Is a Career in Finance Ethical?

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Some thoughts on this question following the Whig-Clio Senate Debate on Thursday, February the 28th (https://www.facebook.com/events/147469175413524/): The main argument put forth by the opposition (which sided with Wall Street) is that a career in finance is ethical *ONLY IF* you take a chunk of the money you make and donate it toward some social good …

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Rising Costs and Budget Cuts in Schools Force Many to Reconsider Teacher Tenure

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Education equality and fairness–topics near and dear to the hearts of most Occupy Princeton readers – gets a new spin in the article that appears below about teacher tenure reforms throughout the country. Writer and education activist Brianna Meiers presents both sides of this heated debate, and invites opinions and commentary from the masses. Brianna routinely writes for a website …

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Why Reason Won’t Save Us from Obamney 2012

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I’ve spent the past few months debating many friends and strangers about the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. I’ve taken pains to explain, through what I think is sound logic, that voting for one of the two big parties – again – is ridiculous. If, that is, we are interested in systemic reform in government that …

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Is a Career in Finance Ethical?Rising Costs and Budget Cuts in Schools Force Many to Reconsider Teacher TenureWhy Reason Won’t Save Us from Obamney 2012

Mar
02

Is a Career in Finance Ethical?

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Some thoughts on this question following the Whig-Clio Senate Debate on Thursday, February the 28th (https://www.facebook.com/events/147469175413524/):

The main argument put forth by the opposition (which sided with Wall Street) is that a career in finance is ethical *ONLY IF* you take a chunk of the money you make and donate it toward some social good carried out by people who are not as talented as Princeton students to go into finance.

A) What this argument implies is that Princetonians and other Ivy Leaguers are best at what they currently do: Extracting money from society in the form of economic rents, keeping 90% of it to themselves, and donating 10%. Let other people go cure cancer and do non-profit work in Africa — we’ll stick to what we’re good at.

Well, I see a lot of smart and bright kids here. I think they would be great at teaching, researching, providing healthcare, and doing all those dirty jobs that counterbalance the injustices our system creates. If we’re going to stick to this logic, I say let other people go push around money. We’ll take care of providing real value, and a lot of it.

B) As my political theorist friend pointed out, something cannot be inherently ethical if you have to alter it in some way to make it ethical. If a career in finance is ethical only if you donate a percentage of your money, it is not the career that is ethical, but your donation.

Now I’m sure you will object and ask, “If you didn’t work in finance, how would you have the money to donate?” Let’s pause and think for a second about the money you would be donating as an altruistic banker. Would you consider ethical a loan provided to someone if you knew there was going to be no way for them to pay it back? If not, why would you consider it ethical, as an industry, to create more debt in the market than there is actual money supply to pay everything back?

 

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Oct
21

Rising Costs and Budget Cuts in Schools Force Many to Reconsider Teacher Tenure

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Education equality and fairness–topics near and dear to the hearts of most Occupy Princeton readers – gets a new spin in the article that appears below about teacher tenure reforms throughout the country. Writer and education activist Brianna Meiers presents both sides of this heated debate, and invites opinions and commentary from the masses. Brianna routinely writes for a website that hosts information on where people can find teaching programs, both on and offline.

Rising Costs and Budget Cuts in Schools Force Many to Reconsider Teacher Tenure

Though teacher tenure has been a fixture of the US educational system for over a century, political pressure from state and local governments has led to many schools reforming or outright abolishing the institution. Critics argue that becoming tenured often leads to incompetent teachers becoming complacent and can make the firing of incompetent teachers all but impossible. However, many believe the actions being taken in legislatures throughout the country are overly rash and may yet lead to negative long-term consequences.

In 1910, New Jersey became the first state to pass tenure legislation, by granting fair-dismissal rights to college professors. During the Suffragist movement of the 1920s, a time when female teachers could be fired for getting married or becoming pregnant, these rights were extended to elementary and high school teachers as well. “These laws were passed in state after state to protect good teachers from arbitrary actions,” says Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association. While tenure for college professors frequently requires a record of published research and probationary periods of up to 10 years, grade school teachers can achieve tenure after only working for 2 years in some states. Yet, today, many of the academic freedoms these tenured teachers once enjoyed have been curtailed through strict No Child Left Behind testing requirements, and government workers looking to raise efficiency are anxious to strip away the freedoms of tenure even further.

