The Daily Princetonian: March 3, 2023

U. to raise grad student stipends, expresses ‘concern’ about unionization

The rise and fall of TigerConfessions

By Suthi Navaratnam-Tomayko, Grace Kim & Anika Maskara Assistant Data Editor, Data Contributor, Head web design editor emeritus

In May 2020, two months after students were sent home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens enrolled in MAT 202: Linear Algebra with Applications were referred to the Committee on Discipline after a teaching assistant (TA) posted a false solution on the online resource Slader — which was subsequently covered extensively in The Daily Princetonian. The details first spread to the student body, however, via TigerConfessions, an anonymous Facebook page.

“will i get suspended for mat202”

“mat202 reported me for cheating when i didn’t copy any answers and i am terrified”

students to anonymously share their thoughts since 2018. Anonymous confession pages are not unique to Princeton — there’s also, for example, CUNY Confessions on Facebook and Yale Confessions on Instagram.

Only currently enrolled Princeton students are allowed to join the group and submit confessions through a Google Form. From there, the group moderator, an anonymous Princeton student who uses the pseudonym Tyga San, individually approves and posts submissions to the private Facebook group. Once posted, anyone in the group can publicly react to or comment on the confession.

By Lia Opperman

After a two-week union campaign, Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU) announced that the University will raise some graduate student stipends by $5,000 in the 2023–2024 academic year. In an attachment to a recent memo sent out to the graduate student body, the University confirmed that the annual stipend rate for the 2023–2024 academic year will be between $47,880 and $50,400. Current graduate stipends range from $45,600 to $48,000. The raise comes as the University has expressed “concerns” with the unionization drive to the graduate student body, and after 1,600 graduate workers, a majority, signed union cards.

According to an email obtained by The Daily Princetonian from the PGSU sent to graduate students, the group hopes more support is to come. In addition to the raise, the union is pursuing guaranteed affordable housing through gradua -

USG

tion, improvements to the grievance procedure, more support for international students, better healthcare, funded childcare, improvements to workplace safety, among other causes.

“This is the first of our union wins, but it’s not enough,” the PGSU organizing committee wrote in an email to graduate students. “We need a union for graduate workers that will allow us to bargain a legally binding contract.”

This news comes after over 150 graduate students, undergraduates, and postgraduate fellows rallied with PGSU on Wednesday, Feb. 15 to demand fair wages and more affordable housing from the University and the Graduate Student Government (GSG) voted to release a message of support for PGSU. Graduate students formed the PGSU in 2016.

In the email, PGSU speculated that this may be a one-time raise and stressed the lack of graduate student input.

“[The raise] does not offset the fact that some graduate students currently pay

45% of their stipends back to Princeton for housing costs each month. It does not address the systemic power imbalance that we can right with a union. It does not guarantee graduate workers a place to turn to in an emergency,” they wrote.

Princeton is not the first university to announce raises after a union card campaign began. According to the PGSU, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Graduate Student Union held a rally on Sept. 27, 2021, and on Oct. 14, received a 3 percent raise for all graduate workers. Duke University’s Graduate Student Union held a campaign rally on Sept. 5, 2022, and on Sept. 14 received an 11.4 percent raise to their base stipend. Dartmouth College’s Graduate Student Union held a walkout and collected pledge cards on Oct. 11, 2022, and on Nov. 1, the University announced a tentative raise in stipends to $40,000 for the upcoming year.

Rodney Priestley, the Dean of the Graduate School sent a memo to

See STIPEND page 3

“i was investigated by mat202 i didn’t cheat i worked with a group of other mat202 students and one of the answers i discussed with them they apparently got from an online source … i didn’t feel i belonged at princeton after being belittled attacked and threatened for over an hour today by odus” “i had a nightmare when i went to sleep after reading the scary as fuck announcement last night and ever since i woke up ive been frozen in bed unable to move or get up i tried to eat but i cant because i feel vomity.”

From complaints about classes to exchanges about eating clubs, the TigerConfessions Facebook page has allowed Princeton

All posts are accepted except “low-effort, boring, or incomprehensible content,” as well as “low-effort or inflammatory political content” without a name signed to it, personal attacks, suicidal thoughts, duplicate posts, and advertisements.

At its peak, TigerConfessions was the locus of campus conversation. In May 2020, 6 percent of all posts on TigerConfessions contained “MAT202” or “MAT 202,” and nearly 8 percent of all posts on Tiger Confessions contained “202.” (Some students re-

USG

President, Treasurer, argue for raising student fees to increase programming

By Justus Wilhoit Assistant News Editor

At the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) meeting on Feb. 26, USG President Stephen Daniels ’24 said that the budget has become more and more of a “sticking point” in terms of USG’s ability to run programming and impact student life. To close the gap, Daniels proposed raising student fees, with USG Treasurer Walker Penfield ’25 also in support.

“There’s programming that USG could offer that we’re not able to offer due to financial constraints,” Daniels said.

“I started having some conversations about what it would mean to potentially — and I recognize this is going to be a much longer process with plenty of opportunities for student feedback — look

at what it would mean to increase the student activities fee to expand the USG budget. There aren’t any hard numbers today,” Daniels continued.

Penfield provided further details about budgeting and activities fees, emphasizing a need to consider “longer-term solutions with increasing student fees to match inflation.”

Penfield has made his mark in his early days in his role urging higher spending. At a previous meeting, Penfield had pushed for a larger USG budget: “Any money spent by students through their student fees should be spent on them during the semester,” Penfield said on Feb. 12, mentioning that his goal was to “really push for more large-scale projects that utilize that whole reserve so that the impact of USG can be seen.”

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences shuts down rumors that COS B.S.E. is being eliminated

Students currently pay $45.50 a semester in activity fees, less than 0.1 percent of the University’s estimated cost of attendance.

Daniels emphasized the positive impact of a potential budget increase, specifically mentioning past artists at Lawnparties. “We had huge names. We had like Rihanna, I think we had Maroon 5. If we did truly last look at expanding the student activities fee in 2002, it would make sense that we were able to suddenly get much larger names. That’s trickled out over time,” he said.

A University blog post notes that Princeton hosted Rihanna and Maroon 5 in the past “back when their careers were just starting.”

The student fee was last increased in 1996 by $7 from $38. At

‘No,

By Lia Opperman & Rebecca Cunningham Associate & Assistant News Editors

Long-spreading rumors that the University may be planning to eliminate the computer science (COS) Bachelor of Science and Engineering (B.S.E.) major have apparently made their way into tours of the engineering school. Administrators are eager to clarify that the rumor has no basis in fact.

In a Feb. 22 email obtained by The Daily Princetonian, Brendan Kehoe ’24, the vice president of the Princeton chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the oldest engineering honor society in the United States, emphasized “the importance of accurate

PROSPECT

One year since the war began by Staff Prospect Writer Sofiia Shapovalova

[information]” when it comes to giving tours of the E-Quad to prospective students.

“There are currently no plans to remove COS B.S.E. as a major, even though this has been a rumor over the past year,” Kehoe wrote.

“We should not be spreading this rumor to any tours,” he wrote in the email to engineering tour guides. “I was asked to pass along that ‘spreading false rumors will be grounds for dismissal.’”

COS B.S.E. has grown substantially in recent years and is currently the most popular concentration on campus, with 155 students from the Class of 2024 declaring as of May 2022. The

Julia Cunningham joins Princeton’s women’s basketball 1000-point club by Associate Sports Editor Brian Mhando

LOUISA GHEORGHITA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Associate News Editor

Penfield: “It’s honestly startling that we don’t have a mental health committee institutionalized in USG already”

Continued from page 1

the time, there was debate about whether to put the issue to a referendum, which the USG eventually opted not to do.

Daniels preempted arguments that a student fee hike may impact low-income students, saying that, “because the student activities fee is covered by financial aid, this is not something that, at least in [my] understanding, would hit the students who have the most financial need any harder. We’re potentially increasing the equity of programs on this campus by having there be more and more programs, more and more opportunities for people to come together, regardless of their financial background.”

Also at the Feb. 26 meeting, Princeton Conservation Society president Michael Salama ’24 delivered a presentation to USG members on the Youth Climate and Conservation Summit, which will bring leading youth climate activists from every continent to Princeton. The project was approved and

ON CAMPUS

passed unanimously.

The Senate also unanimously voted to renew the Menstruation Products Ad Hoc Committee, which was previously a USG task force. The group aims to expand the accessibility of menstrual products in academic buildings, as well as the residential colleges and eating clubs.

The committee’s co-chair, Aditi Desai ’24, described this status change for the group as the “the right path to follow for the task force, because it offers us more flexibility and also funding for some of the events we do.”

Following up on USG’s Feb. 19 meeting, representatives continued their discussion on the Mental Health Work Organization and how they can increase mental health resources and opportunities through collaboration on campus.

“There’s always more work than there are hands,” Daniels said.

Penfield asserted that USG must go about mental health urgently and in a way that is not performative. He argued for a vote by USG “at once” to establish a mental health

core committee, as opposed to delaying the establishment of said committee through a campus-wide referendum.

“It’s honestly startling that we don’t have a mental health committee institutionalized in USG already,” Penfield said.

Daniels also noted that he has an upcoming meeting with the New Jersey Department of Education to discuss topics such as financial resources tied to paying for college and mental health resources for students. USG went into a closed executive

session at the end of the meeting before adjourning. USG Senate meetings are held in Robertson 001 at 4 p.m. on Sundays and are open to all.

Justus Wilhoit is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Majority of graduate students have signed union cards nine days after rally

By Lia Opperman & Olivia Sanchez

Associate News Editor & News

A majority of the University’s more than 3,000 graduate students have signed union cards, according to Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU).

This news comes as over 150 graduate students, undergraduates, and post-graduate fellows rallied together with PGSU on Wednesday, Feb. 15 to demand fair wages and more affordable housing from the University. It also comes after the Graduate Student Government (GSG) voted to release a message of

support for PGSU, at their meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The GSG serves as the primary representative body for the University’s graduate students.

According to union representative Aditi Rao, at least 30 percent of Princeton graduate students need to sign a union card in order for PGSU to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Today’s announcement puts the PGSU well past that threshold.

Before the GSG voted, Rao claimed that they had already passed the 30 percent threshold, but were aiming higher. “We really want

it to be a super majority so we know for ourselves that the vast majority of students at this university support a union,” Rao told the body.

According to the NLRB website, after over 30 percent of workers support the election petition, an NLRB agent will verify that an election in the “particular workgroup” is appropriate, and then “take steps to set the time, date, and place of a secret-ballot election. Elections may be in-person, by mail, or a combination of both.”

The NLRB website reads that “[i] f the union receives a majority of the votes cast at the election, the NLRB will certify the union as your exclusive collective-bargaining representative.” Then, employers must bargain “in good faith” over working conditions.

Outside of NLRB-conducted elections, federal law provides employees another way to choose a representative. Workers may “persuade an employer to voluntarily recognize a union after showing majority support by signed authorization cards or other means.” However, those agreements are made outside the NLRB process. If voluntary recognition occurs, the employer, the union, or both may notify the NLRB Regional Office that voluntary recognition has been granted.

PGSU representative Tim Alberdingk Thijm told The Daily Princetonian that today’s news “is

a really strong and exciting demonstration of the fact that Princeton grads know that a union will make a real difference in our lives here and help our university continue to attract generational talent and produce world-class research.”

According to a Feb. 24 email obtained by the ‘Prince,’ The PGSUUnited Electric, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) organizing committee wrote to all Princeton graduate workers, “[t]ogether, we can achieve the best conditions for research and higher standards for graduate education across the country.” Through the union, graduate workers hope to secure fair and effective grievance procedures, improved international student support, better healthcare and funded childcare, affordable housing through graduation, guaranteed pay raises and contingency funds, and clear and safe work standards.

Graduate students formed the PGSU in 2016 to serve as a vehicle for grad students working to secure contractual benefits, including guaranteed housing and improved health insurance, and to create an equitable and safe work environment.

There has been a recent wave of graduate student unionization movements across the United States, with Yale unionizing just last month. Also last month, 10,000 University of Chicago, Northwest-

ern University, and Johns Hopkins University graduate student workers voted to unionize. The largest higher-education strike in history occurred this past December, with 48,000 University of California employees, including 36,000 graduate students, walking out for six weeks to demand higher base pay, childcare subsidies, and safer working conditions.

When graduate workers follow a link on the PGSU website to obtain a union card, the website reads, “I hereby request and accept membership in the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), and authorize it to represent me, and in my behalf to negotiate and conclude all agreements as to hours of labor, wages, and all other conditions of employment.”

“We are looking forward to talking to more grads in the coming weeks and encourage everyone to talk to their colleagues, sign their union cards, and help us win grad worker power for all of us here at Princeton,” Alberdingk Thijm wrote.

University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss declined a request for comment.

Olivia Sanchez is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Lia Opperman is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’

COS Dept. Chair: “We do not understand where the rumors originate”

Continued from page 1

rumors that the University had plans to eliminate or modify the COS B.S.E. program persisted despite the program’s recent growth.

“Just as Princeton has announced significant investment in its engineering school, it would be very surprising for them to eliminate a key engineering concentration such as computer science. Part of the competitiveness of Princeton’s computer science department is the ability for concentrators to approach the subject from either an engineering or a liberal arts framework,” said Christopher Lidard, a Technology Columnist for the ‘Prince’.

“Though I’ve heard this rumor expressed confidently in both computer science and non computer science circles, I am glad this amounts to little more than a widespread rumor,” Lidard continued.

The rumor, though false, seems to have had significant reach.

“One rumor I heard was that they might discontinue the COS

B.S.E. major and blend it into the ECE major, and then continue the COS [Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) track,” Muhammad Zaeem ’26 said. “My roommate was talking about it last semester, but I’m not entirely sure.”

“I heard this rumor from a bunch of people,” said Arnav Kumar ’24, a COS B.S.E. major. “It’s really surprising that it’s not true.”

Zaeem’s reference of the electrical and computer engineering major cites a potential contributing factor to the false policy. In 2020, the Department of Electrical Engineering (ELE) was renamed as the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), a move that the University at the time justified as a name that “better captures the department’s range of strengths and impacts.”

Administrators echoed Kehoe’s clarification on the falsity of this rumor. “The rumor is false. I have no idea where it originated,” Peter Bogucki, the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’ Computer science is the only

major at Princeton where students can elect to receive either an A.B. degree or a B.S.E. degree. The primary differences come down to department prerequisites and major requirements.

Compared to B.S.E. students, COS A.B. students are not required to take physics and chemistry, but still must take classes in math and in the sciences. B.S.E. students need to complete 36 classes over four years, while A.B. students need to complete 31. However, independent work counts towards the class count for B.S.E. students, while it does not for A.B. Both must complete eight computer science departmental courses.

Unlike all other departments at Princeton, which require a senior thesis, for COS B.S.E. students, “independent work can be taken as a one-semester course or as a two-semester thesis option if preferred,” according to the department website. On the other hand, students who decide to major in COS A.B. will have to complete a senior thesis, whose “independent work consists of four semesters of work in their junior and senior year.”

