The Daily Princetonian: April 7, 2023

No admission data from U. for the second consecutive Ivy Day as Ivy League rates stabilize

FEATURES

By Justus Wilhoit & Louisa Gheorghita Assistant news editor & News Contributor

“I immediately started crying because I never thought that I could achieve this,” Morgan Gagnon ’27 wrote to The Daily Princetonian about her admission to Princeton on Mar. 30. “It was a crazy moment emotionally.”

For the second consecutive year, the University did not release admission statistics on Ivy Day, when prospective members receive offers of admission. A ‘Prince’ analysis of admission rate trends suggests the acceptance rate for the Class of 2027 may be 5.82 percent or higher after the expansion of the student body.

In December 2021, the University announced that it will no longer release admission data for early action, regular decision and transfer admissions cycle. The University wrote that information such as acceptance rates and aver-

age standardized test scores “raises the anxiety level of prospective students” and “may discourage some prospective students from applying.” Princeton still reports information about its annual admission cycles to the Common Data Set and the College Scorecard.

All eight Ivy League schools release their regular decision results in late March or early April, a date collectively known as “Ivy Day.”

“It felt surreal,” wrote Aum Dhruv ’27 to the ‘Prince’ about his acceptance. “After the acceptance, hugging my mom, dad, and ba (grandma) was just as exciting. In fact, I’m looking forward to making bonds like that at Princeton.”

Other Ivy League institutions, including Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Columbia, have released admissions statistics on Ivy Day the past two years. This year, Harvard accepted 3.41 percent of its applicants, Yale accepted 4.35

percent, Columbia accepted 3.9 percent, and Brown accepted 5 percent. Across the Ivy League, acceptance rates stayed relatively stable since last year, despite long-term declines in acceptance rates.

The University continues to publicly release demographic information related to admission cycles, but only for students that enroll. 1500 students enrolled as members of the Class of 2026.

University Spokesperson Mike Hotchkiss wrote in an email to the ‘Prince’ that, as was the case last year, the University “will publish an announcement later this year that focuses on the enrolled students who will join Princeton as the Class of 2027.”

In August 2022, the University released admission data for the Class of 2026 without fanfare. The acceptance rate was 5.7 percent. The latest statistic actually published on Ivy Day by the Office of Communications was in 2021, for

See ADMISSION page 2

Competitive YAT election looms as Kirby, Masheke, Takeuchi advance

By Isabel Yip

Head News Editor

For 20 of the 23 candidates for Young Alumni Trustee (YAT), the election came to an end on Friday, when the University informed candidates that following the primary election, Caroline Kirby ’23, Mutemwa Raphael Masheke ’23, and Mayu Takeuchi ’23 would be moving on to the final round.

The final round will be open to voters from April 25 through May 17. Juniors and seniors along with alumni in the classes of 2021 and 2022 will be eligible to vote, in contrast to the first round in which only seniors voted.

Of the 1,306 eligible members of the senior class, 593 people voted in the first round, according to University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss. This puts participation at 45.41 percent of the class, roughly in line with typical participation in USG elections.

The student elected to the position will serve a four-year term on the University’s Board of Trustees.

by Assistant News Editor Bridget O’Neill

YATs are full members of the board, expected to provide perspective informed by their more recent experiences as University students. The individual selected for the position is prohibited from “advocating for a particular constituency or point of view,” as they take an oath to perform the duties of a trustee “faithfully, impartially, and justly.” Accordingly, candidates are prohibited from campaigning while the race is ongoing.

The primary election included 23 candidates from the Class of 2023. Notable candidates that did not make the final round include InterClub Council (ICC) President Sophie Singletary, USG Vice President Hannah Kapoor, and Claire Schmeller, who focused her short bio on her role as a Peer Representative working to reform the University’s Honor Code.

Caroline Kirby Kirby is a politics major pursuing a certificate in entrepreneurship.

Kirby was Vice President of Charter Club during a time when the club had a major resurgence, becoming

one of the most coveted clubs on campus. In 2020, Charter had only 28 total members when spring recruitment came around. Today, students have to rank Charter first and attend multiple events for the club to get in.

Kirby is a frequent presence at Princeton athletics events, handling social media for the Athletics Department. She also gave tours of campus for Orange Key and founded TigerReport, a student sports broadcasting group. Kirby also ran a highlyattended spin class at Dillon Gym, which would fill up 40 minutes prior to its start time.

Kirby drew a connection between her different roles on campus, stating how they all introduced her to new people, especially in her role as an Orange Key tour guide.

“Princeton’s most powerful and valuable commodity is our vibrant, welcoming community, and helping to bring the next generation of Tigers here is what I am most proud of,” she wrote. “I have spoken with hundreds,

See ELECTION page 3

By Sophie Glaser | Assisstant Features Editor

On March 8, the University announced in an email to students, staff, and faculty that it would be installing security cameras “at all exterior doorways in undergraduate residential college buildings and dorms” by the start of the Fall 2023 semester. This was just the most recent development in a long-term discussion which has shown up in University Student Government (USG) presidential election debates, feedback sessions with administrators, and USG meetings. The debate over surveillance is not a new issue for Princeton.

Increasing campus security measures and monitoring by administrators in the wake of incidents on campus has been a trend since at least the late 1980s, while long-term requests for increased campus lighting have often been deprioritized. The Daily Princetonian looked back at the history of campus surveillance, and the controversies that it has sparked. University opts for

locks over lighting

In 1989, after two violent assaults on female students at Princeton, an ad hoc group of students and University administrators was created to discuss campus safety. The group’s mission was “examining the need for such measures as installing locks in dormitory entryways and improving lighting on campus.”

An informal survey that year by the ‘Prince’ noted that 54 percent of women at the time responded that they “did not feel safe walking around campus alone at night.”

According to the ‘Prince’ survey, students wanted more campus proctors, employees who monitored campus, and increased lighting on campus, noting Prospect Garden as an area in which students felt unsafe. At the same time, the Campus Safety Committee considered locking doors to dormitories, subsequently discussing the issue for months before coming to a decision.

In May of 1990, it See LIGHTING page 14

Despite unionizationstrongpush, hesitation remains for some graduate students

By Julian Hartman-Sigall & Zach Lee Assistant News Editor & News Contributor

Not all graduate students are feeling positive about the recent unionization push led by the Princeton Graduate Students Union (PGSU), which reached a majority of the University’s 3,000 graduate students that had signed union cards a week after graduate students rallied for fair wages and affordable housing.

Graduate students who spoke to the ‘Prince’ reported that many have grown frustrated with the current union leadership, citing their many perceived missteps.

Please

INSIDE THE PAPER

HUMOR

Quiz:

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by Data Contributor Andrew Bosworth

by Humor Staff Liana Slomka, Spencer Bauman, Frida Ruiz & Caroline Rasmussen

Princeton should support student-led clubs as essential to building community by Guest Contributor Tim

Frawley

Additionally, graduate students report, STEM students have participated less enthusiastically.

Discussions about forming a graduate student union have persisted for many years but have gained steam recently, coinciding with a national uptick in unionization, which has featured multiple high-profile unionization efforts at other universities.

PGSU has articulated six specific goals for the unionization effort: “fair and effective crosscampus grievance procedures,” “improved support for international students,” “comprehensive, See GRADUATE page 2

A joyous birthday celebration with Más Flowby by Contributing Prospect Writer Anthony Nathan

LOUISA GHEORGHITA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Nassau Hall

Princeton is adding security measures while students call for better lighting. It’s happened before.

Based on admissions trends, the Class of 2027’s acceptance rate may be 5.82 percent or higher

Continued from page 1

the Class of 2025 — the regular decision acceptance rate that year was 3.98 percent.

The Class of 2027 will be the second expanded class in the University’s four-year push to increase undergraduate enrollment by 125 students per year. The first, the Class of 2026, was the University’s largest incoming class in history at the time. The University’s expansion includes three new residential colleges: New College West and Yeh College opened this academic year; Hobson College, which is under construction, has a revised timeline for opening before spring 2026.

Princeton admissions statistics

The ‘Prince’ analyzed the University’s admission cycles over a ten year period from the 2012-2013 cycle to the 2021-2022 cycle using the Common Data Set.

As the University continues its suspension of

the standardized testing requirements, the number of applications to the University may have continued to increase. The Class of 2025, the first class entering Princeton with the test-optional policy in place, was selected from a recordbreaking applicant pool with an increase of 4,765 applicants from the previous year. As a result, the University saw a markedly lower overall acceptance rate that year of 4.38 percent (including Early Action), based on calculations by the ‘Prince.’ This mirrors a larger trend among the Ivy League as a whole. For the Ivy League Class of 2027, the average acceptance rate among the eight schools is an estimated 5.23 percent, compared to the 6.96 percent average acceptance rate among all Ivy League schools for the Class of 2024.

Princeton’s acceptance rate increased for the Class of 2026 due to expansion, up to 5.7 percent — Princeton is the only Ivy League school that is currently expand-

ing class sizes. Based on admission trends at other Ivy League institutions, the ‘Prince’ estimates the Class of 2027’s acceptance rate may be 5.82 percent or higher.

Gender balance by ad-

Continued from page 1

inclusive and funded healthcare and childcare,” “affordable housing guaranteed through graduation,” “guaranteed cost of living adjustments and contingency funding,” and “fair, clear and safe work standards.” Much of the conversation has focused on affordable housing and increasing stipends.

Shaurya Aarav, a fifth-year graduate student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department, said that neither issue warranted a union.

“[PGSU] was trying to work for better housing, and better healthcare and childcare. So on these fronts, it seems that we are already well off. We received a considerable stipend hike last year, and when I talked to my other friends from other cities, it seems that [Princeton graduate students] receive a good stipend already,” Aarav said.

“So if I was in one of the University of California Schools, I would fully understand that demand. But at Princeton, it seems that [our] stipend is good enough,” he added.

Aarav also told the ‘Prince’ that he had reservations about the union ultimately becoming “an intermediary between the univer-

sity and me.”

“I don’t know what the unintended consequences of that intermediary would be,” he said. Aarav said he is not involved with the unionization nor does he personally know anyone who was involved with the unionization efforts.

Divisions between STEM and the humanities

One challenging dynamic that organizers have run into is the general difference in outlook between graduate students in STEM departments and those in the humanities. The division is evident in the departmental breakdown of union organizers by department.

Although, according to a former PGSU representative who was granted anonymity, the union has taken steps to ensure each department has some representation in union leadership, there are still wide disparities in fields. Of the union organizers listed on PGSU’s website, 13 are in politics and nine are in English, whereas physics, neuroscience, and chemistry have only four organizers combined.

Multiple graduate students who spoke to the ‘Prince’ said this dynamic is likely due to the different treatment of graduate students in STEM compared to those in the humanities. According to graduate students, humanities de-

missions cycle For the 2020-2021 Princeton admissions cycle, more women applied than men, breaking a nine year trend. However, of the eight Ivy League colleges, the Uni-

partments tend to have less funding than their peers in STEM — therefore, the graduate students in the humanities do not always know if their funding will extend throughout the summer.

Tim Alberdingk Thijm, a fifthyear graduate student in the Department of Computer Science who is heavily involved with the unionization effort, gave reasons why STEM students should be more engaged with unionization.

Thijm told the ‘Prince’ that a “problem that people in STEM face is that [their] funding is very dependent on [their] advisor … That can put people in a precarious position, especially … if their advisor is harassing or overworking them.”

“That can actually be a lot more difficult to deal with, in some ways, than in the humanities,” he said.

The former PGSU organizer, who is in a STEM department, said that, in his experience, graduate students who are not in the humanities and do not have friends in the humanities tend to be singularly focused on their research and do not care about unionization.

Lack of confidence in leadership Students noted that union leadership never provided a specific explanation for what it means to sign a union card.

“I’m signing something legally binding, right? So I should get legal documentation [explaining] what I am signing. What does that mean? What is going to happen after?” asked the former PGSU organizer.

With information sparse from PGSU, the University sent an email to all graduate students that discussed what unions meant and gave an interpretation of the effects that unionization has on wages. In the email, administrators expressed “concern” about unionization, while stressing students could make their own decision.

This communication gap may have had an impact on student perspectives.

“[The University is] cautiously telling us stuff like ‘Hey, this is information that they didn’t tell you.’ And they’re holding a lot of helpful information sessions, which the union could have done. [Because we’re] like, ‘hey what does the union mean for me?’” said the former PGSU organizer. However, Thijm told the ‘Prince’ that students should be skeptical of the University’s messaging.

“Universities will sort of play

versity had the second lowest number of female applicants. Starting with the class of 2021, more women have been admitted to the University than men.

this role of presenting themselves as sort of these neutral kinds of information givers. But they are hiring union-busting law firms or are consulting with various organizations which have a history of busting unions or being antiunion to hone their messaging. And [University emails are] often designed to confuse people and make things unclear,” Thijm said.

The former PGSU organizer, however viewed the failure of communication as crucial. “The University doesn’t need to do much to thwart the union. I think the union’s biggest enemy at this point is the union itself, because they are making these mistakes so then the University can seem like the good guy by providing documents and information sessions.”

Another perceived misstep, which the union has not fully corrected, is that union leadership made guaranteed housing a key plank in the unionization effort. The University clarified in an email that unions cannot promise guaranteed housing.

Himawan Winarto, a fifth-year in the Program in Plasma Physics and the Graduate Student Government representative for the department wrote an op-ed in the ‘Prince’ referencing the claim, saying that he “compared ratified and historical contracts from graduate student unions at similar universities. I found that there is no precedent that suggests that PGSU can achieve what it has promised.”

“In fact, unionization may lower expected stipend growth in the long run and use members as pawns in political agendas. The benefits that a union can actually achieve are marginal, at best,” Winarto wrote.

The University is already attempting to increase capacity for graduate student housing by building 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. The majority of graduate students who spoke to the ‘Prince’ were enthusiastic about the Meadows Housing Complex and said that, in their eyes, it decreased the need for a union.

PGSU-affiliated graduate students pushed back against the idea that the housing problem will be solved.

