One thousand people — including several Princeton High School students — gathered in Princeton’s Hinds Plaza on April 5th to protest the Trump administration as part of a nationwide “Hands Off” movement. PHS students cited a number of reasons for attending, ranging from concerns for LGBTQ rights, threats to the Department of Education, and the Trump administration’s disregard for humanity.

“It's selfish men and women, men especially, doing what serves their ego best — and what serves their pockets best. It's so infuriating that we've given them enough power to actually be able to hurt people on a mass scale,” said Rica Eleches-Lipsitz ’25, who attended the protest. Indivisible Princeton, one of the main organizers of the event, noted on their website that one of the core principle of the protest was nonviolence, and encouraged all participants to de-escalate potential confrontations. However, attendees described a strong sense of collective energy and enthusiasm at the protest, which was part of the largest national movement so far against Trump’s second administration.

Lia Eleches-Lipsitz ’27 attended the protest with her family and a sign that read, “The only minority that's destroying this country are the billionaires.’ A different protester held up a sign that read, “We the people have power over the people in power.”

“It was empowering to see all these other people. It's really easy to read news articles and feel like you're by yourself with your rage, but it's nice to see [that] together, we actually might be able to make some sort of difference,” said Lia Eleches-Lipsitz.

Maya Halcomb ’25 echoed this desire for change.

“In Princeton specifically, it's important that we are all coming out and leveraging our privilege. Even though we're [in] a progressive town, I feel like there’s not a lot of movement that happens, so it's important that we're super active in the change — and I think our privilege can do a lot to change things,” said Halcomb.

Princeton University students organized a smaller rally that began at Firestone Library, before joining the main event. The university, along with several other Ivy League institutions, recently saw federal funding cuts, but Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber has continued to speak out against Trump.

“[Trump] kept $210,000,000 of Princeton’s grant funding last week, and we believe that research is valuable and that America can only be strong if its universities are strong,” said Isaac Barsoum, a freshman at Princeton University.

The event lasted around two hours, and featured several speakers, including U.S Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, whose congressional district includes Princeton.

“This is the most corrupt and incompetent — which might you know be helpful — administration in my lifetime,” said Watson Coleman. “This administration chooses to take very important resources from those who really need them so that they can make their greedy folks richer. These people have so much money that if they even just shared a little bit of it — tithe to the poor — we wouldn't have poverty.”

Though most PHS students can’t vote, Rica Eleches-Lipsitz urged students to engage themselves in politics, whether through protest or education.

“[We] should stay involved in politics, even if it's not a ton. Just enough to know who to vote for, enough to stay engaged,” said Rica Eleches-Lipsitz. “You don't have to make it your life — and you shouldn't, because we need to breathe — but at the same time, we have to keep being there for each other.”