Despite the difference from other concentrations, the University insists there are no planned changes in offering the program.

“We are puzzled why we periodically hear such rumors and explain that they are not true — only to have them re-emerge on a frustratingly regular basis,” computer science department chair Szymon Rusinkiewicz wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’

Rumors of change in the computer science department have circulated not solely as an elimination of the B.S.E. major, but also an adjustment to the curriculum.

“I’ve not heard much about

whether they are not going to be offered or not,” Abdur-Raheem Idowu ’25 said. “I’ve only heard maybe that B.S.E. COS is going to be more similar to A.B. COS.”

“We do not understand where the rumors originate and would welcome everyone’s help to get the word out that they have no basis in reality,” Rusinkiewicz wrote.

Lia Opperman is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Rebecca Cunningham is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’

AARUSHI ADLAKHA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Students gathered for the USG meeting on February

Contributor

LOUISA GHEORGHITA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Rally for graduate students outside Robertson Hall

Grad Dean: “Your voice is crucially important as you consider this unionization question”

Continued from page 1

graduate students on Feb. 28 referencing the unionization process, including a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document about what unionization means, and the University’s progress in helping graduate students, including the raise.

“Your voice is crucially important as you consider this unionization question,” Priestley wrote in the memo. “We, therefore, believe it is essential for you to be fully informed before deciding whether or not unionization is right for you and your fellow graduate students at Princeton.”

“By design, union representation would have a real effect on the nature of your relationship with the University. We have concerns about how such representation would affect your education and experience at Princeton,” the memo continued.

Priestley also explained that there are other outlets for graduate students’ voices to be heard outside of unionization, including through the GSG, the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), the Priorities Committee, the University Student Life Committee, the Graduate Housing Advisory Board, the Student Health Plan Advisory Council, and the Graduate Student Departmental

Grad students’ struggle to secure affordable housing bolsters unionization effort

By Laura Robertson Senior News Writer

“Approximately 70 percent of regularly enrolled graduate students live in University housing,” a University website states. Yet some students still struggle to afford housing in the area.

are priced annually at $8,007 and $10,320, respectively. All students living in either graduate college are required to purchase a meal plan, which has an annual cost of either $3,090 for 105 meals per semester, or $7,980 for an unlimited plan.

ly pulled last year leaving many graduate students who found themselves in precarious economic straits in the lurch,” wrote Rao. “While the raise has been welcome, it has not been enough.”

Committees. He claimed that in taking advantage of these existing mechanisms and opportunities for input, graduate students can “continue to help shape policies and programs at Princeton.”

According to Priestley, Princeton currently has six labor unions on campus, representing over 1,000 staff members who work in areas such as facilities, dining, public safety and security, and “certain aspects” of the library.

Union staff members include, for instance, housing and dining personnel and members of the Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Priestley drew a distinction between graduate students and other unionized workforces on campus such as facilities, dining, and public safety workers. “These positions differ in numerous ways from those of graduate students, for example, in the risk associated with their work, their representation in University governance, and in the overall nature of the engagement towards a lifelong relationship,” Priestley wrote.

Lia Opperman is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’

RIPPLE EFFECT

By Bryan Boyd Assistant Puzzles Editor

Heavy lines indicate areas called rooms. Fill the cells of each room with the digits 1 to n, where n is the number of cells in the room. If two identical numbers appear in the same row or column, at least that number of cells must separate them.

The University offers limited housing that graduate students are able to apply for. While offcampus housing is characterized by high rents and a competitive market, some students report challenges securing Universityprovided housing as well.

“The effort (monetarily and emotionally) expended by most graduates to make sure they can be on campus when they need to be is a chronic stressor and impacts our day to day as workers for this university,” Aditi Rao GS wrote to The Daily Princetonian, in a statement on behalf of Princeton Graduate Student United (PGSU).

Housing has been a key ask in the unionization effort. PGSU’s website includes proposals for “better” and “fairer” housing — a demand expressed by graduates at a rally in support of unionization earlier this month. A majority of Princeton graduate students have now signed union cards.

University media relations assistant Ahmad Rizvi characterized the University’s package as generous: “[The University] provides one of the most generous financial packages for graduate students in the country.”

“Stipends have consistently been set above the total cost of living so that students can afford all expenses, including housing, in the area,” Rizvi added.

In January 2022, the University increased graduate student stipends by an average of 25 percent, so that they now range between $38,000 and $42,000 per year.

The University guarantees oncampus housing to all first-year graduate students, and rooms in University-affiliated facilities are subsidized, though the University does not yet have enough rooms for all graduate students. The University plans to complete the Meadows Housing Complex in 2024 across Lake Carnegie, which will provide 379 additional units for use by both graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, and will allow the University to offer subsidized housing to all graduate students.

Graduate students can live in the Graduate College, in University-owned apartments on Dickinson Street and south of campus, or in off-campus housing.

Rooms in the Old Graduate College cost a minimum of $5,917 per year for a walk-through double. Singles, triples, and quads start at $8,007 and are priced up to $10,320, depending on the type of room. In the New Graduate College, one-room and two-room singles

At University-sponsored Lakeside Apartments, costs vary more significantly: studio apartments cost $999 per month, one-bedrooms cost a minimum of $1,458 per month, and the most expensive multi-room apartments cost $3,756 per month. Thirty percent of the Lakeside apartments are unfurnished, requiring students to buy their own furniture.

For grad students living offcampus, prices in Princeton are high compared to the national average. Zillow, a housing market website, gives an estimate of $3,200 for the median monthly cost to rent an apartment in Princeton.

“My partner and I started to look at housing complexes around Princeton and quickly learned that they required a monthly earning of three times the rent to apply,” said Anthony Taboni, a graduate student in the politics department.

“At this point, the lowest rate we could find for a one-bedroom in town was $1,700, and our combined salaries didn’t qualify us for any of these complexes,“ he added.

Taboni claimed that he and his partner searched for four months, offering six months of rent upfront, and adding his mother as a co-signer, to no avail. He claims that he reached out to the housing office, but their suggestions were not feasible. In the end, Taboni wound up renting a one-bedroom apartment in nearby Plainsboro, N.J., for $2,000 per month.

“Cost of living in the Princeton area is one element that is considered when setting graduate student stipend rates,” Rizvi wrote. “Housing costs, using information for both on- and off-campus rental units, are part of this analysis.”

Rizvi said that last year’s increase in the stipends should have offset any difficulties.

“While we believe stipends have fully covered the cost of living in the past, the approximately 25 percent stipend increase graduate students received last year has increased this differential,” he said.

However, Rao told the ‘Prince’ that the salary increase was insufficient.

“The raise received last year barely offset, if at all, the tremendous increase in cost of living, which was seen across the States and globally in the past two years,” she wrote, on behalf of PGSU.

“Hardships during COVID were tremendous, and though the University offered some limited contingency funding, this was stark-

For students not guaranteed housing, situations can be complex. Felix Kleeman and Daniel Jorge are international students in the Visiting Student Research Collaborators (VSRC) program. This non-degree program is for students enrolled in other institutions who come to Princeton to do short-term research projects with specific researchers. Because these students are not “regularly enrolled,” they are not guaranteed housing.

They told the ‘Prince’ that they both moved several times during the fall. They couldn’t afford to live in Princeton, so they lived in a nearby town, biking forty minutes to campus everyday. Finally the University offered them housing, but they believed they couldn’t afford it, due to the University’s requirement that VSRCs assigned to the New and Old Graduate College purchase a meal plan.

“We kind of gave up, living officially in the housing of the University,” said Jorge. “First of all, they were not that communicative. Second of all, we were forced to be on the meal plan and the housing itself was not that cheap.”

In the winter, it became too cold to bike, and so they lived in a series of friends’ apartments, including an undergraduate dorm for a month over winter break.

“Two months I stayed near [campus] because there were people helping me,” said Jorge. “Otherwise, that winter would have been insane.”

Jorge and Kleeman returned home at the end of February, because their program came to an end.

The University provides extra benefits for students who apply for it. Under the Graduate Child Assistance program, students with children can receive an additional $6,500 per child per year.

“The award may be applied to expenses such as childcare, housing, and dependent child health care premiums. Students who are facing a financial, or other, hardship may apply for hardship housing as well,” said Rizvi. “This combination of benefits is one of the most competitive in the nation.”

Rao emphasized the importance of keeping graduate students in conversation, should the University consider action to increase support.

“Graduate students must be at the bargaining table to ensure that raises are attended by other fair housing needs, such as guarantees of housing for the duration of one’s time at Princeton,” she said.

Laura Robertson is a senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’

U. researcher takes the helm of NASA’s Voyager mission

By Kira Newbert & Abby Leibowitz News Contributor & Staff News Writer

“It’s a really exciting time here at Princeton to have this effort and focus on space physics,” said Dr. Jamie Rankin, a researcher at Princeton. Rankin was appointed deputy director of science for the Voyager project — NASA’s longest-operating mission and the only spacecraft ever to explore interstellar space — in December 2022.

Rankin’s path to take the position was not linear. After studying physics and music as an undergraduate, she didn’t know what she wanted to do following graduation, so she took a gap year and joined a particle and observational physics research group.

Ironically, the most challenging aspect of getting a degree in both physics and music wasn’t the act itself but “convincing professors [she] could do it,” she said. Her physics professors had a difficult time understanding how a musician could grasp physics, while her music professors wondered what a physicist was doing studying music, Rankin recalled.

However, to Rankin, there are endless parallels between the two subjects. “Going into interstellar space requires so many things to go right,” she said, comparing the phenomenon to “a whole symphony orchestra coming together and playing flawlessly, and with so much diligence and hard work on the part of so many people.”

She concluded, “both end up beautiful.”

Producing research and original work proved challenging for Rankin in both physics and music. A degree in music composition incited a number of questions for her — is it original work? Is it relevant? Is it interesting? She explained that the same problems arise with science research. “Instead of reading the textbook and solving the equations, the challenge is defining the textbook and defining the equations.”

After falling in love with the subject of observational physics during her gap year, Rankin decided to pursue graduate school. Growing up with few space-related learning opportunities in her home state of Utah, she was introduced to a whole new world of space physics when she was accepted to the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and found a group of researchers studying cosmic rays. The group was led by Edward Stone, the scientist who led the Voyager project for 50 years. On the same day Rankin arrived at CalTech, Voyager 1 made history in 2012 as the first human-made object to reach interstellar space.

While at CalTech, Rankin worked on both Voyager technology and on the Parker Solar Probe, a modern version of the detectors on the Voyager used to measure cosmic rays. The principal investigator (PI) for the Parker Solar Probe, David McComas, is also Rankin’s PI at Princeton and recruited her to work on Princeton’s projects on mapping solar and wind patterns in the heliosphere.

Princeton’s space physics lab didn’t exist until July 2020, when it was started with Rankin as a major part. Rankin explained that it’s “really cool because a lot of other places in the world don’t uphold and upkeep this kind of lab. Anyone who’s interested is welcome.”

Rankin also teaches a lab class at Princeton every year, AST 250: Space Physics Laboratory I and 251: Space Physics Laboratory II, in which students work on collaborative class projects and contribute to

instruments that will be used in space instrumentation. Rankin said that she values interdisciplinary work, particularly because she is both a scientist and musician, and emphasized that students in the class lab can be majors in any department.

Rankin told the ‘Prince’ that the instruments she researched as a graduate student are now in space, so to give people this opportunity is “so exciting,” she said.

Currently, the Princeton Space Physics Lab is building a way to simulate how the sun puts out wind and plasma patterns in order to test space instruments. They are also building space instruments as part of a project called IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe). IMAP is the next generation of NASA’s IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) project, which Rankin worked on while at CalTech.

Rankin brings the same interdisciplinary approach that she takes in the Princeton lab to her role on the Voyager mission. As deputy director of science, she helps scientists tell the full story of what the project means for humanity. Most of the material that the Voyager probes measure doesn’t even reach earth, but “it is a gold mine of data,” according to Rankin.

Rankin believes an interdisciplinary approach using IBEX and Voyager data is the future of interstellar research. Using data from these can provide a 3D model of our heliosphere, she says, which has a shape that is currently being debated. Furthermore, the heliosphere blocks out so much radiation that scientists wonder if life would even exist without the shield. Not only will an interdisciplinary approach help answer these questions, but according to Rankin, it will allow scientists to “exit all the layers that solar material is studied through and see what the sun looks like from outside — like if another civilization were to look at our solar system what would they see — which can help us understand other systems.”

Rankin says that studying solar heliophysics has everything to do with the sun, but “more importantly, [it] has to do with living next to this star.” Essential questions guide her research. Will the sun explode one day? How do the sun’s weather patterns affect Earth and cause blackouts like in the 1980s? How much is the heliosphere protecting us? How much will changes impact life on earth?

Beyond the implications for life on earth, Rankin explained that it is “surprising how practical [her research] is.” She also said that the community-building itself is satisfying to see, even without the returns of the science.

No spacecraft has ever lasted as long as the Voyager probe has. Because the project was launched in a time before modern computing and very few people are familiar with its ancient coding language, there is immense imperative for exploratory decision-making and leadership in order to respond to unique technical challenges. The sheer longevity of the Voyager requires a multigenerational approach, something inspiring as she finds value in “bringing many generations to work together.”

Rankin believes that the newer IMAP project and others should also be a “collaboration among generations.”

Kira Newbert is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Abby Leibowitz is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’

COVID-19 era forum has declined in use

CONFESSIONS

Continued from page 1

ferred to the class as “202” by itself, although a few posts containing “202” were used to refer to other courses).

Yet usage of the COVID-era tool has declined substantially.

Submissions hit an all-time high during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring of 2020, with an average of about 113 posts a day. Since then, posting has noticeably declined, decreasing to an average of about 6 posts a day in Fall 2022 — a period when other anonymous confession apps, such as Fizz, have increased in popularity.

Facebook usage among Princeton students has also declined overall — the Official Princeton Class of 2023 page has 2100 members, while the Class of 2026 page has 1200 members. According to the Daily Princetonian’s inaugural Frosh Survey, 43 percent of the incoming Class of 2024 used Facebook on a regular basis, compared to only 17.3 percent of the incoming Class of 2026. At the same time, TigerConfessions has fallen into disuse.

Using a post submission dataset provided by the moderator, we looked at how the Facebook group has reflected campus conversations over the past three years. The dataset contains the text of confessions that were submitted and approved from October 2019 to mid-January 2023.

SOCIAL

TigerConfessions served as a forum for students to discuss their social lives — including eating clubs, Lawnparties,relationships and more.

Eating Clubs

Of the eleven eating clubs, posters named Ivy the most on TigerConfessions with 226 mentions (though this may include posts referencing the Ivy League), followed closely by Cap and Gown, with 215 mentions. In contrast, students had less to say about Cannon Dial Elm Club and Cloister Inn, with just 51 and 67 mentions, respectively. Charter Club, however, was the eating club most commonly mentioned in posts containing the term “eating club”.