“The University tells us that we’re shifting towards a model where there’s going to be 100 percent [housing for graduate

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

Louisa Gheorghita is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

students], which means that the University is going to be everyone’s employer and everyone’s landlord,” a second-year graduate student, who is actively involved with PGSU and wanted to remain anonymous, said in an interview in which he emphasized the need for graduate students to have some power to negotiate with the University.

“The University has been saying that [housing’s] actually not something that we can negotiate, which is just not true. We can have negotiations; all the graduate students should be able to successfully negotiate over housing policies,” the second-year student continued.

One other misstep referenced by the former PGSU organizer was that the group took credit for the University’s increase of the graduate student stipend, even though it was a scheduled pay increase, while the union is not yet formed and thus does not negotiate with the University. Union leaders also exaggerated the size of the stipend increase in a communication to all graduate students.

“That made a lot of us question the union, like why are they misleading us? They lied to us, so why should we believe them?” asked the former organizer.

The former PGSU organizer still argues that a union would be beneficial for graduate students, but doubts the current leadership.

“The doubt [about unionization] mostly comes from the leadership, like, okay, can we trust these people? They have already made mistakes, and they can claim ‘well it happens,’ but people have doubts because of that. Most people want to union. But misleading people to vote for a union will have the opposite effect,” they said.

One first-year graduate student who wanted to remain anonymous noted that they were happy with their living situation and stipends, saying, “I don’t need the union, because I feel like Princeton is meeting all my needs. I feel like I’m more than satisfied.”

However, like the former PGSU organizer, this student told the ‘Prince’ that they could understand the benefits a union may bring.

“In the future, we might need a space of debate. And that’s what a union is for.”

Julian Hartman-Sigall is an assistant News editor at the ‘Prince.’

Zach Lee is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

“The doubt [about unionization] mostly comes from the leadership”

Candidates banned from campaigning for the position

if not thousands, of prospective students over my four years as an Orange Key tour guide and campus visit ambassador, not only just showing off our incredible campus but also answering questions about all facets of student life.”

Speaking about her role as a potential YAT, Kirby expressed her commitment to “listening to all students and perspectives on campus, and firmly advocating for those wants, concerns, and interests on the Board.”

“I will take the responsibility of representing our class extremely seriously; I am not afraid to speak up and advocate for the current generation of Princeton students’ needs, even in a situation in which every other Trustee disagrees,” she wrote in a statement to The Daily Princetonian.

Mutemwa Masheke

Masheke is a BSE computer science concentrator, Vice President of African Internationals at Princeton, Vice President of the National Society of Black Engineers Princeton Chapter, an RCA in Butler College, and served as a Student Advisory Board Member on the Princeton University Council for Science and Technology.

In his bio, Masheke referenced his history of community activism, including in the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd.

Masheke noted how his work at Princeton has been influenced by his identity as an African international student. “I am not a ‘typical’ Princetonian,” he wrote.

“For the four years my family has remained 7,500 miles away from me, I have collaboratively pioneered subsidized summer housing for low-income students, career opportunities for students of color, and equitable financial aid for international students,” he continued.

Earlier this year, Masheke wrote an op-ed in the ‘Prince’ alongside Gil Joseph ’25, arguing that Princeton should address portions of international students’ financial aid that are taxed. Masheke also joined with five other student leaders to propose an alternative plan to the University’s controversial Dining Pilot, representing RCAs within the group.

Masheke commented on how the individual selected for 2023 YAT will enter into the role at a particularly important time.

“We are witnessing a pivotal time in the school’s history where it is doing away with certain barriers that

made Princeton a great place to some, but difficult for others,” he wrote. “Wherever possible, I am excited to creatively reimagine the parts of the University that could better serve all facets of our community, and strengthen the parts that do.”

Mayu Takeuchi Takeuchi is a School of Public and International Affairs major who formerly served as USG President. In 2021, Takeuchi was elected USG President after a full term as Sustainability Chair. Takeuchi’s term was marked by several major initiatives, including the launch of the 24/7 Cares Line to improve mental health on campus and the Pay with Points program which granted $150 to students on the unlimited dining plan to spend on restaurants in town. Takeuchi was another member of the group that proposed an alternative resolution to oppose the Dining Pilot.

She has also played Japanese drums with Tora Taiko, violin in the Princeton University Orchestra, and been part of Envision, a group that discusses the implications of technological development.

Takeuchi stated that she feels she made her most meaningful contributions to Princeton in her role as USG President.

“I’ve centered student experiences to drive action on mental health — pushing for more diverse counselors and funding for off-campus care, launching the 24/7 Cares Line and shifting reliance off PSAFE for wellness checks — but I know addressing the roots of our mental health crisis requires more work,” she wrote.

Much of Takeuchi’s work on campus has been linked to advocacy, and environmental issues have been front and center, a topic she touched on in her statement.

“I’ve dedicated my time at Princeton to empowering people underrepresented in decision-making spaces, driving student-centered action on mental health as USG President, and advocating for environmental justice across and beyond campus,” she wrote.

With the continued debate over whether Princeton should further dissociate from fossil fuels, environmental issues may be a point of key importance on the board.

The winner of the general election will be announced at the Alumni Council Meeting on Friday, May 26.

Isabel Yip is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’

RIPPLE EFFECT

By Bryan Boyd & Abiram Gangavaram Assistant Puzzles Editor & Guest Puzzles Contributor

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.

Example:

Administrators cite accessibility successes, Hobson to better serve neurodivergent students

By Laura Robertson Senior News Writer

“Princeton builds accessibility” is one of a number of slogans used by the University on the many construction projects around campus. The Daily Princetonian sat down with University Architect Ron McCoy and Director of Campus Accessibility Michael Barnes to understand how exactly Princeton does that.

Accessibility is particularly pertinent in the design of residential colleges, with a recent analysis by the ‘Prince’ finding that of the 170 buildings on campus, those that are completely wheelchairinaccessible number at 17, nine of which are undergraduate residential halls.

McCoy tried to address such architectural inaccessibility when designing the new colleges. Barnes, whose role was recently created, will help address future issues.

In an interview with the ‘Prince’, Barnes cited his role as “going above and beyond” the standards set forth in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was amended in 2010 to include standards on architectural accessibility. The two noted the efforts to make the communal atmosphere of Yeh and New College West equally accessible and to make the upcoming Hobson College specifically cater to neurodivergent students.

Planning Yeh and New College West

“We begin every project with what we call a value proposition. A value proposition is a commitment to ourselves, a promise to ourselves about what we want to achieve,” McCoy said. “And the value proposition of [the New College] project is that it’s about creating a welcoming environment.”

The main entryways into each building within the new colleges have ramps going into them and several ADA compliant routes to get there. From the northern end of the New Colleges to the southern end, there is a slope that creates roughly a 20 foot drop. A landscape architect ensures that paths from one end of the project to the other are accessible.

“We design it in such a way that there’s not a preference between the accessible route and the fully abled route,” McCoy said. “So there’s no stigma attached — you’re not walking with a friend and saying, ‘okay, I’m going to go the front way, you take that ramp over there and

I’ll meet you in five minutes.’”

Barnes called this kind of planning “experiential equity.”

One decision was to give every wing of the New Colleges an elevator. All the elevators are next to stairs, and they all open into the communal lounges on each floor.

“That was an intentional strategy to give people an equitable communal experience as they arrive on another floor,” McCoy said.

McCoy told the ‘Prince’ that he toured residential colleges in North Carolina and saw that “some of them would have this little social space at the end of a hallway,” making the social spaces less central for the people living ther.

“You have to make the constant conscious choice to walk to the end of the hallway,” he said.

Therefore, it was imperative to McCoy that both the elevators and the stairs opened into social spaces, so that there wasn’t a difference between the two. By placing the elevators and stairs where they did, they hoped students would naturally walk through the lounges as part of their everyday life.

“You can choose to go past it if you don’t want to engage, but you have the opportunity to know that there are people gathering,” he said.

Planning Hobson College

When building Hobson College, the University is partnering with JSA/MixDesign, a team which specializes in building a more inclusive environment. McCoy said that Hobson College would be designed with special attention to the needs of neurodivergent students.

“The dining hall, for instance, at Hobson has what they call micro-climates — different types of climates within a larger environment that support different types of activities,” McCoy said.

For example, some dining booths may be surrounded by an acoustic material that makes them quieter than the main dining hall.

Additionally, they plan to pay attention to issues of glare and plan to clearly delineate accessible pathways with color or texture differences.

Barnes noted that the University was also considering ways to be more accommodating to the needs of hard of hearing and visually impaired students.

“There’s talks of putting in bed shakers,” Barnes said. “So a fire alarm goes off, there’s a different way for that to be interpreted.”

Barnes also said that considering building layout is important when designing with visually im-

paired students in mind.

“If an individual with a visual impairment had a mental map of the space, we’re being very conscious of if we’re moving things around,” he said. “So a lot of the furniture tends to kind of stay put in that kind of way.”

Renovating the historic campus

Since 1990, the ADA has ensured that new buildings meet certain accessibility requirements. But the University’s older buildings often remain inaccessible to students.

The ‘Prince’ recently reported that no buildings in Mathey or Forbes College were entirely wheelchair accessible, whereas all buildings in Yeh, Butler, Whitman, and NCW were.

“We have a campus that we can probably split up at that 1990 moment,” McCoy said. “So [we’re] looking backward, and we’re fixing, to the extent that we can, legacy problems.”

He noted two recent victories: the addition of a new elevator making Nassau Hall wheelchair accessible, and a ramp put in between Firestone Library and the Chapel, linking the Firestone Plaza to Washington Road.

“We’re going back and we’re renovating Dillon Gym, and we’re turning it from a building that was maybe 20 percent accessible. And through this project, and a series of other interventions, we’re moving the building to 80 percent accessible,” he added.

By adding an elevator which connects the pool level to the ground floor, only the northernmost part of the gym will remain inaccessible. This will be fixed in a later renovation.

Barnes added that he tries to connect individually to students in order to talk about their accessibility needs.

“I will welcome any opportunity to grab a coffee or have a conversation or have a meeting or meet with student groups, faculty groups, staff groups, anyone,” he said. “What I don’t want to do, and it would be inappropriate to do, is assume that everyone who has a disability wants to help in this process.”

“Slowly but surely, as I get my feet underneath me, stakeholders and individuals from across campus have been reaching out,” he said. “You know, perfect. That’s it. That’s exactly how I want that relationship to happen.”

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

CANDACE DO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The new colleges which include Yeh College and New College West bring not only a new design to campus buildings, but updated features in and out.

U. weighing more support for commercial contracts for student-athletes

By Bridget O’Neill Assistant News Editor

With the men’s basketball team making a trip to the Sweet 16 at this year’s NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, questions have floated on how the University can continue to attract top talent to its athletics rosters.

While Princeton, like all schools in the Ivy League, does not offer athletic scholarships, Princeton student-athletes can profit off “name, image, and likeness” (NIL) opportunities. The Ivy League defines NIL as student-athletes “engaging for money or other consideration (goods, services, gifts-in-kind, or other forms of payment) in any engagement, business transaction, or advertising promotion.”

In July 2021, the NCAA adopted a new and much-debated NIL policy, permitting student-athletes to use their name, image, and likeness in commercial pursuits. Since then, members of many University teams have capitalized on the opportunity. Thus far, the University has not explicitly helped students find commercial opportunities, though that policy may be changing.

The NCAA, Ivy League, and the University itself have set guidelines student-athletes must abide by in all NIL ventures. The Ivy League prohibits NIL contracts if deals are not disclosed to the University. NIL contracts are also prohibited if the pay compensates an athlete’s participation in their sport (“pay for play”), if an athlete’s contract is arranged by the University, and if NIL opportunities are used as a recruiting mechanism.

Princeton also has its own unique regulations. For example, brands students work with cannot be in conflict with University contracts (e.g. Nike) and athletes cannot use University-owned logos or designs. Athletes are also not permitted to miss class or mandatory athletic department activities to participate in a NIL opportunity. Athletes are also restricted from NIL deals promoting certain products including adult entertainment, alcohol, or gambling.

Prior to entering into a NIL-related activity, student-athletes are encouraged to contact the Athletics Compliance office, which reviews deals to ensure they meet University standards. Athletes are required to submit a notification form “within seven days of entering into a contract or engaging in NIL-related activity.”

An Athletics Department spokesperson told The Daily Princetonian that “at the beginning of the academic year, members of our Compliance staff discussed Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) education as part of their regular season-opening meetings with teams.”

Alexis Hiltunen ’24, a member of the Women’s Soccer team praised the University’s NIL policies, and reported that her team held a preseason meeting to review NCAA, Ivy League, and University NIH policies, hosted by Kelly Widener, Associate Director of Athletics at the University.

In her time at Princeton, Hiltunen has worked with various athletic clothing and shoe companies, as well as magazines such as Sports Illustrated.

Maia Weintraub ’25, a member

of the women’s fencing team, says while she cannot recall a meeting to review policies with University Athletics representatives, she noted that the University’s Athletic Compliance Office has been very attentive throughout the NIL process.

Weintraub has a contract with Absolute Fencing, a fencing equipment brand. In exchange for using her name, image, and likeness, the brand sends Weintraub gear to wear in competitions.

“We would create a contract draft about what I can or cannot accept in terms of compensation for my name, image, and likeness … [the Athletics Compliance office] would help me by saying, ‘Okay, you can have this, you can’t have this.’”

Hiltunen also engaged in nonathletic influencer contracts on social media prior to the NCAA’s NIL policy. According to Hiltunen, the University reached out, asking that she change her social media handles so that they did not exactly correspond with her name on the women’s soccer roster.

“I actually go by a separate name [Lex Hil] because before NIL was passed, I was already doing work through social media so I completely just shortened my name on both sides.”

Since the new NCAA policy has been put forth, Hiltunen has been able to use her full name again and post about Princeton soccer on social media.

Both Hiltunen and Weintraub note that they do not receive any help from the University in finding or facilitating NIL contracts, with Hiltunen saying, “I don’t think Princeton’s really on top of it as much as they could be or should be.”

