The Daily Princetonian: October 28, 2022

Campus mourns Misrach Ewunetie ’24

Ewunetie family raises suspicions about circumstances of death as county prosecutor says no ‘criminal activity’

The belongings of Misrach Ewunetie ’24, including her phone, “were found with her body,” ac cording to a new statement by Casey DeBlasio, a spokesperson for the Mercer County Prosecu tor’s Office, shared with The Daily Princetonian on Monday.

Hundreds gather to honor Ewunetie’s memory at campus vigils

By Katherine Dailey

news editor

Two vigils held on Mon day — one hosted by the Princeton Ethiopian and Er itrean Student Association (PEESA) and another hosted by the University through the Office of Religious Life

(ORL) — commemorated and honored the life of Mis rach Ewunetie ’24, who was found dead on campus on Thursday after being miss ing for six days.

At both events, those who knew Ewunetie shared memories of her brilliance, kindness, and incredibly

generous spirit. Members of Ewunetie’s family were in attendance at the PEESA vigil. PEESA co-presidents Faeven Mussie ’24 and Joachim Ambaw ’24 organized the event, which was held in the University Chapel.

USG presses administrators for dining pilot details

By Hope Perry and Annie Rupertus Staff News Writers

The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) sent a for mal request to University ad ministrators on Friday, Oct. 14, requesting an official release of information about the proposed dining pilot for the Spring 2023 semester.

The pilot, which would give a test group of juniors and se niors five free meal swipes per week to use at any dining hall, eating club, or co-op, has re ceived criticism from multiple stakeholders — including lead ers from USG, co-ops, and the Interclub Council (ICC). Addi tionally, a USG survey on the program revealed that of the 96 students who agreed to have their reactions shared, 74 per cent had mostly negative feed back on the current iteration of the plan, while 11 percent had mixed opinions, and 15 percent were mostly positive.

USG’s formal request, which was also sent to undergraduate students via email, asserted that the “lack of official information [about the pilot] has perpetu ated confusion and prevented informed discussion among the

undergraduate student body.”

The student governing body requested that the University release details of the pilot, “in cluding financial and logistical details as they relate to eating clubs and co-ops,” no later than the week of Monday, Oct. 24. Ac cording to the email, USG voted unanimously to issue this re quest.

The Daily Princetonian first broke the news of the planned pilot program on Sept. 22. Since then, USG has solicited feedback on it, including through a stu dent assembly on Oct. 6, which was attended by around 20 stu dents.

In a letter published in the ‘Prince’ on Oct. 13, several Uni versity administrators cited reports from past accessibility task forces that identified “flu idity” as a key area for improve ment in the upperclass dining experience — and noted that the dining pilot would be a way of “testing ideas in real time.”

“This principle is particularly relevant today, with the shift to four-year residential colleges, an expanding student body, and the decoupling of hous ing and dining for juniors and seniors,” the letter reads. “The pilot is meant to help us de

termine what will and will not work before moving forward with any changes to the current program.”

According to USG President Mayu Takeuchi ’23, student per spectives and the recommenda tions of past task force reports do not seem to be reflected in the current iteration of the pilot proposal.

“The concerns … [and] ideas that students have been bring ing forward, they have not yet meaningfully shaped the pilot as it stands, and broader discus sions of dining program chang es,” Takeuchi said.

As one example, Takeu chi noted that many students would support the expansion of the meal exchange program.

“That [2014-2015] report does address the accessibility of eat ing clubs and lists a bunch of recommendations — one of those is extending the meal exchange to independent stu dents, which is something that students do genuinely want to see,” she told the ‘Prince,’ refer encing an Eating Club Accessi bility Report conducted by USG in 2014–2015, which the admin istrators also referred to in their letter.

The Office’s involvement in the investigation into Ewunetie’s death is “complete,” DeBlasio added in an email.

“As there is no evidence of any criminal activity associated with Ms. Ewunetie’s death, any further inquiries can be directed” to the University’s Department of Pub lic Safety (DPS), she wrote to the ‘Prince.’

An autopsy was conducted on Friday, Oct. 21 by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to DeBlasio. The cause and manner of death will not be re ported until all test results, includ ing toxicology results, are received.

“My understanding from the [Medical Examiner’s] Office is that it will be weeks,” DeBlasio added. She also noted that in her expe rience this timeline was “not un usual or longer than comparable cases.”

Ewunetie’s family still has ques tions surrounding the circum stances of her death, however. Her brother Universe told the U.S. Sun on Monday, “The area she was found makes us feel it was suspi cious, some trees had to be cut when they were removing Mis rach.”

“She was talking to me about a savings account she was going to open, her interview, buying clothes and shipping them to Cleveland, and volunteering at her student club organization,” he added, ac cording to the Sun.

Ewunetie’s body was discovered by a University facilities worker be hind tennis courts on south cam pus, according to the statement released by the Mercer County

‘A bubbly ball of energy beyond belief’: Forbes’ Brenda O’Hara reflects on 16 years at the University

By Raphaela Gold Features Contributor

It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes sev eral thousand employees to educate and care for Princeton undergraduate students.

Brenda “Bee” Loretta O’Hara, known around Forbes College for enthusi astically greeting students as they enter the dining hall, is one such employee. Since she arrived at Princ eton in 2006, Brenda has worked at Frist Campus Center, Whitman College, and Forbes College.

The conversation below was edited for length and clarity.

Daily Princetonian: What do you prefer peo ple call you?

Brenda O’Hara: My full name is Brenda Lo retta O’Hara, and a lot of people, like friends and family, call me “Bee,” like a bumble bee.

DP: When did you start working at Princ eton and what did you do?

BO: 2006. I started at Frist, and then in 2007 I went to Whitman, [when it] was built and ready to run, and I helped put Whitman together, emptying boxes … wip ing down and clean ing everything. I was at Whitman 2007 to 2016,

By Katherine Dailey Head News Editor

COURTESY OF JAMIE FEDER ’23

Misrach Ewunetie ’24 at Whitman Dining Hall.

Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson says office’s involvement in case is ‘complete’

Saturday, Oct. 15

5:13 p.m.: The ‘Prince’ notes in creased police activity near the boathouse on Lake Carnegie.

Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday, Oct. 20.

The ‘Prince’ reached out to Uni verse Ewunetie and did not hear back in time for publication. DPS also did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

A timeline of what is known of the situation can be found below:

Thursday, Oct. 13

11:05 p.m.: Ewunetie volunteers to fill a vacant “Duty” spot at the Terrace Club during a live music performance.

11:21 p.m.: Ewunetie arrives at Terrace, according to footage seen by the ‘Prince.’

Friday, Oct. 14

2:33 a.m.: Ewunetie leaves Ter race, according to footage seen by the ‘Prince.’

Around 3 a.m.: Ewunetie is last seen near Scully Hall by a suitemate, brushing her teeth before bed, ac cording to her brother Universe in an interview with ABC News.

Around 4:30 a.m.: Ewunetie’s roommate returns to their dorm and Misrach is not there, according to her brother Universe in an inter view with ABC News.

ON CAMPUS

Ewunetie misses an appoint ment for her American citizenship application, and her family is in formed that she was a no-show, ac cording to the U.S. Sun.

Sunday, Oct. 16

Around 3:27 a.m: Ewunetie’s phone pings in the Penns Neck neighborhood — a seven-minute drive from Scully — according to her brother Universe in interviews with the U.S. Sun and ABC News.

Evening: Ewunetie is reported missing by her family to DPS when her family asks for a wellness check.

Monday, Oct. 17

9:19 p.m.: A TigerAlert is sent to the campus community stating that Ewunetie has been reported missing and asking for information on her whereabouts.

Wednesday, Oct. 19

10:50 a.m: A message is sent to all undergraduates announcing an in creased law enforcement presence on campus.

3:31 p.m.: An email from Vice President for Campus Life W. Ro chelle Calhoun states that the search for Ewunetie is still ongoing.

Thursday, Oct. 20

Around 1 p.m.: Ewunetie’s body is found behind the tennis courts on the south end of campus by a facilities employee.