Posts about Charter Club spiked in January 2020. The majority of Charter-related posts in January 2020 related to the club’s decision to become bicker as opposed to signin and to change their Friday event Charter Fridays from an event that all students could access to one which required attendees be on a list compiled by members. Charter eventually decided to implement a selective signin process. Participating members of Tiger Confessions had strong feelings about the change, ranging from “i am so angry about the new chosen proposal for charter” to “i have to stan.”

Mentions of “bicker” typically remain low but peak towards late January, around when bicker takes place. In 2022, the fraction of posts mentioning bicker also peaked in November-December, when many eating clubs started to hold pre-bicker events.

Posts containing “rush” increase generally towards the end of summer just before sorority and fraternity rush, which typically takes place towards the beginning of the fall semester. Fraternities and sororities are not officially recognized by the University. The most significant peak in posts about rush was a discussion about race and inclusion in fraternities and sororities in the summer of 2020, as part of a broader discussion about race following the murder of George Floyd as it related to racism during the sorority rush process in summer 2020. Of all 48 posts mentioning “rush,” “rushing” or “rushed” in August 2020, about 14.6 percent mentioned “racism,” “racist,” or “racially”; 25 percent mentioned “diverse” or “diversity”; 25 percent mentioned “WOC” (an acronym for “women of color”); and about 16.7 percent mentioned “white.”

“is it weird that as a woc for one srat all of my individual rush chats have been with a person of my race it was nice at first but it felt like less of a coincidence and i felt hypervisible and tokenized”

“was in a sorority last year and had to sit by and listen to a few of my white sisters talk about how they would not ever date poc this is also a group of girls that has fetishized black men especially athletes i got up to leave after a few minutes of that only one of the girls later texted me and asked if i was fine because i left so abruptly after i told her she was confused because i’m white why would i be hurt”

“Theta,” in reference to one of the sororities on campus Kappa Alpha Theta, was mentioned in 19 posts, or about 39.6 percent of all posts with the word “rush” in August 2020.

“Pi Phi,” in reference to another sorority on campus, Pi Beta Phi, was mentioned in 10 posts, or about 20.8 percent of all posts with “rush” in August 2020.

By August 2021, the discussion seemed to be over. No posts in August 2021 that mentioned the word “rush” also included the words “diverse,” diversity,” “WOC,” “racism,” “racist,” or “racially.”

Drugs and Alcohol

Some students used TigerConfessions to discuss their alcohol use. Overall, .35 percent of posts analyzed contained the word “drunk.” The number of posts containing the word “drunk” was at an all-time peak

in January and February 2020, just prior to the start of the pandemic. The fraction of posts containing the word “drunk” was also higher just before the pandemic than it was for the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021. 39 posts during this peak contained the word “drunk.” Of those, 10 posts were about the poster’s love life.

Sex The fraction of posts containing the word “sex” peaked in March of 2021.

Of the 48 posts containing the word “sex” in March 2021, about 10.4 percent mentioned “Whitman.” No other residential colleges were mentioned in posts containing the word “sex” besides Butler (one post, 2 percent of posts containing the word “sex” in March 2021). Overall, 28.9 percent of the 45 posts containing the word “orgy” also contained “Whitman”.

“i walked in on the whitman orgy and it was just a bunch of people licking knees and feeling smooth toes”

About 14.6 percent of March 2021 posts that mentioned “sex” also mentioned masturbation. At the time, the University’s social contract required masks, discouraged students from coming within six feet of others and put strict capacity constraints on indoor spaces. Peer Health Advisors encouraged opting for masturbation instead of sex or having sex masked.

Mental Health

TigerConfessions has served as a space for Princeton students to discuss stress and mental health. The moderator does not post submissions containing suicidal content. With that in mind, we tracked the usage of several words commonly used in mental health discussions.

Peaks in the number of posts containing “stressed” tend to occur in a regular pattern: near midterms (October and March) and final exams (December and May).

The number of posts containing the word “depressed” hit an all-time high in April of 2020, during the initial COVID lockdown. Overall, the fraction of posts containing the word “depressed” remained constant.

Mentions of the word “anxious” peaked during 2020 Fall Term final exams. 8.5 percent of the 165 posts containing the word “anxious” also contain the word “depressed”, 7.3 percent contain the word “school”, 17.6 percent contain the word “friends”, and 14.3 percent contain some variation of the word “work” including “schoolwork”, “working” or “worked.”

The raw number of posts containing the word “scared” was highest during Spring of 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic and initial lockdown. Posting was generally higher during this time though—the frequency the word “scared” has remained at around 1.2 percent.

Every September, the fraction of posts containing the word “lonely” peaks when students return back to campus after the summer. A similar spike occurred in January 2021, when some Princeton students optionally returned to campus for a virtual semester.

Mentions of Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS), Princeton’s primary mental health provider peaked in January 2022. Of the 12 posts mentioning CPS that month, seven referenced negative experiences or reluctance to use CPS.

CORONAVIRUS

The number of submissions posted on TigerConfessions peaked during the initial COVID lockdown period. Students expressed their frustrations about the massive change with one another.

The greatest number of submissions in a single day ever was on May 9, 2020, with 213 submissions, at the height of the MAT 202 scandal. MAT 202 fit perfectly into the mold of TigerConfessions — an issue that impacted lots of students, demanded anonymity and created a shared resentment against the University.

In fact, the four days with the highest number of submissions were all in May 2020.

With 176 posts, March 10, 2020 — the day before the University announced that all classes would continue online until the end of the semester — was the only day outside of May 2020 to break into the top five days for submissions.

Some posts reflected on the large gatherings on campus as students were sent home:

“I know the whole coronavirus shit has everyone shook and all, but it ain’t the fuckin purge. It is MIDTERM SZN Let me get a good night’s sleep pls. I’m not tellin y’all to stop ur wildin, just contain it pls”

Others contained simple pleas:

“Please, I don’t want my graduation to be online.”

As students slowly returned to campus, they heavily discussed the social contract. Between Sept. 1, 2020 and Feb. 26, 2021, 55 students faced disciplinary action for violating guidelines limiting gatherings and mandating masks.

Posters on TigerConfessions debated social contract guidelines, one writing:

“it gives me so much anxiety seeing my friends just blatantly disregard the social contract and it makes me so frustrated knowing that theyre having a better time here than me because theyre able to not care i guess.”

Others felt differently, one student writ-

ing: “odds of the university continuing its draconian social contract even with everyone being vaccinated next year i mean there’s really no reason we should be anything but 100 normal with everyone vaccinated”

Mentions of the words “coronavirus” peaked in March of 2020 then rapidly declined. Submitters instead used “covid,” which rose in post frequency before hitting a peak in January 2021, when some undergraduates returned to campus while still attending classes on Zoom. Since then, mentions of the word “covid” have peaked again in August of 2021 (when all undergraduates returned to campus for in person learning), and January 2022, during the beginning of the Omicron variant wave.

Zoom The video conferencing tool Zoom moved from niche use pre-pandemic to a mainstay of virtual options. Posts with the word “Zoom” rose sharply in March 2020, and again in September 2020: the start of the University’s first fully virtual semester.

Vaccines

Mentions of the word “vaccine” hit an alltime high during April of 2021, when the COVID-19 vaccine became available to most college-aged students. The second-highest peak was in August 2021, when Princeton reimplemented an universal indoor mask mandate, and students returned to campus fully in-person for the first time since the pandemic started. The fraction of posts containing the word “mask” peaked that same month.

Posts about vaccines were typically positive, sharing advice on how to get a shot or talking about their experiences with it, with the occasional joke:

“next year puid parties on the street will be replaced by vaccine card parties”

ACADEMICS

TigerConfessions enables students to vent their academic frustrations and otherwise discuss their classes. We examine the use of several keywords associated with academics below.

Posts containing the word “thesis” tend to peak in April, when senior theses are due. Some of the most common words in such posts are “senior,” “writing,” “work,” “research,” “year,” and “advisor.”

Mentions of the word “JP” hit an all-time peak in January of 2021. Some of the most common words used in posts containing the word “JP” include “research,” “due,” “work,” “write,” “thesis,” and “Eisgruber.”

Mentions of the word “final” peaked during every finals period.

CAMPUS LIFE

Many of the most engaging moments on campus were reflected in TigerConfessions. Students engaged on topics of divestment, optional or universal Pass/D/Fail (P/D/F) during the initial COVID lockdown, and contentious USG referenda.

USG

The fraction of posts containing the word “USG” peaked in April 2020 and October 2022. The peak in April 2020 likely correlates with the debate around having universal or optional P/D/F options at the start of COVID. Students had strong opinions over whether or not the University should implement a mandatory P/D/F policy, with some students calling those who wanted universal P/D/F “lazy fuckers” and “undedicated scrubs,” whereas others took a different perspective, with one student writing: “I cannot believe that USG did nothing to advocate for universal PDF.” What the USG did and did not do on universal P/D/F became a key issue for discussion in the December 2020 USG presidential election, which former Academics Chair Christian Potter eventually won.

Of 50 posts in April 2020 that mentioned “USG,” 34 percent of posts mentioned “PDF”; 14 percent mentioned “fuck”; 30 percent mentioned “represent”; and 26 percent mentioned “poll”. The context of the posts that mentioned “poll” and “USG” were related to the lack of a USG poll on having an optional or universal P/D/F. The words “PDF” and “optional” were among the most common words used in a post containing the word “USG” for all time.

Lawnparties

Posts mentioning lawnparties are particularly common, with peaks in both May and September, leading up to spring and fall lawnparties respectively, and in the run-up to the announcement of the headliner.

The amount that USG spent on a virtual Lawnparties event in Fall 2020 drove a lot of the discussion, with the most common words associated with “lawnparties” being “USG,” “article,” “year,” “campus,” and “money.” The type of backlash that the virtual Lawnparties generated was the type of event that TigerConfessions best elevated.

Referenda

The fraction of posts containing the word “referendum” hit an all-time peak in April of 2022, during discussion of a controversial referendum calling for the University to boycott the usage of Caterpillar machinery in campus construction projects given that the company also supplies machinery to the

Israeli government. Referendums on divestment, election day as a holiday, and mental health generated nowhere near the amount of discussion as the Caterpillar referendum, which was extended due to a protracted battle over the victor in that referendum.

The fraction of posts containing “Israel” also hit a peak that month — though the country peaked multiple times in the group due to frequent campus debates.

Divestments

The fraction of posts containing the word “divest” has increased over time. Mentions peaked in February 2022, when Divest Princeton filed a legal complaint with the New Jersey Attorney General to press for complete divestment.

Construction

The fraction of posts containing the word “construction” peaked in March, July, and October of 2022. Since the 2021–2022 academic year, Princeton has undertaken significant construction projects, including the building of Hobson College, a new art museum, a new School of Engineering and Applied Science, and a new geo-exchange system to help reach Princeton’s goal of being a net-zero carbon emissions campus by 2046.

Sentiment surrounding construction has been overall negative, with confessions such as:

“the construction is pissing me off it wakes me up so early every day also i miss the art museum” and “can all students who have to live near construction get reparations of some sort like this is actually unbearable.”

The most common words used in posts containing “construction” include “campus”, “companies”, “noise”, “divestment”, “fossil”, and “room”.

Students have a variety of avenues to express their views of key campus issues: from USG referendums to ‘Prince’ op-eds. TigerConfessions has served as a unique forum for Princeton students to express their opinions on campus issues because it allows students to do so anonymously.

More posts are submitted in the middle of the night Submissions to TigerConfessions peak at midnight, with over 3000 of the group’s 50,210 posts submitted between 12–1 a.m.

METHODOLOGY

Dataset

The dataset used in this analysis was sourced directly from the anonymous moderator of the group on January 14, 2023 and, according to them, contains the full text of all posted submissions from October 22, 2019 to January 12, 2023. During this period, there have been several moderator and group name changes to the Facebook group, and the ‘Prince’ did not independently verify that all of the posts on the Facebook group are included in the dataset.

Data Cleaning & Tokenization

We removed all punctuation and capitalization from submissions, meaning that words like “princeton,” “Princeton,” and “pRinceton” are all recognized as the same term. Unless otherwise noted, to track the frequency of particular terms, we used a whitespace tokenizer (“I love data” would be tokenized to “I”, “love”, “data”).

USED METRICS

FREQUENTLY

Post Mentions

All of our word frequency charts plot both the number of posts that contain a particular word over time and the fraction of posts that contain that word in a given month over time.

Word Co-Occurrence

One statistic we looked at was word cooccurrence — the number of posts containing one word that also contain another word. So, for example, if 100 posts contained the word “Princeton”, and 10 of those posts contained the word “University” (i.e. contain both “Princeton” and “University”), the word co-occurrence would be 10/100, or 10 percent.

Word Association and Word Clouds

When finding the most common words used in a post containing a given word and creating word clouds, we removed stopwords (i.e. commonly used words such as “the” and “and”). We used the Python word cloud generator to generate the word clouds — it also counts common bigrams, so words that appear near each other in the word cloud also appear close together in posts. For instance, in the word cloud for “divest”, “divest” appears more than once by itself and with “divest princeton.” The “most common words” highlighted in the article include, unless stated otherwise, the 30 most common words.

Suthi Navaratnam-Tomayko is an assistant Data editor

Grace Kim is a Data contributor

Anika Maskara is head Web Design editor emeritus

This Week in Photos

Singing, snowing, and sparring

By Guanyi Cao, Angel Kuo, Jean Shin, Louisa Gheorghita & Aarushi Adlakha Photo Staff

First snow and another arch sing, life the week before midterms is becoming more hectic, and our photographers caught the moments in this weeks’ photos.

J uggling

By Bryan Boyd Assistant Puzzles Editor

1

1 West Point inits.

3 Red lightsaber wielder

4 *Pop group with the 1994 #1 hit "The Sign"

5 Letter between phi and psi

6 Home of The Hague: Abbr.

Dylan Epstein-Gross Staff Constructor

Dylan Epstein-Gross Staff Constructor

Hum r

Catholic senior gives up thesis for Lent

By José Pablo Fernández García Humor Writer

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional.

As Christians on campus prepare to observe Lent — a period of fasting and prayer ahead of Easter — one tired senior has a very special plan for the 40 days. While many Christians observe Lent by forgoing pleasures such as coffee, sugar, or alcohol, Theo Ther ’23 will forgo the pleasure of writ- ing even a single word of his thesis.

“After Dean Dolan sent out that memo about respecting religious observances, I knew exactly what I had to do: follow my faith and fast for Lent. And by fast, I mean not work on my thesis, of course. It’s really distracting me from God,” Ther said.

When pressed further about his motivations for giving up his senior thesis, Ther added, “I was in the depths of Firestone, buried in my books, when I heard a rumbling from above and felt God speak to me. And he told me that it was his will that I reject the pleasures of thesising for a more discerning life.”

