May 11, 2005
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Princeton Students: Juan Melli-Huber: 609-468-0715; Pete Hill: 614-397-3769
Georgetown Law Student: Jenny Cieplak: 202-256-7082
Washington, DC – On Thursday, May 12, at 11:00 am, students from Princeton University and local universities will host a press conference and rally at the Capitol Reflecting Pool. Senators Jon Corzine and Chuck Schumer and Congressman Rush Holt will speak at the event in support of the students' protest of the "Nuclear Option," proposed by Senate Republicans to end filibusters on judicial nominees. Other Senators have been invited.
Princeton students arrived in the capital at 9:00 am on Wednesday, May 11 and have been filibustering continuously—along with students from Georgetown, Howard, George Mason, and Trinity Universities—ever since. They were joined by Senator Frank Lautenberg, Congressman Rush Holt, D.C. Shadow Senator Paul Strauss, and Constitutional scholars Peter Rubin, Bob Weinberg, and Michael Seidman.
The protest in Washington is the culmination of a mock filibuster which started at Princeton University on April 26. Students filibustered for over 350 hours in front of the Frist Campus Center before relocating the protest to the capital, within sight of Senate Majority Leader (and member of Princeton's class of 1974) Bill Frist's office. At Princeton, students were joined by Congressmen Rush Holt and Frank Pallone, Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek, professors, and performers. They read from works ranging from the Declaration of Independence to Shakespeare to the first 3,000 digits of pi.
"We're incredibly excited to be here," says organizer Cathy Kunkel, a junior in the Physics department at Princeton. "We feel that this protest has been enormously successful in raising awareness and showing that students really care about the future of our democracy." Added sophomore and fellow organizer Laura Boyce, "it is amazing to stand in solidarity with students across the country in support of the filibuster."
The protest and its organizers have received coverage from CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ABC News, the New York Times, Washington Post, UK Guardian, the popular blog Talking Points Memo, and Air America Radio. A live webcam, daily blog, and schedule of special guests are available at FilibusterFrist.com
The filibuster protest has spread from Princeton to campuses around the country, including Harvard, Cornell, U.C. Berkeley, Stanford, Yale, and a coalition of five Boston area schools (Boston College, Tufts, Boston University, Northeastern, and Wellesley) staging a filibuster outside the State House in Boston.
The event is being supported by Campus Progress and Young People For the American Way, a project of People For the American Way Foundation.
###