Incidentally, much of the recent anti-tenure sentiment has cropped up in the very state where the practice began, in the form of legislation passed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that overhauls the state’s century-old tenure law. The bill, passed in June 2012 and proposed by the Democratically-controlled Legislature, requires teachers to work for four years, one of which must be under a mentor, and earn ratings of “effective or highly effective” in at least two years. Those that fail to earn high ratings for two consecutive years will automatically face revocation of tenure unless they display improvement. This is a marked change from the old law, which essentially guaranteed tenure for teachers after three years of work.

Proponents of the bill, like New Jersey superintendent Cami Anderson, argue that ending seniority rights will allow the schools to end millions of dollars in spending on unqualified teachers who are difficult to fire. However, there are many in education who criticize the recent anti-tenure sentiment. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, agrees that the tenure process could benefit from reform, but is skeptical of many of the new regulations being placed on teachers. Weingarten says school administrators “want teachers to basically do exactly what they say, give them no resources and then blame them if they don’t in a time of tremendous fiscal instability and fiscal pressures.”

The majority of US educators and administration officials agree that education reform is necessary to assure students meet the lofty
requirements of an increasingly global marketplace. Yet, meaningful reform can only be reached if teachers, administrators and students can agree on the measures being enacted. As fervor for education reform throughout the US leads to changes in tenure policy, it is important to remember that the most effective education can only take place in a positive and supportive environment. Only if teachers and students feel confident that administrators have their best interests in mind will the education in the US be able to reach its full potential.

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Oct
03

Why Reason Won’t Save Us from Obamney 2012

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I’ve spent the past few months debating many friends and strangers about the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. I’ve taken pains to explain, through what I think is sound logic, that voting for one of the two big parties – again – is ridiculous. If, that is, we are interested in systemic reform in government that would restore its original role of representing citizens instead of corporations.

I am not writing this, however, as another attempt at convincing you to vote for a third party (or not vote at all) in these elections, even though that is the only rational way to get out of this mess – a mess in which our puny vote doesn’t have any significant impact on government policy, a mess that some would simply refer to as a cluster f***. How are we going to push for reform through policymaking in a system that we acknowledge to determine public policy based primarily on the size of the suitcase containing crisp, unmarked dollar bills?

The reason I am writing this is to explain why I don’t think I’ll ever be able to win this argument, even with people who understand the absurdity of the electoral system and of voting for the “lesser of two evils.” What I’ve come to realize is that such Obamney voters are motivated by fear, not reason.

I think we know very well what kind of individual and collective sacrifices are to be made and risks to be taken in order to restore democracy in this country, but we’re afraid to take that leap. We’re afraid to trust that others will join us in doing the right thing. We’re afraid that we’ll be left hanging. We know the power of collective action. Yeah, that’s right, it’s what brought us the 8-hour work day among many other nice perks. Of course, fear can be good. We posses the ability to feel fear for a reason, and that we can agree on whether you believe in the yet-to-be-disproven scientific theory of evolution or in Intelligent Design. But when we give fear full authority to guide us, we stop being human – or at least happy people.

Game Theory suggests that an Obamney victory is the only possible outcome of these elections. It would be wrong, though, to think that such an outcome is based on reasoning on behalf of the individuals involved. Perhaps if we started trusting and communicating with one another, we could end up in the “win, win” corner of the matrix instead of the “lose, lose.” Why can’t we seem to accomplish that? Well, that’s a whole other story…

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Sep
23

Dear Michelle Obama

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A group of Princeton students and community members respond to the First Lady’s rare visit to Princeton, NJ for an exclusive fundraising dinner:

Dear Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States,

As Lawrence Lessig recently testified before the Senate: “In the current presidential election cycle, 0.000063 percent of America—that’s 196 citizens—have funded 80 percent of individual Super PAC contributions up to now.” While attending the $1000-a-plate fundraiser for the President’s reelection campaign in Princeton, New Jersey, we encourage you to reflect on the needs of the rest of the community, those who could not afford to take part in this event.

