From today’s Princeton Packet (what kind of name is that for a newspaper?!):
Sen. Frist target of Princeton University student filibuster
Jim Adelman, a graduate student with curly brown hair and a ring in each ear, grabbed a megaphone and began to read from the first page of Princeton University’s campus phonebook. “Aase, Siri S.,” he started, continuing for half an hour before ending in the mid-B’s. Passing students occasionally cheered for names they recognized. …
“We are filibustering in support of the filibuster,” [Adelman] said.
Mr. Adelman was part of a group of Princeton students [PHOTO: Nathan Gregory, a Princeton University graduate student] who began a protest Tuesday morning against Sen. Bill Frist’s (R-Tenn.) recently proposed rule change … that would decrease the number of votes needed to end a filibuster in the U.S. Senate. Democrats have been threatening a filibuster to block a number of President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees … Frist hopes to stop them. …
The protest … was held in front of Princeton University’s Frist Campus Center. Sen. Frist, a 1974 Princeton graduate, donated a reported $25 million for the construction of the center in 1997. [Ital. Mine]
Long lists of students signed up for half-hour time slots … They read from Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America,” the university’s “Rights, Rules, and Regulations,” handbook, … One student read “My Pet Goat,” … MORE BELOW:
More from today’s Princeton Packet:
The protest, which organizers planned to start at 11 a.m. Tuesday, was slightly delayed when campus Public Safety officers confronted the students for not having registered their protest in advance. The protesters explained that the nature of the event called for a rapid time frame. They were able to procure permission from Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan within an hour.
“The dispute was resolved quickly and amicably,” said Joshua Weitz, an organizer and post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Throughout the day, small groups of students clustered around the speaker’s wooden podium or sat on the lawn nearby. Some passersby gave thumbs-up signs or clapped. A few directed questions to the protesters or began arguments.
Joel Thompson, a tall, long-haired freshman, quickly labeled a “heckler” by surrounding students, attempted to make a case in favor of the Senate Republicans.
“I think this is an unprecedented use of the filibuster — it’s a situation we’ve never been in before,” he said, arguing that the Democrats are wielding the filibuster in a new and aggressive way. Mr. Thompson then took his laptop out of his backpack, opening up a Web site to support his claims.
Several campus and local groups worked together to organize the protest, including Princeton Democracy for America, the Princeton Progressive Review, the Idealistic Nation and the College Democrats. Other students, including over 150 who signed up for the mock-filibuster, heard about the event in e-mails or simply from walking by.
“It really is grassroots in the clearest sense of the word,” said Mr. Weitz.
On a campus that some say is relatively lacking in political activism, many students reacted to the events with a sense of excitement.
“This is such a creative way to make a statement. And there’s no better place to hold it,” said Laura Ginsberg, a senior. Jacob Savage, a junior, called the protest a “fantastic idea” and signed up to read for half an hour. …
The Washington Post also has a story on the Princeton filibuster protest:
Princeton University students and faculty have been talking round-the-clock to protest the legislative strategy of a famous alumnus and benefactor, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). In what some might consider an act of ingratitude — even by college students’ standards — protesters have lectured, read and generally droned on outside the Frist Campus Center, built with $25 million from the senator’s family. …