Around 3 p.m.: NBC News first reports that Ewunetie’s body has been found on campus.

3:11 p.m.: The ‘Prince’ notes police activity in the parking lot next to the tennis courts.

3:39 p.m.: The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office releases a state ment announcing the discovery of Ewunetie’s body. There are “no ob vious signs of injury and her death does not appear suspicious or crim inal in nature.”

4 p.m.: An email from Calhoun is sent to all undergraduates sharing the news of Ewunetie’s death.

Katherine Dailey is a head news editor who often covers breaking news, politics, and University affairs. Please direct any corrections requests to correc tions@dailyprincetonian.com.

Head News Editor Drew Somerville contributed reporting.

Editor’s Note: University Counseling services are available at 609-258-3141, and the Suicide Prevention Lifeline is

available 24/7 at +1 (800) 273-TALK (8255). A Crisis Text Line is also avail able in the United States; text HOME to 741741. Students can contact residential college staff and the Office of Religious Life for other support and resources.

Please see dailyprincetonian.com for the most up-to-date coverage of this ongoing situation. This piece was last updated on Wednesday, Oct. 27 in time for print publication.

As practice of land acknowledgment expands on campus, Indigenous leaders push for a ‘seat at the table’

By Bhoomika Chowdhary Senior News Writer

In recent years, many higher education institutions, including Princeton University, have begun publicly acknowledging the fact that they exist upon and benefit from the land of Indigenous peo ples.

The official land acknowledg ment found on the Office of In clusion & Diversity website by Inclusive Princeton reads as fol lows: “Princeton University sits on land considered part of the ancient homelands of the Lenni-Lenape peoples.” But despite recognizing the importance of land acknowl edgments, tribal leaders and In digenous studies scholars told The Daily Princetonian that such acknowledgements are not suffi cient in recognizing complicated histories and attempting to mend tenuous relationships.

The Lenni-Lenape peoples were the first inhabitants of the region where the University is situated, occupying regions of eastern Pennsylvania, parts of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Dela ware. European settlers were first recorded arriving in the region in the 17th century as settlers trav eled north from the Mid-Atlantic along the trails of the Lenni-Le nape people. The specific area that the University currently occupies

STUDENT LIFE

was named “Princeton” in 1724 as more and more wealthy European settlers began building and liv ing in houses along some of these paths.

The University, which was named the College of New Jersey at the time, moved from Newark to Princeton in 1756. There is no record of consultation or discus sion with the Lenni-Lenape people regarding this move within LenniLenape territory and the acquisi tion of their land by the institu tion, according to the University’s records.

The fact that the University occupied the land of the LenniLenape people was largely ignored for much of the institution’s his tory. In 2018, the Princeton Histo ries working group recommended that the University recognize and acknowledge the history between the institution and the land of the Lenni-Lenape people.

The Lenni-Lenape tribe main tains to this day that they “never surrender[ed] their tribal identity or inherent sovereignty.” Today, the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape In dian Tribe is officially recognized by and registered with the State of New Jersey. Their current head quarters are located in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, NJ.

The Reverend Dr. J.R. Norwood served the Nanticoke LenniLenape as a Tribal Councilman,

an elected position, for 15 years, until 2019. He also served as the first Principal Justice of the Tribal Supreme Court for six years from 2013–2019. A short bi ography shared with The Daily Princetonian stated that he “rep resents his tribe on a national and international level.”

Norwood wrote to the ‘Prince’ about land acknowledgments and Princeton’s history with his tribe, a topic he views as “an important educational/informative role in af firming what has been a long over looked history of the territory.”

“Land acknowledgments should be viewed as a beginning and not an ending,” Norwood wrote. “They should be statements that honor the past and pledge to show proper respect by building bridges into the future.”

The University does not have any official policy that requires land acknowledgment; however, there are some general guidelines regarding land acknowledgments available on Inclusive Princeton’s website. More and more events, groups, departments, and even professors have begun incorporat ing land acknowledgments into meetings and syllabi on campus.

One course that has incorpo rated a land acknowledgment into its curriculum is PSY254: Devel opmental Psychology, which is taught by Casey Lew-Williams, a

professor and director of graduate studies in the psychology depart ment. The introductory lecture for the course includes a slide with a land use acknowledgment that reads: “The land on which we gath er to work, study, & learn is part of the unceded territory of the Nanti coke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation.”

Other courses, such as MOL101 and ART100, include land ac knowledgment clauses in their syllabi, while productions put on at Theatre Intime, McCarter Theatre, and Triangle Club shows include land acknowledgments in pamphlets handed out to at tendees.

Whether or not land acknowl edgments hold genuine value or are more performative than pro ductive remains a topic of discus sion on campus.

“It depends entirely on the kind of acknowledgment offered,” Sar ah Rivett, a professor of English and American Studies, said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’ “Of course, it can be performative and empty, but it can also be meaning ful if done with care and in accor dance with Indigenous protocols.”

Norwood wrote, “modern ‘vir tue signaling’ can cause some to miss the purpose of land acknowl edgments.”

“Inviting dialogue with the tra ditional Indigenous communities with ties to the land and finding

ways to correct erroneous pre sumptions, stereotypes, forms of erasure, and violations of inherent dignity should be the continuing goal,” he wrote. “No one can ‘fix’ the past. But we can impact the present and improve future pros pects and relationships.”

He also emphasized that land acknowledgments should be pro ductive for the people currently using the land.

“I never favor using them to speak of the victimization of my people, but rather as a celebration of our rich heritage and promoting an appreciation of the link people who are in our territory share with that legacy,” he wrote.

But the action should not end there, Norwood emphasized. He advocated for a Native American studies minor and major at the University and said he believes that “having a ‘seat at the table’ and a ‘heard voice’ regarding dis ciplines that touch on our history, culture, political issues, etc. is vi tal.”

Bhoomika Chowdhary is a senior writer who often covers University af fairs/policy and research. She is also a senior copy editor for the ‘Prince.’ Please direct any corrections requests to corrections@dailyprincetonian. com.

USG announces 2026 Class Council election results

By Rebecca Cunningham News Contributor

The Class of 2026 has elected Sol Choi ’26, Zavier Foster ’26, Kriti Garg ’26, Justin Lee ’26, and Minna Abdella ’26 from a pool of 12 candidates to serve as their Undergraduate Student Govern ment (USG) class councilors.

The USG announced the re sults to students via email on Friday, Oct. 14. Candidates began campaigning with fliers, so cial media advertisements, and promotional events beginning Monday, Oct. 2; voting ended on Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Choi grew up in Irvine, Ca lif. but moved to Korea this past summer before matriculating into the University. Although currently undecided, he hopes to major in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) or politics. Choi expressed his excitement after learning he had been chosen as a 2026 class coun cilor in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.

“As soon as I got the email, I jumped up from my bed,” Choi said. “You know, like Willy Won ka’s Grandpa.”

He ran for office after seeing the role USG plays in welcoming students to campus.

“All the USG events made me feel at home during orientation,” Choi said. “I wanted to contrib ute.”

Foster is from Long Island, N.Y., and plans to major in poli tics. Foster walked onto the Princeton rowing team and said he likes writing poetry, having submitted a few of his pieces for consideration to the Nassau Literary Review. Like Choi, he said he values community and believed he could help to build community best as a class coun cilor.

“I want to make sure that ev eryone coming to this school knows immediately that they will have their own group of people,” Foster said in an inter view with the ‘Prince.’

He said he hopes USG can

play a greater role in preventing self-segregation among the stu dent body, fostering community through intramural sports and better promoting public spaces.

“With just the demographic here, there are a lot of minority groups, it’s really easy for some people to feel excluded,” Foster said. “Everyone should feel like they belong.”

Garg, a SPIA major, flew from Odisha, India to attend Prince ton. Garg participated in student government during high school.

“My high school’s administra tion used to call me ‘the fem inist,’ and not in a good way,” Garg said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’ “They used to mean it in a very derogatory sense be cause I used to call them out on a lot of their sexist policies.”