Your time as a student at Princeton University was, as you made clear in your senior thesis, an alienating experience: “I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don’t belong [...] I will always be black first and a student second.” These sentiments continue today. Many students still feel marginalized based on race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, socioeconomic status, and immigration status.

In fact, this marginalization extends beyond the gates of Nassau Hall to the larger Princeton community. You are returning to Princeton exclusively to hold a fundraiser hosted by the President of Princeton University Investment Company, Andrew Golden, the self-acclaimed “accidental one percent-er,” whose sole purpose is to maximize returns on the university’s $17 billion endowment. Princeton University is a rich, private institution that has favored shortsighted expansion, benefiting from tax exemptions while disregarding the needs of those who serve and support it – the day laborers, the domestic workers, the dishwashers, the schoolteachers, the firefighters, the people. In the shadows of this institution, workers are being denied a living wage, and there is a lack of affordable housing and social services. This town is a microcosm of the issues faced by many communities in this nation.

You have chosen to use this rare visit to Princeton to meet with the 1%, accepting their money and favoring their interests and political voice over the 99%, thereby perpetuating the bias against the underprivileged in favor of the wealthy. Is this what we are to expect for the next four years if the President is reelected?

- Concerned Princeton community members and students

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Sep
10

President of Princeton University Tells Incoming Freshmen to “Occupy Princeton”

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Full Address: http://www.princeton.edu/president/speeches/20120909/

Some excerpts:

Opening Exercises is one of the truly joyous occasions at Princeton because it marks the beginning of a great adventure—your great adventure. At this moment in your Princeton education everything is possible—every door stands open, every dream has the potential to come true. You are about to Occupy Princeton.

Now don’t panic—I don’t mean to suggest that you are going to live in a soggy pup tent on Cannon Green for the next four years. Instead, I am co-opting that phrase from last year’s political season to preview what I hope will be the many ways in which you will seize the moment, take this University by storm, make it uniquely your own, and leave it better than you found it.

But whatever your path to Princeton, you are now a member of the Class of 2016, collectively poised to Occupy Princeton for the next four years. As I warn each freshman class, the next four years are going to go by in the blink of an eye. If you do not believe me, ask any member of the senior class. That look of panic in their eyes is not solely brought on by the fact that they are still struggling to find a topic for their senior theses. It also reflects their realization that there is a light looming at the end of the tunnel, and they have just one more year to savor and extract the full worth of this place.

As you know, the Occupy movement began last fall in Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in New York as a protest against the growing inequality in income and opportunity in the U.S. and in many other countries around the world. The movement’s rallying cry was “We are the 99 percent,” to underscore the point that the widening gap in wealth is benefiting a very small percentage of the population. With your matriculation at Princeton, and irrespective of your family circumstances up to this moment, you have now become part of the 1 percent, not in terms of wealth, but certainly in terms of future opportunity. Admission to Princeton is a privilege that is bestowed on very few individuals, and with it comes a responsibility to use your education to make the world a better place. “Princeton in the Nation’s Service and the Service of all Nations” is not a hollow phrase, but a call to action that justifies the immense effort and resources that go into educating each of you. By virtue of that education, and the credential you will earn that signals to the world that you have worked prodigiously hard to pass a very high educational bar, you will have a dizzying array of options before you. We are agnostic about what you choose to do, but we do insist that it have a purpose that is larger than you. In that sense, Occupying Princeton is not an end in itself but, rather, a means of preparing yourselves for many occupations—and vocations—in a world that sorely needs the skills and qualities of mind you bring to this University and will enhance over the next four years.

