From Nader, a challenge

Ralph Nader ’55 told a Princeton audience March 8 that the biggest problem in the United States today “is the absence of civic motivation,” and he challenged Princeton students to cultivate social indignation and promote justice. “Before the trajectory of your redundant, routine, corporate lives kicks into place, use your 20s to break ground,” Nader said, adding that attending Princeton “invites a certain moral imperative.” He urged the audience to ask, “as the members of the Class of ’55 did, how can we get this University and its alumni to reach a fraction of its potential in terms of linking knowledge to action.” To complement the Woodrow Wilson School, Nader said, the University should create a “department of civic practice” that would teach undergraduates how to deal with “bureaucracy, vested interests, and corporate power.” Nader’s talk came two weeks after he announced his fifth campaign for the White House.