On the University’s official NIL information page, it states, “The University will not be in a position to provide advice to students on outside commercial activity” — something Hiltunen claims is not true for all universities.

“I know friends that are getting recruited to schools where they are showing them how much money you’re gonna make, how we’re gonna make it happen, who were partnered with to help you,” Hiltunen said. “I think this is an incredible selling point, especially for athletes here who can’t get scholarships. So that’s what a lot of other schools are doing and I think we could kind of go into that space a lot more.”

There are some indications that the University is re-examining this policy, however. In communication with the ‘Prince,’ an athletic spokesperson shared that the athletics department is partnering with Opendorse an “NIL educational service, technology tool, and marketplace.”

According to the spokesperson, the partnership aims to “enhance our student athletes’ ability to be more educated on NIL and to capitalize on NIL opportunities.” Both “inperson seminars from Opendorse staff and on-demand education modules through Opendorse’s app” will be available to educate athletes once the program begins.

While a meeting was scheduled with student-athletes in late March regarding this new program, the meeting was subsequently canceled and has yet to be rescheduled.

Bridget O’Neill is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Top universities released decisions. Admissions Instagram followers plunged.

By Andrew Bosworth Data Contributor

With another Ivy Day in the books, some students received admission to their dream schools, while many more opened their decision to find a rejection letter. Whether students no longer require the information posted by these institutions on Instagram or want to forget about the schools that denied them, many university admission Instagram accounts have lost followers in the wake of releasing decisions.

The Daily Princetonian analyzed the admissions Instagram accounts for 19 of the 20 highest-ranked universities in the United States according to the U.S. News Best National University Rankings, examining their change in followers over the past month and their most liked photos. MIT, which rounded out the top 20, was not included in this analysis as Instagram data was not available.

Admission accounts for schools often provide updates on the admission process, share student stories, and offer application advice. Such accounts also share welcome posts to newly admitted students.

With the smallest student body of all schools analyzed, at 987 students, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) admissions account (@ caltechadmissions) lost the fewest followers, losing 76 followers in one day. UCLA and UC Berkeley, with the highest undergraduate populations at over 32,000 each, lost the fewest followers compared to their student body size.

With the tenth lowest undergraduate population, Harvard falls into the center of the top 20 colleges in terms of population. After losing the most followers, at 1,947 following the admissions decision, Harvard lost the most followers per undergraduate student.

Harvard lost the single most followers in one day, and Caltech lost the fewest. Princeton, with the fifth most followers in the Ivy League, lost the sixth most followers.

Harvard’s admissions account, @ harvard_admissions, remained at over 315,000 followers after admissions decisions were released. Even after losing more followers on a single day than any other top 20 institutions, the percentage drop for @harvard_admissions was third lowest, behind only the University of Chicago and Caltech. The Yale admissions account has the second most followers in the Ivy League, but has 250,000 fewer followers than Harvard admissions. Still, Yale admissions lost over double the percentage of followers lost by Harvard.

Every school’s most liked post on their social media was posted this year, with most of them being admis-

sion announcements. The most liked post was Harvard admission’s video montage of Early Action admits’ reactions to opening their portals. Harvard’s second-most liked post is an announcement raising the annual family income under which tuition would be fully covered by $10,000, to $85,000. This post received 14,689 likes, more likes than the most liked photo of Harvard’s runner-up, Cornell, whose most liked post, welcoming the class of 2027, received 12,956 likes.

After losing 76 followers when admission decisions were released on March 11, Caltech admissions saw a steady increase in followers over time resulting in only one fewer follower than its peak 12 days after decisions were released. Many admission accounts saw a spike in followers the few days before admission decisions were released. This is best seen in Stanford’s admission account, with 124,861 followers on March 20 and 126,145 followers on March 31, the day when decisions were released. This dropped to 124,942 the following day.

For every college, there is a sharp decline in the number of followers corresponding to when decisions are released. This drop can best be examined over the Ivy League whose decisions were all released on March 30, commonly referred to as Ivy Day.

Brown University does not have the smallest undergraduate student body, but its admissions office has the fewest Instagram followers. Dartmouth has the fewest undergraduate students and Cornell has the most, totalling the third least and third most followers respectively. Princeton, with the second lowest undergraduate student population, has the fourth most admissions account Instagram followers.

Princeton University’s admissions Instagram account has gained more than 10,000 followers in the past 16 months. When regular decisions for the Class of 2026 were released, @apply.princeton lost 919 followers overnight, 102 followers more than the most recent admission decisions, when 817 followers were lost between March 30 and March 31.

According to the Class of 2026 profile, last admission cycle, Princeton rejected 35,852 students. The majority of Instagram followers who followed after applications were due on Jan. 1, 2022, did not unfollow the admissions account after regular decisions were released on March 31, 2022.

Admissions Instagram accounts will continue to gain followers, some of whom will unfollow, but the majority will continue seeing updates of admissions timelines for years to come.

Andrew Bosworth is a Data contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Hum r!

What do you do when all the laundry machines are full?

Quiz: Which ongoing campus construction project are you?

1. Take someone else’s clothes out and put them on the floor

2. Mix your laundry with someone else’s laundry; I don’t have time to take it out

3. Wait for someone to come get their laundry and apologize for the inconvenience

4. I don’t do laundry, my clothes don’t get that gross, just two-week-old sweat

5. Climb into the machine and wait for someone to open the door so you can hiss at them

By Liana Slomka, Spencer Bauman, Frida Ruiz & Caroline Rasmussen Head Humor editors & Humor Contributors

If you could compensate for the wage gap by paying your female coworker the difference out of your paycheck, would you?

1. She should pay me for the privilege of getting to work with me

2. I’m unemployed, so, frankly, I don’t know how to answer this question

3. I already did

4. I would pay half if she’s nice.

5. I am a woman

Do you think you’ve seen a ghost on campus?

1. I think there’s one on my hall, but I’ve been leaving notes for it and it’s not responding, so either I made it up or it just hates me

2. Yes, they are my only friend

3. No, just my reflection in the SPIA fountain

4. Yes, but I can lift more

5. I am the ghost on campus

You have to get to the airport tomorrow. What’s your plan?

1. Take the train

2. Take an Uber

3. Send an email to hoagiemail with blind faith that someone else also has a flight at the same time

4. Scooter

5. Guilt your friend with a car into driving you by promising them coffee and hoping they’ll forget by the time you get back

How do you carry your stuff to the shower?

1. Shower caddy

2. In my backpack

3. Placing them all on my arms Tetris-style

4. I don’t need stuff — I just rinse with water and brown paper towels

5. I only shower outside; the rain is my shower

ANSWERS

1. If you answered mostly “1,” you’re Hobson College: You are the future. People will be glad for you to be a part of campus. You will facilitate many meaningful connections.

2. If you answered mostly “2,” you’re the Engineering Complex: You are always drowning in p-sets and your first year was purely pre-reqs. At least you know the hard work is worth it and you’re guaranteed a job.

3. If you answered mostly “3,” you’re the Art Museum: You are the center of attention. You’re the first one up every morning, and you make sure everyone knows it. You have so much beauty to offer the world, if they can only wait a few years for it to emerge.

4. If you answered mostly “4,” you’re the Dillon Gym renovation: You have commitment to renovating your physique, despite the inconvenience. You’re super into squash, but, like, in a cool way. You embody the principles of Princeton Builds Wellness.

5. If you answered mostly “5,” you’re the Geo-Exchange Projects: People may find you hard to keep track of, but you’re just doing your best to know what’s going on in every corner of this campus. Despite your haters, you can sleep well knowing you’re doing your best to live a sustainable lifestyle.

Hum r

Princeton University accepts 0.00% of applicants to Class of 2027

By Lauren Owens Humor Contributor

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional.

On Thursday, March 30, the date known as “Ivy Day,” high school seniors around the world waited with bated breath for the 7 p.m. EST notification: “there has been an update to your application portal.” Very few applicants were met with an offer of admission to an Ivy League university, and fewer still were given the option to choose between multiple of these prestigious schools. But they all had something in common. Not a single one was accepted to Princeton University.

In denying admission to 100 percent of students who submitted applications, Princeton makes history as the first university to have an entirely equal acceptance rate across all demographic groups. The admission department is currently celebrating the success of its new procedures.

“Admissions are tricky, so we’re really excited about this development,” said Dean of Admissions Nowuns Gudenuf. “By refraining from opening up any spots in the Great Class of 2027, Princeton can guarantee that every student was treated equally no matter the privileges or disad-

vantages that their pasts have afforded them.”

Assistant Admissions Officer Saul Ek Tivity added, “It’s a thrill to see our acceptance rate drop head and shoulders below our peer institutions. I feel honored to be part of making this University truly one of the best in the country. Take that, Harvard!”

Dean of Admissions at Harvard College, Ani-joe Shmoe, points out, “at least we actually have an acceptance rate.”

However, in an attempt to maintain its standing with Harvard, Yale, the Beverly Hills High School, Hogwarts, and Monsters University, and their goal to continue to produce future famous alumni, the University has decided to grant honorary 2027 bachelor’s degrees to a handful of promising young people, including Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Schnapp, Dean Jill Dolan, Princess Charlotte of Wales, and the ghost of Louisa May Alcott.

“We believe the accomplishments of this astonishing group will far outweigh anything that 2027 hopefuls could have contributed,” said Tivity. “No offense. They’ll be happier at Northwestern anyway.”

The choice to follow through with this program of zero percent acceptance was made quite recently, according to sources familiar with the situation. As a result,

Thesis Fairies facing extinction due to lack of faith

By Liana Slomka Head Humor Editor

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional.

As thesis deadlines approach, more and more members of the Class of 2023 have put words to their fears that nothing anyone can do will help them produce a well-written, novel piece of research that they can feel proud to present. Thesis fairies — underclass students tasked with providing treats to seniors as they sink deeper into despair and hopelessness — say they are worried the lack of faith may be their ruin.

As was discovered by J.M. Barrie in 1904, a fairy dies each time a child says they do not believe in fairies.

“I was with my friend Emerald in Spelman to deliver some fresh fruit and a Tico’s smoothie,” Acacia Honeyblossom ’26 said. “We had just knocked on the door when we heard this great sigh from inside. The senior said, ‘Keep your f*cking snacks. My f*cking code just crashed. Nothing matters anymore!’ And just like that, Emerald fell to the ground, dead.”

Another fairy, Bramble Betterstream ’25, told The Daily PrintsAnything that when his friend, Thistle Jumpyglow ’25, sent an email asking her assigned senior where to meet him with a fidget spinner and a box of Milano’s, he responded saying, “Don’t bother. I have to write a 35-page chapter in the next 24 minutes. Respectfully, I know a more useful place you can put the fidget spinner.”

Betterstream said that upon opening the email response, Jumpyglow grew

faint and crumpled onto her bed. However, the fairies say their chief concern is not their own well-being but that of the seniors.

“The metamorphoses amongst the seniors make me feel crestfallen,” said Honeyblossom, who was close friends with her assigned senior prior to becoming his Thesis Fairy.

“He used to be brimming with joy and optimism. His smile could make butterflies dance on a misty day. But now, he’s holed up either in his room or at the E-Quad or the Firestone C floor, and I fear I’ll never hear his magnificent laugh again!”

Woods Poplarspark ’25, president of the Thesis Fairies Association (TFA), expressed the importance of the TFA’s work:

“Whether it is reasonable to groom undergraduates to feel unworthy and inadequate — if they can’t impress a seasoned academic who spent a year ignoring their emails or produce a publishable paper after just a few months of work — is not our problem. But if we can brighten the spirits of just one soon-to-be unemployed person by providing them with Twizzlers and a boba tea — well, then we will have succeeded as fairies.”

Poplarspark could not respond to the question of whether he thought it reasonable to ask seniors to pay for the binding of their thesis because he had fallen abruptly to the floor.

Liana Slomka is a co-head Humor editor and a senior whose thesis-related stress dreams have gotten more and more similar to her waking reality.

large envelopes containing orange and black confetti were sent in March to the homes of students admitted through Early Action in December, letting them know that their admission had been revoked.

Dod Hall

By Paige Min | Staff

Lauren Owens is a sophomore Humor writer who thinks Princeton’s new admissions policies are only further proof of her long-held theory that first-years don’t exist.

LOUISA GHEORGHITA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

DAILY PRINCETONIAN STAFF

The general increase in despondency pervading campus is cause for concern for Princeton’s Thesis Fairy population.

Cartoonist

This Week in Photos

Blossoming Spring

This week, students photographed spring scenes across campus.

By Jean Shin, Louisa Gheorghita, Aarushi Adlakha, and Zehao Wu

Head Photo Editors & Photo Contributors

“H oppy S pring”

By Juliet Corless & Joah Macosko Associate Puzzles Editor & Head Puzzles Editor

1 Prepare in advance of a marathon,

2 Comfortable clothing worn at home

3 Bengals' home

4 Singer of "Don't Lose Ur Head" in "SIX"

5 Kicking oneself over

6 Masterful

7 "___ Shop (2012 Macklemore song)"

27 "Little Women" actress Ronan

42

31

32

35

40

For climate, we need construction everywhere, all at once

Alex Norbrook

Contributing columnist

For the unprecedented clean energy transition before us, the world will need to build an unfathomable amount of infrastructure at extraordinary speeds. Over the next three decades in America, we will witness wind turbines being erected at a breakneck pace, solar farms cropping up seemingly out of nowhere, and transmission lines shooting across the country as we muster every available resource to decarbonize as soon as possible. The United States will be a country under construction like never before – impacting our lives in potentially disruptive ways.

Put simply, we aren’t ready for that impact yet. Because many of us in the Orange Bubble weren’t used to living with disruption prior to the recent increase in on-campus construction, the ramp-up towards mass infrastructure buildout will likely be an uncomfortable adjustment — one that has already caused quite a few complaints on campus. But this story needs to change: the national effort to reach net-zero emissions is exciting in its ambition, and presents a much-needed shift in how we power our lives. Princeton’s own energy transition gives us an opportunity to recognize that inspiring larger transition.