Ther confirmed he heard this rumbling and voice in the afternoon of Feb. 22, between 3 and 4 p.m., but he rejected the possibility that the noise was from the Tornado thunderstormsWarning-producing that struck the Princeton area at that time.

The Daily PrintsAnything later reached out to Dean of the College Jill Dolan to con -

firm whether Ther would be allowed a religious exemption to the senior thesis requirement.

“While we constantly strive to respect the religious traditions of all community members, I checked on Theo Ther’s thesis deadline, and it does fall well after Lent is over. So, we do expect him to submit a thesis, even if he avoids working on it until the final weeks,” Dolan said.

“Most students don’t even open a book until April. And historically, they’ve all been fine,” said Dolan, adding, “Sometimes, we even

Early Riser

By Elizabeth Medina Senior cartoonist

give them prizes just for our amusement! The faculty loves how students pretend they’ve spent months duti- fully reading and writing.”

When presented with Dean Dolan’s clarification, Ther was quite despondent.

“I really thought that this was the perfect way for me to avoid my thesis — di- vinely inspired even! I just have grown so sick of my topic, but I guess I’ll stick to no meat on Fridays. That’s pretty easy since I limit my- self to beer only on Fridays anyways,” Ther said.

Asked about his topic, Ther explained, “It’s on the

Catholic Church’s response to heretic practices and interpretations since Vatican II.”

José Pablo Fernández García is a senior from Ohio. He prom- ises he doesn’t have a thesis chapter due in less than a week that he’s trying to get out of writing.

George Santos is my congressman. I’m fighting to get him out.

The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.

On Dec. 19, more than a month after George Santos was elected to represent New York’s Third Congressional district, the New York Times revealed that Rep.-Elect Santos had fabricated large swathes of his résumé, including where he went to school, where he worked, and even where he lived.

I was outraged.

I was already in disbelief when Santos won. I had worked on a congressional campaign in the same district in the lead-up to the Aug. 23 primary, and everyone there knew he was extremely suspicious as early as April. I couldn’t wrap my head around just how thoroughly he had crafted his persona to trick the more than 145,000 Democrats and Republicans that voted for him.

I wasn’t sure how yet, but I knew that I had to act, even as I balanced the workload and life of a Princeton student. I share my experiences now to show my fellow Princetonians that although activism can be hard, the difficulty should never dissuade you from fighting for a cause you care about. I decided that I had the opportunity to contribute to real change for the 750,000 people of NY-03, and that I was ready to join the fray.

I hopped on a train back to New York the next day (also the day before my ECO 100 final — sorry, Professor Noonan!) to speak out against the Congressman-Elect at a press conference organized by Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan outside of Santos’ alleged Queens home. At the event, Lafazan quipped, “If you’ve seen ‘Inventing Anna,’ this is ‘Inventing George Santos.’” This comment was referencing the Netflix miniseries where a prolific liar fakes her way into New York City’s elite.

Essentially, that’s exactly what Santos did. He portrayed himself as a successful businessman to trick the people of NY-03 into voting for him. This is bigger than just any regular politician lying. Santos fundamentally misrepresented who he was — not just an aspect of his person, but his whole identity. Now voters feel that the man representing them in Congress isn’t the same person that they voted for.

There’s no definitive list of every George Santos lie (the best I can find are here, here, and here). By the time this is published, there might be a dozen more. On top of his bald-faced lies, his campaign and personal finances are allegedly so fraudulent that he’s being investigated by the Nassau County District Attorney, the New York Attorney General, the Federal Election Commission, the Justice Department, the FBI, and even law enforcement authorities in Brazil. Santos has shown bigoted behavior in the past as well, suggesting that Black people are more prone to criminality, lying about being Jewish and descending from Holocaust survivors, and even joking about killing Jewish and Black people.

Like many people in the district, my first thought was, “What can I do to get this fraud out of office?” Shortly after I spoke at that first press conference, I was reached out to by Jody Kass Finkel, a political maven with lobbying experience, to join a bipartisan group of angry Long Islanders she called Concerned Citizens of NY-03 (CCNY03). The group has one goal: get Santos out of office, whether through resignation or expulsion, as quickly as possible.

When I joined, CCNY03 was mainly composed of moms and mid-career professionals. I was the only college student, which naturally meant that I was volunteered to handle social media for the group, despite never having managed an online presence before. Since taking on the responsibility, I’ve felt pressure to dedicate time daily to browse Twitter for Santos-related content to tweet and retweet, and I’ve often found it difficult to limit my activity when assignments start piling up.

The group started small, but we quickly positioned ourselves as the main interest group organized in opposition to Congressman Santos. We were fortunate enough to have a connection to Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15), an avid Santos critic, to help present his “S.A.N.T.O.S. Act” at a press conference in Great Neck, a town in Santos’ district. The bill would require all candidates in Congressional elections to disclose additional information about their educational background, military service, and employment history in order to prevent another grifter like Santos from slipping past FEC oversight. We gained national coverage, and we began to plan how

to build on this success.

We immediately organized a “lobbying” trip of sorts down to Washington D.C.

On Feb. 7, about 50 NY-03 residents piled on a bus to show George Santos what his constituents really thought about him. Likewise, we coordinated with Rep. Torres and Rep. Goldman’s offices and Courage for America to hold a press conference just outside the steps of the House of Representatives and then deliver our petition calling for expulsion to Rep. Santos and Speaker McCarthy’s offices, among others. I was able to speak at that press conference, highlighting how young people feel about Santos’ flagrant disregard for the truth. I had initially considered not going; I would be missing class and would start falling behind on my homework. Nevertheless, I knew that this was an important opportunity to advance our cause.

When we approached Santos’ office, our group’s leaders asked to meet with him to hand him our petition. We were told by a staffer that he was inside but would not come out to see us. Santos later referred to us as a “mob” when we protested outside his district office in Douglaston, N.Y. Despite repeated requests, Santos has refused to meet with us in both his D.C. and Douglaston offices. The day after our D.C. demonstration, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA42) introduced a resolution to expel Rep. Santos from Congress. I’d like to think that

we influenced that decision by showing up on Capitol Hill and demonstrating how driven Santos’ constituents are to get him out. The bottom line is: when a cause is important, you make time for it, even when other important events are going on in your life. I’m not going to sugarcoat it — there are going to be times when you feel like giving up and moving on. I understand that inside Princeton’s work culture, sometimes you feel so swamped that you have to take a step back. I still have readings to catch up on due to the D.C. trip. We do not only exist in the Princeton bubble — we are members of this country with its many states and districts, as well as countless other communities. Our voices matter. And when you’re on the front lines fighting to hold an impostor occupying your Congressional seat accountable, for the integrity of our nation’s institutions, and for common decency, you choose to stay in the fight, every time.

Aidan Davis is a first-year from Plainview, N.Y. He is a member of the steering committee for Concerned Citizens of NY-03, and an advocate for youth and veterans causes on Long Island. To follow Concerned Citizens as we fight to get Santos out, please follow our Twitter (@CCNY03) and Instagram (concernedcitizensofny03).

Outdoor Action can only improve when more students see the value of being a leader

Liana Slomka Guest Contributor

The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.

Student-led small-group orientation experiences such as Outdoor Action (OA) have long held an important role in creating our campus community. Orientation gives students new to the collegiate lifestyle the opportunity to begin by immediately stepping outside their comfort zones and building strong bonds through intensive shared experiences. Whether OA is the greatest week of students’ lives or something they remember with a fond grimace, it is a formative experience for Princeton first-years. The small size of OA groups allows students to settle into their new environment in manageable steps and create strong bonds. Moreover, the

size of the group allows OA leaders to adequately support freshmen as they grow. But their size — the very thing that made them special — has grown to levels not conducive to these pursuits. More Princeton students should sign up to be OA leaders: it’s an intensely rewarding experience.

As an OA leader last year, I saw how OA groups were forced to be larger following an expanding firstyear class and fewer leaders. OA groups became too large for backpacking permits, causing frosh to miss out on the valuable experience of learning backcountry skills while being stuck alone with their group. Having more students in each group results in a community that is less tight-knit, compounded by the issue that leaders were unable to provide the care and guidance to each individual freshman that we would have preferred. My co-leader and I felt that it was harder to have

as many meaningful conversations with all of our frosh — not to mention that we couldn’t monitor everyone’s hydration levels the way we should have been — since we were in a bigger group. OA is still a strong program, providing valuable group bonding and outdoor experiences, but with more leaders, it could return to the flourishing program it once was: a program where groups of no more than 10 first-years connected with each other, developed wilderness skills, and learned from their leaders about the Princeton community while trekking in the backcountry.

It can be hard to convince someone to sacrifice their summer break to get muddy just to hang out with frosh for a week. The training is intense, consisting of the Leader Training Trip (LTT), preceded by Leadership 101 and 102, Outdoor Technical Skills, and Managing Safety workshops, as well as Wilderness First Aid and CPR courses. Additionally, it can be hard to explain how rewarding OA is as a leader: how do you convince someone that leading a four-day camping trip with complete strangers could be one of their most rewarding experiences at Princeton?

Many OA leaders had never done any camping or had immersive outdoor experiences prior to their own frosh trips, but by the time they lead a trip, they can not only tie a bear bag and filter water, but respond level-headedly to medical emergencies, read maps, plan out hiking routes, and ensure the safety and wellbeing of their entire group.

The benefits and responsibilities of being an OA leader last far beyond those four days of the frosh trip. Leaders learn skills through training, make close friends on their LTTs, and experience the energy of being the first people on campus in the fall, devoting themselves to creating a welcoming environment for new students. As leaders, we feel the responsibility of being the frosh’s first point of contact with the campus community, and the joy of seeing them build their college lives. While knot-tying may not be a necessary skill (at least for some), OA leaders develop more relevant life skills too, such as making plans and quick decisions, facilitating friendship-building, and gauging the physical and emotional needs of a group of people.

OA leaders are not only entrusted with the physical safety of their frosh, but with their emotional well-being on the first experience of their collegiate journey. We are one of their first connections to campus; we are people they can trust to answer their personal questions and fears about the difficult transition to living and learning at college. We are there to monitor their comfort throughout their first weeks in what will become their new home and ensure that they are able to form their first friendships at Princeton. This is no trivial responsibility, and it lasts beyond the trip. We remain cognizant and even proud of our frosh, whether we remain good friends or see them from afar as they find their own paths through college.

As the ratio of first-years to leaders increases, it becomes more difficult to do this job well. We want our entire groups to fit under one tarp, so we can facilitate the bonding of late-night vulnerable conversations. We’d like for our group to be intimate enough that we can all participate in the same lunchtime discussion — and so that we can manage all the dietary needs, allergies, and outdoor comfort levels.

OA has the resources to offer enriching training and development to its leaders and the potential to provide impactful experiences to its frosh. It is a shame that people choose not to be an OA leader just because they feel they are not “outdoorsy.” OA leadership is so much more than just tortillas and peeing in nature: it is a huge responsibility, and a rewarding one. But a successful orientation trip relies on there being enough leaders for the groups to remain small and personal. The more people who become OA leaders, the better the program can run, and the more rewarding it can be, for both frosh and leaders.

Liana Slomka is a senior studying EEB. She is a co-head Humor editor for the ‘Prince’ and a co-chair of the OA Leader Trainer Committee. She can be reached at lslomka@princeton.edu.

The ‘Prince’ could not independently verify some of the claims about changes made to OA activities based on group size made in this piece.

Aidan Davis Guest Contributor

COURTESY OFCOURTESY OF MARIA MARSINA, CCNY03

Residents of New York’s Third Congressional District gather outside the Capitol to call for Rep. George Santos’ expulsion.

If Rutgers can provide intensive mental healthcare for students, so can Princeton

AG McGee Guest Contributor

The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.

Princeton students have rightly and ceaselessly decried the state of mental health on campus. The work of vocalizing pain is deeply important. But the many calls to action presented to the University to fix the problem in recent student op-eds published by the ‘Prince’ have felt to me vague or — in the case of calling on the University to grant free streaming services to students — misguided. And even praiseworthy, wellresearched calls (like that of Associate Opinion Editor Eleanor Clemans-Cope from earlier this month) have the potential to be dismissed as unreasonable by unsympathetic critics. Here’s a concrete, achievable call: copy Rutgers University’s Next Step program.

I graduated from Princeton in the spring of 2022, having been supported by Princeton’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) for four years. Though my CPS experience wasn’t perfect, I felt profoundly lucky. I knew my experience wasn’t universal (more on that later). But I needed help, and I received enough to get by. My primary therapist, psychiatrist, and academic dean worked collaboratively together to help me manage my health enough to stay in school while dealing with the suicide of my teenage twin brother, a depressive mood disorder, and

severe, recalcitrant struggles related to the two. The week of graduation, when I said goodbye to my therapist during my final session with him, I teared up from gratitude. I knew I wouldn’t have graduated on time without him, much less graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

I also teared up from worry. Although I had gotten through Princeton, it wasn’t as if my illnesses were “cured” by the kind therapist I saw loosely every 2–3 weeks and the attentive psychiatrist I saw every few months. I knew I would still need mental healthcare when I left Princeton and started my doctoral studies at Rutgers University in the fall. If Princeton, with its huge endowment, could only employ enough healthcare workers to see students once every few weeks, I feared what healthcare system I would find at a New Jersey state school. My jaw dropped, however, when Rutgers provided me with healthcare resources that Princeton led me to believe university healthcare systems were unable to provide.

Rutgers’s Next Step is a community-based, enhanced care therapy program designed to work around students’ class schedules and keep students in school while receiving a higher level of treatment than weekly or biweekly therapy. Over the past month through Next Step, I’ve attended individual therapy once a week, small-group spaces with around three to five students four times

a week, and I’ve been carefully connected to a skilled psychiatric team. I entered the program after seeking care from a primary care provider with Rutgers’ Student Health Center. They immediately connected me to a mental-health-focused social worker at the health center who was able to see me during the same appointment. The social worker and I met multiple times to slowly work through a variety of different treatment options for me. I was then connected to the Next Step program, at which point I had the best interaction with a therapist that I’ve ever had (and spoke for the first time to a therapist who had the same nonbinary identity as me). All of this was paid for through Rutgers’ Student Health Insurance with no out-of-pocket costs. The social worker’s message to me was “You deserve good healthcare. You can do more than just survive. You can get healthy, and we can get you there, together.” I hadn’t realized that was possible for me. And I would never have been able to imagine I could get this level of support while remaining in school.

Indeed, before discovering Next Step, I had been debating whether I should briefly enter a psychiatric inpatient program (i.e., hospitalize myself) or enter an intensive outpatient program (IOP). In my experience, New Jersey has a paucity of mental healthcare providers, and the only options I had found with availability were not best suited for my needs. The off-campus

therapist I saw weekly in the fall of 2022 and the expensive psychiatrist I saw for 10-minute appointments every few months — (after being on the waitlist for over eight weeks) — had not been enough to help me feel like I was surviving in the way CPS at Princeton had helped me. I knew I needed a higher level of care, but the alternatives to what I was doing felt extreme for my circumstances. Even the shortest hospital stay intimidated me (their financial costs felt especially unclear). And though I was okay with the time commitment required by IOP programs, every nearby option I looked at dramatically interfered with my already set and unchangeable class schedule for the semester. Either option would have disrupted my ability to continue my academic studies for the semester, and especially given my primary source of income is my graduate student stipend, neither felt easily accessible. The fact that the Next Step program is run by Rutgers made it such that my student schedule was accommodated, the problem of financial access was solved, and I was given a path to connect with other university-related resources (like the Office of Disability Services) to ensure I could continue my studies if any special need arose.

