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Friday October 7, 2022 vol. CXLVI no. 19
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IN TOWN
RODOLFO ARZAGA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
The PROSPECT
Graduate student in an undergraduate world By Emily Miller | Contributing Prospect Writer
As Nassau Starbucks faces staff shortages, unionization pressures rise By Julian Hartman-Sigall and Isabel Yip News Contributor and Assistant News Editor
The Nassau Street Starbucks has been severely understaffed since the beginning of the school year, resulting in decreased hours and sudden store closings. Weekday hours have been reduced to 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. These issues occur in the wake
of unionization at the Hopewell Starbucks, the first location in New Jersey to unionize, and the rapid increase in Starbucks unions nationally. Recently, flyers reading “No Contract, No Coffee,” urging students to support Starbucks Workers United (SWU), the same organization fighting for better pay and benefits in Hopewell, have been put up around campus. Bryce Springfield ’25, a mem-
ber of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), has promoted SWU through flyers and campus outreach as part of the work of the Central New Jersey Chapter of DSA. “A major goal of DSA is to support labor efforts — not only in organizing unions and winning union elections, but also helping workers through the process until they get a conSee STARBUCKS page 3
STUDENT LIFE
Student leaders in ICC, co-ops, USG propose counterplan to admin-backed dining pilot By Annie Rupertus and Laura Robertson Staff News Writers
A coalition of student leaders released a five-point proposal for the expansion of upperclass dining in an email to residential college listservs on Tuesday, Oct. 4. The plan is being put forth as an alternative to the pilot program the University plans to run in the upcoming spring semester. The pilot program, which
has yet to be officially announced by the University, would give all juniors and seniors five dining swipes per week to be used at any dining hall, co-op, or eating club, with a possible $1,500 tuition hike. Student representatives of various interest groups have expressed doubts about its implementation, especially with regard to its potential increased financial burden on eating clubs, co-ops, and individual students.
The students’ five-point plan includes an expansion of the already-existing “Two Extra Meals” program, which currently allows all upperclass students two dining hall meals per week, to also include late meal and eating club meal exchange, as well as a new set of eating-club-hosted open nights which could occur weekly. The plan also proposes that the new underclass dining See COUNTERPLAN page 2
ISABEL RICHARDSON/ THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
Upperclass students may be given more swipes at residential college dining hall, including Rockefeller-Mathey dining hall.
HEADLINE FROM HISTORY
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CHEERS, SONGS, EXHORTATIONS TO ECHO IN ALEXANDER TONIGHT O C T O B E R 7, 1 9 2 7
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As a rising fifth-year graduate student, I have lived in Princeton longer than anywhere else in my adult life. Eating local produce means tomatoes and blueberries — not the peaches from my hometown in Western Colorado. My fridge is now stocked with beer from Cape May — not New Belgium, not Ithaca Beer Company, not Flying Dog in Maryland. I own more orange than I ever believed was possible. Over the past four years, I have traded my American Airlines miles for United’s so I am better prepared for the certain chaos of Newark Liberty International Airport. Yet, I often feel like a minority among the
graduate student body in claiming Princeton as my home. The residential community of Princeton was honestly a big draw when I was deciding where to pursue my PhD. I loved the idea of having our own Graduate College, having our own bar, and being able to walk to campus. I was intrigued by the lack of law or business or medical schools, as this meant that the majority of graduate students would be PhDs, bonded together by a drive to learn more about our world — whether it be studying contemporary challenges like curing cancer, capturing carbon, or delving into See GRADUATE page 12
U. AFFAIRS
U. sells most holdings in Lithium Americas Corp. as Protect Thacker Pass argues that’s not enough By Miriam Waldvogel and Lia Opperman News Contributor and Assistant News Editor
The University sold the majority of its stake in the Lithium Americas Corporation during the second quarter of 2022, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings released over the summer. As of last filing, the University’s holdings in the company are around $4.5 million, down from $92 million earlier this year. Still, Protect Thacker Pass, a Nevada-based coalition of activists, has argued that the University’s holdings in the company remain unacceptable. Max Wilbert, the co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass, said, “We need far deeper and more significant change, including an end to car manufacturing, to stop the [ecological] crisis we’re in.” According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lithium is used in most of today’s electric vehicles. Lithium Americas is set to open a mine on Thacker Pass, a sacred site to the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone peoples in Northern Nevada. According to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP), Thacker Pass is one of the largest lithium deposits in the United States. In a recent op-ed in The Daily Princetonian, Protect Thacker Pass argued that the mine
threatens the sacred lands on the site of a massacre of 31 Indigenous people by the U.S. Army in 1865. ABC News has also reported that the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and the Burns Paiute Tribe have accused the Bureau of Land Management of “failing to consult with them about an Historic Properties Treatment Plan guiding the initial archaeological dig required before mine construction can begin.” In an email to the ‘Prince,’ Wilbert condemned Lithium Americas’ business practices. “Lithium Americas [is] a corporation which has been implicated in human rights abuses overseas and is violating the rights of [I]ndigenous people in this country right now,” he wrote. Daranda Hinkey, a Native activist whose family has lived at the Thacker Pass for generations, told The Guardian that building a mine there is “like putting a lithium mine on Arlington cemetery.” Activists have continually protested the site of the mines, making public comments and filing lawsuits to protect the site. According to The Guardian, the claim that the massacre took place at Thacker Pass is disputed. Two Indigenous groups have lost federal lawsuits last year to block the mine as a significant historical site, with the court stating that “no human See THACKER page 3
This Week on Campus ON CAMPUS | Graduate & Undergraduate International Student Mixer Brunch — Saturday Oct. 8, 11 p.m., Friend Center in the Convocation Center. SPORTS | Women’s Volleyball vs. Cornell — Friday Oct. 7, 7 p.m., Dillon Gym.