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Radical Imagination and the Political Consciousness

 About half of those employed by PSAFE are sworn police officers, detectives, sergeants, etc., who hold the same powers as municipal or state police and whose policing powers extend to Princeton township. Yet, as private employees, PSAFE officers are only accountable to the University administration, which is not beholden to the interests of the Princeton municipal community. In April 2019, a campus officer at Yale shot a community member while investigating a reported armed robbery. The Yale officer was suspended for 30 days, and later returned to work as an administrator. While we do not know if a similar abuse of power has happened at Princeton yet, the jurisdiction of our armed P-Safe officers also extends to the surrounding community, creating the conditions that allow for such violent interactions with community members.  As long as the University employs sworn police officers with similar authority to detain and use force against our students, staff, and local community as local police officers, the University is not only complicit in, but actively contributing to the racist institution of policing in this country. 

Project Solidarity is low commitment and incredibly important as you will correspond with individuals in solitary confinement who hear about and request to participate in this project. Please consider joining and tell your friends to join as well!

In order to join Project Solidarity, you must attend an orientation where we will hand out specific guidelines, sample letters, and a contract concerning expectations, commitments, and issues of privacy. The orientation takes roughly 30 minutes; you will begin to independently correspond once your signed contract is received.

Orientations are held at the beginning of each semester, and information regarding these sessions is sent via the residential college listservs and SPEAR newsletters. If it is later in the semester, and you want to participate in the project, please reach out through our email, psprinceton@gmail.com. We will find a time that works with you to set up an orientation session.

If you need to reprint the documents from the P.S. orientation: the writing guidelines can be found at this link, the participant contract at this link, and the introduction letter to correspondents at this link. For those working on writing the first letter, we also have a sample letter designed as a loose suggestion, accessible here. 

After sending your first letter, you can pick up and drop off subsequent letters in the designated boxes in the Pace Center Lounge - the lounge has the same general hours as Frist, so you can drop off letters any time of the day. You will be notified via email when a Project Solidarity letter addressed to you is received.

To learn how to address the envelope for a Project Solidarity letter, check out this PDF.

If you have any further questions, please send them to psprinceton@gmail.com or directly to Kennedy Mattes, P.S. project leader, at kmattes@princeton.edu.

Want to become part of Project Solidarity? Sign up below!

In 2017, SPEAR entered a coalition called Princeton Private Prison Divest (PPPD), alongside almost ten other student groups in a campaign to urge Princeton to divest from private prison and detention corporations. Princeton has a Resource Committee, which makes a recommendation to the Board of Trustee's on the responsible usage of the University's endowment. The Resource Committee's three criteria for divestment are campus consensus, sustained student engagement with the issue, and a demonstrated conflict with core university values. PPPD has met with the Resource Committee several times, and compiled and continues to revise the following proposal for divestment. In addition, on February 6th, 2017, PPPD hosted a panel with speakers Christopher Petrella of Bates College, Judy Greene of Justice Strategies, and Carl Takei of the ACLU to discuss the impact of privatization on prisons and immigrant detention centers.

PCPD builds upon the work of PPPD. During the summer of 2020, we publicized a petition against the University’s compliance with the PIC (see below). Currently, we are investigating with which corporations the University is involved. We are also also utilizing infographics and social media to further education about the PIC and amplifying the stories of people directly impacted by the carceral system.

Add your name to join a community of people who value human lives over punishment and profit.

PCPD logo created by Cammy Nguyen ‘23.