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Monday February 17, 2020 vol. CXLIV no. 11
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ON CAMPUS
Vote100 hosts Day of Action, aims to increase turnout By Karolen Eid staff writer
On Friday, Feb. 14, students contacted their local representatives about a variety of issues through the Vote100 campaign’s Day of Action. As part of their mission to increase civic engagement on campus, members of Vote100 encouraged students to call, email, and write letters and postcards addressed to the offices of government officials. Other student groups, including the Asian American Students Association (AASA) and Princeton Against Gun Violence set up neighboring tables to speak with students about specific issues. “We’re doing a great job of trying to encourage people to vote, but we need to have more conversation about what does civic engagement mean beyond voting,” said Kauribel Javier ’19, a Program Coordinator in the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS), which sponsors Vote100. Javier hoped the event would present different ways in which students can engage See VOTE page 3
U . A F FA I R S
Despite increases in aid for students with children, some say it’s not enough
By Marie-Rose Sheinerman Associate News & Features Editor
In an email to graduate students on Monday, Feb. 10, Dean of the Graduate School Sarah-Jane Leslie GS ’07 announced an increase in the award amount graduate students with children will be able to receive through the Graduate Child Assistance Program (GCAP) for the 2020-21 academic year. Several students impacted by the policy change told The Daily Princetonian, however, that they found it inadequate in addressing their grievances. The increase in aid, which will go into effect in August, bumps the maximum award amount from $5,000 per year to $6,000, with a maximum of $12,000 per family in the case of two children. The program also adjusts eligibility such that graduate students with annual household incomes of up to $80,000 (up from $60,000) are eligible for the full award. Thus, households of two full-time graduate students would qualify, since graduate student stipends average at $30,000 per year. “It’s important to note that with this change, graduate students with children will be eligible to receive award amounts through GCAP that are larger than the childcare awards faculty or staff at the University may re-
ceive,” wrote Deputy University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss in an email statement to the ‘Prince.’ “In addition, these enhancements place Princeton as a leader among its peers in support available to graduate students with children,” he added. In response to the change, Alex Merchant, the treasurer of Tigers with Cubs, a campus group that organizes on behalf of graduate students with children, wrote in an email to the ‘Prince’ that the “Graduate School’s increase to GCAP support recognizes the needs of graduate student parents.” “Childcare costs in New Jersey are some of the highest in the country. More than a quarter of our survey respondents reported taking on over $10,000 in childcarerelated debt in the last year,” he added. “This new GCAP funding will better help graduate student parents excel in their research and scholarship while supporting their families.” According to Leslie’s email, the financial enhancement to GCAP was, in part, based on “extensive data collection and surveying” that Tigers with Cubs had conducted. The survey data, obtained by the ‘Prince,’ showed that it included 19 respondents, 75 percent of whom reported taking on debt in the past
PHOTO COURTESY OF GRACE JOHNSON
Cory and Kristin Isaacs with family.
12 months due to childcare costs. Despite this change, the numbers still don’t add up for many parents. Alex Hazbun, a secondyear Ph.D. candidate in the molecular biology department, explained that he was required to provide “proof of funding” for the amounts the University estimated would account for his wife and child’s transportation, food, accommodations, and other expenses. As an international student, Hazbun had to demonstrate funds totaling $25,700 — none of which could come from his stipend — in order to obtain a visa to bring his wife and child to Princeton. Hazbun needed an estimated $13,600 for his spouse and $12,100 for his child, excluding childcare. (On his visa,
Hazbun’s spouse is considered a dependent.) According to Hazbun, the GCAP award of $6,000, though $1,000 higher than before, is “non-negligible” but nonetheless insufficient. “We took the decision to come to the University [for me] to study,” said Hazbun. “We also took the decision to have a family.” “That doesn’t mean the University has to be our own private charity, that’s not what I’m saying,” he continued. “What I’m saying is there is a problem. And as a father, husband, and graduate student, I don’t know how to solve it.” All parents interviewed by the ‘Prince’ recognized both the privilege of attending the University and the See GRAD page 2
STUDENT LIFE
AWARDS
Sarah Hirschfield ’20 wins 2020 USG discusses Student Speaker Initiative, comGates Cambridge Scholarship munity engagement
By Marie-Rose Sheinerman Associate News & Features Editor
On Thursday, Feb. 13, Sarah Hirschfield ’20 became the sole University recipient of the 2020 Gates Cambridge Scholarship, a prestigious fellowship which funds 80 students annually from countries outside the United Kingdom to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree at the University of Cambridge. The Gates scholarship was established in 2000 by a donation of $210 million from Bill and Melinda Gates to the University of Cambridge, which constituted the largest ever single donation to a university in the
U.K. The selection criteria for the scholarship are “outstanding intellectual ability, reasons for choice of course, a commitment to improving the lives of others, and leadership potential,” according to their website. Hirschfield will pursue an M.Phil. in philosophy at Cambridge. In interviews with The Daily Princetonian, Hirschfield’s friends and mentors seemed to agree on one thing: at her core, she is a student of philosophy. When asked what first drew her to the concentration, she said that to her, philosophy is a way of making life less confusing and easier to grapple with.
See HIRSCHFIELD page 3
By Danielle Ranucci staff writer
PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMES LOESCH / FLICKR
The USG meetings are held at Lewis Library.
At this week’s meeting, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) discussed recent developments regarding the Student Speakers Initiative, as well as goals to increase outreach and transparency within USG. Tyler Eddy ’21 reported
In Opinion
Today on Campus
Guest contributor Susan Spock ‘76 opposes the re-establishment of Charter bicker, arguing that it is inimical to the mission of the University.
12:00 p.m.: Lunch talk: “Multi-centric Historicities of Law in Colonial Algeria (1870-1930)”, by Sarah Ghabrial, Concordia University & the Davis Center for Historical Studies.
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that over 1,300 students voted and demonstrated a desire for the Student Speaker Initiative during his trial program. As a result, a request was made to the COS 333 course for students to make a website for the See USG page 2
WEATHER
SARAH HIRSCHFIELD / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
Sarah Hirschfield will pursue an M.Phil in Philosophy at Cambridge.
“It occurred to me that whether I decided to study philosophy or not, I’d be condemned to philosophizing because I would always have to deliberate about what to do and about values and how I should live my life,” she explained. “So I figured if I was condemned to thinking in this way, I might as well try to do it well.” For Hirschfield, the study of philosophy is fundamentally about “how to exist with one another.” “Philosophy can also help others and teach us how to be good to each other and to ourselves, despite all odds,” she added. Hanna Pickard, professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and former Visiting Research Scholar to the University’s Program in Cognitive Science, wrote it was “both a joy and a privilege” to advise Sarah’s junior paper. “Sarah does not flinch from staring moral wrong straight in the face and fighting it with everything she can — combining philosophical argument of the highest caliber with a kind of real-world pragmatism so that the arguments stick,” she wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’ At Cambridge, Hirschfield plans to study feminist philosophy and philosophy of law, building on her thesis, which centers on rape and moral responsibility. Her junior paper argued against the use of mistake of fact defenses in rape cases, in which defendants can use their ignorance of the victim’s non-consent — “I didn’t realize she said no” — as
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