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Thursday March 4, 2021 vol. CXLV no. 12
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ON CAMPUS
Disability rights activist Judy Heumann talks intersectionality and representation with CJL By Isabella Shutt Contributor
“Discrimination dies with great difficulty.” That’s the lesson Judy Heumann hopes students take away from her recent book “Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist.” Heumann spoke with over 150 students, parents, alumni, and staff from the University and 11 partner campuses in a Zoom event organized by Naomi Hess ’22 and Rabbi Ira Dounn of the Center for Jewish Life (CJL) on the night of Tuesday, Feb. 2. Moderators Hess and Katie Heinzer ’22 asked Heumann pre-submitted audience questions with topics ranging from intersectionality, to Jewish community, to media representation. Hess is an Associate News Editor and Heinzer is an Associate Podcast Editor for The Daily Princetonian. The event’s inception began two years ago when Hess suggested that the CJL host a themed Shabbat in celebration of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month. Having made the themed Friday night meal in February an annual occurrence, this year she broadened the scope of the audience, securing sponsorships from Hillel@Home, the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, the Undergraduate Student Government Projects Board, and the AccessAbility Center to invite renowned disability rights advocate Heumann to speak. Heumann is Jewish and became paralyzed after con-
tracting polio. In the early 1970s, she became New York City’s first teacher in a wheelchair. In 1977, she led a 28-day sit-in on federal property to advocate for enforcement of Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, the first federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. After holding positions within the Bill Clinton administration, the Department of Disability Services for the District of Columbia, and the World Bank, Heumann joined former President Barack Obama’s administration as the first Special Advisor for International Disability Rights. Dounn said in an interview with the ‘Prince’ that Heumann was an ideal guest for the event. She is “in many ways like a modern day prophet,” he noted, “someone who sees the problems of society and works to change them with a commitment to social justice and repair.” Heumann recognized these issues from a young age, when she was denied access to a public education due to her disability and excluded from religious practices based on her gender. She spoke about a more welcoming synagogue she attended as an adult that added a ramp and taught her how to participate in a ritual she had never had the opportunity to experience, asking attendees to question what they “are or are not doing to allow Jews with disabilities, visible and invisible, to really feel a part of whatever the activity may be.” According to Hess, Princ-
etonians have stepped up in response to this question in recent years. She gave an example of a change Rabbi Dounn made at the CJL to advance a feeling of inclusion: rather than asking the entire congregation to stand for blessings, he now says, “Please stand if you are able.” “That’s just a very small linguistic change, but it really shows me the efforts that Princeton is making to make sure I feel welcome and included,” Hess said. Heumann also highlighted the importance of acceptance within the disability rights movement and its interaction with other causes, citing work by disability organizations to support people affected by AIDS and the resources Black Panthers offered to the Section 504 sit-ins. She explained that the Jewish community has been active in both the Civil Rights and LGBTQ+ rights movements and shared that she drew inspiration from the sacrifices of civil rights activists who were willing to put their lives in danger to secure equality. In an interview with the ‘Prince,’ Heumann elaborated on the importance of an intersectional approach to activism at colleges. “When looking at the role of organizing on campuses, I think we also really need to feel responsible for each other,” Heumann said. “We understand the barriers people face based on disability, on race, on gender, on sexual orientation, and religion and see that these barriers are not
COURTESY OF JUDY HEUMANN
Long-time disability rights activist Judy Heumann.
only adversely affecting an individual in a community but really adversely affecting society overall.” Gabrielle Sudilovsky ’22, president of the Jewish-Latinx student group J-Lats, said she appreciated this focus on intersectionality and hoped other students left the event ready to engage in further conversation. “Let’s keep talking about it and working to make campus better. Because campus can be much better, and the only way it’s going to change is if students are actively pushing,” Sudilovsky said. The event had a similar focus on discussion. Heumann encouraged people with and
without disabilities to engage with one another to create a welcoming community. In her interview with the ‘Prince,’ Heumann deemed the strategy “coming together to go apart”: learning from those with similar and dissimilar experiences to improve your own life and gain a more complete perspective on the lives of others. The event’s Zoom chat became a platform for such exchanges. Students from different campuses wrote about classes that centered the disability rights movement. Participants recommended books with main characters with See NEWS for more
STUDENT LIFE
Some dance companies hold auditions despite virtual challenges By Andrew Somerville Staff Writer
Several of the University’s dance companies held or will hold auditions virtually this
semester, following the Performing Arts Council’s (PAC) decision to allow students groups to hold auditions. In the fall, the PAC allowed each subset of the perform-
JULIAN GOTTFRIED / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
The front entrance to McCarter Theater, largely unused for nearly a year.
In Opinion
ing arts — theater, a cappella, and dance — to decide within their respective groups whether to hold auditions. Because of this, only a handful of groups, none of which were dance companies, held auditions for new members. Citing equity concerns regarding video quality, home environment, and other factors, most dance companies on campus decided not to hold auditions or accept new members last semester. While some carried this reasoning into the spring, nine companies decided to open auditions. These companies are hosting the entirely virtual auditions in video format, meaning that prospective members submit one or multiple videos of them completing choreography selected or created by the company. For a large company like BodyHype Dance Company, the unique challenges of this semester have bred flexible and creative solutions. Vice President Julie Shin ’22 said that she sees virtual auditions as opportunities for increased equity. “We can look at each dancer individually and give their videos more attention,” she said. “In-person, it is difficult to analyze each dancer when
Guest contributor Daniel Te ‘21 calls for more transparency in candidate campaigns for the Young Alumni Trustee Elections.
they are dancing in groups.” “We provided three combinations for everyone to learn, rather than our usual two,” she explained. “Normally we wouldn’t have time to teach that many in person.” Prospective members of diSiac Dance Company submitted two videos, one contemporary performance and one hip-hop performance. Applicants ranked which style they preferred for judges to take into consideration. diSiac also decided to allow prospective members to submit a third video of them dancing to anything they wanted. The purpose of this was to hopefully gather more information about a dancer’s personality, which is hard to determine from just two dancing videos. “This could be one of their favorite TikToks or a video of them clogging, or really anything that they want to share with us,” said Emma Wang ’23, president of diSiac Dance Company. Most of the students submitting auditions are firstyears who have yet to even see the dance groups perform in person. John Freeman ’24, who auditioned for several companies, said that it was hard to tell what each company was
In Prospect
offering. “I feel like I would be able to get a much better sense if we were in a non-COVID world,” Freeman said. “Virtual auditions are definitely not the same as in-person auditions.” Wang echoed the sentiment that auditions are not at all typical this year. “In a normal year, people would come and audition just for fun and to be able to dance for a couple hours,” she said. Now, she feels that each person auditioning virtually is invested in joining the company, and people who would normally audition for fun are not auditioning due to the greater demands of virtual auditions. Almost every company said they experienced lower turnout than usual at auditions. Heather Samberg ’23, president of eXpressions Dance Company, said that they received less than half of the usual number of auditions this year. diSiac Dance Company, which usually receives upwards of 100 submissions during fall auditions, only received around 30 this semester. Not all dance companies have decided to hold auditions this semester. One group not See NEWS for more
In honor of Black History Month, Prospect writers share their favorite works of literature, music, and art created by Black artists, from Nikki Giovanni to Kanye West.