To reach its net-zero goal by 2046, Princeton is undergoing a process of rapid decarbonization. The Uni-

versity is deploying solar panels, tightening building efficiency, and phasing out its fossil-fuel-powered heating and cooling infrastructure in favor of a renewable — and highly efficient — geo-exchange system. Geo-exchange will mostly replace the current 15-megawatt cogeneration plant on campus and slash energy input for heating and cooling by up to 80 percent. To build out the needed infrastructure for this project, Princeton is ripping up campus to snake 13 miles of hot water pipes between buildings and to drill thousands of 850-foot-deep boreholes into the bedrock below Princeton. This has likely not gone unnoticed; the drilling, pounding, and digging can hardly be ignored on the walk to class.

Justifiably, this construction has garnered a lot of student criticism, especially because geo-exchange construction sites accompany a slew of other University construction projects that aren’t related to netzero infrastructure. Together, these projects make campus feel like one giant construction zone. But even in isolation, the sunken channels cutting through the paths near Frist or by Whitman don’t garner much sympathy – for good reason. These sites make walking outside unpleasant: they’re noisy, they block views, and they can make students feel like the University doesn’t care about their experiences.

Princeton can undoubtedly do more to minimize these nuisances. But we students have a responsibil-

ity, too: we must begin to recognize the importance of the construction of renewable infrastructure because the success of our decarbonization sprint depends upon it. While the current geo-exchange construction seems large-scale, it is only a small taste of what’s to come.

Our mindset around renewable infrastructure projects must change as soon as possible because we’re about to build these projects on a scale and speed unheard of in most people’s lifetimes. Princeton’s own Net Zero America Project presents us with a sense of that scale. The study — though funded by BP and Exxon — set out five compelling technological pathways that America could take to reach net zero emissions by 2050. In one of these scenarios, it is estimated that we will need to assemble the equivalent of two 400-megawatt solar farms every week for the next 30 years. Each of these solar farms would take up the land area of 130 Tokyo Olympic stadiums — around 10 square miles.

That’s just scratching the surface. By 2050, a scenario which heavily relies on wind and solar charges the nation to bring online 47 gigawatts of solar energy and 51 gigawatts of wind, each and every year (for reference, the most solar we’ve ever built in a year was a paltry 10 gigawatts; for wind, 15 gigawatts). In short, we will need to put the pedal to the metal and blow past renewable energy construction records each year, every year, for decades to come.

These solar and wind projects will have an enormous impact on the landscape. The most cost-effective of the Princeton study’s scenarios expects us to construct enough wind infrastructure to span a visual footprint the size of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee put together (an important caveat: a wind farm’s visual footprint includes all of the area around each wind turbine, which commonly is around 75 acres per turbine, so while wind turbines are themselves relatively small, when spread out they can span vast distances). In the same scenario, we’ll have to install enough solar panels to cover an area equivalent to Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts combined. In another pathway to net-zero, Net Zero America estimates that by 2050, we could have to cover up to 14 percent of the country with wind and solar farms. Fourteen percent: over 530,000 square miles!

These farms won’t just appear overnight, we need to build them. That requires a staggering amount of construction all over the country. We must be ready for it. The mindset we take on towards renewable infrastructure construction at Princeton will define the extent to which we are prepared for the wave of critical construction in the decades ahead.

Princeton’s geo-exchange project provides us with the opportunity to make this narrative shift. If we perpetuate a negative mindset towards the project today, we compromise our acceptance of renewable build-

out tomorrow. But if we change the narrative, if we let geo-exchange become a source of pride (or accomplishment, at least), we will allow the net-zero energy transition to happen at the blistering pace required.

This is not to say we can’t continue to voice criticism; in fact, we must scrutinize each and every renewable project and be vocal with our criticism to avoid the environmental injustices of previous energy transitions which disproportionately endangered low-income communities and communities of color. At Princeton, that’s why calls from students to increase two-way channels of communication between the University and students and build in transparency to the construction process are so important: constructive criticism like this will help to build accountability and ensure a just and equitable transition moving forward.

We don’t have to thrill at the bulldozers, cranes, and fences necessary for renewable infrastructure projects. But if we appreciate that every green construction site we see brings us one step closer to a climate-safe future, we might just stand a chance of meeting the challenge ahead of us.

Contributing columnist Alex Norbrook (he/him) is a first-year from Baltimore, Md., intending to major in anthropology or politics. He can be reached at alexnorbrook@princeton.edu.

Letter to the Editor: Calling all candidates, USG wants you!

Alex Sorgini Guest Contributor

To the Editor: It’s election season again on campus, and I write to urge candidates to run for Undergraduate Student Government (USG).

The role of USG on campus is too often underestimated. As USG President Stephen Daniels ’24 wrote in his own Daily Princetonian article when he was a U-Councilor in December 2021, “the Senate is an important voice on things that matter to students, whether that be grading policies … dining, or Lawnparties.” Further, the Senate has created the Pay with Points initiative while also advocating for students’ mental health and campus safety concerns. All this, however, is only a small sample of everything that USG does for the student body. USG is a place

where students can advocate for student needs and work towards real change for campus life. Students should thus take advantage of this opportunity and apply.

USG is open to any and all students — it is not only for SPIA or politics majors. USG aims to represent the entire undergraduate student body; it needs your unique, diverse perspectives.

There are 10 USG U-Councilor positions up for election this cycle, as well as Class Government officer positions for the Classes of 2026, 2025, and 2024.

A brief description of the UCouncilor role: Each member will “exercise leadership in all activities affecting the life of all undergraduates of Princeton University and represent the interests of all undergraduates. The primary function of a U-Councilor is to discuss, deliberate, and vote on questions relating to or affecting

undergraduate life. Additionally, U-Councilors work to advance USG initiatives by serving on committees and serving as voting members of the USG Senate throughout their term. U-Councilors are expected to participate in the weekly USG Senate meetings, attend meetings of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), and collaborate directly with administrators and trustees in subcommittees.”

The elections for U-Councilors in particular provide a unique opportunity for potential candidates. These races use a system of approval voting, meaning voters can select as many candidates as they like, and the 10 candidates who receive the most votes will be chosen. With this system, you don’t need to necessarily worry about appealing to the largest number of voters possible; if your perspectives and ideas resonate with enough people, you can be elected a member of the USG Senate.

If there is an issue that you are passionate about that you feel is under-covered by the student government and you think others feel the same way, I highly encourage you to run for office.

So what exactly does the election process entail? The first step is to attend one of three rules meetings with the Elections team next week. These are scheduled for Tuesday, March 28; Wednesday, March 29; and Thursday, March 30. The meetings will be short (around 30 minutes), and attending does not obligate you to continue with the elections process.

After the rules meeting, the petition process begins. For a U-Councilor, you need to gather 50 signatures from fellow undergraduates. While this may seem daunting at first, USG passed reforms last semester that now allow for digital petitioning and collection of signatures.

With enough signatures, your candidacy will be approved! From there, the campaigning period begins, and you have a whole week to spread your message and vision for the future of the campus community. After those seven days are up, the student body has three days to vote and make its voice heard. Still not convinced? Feel free to reach out to usgvote@princeton. edu with any questions or concerns. If you would like to know more about the role of a U-Councilor or Class Officer, send a message to that email address, and we can get you in touch with those who have previously held those roles. We look forward to hearing from you!

Alex Sorgini ’26 is the Chief Elections Manager for USG. He can be reached at usgvote@princeton.edu.

Princeton needs to up our composting effort

Noah Eshaghpour-Silberman

Contributing columnist

One of the biggest surprises I found upon arriving on Princeton’s campus was the lack of composting on campus. Growing up in San Francisco, I had access to a world-class composting system, and sorting leftover food into its own bin was just the norm. When done right, composting is not a lefty gimmick from California: it has the power to reduce waste, lower carbon emissions, and reduce landfill waste. Since coming to campus, it has pained me to not have an adequate and accessible composting option; every time I see a trash can, I think there should be a compost bin next to it. If the University genuinely wants to reduce its carbon footprint, composting needs to be taken seriously.

Princeton’s current approach to sustainability is to slow-walk when there is no need to do so. The campus’ Sustainability Action Plan proposes a net-zero campus by 2046. Net-zero, which includes all greenhouse gasses, not just carbon diox-

ide, does not get us all the way to carbon neutral. Furthermore, there is no clear vision for reducing food waste, when the University’s own research finds that “composting organic waste versus landfilling it can reduce more than 50% of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.” Instead of leading by example in the fight against climate change, making this effort a top priority alongside issues such as constructing the new SEAS complex, the University aims to be carbon neutral by Princeton’s 300th anniversary, purely for the sake of having a symbolic date. Yet substantially contributing to the effort to lower emissions is well within Princeton’s power: with a roughly $1,000,000 capital investment, we could considerably reduce waste and the University could put a significant dent into its carbon footprint.

Visitors to all residential college dining halls as well as Frist Campus Center will find composting options available. However, only collections from Frist and retail dining locations are being composted here on campus. The rest is diverted to a facility called Trenton Biogas, run

by a company called Trenton Renewables that uses the food waste to produce biogas fuel, a highly potent greenhouse gas made up of mostly methane and carbon dioxide. Whereas Princeton’s processing facility emphasizes creating compost, the Trenton Biogas facility focuses on the production of methane from compost and then selling the compost as a side business. The University is therefore using compost operations to counterintuitively harm the planet by potentially contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

I recently had the privilege of visiting Princeton’s current composting plant to better understand how the system works and can be improved. Currently, the S.C.R.A.P. Lab has one machine with the capacity to turn roughly 3000 pounds of food waste into nutrient-rich soil per week and is operated by student workers overseen by the office of sustainability. The food waste produced by Frist takes up almost all of this capacity, bringing in almost 2000 pounds. Why don’t we have machines to process the waste from each residential college dining hall and all dining options on campus?

Currently, the only thing preventing the University from expanding composting operations besides a desire to fund this expansion is a lack of drive. The University should have no problem investing in this infrastructure considering how much our campus likes to build.

Nassau Hall’s motto seems to be: the more construction projects the merrier! However, the larger issue is a lack of interest to address these issues. On my tour, representatives from the Office of Sustainability stated that the University has been focused on piloting the composting efforts. But emphasizing such an extensive pilot on an issue that has already been addressed and successfully implemented by plenty of municipalities, both red and blue, lacks justification.

While integrating the waste from residential dining halls into the S.C.R.A.P. Lab only represents the start to a robust campus composting operation that could soon help the entire campus reduce waste; this is a pragmatic and measurable way for the University to reduce its carbon footprint relatively quickly. Following an investment in addi-

tional machinery, the only challenge would be increasing staffing. My hope is that this can happen within the next year and be followed by the installation of compost bins alongside trash cans throughout campus including residential college trash rooms and campus walkways. The University’s action shapes our ability to make individual choices.

It’s time that we start educating our campus to take care of our world through actions in our everyday lives that can create a more sustainable planet. Being Princetonians in the Service of Humanity means taking simple actions in service of the land, flora and fauna — from microorganisms to birds — with whom we share this home. Our actions must go beyond furthering our intellectual pursuits. We must also seek to become better citizens by focusing on creating a healthier world.

Noah Eshaghpour-Silberman is a member of the Class of 2026. He is an opinion columnist from San Francisco planning to study in the School of Public and International Affairs. He can be reached at noahes@princeton.edu

Celebrating and centering disability

Tess Weinreich Associate News Editor

This letter opened the ‘Prince’s Disability Awareness Month special issue

It’s less than ideal that I’m writing this. As a non-disabled person, I hesitate to speak (or write) for the disabled community. In doing so, I can’t help but feel as though I am perpetuating a long, problematic history of non-disabled people calling the shots, and, in doing so, drowning out disabled voices that could represent such issues more accurately. It’s a tradition I don’t care to carry on. Still, literacy in disability justice can be a rarity. Perhaps especially so at an institution like Princeton, which does not offer a formalized program in disability studies. The campus is full of buildings that predate the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act by almost two centuries. We’re built on a hill — which poses difficulties for those with mobility related disabilities. Moreover, the University is portrayed in a none-too flattering light in an essay written by activist Harriet McBryde Johnson, prominently featured in Alice Wong’s widely read anthology “Disability Visibility.” Our data team just reported that only 92 of 170 campus buildings are entirely wheelchair accessible and that 17 buildings remain entirely inaccessible. When it comes to accessibility, I fear our school has a bad reputation.

I refuse to be a fatalist. The landscape can be leveled, buildings renovated or razed, and curriculums developed. Scouring course offerings for the keywords “accessibility,” “access,” or “disability,” I’ve witnessed increased academic interest in the field firsthand: “American Deaf Culture,” “Introduction to Radical Access: Disability Justice in the Arts,” and “Disability Justice,” all new courses in the last two years, come

to mind.

At Princeton, I’m often subjected to well-intentioned questioning about my passion for disability justice. I’ve gotten funny looks for the sticker on my iPhone case, which reads, “Your ableism is showing.” (In fact, it’s a covert conversation escape hatch — a simple point to the sticker allows me to call out ableism in conversation without making things too awkward). People assume, at times, that someone in my family must be disabled, or that I have a hidden disability myself — neither is the case.

This assumption strikes me as odd, or at least idiosyncratic. For other marginalized groups at Princeton (such as women, BIPOC or LGBTQ+ students, etc.), allyship is normalized, even expected in many circles. Why then, does my support for disability justice seem to demand explanation?

Here’s the true story about why I care: in middle school — a time when I claimed precious few close friends — a local Little League baseball team for individuals with disabilities provided me with a crucial sense of community. The disabled community embraced and protected me at my most vulnerable. As someone privileged in an ableist world, I’m doing my best to return the favor.

My connection to the disability community may seem banal, and sometimes dissatisfactory for those who were expecting me to share a heart-wrenching story of the tidal impact disability has had on me or my loved one. If that’s what you were expecting from this letter, I’m sorry to disappoint.