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Sep
09

S17 Updates

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Useful info and updates from the S17 organizers:

On September 15-17th in New York City, we are organizing three days of education, celebration and resistance to economic injustice with a full slate of permitted convergences, family friendly assemblies, a big concert, and mass civil disobedience on that Monday in the heart of the financial district. The evolving schedule as well as detailed information can be found at s17nyc.org.

Below is everything you need to know, whether you are planning to join us in NYC or planning a solidarity action locally.

Register: If you are planning to come to NYC, please fill out our registration form here: http://s17nyc.org/support/registration/ and please spread the word to others in your local occupy or affinity group and tell them to fill out the reg form too. By registering, we can keep you up to date on housing, food, convergence and action plans.

Transport: We are encouraging folks to find their own transportation. We have resources up on the s17 site here: http://s17nyc.org/support/join-us-in-nyc/ about rideshares, amtrak discount and buses. PLEASE DO NOT RELY ON OWS TO PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION.

Housing: We secured a big factory in Brooklyn where out of towners can crash on the floor. If you register and indicate that you need housing, you will be sent all of the address and all the info you need. If you plan to stay at the factory, please bring a sleeping pad and sleeping bag and pack light.

Monday NYC Action: BRING BUSINESS ATTIRE to wear on the 17th. There are a bunch of actions happening Monday morning, one of which is 99 Revolutions. We will disrupt business as usual in the financial district by blockading the Stock Exchange and surrounding intersections. Action Framework can be found here:s17nyc.org/peoples-wall/.

Affinity Groups: Some of the organizing is happening in affinity groups. If you have an affinity group and you want to find out how to plug into the action, you can join the S17 Affinity Group Spokescouncil every friday night from now until S17 Fridays at 6pm in Foley Square. If you’re coming from out of town you can plug by registering for the S17 Affinity Group Spokescouncil Remote Participation call here: http://interoccupy.net/blog/ai1ec_event/s17-affinity-group-spokescouncil-remote-participation-2/?instance_id=3370142)

Solidarity Actions: A lot of cities are planning solidarity actions either on the 17th or around their own anniversary. You can find ideas about possible solidarity actions and planning tools here http://s17nyc.org/organize/organize-your-own-action/). Do you know if anyone from your city is planning a solidarity action? If so, please submit the action info here http://s17nyc.org/organize/submit-solidarity-action/ so we can help spread the word. If you are organizing other actions in and around NYC for the weekend, please submit them here: http://s17nyc.org/organize/add-your-action/

Join our organizing calls, e-mail lists and text loops: The last S17 InterOccupy call is this Tuesday at 7PM EST where you can find out more info and ask questions/discussions. You can visit the S17 interoccupy hub at interoccupy.net/s17nyc/ to register for the calls and sign up for any and all of the S17 e-mail lists. We also have a text loop, where you will get up to the minute S17 info via text messages, and you can sign up for that by texting “@S17NYC” TO 23559. All of this info is up on the s17nyc.org site too.

Help us make outreach calls: We need help making outreach calls! If you want to do outreach to other occupiers from around the country, fill out this form here: http://interoccupy.net/ios17/ and you’ll get info on how and who to call.

Submitting a workshop or teach-in: If you would like to lead a teach-in, workshop or any other event during the occupy town square portion of the weekend on the 15th and 16th, please fill out this form here: s17nyc.org/join-the-convergence/

Organizational outreach: To find a list of organizations who are participating or have endorsed s17, please go here: http://wiki.occupy.net/wiki/S17_Endorsement. If you are connected to an organization or an occupy that would like to endorse s17, please go here: http://s17nyc.org/support/pledge/

Legal: The OWS legal group will be giving know your rights trainings on the 15th and 16th. If you are traveling with an affinity group or on a bus, please designate one person to get in touch with legal at mutantlegal@riseup.net. If possible, please do know your rights trainings specific to NYC laws in your cities before arriving.

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Sep
04

Banks Not to Recruit on Campus This Fall

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Five days ago I received an email from Princeton University Career Services. Here’s an excerpt:

For those planning to find a job, NOW is the time to prepare for on-campus recruiting! Employers from private, public, and non-profit organizations come to campus in the fall to host information sessions and/or interview seniors for full-time positions. Employer events are a great opportunity to network ! with recruiting organizations and to gain valuable company information and interviewing advice.

