Thank you! Thank you! Today, we gather here to witness a turning point in this campaign and a turning point in Princeton history, and to witness a victory speech much like many others I have delivered. Today — after receiving more than 74 percent of support from the school — we are one step closer to achieving the change we have so long waited for. We are one step closer to change in our educative policies, change in our dining policies and change in our beverage policies. We, the students of this academic institution, are closer to a better Princeton.
This campaign has captured students from all walks of life to make a choice for our campus, attracting athletes and dancers, floaters and boaters, frat boys and a cappella singers. From freshmen to seniors, from engineers to philosophy majors, from Terrace to Charter, we have come together. Our support is so great and so diverse that I could go on forever with dichotomous rhetoric and never specify a plan for Princeton. But together, we have hope, and we have hope for change.
Of course, Princeton is already a great institution. It is a beacon of academic excellence and a leader in scientific research. But it is the same old administration — the same old women and old men with the same old politics — that is failing to attend to its students.
The school is failing to recognize the history major from Dod who woke up early for several weeks to study for an exam but could not receive an A that she deserved when the department was forced to cap A-grades at 35 percent. It has failed to respect the inebriated zee in Clapp who was turned in by his own trusted RCA for partying under unethical surveillance policies. It has failed to listen to the former members of the Tiger Inn, who were forced to drop their club and associate with Whitman and Mathey colleges. We cannot repeat these same old policies. We need change.
Do not forget: We are up against a difficult task. Change will not be easy, and change will not be quick. We cannot erase the mistakes of the administration overnight. It will take a while before we arrive at our mission accomplished.
Princeton students have waited too long. As the current administration favors the expansion of Whitman College, Butler gets butchered, Forbes gets farther, Spelman gets smaller, and alliteration gets reiterated. Our grade deflation policies reduce students’ incentive to diversify academic course loads, while our senior citizens struggle every day to make chapter ends meet. Freshmen must party behind their RCA’s backs, and RCAs no longer have the trust of their freshmen.
When you vote for me, you are not voting for a candidate without specific plans. You are voting for a president who has the belief that hope can effect change. A president who can capture the hearts of all Princetonians. From Forbes to Firestone, from Holder to Jadwin, from the E-Quad to the U-Store to Icahn, we can stand together and choose change we believe in. And so, we have shown that all the diverse students of Princeton can come together and choose a better Princeton. It’s not about whether we are black or white, rich or middle-class, whether we are A.B. or B.S.E., attended public or private school, Wilson or Mathey, sign-in or bicker, West Coast or East Coast, Theta or Pi Phi, first quintile or fifth quintile, popped collar or unpopped, Starbucks or Small World, pirates or ninjas, I-banking or consulting ... It’s about the past versus the future. We are clearly a lot of things, and we can stand together and choose to move beyond our differences, and we choose the future.
Seeing us all together brings us hope. Hope that we’re on the same playing field with other Ivy League students when we apply for grad school. Hope that old policies for RCAs and zees will go away. Hope that anaphora, alliteration, anecdotal asides and an amorphous agenda are enough to achieve victory in our election. Hope by itself can solve grade deflation.
Now, as Super Duper Tuesday — Dean’s Date — waits for us down the road, it is our duty to bring together our students and bring about change. We’ve been told we were foolish. We’ve been told it couldn’t happen. The cynics and the doubtful didn’t think it was possible, and they didn’t think we would get this far. We’ve had a rough path to follow, but we told them: Yes. We. Can.
Ben Chen is a mechanical and aerospace engineering major from Los Altos, Calif. He can be reached at bc@princeton.edu.
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