As an international student, Garg hopes to promote connec tions between students from a wide range of nationalities.

“Class council is mostly just events,” Garg said. “Through those events, how can we add

an international perspective that is beneficial and collaborative? How can we make this a more enriching experience?”

Lee is also a SPIA major and an international student. He was born in Seoul, Korea, but he moved to Toronto, Canada in 2015. His main goal is to institute a mentorship program between upperclassmen, graduate stu dents, and professors.

“The biggest thing that makes us nervous is that we don’t know what’s to come,” he said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’ “We need that insight from upper classmen who have been in that position, whether that be course selection, extracurriculars, or anything like that.”

Abdella, a neuroscience major from North Bergen, N.J., said she decided to make student govern ment her sole focus in regard to extracurriculars. She shared a host of propositions she hopes to implement as a 2026 class councilor.

“I look forward to working

with my peers and we had some aligning ideas,” Abdella said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’

“From a formal, which we al ready started talking about, to one of my ideas, which was hav ing a senior assassin [type of game], but with snow.”

She intends to raise school spirit on campus, specifically throughout the class of 2026.

“The first [high school] I went to there was no school spirit. It was all academics, no sports, just studying,” she said. “School spir it just brings the class together.”

The turnout rate for this year’s election reached 54 percent with a total of 2,610 votes, a decrease of six percent from the election in 2025.

USG posted complete results through the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS).

Rebecca Cunningham is a news contributor for the ‘Prince.’ Please direct any corrections requests to cor rections@dailyprincetonian.com.

KATHERINE DAILEY / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

A memorial to Misrach Ewunetie ’24, displayed during a vigil held by the Princeton Ethiopian and Eritrean Students Association.

Feder: Misrach was exceptionally kind and always went above and beyond

“We lost a really, really in tegral part of our communi ty,” Ambaw said in an open ing statement to the event.

Ewunetie’s father thanked everyone for being there, and shared words in both Amharic and English on be half of the family.

A priest brought in by the Ewunetie family led a prayer and a religious song during the event.

The Chapel was over halffull, with more than 500 students, faculty, and other community members in at tendance.

Genie Choi ’24 and Jamie Feder ’23, two of Ewunetie’s friends, spoke as well. Both reflected on having first met Ewunetie while taking COS 126: Computer Science: An Interdisciplinary Ap proach — the introductory computer science course — during the fall 2020 semes ter when the whole of the student body was remote due to COVID-19.

Feder shared how that semester, she and Ewun etie “would FaceTime every week, supposedly to study but mostly to just talk and complain about the class.”

“Misrach was exception ally kind and always went above and beyond. I would tell her in passing about my musical performances and she would always, unasked but appreciated, videotape

songs for me and send them to me,” Feder added. “She was a great friend, beauti ful, smart, and funny. She will be forever missed.” (Feder shared her remarks in writing with The Daily Princetonian after the event.)

Choi recalled that this year, she and Ewunetie de cided to be roommates.

“We had truly some of the best [memories] in that Scully room,” she said.

At the ORL vigil, staff of New College West (NCW), Ewunetie’s residential col lege, were present, as well as Dean of the College Jill Dolan and Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun.

The first floor of Mur ray-Dodge Hall was filled by more than 120 students, with the vigil spreading into three different rooms.

On behalf of Amanda Kural ’24, who joined the event via FaceTime, Gaea Lawton ’23 read, “Towards the end of the semester, I was struggling with some dif ficult issues in my personal and family lives. Although she was a relatively recent friend, Misrach offered me unconditional kindness and support. That was the kind of person she was.”

Lawton is a staff cartoon ist for the ‘Prince.’

Professor AnneMarie Luijendijk, Head of NCW, said, “We’re all so heartbro ken by this loss. And as Matt [Matthew Weiner, Associate

Dean of Religious Life] al ready said, there’s so many questions and it’s just such a difficult period for us as a community.”

Professors who knew Ewunetie also expressed their condolences and shared memories about her as a student.

“The vibe I got from her was always positivity. She had a twinkle in her eyes, a smile on her face,” said Filiz Garip, a professor for SOC 300: Claims and Evidence in Sociology, which Misrach was enrolled in.

Professor Mitchell Dunei er, who serves as the chair of the sociology department, added that “our department plans to make her memories central to our department’s collective life.”

A GoFundMe has been created in order to assist the Ewunetie family “with the expenses associated with a funeral, an independent au topsy, and significant trav el.” As of Wednesday, Oct. 26, it had raised more than $126,000 from around 1,600 donors.

Terrace Club, the eating club where Ewunetie was a member, hosted a vigil for its members on Tues day, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. Ter race also canceled all social events for this week out of respect to Ewunetie.

The vigil hosted by PEESA occurred inside the Univer sity Chapel at 5 p.m., and the vigil hosted by the ORL took place in Murray-Dodge Hall

at 7 p.m.

Katherine Dailey is a head news editor who often covers breaking news, politics, and University affairs. Please di rect any corrections requests to corrections@dailyprinceton

ian.com.

This article was published on the night of Monday, Oct. 24, prior to the Terrace Club vigil.

Dining Pilot Working Group Member: It feels like students have been intentionally excluded from this process

“But clearly,” Takeuchi con tinued, an expansion of meal exchange “has not been imple mented in policy. And there don’t seem to be any immedi ate reasons why it shouldn’t be implemented or why that would be logistically challenging.”

The University has not made any official statement or pub licly announced a complete ver sion of the pilot program or any changes to be made to the cur rent dining plan at the time of publication.

USG’s formal request for more information about the pilot

program was addressed to Vice President for Campus Life Ro chelle Calhoun, Vice President for University Services Chad Klausm, Executive Director for Planning and Administration Christopher Burkmar ’00, and Executive Director for Finance and Technology Administra tion Maureen McWhirter.

At the USG-led student as sembly, students in eating clubs and co-ops expressed concerns about the increased costs and crowds that could come with an at-large implementation of the plan following the pilot phase.

University administrators pushed back against this con cern, writing in the column that “students will not incur

By Bryan Zhang Contributing Constructor

#1

any costs for participating in the pilot, and it has not been determined what, if any, costs students would incur in the fi nal program.”

In its initial coverage of the dining pilot, the ‘Prince’ had re ported that the plan could come with a potential hike in cost of attendance by $1,500 if the plan was implemented, according to an individual familiar with the discussions.

According to members of the dining pilot’s working group, all of its members are current seniors, and the pi lot is currently slated to go into effect during the spring of 2023. (These working group members were granted ano nymity by the ‘Prince’ due to the confidential nature of the group’s work.) Thus, any cur rent students working on the

program would graduate at the same time the pilot pro gram concludes.

But that may change soon.

Per the Oct. 14 email to under graduates, USG “has success fully advocated for first year, sophomore, and junior repre sentatives to be included in the [dining pilot] working group” and is currently seeking appli cants.

In the eyes of one of the work ing group members, student perspectives have been exclud ed throughout the process of formulating this plan.

“Whether or not it was in tentional,” the working group member told the ‘Prince,’ “the working group has been for mulated to exclude student perspectives in the evaluation of the pilot. So that, in conjunc tion with the fact that there has

been no official release of infor mation about the pilot … it feels like students have been inten tionally excluded from this pro cess. And that’s concerning.”

University Spokesperson Mi chael Hotchkiss deferred com ment for this story to the Oct. 13 letter from administrators.

Hope Perry is a junior from New Jersey, the Head Podcast Editor and News staff writer at the ‘Prince’ who covers USG and student activ ism.

Annie Rupertus is a sophomore from Philadelphia, an Assistant Data Editor, and a News staff writ er who covers USG for the ‘Prince.’

Please direct any corrections re quests to corrections@dailyprinc etonian.com.

CANDACE DO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Charter Club, one of the 11 eating clubs on Prospect Ave.

ALEXANDER MORAVCSIK / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

A wreath, in honor of Ewunetie, outside of Terrace Club, where she was a member.