Know that different industries have different recruiting timelines. In general, consulting, finance, and technology companies tend to recruit the earliest. Be prepared to apply for these positions in September. Please note that many of the larger banks will NOT be recruiting on-campus for full-time positions this fall.

Coincidence? Victory?

Whatever and whomever you decide to thank for this – whether it’s your god, probability theory, the economy, or the constant bombardment of mic-checks throughout the nation and the world – well, yay.

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Jun
04

Lewis Speech Falls on Deaf Ears and Empty Red Cups?

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While the admirable Michael Lewis made an insightful and heartfelt speech at this year’s Princeton graduation (see the full text here), I am but left wondering whether it makes sense to say these things to people who have already gone through 4 whole years of Wall Street College, Inc. Lewis told graduating seniors in an (unsurprisingly) exclusive event that they were lucky and owed a debt to the unlucky, concluding with a reminder of Princeton’s motto, “In the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations.” If the point of these speeches is to inspire, wouldn’t it make more sense to address incoming freshmen still open to reason and confused sophomores frantically looking for finance internships?

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May
03

Just Another Daily ‘Daily Princetonian’ Screw Up?

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The Daily Princetonian published a short article on Thursday, May 3rd, covering Occupy Princeton’s May Day 2012 activities. The article was based on several interviews given at Princeton prior to May 1st, as well as on the information gathered by one of the reporters who joined Princeton students on May Day in New York City. Here’s the link to the article: http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2012/05/03/30872/

Although the article is yet another example of poor journalism on the part of the Prince, loaded, as always, with inaccuracies and quotes placed out of context, the issue I would like to address here is somewhat different albeit related. The published piece proves that it’s not necessarily money or special interests that govern the content produced by the media, but it’s often the writers and editors themselves (in this case mostly the latter) whose minds are so rigidly programmed to think in a certain way that they simply are not capable of comprehending certain concepts and articulating them.

What I’m alluding to are two specific things included in the article. First, it refers to Occupy Princeton as a “chapter” of Occupy Wall Street. Second, it acknowledges me as the “chapter leader.” Anyone who has ever taken two minutes to learn about the Occupy movement immediately becomes knowledgable of the fact that Occupy is a non-hierarchical, decentralized, and horizontal movement. There are no chapters or leaders, but rather a broadly shared set of social values and a mutual belief in processes of consensus-based decision-making and non-violent resistance. The term “Occupy” represents only a general agreement with those values, processes, and tactics – not any formal affiliation with anyone or anything.

All resolutions and activities carried out by Occupy Princeton and other similar groups are based on the common views of those who wish to participate in their open, collective decision-making processes. Moreover, one does not even have to identify as a “member” of Occupy or with its shared values to get actively involved; Occupy is a space for deliberating local, regional, national, and international issues and deciding on common courses of action. Pretty much all of Occupy Princeton “members” are involved in other student organizations, and many Princeton students who don’t identify as “Occupiers” take part in campaigns originated in Occupy assemblies.

It would be absurd to think that talented Ivy-leaguers working for the Daily Princetonian could not research the most fundamental nature of the Occupy movement as presented above. I am but one of endless people who have written or talked about it in the past and continue to do so in the present. It could possibly be just another incident of carelessness on behalf of the Prince editors who do have a stressful job, but the fact that the article screws up something so elementary about the topic it is covering makes me think that there is something more to it.

I believe that our sociopolitical institutions and culture so thoroughly ingrain in us a certain understanding of organizational structures and distributions of power within them and within society in general that it becomes extremely difficult to break free from positivist beliefs about the role of hierarchy and authority in any association of people. The Prince editors are one of many victims. The good news is that it’s difficult to overcome, but not impossible if we decide to constantly challenge our beliefs – something that may not be encouraged enough here at Princeton.

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Israel’s Sassy Gay Friend: Iran

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April 23, 2012

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