I hope that this issue will not require explanation. In my view, the stories within it speak for themselves. Disability is pertinent, worthy of coverage in News, Data, Features, Opinion, Prospect, Sports, Podcast, and every other section of our publication. Not just for a special issue, and not just in March during

Disability Awareness Month, but always.

In this issue you will hear from disabled voices directly, such as Naomi Hess’ stand-out reflection on an encounter with ableism on campus, or Michael Barnes’ thoughts on how his own experience with disability influences his work as the inaugural Director of Campus Accessibility. Other stories will be told from a non-disabled perspective, such as Sophie Glaser’s profile remembering recently-deceased disability rights activist Judy Heumann, shedding light on the many special connections Heumann had to the Princeton community. All of these stories aim to celebrate and center disability — a topic continuously marginalized in our society.

Journalism and disability do not go hand-in-hand naturally at first glance. The former is a world of tight deadlines and a rigid “way of do-

ing things,” the latter is one that at its core, values doing things at your own pace and in your own way. It takes special care and sometimes a bit of extra work to accommodate both. I want to recognize the team that has worked with deftness and flexibility to compile the issue these past few weeks.

Then again, what is journalism if not amplifying the voices of those whose stories generally do not get told? Now completed, this issue will hopefully prompt institutions and individuals across campus to look inward in consideration of accessibility — including The Daily Princetonian, an organization I call home. As we publish this issue, we at the ‘Prince’ must live with the uncomfortable knowledge that our once-robust accessibility working group is at a point of flux, struggling to secure new long term leadership. In its heyday, the working group

implemented text to speech functionality for our articles published online and supported the updating of our house style guide to reflect informed and inclusive language.

Cross-movement solidarity is one of ten core tenets of disability justice. In that spirit, I’ll echo the words of Eden Teshome, lead project manager for our Black Voices Special Issue published in December. Concluding her own reflection on the project, she extends the promise that “this time will not be the last” for discussion of Black issues in the ‘Prince.’ As far as I’m concerned, the same goes for disability. There’s so much more work, more writing, and more reporting to be done.

Tess Weinreich is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Princeton should support student-led clubs as essential to building community

Tim Frawley Guest Contributor

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

Ifell in love with rugby when I decided to quit baseball and drive three towns over to try out a new sport during my senior year of high school.

Once I got my first taste of the beautiful chaos that is rugby, I was instantly hooked on the adrenaline, teamwork, and culture of respect that define the sport. When I came to Princeton, my experience with rugby was far more than just the practices and 80 non-stop minutes on Saturdays. The club brought together students from all backgrounds and walks of life to bond as one community. Playing on that team, and co-captaining it during my senior year, ended up being one of the most important parts of my Princeton experience.

To some people, club sports may appear as just a way to stay active and have fun, but to everyone who has played a club sport, they are so much more. They are a couch to

crash on when traveling, an inside joke at your 10th reunion, a phone call to a struggling teammate, and a community that reminds you that you belong at Princeton.

Student-led clubs and communities are essential to the Princeton experience and what makes this school so special. These clubs are incredibly effective at knitting new students into the social fabric that will support them and allow them to support others at Princeton.

Princeton has a pool of some of the best and brightest minds in the world, and when given the space to flourish, students can create and maintain pockets of a beautiful culture. These spaces allow students to feel a real sense of ownership, belonging, and responsibility. Yet, some clubs have found it difficult to bounce back from COVID-19 and flourish in the current campus climate. The post-COVID-19 treatment of club sports highlights gaps in the University’s approach to student life — the administration should shift from a top-down approach to one that seeks to support student groups and utilize student feedback to organically foster community.

Over the past years, events and policies have made it more difficult for club sports to attract students and provide meaningful leadership opportunities. With rugby, for example, a long clearance process combined with restricted field access due to construction has limited our ability to recruit new players and play full seasons. We have not been able to play our first games until the end of September or the early weeks of October, by which time all other Ivies and schools in the region are a quarter to a third through their fall seasons. Ultimate Frisbee no longer has regular access to grass fields and instead has to practice on more injury-prone turf fields during the night, which conflicts with meals and typical study times. Other sports have been impacted such as club baseball, which did not have access to a baseball field during my senior year after their last field was removed for new athletic facilities. These are just a few examples and, generally, clubs have struggled with poor school administration communication, late practice times, and scarce resources. These challenges became especially

acute immediately after remote school during COVID-19 when club sports were not allowed to practice in any capacity for much of the year, hurting recruitment and the knowledge transfer from graduating seniors to younger classes. Although Princeton dedicates vast resources to its undergraduates, those resources could be used more effectively. Princeton has a large administration with one of the highest ratios of employees to students in the country.

A 2018 article from The Chronicle of Higher Education found Princeton had 74.2 full-time managers per 1,000 students, seventh in the nation for non-profit four-year institutions. This number was second only to Yale in the Ivy League at 81.4. Penn was a distant third at 55.3. The median for 931 colleges was 14.4. Recently, Princeton created another position within residential colleges, residential life coordinators, to help foster community and belonging. However, a top-down approach with a heavy emphasis on administrative control is unlikely to bear fruit because students will still struggle to find community and support without student leadership. I would argue that the larger University-controlled residential colleges with random placement and muted identities have failed to cultivate the same sense of belonging and culture as smaller institutions with more student leadership such as the eating clubs and co-ops. Although Princeton’s campus life strategic plan for 2020–2025 heavily emphasizes positives such as service and inclusion, student leadership is referenced just once with the phrase “student-led initiatives” in a general mission statement.

Clubs are only briefly mentioned.

The well-being of the undergraduate community has far-reaching impacts, from future career oppor-

tunities to the mental and physical health of students. Unfortunately, I think the state of student life has steadily deteriorated, at least during my time at Princeton. While this complex problem will have complex solutions, a crucial component is the ability of students to support and connect with each other. No one is better equipped to understand the needs of Princeton students than other Princeton students. I cannot count how many teammates have said that rugby got them through Princeton, and this sentiment was echoed by many students I talked to in other clubs.

With so much “new” on campus, I hope the Princeton administration can support the sub-cultures that have developed over decades and provide the space for new ones to grow. These fragile communities are vastly harder to rebuild than to maintain. Truly empowered student-led communities will be messy, and there will be mistakes. However, I firmly believe the learning opportunities and space for ownership are valuable to the students and the long-term health of Princeton’s community. To the administration, I hope that you can understand the concerns that I have raised and consider meaningful shifts in your approach toward working with student clubs and leaders. Policies and decisions must stay grounded in the very human experiences students have each day at Princeton that cannot be fully captured by statistics or a U.S. News ranking. To the current students, I hope you all can continue to support each other and do amazing work. I’m humbled to think I attended a school with so many smart and dynamic people, and I encourage you to make those commitments to clubs and culture.

Tim Frawley is a member of the Class of 2022. He can be reached at timfrawley20@gmail.com.

JEAN SHIN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Rather than completely reconstructing the entrances around the school, signs now direct people to an alternative, more accessible entrances.

cial card within six inches of the sensor.” Student members of the committee voiced their opposition to the pilot due to the program’s high costs and the focus on door locks over campus lighting.

One notable opponent was Ted Cruz ’92, who served on the Campus Safety Committee at the time. Cruz noted that the program focused on violent assault over date rape on campus and feared that students would find ways to evade the door locks. Others took to the pages of the ‘Prince’ to write about their concerns. Eric Tilenius ’90 wrote, “we said we wanted the campus lit up, not locked up.”

In a Letter to the Editor, Melissa Weiler ’90 wrote, “For too many years this campus’s poor lighting has been a cause of great and legitimate concern, particularly for campus women. Various groups have lobbied the administration for improved lighting only to be granted meager, ineffectual concessions.”

The University began electronically locking Mathey and Rockefeller College dormitory entryways in 1991, a project that cost the University $700,000. Nowadays, students must scan their University ID card — commonly referred to as a prox — to access stu-

dent dormitories. Cameras appear in the ’90s

In March of 1997, campus crime rates at Princeton exceeded the national average, with rates of burglary rising by 87 percent between 1994 and 1996. The following October, Princeton announced that it would keep dorms locked 24 hours a day, accessible only by prox, mirroring the locking systems of several of its peer institutions.

In 1998, an editorial in the ‘Prince’ revealed plans by the then-serving Public Safety Crime Prevention Specialist to install security cameras in “parking lots and other high crime areas.” The editorial condemned the measure, writing that “if the initiative is implemented, the University will enter a new era of surveillance.”

While the piece acknowledged the push for more campus safety, it also raised questions similar to those raised today: “Public Safety needs to spell out their camera policy: Where will these cameras be placed? What constitutes a high crime area? What crimes will the use of these cameras target?”

The piece concluded with a warning to the University community, writing: “The plan is born of good intentions, but Public Safety should remain wary of setting up a campus where Big Brother has a wide win -

dow into students’ lives.”

Surveillance after the PATRIOT Act

A 2003 ‘Prince’ article traced the rise in concerns about privacy at peer institutions following the passage of the PATRIOT Act, which vastly expanded the powers of American law enforcement to engage in domestic electronic surveillance. Cornell students called attention to the monitoring of a private mailing list at the University of New Hampshire that led to a student protest being shut down.

Only a few years later at Princeton, students reacted with concern when the Department of Public Safety (DPS) revealed that it had used Facebook accounts in some of its investigations of student misconduct in 2006. DPS’s deputy director initially denied the claims that the department had used Facebook posts, saying that “it’s like Big Brother watching you and we don’t really operate that way.”

The department later revealed that it had used Facebook to “follow investigative leads” to find pictures, cell phone numbers, and other publicly-available information posted by students.

In one Letter to the Editor, Stephen Kerns ’09 wrote, “Though I find the intrusion an outright violation of our privacy, what I find most reprehensible about the situation is the dishonest and deceitful manner in

which Deputy Director of Public Safety, Charles Davall, has responded to the issue.”

DPS announced guidelines for its usage of Facebook in March of 2006, which stated that officers could “continue to use Facebook as a supplementary source for investigations,” but were prohibited from searching the site “parties or other activities” and prohibited from “identifying themselves as students in their Facebook accounts.”

After these guidelines were made public, the ‘Prince’ editorial board wrote that despite privacy concerns, “these guidelines properly balance student concerns about privacy with Public Safety’s need to have effective crime fighting tools at its disposal.”

Today’s conversations

In March of this year, Director of Campus Safety and Health Kelly States commented during a USG meeting to members of the campus lighting working group that lighting decisions are “complicated.” This comment came months after the University had committed to new security measures: to restrict access to residential college common areas, “enhance campus lighting,” and “expand a security camera program.”

The University’s initial announcement relating to security cameras and lighting came only a few weeks after the passing

of Misrach Ewunetie ’24. During an intensive fiveday search while Ewunetie was missing, a lack of information prompted many to consider campus safety practices. Ewunetie’s death was not ruled a suicide until December.

Soon afterwards, proposals to add security cameras to campus became a topic of debate, with views both in support and against it. Supporters cited recent incidents on campus, while detractors raised the potential for surveillance.

On March 8, the University announced that it would implement security cameras on “exterior doorways in undergraduate residential college buildings and dorms” by Fall of 2023. This announcement did not include any updates relating to campus lighting.

During the March USG meeting, States commented that the University has to consider additional lighting with “competing priorities” relating to sustainability, light pollution, and research.

Seth Kahn ’25, a member of Students for Prison Reform, Education, and Abolition (SPEAR) wrote an email to the ‘Prince’ about his reaction to the announcement of security camera installations.

“When I heard about the security camera installation, I immediately thought about surveillance in the modern world. Modern surveillance technology has enormous potential for harm, especially around the related expansion of policing and the dangers of facial recognition,” Kahn wrote.

Like students in the ’80s, Kahn would prefer an emphasis on lighting.

“I have not met a single student who does not want increased lighting, but the University has made it clear that their priority is cameras, not lighting,” Kahn wrote.

On April 2, during a USG Senate meeting, Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun and Assistant Vice President for Public Safety Ken Strother took questions on security camera and lighting initiatives on campus.

When asked about the University’s expanded ability to potentially surveil students through these cameras and whether the University would expand or change its policies in the future, Calhoun responded that although she could not speak to decisions by future committee members, “there is no intention of having these become surveillance.”

“We don’t intend to surveil our community, our students or otherwise,” Calhoun said.

Sophie Glaser is an assistant Features editor and staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’

Kahn: “I have not met a single student who does not want increased lighting, but the University has made it clear that their priority is cameras, not lighting”

‘Creating the world you want to see’: Princeton student advocates for removal of George Santos from office

By Raphaela Gold Staff Features Writer

“Mr. Speaker, you can end this madness right now,” said Aidan Davis ’26 on the steps of Congress in early February, as quoted in a CBS News article.

Davis, a resident of New York’s third congressional district which is represented by Congressman George Santos, has been active in calling for Santos’s removal from office.

In recent months, Santos has faced various allegations of fraud, including lying on his resume, deceiving the public about his personal life, and being unable to account for various expenditures throughout his career.

Following these discoveries, Long Island resident Jody Kass Finkel founded Concerned Citizens of NY-03 (CC-03). This non-partisan, ad hoc group comprises constituents from New York’s third congressional district of Nassau County, Long Island, N.Y. The group organizes around a clear goal: getting George Santos removed from office.

Long Island residents, including current Princeton students and alumni, have linked arms as part of this organization.

Davis, an active participant in Princeton College Democrats, is a leader in CC-03 and manages the group’s social media. Davis is involved because of his belief in the importance of removing Santos from office and restoring “proper representation to New York 3.”

As a student at Princeton, Davis faces different challenges than the rest of the group in terms of balancing his activism with life at Princeton, struggles which he discussed in-depth in a recent op-ed in the Daily Princetonian.

“The main steering committee is mostly adults. I’m the only kid there, which is one of the reasons why I help run social media,” Davis said.

According to Davis, all citizens, regardless of political affiliation, should be invested in Santos’s removal. “The George Santos that the people elected wasn’t real,” he said. “He misrepresented his background to such a degree that we don’t even know if George Santos is his real name.”