So, in short: the University can do a lot more than just provide free streaming services to support students with mental illnesses. And the University can do even more than just increase the number

of CPS counselors and diversify the body of CPS counselors so that more students could be helped to survive their years in undergrad the way I was helped. If the University wants to make the Ivy League accessible to those with mental illnesses and put an end to the mental health problems plaguing students — problems which feel intimately and horribly linked with the several student suicides of the past few years — then it should provide an accessible, extensive, University-run enhanced care option for students with mental illnesses. This isn’t an unfeasible or unreasonable call to action. If Rutgers can do it (and can see the reason for doing it), Princeton can too. This is how we do more than survive. This is how we get well. And Princeton students: keep imagining a campus where quality mental healthcare is accessible to all. Dream big. And dream with concrete, serious, feasible plans aimed at improving student health. I can’t pretend that I have omniscient knowledge that providing an intensive treatment program would put an end to student suicides on campus. But I know this plan would help at least some students do more than just get by. And that’s the healthcare they deserve.

AG McGee ’22 graduated from the philosophy department and hails from Grand Rivers, Kentucky. They were a managing editor for the 145th Board of the ‘Prince.’ AG can be reached at agmcgee7@gmail.com.

‘No, Princeton is not loan free’ – not for international students

Gil Joseph & Mutemwa Masheke Guest Contributors

Editor’s Note: This article was co-written by both authors, but in the voice of Gil Joseph ’25.

The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.

Last year, I stumbled upon a daunting, nearly $2,000 bill in my student account. I wasn’t sure how to explain it, but I wasn’t worried. Although there was no way that my parents nor I could afford the bill, I assumed I wouldn’t be expected to pay for it. When I applied to Princeton, I made it clear that my parents could not contribute much to my education here in the United States — Princeton’s sticker price is 20 times my family’s annual income. When I opened my financial aid offer in April 2021, I screamed with joy at the big zero under the expected family contribution section. I immediately decided to spend the next four years here, and I assumed that Princeton would take care of the bill — because that’s what they promised. The University promised that money would not be an obstacle and that I would graduate loan-free. I was wrong to believe them.

The $2,000 tax bill stuck around in my student account. I started getting messages from friends from International Orientation asking if I had noticed a bill, too, and if I had thought about how I would pay it off. They were obviously concerned, but I wasn’t. I confidently believed that the school would cover the bill and tried to reassure them. A few weeks passed and the tax bill was not going away. I slowly began to worry as well. I reached out to upperclassmen,

including Mutemwa Masheke ’23, to see how they had dealt with the tax bill in the past. They said they couldn’t get it covered by the University. University administrators I spoke to all said the same thing: “If you can’t pay it yourself, you can take out a loan from the University.” I felt defeated, and frankly, betrayed. I still remember what Mutemwa said at that moment: “No, Gil, Princeton is not loan free.”

The bill turned out to be the 14 percent tax rate that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) applies to the portion of some international students’ scholarships that exceed the cost of tuition. As the tax bill for this spring semester looms, more and more students are at risk of taking on more debt. To break the cycle, Princeton must follow Yale’s lead and eliminate the burden of the tax bill by covering it for all international students.

Expenses paid by the University beyond tuition, such as room and board, residential college dues, and travel allowances, are taxed. The tax applies to international students who are not from the countries with treaties with the United States on this subject, which is a list that skews heavily in favor of European countries. The tax is mentioned in financial aid letters to the students the tax applies to, but the University doesn’t explicitly say that the burden of paying the fee is on the student. When Mutemwa reached out to 15 African international student peers, he found that all of them had been surprised by the bill and had taken out loans from the University to pay it off.

The consequences for being unable to pay are drastic: if the student doesn’t pay at least part of the bill, a hold is placed on their student account and they aren’t able to enroll in courses for the follow-

ing semester. To avoid this, fearful and panicked students sometimes resort to using their personal allowance (intended to cover basic necessities, like books, food, and toiletries) to pay the tax bill that they had no idea was their burden to bear. Other students delay or forgo going home over break to pay the bill. This bill may be part of why so many low-income international students of color stay on campus during the winter break. This happened to Mutemwa: he has not been home to Zambia once in four years at Princeton, and the tax bill is part of the reason. Some have also taken campus jobs for the sole purpose of softening the blow of the tax bill, but the low wages of a student job pale in comparison to the often multi-thousand dollar bill.

There’s no good option to pay the bill outright, so students are forced to take out loans. Princeton loves to brag that every student can graduate without taking on loans. But in practice, this doesn’t apply to low-income international students.

This is a major problem: loans we take on to pay the tax bill influence our decision to pursue paid summer internships in industry and corporate positions rather than professional and personal development opportunities. Ever wondered why many low-income international students pursue industry and corporate internships from their first year? The tax bill is part of that story, too. The burden of the loan also impacts our decision to not return home. Loans also make it more difficult to move home after graduation, where we may get paid less.

After expressing our frustrations to each other, Mutemwa and I decided to work on resolving this issue in collaboration with the relevant departments on campus. The first step in our investi-

gation was to research which peer institutions have done a much better job supporting low-income international students with this tax bill. We learned through emailing other schools’ financial aid offices that at least four institutions (Yale, Macalester, Kalamazoo, and Skidmore) have some sort of mechanism to support students facing these challenges. Yale has a policy that covers this tax bill for high-aid international students all four years. At Princeton, we’ve initiated conversations with various offices on campus, including the Office of Financial Aid, to institute a similar policy. Although they showed an interest in listening to us, consideration of new policies have stalled since October.

The tax bill makes Princeton inequitable and surprisingly inaccessible for many low-income international students, especially low-income students of color. The burden of this tax is significant, and unacceptable. If Princeton is truly concerned with equity, it’s time for them to follow Yale’s lead and take the burden of paying the tax off of international students. And as things stand, Princeton should stop claiming to be loan-free. Low-income international students know the truth — it’s not.

Gil Joseph is a prospective sociology major and a sophomore from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He currently serves as the vice president of the Princeton African Students Association (PASA). Gil can be reached at gj0235@princeton.edu.

Mutemwa Masheke is a senior in the Computer Science Department from Lusaka, Zambia. He currently serves as the vice president of the Society of African Internationals at Princeton (SAIP). Mutemwa can be reached at mmasheke@princeton.edu.

vol. cxlvii

editor-in-chief Rohit Narayanan '24

business manager

Shirley Ren ’24

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

president Thomas E. Weber ’89

vice president

David Baumgarten ’06

secretary

Chanakya A. Sethi ’07

treasurer Douglas Widmann ’90

assistant treasurer

Kavita Saini ’09

trustees

Francesca Barber

Craig Bloom ’88

Kathleen Crown

The U. must speak out on earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

Suzanne Dance ’96

Gabriel Debenedetti ’12

Stephen Fuzesi ’00

Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05

Michael Grabell ’03

John G. Horan ’74

Danielle Ivory ’ 05

Rick Klein ’98

James T. MacGregor ’66

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd Abigail Williams ’14

Tyler Woulfe ’07

trustees ex officio

Rohit Narayanan ’24

Shirley Ren ’24

147TH MANAGING BOARD

upper management

Kalena Blake ’24

Katherine Dailey ’ 24

Julia Nguyen 24

Angel Kuo ’ 24

Hope Perry ’ 24

Strategic initiative directors

Archivist

Gabriel Robare ’24

Education

Kareena Bhakta ’ 24

Amy Ciceu 24

Financial Stipend Program

Genrietta Churbanova 24

Mobile Reach

Rowen Gesue ’24

DEIB Chair

Christofer Robles ’25

Sections listed in alphabetical order.

head audience editor

Rowen Gesue ’24

associate audience editors

Laura Robertson ’24

Paige Walworth ’26

head copy editors

Jason Luo ’25

Nathalie Verlinde ’24

associate head copy editors

Tiffany Cao ’24

Naisha Sylvestre ’25

head data editor

Elaine Huang ’25

Charlie Roth ’25

head features editors

Paige Cromley ’24

Tori Tinsley ’24

associate features editor

Sejal Goud ’25

head graphics editors

Noreen Hosny ’25

Katelyn Ryu ’25

head humor editors

Spencer Bauman ’25

Liana Slomka ’23

associate humor editors

Sam McComb ’25

Sophia Varughese ’26

head news editors

Sandeep Mangat ’24

Isabel Yip ’25

associate news editors

Lia Opperman ’25

Annie Rupertus ’25

Tess Weinreich ’25

head newsletter editors

Olivia Chen ’26

Sidney Singer ’25

associate newsletter editor

Aly Rashid ’26

head opinion editor

Abigail Rabieh ’25

community opinion editor

Lucia Wetherill ’25

associate opinion editors

Eleanor Clemans-Cope ’26

Ashley Olenkiewicz ’25

head photo editor Jean Shin ’26

head podcast editor

Eden Teshome ’25

associate podcast editors

Senna Aldoubosh ’25

Kavya Kamath ’26

head print design editors

Avi Chesler ’25

Malia Gaviola ’26

head prospect editors

Kerrie Liang ’25

Claire Shin ’25

associate prospect editors

Isabella Dail ’26

Joshua Yang ’25

head puzzles editors

Joah Macosko ’25

Simon Marotte ’26

associate puzzles editors

Juliet Corless ’24

Sarah Gemmell ’24

Jaeda Woodruff ’25

head sports editors

Nishka Bahl ’26

Wilson Conn ’25

associate sports editors

Cole Keller ’26

Brian Mhando ’26

head web design and development editors

Ananya Grovr ’24

Brett Zeligson ’24

associate web design and development editor

Vasila Mirshamsova ’26

147TH BUSINESS BOARD

assistant business manager

Aidan Phillips ’25

business directors

Benjamin Cai ’24

Juliana Li ’24

Samantha Lee ’24

Gabriel Gullett ’25

Amanda Cai ’25

Jonathan Lee ’24

project managers

Brian Zhou ’26

147TH

Sophia Shepherd ’26

Andrew He ’26

Diya Dalia ’24

Tejas Iyer ’26

Laura Zhang ’26

Dauen Kim ’26

Julia Cabri ’24

Jessica Funk ’26

Tony Ye ’23

Anika Agarwal ’25

TECHNOLOGY BOARD

chief technology officer

Joanna Tang ’24

lead software engineer

Roma Bhattacharjee ’25

software engineers

Eugenie Choi ’24

Carter Costic ’26

Dylan Esptein-Gross ’26

Vanessa Auth ’26

Avi Chesler ’25

Malia Gaviola ’26

Ishaan Javali ’26

Adam Kelch ’26

Tai Sanh Nguyen ’26

John Ramirez ’26

Aidan Phillips ’25

Jessie Wang ’25

Shannon Yeow ’26

Brett Zeligson ’24

Annabel Green ’26

Vivi Lu ’26

Rachel Seo ’26

Lindsay Pagaduan ’26

Sena Çetin Guest Contributor

The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.

On Feb. 6, 2023, two earthquakes, of 7.8 and 7.6 magnitude each, struck Southeastern Turkey and Northern Syria. In his speech given on Feb. 9, SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations António Guterres stated, “the earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria is one of the biggest natural disasters in our times.”

Only two weeks after, on Feb. 20, two more earthquakes, of 6.4 and 5.8 magnitude, hit the Turkish province of Hatay, further devastating the region. Yet Princeton has not shown that it cares about the severity of the situation.

Since the time this article was written, 46,000 people have been confirmed dead and 26 million more individuals — including those who have become homeless, displaced, injured, or permanently disabled — are in need of aid. Earlier this week, the governor of Şırnak Province claimed that the statistics are “four to five times worse” than officially reported. Cities of millions have been destroyed, with thousands of “earthquakesafe” buildings collapsing and leaving many missing, trapped under piles of rubble in below-freezing weather conditions. Corpses that have been left unburied for over a week, along with a lack of clean water and toilets, are causing serious hygiene issues and trauma in the region.

This natural disaster is an international humanitarian crisis that is affecting people of many different ethnicities, religions, and nationalities, including members of the Princeton community.

Although we cannot physically be

present to support our families and friends in their time of need, the Princeton Undergraduate Turkish Students Association (TSA) organized a donation drive to assist our communities from afar. Many other student organizations stood in solidarity with our efforts, including the Graduate Turkish Students Association, Arab Society, Kurdish Society, Balkan Society, Iranian Students Association, Princeton Intercultural Students of America, Muslim Students Association, and other Turkish student groups across North America and Europe. We requested that the Princeton administration help publicize our cause by sending out an email to the student body, faculty, and staff, along with posting on Princeton’s official Instagram and Twitter pages about our donation drive. However, not only was our request for an email ignored, but social media posts were only uploaded on the last day of fundraising.

Despite the devastating effects of the earthquakes on dozens of Princeton community members, the University administration has barely made any meaningful effort to support us or engage with this disaster. Most, if not all, efforts to raise awareness have fallen on the backs of already overwhelmed and mourning students.

Throughout the relief campaign run by the TSA and current efforts from Arab, Kurdish, and Turkish students, staff, and faculty, we have been let down again and again due to the bureaucratic and organizational barriers imposed by the Princeton administration. For the past two weeks, we have been directed from office to office as we requested that an email be sent informing alumni, staff, faculty and students about vetted

resources to send aid to both Turkey and Syria.

In emergencies like these, time is of the essence. Individual departments, such as the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), have issued a statement acknowledging the students, faculty, and staff who have lost their family and friends in this natural disaster. However, the University as a whole has yet to do so. Princeton has had no problems in the past speaking out about far more political international affairs in real time: University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 made a statement on the war in Ukraine just a week after it began. Why is it so controversial for the University to show solidarity with us, Middle Eastern members of the Princeton community, when we experience a horrific tragedy and humanitarian disaster?

Throughout this process, Princeton has proven to us that its informal motto, “in service of humanity,” is only performative. Or perhaps we are simply not considered a part of the humanity that Princeton serves.

This piece is a call to the Princeton community and administration. Although this crisis has fallen out of the attention of Western media, people still need your help. As a leading academic institution in the world, Princeton must take more initiative in engaging with international matters, especially those that affect members of its community directly.

Sena Çetin is a first-year and vice president of the Undergraduate Turkish Students Association. She can be reached at sc4951@ princeton.edu.

Why I signed a union card for Princeton Graduate Students United

Alex Diaz-Hui Guest Contributor

The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.

