” demonstration annually for the past seven years. The protest’s name, “7x9,” refers to the average size of a solitary confinement cell — seven feet long by nine feet wide. During the protest, a student stood in a taped-off seven by nine foot rectangle, with a light illuminating the scene. The students neither interact nor looked at any passersby, thus mimicking the isolation of solitary confinement. “In no way does this performance represent the experience of people who have been confined in solitary cells,” SPEAR states on their event page. “7x9 is only an abstraction, an entry point or reminder for people to catalyze learning about solitary confinement.” The performance protest has typically been accompanied by a talk from a formerly incarcerated person. This year’s speaker was Mark Hopkins. Forty-six students took part in the protest, with each volunteer standing for one hour in front of either Firestone Library or Frist Campus Center, for a total of 23

ROOYA RAHIN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Students take one hour shifts in “7x9“ protests to draw attention to the conditions of prisoners in isolated confinement.

hours of performance at each location. “We had students from all over Princeton’s community, from freshman to seniors, participate in the piece,” said Noam Miller ’21, one of the event’s organizers and a member of SPEAR. Despite rain on Thursday night and chilly winds Friday morning, the volunteers stood nearly motionless in their positions. For the last hour at each location, the sections were left empty to represent the one hour incarcerated people are allowed out of their cells. “Because I could see people, it is

U . A F FA I R S

a different experience from what real solitary confinement is like,” said Kennedy Mattes ’23, who stood the second shift in front of Firestone Library. “I was trying to imagine what it would be like if there were four walls and I couldn’t.” “I wanted to fully immerse myself in the experience,” Mattes added. Mattes took off her watch for her shift, adding that trying not to think about the time passing was the most difficult part of the experience. Mattes is currently a SPEAR member and participates in the re-entry working group. She said that 7x9 has motivated her to

join Project Solidarity, a SPEAR correspondence initiative in which students write to an incarcerated person who has experienced solitary confinement. After the performance ended on Nov. 8, SPEAR members and other interested students gathered at East Pyne Hall to listen to Mark Hopkins, the formerly incarcerated speaker. Hopkins shared his experiences in solitary confinement in the New Jersey prison system and discussed the activist work he does now. Though Hopkins was sentenced at the age of 15, he was incarcerated in an adult prison. At 16, he first

SPORTS

encountered solitary confinement and administrative segregation. During his incarceration, Hopkins participated in the prison education program NJ-STEP, and he received a B.A. from Rutgers University after being released. During the talk, Hopkins described the conditions and the “daily struggles” of isolated confinement, such as obtaining an education and keeping one’s mind entertained while deprived of human contact. Hopkins also shared a spokenword poem and explained how he found poetry as a mode of selfexpression while incarcerated. He stated that poetry, in his opinion, is “the pinnacle of human society” and “a phenomenon [he] fell in love with.” Hopkins is a self-proclaimed “prison abolitionist” and stated during his talk that confinement of any kind, but especially solitary confinement, “has never been an answer to any form of behavior.” During his talk, Hopkins also described the activist work he has done with the The New Jersey Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (NJ CAIC) and encouraged students to get involved with activism and start conversations about prison reform and isolated confinement. At the end of the talk, Hopkins called for students to “be critical of white supremacy and white privilege” and to look into the impact of mass incarceration of marginalized communities.

STUDENT LIFE

USG: New Princeton Football loses to Dartmouth in health center to Yankee Stadium replace McCosh

Contributor and HEad Sports Editor

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WOMEN*S CENTER WEBSITE

A wall in the Women*s Center.

Director of the Women*s Center resigns By Elizabeth Shwe Contributor

In early October, Amada Sandoval, the former director of the Women*s Center, resigned from her position, having worked at the University for 19 years. Her departure leaves the director positions of both the Women*s Center and LGBT Center vacant, as former LGBT Center Director Judy Jarvis has become Director of Wintersession and Campus Engagement. Administrators are not looking to immediately fill these roles. “We have decided to use this as an opportunity to explore processes that envision the future of this work and how we engage and support students of multiple and intersecting identities,” said LaTanya Buck, the Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life. The Women*s Center was founded in 1971 by students

In Opinion

with the goal of “reckon[ing with] and redress[ing] historic and persistent gender inequality at Princeton and beyond,” according to its website. The Center seeks to provide a space where students may discuss gender issues and their own experiences, as well as learn about the history of women’s and other movements for social equality. The Center aims to help students recognize current systems that perpetuate inequality and create a more equitable future. The asterisk in the name of the Center indicates that it is not only for, or about, women. “Instead, the Center welcomes and engages persons of all genders, including genderqueer, nonconforming, transgender folks, and cisgender men,” the Women*s Center website reads. Sandoval did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Senior columnist Leora Eisenberg encourages students to consider why and how they are making their friends, and columnist Claire Wayner urges the community to recycle in a responsible manner.

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Saturday’s game at Yankee Stadium had been scheduled to commemorate Princeton football’s 150th anniversary, but it was Dartmouth that ended the day with a celebration. The Big Green beat the Tigers 27–10 to snap Princeton’s 17-game winning streak, remaining undefeated on the season and putting themselves in a strong position to win the Ivy League title. “Credit Dartmouth, they played better than we did,” Princeton head coach Bob Surace ’90 said. “You’ve got to be so precise against them, and obviously we weren’t. It’s a credit to them to

force you to be so precise.” When the two teams met last season in another battle of unbeaten teams, Princeton scored a late touchdown to win 14–9 before eventually winning the Ivy title. This time around, it was all Dartmouth. The Big Green dominated the ground game on both sides of the ball, rushing for 225 yards and holding Princeton to 36. Despite playing through an injury suffered last week against Harvard, Dartmouth quarterback Jared Gerbino rushed for 99 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns. “[Gerbino] is a heck of a player,” Surace said. “I grabbed him out afterwards and just told him what heart he has. He wasn’t full See FOOTBALL page 6

JACK GRAHAM / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Fans filled Yankee Stadium for the Princeton-Dartmouth matchup.

Today on Campus 8:30 a.m.: Veterans Day Service Princeton University Chapel

By Sophie Li Contributor

At its weekly meeting on Sunday, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) discussed University Health Service’s (UHS) upcoming plans for a new building to replace McCosh Health Center. John McGill, a Senior Associate and Project Designer at WRNS Studio, was invited to discuss future plans for the University’s new health center, which will be built on Goheen Walk, adjacent to Wilcox Hall. According to Jarett Messina, Project Manager for the University, construction will commence during the summer of 2022 to complement the building of new residential colleges. McGill shared the results of student questionnaires evaluating the current UHS health center at McCosh. The study showed that students liked McCosh’s academic, rather than institutional, exterior. However, students generally said that they disliked the “cold, sterile, and institutional” interior, difficult navigation, and the lack of privacy. See USG page 3

WEATHER

By Ben Burns and Jack Graham

HIGH

61˚

LOW

44˚

Partly Cloudy chance of rain:

10 percent


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November 11, 2019 by The Daily Princetonian - Issuu