Hum r

Mushies, not slushies: Alcohol Initiative to fund psychedelics club

By Vitus Larrieu Humor Contributor

Advertising “Mushies, Not Slushies,” the Alcohol Initiative — part of the Uni versity’s effort to decrease pressure on students to drink so much they wake up in the middle of Cannon Green each Sunday — is funding a new student club encouraging the use of psy chedelic drugs.

The club, Tangible Re sults of Interactive Psyche delics (TRIP) was started by astrophysics concentrator Mushra Yum ’24, who said her goal is to facilitate “trip ping with friends instead of tripping up the stairs of McCosh Health Center.” She saw the Alcohol Initiative as an opportunity to expand her group of recreational psychedelics users beyond the basement of Guyot Hall.

While use of psychedelics is not typically permitted on campus, University offi cials experienced a change

of heart after attending meetings of TRIP, according to a source in the adminis tration, who asked for ano nymity so he could “keep [his] job.”

“After hearing about psy chedelics’ transformative effects on mental health, we hope that the new influx of students tripping balls will reduce the depression that reportedly 100 percent of the University’s under graduate population expe riences,” the source said.

Students have mixed responses to the new club. While Ace Sidd ’26 wel comes the opportunity to “add color to this dark and dismal town by any means necessary,” Greene Raum ’23 told The Daily PrintsA nything that the new club might “effectively replace Terrace.”

Nearly shut out, Princeton awards honorary degrees to all Nobel winners

By José Pablo Fernández García Humor Contributor

After last year’s record of five Nobel prizes won by indi viduals affiliated with Princeton, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 called an emergency meeting of the Board of Trust ees over the weekend to award honorary degrees to all of this year’s non-affiliated Nobel winners.

Seeing that none of the first five prizes announced this year went to Princeton ians, University of ficials worried about a potential total shut

out from the annual awards.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t yet figured out how to just buy these awards. So, we were kind of hoping our fossil fuel dissoci ation vote would win us the Peace Prize this year,” said University trustee Petra Liom ’73.

Meeting in Nassau Hall’s faculty room, the board voted on Saturday, Oct. 8, to grant honorary de grees to all of this year’s winners.

The trustees also voted to award honor ary degrees to the win ners of the Economics prize, who had not yet been announced at the

time of the emergency trustee meeting.

“We really wanted to go for all six Nobels this year, so we went ahead and awarded a couple blank degrees. Someone can fill the names in later,” said University trustee Rez Ume Pecker ’20.

After the meeting, President Eisgruber dispatched Dean of the College Jill Dolan to hand deliver the honorary degrees to all the winners.

As French writer Annie Ernaux was busy packing for her trip to Stockholm to receive the Literature prize, Dolan arrived unannounced at her

door with a framed de gree in tow and began explaining that Princ eton had awarded Er naux an honorary doc torate of letters.

Ernaux quickly in terrupted Dolan, ask ing, “Princeton? In the U.S.? Is that like Harvard?”

JOSÉ PABLO FERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

By Bryan Zhang and Alexandra Politowicz Contributing Constructors

By Bryan Zhang Contributing Constructor

Princeton does nowhere near enough to help grieving students

Maruri

The following is a guest con tribution and reflects the au thor’s views alone.

Ientered the Spelman Hall dorm of my new Atmospheric Chem istry partner, Phoebe, and saw a familiar face that I had not expected to see: Abraham Joshua ’21. Abe was my Outdoor Action leader from first-year orien tation. He had just returned from a gap year, and as it turned out, was Phoebe’s roommate. What I thought was just a chance encoun ter was in fact facilitated by Abe — upon learning I was in the class with Phoebe, his best friend, he encouraged her to get to know me and told her to invite me to their place. He thought we would be good friends. That night, as I worked on the problem set with Phoebe, I caught up with my OA leader. Abe stopped by many times as Phoebe and I studied that semester, and we became very good friends. He was wise beyond his years; when I first met him, he was just my OA leader, but as I spent more time getting to know him I realized how much he was looking out for me, even long after first-year orien tation. Abe graduated later that semester and moved to San Francisco to work for Teach for America.

One year later I was up late studying for a midterm scheduled for 10 a.m. the next morning when I saw a message in my OA trip group chat: “Abe passed away this morning.” He had been hit by a vehicle on his way to the elementary school where he worked.

In my time at Princeton, four current students have passed away — there has been a student death and a death of a staff member this semester. There have also been losses in our broader community, including Abe. There is so much more that Princeton can do to pre vent mental health-related deaths of current communi ty members, and we need to have that conversation. We also need to talk about the

impact on those who have to process the grief of someone close to them passing away.

Princeton does nowhere near enough to help the stu dents and community mem bers affected. As I learned in the days following Abe’s death, recovering from such a loss is a long and difficult process and can’t be solved by Princeton’s perfunctory acknowledgements.

When I first heard about Abe’s death, I didn’t know how to process the informa tion. I tried to keep study ing for my midterm, until 10 minutes later, when his passing had sunk in and I broke down crying. I spent the remainder of that eve ning in the dorm room of my other OA leader reflect ing on our experiences with Abe.

I had texted Phoebe, Abe’s roommate and now my good friend, on my way to my other OA leader’s dorm to ask if she was okay and if she wanted to talk, and as I headed home later that night, I finally got her re sponse: “Yeah, why?” I real ized that she was unaware of Abe’s passing. Having to tell Phoebe that her best friend, someone who she had planned to travel the world with, was no longer with us was the most dif ficult conversation I’ve ever had to have.

I trudged back to my dorm, to sit in my bed and stare at the ceiling until I couldn’t anymore and then pass out. Abe was my first mentor at this school, the first person to tell me that it’s okay to not be perfect at Princeton, and someone whom I deeply respected. He was an important part of my early Princeton experience, and now he was gone. My midterm, meanwhile, was a mere six hours away. I felt there was no way for me to get the midterm moved on such short notice, and so, the next morning, I woke up, took the test, then stum bled back to my room to cry some more.

My residential college had finally sent out an email ac knowledging Abe’s passing earlier that day, offering assistance to anyone who needed to talk or receive

academic accommodations as they dealt with grief. I decided to walk to my col lege office to get some help. There was no one in the of fice when I arrived, and I was informed that my Dean and Director of Student Life were likely unavailable for the indeterminate future as it was the Thursday of midterms week. I was told my best option was to wait around and hope I could catch them in person to request a brief in-person meeting, but I decided to leave. I didn’t want to grieve in public.

I returned to my room de jected. There was nothing to do but gather up the cour age to personally email my professors and ask for ex tensions on the papers, pro posals, and midterms that remained. Having to outline the grief that I was process ing to each of my profes sors so that I could receive basic accommodations was embarrassing and difficult to say the least, but I didn’t have any other options.

My professors were gen erally accommodating (although one agreed to grant an extension for only 24 hours), and my closest friends were willing to help me with whatever I needed those next few days. Yet I found myself spending those days telling myself that the grief that I was experiencing wasn’t even genuine, or questioning whether I was just using the situation to my advantage for midterms. I was com pletely dissociating from the world around me, but I still had midterms to com plete and a spring break trip to go on, so I tried my best to just get over it and, for the rest of the semester, to go on as usual.

As my senior year start ed, with some time having passed, I thought that I had worked through my grief, so I signed up to lead an OA trip for a third time, even though Abe’s passing complicated my relationship with the program. I was excited to give the same experience to incoming first-years that Abe gave to me, but within the first day, struggles get ting our camp set up left me

feeling disappointed in my self. As we left for our day hike, the thought of me not living up to Abe’s memory came up, and I had an in ternal breakdown as grief around his passing and my own judgment of my leader ship weighed on me. I acci dentally took a wrong turn and almost got our group lost. It took everything in my power to get our group back to our campsite with out breaking down in tears along the trail. When we finally returned to camp, I tried to explain to my group why I was so out of it on our hike, but I just started sob bing. While the trip did pro vide some closure for me in processing the grief of Abe’s passing, I’ve found that this grief has been anything but linear and there are still days when being reminded of Abe affects me.