Unlike many students across the country, my last all-nighter had nothing to do with my studies. In June 2020, the last month I was a graduate student at Oregon State University, I stayed on a Zoom call for almost 24 hours to support friends in my department who were members of the bargaining unit of our union, the Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE). It was the last of the 180 days allotted for bargaining, so it was crucial that we reached a consensus before this deadline. Because of the pandemic, I could not be there with my friends — the least I could do was be a square on the screen, so the bargaining unit could see me. As the sun rose, I remember hearing the lead negotiator for the university say, “I think we can make that work.” I will never forget the intense joy felt by the breakout room participants, many of whom were on the verge of tears.

The sense of togetherness I felt with CGE helped me empathize with my fellow graduate students and connect their experiences to my own. I could relate to those facing housing and food insecurity — 85 percent of my stipend went to rent, and my first trips to a food pantry occurred during my graduate studies. My own experience reflected the many concerns of my peers at Oregon State, many of whom faced difficulties with budgeting our ninemonth stipend, had anxiety when they were told what they were teaching days before the term began, encountered difficulties in securing affordable housing, struggled with inadequate health insurance and childcare support, and lacked adequate parking and transportation on campus.

In bargaining, CGE challenged Oregon State to address these concerns, often using testimonials so that the university could hear firsthand how these issues impacted our work. Lis-

tening to others, particularly those who confronted Oregon State representatives in bargaining sessions, allowed me to actually understand what activists and organizers throughout history meant by “solidarity” — to be together with others who have lived different lives from one’s own, and use that collectivity to work together for a brighter future. This power and solidarity are why unions like CGE and Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU) are so important, and why graduate students have the unique opportunity to make history at Princeton by signing a union card. Unions, whether they’re for graduate students, service workers, or other working people, are fundamentally about coming together to address systemic concerns in the workplace. They are the work of people of varying backgrounds and perspectives who believe that collective bargaining can guarantee better conditions for all. I cannot, nor can any single person, understand what graduate students at Princeton need as a whole, but when we work together, we can better understand systemic issues at the University in order to call for change.

I moved to the East Coast to begin my studies at Princeton and was introduced to PGSU through an organizer in my department. I was told how we are living in a particularly important era: the National Labor Relations Board is more welcoming of graduate students organizing unions than under previous presidential administrations. This is why other Ivy League institutions like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Brown, and other universities like Johns Hopkins, the University of Southern California, and Northwestern, have had successful election campaigns. We need to do the same. Graduate students at Princeton began the first steps in organizing a formal graduate student union in 2016, and we have been growing in our number of organizers across various disciplines and departments ever since.

I’m currently part of a small group of graduate students working on com-

munications for the union. I don’t have the same courage and personality as some of my peers who can go into offices and other places where graduate students reside and speak for our cause, so sending emails and other communications became my way of supporting PGSU. Every graduate student has the ability to contribute to PGSU in the way that best suits them. We all can work together to make Princeton the best it can be for graduate students.

PGSU has organized around six core demands: fair and effective grievance procedures, improved support for international students, more comprehensive healthcare and childcare, affordable housing through graduation (with essential accommodations like air conditioning), guaranteed pay raises and contingency funding, and clear and safe standards for working and teaching. Each of these demands came from conversations graduate students had with their peers. PGSU is by and for graduate students, responding to the concerns heard across the University. Our platform reflects what we heard graduate students speak about in labs, offices, and reading rooms, and what the University needs to do to allow graduate students to do their work as researchers and educators.

Two weeks ago, over 150 graduate students and our allies held a rally in Scudder Plaza to announce our cardsigning campaign. I felt the same passion I had experienced at the last bargaining session with CGE as I heard each speaker address a different concern among graduate students. Through cheers, chants, and applause, graduate students came together with a shared sense of what we can achieve when we organize together.

Princeton works because we do. Sign your union card today.

Alex Diaz-Hui, a third-year graduate student in the English department and Program in Latin American Studies at Princeton, is originally from the Pacific Northwest. He can be reached at adiazhui@ princeton.edu.

Princeton’s energy grid transforms right beneath our feet

By Raphaela Gold Staff Features Writer

“We’re literally changing the wheels on the bus while we’re going down the road at full speed,” said Energy Plant Manager Ted Borer. Borer’s metaphor succinctly captures the complex process of transitioning Princeton’s cogeneration plant to a geo-exchange system while simultaneously running the cogeneration plant.

Cogeneration, also known as Combined Heat and Power (CHP), burns natural gas to produce both electricity and thermal energy. By taking the heat exhaust from a combustion turbine to produce steam, cogeneration can efficiently heat and cool Princeton’s campus, meeting most of the University’s heat and energy demands.

Soon, however, the cogeneration plant will take a backseat as the University expands solar power generation and creates a geo-exchange heating and cooling network in an ambitious step toward accomplishing Princeton’s 2046 net carbon neutrality goal.

Princeton built its first geoexchange system under the golf-driving range in 2004 to serve the Lawrence graduate student apartments. Subsequent installations were built to serve the Lakeside graduate apartments and the Lewis Center for the Arts.

Most recently, the University drilled 52 boreholes on the front lawn outside of Whitman College. Each hole is 850 feet deep and 5-6 inches in diameter, filled with a narrow high density polyethylene tube and grout. There are over 800 boreholes on campus today — and the University anticipates the installation of more than 2000 in total.

Princeton’s current energy system comprises a West Energy Plant, a High Performance Computing Research Center on the Forrestal campus, and ten solar arrays across campus.

Over the next year, the University will construct two new energy facilities. The Thermally Integrated GeoExchange Resource or TIGER will be built East of Jadwin Gym and Denunzio Pool. The TIGER facility will work with the West Energy Plant to supply heating and cooling to the University’s central campus. Rather than using combustion and cooling towers, it will exclusively use daily thermal storage and geo-exchange fields for seasonal energy storage.

A smaller structure called CUB (Central Utility Building) will be built across Lake Carnegie to serve the new Meadows Neighborhood. In addition to geo-exchange, the CUB facility will have a small hot water heater to supplement the geoexchange and heat pumps on the coldest days of the year as needed. For the hottest days of the year, it will also be equipped with a small cooling tower to provide extra support for the geo-exchange and heat pumps.

Because the piping design required for hot water is different from the current steam distribution design, more than 13 miles of district hot water piping will be installed underground throughout campus. The largest proportion of campus energy demands will be transitioned from steam to hot water heating over the next five years. Over the course of the subsequent decade, hot water pipes will connect every campus building to geo-exchange.

As the University begins

to rely more on solar power generation and heat pump facilities, the cogeneration facility will operate less frequently. But, it will continue to play a crucial role during severe weather events, saving the University the costs of purchasing energy from the regional power grid.

On a tour of the current cogeneration system, Energy Plant Manager Ted Borer explained to The Daily Princetonian that the transition to hot water, heat pumps, and geo-exchange will be a significant up-front cost to the University — but makes sense considering the whole life-cycle cost. “The geo-exchange and district hot water pipes should last 50 to 100 years. A chiller or heat pump might last 20 to 40 years,” said Borer.

Borer also explained how the geo-exchange will improve Princeton’s efficiency. By transitioning buildings from steam to hot water, the University will be able to move heating and cooling across campus using about 20% the amount of total input energy the cogeneration plant uses today, according to Borer.

Tom Nyquist, Mechanical Engineer and Executive Director of Facilities Engineering and Campus Energy, emphasized that geo-exchange will create seasonal energy storage. “We [will] take heat out of the buildings in the summer and transfer it into the ground. In the winter, we [will] take that heat out of the ground, concentrate it, and send it back up to the buildings,” he explained.

Geo-exchange will also reduce Princeton’s water usage. While cogeneration and the current chilled water operation require an input of water from an outside source, geoexchange recirculates the same water between the geoexchange fields and the heat pump plant.

Assistant Director of Sustainability Dr. Ijeoma Nwagwu, who manages academic engagement and Campus as Lab initiatives, affirmed the sustainability goals of the geo-exchange and discussed its potential for student involvement.

Nwagwu also emphasized the importance of engag-

ing the community, saying, “What we see are buildings being built and geo-exchange being installed, but the way we see it from a sustainability standpoint is… we are actively thinking of ways to engage the community.” Nwagwu encouraged students to read the signage on construction and engage with the transition.

As Nwagwu envisions, Princeton community members are already engaging in the campus’s changing energy grid, conducting research and closely following the progress of the geo-exchange construction.

Forrest Meggers, an Associate Professor of Architecture at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and Co-Chair of the Princeton Sustainability Committee, has been researching these methods in his lab and exploring different college campuses’ approaches to energy transition.

“We have one competitor in terms of heating and cooling: Stanford,” said Meggers. However, he believes that Princeton’s geo-exchange installations will take the University’s efforts beyond Stanford’s by neutralizing various energy loads from summer to winter.

He said, “Our campus is going to be way cooler than Stanford, but Stanford tried to be pretty cool.”

Although Meggers’ praised Princeton, he also discussed some challenges the installation of geo-exchange will face on Princeton’s campus. He commented, “The geology in Princeton is the worst for this. Yale should be doing it, and Columbia, because they’re sitting on the perfect material. We’re sitting on sandstone, which is problematic for drilling.”

Another challenge is that the benefit of geo-exchange is only proportional to specific weather — how cold it gets in the winter versus how hot it gets in the summer.

Meggers was on the committee which evaluated whether Princeton should keep the cogeneration plant or switch to geo-exchange. She noted that temperature variation complicated the economic models which were used as a justification for geo-exchange. “It all came down to the fact that

we wanted to electrify,” he explained.

Some alumni and students have also been invested in tracking the University’s energy transition.

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering concentrator

Harry Shapiro ’22 wrote his senior thesis on “CarbonAdjusted Dispatch Optimization for Princeton’s Campus Energy Plants,” overseen by Borer and Nwagwu. Shapiro now works as a private equity analyst in NY.

Shapiro considered the student perspective on energy, saying, “In terms of the general student body, none of this is something you ever really notice. And that’s kind of the goal, right?”

He continued, “You want to have an incredibly reliable energy system such that when you turn on the hot water, the hot water comes out, and when you plug in your laptop, it charges.”

Shapiro also touched on Princeton’s approach to addressing its carbon footprint.

“I think one of the most powerful things about what Princeton is doing is that our system is going to reach net zero primarily through engineering. It’s a very challenging engineering problem, and Princeton isn’t afraid of doing it the hard way,” Shapiro said.

Civil and Environmental Engineering concentrator Alex Moosbrugger ’24 also appreciates the science behind geo-exchange. “The geo-exchange is overlooked, but really cool,” said Moosbrugger.

“I think Princeton’s variety of approaches… shows a deeper understanding of the solution.”

In response to student complaints regarding construction, Moosbrugger said, “The construction impacts are destructive, but I think geoexchange as the main heating and cooling system makes a lot of sense.”

Another issue which community members are considering is the timeline of Princeton’s decarbonization and geo-exchange’s place in that timeline. Princeton’s net neutrality mission of reaching net neutrality by 2046 is relatively late in comparison with other Universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Brown.

When asked why Princeton’s net carbon neutrality goal is later than other Ivy League institutions, Meggers responded, “They chose their years because other universities chose theirs… but nobody has a solid, believable plan.”

Meggers believes that Princeton can and will reach its energy goals sooner than other universities, despite the fact that the claims say otherwise. “We have a much better plan than them… if we want to [beat the 2046 goal], it’s easy.”

Nwagwu confirmed discussions amongst University officials about potentially striving for an earlier date, with carbon neutrality intended by “2046 or sooner.”

According to Meggers, this is a healthy competition which will compel all Universities to reach their goals sooner. He also pointed out that in many cases, other Universities’ plans involve purchasing significant carbon offsets from outside sources, whereas Princeton’s plan prohibits the purchase of carbon offsets and instead focuses on reducing on-campus emissions.

In the same vein, Moosbrugger noted, “There are a few things that are really difficult to decarbonize. I think it is really important to acknowledge and figure out how to work around that.”

Despite this recognition, Moosbrugger finds “Princeton’s goal specifically to be somewhat underwhelming.” He added, “It could very well be done sooner on a timeline that I would be more thrilled with being a part of as a student at Princeton than the 2046 date.”

Regardless of the timeline, the University is currently in a moment of substantial energy transition in which there are opportunities for student involvement. As Nwagwu said, “It’s amazing the learning that happens when students are engaging with the transition.”

This is part two of a twopart series on Princeton’s cogeneration plant. The first part was released on February 20, 2023.

Raphaela Gold is a staff Features writer for the ‘Prince.’

LOUISA GHEORGHITA/ THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Image of geoexchange construction outside Whitman College

the PROSPECT.

Drawings by the Yanomami Indigenous community speak to climate change, deterioration of tribal rights

By Jaden Sharp | Contributing Prospect Writer

“I’m in mourning because my people [are] dying … children are dying for nothing.”

These are the words of Davi Kopenawa, author of “The Falling Sky” and a prominent leader of the Yanomami Indigenous community, which resides on land traversing Brazil and Venezuela. The hardships that the Yanomami people have faced for the past decade result from neglect by the Brazilian and Venezuelan governments and systemic attempts of erasure by the Brazilian government.

On Jan. 31, the University community had the opportunity to hear Kopenawa speak about what he described as the ongoing systematic erasure of the Yanomami people and what it means for the Amazon Rainforest. Kopenawa, who delivered his talk in Portuguese, was joined by Harvard graduate student Ana Laura Boeno Malmaceda, who translated Kopenawa’s words; João Biehl, a Princeton professor of anthropology and the director of the Brazil LAB; and Deborah Yashar, Director of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.

Kopenawa discussed the “The Yanomami Struggle” exhibit on display at The Shed of New York, which includes drawings and paintings by Yanomami artists, making a point about the planet’s rapid environmental decline and the deterioration of tribal rights, the Yanomami’s among others.

According to Kopenawa, the Yanomami consider themselves to be the primary protectors of the Amazon Rainforest and have taken a central role in its preservation. The destruction of the Amazon, one of Earth’s most important carbon sinks and one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, would have dramatic environmental consequences. While, according to Kopenawa, the Yanomami have worked tirelessly to safeguard this ecosystem, both the rainforest and the tribe are vulnerable due to the governments Brazil, Venezuela, and other stakeholders seeking to strip the forest of its material goods.

“Stop thinking that our forest is dead and placed here without reason,“ Kopenawa said.

A number of other important activists in the Yanomami movement accompanied Kopenawa as members of the crowd: his son Dário, photographer Claudia Andujar, anthropologists Bruce Albert and Ana Maria Machado, and Indigenous artists and activists like Ehuana Yaira, Morzaniel Ɨramari, and Joseca Mokahesi.

The exhibition draws from a selection of photographs taken by Andujar and drawings by various members of

the Yanomami tribe. It spotlights the cultural practices of the Yanomami, such as burial procedures and ritual use of yãkoana powder. In addition, the exhibition reveals the abuse that the Yanomami faced during colonization. A quote from Kopenawa displayed in the exhibition reads, “Our ancestors inhabited the sources of these rivers long before the birth of my fathers … sometimes we are scared that the white people will finish us off.”

