April 16 Letters to the Editor
The April 5, 2016 front page of the Times has a feature story with pics titled 'Despite Outcry Princeton To Keep Wilson's Name'. It describes a decision by the Board of Trustees to accept the non-unanimous recommendation of a ten member special committee that campus buildings, murals, etc. in honor of Woodrow Wilson be retained despite his segregationist outlook.
However Wilson did not just have a racial bias but was an apologist and perhaps even a closet member of the 1920's KKK, a domestic terrorist organization. Those hooded extremists murdered and brutalized not only African Americans but also Jews, Catholics, Union organizers, etc. In my opinion, that's more than just a flaw; it's what today is called advocating hate crimes.
The article also states that Princeton Univ. intends to focus on other aspects of it's history "that have been overlooked, subordinated, or suppressed". I suggest that the guardians of this crucial 1% institution start with it's complicity in the criminal genocidal war on the Vietnamese people that caused the death and maiming of millions of southeast Asians. During the glorious sixties and into the seventies a secluded campus building housed a secretive research program called 'Institute for Defense Analysis which was the target of numerous anti-war protests by students and community activists. It was eventually exposed as an academic arm of the Dept. of Defense (what a classic misnomer).
Joe Melillo
Lawrence
In honor of National Volunteer Week (April 10-16), I would like to take this opportunity to thank the more than 150 volunteers who work to benefit the student participants of the Princeton-Blairstown Center. Princeton-Blairstown Center (PBC) seeks to transform the lives of vulnerable young people through integrated experiential and adventure-based programming in schools and at our outdoor campus. We collaborate with schools, university partners, and community-based agencies to develop in youth deepened self-awareness, responsible decision-making, teamwork, and leadership skills. Each year, our progressive programs serve nearly 6,000 young people from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. None of the work we do would be possible without the dedication and effort of our Board of Trustees, Advisory Council, and others who give much of their time to advance PBC's mission.
Whether it is by helping to plan our upcoming golf outing or our fall Soiree Under the Stars, working to develop our strategic goals for the future, or preparing our Blairstown Campus for the winter during Woodcutter's Weekend, all of these volunteers make PBC's unique brand of social emotional learning possible for the thousands underserved youth we help each year.
THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS! You're our heroes and we salute you!
Pam Gregory
Princeton-Blairstown Center president & CEO
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