Emily Raphael, a Long Island resident member of the group’s steering committee, emphasized the non-partisan nature of the group: “This is not about attacking Santos because a Republican was elected; it’s about his unfitness for office. And what we’re specifically about is getting him out of there.”

CC-03 published its first press release on Jan. 2, calling for other members of the district and beyond to join them in their fight. Since then, CC03 has spoken with numerous local representatives and pressured members of the New York Republican delegation to urge for Santos’s expulsion. The group has attended press conferences with Congressman Ritchie Torres, Congressman Dan Goldman, and other local leaders in the district.

On Tuesday, Feb. 7, the group took a bus to D.C. to deliver a petition with approximately 1500 signatures to House offices.

They were denied by both Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Congressman Santos’s offices. The constituents also called for Santos’s immediate removal, standing on the steps of Congress. Thus far, CC-03’s campaign has succeeded in attracting significant attention and support.

While the group’s steering committee is composed of only 11 district members, its Facebook page has over 900 followers, many of whom are involved participants. The group has also received attention from the media, including CBS News.

Like Raphael, Davis noted the extensive media coverage the group has received. “The images of us, 50 of Santos’s constituents in the halls of the house office buildings, were striking. We got a lot of media coverage on that,” he said.

Davis wants students to know that it’s “important to be active in creating the world you want to see and fighting for your representation.” He noted that Americans are becoming increasingly anxious about systems of democracy in an era of “weakening social fabric across the board.”

More recently, the group has been working on a postcard campaign to raise awareness about Santos across the country and garner support.

Eli Lefcowitz, who graduated from Georgetown University in 2022 with a degree in Political Science and Government, is another young person who has been heavily involved in CC-03.

The group is intergenerational, though Lefcowitz noted that younger people have been less heavily involved. “They’re a lot more apathetic,” said Lefcowitz. “So it is my job to try to convince them that … apathy is not an ideology.”

Rather than chastising youth for being politically inactive, Lefcowitz attempts to show them simple ways to push for change and described the George Santos controversy as the perfect cause around which young people can activate.

Princeton alumnus Alan Klinger ’78 and his wife Susan Wagner have also played major roles in CC-03. Both are New York-based lawyers who have held various positions in the public sector and have been politically active since college.

Klinger and Wagner also spoke out against political apathy on college campuses. Klinger noted, “It’s important that people realize that your college years are special … There’s more to college life than just the classes you take and the grades you get.”

Klinger explained that he hardly remembers an Anthropology class he took in college,

but distinctly recalls the sit-in outside of Nassau Hall in response to the South African apartheid in the 1970s.

“I know that grades can be very important depending on what you want to do next, but people shouldn’t let that be the be-all and end-all of their college experiences,” Klinger added.

Wagner agreed that students must make time for activism, even in their busy academic

and extracurricular schedules.

Wagner noted that when she was in college, “activism was considered for certain people who were interested in it, and it’s what we used to call ‘radical.’” In today’s world, however, Wagner does not think politics can be a “spectator sport.”

Speaking to students, she said, “Your generation can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. You have to be activists because as soon as

you get out of college and grad school, the real world is going to hit you, and you have to really care what kind of environment you raise your children in.”

As Davis put it, “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but it’s important.”

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

COURTESY OF AIDAN DAVIS ’26.

the PROSPECT.

PPop Up returns in top-notch form

By Claire Shin Head Prospect Editor

About a year ago, then-writer and now-Associate Editor for The Prospect Joshua Yang ‘25 wrote a stellar article about the first iteration of Princeton Pop Up, a fine dining experience run by and for Princeton students. The review was so fantastic I had to try it for myself. Luckily for me, the pop-up restaurant returned for a second iteration, a $48 eight-course tasting menu called Ember.

I joined a group of six students, presumably fast clickers on Instagram, who assembled at Wawa at 4:50 p.m., where we were driven by a chef, still wearing his apron, to a graduate student complex about ten minutes from Princeton. The makeshift restaurant was inside a small apartment that seemed less organized than I would have liked — by the entrance, there was a haphazard pile of cardboard boxes filled with what seemed to be kitchen utensils.

I sat down with the other guests at a large dining table in the living room, where our seats were marked by name cards. I could see the inside of the kitchen from where I sat. I really felt that I was in someone else’s home, which might have been part of the quirk of attending a college student-run pop-up dining experience.

There were only two chefs in the kitchen and no waiters, a much smaller team than I thought. One of the chefs came out and poured us boricha, a traditional Korean barley tea that tasted pretty standard. They added a little flair by sprinkling grains into the water, which dissolved in the tea but did not add much to the taste, in my opinion. I took a look at the menu: a simple, hand-written list of Korean dishes that might have seemed exotic and interesting to a non-Korean speaker. To me, they just looked like a list of ingredients to me: dish titles included ddalgi (strawberry), subak (watermelon), and hobak (pumpkin). I was worried that this experience would not live up to its sticker price — a steep increase from last year’s $28 — and the endless praise I heard about it last year. It didn’t help that there was a long delay in the beginning; one of the courses got postponed, and we had to go out of order from the menu.

Then, one of the chefs came out with the first course, “subak”. It looked pretty simple: two slices of watermelon. But, as the chef explained, it was really much more than that. The watermelon was infused with yuzu and mint, with salt sprinkled on top. I bit into it and immediately realized why I had heard only rave reviews about Princeton Pop Up. Somehow, the chefs made watermelon that tasted like Sprite, but far less artificial. The texture was firm and juicy, the perfect watermelon. It transported me back to the summer.

Next up was the “bugak”: two bites of fried seaweed with ricotta cheese and fuji apple on top. H-Mart’s bugak is the kind of snack that I eat non-stop while watching movies in my room, but this combination of ingredients elevated it from a simple snack to a mini-explosive experience of tastes. I wished the seaweed was crispier, but other than that, seaweed and cheese made a unique, savory combination, topped off with crisp sweetness from the apple.

The third course was called “hobak”, pumpkin, on the menu, but it might have been more accurate to call it hobak and purple yam on a blanket of cheese with pepper sprinkled on top. Occasionally, I felt that the ingredients could have been distributed better across the plate, but this course’s autumn sweetness, slightly enhanced by our ricotta cheese-filled dish of the night, felt like being wrapped by a blanket in the fall. The sweet savoriness had a spicy finish with the pepper, and I felt myself wanting more.

I couldn’t do that, though, because I had to save space for the next course, an entree called “bossam”. It was three slices of braised pork belly, placed on top of a thin spread of plain yogurt with a side of apricot and sprinkled with seeds.

When it comes to meat, I tend to be pretty picky, but I enjoyed every bite of this course. The outside was charred to perfection, and the fatty bits were not chewy but almost melted on my tongue; the tougher parts were similarly a pleasant chew, not to mention the creative, flavorful addition of plain yogurt — which I normally loathe —, sweet-sourness from apricot, and seeds that added crunch but never blocked out the taste of the other ingredients. It was my favorite course thus far.

The next course was another bite-size snack course, honey butter chips: three potatoes

cooked in honey butter topped with garlic aioli and anchovy powder. Every part of this course was perfect: The outside was flawlessly crispy, as a sweet and savory snack should be, and the aioli and anchovy powder added a good amount of salt to it.

After that was “samgye-tang”, another entree. It was a sweet, onion-based soup with rice and peppercorn. In the middle of the soup sat a chicken wing stuffed with jujubi dates, topped with a crispy chicken skin and caramelized onion puree. If the other dishes were equal mixes between sweet, savory, and salty, then this one leaned towards sweet, with the taste of caramelized onion being the star. This soup tasted like home.

Then we were onto our first dessert course: the centerpiece was a crunchy, biscuit-like pastry that contained cream and sat on top of red bean paste with a side of honeycomb and yakgwa, a sweet Korean snack made with honey, ginger juice, and sesame oil. This dish was so easy to eat in every sense: the biscuit cleanly broke apart with my fork instead of exploding and making a mess, as many biscuits do, and the cream inside had the sweetness of homemade cookies. The red bean, yakgwa, and honeycomb added a rustic, Korean touch to the dessert.

The final dessert of the night was entitled “Ddalgi” (strawberry), but to call it just strawberry would be an egregious oversimplification. By far the most aesthetically impressive course, it was actually a small two-layered cake covered in melted dark chocolate and topped with strawberry slices and adorably tiny mochi marshmallows, with a side of strawberry sorbet. I tried the sorbet first; it tasted like the sweetest strawberry I’ve ever had in my life, but

in ice form. Then I moved onto the cake: The dark chocolate covering was bittersweet and scrumptious, though I wished the cake were moister. It was a fantastic finish to a wonderful night, and we were sent home with a large slice of delicious sourdough bread.

At first, I was uneasy about the fact that all the food ornamentation was done in front of us, rather than prepared in the kitchen and presented restaurant-style, but it allowed me to see for myself how much care went into each dish. Every step, from stove to plate, was a precise art, from the way that the sorbet slid off the spoon to how the three slices of apricot leaned on the pork belly, like a tiger lily. And if any step was less than perfect, the chef started the painstaking process all over, creating culinary masterpieces that looked more or less the same on each guest’s plate.

Overall, while the logistical organization of Princeton Pop-Up: Ember worried me in the beginning, my expectations were exceeded by the quality of the food, the stuff that really mattered. If I could capture that taste in a phrase, it would be yin and yang: a seamless mix of sweet and savory, fiercely Korean while being uniquely palatable for enjoyers of all cuisines. I was — and still am — absolutely blown away by the fact that Princeton students could conceive of and execute all these fantastic dishes. And for $6 per course? Worth it, without a doubt.

Claire Shin is a head editor for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’ She can be reached at claireshin@princeton.edu, on Instagram at @claireshin86, or on TikTok also at @claireshin86.

Princeton, my once-impossible rainbow connection

By Avery Danae Williams Staff Prospect Writer

One year ago, on Ivy Day 2022, I went to my parents’ bedroom so my mom could record me reacting to my Princeton admissions decision. Unlike the typical decision videos where high school seniors scream and cry tears of joy if they get accepted, I did neither. Instead, all I could do was stare at my laptop in shock as I read the words: “Congratulations! On behalf of my colleagues, I am thrilled to offer you admission to Princeton’s Class of 2026!” Now, my Princeton decision video loops in my mind rent-free.

I was rejected from three selective universities the week before, so I began believing I was not unique enough to thrive at Princeton. My acceptance, nonetheless, was the product of achieving my once-impossible dream — or what I nickname a “rainbow connection.” This phrase comes from the song “The Rainbow Connection,” which is sung at the beginning of “The Muppet Movie” by Kermit the Frog. More importantly, it was also the topic of my college essay.

I know — it’s weird to say a song sung by a frog got me here. But believe me, I am not exaggerating when I say “The Rainbow Connection” changed my life in fifth grade.

At the time, I was attending my fourth elementary school in my hometown of North Brunswick, N.J. Before revealing my extroverted nature, I liked to quietly observe my classmates and teachers to understand the classroom culture. This was often misunderstood as shyness. Consequently, I overcompensated by laughing uncontrollably at two

boys in my class, which landed me in a lot of trouble. My teachers believed I was destined to be a problem child in middle school. After all, no teacher wants to teach an easily-distracted student.

Yet when I found a YouTube video of Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Walter singing “The Rainbow Connection” live on Good Morning America, it sounded like Kermit saw me for who I was: an eleven-year-old lover and dreamer, determined to stand out amongst her peers. Listening to this song every day has helped me at various points in my life, such as surviving physics class and overcoming depression. Now that I am a rising sophomore, I believe the song is a metaphor for the people who believe in you. Take Kermit, for example. He sings “The Rainbow Connection” to show his true calling is acting and embarks on a trip to Hollywood. At one point in the film, Fozzie Bear’s station wagon, which Kermit drives, breaks along the way, leaving Kermit and the other Muppets stranded in the middle of a desert. The other Muppets could have left Kermit to fend for himself. They, as aspiring entertainers too, felt frustrated that their trip did not go according to plan. Kermit’s dreams were also timesensitive. If he did not arrive in Hollywood on time, the talent agent would have assumed that Kermit was not worth giving a chance to. However, the other Muppets choose to stay by his side because they trusted his ability to solve problems. Success, of course, does not usually happen overnight. Kermit and the other Muppets had to keep showing ambition and working hard. Without having a strong support system, Kermit may not have bounced back from the setback.

I had, and still have, a support system of

lovely humans who have guided and uplifted me during life’s joys and challenges. Of course, my parents were my first teachers. They taught me to always have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, in and out of the classroom. There are also my old friends who read my college essay, both unsurprised by my topic choice and determined to make sure I adhered to the Common Application’s 650-word limit. But 650 words are not enough to express the gratitude I have for the students at my high school, who were just like the Muppets: they were always there for me, even in tough times.

I went to an all-girls, Catholic high school in Jersey City, where I became my true, authentic self. I felt called to advocate for my peers — especially the small Black community at my high school, which did not have many role models who looked like them to help them succeed. This inspired me to strive for many leadership positions relating to racial justice advocacy and creative writing. However, my journey toward success did not come without feeling that my efforts were meaningless.

Sometimes, I felt like I was the spokesperson for my entire race, writing my reflections about racial justice issues into the void with nobody to resonate with them. Or maybe it was the opposite: I was being too outspoken for students who did not look like me, and I worried my Gmail would overflow with repeated messages that basically emanated “calm down and shut up” energy (thank goodness this never happened to me).

Little did I know that, like Kermit, I also needed patience while measuring the impact of my leadership on others. Even if they didn’t immediately understand my leadership, I felt that I eventually inspired all of us to believe in ourselves and each other across different races. As their authentic selves, my peers achieved their once-impossible rainbow connections: starting new clubs, playing Division I sports — you name it. They’ve continued to find their “rainbow connections.” Had I not attended my high school, I would not have had the same support system pushing me to be a better version of myself. Perhaps, I would have stayed stuck in the mindset of “not being unique” to thrive at Princeton — let alone be brave enough to write about Kermit the Frog in my college essay.