When asked how the Princeton community could assist in the efforts to defend the Yanomami, Kopenawa told audience members to write to President Joe Biden to build up support for the Yanomami cause.

Biehl, who moderated Kopenawa’s keynote, echoed Kopenawa’s concerns. “Their land has been raided and their knowledge and values not considered and understood,” Biehl said. “The tragedy the Yanomami are facing is simply unacceptable, and we must join forces to change the predatory course of history.”

According to Biehl, if drawing is the medium by which the Yanomami record and revere the forest, we must continue to prioritize the retelling of their history and

stories.

“[We must] grow out of ignorance to defend the forest and its peoples with [the Yanomami], for we too, in Princeton, are ‘in the service of humanity’ and the planet,” Biehl said.

A recording of the “Davi Kopenawa: The Falling Sky and The Yanomami Struggle” event is available online on the Brazil LAB’s YouTube channel. The exhibit, produced by The Shed of New York, is open Feb. 3 through Apr. 16.

The event was a joint effort by a number of departments across Princeton. Co-sponsors include the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University Art Museum, Lewis Center for the Arts, Pace Center for Civic Engagement, High Meadows Environmental Institute, University Center for Human Values, Humanities Council, Program in Latin American Studies, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.

Jaden Sharp is a contributing writer for the Prospect.

JADEN SHARP / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

One year since the war began

By Sofiia Shapovalova Staff Prospect Writer

It wasn’t until a month before Feb. 24, 2023, the date marking one year of the war, that I truly registered the ongoing reality of the crisis in my birth country. Every day, the people of Ukraine exist in a state of unimaginable horror. They exist, carrying on with their work and studies, taking care of their loved ones, and praying for a tomorrow they don’t know will come. They exist, until they do not.

I’m ashamed to admit that the weight of this reality is something I have tried to ignore. The day Russian troops invaded Ukrainian land, which marked the official start of the current conflict, sparked emotions in me that I couldn’t even begin to understand how to reconcile. While both the war and my sentiments toward it were very real, the two were also simultaneously intangible. I could not find the words to describe the turmoil within me, and I remained very separated from the people I was supposed to call my own and all that they were going through in those frightening moments. The past few years of my life have disconnected me, miles of land and sea keeping me apart from the place I know my mum still calls home. I didn’t know how I was meant to act then, when my peers and teachers at school suddenly became acutely aware of my Ukrainian heritage, prompting a few well-meaning souls to reach out in solidarity with no previously established strong rapport between us to merit this. I was confused, and I was

scared. I am still guilty.

My identity as a Ukrainian immigrant in the United States has constantly left me in an odd sort of limbo. I always knew I wasn’t American. That much was made clear to me when my citizenship status denied me time and time again the same rights afforded to many of my peers. Even now that my parents and I have finally received the highly-sought honor immigrants know to be a green card (after nearly fifteen years of living here), it is strange to imagine myself as truly part of this country. My only real limitation now is that I cannot vote, and that I feel removed from that particular brand of patriotism that seems common to all true Americans, whether they support the present state of their country or not. Nonetheless, I feel as though I would be lying – to myself and to the rest of the world – if I were to label myself as an “authentic Ukrainian.”

While this is the nationality that is officially listed on my foreign passport, and although I take great delight in explaining how to properly make the traditional vinaigrette salad ridden with ruby-red beets to anyone who bothers listening, these things do not feel like enough of an identity qualification. In truth, the beet salad and other classic Ukrainian dishes are reserved for special occasions with my family, replaced by the more convenient and cheaper rice and beans my mum often cooks for dinner. I do not know the history of the country I was born in as well as I should, having spent the latter years of my high school years instead

studying matters such as slavery and LGBTQ+ rights. Although these are certainly topics worth dedicating one’s attention to, they are not an excuse for not knowing my own story — for not even speaking the language intended to be mine, as the lingering Soviet influence meant my first word was spoken in Russian. I am guilty of this, and I am guilty of being paralyzed by the anxiety of how I’m being perceived by others.

This is a guilt which followed me to Princeton – a guilt that had me eagerly sign up to be a part of 02.24.2022, a student organization on campus which aims to educate the Princeton community about the ongoing war in Ukraine. Suddenly, I found myself following The New York Times and other news sources with much greater care than I had before. Last February, reading the news was too overwhelming, and I had made the conscious decision not to think about the bombings that were occurring in the towns my relatives still live in. Joining 02.24.2022 was meant to be a way for me to do something – anything. The weekly newsletter I sent out to the hundred or so club subscribers was my way of asking people to simply look. Not at me, but at a country filled with thousands of people who are forged of the same steel that I am. The truth is this: those same thousands could have been me, just as I could have been them. The series of circumstances that led me to where I am today remain peculiar and somewhat mysterious, contributing to the sense of inexplicable guilt that leaves me feeling as if I had

run away even when the flight across the Atlantic was by no means my own choice. How did one girl from Enerhodar — a small town founded in 1970, home to both Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant and the tiny apartment on Komsomolskaya Street where I spent the first four years of my life — make it to Princeton University? Why is she there? And what is she going to do now?

What am I going to do?

The one-year anniversary of war in Ukraine is a difficult event to wrestle with. The word itself — anniversary — seems wrong, as if there is something to be celebrated. The battles of one year ago persist today, at this very moment. There is so much that remains to be done, and a global collaboration is imperative to effectuating an end to this conflict. In that same moment though, the people of Ukraine exist in a state of remarkable perseverance. They exist, carrying on with their work and studies, taking care of their loved ones, and praying for a tomorrow they don’t know will come. They exist, and that is precisely what one year of the war should celebrate — life in the dark and in the midst of death. It is life that flows, in part, within me too. It is, at its core, a story which I can tell in spite of the guilt: a story I can try to tell even though I may never find the words for it.

Sofia Shapovalova is a staff writer for The Prospect and a copy editor at the ‘Prince.” She can be reached at ss4908@ princeton.edu.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”: Too much Marvel, not enough context

By Auhjanae McGee | Head Prospect Editor Emeritus

New year, new phase! The Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off its fifth Phase — a distinct narrative unit within the larger Marvel franchise — this month with the release of the third Ant-Man film, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” The film follows Scott Lang (a.k.a. Ant-Man, played by Paul Rudd) as he and his family are transported to the enigmatic Quantum Realm. There, he quickly learns that he must stop a powerful threat before it brings destruction to the Multiverse.

While the film itself is not bad, it does suffer from its overbearing status as “Marvel property.” The first thing that struck me was its lack of accessibility. As the introduction of a new Phase, you’d think that the film would orient potentially new audiences to the current state of affairs in a post-Thanos world — where we meet Scott. But it doesn’t. Even I, an avid Marvel fan, struggled to keep up at times.

The film opens with Scott relishing in the fame he’s amassed as an Avenger and comically critiques him for remaining idle since the Battle of Earth, to which he is quick to rebut “I saved the world!” But if you haven’t already watched the preceding Marvel films, or even just “Avengers: Endgame,” you don’t know what this man saved the world from nor how he did it. There is an inside joke that plays out as Scott exaggerates his involvement in the Battle and even writes a memoir about his experience. Only returning viewers know that Scott was just one of the hundreds of superheroes who banded together to defeat Thanos, and that historically, his abilities have not been as respected as Iron Man’s or Captain America’s. The film shoots this opening act in a very tongue-in-cheek way, with the camera honing in on Scott’s smug face as he cites an excerpt from his book to rousing applause. But the film gives no explanation as to why an outsider should find this funny and why they shouldn’t take Scott at face value. It just assumes you have prior knowledge and expects you to laugh.

This lack of orientation continues with the central conflict of the film: Scott, his girlfriend Hope (Evangeline Lilly), daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), as well as Hope’s parents Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank (Michael Douglas) are transported to the Quantum Realm after a communicator Cassie built to contact the Realm malfunctions. Before this major event, we only get vague references to the fact that Scott was stuck in the Realm for a long time and that Janet has traumatic memories from being trapped there for decades, leading her to beg her family not to contact it.

But, once again, we do not get a lot of explanation on how the Realm functions nor of its importance. We do not learn why nor how Scott and Janet ended up in the Realm nor its relevance to their family of scientists. I cannot recall the film ever explicitly stating what “quantum” even means, or why time behaves differently there. Without this context, I’m forced to chalk this up to “Marvel physics” and me being a clueless English major.

Some may wonder why I take such an issue with this. After all, countless films have been criticized for doing expositiondumping instead of just telling the story. But in the case of “Ant-Man,” the lack of orientation makes for quite a confusing viewing experience.

The major threat of “Quantumania” is Kang the Conqueror, compellingly portrayed by Jonathan Majors. We learn that Kang is the reason why Janet is so terrified of the Quantum Realm. While she was trapped there, she helped Kang repair his multiversetraveling ship, believing she was helping her

new friend escape. Janet quickly learns that Kang is not who he appears to be; instead, he is a maniacal destroyer of universes who was exiled to the Realm to keep the Multiverse safe. It’s a captivating narrative development — that is, if you understand that the Quantum Realm is a plane of existence that exists outside of space and time. If you don’t know that, then Kang’s lack of power does not make sense. Why did he fail to obliterate this particular universe? Once again, the film assumed its viewers already have a solid grasp of the Marvel universe, a bold assumption to make for a Phase introduction.

This issue also hinders Kang’s impact in the film. For the uninitiated, Kang is powerful and menacing. He telekinetically tortures Scott and Cassie Kylo Ren-style and takes down entire fleets of people with powerful energy blasts. Majors, with his formidable ability to switch between calculating utilitarian and deranged conqueror, definitely sells that Kang is a force to be reckoned with.

But for those of us who have watched Marvel films before … he’s not that impressive.

I’ve thought for a while now that, in a post-Thanos era, Marvel has written itself into a corner. For three Phases, Thanos was The Ultimate Bad who could eliminate half of all life with a snap of his fingers. Marvel seems to believe that the bigger the scale, the more people will care. So now, it’s not just the universe at stake, it’s the multiverse. You thought Thanos was bad? Kang should make Thanos look like chopped liver compared to what he’s capable of.

At least, he’s supposed to.

Only he doesn’t.

Kang is far from the only Marvel character who can shoot energy blasts from his hands. This universe already has a teenage boy who can stop a moving train with his bare hands and a witch that can rewrite reality with a single thought. Is the film actually saying that yet another guy with a super suit and energy blasts is more powerful than all of them? Or, at the very least, more powerful than Thanos? That is a pretty hard sell. This frustrates me as a viewer, because I can tell that Majors is putting 110 percent into his performance, and all I can think is “I’ve seen this all before.”

And that, to me, is the biggest issue with “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and the current state of Marvel at large: it stinks of capitalism. Gone are the days of relatable, human stories: now, it’s all about intergalactic wars between insanely overpowered characters because that’s what sells tickets, apparently. The less you orient viewers, the more they’re compelled to consume the entire Marvel catalog to understand what’s going on, and the more money they spend.

But what Disney doesn’t seem to grasp is that its audiences aren’t mindless drones who can be placated with energy blasts. You still need compelling stories in order for a franchise to succeed. That’s why a Marvel film like “Eternals,” which arguably introduced the most powerful characters the saga has seen so far, is consistently ranked low on critics’ lists of Marvel movies, while “Black Panther,” a self-contained film about a civil war and familial betrayal, is consistently ranked at the top. Disney would be wise to return to these smaller-scale, character-focused films before it reaches its narrative ceiling and simply cannot go bigger. But, as long as the cash keeps flowing in, I don’t foresee any major changes anytime soon.

Auhjanae McGee is a senior in the English department and a senior writer for The Prospect. McGee previously served as Head Prospect Editor and co-director of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Board at the ‘Prince.’ She can be reached at ajmcgee@princeton.edu, on Twitter at @auhj_ marie, or on Instagram at @marionettes_jubalee.

The Prospect 11 Weekly Event Roundup

By Macy Kwon | Contributing

Princeton Sound Kitchen: ~Nois

Saxophone Ensemble

Mar. 7, 2023, 8–10 p.m.

Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall

Prospect Writer

The saxophone quartet ~Nois, composed of musicians Hunter Bockes, János Csontos, Jordan Lulloff, and Julian Velasco, will be performing new pieces by Princeton faculty composer Rudresh Mahanthappa and the graduate student composers Francisco del Pino, Kennedy Taylor Dixon, Bobby Ge, Travis Laplante, Lucy McKnight, Christian Quiñones, and Nathan Schram. The program will explore a diverse range of music — from energetic sounds to nostalgic reflections on childhood. Tickets are free and unticketed.

Richardson Chamber Players “March of the Women”

Princeton University Orchestra

Mar. 5, 2023, 3 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall

Princeton University Concerts presents a Sunday afternoon concert infused with mixed chamber works and rarely heard instrument combinations. The show is cultivated and performed by an ensemble of the University’s performance faculty, renowned guest musicians, and gifted students. Pricing for general admission is $20 and student admission is $10.

Lawrence Brownlee, Tenor & Kevin J. Miller, Piano

Princeton University

Concerts

& Keishla Rivera-Lopez

Mar. 8, 2023, 7:30 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall

A renowned regular at the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala and the Royal Opera House, Lawrence Brownlee is back at Princeton University Concerts due to popular demand. His voice has been hailed for its power on the world’s greatest opera stages and he has been praised for his inclusion of conversations about diversity and activism within classical music. Presenting texts sourced from the Harlem Renaissance set to music by composers Carlos Simon, Shann Ohkpeblo, Damien Sneed, and the University’s own Jessie Montgomery, Brownlee’s tenor employs this power and initiative to form a new song cycle championing black writers and composers.

Roots: New dance works

Princeton University Orchestra: Concerto Competition Winners

Princeton University Orchestra

Mar. 3–4, 2023, 7:30–9:30 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall

A concert dedicated to Daniel Ulmer ’03 from the Princeton University Orchestra offers a spotlight on concerto repertoire, starring the student winners of the ensemble’s 2022–23 concerto competition. This popular program promises a thrilling evening and includes performances from the student virtuosos being featured as soloists. Pricing for general admission is $15 and student admission is $5. The event is Passport to the Arts eligible.

Washitales:

An Exhibition by Visual Artist

Kyoko Ibe

Jan. 30–Mar. 5, 2023, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Hurley Gallery, Lewis Arts complex

“Washitales” presents the collaboration of renowned visual artist Kyoko Ibe with the LewisCenter for the Arts for the theatrical presentation of “Felon: An American Washi Tale” by Reginald Dwayne Betts. “Washi” is traditional Japanese handmade paper, which Ibe used to craft kites made from the clothes of men Betts met in prison. The exhibition displays works related to the theatrical set, which Ibe both designed and created, and other works made from handmade paper. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

2023 VIS Book & Poster Show

Febr. 27–Mar. 10, 2023, Weekdays, 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Hagan Gallery, 185 Nassau St.

