Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998
Thursday November 30, 2017 vol. CXLI no. 110
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } STUDENT LIFE
U . A F FA I R S
U. employees concerned about immigration policy By Rebecca Ngu staff writer
COURTESY OF JORDAN THOMAS
Thomas plans to study social intervention at Oxford.
Thomas ’18 named Rhodes Scholar By Hannah Wang contributor
Jordan Thomas ’18 was one of 32 American students selected from a pool of over 2,500 applicants to receive a 2018 Rhodes Scholarship for postgraduate study at the University of Oxford. According to a press release from the Rhodes Trust, Thomas will be joining approximately 100 students from around the
world at Oxford. In the press release, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust Elliot Gerson noted that the foundation seeks “outstanding young men and women of intellect, character, leadership and commitment to service” who “‘esteem the performance of public duties as their highest aim.’” At the University of Oxford, Thomas plans to pursue a Master of Philosophy See THOMAS page 2
A number of University employees could potentially be affected by the end of the Temporary Protected Status designation for Haitian immigrants, announced by Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke on Nov. 20. Come July 2019, these employees could be a few of the nearly 60,000 Haitians who would presumably lose their ability to legally live and work in the United States under TPS. A University employee in Frist Campus Center said that many of her friends, cousins, and fellow church members would be affected. “They’re feeling very discouraged,” she said. “They don’t want to come back because someone pushed them. They want to come back when they’re ready to go back.” She expressed uncertainty over the future, but was hopeful that people would rally against the removal of Haitian immigrants. “If they put their voice together, something will be done,” she said. The ‘Prince’ granted anonymity to several University employees due to the subject’s sensitive nature. Campus Dining administration told the ‘Prince’ in
ON CAMPUS
an email not to talk to its employees. In interviews with several Campus Dining employees who would be affected or had loved ones who would be affected by the termination of TPS, the employees expressed worry over their jobs and how to support their family. Countries are given a TPS designation if certain circumstances, such as a natural disaster or civil war, make returning to the country too dangerous. Congress gave Haiti the designation after an earthquake ravaged the country in January 2010. Under the program, Haitians who entered the United States up to a year after the disaster without authorization or who overstayed their visas could apply for temporary protection from removal and the ability to legally work and travel. TPS designation does not provide a pathway to legal permanent residence. Under the Obama administration, TPS designation for Haiti was renewed multiple times. The stated reason for the termination is the significant progress in the “stability and quality of life” for Haitian citizens, according to a press release from the Department of Homeland Security. It cit-
ed a 97 percent decrease in the number of displaced people in Haiti. Yet many Haitian immigrants remain worried about their future. The removal of TPS will force affected Haitians to either leave the country by July 22, 2019 or apply for another legal status. One Campus Dining employee mentioned that while he would not be affected by the policy change, he knew up to 10 of his colleagues who worked in the same dining hall with him would be. He expressed sympathy for his colleagues who work every day worrying about their immigration status. He expressed desire for the government to either renew the TPS status or, ideally, grant legal residency for immigrants simply “trying to find a new life.” Daniel Day, Assistant Vice President for Communications, wrote in an email to the ‘Prince’ that the University has “a relatively small number of employees who presumably would be affected by the end of the Temporary Protected Status program for Haitians. We are examining and monitoring the situation closely and will do our best to help our employees as appropriately as we can.”
ON CAMPUS
Fitzpatrick talks human nature post Russian Revolution contributor
IVY TRUONG:: NEWS CONTRIBUTOR
Alperovitz discussed how capitalism is not sustainable because it creates inequalities.
Alperovitz says America needs to reform capitalistic economic system By Ivy Truong contributor
Gar Alperovitz believes that there’s a crisis in America, but it’s not a political crisis — it’s a crisis with the economic system itself. Alperovitz is the co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative, a research institute that aims to develop a more democratized economy. He was a professor at the University of Maryland and has served as a fellow at the University of Cambridge, Harvard’s Institute of Politics, and the Institute for Policy Studies. He was also a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. On Wednesday Alperovitz gave a lecture about
In Opinion
capitalism in the United States and potential efforts to change it. The current system, Alperovitz explained, is a corporate one that has concentrated the country’s wealth in an elite minority. For instance, the 400 wealthiest people have more wealth than the bottom 61 percent of the country combined, which is over 194 million people. “It’s a medieval concentration of income,” Alperovitz said. He explained that this system, despite the wealth, has placed the United States at or near the bottom of the OECD Better Life Index in categories like infant mortality, mental
Senior columnist Leora Eisenberg challenges feelings of inadequacy and contributing columnist Dora Zhao discusses her own last name. PAGE 6-7
health, and obesity. Alperovitz said that these trends are indicative of a systemic crisis with roots from the 1930s through the 1970s. Though the wealth was held by corporations, he said, a “politics” was created to “countervail” against the corporation’s power with the rise of labor unions. In the 1950s, members of labor unions made up roughly 34 percent of the labor force. Today, they only comprise 11 percent, he said. The institution of labor unions no longer exists, Alperovitz explained, adding that within the next few years, there won’t be labor unions of See CAPITALISM page 5
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, historian Sheila Fitzpatrick spoke to a group of University students and community members on changing scholarly approaches to the revolution, Soviet history in the last fifty years, and her accompanying work on these topics. Fitzpatrick began by recalling the story behind the stern profile photo of her that was used on the promotion poster for the talk. She jokingly said that The Chronicle of Higher Education, a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for university faculty, asked her not to smile. “The whole point was so that [Russians] look to be very unhappy and hostile people, which of course may be true,” Fitzpatrick said with a smirk. Fitzpatrick spoke about her interest in the concept of original sin, which is the Christian doctrine of humanity’s state of sin resulting from the fall of mankind, brought about by Adam and Eve’s rebellion in Eden. Fitzpatrick is not Christian, nor was she brought up as one — her father was an atheist. However, the Christian concept of original sin shaped her thinking on human nature, which informed her
Today on Campus 4:30 p.m.: Doug Herrington ‘88, Senior Vice President of North America Retail at Amazon speaks on “Ten Rules of Innovating at Amazon.” McCormick 101
later academic work. Fitzpatrick claimed her interest in original sin came from “watching and being the victim of scapegoating” in her all-girl private school in Melbourne. “Scapegoating was popular in my school and they enjoyed the act of scapegoating on whatever grounds it may be,” Fitzpatrick said. While studying for a bachelor’s degree at the University of Melbourne, Fitzpatrick read English writer John Bunyan’s work on original sin and studied the 17th century English revolution, which portrayed human beings as lacking innate goodness, a view that she shared. Due to her negative view of human nature, Fitzpatrick explained that the failure of idealism, in the context of “the pathos of inevitable disappointment of those who have hope for radical change,” is prominent in her first book, “The Commissariat of Enlightenment: Soviet Organization of Education and the Arts Under Lunacharsky, 1917–1921.” She recalled one Soviet review of her book that disparaged her choice of 1921 as the end date of the book. Although she had material written up to 1929, Fitzpatrick chose to stop at 1921 due to a word limit. She acknowledged that the review pointed out that periodization deterSee RUSSIA page 3
WEATHER
By Isabel Ting
HIGH
53˚
LOW
40˚
Partly cloudy chance of rain:
10 percent