In retrospect of my acceptance on Ivy Day, I showed myself that this rainbow connection is indeed possible to achieve. Now, when a junior or senior at my high school asks how they can get into Princeton, I don’t rattle off my statistics or extracurricular activities. I tell them to be their authentic selves as they write their college essay. Who knows? “Someday [they’ll] find it, the rainbow connection” at Princeton, with their decision videos looping in their minds rent-free. Hopefully, they scream and cry tears of joy if they get accepted.

Avery Danae Williams is a staff writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince’ and a prospective African American Studies major, with certificates in Creative Writing (Poetry) and Gender & Sexuality Studies. She can be reached at aw4174[at]princeton. edu or on Instagram @averydanaewrites.

A joyous birthday celebration with Más Flow

I did not know what to expect from my first student dance performance here at Princeton. Although we may be scholars and ballers, I had little insight on how stylishly we could salsa or how magnificently we could merengue. But after attending Friday night’s show of Más Flow’s 10th anniversary dance production, I can wholeheartedly assert that the spirit of Latin dance here at Princeton is very much alive and thriving.

While I may not possess a great understanding of dance and choreography, I do know a thing or two about reading the reaction of a crowd. From the moment the show began to its final moment, the entirety of the audience, myself included, was thoroughly captivated and charmed by the exciting dance moves, comedic sideshows, and evident charisma of the dancers themselves. No one at the show could deny the exponential engagement of the attendees: From screams and shouts to wholesome laughter, the audience created a vivacious and welcoming environment for the evening.

The intersection of costuming and dance particularly stood out to me. The excellent lighting of the stage for each dance not only beautifully accentuated the movement, but also the fashion. From brightly-colored flowing skirts to four-inch heels to Más Flow sweats, I found the variety of attire between pieces to be incredibly fun and unique.

I was also wholeheartedly engaged by the diversity of the dances. The 17 performances all carried different artistic and cultural styles, highlighting the rich diversity that exists within Latin dance. Even a casual observer could see the great amount of pre-planning and practice necessary to perform so fluidly. “Seductora,” the heels performance, was especially captivating — dancing is hard enough, but dancing in four-inch heels takes the cake. From Salsa to Reggaetón and Bachata to Bra -

zilian Funk, each dance was choreographed wonderfully.

What I enjoyed most about the performance, aside from the exquisite dancing, was the sense of community that permeated the atmosphere of the room. It was evident, based on the smiles of both the many members of Más Flow and the audience, that pure excitement and happiness was the theme of the evening — a theme that they pulled off wonderfully.

“I am so grateful for the Más Flow community because they are all so welcoming and fun to be around with. It is truly a family with so much love and support. As a Latina, I feel inspired by our performances and workshops,“ Más Flow member Nicole Torres ’26 said.

“The variety of genres and styles that we can explore and perform make it an exciting learning opportunity for all of us. The ‘La Fiesta del Año’ dance show was truly one of my best experiences here at Princeton and I

wanted to thank our entire dance company for making it possible. I am really looking forward to continuing my involvement next year!” Torres continued.

Olivia Hoppe-Spink ’26, another member of the dance crew, added, “Más Flow has been the most amazing community here at Princeton, and I am so lucky to get to be a part of la familia! Not only do we come together to dance and put on amazing performances, but the people there have become some of my closest friends and I love getting to hang out with them!”

It is evident that the idea of a strong community is one that elevates this group’s performance to the next level.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Más Flow! May you have many more birthday celebrations to come.

Anthony Nathan is a contributing writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince’ from San Francisco, California. He can be reached at an4373[at]princeton. edu or [at]anthony_nate_ on Instagram.

By Anthony Nathan | Contributing Prospect Writer

“MUPPETS MURAL” BY JEFF CHRISTIANSEN / CC BY 2.0

The Prospect 11 Weekly Event Roundup

By Kerrie Liang, Head Prospect Editor

Students in the Department of Art and Archaeology

Lucas Gallery, 185 Nassau St. April 12-21, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

This exhibition features exciting new works by 20 certificate students in the Program in Visual Arts and Practice of Art majors in the Department of Art & Archaeology. Come see what your fellow peers have been creating this year! This exhibition is free and open to the public.

“Living in the GAP”

Nemo Newman ‘23

Hagan Gallery, 185 Nassau St.

April 7, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

This senior thesis show features various multimedia works about Nemo Newman ’23’s attempt to live in a state of Growth Aspirational Presence (GAP). This is a continuation of Newman’s previous show, which focused on depression and mental health advocacy. “Living in the GAP” searches for beauty in banality and each piece encourages the viewer to interact with it and build connections across the exhibition. This exhibition is free and open to the public.

“Collage”

Maggie Chamberlain ‘23 Hagan Gallery, 185 Nassau St. April 10-21, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Maggie Chamberlain ’23 shares new work in this senior exhibition for the Visual Arts Department. The opening reception will take place on April 11 at 5 p.m. This event and the exhibition are both free and open to the public.

“Petty Saint”

Lane Marsh ‘23

Hurley Gallery, Lewis Arts complex

April 10-21, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Lane Marsh ’23 presents a collection of new works in this senior exhibition for the Visual Arts Department. The opening reception will take place on April 12 at 5 p.m. This event and the exhibition are both free and open to the public.

“eye sees eye”

Eliana Gagnon ‘23

Lucas Gallery, 185 Nassau St.

April 7, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

For this senior exhibition, Eliana Gagnon ’23 “interrogates the power of the gaze through portraiture.” The artwork explores various mediums and challenges viewers to reflect on the privilege that they carry in their gaze. Gagnon also pushes the boundaries (literally), using negative space to create illusions. This exhibition is free and open to the public.

“Suspension”

Tai Jeffers ‘23

Hurley Gallery, Lewis Arts complex

April 7, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Tai Jeffers ’23 presents a collection of sculptures and video installations for this senior exhibition. Jeffers explores grief, particularly focusing on the journey of coping with sudden loss. The exhibition, titled “Suspension,” depicts the “quiet meditation on both the isolating and liberating aspects of mourning.” This exhibition is free and open to the public.

“Liminality”

Michael Garcia ‘24, Camryn Stafford ‘23

Hearst Dance Theater, Lewis Arts complex

April 13-15, 8:30 p.m.

This show features two dance works — “There She Is” by Camryn Stafford ’23 and “Acero” by Michael Garcia ’24. “There She Is” depicts Black women’s simultaneous hypervisibility and invisibility in society. It prompts the audience to question their role in the stereotyping, objectification, and tokenization of Black women. Meanwhile, “Acero” explores three stages of stress response in the body: Alarm, Resistance, and Exhaustion. The title translates to “steel” in Spanish, which is “an homage to the work’s Spanish music and to the notion that strength is forged during periods of intense change.”

Taylor Akin, Bassoon

Department of Music

Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall

April 7, 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.

For this certificate recital, Taylor Akin ’23 will perform five works from a diverse range of periods, from baroque composer Georg Philip Telemann to contemporary composer Daniel Baldwin. This concert will also feature other instrumentalists, including Kristin Cahill (Piano/Harpsichord), Nina Shih ’24 (Violin), Jeremy Cha ’23 (Cello), Albert Zhou ’24 (Viola), and Ewan Curtis ’23 (Double Bass). This event is free and unticketed.

Selena Hostetler, Horn

Department of Music

Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall

April 7, 8 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

For this certificate recital, Selena Hostetler ’23 explores the tonal duality of the horn — the program features works that highlight both the horn’s joyous, heroic voicing and its darker expressions of grief and mystery. This concert will also feature Vince di Mura on the piano, Rachel Hsu ’23 on the violin, as well as five fellow horn players — Chris Komer, Soncera Ball ’25, Spencer Bauman ’25, Clara Conatser ’25, and Benjamin Edelson ’23. This event is free and unticketed.

Alexander Moravcsic, Jazz Piano

Department of Music

Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall

April 9, 8 p.m. – 9 p.m.

A multi-genre pianist and arranger, Alexander Moravcsic ’23 explores old and new tunes in this certificate recital. The extensive program consists of classics, fresh arrangements, and exciting originals. This concert will also feature other jazz musicians Gabriel Chalick ’24 (Trumpet), Jared Decker (Drums), Caleb Eckstein (Trombone), Evan DeTurk ’23 (Alto Saxophone), Kai Gibson (Acoustic Bass), Noah Daniel ’23 (Guitar), and Jimmy Waltman ’23 (Guest Vocalist). This event is free and unticketed.

Ewan Curtis, Double Bass

Department of Music

Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall

April 14, 7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

A prolific bass player, Ewan Curtis ’23 plays works spanning across time and genre from Bottesini to Eccles to Aphex Twin for his senior recital. This concert features student musicians Evan DeTurk ’23 (Alto Saxophone), Gabe Chalick ’24 (Trumpet), Jarod Wille ’24 (Piano), Daniela Vita ’24 (Guitar), Alex MacArthur ’25 (Drums), Jeremy Cha ’23 (Cello), and Rachel Hsu ’23 (Violin). This event is free and unticketed.

“This is self-organized by numbers.”

WOMEN’S BBALL

Former women’s basketball star guard Abby Meyers ’22 enters the 2023 WNBA Draft

By Isabel Rodrigues Senior Sports Writer

On Thursday, March 30, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) announced that former Ivy League Player of the Year Abby Meyers ’22 had filed for inclusion in the 2023 WNBA Draft. Meyers spent the past year at Maryland, where she helped lead the Maryland Terps to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015.

“There are so many amazing teams [in the WNBA] and I just looked up to all of them when I was growing up,” Meyers told The Daily Princetonian in a phone interview. “This whole experience is surreal, [it’s] like a full circle moment.”

Despite joining the Terps as a graduate transfer, Meyers started all but one of the 35 games she played. She also played the most minutes of anyone on the Maryland roster. Even as she saw tougher competition, her game translated from the Ivy League into steady improvement.

Meyers continued to shoot at 45 percent from the field and 39 percent from three while she adjusted to Maryland’s quick offensive system, which she described as “runand-gun.” As she stepped into a secondary distributor role, Meyers’ assists jumped from 1.6 to 2.3 per

MEN’S BBALL

game, all while her turnovers and fouls per game decreased compared to her 2021–22 season. It was a performance strong enough to earn her a spot on the All-Big 10 second team by the end of the year.

“For me, it’s been a good learning experience, that I am able to adapt my play to whatever level is needed,” Meyers told the ‘Prince.’ “I think at all levels you just need that ability, that skill, and fundamental foundation, which is what I got at Princeton.”

Entering Princeton as a highlytouted McDonald’s All-American nominee and top-60 high school recruit, Meyers’ time with the Tigers was anything but predictable.

The COVID-19 pandemic nixed the 2019–20 postseason, when the Tigers had been poised to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. Then, the Ivy League decided not to host the 2020–21 season. Unlike most of her teammates, Meyers chose not to take a gap year and was on campus during the off-year.

“It made me personally appreciate the game more and appreciate being a part of a close-knit community at Princeton,” Meyers told Town Topics ahead of the 2021–22 season. “It was a great intimate environment, and we were able to focus on skills and getting better.”

By 2022, she had led the Tigers to

a 14–0 Ivy League record and was top-65 in the country in points per game. Meyers’ leadership extended well into the postseason, where she went on to score 29 points in Princeton’s win over Kentucky in the Round of 64.

“[Princeton] gave me that overall leadership experience in not only the regular season but also postseason play,” Meyers told the ‘Prince.’ “Every tournament, rising to the occasion in big, big moments. And Maryland is no different there. I’ve had a lot of big moments here where there was a lot of pressure, but I’d done that at Princeton.”

Even as the Tigers came up just one point shy of the Sweet 16 in 2022, for Meyers, one door closed meant another door opened. Soon enough, Maryland came knocking, and the chance to go pro started to materialize.

With the Terps, Meyers was named one of four co-captains and quickly wound her way into the fabric of the team. According to a teammate, she adopted the role of “Team Mom” off the court while lightening the offensive load on Maryland’s leading scorer, guard Diamond Miller, and bringing physical, meticulous defense to a roster with just two true forwards and no player over six foot three.

“If anything Princeton taught

me defense,” Meyers said. “How to be a good defender and how to prioritize defense over anything else. I took that with me to Maryland, and it definitely paid off.”

It was that kind of effort that went a long way for Maryland’s head coach Brenda Frese. “We really were fortunate to be able to get a player like Abby to come back home, and to gain that experience and that leadership has been huge,” she said ahead of their Sweet 16 matchup with Notre Dame.

But stepping into the Big 10 was far from an easy transition. Maryland had brought in a number of transfer students and had lost a star player in Angel Reese to Louisiana State University, but their tournament aspirations remained high. As she reflected on the season, Meyers described the tough, and often frustrating, process of bringing together players from a variety of different programs.

“I would be lying to say it was easy at first,” Meyers said ahead of the Sweet 16. “We kept on saying, we’ve got to keep working at it, let’s trust the process … keep our heads high, we’re going to figure this out.”

After long practices, lots of pickup, and a couple of close calls during the regular season, Meyers and the Terps secured a No. 2 seed in March Madness, but would bow out

in the Elite Eight after an 86–75 loss to South Carolina. With her family cheering her on, Meyers described the quick turnaround from exiting March Madness to entering her name for a shot at the upper echelons of women’s basketball.

“I think I had 48 hours to declare. So it was kind of just like ‘go, go, go,’” Meyers recounted. “I remember filling out the forms and taking a video of me doing it, saying like, ‘It’s happening!’”

Meyers is projected as a late second-round or early third-round pick, though averaging 15.4 points per game in the postseason surely won’t hurt her chances. As a versatile shooting guard with a strong work ethic, if she can get her foot in the door and into a training camp, Meyers says her consistent hard work mindset, defensive focus, and lively personality could help her potentially secure one of the rarest roster spots in professional sports.

The WNBA Draft will be broadcast on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET on April 10.

Isabel Rodrigues is a senior writer for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

Tosan Evbuomwan declares for the 2023 NBA Draft

By Diego Uribe Assistant Sports Editor

After proving himself against the nation’s top collegiate talent during the Tigers’ Cinderella run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, men’s basketball standout Tosan Evbuomwan has officially declared for the 2023 NBA draft.