Our campus is once again facing unimaginable trag edy with the passing of Mis rach Ewunetie ’24. All I can think about are the lives she must have touched, the lives of people who are mourning her right now as I did Abe. I’d love to assume that Princeton will provide these people more resources than they provided me, but based on my own experienc es and that of friends, I am concerned that hasn’t been and won’t be true. In fact, I am all too certain that the weight that they will bear will not be eased by the ad ministration.

The University constantly offers the phone number of Counseling and Psycho logical Services (CPS) when ever these tragedies occur. It asks us to reach out to residential college adminis tration and other officials on campus. However, these resources are only as use ful as they are accessible.

My experience with CPS has been that it is not equipped to handle all the students who need help, especially sustained help, which is necessary especially when you lose someone you care about. CPS can sometimes have a multi-week waitlist.

Last week, during fall break, as campus grieved, residen tial college offices were of ten closed. Even when these

resources are open and fully staffed, they can fail to meet the needs of the student body.

It may be unreasonable to expect an appointment with CPS 24 hours a day, the University can supple ment CPS by facilitating easier access to off-campus resources including men tal health hotlines and on line counseling, along with funding for and transport to local therapists. Adding a link to an external resource might not seem like much to Princeton’s administra tors, but students dealing with grief need easy access to these resources.

Princeton also needs to make sure that residential college offices are actually open and available after tragedies. To offer these offices as resources when they are not actually open or when they are not able to provide the support that they claim they can is a slap in the face to students struggling with profound mourning.

Lastly, the University needs to give stronger guid ance to professors to adjust timelines following these tragedies and to offer more empathetic expectations for students dealing with grief. From my own experi ences, I’ve learned that grief is not something that can be overcome in a day or so, yet the University acts as if brief extensions, if any, are sufficient to give students the space to process their mourning.

Grief is a complicated process. It’s not linear. The University might claim to understand this, but the re sources it provides, if they are even available, ask stu dents to expedite the pro cess beyond what is reason able. Until Princeton fixes these resources and ac knowledges the enormity of these tragedies, its condo lences will remain hollow.

Philip Maruri is a senior from Richmond, Va. studying Civil and Environmental Engi neering. He can be reached at pmaruri@princeton.edu.

In Georgia’s moment of vulnerability, the U.S. should step up engagement

Sam Harshbarger

s Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on through its sev enth month since the escalation of the conflict by Russia on Feb. 24, great strain has been placed on the nations of the Caucasus and Central Asia that have deep economic, political, and cultural ties to Russia. While Princeton’s campus community has shown admi rable solidarity with Ukraine against Russia’s aggression, there has been less attention devoted towards other coun tries that also face economic and political headwinds as a result of the war and Russia’s broader aggressive posture.

Among the most vulnerable is Georgia, a small nation of more than three and a half million people on the east ern edge of the Black Sea. Its quest to join the European Union and the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization (NATO) against a backdrop of sepa ratist conflict, Russian mili tary intervention, and desta bilizing domestic political polarization warrants greater concern and solidarity.

In August 2008, a brief war between Georgia and Russia resulted in the presence of Russian soldiers in Georgia’s separatist regions of Abkha zia and South Ossetia, and lat er led to Russia’s recognition of these regions as sovereign states. Georgia’s foreign poli cy, consistently pro-Western since the 2003 Rose Revolu tion, only intensified in its desire to gain NATO and EU membership in the aftermath of the Russo-Georgian war in 2008. Russia’s occupation of Georgian territory in Abkha zia and South Ossetia, just as in the case of Russia’s occupa tion of Crimea and the Don bas in Ukraine, aims to build leverage to force Georgia’s hand. In effect, however, it has driven Georgia to further

embrace Western partners as an alternative to acquiescing to Moscow’s dictums.

Last year, Georgia faced in creasing pressure from Rus sia and its other neighbors to abandon its Atlanticist for eign policy and embrace the proposed 3+3 regional format, including the three South Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, as well as the regional powers of Iran, Russia, and Turkey. The vision of regional coop eration offered by 3+3 is vio lent and incompatible with Georgia’s professed Western orientation, which is why the country has thus far rejected it. However, Georgia cannot ignore its neighbors, and some regional states are not taking no for an answer. Farid Shafiyev of the Center of Analysis of International Re lations, a state-aligned Azer baijani think tank, has stated that the door will always be open to Georgia. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Ser

gei Lavrov has requested that Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey “explain the benefits of 3+3” to Georgia. Since Rus sia’s escalation of its war in Ukraine in February, Georgia has stood by Kyiv in interna tional fora while refusing to join in on sanctions or open a so-called “second front” against Russia, which would expose it to further military and economic threats, elicit ing Kyiv’s ire.

Georgia’s leading EuroAtlantic partner, Turkey, has deeply strained ties with its fellow NATO member states, France and the United States, and has shown a tendency in the past decade to cut real politik deals with illiberal regional actors rather than confining itself to EuroAtlantic structures. Turkey remains Georgia’s largest bi lateral trading partner and a staunch advocate for its NATO membership, but also a force pushing towards a re gional agenda that cuts Eu

rope and North America out of the equation.

Naturally, Russia’s war in Ukraine has focused our at tention on Kyiv and Moscow. However, in considering Rus sia’s abrupt transition from deterrence to compellence with Ukraine, Georgia — the other state promised even tual NATO membership at its Bucharest summit in April 2008 — cannot be ignored in considering the broad stra tegic picture. In June, the EU offered candidate status to Moldova and Ukraine, but not to Georgia, offering it only “perspective candida cy.” While EU and NATO ac cession for Georgia remains stalled in the wake of back sliding on reform commit ments by the Georgian gov ernment, the elite consensus has not reached the point Turkey reached in its negotia tions with the EU, where even a notional hope of European

editor-in-chief Marie-Rose Sheinerman ’23 business manager

Benjamin Cai ’24

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

president Thomas E. Weber ’89

vice president David Baumgarten ’06

secretary Chanakya A. Sethi ’07

treasurer Douglas Widmann ’90

assistant treasurer Kavita Saini ’09

trustees Francesca Barber Craig Bloom ’88

Kathleen Crown Suzanne Dance ’96 Gabriel Debenedetti ’12 Stephen Fuzesi ’00

Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Michael Grabell ’03

John G. Horan ’74 Rick Klein ’98

James T. MacGregor ’66

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd Abigail Williams ’14

Tyler Woulfe ’07

trustees ex officio Marie-Rose Sheinerman ’23 Benjamin Cai ’24

146TH MANAGING BOARD

managing editors

Omar Farah ’23

Caitlin Limestahl ’23

Tanvi Nibhanupudi ’23 Zachariah Wirtschafter Sippy ’23

Strategic initiative directors

Accessibility Isabel Rodrigues ’23

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Melat Bekele ’24

Auhjanae McGee ’23

Education Evelyn Doskoch ’23 José Pablo Fernández García ’23

Financial Stipend Program Rooya Rahin ’23

Engagement Analytics Sai Rachumalla ’24

Sections listed in alphabetical order.

head audience editor

Rowen Gesue ’24 associate audience

editor

Meryl Liu ’25 head copy editors

Alexandra Hong ’23

Nathalie Verlinde ’24 associate copy editors

Catie Parker ’23

Cecilia Zubler ’23 head web design editors

Anika Maskara ’23

Brian Tieu ’23 associate web design

editor

Ananya Grover ’24 head graphics editors

Ashley Chung ’23

Noreen Hosny ’25 head print design editor

Juliana Wojtenko ’23 associate print design

editor

Dimitar Chakarov ’24 head data editor

Sam Kagan ’24 head features editors

Sydney Eck ’24

Alex Gjaja ’23 head news editors

Katherine Dailey ’24

Drew Somerville ’24 associate news editors

Kalena Blake ’24

Anika Buch ’24

Sandeep Mangat ’24 newsletter editors

Kareena Bhakta ’24

Amy Ciceu ’24

head opinion editor

Genrietta Churbanova ’24 community editor

Rohit A. Narayanan ’24 associate opinion editor

Lucia Wetherill ’25 head photo editor

Candace Do ’24 associate photo editor

Angel Kuo ’24

Isabel Richardson ’24 head podcast editor

Hope Perry ’24 associate podcast editors Jack Anderson ’23 Senna Aldoubosh ’25 Eden Teshome ’25 head prospect editors

