The One Percent Revolt: Princeton Students Protest JP Morgan And Goldman Sachs Recruitment

On Wednesday, JP Morgan Chase held an informational session at Princeton University, seeking to recruit students to its Treasury Services division. Yet while they probably imagined to see a receptive audience at one of the nation’s most elite universities and producers of the 1 percent, they instead met outraged students who protested the policies of the megabank. Students from Occupy Princeton stood up during the session and noted that Princeton’s motto is based around serving the nation and world, and that JP MorganChase is not serving this purpose. They then read off grievances against the bank, including its predatory lending practices and bankrolling of mountaintop removal, finally concluding with saying they don’t want to be a university for the one percent:

OCCUPY PRINCETON: Princeton’s motto is: In the nation’s service and service of all nations. JP Morgan Chase, your actions violate our motto. Your predatory lending practices helped crash our economy. We’ve bailed out your executives’ bonuses You’ve evicted struggling homeowners while taking their tax money. You support mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, which destroys our ecological future. In light of these actions, we protest the campus culture that whitewashes the crooked dealings of Wall Street as a prestigious career path. We are here today as a voice for the 99%, shut out by a system that punishes them just for being born without privilege. What we need is not a university for the 1%, but a university “In the Nation’s Service, and in the Service of All Nations.”

Watch it:

When Goldman Sachs held a similar recruitment session on Thursday, Occupy Princeton was there once again. “Our talents will be wasted if we send all our best and brightest to Wall Street,” said the protesters, ending their remarks by inviting the students attending to their next General Assembly. Watch it:

JP Morgan can’t catch a break at the nation’s major universities. Last month, five students were arrested at Indiana University Bloomington during a demonstration against JP Morgan’s recruitment.