This exhibition presents the poster designs and artists’ books by the seniors and juniors in the Program in Visual Arts. From film to painting to photography, students in this program explore a wide range of mediums and styles. Come see the wonderful work of your peers! The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Frog in the Well: A Senior Exhibition by Yoko

Urano ’23

Feb. 27–Mar. 10, 2023, Weekdays, 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Lucas Gallery, 185 Nassau St.

Naomi Benenson

by

’23 and Mandy Qua ’23

Mar. 2–4, 2023, 8:30 p.m. Hearst Dance Theater, Lewis Arts complex

Roots is a production which presents two distinctive dance works by Princeton seniors Naomi Benenson and Mandy Qua. The work of both seniors explores and probes at the traditional methods of connecting with oneself and one’s community. “Inextricably Linked,” choreographed by Benenson, explores a musical score formed by the movements of dancers, challenging the traditional connectivity between dance and music and the joint effort to resist self-imposed isolation through non-binary partnering. “Panama,” choreographed by Qua, explores agriculture, faith, and community, implanted in “seed stories” and friendship. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

This exhibition offers the recent works of visual arts senior Yoko Urano. Frog in the Well, which references those who believe they know everything when they in fact know very little, is a show through both 3D prints and video. It investigates the act of finding joy in the unknown and unknowable. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

What am I supposed to do now? A Senior Exhibition by Eloise Schrier ’23

Feb. 27–Mar. 10, 2023, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. daily

CoLab, Lewis Arts complex

Visual Arts senior Eloise Schrier offers an exhibition of multimedia works, specifically painting and a collage of found objects. Through these objects, which have their own internal narrative and life and the exhibition itself, Schrier examines how objecthood, art, and space are defined in guarded spaces. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Artist’s Talk: Christopher Harris

Mar. 8, 2023, 5 p.m.

James Stewart Film Theater, 185 Nassau St.

Filmmaker Christopher Harris introduces “The Cinematic Black Ecstatic” in which Harris will elaborate on his 16mm filmmaking practice that can be interpreted as African American historiography. Focusing on key titles from his extensive body of work, he will delineate how his low-tech, lo-fi filmmaking methods and tools utilize analog film’s material imperfections, which is central to his application of Black cinema as critical phenomenology. The exhibition is free and open to the University community.

Concert: ‘Ode to the Fallen Trees’ by Alfonso Fuentes Colón with Oskar Espina Ruiz

Mar. 9, 2023, 7–8:30 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium

Puerto Rican composer, former VISAPUR fellow, and classical and jazz pianist Alfonso Fuentes Colón performs “Ode to the Fallen Trees,” an orchestral piece impacted by the calamic aftermath of hurricane María on Puerto Rico. The concert will include special guest Oskar Espina performing a rendition of “Ode” on the piano and clarinet, as well as improvisations of traditional, popular pieces from the Caribbean and Latinx traditions. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Women’s ice hockey falls in first round of ECAC playoffs

By Cole Keller Associate Sports Editor

A year after shocking nationally ranked No. 6 Harvard in a first round upset of the 2022 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) playoffs, Princeton women’s ice hockey (15–15–1 overall, 10–12–0 ECAC) set their sights on an even bigger upset against No. 3 Colgate (30–5–2, 18–3–1) this time around. Unfortunately for the Tigers, despite a thrilling win in the first game of the three-game series, an upset was not in the cards against the Raiders.

Sarah Fillier finishes off Game 1

In game one of the three-game series, the Tigers quickly showed they were a formidable challenge to Colgate’s firepower. A scoreless first period was buoyed by strong play from Princeton first-year goaltender Taylor Hyland, who stopped all nine Colgate attempts in the period.

The next two periods featured five goals total, with back-and-forth action throughout the final 40 minutes. It was Colgate who struck first blood on their red-hot power play, courtesy of forward Kaitlyn O’Donohoe’s wrister from the slot. Five minutes later, it was Princeton’s turn on the man advantage. On the power play, a scramble in front of the Colgate netminder put a loose puck on the stick of Princeton first-year forward Emerson O’Leary, who slammed it home for the tie.

Over the course of the weekend, it became imperative that Princeton stayed out of the box, as Colgate scored five power play goals on the weekend. One of those goals came at the end of the second period on Friday night, where forward Dara Greig netted the 2–1 lead with 16 seconds left.

In the third, however, Princeton’s top-

end talent took over. Right out of the gate, a pretty passing play from the top line consisting of senior forward Maggie Connors, senior forward Kayla Fillier, and junior forward Sarah Fillier knotted the game at two. Going end to end, Kayla Fillier dropped the puck to her sister, Sarah Fillier, who fed Maggie Connors net-front for the easy finish.

Sarah Fillier and the Tigers continued their takeover at the halfway point of the period, as she received a pass from junior forward Emma Kee and skated in alone on Colgate goalie Kayle Osborne. With time and space, Sarah Fillier wired a shot glove-side for the go-ahead goal. The goal was Sarah Fillier’s 18th of the season, and it put game one to rest for the Tigers.

“I am incredibly proud of how our team came together this weekend,” Sarah Fillier wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “It speaks to the type of people we have in our locker room to put together a really great weekend of hockey against the number three team in the country.”

Tight loss for the Tigers despite Wunders efforts

Pushing the Raiders to the brink, the Tigers picked up right where they left off to begin game two. Although Colgate scored a power play goal to break open the scoresheet just 90 seconds in, Princeton quickly responded. With 6:56 remaining in the first period, standout first-year forward Issy Wunder rifled a shot for the tie.

Later in the period, Princeton caught Colgate lacking in the defensive zone. Forcing a turnover with under 10 seconds left before intermission, Sarah Fillier found a wide-open Connors in front, who made no mistake in putting the puck past the goaltender for the lead.

Colgate later tied the game in the second, on yet another power play goal from forward Kristýna Kaltounková, but Princeton regained the lead on a spec-

tacular individual effort from Wunder that netted the third goal of the night for the Tigers.

Princeton had ample opportunity to steal the series from Colgate, considering the two separate leads they had in game two. Nevertheless, the resilience of Colgate should not be understated. Erasing the leads and shutting down the Princeton offense, the Raiders applied continuous pressure in the latter stages of the game, before forward Danielle Serdachny broke through for the game winner with five minutes to go.

“I think we played so tough,” head coach Cara Morey told ‘The Prince.’ “We played with so much heart and our whole coaching staff is just so proud of the way they played in that series. And it could have gone either way with a call here or there or a puck bounce here or there.”

Tigers fall in the series finale

In the winner-take-all elimination game Sunday afternoon, Hyland was terrific in the net for the Tigers, saving 43 of 45 Raider shots en route to a tight 2–1 loss.

“That was really neat to see such a young player in such an important position, rise up and play at that level,” Morey said of the young goaltender. “Against number three in the country, three times in a row, playoffs, do or die. She certainly gave us a chance to win that game.”

For a while, it looked as if Hyland’s incredible play would lift the Tigers to the upset. In the first period, after the opening eight shots on goal went to Colgate, Connors raced up the ice in a 2-on-2, and dropped the puck back to a trailing Sarah Fillier. Skating right into the slot, Sarah Fillier ripped a shot top shelf for the lead. It was her fourth point of the series as she and Connors continued to torment the Raiders.

Princeton, though, lost that lead quickly on yet another power play goal from Colgate, this time from forward

Neena Brick. Brick poked a loose puck past Hyland on a scramble in front, which the Tigers unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference. The power play goal was Colgate’s fifth of the series.

While the ice wasn’t fully tilted to the Princeton defensive zone in the opening frame, the second period saw an unbelievable amount of pressure from the No. 3 team in the nation. Colgate had 19 shots on goal to Princeton’s six during the period, bringing their total up to 38 for the game.

In the third period, Hyland was unbreakable, and until Colgate’s Kaltounková deposited a goal past Hyland in a net-front scramble, Colgate was stymied by the young goaltender. After the Kaltounková goal, the Tigers were able to get a few good looks at the Raiders’ goal in the dying moments of the game, but the final score was in favor of the home side.

“It was tough to end the season in the ECAC quarterfinals,” Hyland said after the loss. “But, after facing adversity throughout the season there is a lot to be proud of for the fight we put up this weekend.”

For Morey and the rest of the Tigers, the series loss to Colgate is hopefully a necessary step in building to better moments.

“This is going to serve them really well in a couple years when we’re going for a national championship,” Morey stated. “These are the lessons that you don’t really understand at the moment, but the experience they just got of going through this kind of grind, in this series, will definitely set them up for success in the next couple of years.”

Cole Keller is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’

MEN’S SWIM & DIVE

MEN’S BASKETBALL: IVY LEAGUE STANDINGS

By Dana Serea Staff Sports Writer

The water was not calm this past weekend at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatic Center at Brown University. Throughout the Ivy League championships, Princeton and Harvard battled neck and neck in each event to earn as many points as possible, each with the hope of being crowned Ivy champion.

While Princeton put up a spirited performance, with senior Raunak Khosla making a significant difference for the Tigers, it was not enough to take down the Crimson. Princeton finished with 1,443.5 points, while Harvard took the crown with 1,545 points.

Khosla made waves in this meet, earning his third High Point Swimmer of the Meet award as well as the Harold Ulen Career award, with 380 career points at the Ivy League championships.

The Tigers started the meet strong with a win by a team consisting of junior Nicholas Lim, Khosla, first-year Mitch Schott, and senior Max Walther in the 800 freestyle relay. The team set a new school record of 6:16.77 and earned themselves a NCAA B cut.

In the 200 individual medley, Khosla touched the wall with a time of 1:41.11. This was Khosla’s

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

fourth time winning the individual medley at the Ivy Championships, making him the third swimmer in Ivy League history to win the event four times in his swimming career. He set a new Ivy League, school, and pool record, and received an NCAA A cut time as well.

A and B Standards times are set by the NCAA Division I Committee.

Next, in the 400 individual medley, Khosla clocked in with a time of 3:41.95, earning him a first place finish as well as an NCAA B cut time. Following him was firstyear Lucas Strøbek, who touched the wall with 3:46.08 on the clock.

“I’m happy with the result,” Khosla told ESPN. “I want to thank my parents and all the alums and all the guys on deck. I wouldn’t be here without them. I swim for them.”

In the 400 medley relay, sophomore Tyler Hong, Khosla, Lim, and Schott finished with a time of 3:05.98, placing second in the race and earning an NCAA B cut time.

Schott also finished third in the 200 freestyle with an NCAA B cut time and Princeton first-year record of 1:34.08.

In the 100 backstroke, Hong earned himself a third place finish with a time of 47.24. Meanwhile, in the 100 butterfly, Lim

also finished third, clocking in with a time of 45.87.

On the final day of the meet, Khosla dominated the 200 fly, earning an NCAA B cut time of 1:41.72 and setting a new pool record. This was Khosla’s fourth straight year of winning the 200 fly at the Ivy championships. Just after him was Lim who touched the wall with a time of 1:45.23, also earning himself an NCAA B cut time.

In the 1,650 freestyle, junior John Ehling finished second with a time of 15:00.18 and earned himself an NCAA B cut time.

In the 100 freestyle, Schott touched the wall third with an NCAA B cut time of 43.08.

In 1-meter diving, sophomore Joe Victor earned a score of 300.10, finishing in fifth place.

In 3-meter diving, Victor earned a score of 335.80, finishing fourth. Sophomore Taso Callanan followed right behind with a score of 334.80.

While the Tigers didn’t win the meet, they won a number of accolades, earning top times and achieving personal bests.

Princeton will be competing in the NCAA Championships from March 22–25.

Dana Serea is a staff writer for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

Julia Cunningham joins Princeton’s women’s basketball 1000-point club

In 51 years of Princeton the women’s basketball program, only 26 women have graduated with 1,000 career points. As another successful season comes to an end, that list will now grow to 27.

During the Tigers’ visit to Columbia, junior guard Kaitlyn Chen sent a pass towards senior guard Julia Cunningham, who sunk a three to extend Princeton’s lead. This three-pointer marked her 999th, 1000th, and 1001st points, cementing her name in Princeton’s women’s basketball 1000-point club.

Growing up in New Jersey, Cunningham’s feel for basketball was better than anyone her high school coach Reese Kirchofer had ever seen. “The first thing we noticed at tryouts was how comfortable she was, how confident she was, and her talent was evident,” Kirchofer said in an interview with Princeton athletics.

Within the first 15 minutes of high school tryouts, Kirchofer benched her, already certain that she was destined to be a star on the varsity team. Over the next four years, Kirchofer’s observation was validated. Cunningham became Watchung Hills High School’s all-time scoring leader and captained the team twice to the Skyland Conference Raritan Division championship. She finished off her high school career on the All-USA New Jersey second team with 1,718 points, 738 rebounds, and 360 assists.

At Princeton, Cunningham credited her 1,000 points to her tenacity on the court and consistency with practicing.

“A lot of [scoring success] just boils down to hard work when nobody’s watching,” Cunningham explained. “Getting a lot of shots up, [utilizing] all that time in practice

that you’re working with your teammates, [and taking] pride in that every single day is important.”

As a first-year, Cunningham averaged 4.9 points per game, starting in 6 of 29 games. As a sophomore, however, she started in every single game, nearly doubling her points per game (8.2) and improving in every other statistical category. She finished the season as an important contributor on the undefeated 2019–20 Ivy League squad, earning an AllIvy honorable mention and placement on the Ivy League All-Tournament team.

In her junior year, Cunningham took control of the court. After taking a gap year during the COVID-19 pandemic, she captained the women’s basketball team to another undefeated Ivy League championship, starting all thirty games while scoring a career-high 13.4 points per game. She ended the season on the All-Ivy first team with improved scoring, rebounding, blocking, stealing, and assisting.

Although she has accomplished an individual feat that many Princeton basketball players strive for, Cunningham is more focused on winning another conference championship.

“Obviously, our goal from

the beginning of the season has been an Ivy League title. That’s been our goal since I was a freshman here, and that’s never changed,” she explained. “Now as a senior, I think it means a little bit more.”

Cunningham, however, is excited to join the list of legendary 1,000-point club alumni, headlined by her former teammate and all-time Princeton scoring leader Bella Alaire ’20.

“It’s really exciting and special to join that group of 26 alums who have also reached the 1000-point mark in their career. I think looking back on it, it’s going to be really special to share that [achievement] with that alumni group.”

As her college career comes to an end, Cunningham hopes that the program continues to succeed after her departure.

“Coming in as a freshman, I think that was always my main goal. I tried to be as consistent as possible throughout my career, and a lot of things in the past five years have been firsts for Princeton’s women’s basketball,” Cunningham said. “This year and looking ahead, I think that the future is really bright.”

Brian Mhando is an associate editor for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

RESULTS

THE

PHOTO COURTESY OF @PRINCETONWBB/TWITTER

By Brian Mhando Assistant Sports Editor

Julia Cunningham sinks in her 999th, 1000th, and 1001st points

PHOTO COURTESY OF @PUCSDT/TWITTER

PHOTO COURTESY OF GOPRINCETONTIGERS.COM