Senior forward Evbuomwan announced on Wednesday, March 29 that he would

MEN’S LACROSSE

forgo his final year of college eligibility to take his shot at the NBA, in an interview with ESPN.

The 2020–2021 Ivy League season was canceled due to COVID-19, so the soon-tobe Princeton graduate was granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA.

The Ivy League, however, does not allow postgraduate athletes to participate in varsity athletics, so Evbuomwan would have

had to take his talents elsewhere to play his final year of college basketball. Had he entered the transfer portal, the 6’8” forward likely would have played a year at one of the nation’s top collegiate basketball programs. His basketball IQ and unique skill set would have translated easily to any high-major school — instead the senior is electing to pursue a professional career.

“I thank my coaching staff for taking a chance on me and pushing me everyday,“ Evbuomwan wrote in a heartfelt farewell to Princeton basketball posted on his Instagram. “Together with my teammates they have offered a home away from home that I will always cherish.”

Looking ahead, Tiger basketball fans will be following senior guard Ryan Langborg’s recruitment closely,

as he too proved during the NCAA tournament that he is a high-major caliber player. In three NCAA tournament games — all of which were against Power Five conference schools — Langborg led the Tigers in scoring with an 18.7 points-pergame average.

Diego Uribe is an assistant editor for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

No. 17 men’s lacrosse defeats the Brown Bears on home turf, 16–12

By Harrison Blank Sports Contributor

No. 17 men’s lacrosse (4–4 overall, 2–1 Ivy League) earned their second consecutive Ivy League win on Saturday against the Brown Bears (4–5, 0–2) at Sherrerd Field by a score of 16–12.

After a slow start to the season that saw the Tigers fall to the bottom of Inside Lacrosse’s top 20 national rankings, the Tigers proved that they still belong among the nation’s best in backto-back wins over the No. 20 Yale Bulldogs (3–4, 0–3) and Brown Bears.

“Through that four-game stretch, we were struggling offensively,” head coach Matt Madalon told The Daily Princetonian after the game. “It’s been a focus in practice and it’s good to see the production on game day.”

While the final score might suggest Tiger superiority, neither team was able to pull away in the first half. The first 30 minutes featured numerous lead changes and neither team led by more than one goal.

Senior midfielder Sam English opened up scoring for the day with an unassisted righthanded finish that gave the Tigers a 1–0 lead with 12:15 remaining in the first quarter.

Brown attacker Aidan McLane responded quickly by scoring two back-to-back goals of his own in under a minute to give the Bears a 2–1 lead with 7:11 remaining in the first. McLane found success with low underhand shots that he snuck around the Tiger’s junior goalie Michael Gianforcaro.

After senior midfielder Christian Ronda, who had four goals in the Tigers’ most recent win over Yale, tied it back up for the Tigers at 2–2, Aidan McLane’s older brother and the Bears’ leader in goals per game this season, attacker Devon McLane, netted his first goal of the game.

Devon McLane’s goal gave the Bears a 3–2 lead entering the second quarter of play.

McLane would net the next Brown goal, giving the brothers from Westfield, N.J. each of the first four goals for the Bears. Princeton struggled to stay in front of the talented Bear attackers, as each of the three goals

Brown scored in the second quarter were unassisted, meaning that they were taking on Tiger defenders one-on-one — and with success.

“Brown is just such a dynamic team. They can score in bunches, they go on runs, they always have,” Madalon told the ‘Prince.’ “For us it was just ‘Weather the storm, weather the runs, try to eliminate transitions,’ and they still got [success on offense].”

A pinpoint finish from Brown attacker and midfielder Matteo Corsi gave the Bears a 6–5 lead with 7:40 remaining in the first half, but the Tigers responded quickly with back-to-back goals from English and sophomore attacker Jack Ringhofer that gave the Tigers a 7–6 lead entering the half.

While the half could not have been much closer, the Tigers led in some important statistical categories. They produced four more shots on goal and committed two less turnovers than the Bears did. They also managed to stop the Bears on their only extra-man opportunity of the half, which was awarded as a result of three face-off violations by the Tigers.

The Tigers started the third quarter hoping to grab a comfortable lead but surrendered the opening faceoff. The Bears quickly tied the game at seven apiece as McLane scored his fourth goal of the game.

Soon after, however, the Tiger offense began to fire on all cylinders. Impressive individual goals from junior attacker Lukas Stanat and sophomore attacker Coulter Mackesy gave the Tigers a three-goal lead. Mackesy scored eight goals in last week’s win over Yale.

The Tiger defense found its footing in the third quarter and started to give the Bear attackers and midfielders less space to operate their offense. Along with stout goaltending from Gianforcaro, the Tigers’s defensive unit held the Bears scoreless for a 12-minute stretch in the third quarter.

First-year midfielder John Dunphey scored his second goal of the season midway through the quarter to continue the Tigers’ scoring run. Stanat and English added goals and assists of their own to give the Tigers a 13–7 lead late in the third quarter. The Bears showed some fight late

in the quarter, though, grabbing two goals back in the last two minutes before heading into the final quarter on shots by Devon McLane and midfielder Griffin King.

The aggressive play of the Tigers’ midfielders on offense was once again on full display when Ronda blasted a high shot past the Bear goalkeeper with 13 minutes left in regulation. Senior midfielder Alex Vardaro recorded an assist on the goal, which was his 100th career point, an impressive accomplishment for a key part of the Princeton offense.

Sophomore faceoff specialist Koby Ginder, filling in for the injured junior Tyler Sandoval, showed off the depth of the Tigers with a skillful faceoff win and assist to Mackesy for his third goal of the night, giving the Tigers a 15–9 lead.

The Bears were determined to stay in the fight, however, scoring three consecutive goals during the middle of the quarter. The Tigers were not going to let this key conference win slip away, though, and sealed the win with an easy goal by sophomore attacker Jack Ringhofer.

The defense of the Tigers held onto the 16–12 lead for the game’s last five minutes, forcing turnovers and errant shots from the Brown of-

fense.

The win catapults the Tigers into third place in the Ivy League with three more conference games left to play against Dartmouth, Harvard, and Cornell. The Tigers are tied with the Penn Quakers with two wins and one loss in the Ivy League, but the Quakers have the head-to-head tiebreaker. Cornell leads the conference with an undefeated record in Ivy League play and is certainly the team to beat this year for Princeton.

“We’re getting hot,” said English in a postgame interview with ESPN.

The Tigers will continue their season on April 8 at noon against the Syracuse Orange (6–5 overall, 0–3 Atlantic Coast), a storied lacrosse program. Princeton will be looking to extend their two-game win streak as they host the Orange at Sherrerd Field.

Diego Uribe is an assistant editor to the Sports and contributor to the News section at the ‘Prince.’

Harrison Blank is a contributor to the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

No. 7 women’s water polo continues historic season with four straight wins

By Hayk Yengibaryan Assistant Sports Editor

No. 7 women’s water polo (23–2 overall, 5–0 CWPA) picked up four major wins this weekend, against the Wagner Seahawks (25–5, 8–0 MAAC), Bucknell Bison (5–21, 0–7 CWPA), Saint Francis Red Flash (11–18–1, 2–5 CWPA), and Michigan Wolverines (18–9, 6–1 CWPA).

A year ago, the women’s water polo team got knocked out by the Harvard Crimson in the semifinals of the Collegiate Water Polo Association tournament, finishing the season with only 21 wins. Fast forward to April 2, 2023, and the team is in the midst of one of their best seasons yet, with 23 wins and a top national ranking.

The dominant season has been in large part due to star sophomore center Jovana Sekulic, first-year goalie Lindsey Lucas, and a balanced supporting cast.

After a successful spring break in California that saw the team pick up five wins over ranked opponents, the team returned to action Thursday evening against Wagner. The squad was hoping to avenge one of its two losses of the year — earlier in the season, the Tigers had dropped a match to Wagner 12–8 during the Princeton Invitational.

After Wagner scored the first goal of the match, it was all Princeton for the rest of the first period. Junior utility Kaila Carroll scored her 24th goal of the season to tie it up at one. After Carroll’s goal, it was the Kayla Yelensky show.

Yekensky, a sophomore utility, scored three straight goals to cap off a first period hat trick and give the Tigers a three-goal advantage. Two more goals by Sekulic in the second period gave the Tigers a comfortable 8–3 lead at the halftime break.

Princeton cruised to victory in the second half. Yelensky and Sekulic each added one more while sophomore utility Kate Mallery wrote her name on the scoresheet to give the Tigers an 11–6 lead at the end of the third.

THE WEEK IN NUMBERS: STANDINGS AND RESULTS

First-year attacker Ava Houlahan scored in the fourth en route to a comfortable 15–12 victory for the Tigers. Lucas was instrumental in the win, with 17 saves on the night to help the Tigers reach 20 wins on the year.

After the game, the team also celebrated their five seniors: attacker Mindy Pang, attacker Annie Robinson, utility Genevieve Fraipont, utility Laura Larkin, and goalie Alexa Kourepenos. The team’s Class of 2023 has won over 70 games throughout their time at Princeton.

After avenging their previous loss against Wagner, the squad went up north to continue CWPA conference play. The doubleheader on Saturday featured games against the Bucknell Bison and the Saint Francis Red Flash.

The first game of the day was a defensive masterclass by the Tigers. Once again, Princeton started off hot, gaining an 8–1 lead early in the second period before taking a 12–4 lead going into halftime.

Head coach Derek Ellingson’s Princeton squad came out at halftime even stronger. The team held the Bison scoreless for the entire second half, securing a dominant 20–4 victory.

Sekulic and first-year utility Shanna Davidson each scored a hat trick, while nine other Tigers saw their name on the scoreboard. Lucas was once again dominant with 15 saves.

The second game of the day came against Saint Francis. The defensive dominance rolled over from the prior game as the Tigers held the Red Flash to zero goals in the first period. The Tigers held a 4–0 lead before the second period.

Princeton held a 10–2 lead at the half and cruised to a comfortable victory in the second half. 10 players found the back of the net, with Sekulic leading the charge with four goals. First-year center defender Sophie Johnson also contributed two goals during the win.

The marquee matchup of

the weekend came against No. 13 Michigan on Sunday morning. The last time the Tigers were able to take a victory against the Wolverines was April 8, 2018. Nobody on this year’s squad had ever beat Michigan and Ellingson had only beaten them once with the Tigers as an assistant coach.

The Tigers, however, knew that they could get the better of the Wolverines this year and end the 1,820-day drought against their conference rivals.

Sekulic started the scoring for the Tigers, but the Wolverines responded with two quick goals to take the lead. The Wolverines lead did not last long, though, as Larkin responded with a beautiful shot on the counter to even the score.

Mallery assisted Sekulic who scored to give the Tigers the lead out of center, and the Tigers led the rest of the way. Goals from Carroll and Yelensky also gave the Tigers a 5–2 lead at the end of the first.

Defense was the name of the second period. Crucial field blocks by the Tigers and big saves from Lucas held the Wolverines to three goals at the break.

Princeton outscored Michigan in the third period to take a comfortable 9–5 lead heading into the final period. The Houlahan siblings (Ava and sophomore defender Grace) each got a goal in the third to help the Tigers.

Sekulic scored her fourth goal of the morning on a six-on-five to make it 11–7 with 2:39 remaining, putting the game out of reach for Michigan and giving the Tigers their 23rd win of the season. Lucas once again tallied 15 saves and helped Princeton keep the Wolverine offense at bay.

The No. 7 Tigers will continue conference play when they hit the road again for a Saturday doubleheader against No. 14 Harvard (19–5, 3–2) and No. 21 Brown (20–7, 2–3).

Hayk Yengibaryan is an assistant editor for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

MEN’S LACROSSE: IVY LEAGUE STANDINGS

RESULTS FROM THE LAST WEEK:

SATURDAY, APRIL 6:

NO. 6 PRINCETON 17, BROWN 9

TUESDAY, APRIL 5: NO. 3 PRINCETON 18, MARIST 7

UPCOMING GAMES:

SATURDAY, APRIL 9: NO. 13 BOSTON U. AT NO. 3 PRINCETON, 1 P.M.

TUE., APRIL 5: MARIST AT NO. 6 PRINCETON, 7 P.M.

WOMEN’S LACROSSE: IVY LEAGUE STANDINGS

RESULTS FROM THE LAST WEEK: NO GAMES LAST WEEK

UPCOMING GAMES:

SATURDAY, APRIL 9: NO. 12 PRINCETON AT BROWN, 1:00 P.M. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13: NO. 9 MARYLAND AT NO. 12 PRINCETON, 7:00 P.M.

OTHER SPORTS NEWS:

MEN’S LACROSSE’S SLUSHER NAMED IVY LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

MEN’S LACROSSE’S JUNIOR ATTACKER ALEX SLUSHER WAS NAMED IVY LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK AFTER SCORING A CAREER-HIGH SIX GOALS AGAINST BROWN IN THE TEAM’S GAME ON SATURDAY, APRIL 2. SLUSHER CURRENTLY LEADS THE TEAM IN GOALS, WITH 31, AND LEADS THE IVY LEAGUE IN GOALS PER GAME.

MEN’S SQUASH’S IBRAHIM REACHES NO. 11 IN WORLD RANKINGS

THE PSA WORLD TOUR HAS RELEASED ITS APRIL WORLD RANKINGS, AND RIGHT NEAR THE TOP IS PRINCETON SENIOR YOUSSEF IBRAHIM, A FORMER MEMBER OF THE MEN’S SQUASH TEAM. IBRAHIM IS CURRENTLY RANKED NO. 11 IN THE WORLD, THE HIGHEST RANKING OF HIS CAREER. IBRAHIM JOINS NINE OTHER EGYPTIAN ATHLETES IN THE PSA’S TOP 15.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GREG CARROCCIO/INSTAGRAM.

First-year goalie Lindsey Lucas finished with 17 saves on the night and has over 245 saves on the season thus far.