José Pablo Fernández García ’23

Kerrie Liang ’25 associate prospect editors

Molly Cutler ’23

Cathleen Weng ’24 head puzzles editors

Gabriel Robare ’24 Owen Travis ’24 associate puzzles editors

Juliet Corless ’24 Joah Macosko ’25 Cole Vandenberg ’24 head humor editors

Claire Silberman ’23 Liana Slomka ’23 associate humor editors

Spencer Bauman ’25 head sports editors

Wilson Conn ’25 Julia Nguyen ’24 associate sports editor

Ben Burns ’23 Elizabeth Evanko ’23

146TH BUSINESS BOARD

assistant business manager

Shirley Ren ’24 business directors

David Akpokiere ’24 Samantha Lee ’24

Ananya Parashar ’24 Gloria Wang ’24 project managers

Anika Agarwal ’25

John Cardwell ’25 Jack Curtin ’25 Diya Dalia ’24

Jonathan Lee ’24 Juliana Li ’24 Justin Ong ’23 Xabier Sardina ’24 business associate Jasmine Zhang ’24

TECHNOLOGY BOARD

software engineers

Eugenie Choi ’24 Giao Vu Dinh ’24 Daniel Hu ’25

Dwaipayan Saha ’24

We have to stop relying on U.S. News and World Report rankings

Eric Xie Contributing Columnist

OnSept. 12, U.S. News released its annual college rankings and my social media ac counts were flooded with re posts celebrating Princeton’s 12year reign as the country’s No. 1 national university.

These rankings oftentimes are a source of pride for stu dents at top-ranked universities as well as a source that some use to determine which colleges are ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ However, the U.S. News college rankings are easily corruptible, weigh the wrong factors, and privilege older and more established institutions. For these reasons and more, rankings should not be treated as gospel or serve as cause for pride or college decision-mak ing.

College rankings do not treat the universities they judge ob jectively. Some of the highestweighted factors in construct ing the U.S. News’s rankings are peer assessment surveys, in which university admissions officers and administrators rate other schools in various categories. College rankings are little more than a popular ity contest. Schools like Princ eton that have the advantage of long histories and consistent success therefore inevitably benefit from higher rankings in the peer assessment catego ry. When administrators rank their peers, they don’t have any objective measure by which to assess them. Rather, the people ranking might gravitate to wellknown ‘name brands.’ Smaller schools that lack the same his tory of prestige will underper form in peer assessment sur veys even if they possess great specialization and teaching in particular fields of study. The very fact that these schools are not ‘name brands’ pushes them

downwards in the rankings.

Further, since the admis sions regime benefits colleges that are perceived as ‘competi tive,’ colleges have an incentive to cheat their way to the top. Columbia University is a per fect example. It dropped from No. 2 to No. 18 on this year’s rankings after admitting to misrepresenting its data and using incorrect methodologies to collect statistics. Despite this scandal, however, Columbia’s reputation remained virtually unscathed, because they still derive all the benefits from once being ranked number two. Their subsequent slip might be dismissed as a technicality, and not a genuine assessment. The only negative impact that I’ve noticed is Columbia becoming the butt of jokes made by rival Ivy League students and a few New York Times writers.

Even without cheating or ly ing about data, there are still ways for universities to game the system. One of the fac tors that U.S. News takes into consideration is the yield rate, which is the percentage of ac cepted students who choose to attend the university. In order to boost yield rates, universi ties have increasingly sent ‘likely letters,’ which inform ap plicants that they are likely to gain admission before official decisions are made as to better compete for top applicants.

Northeastern University ex emplifies this trend of abus ing the system. This school has slowly, but steadily, climbed its way up the U.S. News rankings from 162nd in 1996 to 44th this year. By aggressively lowering its average class size to 19 (the former university president has spoken of ‘reverse engineer ing’ the rankings to climb the ladder), lowering their accep tance rates through expanded outreach, and offering study abroad programs for students

during their first semester, who had grades the university did not want to include in its rank ing reports, Northeastern pri oritized statistics over the ac tual quality of student life and academics.

‘Selectivity’ and decreasing acceptance rates have been used by colleges for decades as a way to benefit their rankings, but they have seriously bad conse quences. As Community Opin ion Editor Rohit Narayanan ar gued last term, low admissions rates are almost entirely con structed and don’t have any ma terial benefit for either students or schools.

The U.S. News system is based solely on numbers. In fact, it even admits on its FAQ page that it puts more emphasis on output measures like gradu ation rates than students’ qual ity of life. While the emphasis on post-college outcomes is reasonable, it means that stu dents would be wrong to base their opinion about a university based upon its ranking alone.

As Senior Columnist Mohan Setty-Charity described last year, these rankings put lots of importance on combined sta tistics, which may say nothing about fit for a specific student.

Does a prestigious degree always hold more value than a memorable and meaningful college experience? Does the outcome always matter more than the process? These are nu anced questions that should matter to us all, and our an swers to them will differ by per sonal experience and insight. We have to think about these questions seriously rather than relying solely on deeply flawed rankings.

Eric Xie is a first-year from Princeton, New Jersey planning to study computer science. He can be reached at ex9471@princeton.edu

Euro-Atlantic allies should stand by their promises to Georgia

integration has died.

Roma Bhattacharjee

Kohei Sanno ’25 Pranav Avva ’24

THIS PRINT ISSUE WAS DESIGNED BY Dimitar Chakarov ’24 Keith Matanachai ’26 Juliana Wojtenko ’23

’25

As Emil Avdaliani, a Geor gian analyst, writes, “the es tablishment of a new order in the South Caucasus will sig nificantly reduce the influ ence the collective West held in the region.” Last year’s post-election political settle ment negotiated by European Council President Charles Michel to resolve Georgia’s political crisis ended in fail ure. Far-right violence target ing Georgian LGBTQ+ rights activists further alienated Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic part ners. In August 2021, Geor gia’s security services began cooperating with Belarus in the “exchange of information on terrorism, extremist and separatist organizations” — all while Georgia expanded flights between Belarus and Turkey in the weeks follow ing Belarus’ forced landing of Ryanair 4978 to seize dis sident Roman Prostasevich. Georgia has deported exiled Russian politicians seeking asylum and failed to protect Chechen activists within Georgia from Russian retali ation.

Georgia’s partners in the European Union and United States should continue to support Georgia’s democratic political system and defense against its bellicose neigh bor to the north. They should also support continued good

ties between Georgia and Turkey as the most realistic mechanism for Euro-Atlantic support for Georgia. Russia has sought to disrupt Geor gian-Turkish ties with disin formation, recognizing how significant their relationship is as the most concrete bridge between Georgia and a NATO member state. However, the political crisis in Georgia and its drift away from the EuroAtlantic world in practice, if not in rhetoric, should dis abuse us of illusions of rapid and/or inevitable accession.

All that said, in this mo ment of vulnerability, Geor gians are right to question whether Europe and the Unit ed States will really commit to the country’s security and Euro-Atlantic ambitions. As Georgia struggles to han dle the economic pressures released by Russia’s war in Ukraine, to absorb thousands of Russians fleeing conscrip tion and sanctions, and to face its own conflicts with Russian occupation forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both Georgia and its EuroAtlantic partners must act.

Relatively small acts of sup port from the country’s EuroAtlantic partners, coupled with a withdrawal from gross provocations by both parties in Georgia’s highly polarized domestic politics, would of fer a path forward to resolve the systemic economic and political issues that cloud Georgia’s European future.

Princeton’s School of Pub

lic and International Affairs has long been an intellectual center of liberal internation alist support for Euro-Atlan tic integration, training the generation of policymakers who led the charge on NATO and EU expansion through out the past decades. Current Princeton students will like ly be in positions of power to shape and build on this legacy. With this in mind, it remains imperative that smaller nations like Georgia get the due attention they de serve in the midst of the de stabilizing effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine. While not ne glecting Georgia’s outstand ing structural challenges, it is high time for Euro-Atlantic countries to live up to com mitments made to Georgia in 2008. To do otherwise would be a betrayal of the dreams of the Georgian people and an immense setback for this vision of liberal internation alism.

Sam Harshbarger is a junior from Cranbury, N.J. major ing in history with a focus on modern Russia, Turkey, and Eurasia. He is a researcher at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a research intern at the New Lines Institute, and an Atid Policy Fellow at the Israel Policy Forum. The views expressed in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the views of any insti tution. He can be reached at sh28@princeton.edu.

Opinion

Reactions: What would you change about

Princeton?

In 2021, then-Editor-in-Chief Emma Treadway ’22 challenged the student body to take the collective return from virtual-only learning as an oppor tunity to change Princeton. One year later, we asked our columnists one thing they’d want to change, big or small, about Princeton in the coming year. Their responses range from heavy-hearted calls for sweeping shifts in culture and policy, to humble pleas for changes in the University’s everyday life.

For our mental health, let’s ditch productivity culture

Mohan Setty-Charity Senior Columnist

Thereare far too many stressors on this campus. Classes, clubs, extracurricular activities, campus jobs, sports, the social scene, all contribute to continuously evaluating us on our worth. Incessant pressure to succeed at a high level in every possible part of one’s life can lead to deteriorating mental health and overarching feelings of failure. We cannot give room to the belief that productivity defines a person’s value as a human being — we are people first. To shift these sentiments, there needs to be a broader change in culture across campus. Changing the way we do testing, the way we idolize productive capacity, and the notion that we should be anything other than people first could start to pave the way.

Democratize the Board of Trustees

Eleanor Clemans-Cope Contributing Columnist

There is no democracy at Princeton. The Uni versity is overseen by a Board of Trustees, cur rently 37 members, which controls the budget, endowment, investments, tuition, important academic and admissions matters, and long-term phys ical planning, including construction. But the Board is dangerously anti-democratic and opaque. Two-thirds of the Trustees, often big-dollar donors, are appointed by the Board itself. Of the remaining elected Trustees (of whom four are Young Alumni Trustees), most are appointed to their ballot by an insular committee, and none are allowed to campaign or publicly take sides on issues. Their decision-making also lacks transparency, making accountability nearly impossible. It couldn’t be more blatant: Princeton doesn’t even pretend to hold genuine democratic values. They don’t care about separating money from power, informed voting, or even voting at all. It’s time to eliminate this sham. Let’s make the Board of Trustees democratic, transparent, and accountable.

Bring back virtual options for classes

Gisele Bisch Assistant Opinion Editor

TheUniversity should reimplement virtual accommodations for students who cannot attend all in-person class activities, perhaps due to being sick or injured. As we saw at the height of COVID-19, Zoom links, lecture recordings, and posted course notes gave students the opportunity to keep up with work even when they were sick, injured, or otherwise unable to come to class in person. As someone who’s witnessed friends fall behind in classes due to illnesses or severe injuries, it is difficult for me to un derstand why the University would suddenly abandon all virtual accommodations once the campus had a sense of “normalcy” again. As the Editorial Board argued last spring, the two are not mutually exclusive.

Emphasize campus compactness in new construction projects

John Raulston Graham Contributing Columnist

Make sure divestment actually happens

Nate Howard Contributing Columnist

recently-announced divestment and dissociation from 90 fossil fuel companies is exciting and encouraging. The University has divested, demonstrating that the demand for divestment was always feasible. It’s now our job to hold the administration account able: What are the metrics for divestment? When will we meet those metrics? The end date for fossil fuel investment should be long before our net zero goal in 2046, because it shouldn’t take 24 years to divest from fossil fuels. Furthermore, as I argued last semester, there’s no reason we should accept any fossil fuel funding for research. University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 says that Princeton will serve the world through our research contributions. Let’s do that instead of serving fossil fuel interests.

Princeton’s

Build Hobson College in a classic Gothic style

Julianna Lee Contributing Columnist

Since the beginning of the school year, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that something isn’t quite right with the new colleges. Maybe it’s the shape of the rectangular buildings looming over Poe Field, with little greenery within the complex and seemingly few attempts to merge with the natural environment. Or, maybe it’s the bright pink outdoor spaces so at odds with the rest of Princeton’s campus. Stepping into the new col leges makes me feel like I’m at a modern tech company, rather than in the warm, cozy Princ eton that I know and love. Hobson College will open in 2026 where First College used to stand — a central location on campus. It can either make or break the aesthetic of the university. If Princeton wants to remain Princeton, Hobson should be built to match the collegiate Gothic style of the buildings found north of campus rather than the new colleges.

Help students adjust to and make use of the Princeton area

Emily Hove Contributing Columnist

culture of wealth is rein forced by the fact that students from less affluent backgrounds might struggle to adjust to living in the Princeton area. The town of Princeton is not built for the average college student to live in independently, and while the University tries to create an insulated world with its own selfcontained resources, we cannot escape the real world that surrounds our campus. Princeton should provide students with the information necessary to live practically for the four years they spend here. That would include providing better communication of transit options in the area and a concise list of affordable and nearby locations for local shopping and dining.

Princeton’s

The

completion of the new colleges and the Lake Cam pus development will mark the end of the last Campus Plan. As we look ahead to the next one, I would urge the University to emphasize compactness and walkability in its plans. The campus’ expansion to the south has resulted in roughly one-fourth of the undergraduate population living a 15-minute walk from Cannon Green. Stretching the campus farther south will result in longer travel distances and the dete rioration of the unity of the student body. Princeton’s compact ness is what makes the University a more personal school than many of its peer research universities — and we have to make sure to preserve that.

Fix the Frist cafes

Sam Harshbarger Contributing Columnist

Campus Center is a great place for students to get Late Meal, attend class, and retrieve mail. However, the Frist 100 Level retail establishments could use some improve ment. For example, Cafe Vivian should re-open for week day lunches, as it was previously for years. This change would make Frist an even more attractive and effective communitybuilding space for students.

Frist

Make Election Day a holiday

Henry Hsiao Contributing Columnist

Totruly champion civic engagement, the University should designate Election Day as a campus-wide holi day. Right now, maintaining a rigid, regular schedule — during voting hours — deprives students and staff of an opportunity to participate in the democratic process; nobody should be forced to choose between casting a ballot and skipping a problem set or paid shift. There’s already precedent at peer in stitutions for canceling or condensing Election Day classes and thus no good excuse for not doing so here. A voting holiday at Princeton would go a long way towards improving our turnout rates. In the aftermath of a successful referendum to make this change, as Guest Contributors Ana Blanco and Joe Shipley wrote in January, it’s baffling why the University hasn’t acted.

Improve Princeton platforms in cluding My Housing and TigerHub

Christopher Lidard Contributing Columnist

TheUniversity needs to reimagine its digital platforms. Princeton platforms host portals for some of the most important and long-lasting decisions of its students, including TigerHub — where students declare con centrations and enroll in courses — and My Housing. It’s clear from the look and feel of these platforms that insufficient time and money have been allocated to make them easy to use and aesthetically on par with modern web standards. The backends of these systems that handle data processing also need to be enhanced so that students do not lose out on a fair chance at getting their top courses and housing preferences because of technical issues. Columnist Prince Takano has written exten sively on similar issues, and we still haven’t fixed many of them.

CANDACE DO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Elevate passion along with achievement in Princeton admissions

Charlotte Pfenning Contributing Columnist

There is a thriving arts community at Princeton with a plethora of a capella, dance, literature, and music groups. Yet passion for the arts is not highly valued in the University’s admissions process; rather, partici pation in the arts only seems to count when accompanied by awards, recognition, and success. Princeton should not make students commodify their passions in order to be awarded a spot in the application process. In a recently published piece, Guest Contributor Yejin Suh explains how she felt as though she was “wasting time” in high school if she indulged in creative writing solely for herself. The application process em phasizes external, visible success in the arts. Princeton should shift their priority away from superficial honors and, instead, towards an emphasis on true love and passion that can exist for years beyond the college admissions “rat race.”

Reform residential college placement

Prince Takano Contributing Columnist

InPrinceton, all students live in our residential college for our first two years. But have we taken a moment to think: “What makes me proud of my residential college? How do I fit into this com munity?” For many students, the answer is I do not. Princeton needs to work on building a better sense of community in residential colleges by basing place ment on similarities or shared interests rather than randomness. If the University wishes to improve stu dent affinity for residential colleges as an integral part of student life, it needs to incorporate a new placement structure to serve as that basis for affinity.

Abolish the Honor Code

Christofer Robles Contributing Columnist

TheHonor Code needs to be abolished. The suggestion that letting students selfadminister exams is a signal of “a high standard of academic integrity at Princ eton” is pretentious at best. The illusion of integ rity means nothing when violations of the Honor Code continue, and students fear retribution more than they revere honesty, as then-Columnist Rohit Narayanan argued last year. An Honor Commit tee based on demonization, requiring students to investigate and adjudicate their peers, and one that institutionalizes peer to peer policing at the expense of students’ well being seems hardly hon orable.

Create a curriculum that prioritizes life skills

Laya Reddy Columnist

Abolish Bicker

Rohit Narayanan Community Opinion Editor

In1950, the Class of 1952 decided that Bicker wasn’t working for them — they didn’t think it right that a few sophomores each year wouldn’t get a bid from a selective club. That year, 13 sophomores didn’t get bids. Rejecting compromise attempts by the University, the whole class stood strong until every sophomore was accepted to a club. The whole class banded together on behalf of the 13 kids the eating clubs didn’t want. Just 13. Think about that and think about the reality today where everyone knows how awful Bicker is. As documented in shocking detail by a Cannon alum last year, far more than 13 students are hosed from selective clubs and no one is will ing to do anything about it. It’s time for that to change. It’s time to abolish Bicker and embrace a more inclusive selection process for the eating clubs.

Make campus less competitive — especially extracurriculars

Abigail Rabieh Columnist

Invest in innovative clean energy technologies

David Piegaro Contributing Columnist

Princeton

boasts one of the lowest accep tance rates in the country — or it did, until it stopped reporting its statistics. Students have spent their lives compet ing to be the best at everything, and a lot of that effort has been exerted into gaining admit tance to Nassau Hall. Yet once first-years arrive, they realize that the competition has only just begun. They must start competing again to get into a wide variety of clubs and extracur ricular activities, as then-Assistant Opinion

Editor Genrietta Churbanova noted last year. Of course, there are limits to how many new members clubs can take on trips, but aside from that, there are few reasons for Princeton clubs to be as selective as they are. Clubs should strive to be as inclusive as possible, and prefer having more members to being known as a competitive group. We all know that most new recruits just become non-participating “social members” anyway.

Afterhearing that Princeton plans to divest from 90 companies associated with fossil fuels, political commen tator Matthew Yglesias tweeted that people who care about the climate should take more practical measures to combat climate change. Divesting and dissociating from companies like Exxon moves the ball down the court when it comes to solving the climate crisis, but I think the more important thing that Princ eton should do is commit to doubling down on its research towards generating clean energy sources and other climate technologies. Smart commentators from various parts of the polit ical spectrum are coalescing around an abun dance agenda or “supply-side progressivism” which emphasizes technological growth as a tool for economic justice. Princeton should champion this philosophy through investing in innovative solutions to global problems.

Princeton

needs a curriculum that imparts life skills. While I value the theoretical education that I get through my concentration and distribution requirements, it’s very rare that the problem sets or precepts will impact our personal and professional lives. A lack of interpersonal and organizational skills such as leadership and time management can hinder otherwise successful graduates from getting ahead. Extracurriculars, sports teams, and internships are often hailed for supplementing these skills, but there’s more to gain from a well-designed, formal education in life skills. A 2014 study found that even a semester of project-based learning could enhance life skills for college students across areas like respon sibility, communication, and self-direction. As I wrote in Febru ary, project-based classes, especially in STEM fields, could have a major positive impact in bringing those fields to more students, and better preparing them for the world beyond Princeton.

Bring us better bagels!

Lucia Wetherill Associate Opinion Editor

needs better bagels. As a Forbesian, my heart sinks whenever I see the dining hall’s paltry bagel offer ings in the morning, especially compared to its other extensive brunch offerings. There are two types of bagel offered: everything and plain. Frankly, to call the hard piece of bread that we’re forced to endure a “bagel” would be generous. Other dining halls have marginally better bagels than Forbes, but we’re in New Jersey — a state second only to New York for its bagel reputation. Princeton ought to take advantage of the plethora of bagel shops in the area, so that students can consis tently enjoy them in the dining halls or to go.

Princeton

Stop exclusive clubs at Princeton from keeping FGLI students out of opportunities

Tara Shukla Columnist

Onceyou get into Princeton — ranked the top un dergraduate institution by the U.S. News and World Report — you might think you’re set for success. Es pecially for first-generation and low-income students, the Ivy League can be a tool for socioeconomic mobility and building generational wealth. However, Princeton’s system of exclusive, application-based clubs undermines the institution’s ability to lift up its students. Many of the benefits of Princeton are based around the networking and pre-professional opportu nities associated with attending an Ivy League school. But these benefits aren’t available to all admitted students; a system of social and academic exclusion in the club application process prevents students from getting the most out of the University.

Extend brunch hours

Windsor Nguyen Columnist

at Princeton has traditionally been from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. so that students will use the weekend to get some extra sleep. However, students with morning routines are given three options on the weekends: throw away two to three productive hours in the early morning by starting their day at the same time as everyone else, pursue excellence on an empty stomach only to break their work rhythm by getting brunch at 10 a.m., or walk all the way to Butler. The solution is simple: Standardize the dining hall hours. Breakfast should take place between 7:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. and lunch should take place between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m every day of the week.

Brunch

Eric Xie Contributing Columnist

Much of Princeton’s endowment comes from wealthy donors. However, in order to incentivize the next generation of Princetonians to donate, the University needs to abandon the outdated philosophies of previ ous donors, and focus on the future. Committing more strongly to our values of inclusivity and sustainability through our invest ments and our actions would go a long way towards changing our donor base to be younger and more forward looking.

Reflect the values of the next generation of donors, not the previous

‘Meant to be’: Rabbi Gil Steinlauf ’91 returns to Princeton as the Executive Director of the CJL

Gabbai, a person who assists with the running of Jewish ser vices, of Koach, the CJL’s Con servative Jewish community, worked closely with Steinlauf to plan High Holiday services.

“He’s helped me kind of tran sition into my role as President of Koach,” Gross told the ‘Prince.’

“And Rabbi Gil really stepped up and [was] a very good advisor for the planning process. And the services turned out very well.”

Steinlauf was also pleased with the services’ outcome.

“One woman came up to me, and she said, ‘I was looking at you on bimah. And the thing that struck me is the way you were watching the students lead the service. You’re just beaming with pride.’ And I said, ‘Yes, well, that was very genuine. I mean, that’s genuinely what I was feel ing the whole time,’” he recalled.

ate involvement might have come from Steinlauf’s own time at Princeton. As an undergradu ate, Steinlauf was a part of the Student Planning Committee at Hillel. One of the projects he gave feedback on was archi tectural plans for the building that is now the CJL, which first opened in 1993.

“In those days, the Jewish community was in different lo cations, depending upon which kind of Jewish group you identi fied with,” he recalled. “To have one Center for Jewish Life on campus is remarkable, incred ible, and a little bit surreal. Now, [I am] back all these decades later, as the director of the CJL, the very building that I [gave my opinions on].”

By Vasila Mirshamsova features contributor

When Rabbi Gil Steinlauf ’91 learned that the position of Ex ecutive Director of Princeton’s Center for Jewish Life (CJL) was open, he was “thunderstruck.”

Last spring, after 17 years of serving the CJL as Executive Di rector, Rabbi Julie Roth decided to leave Princeton to pursue a position as the Rabbi of Con gregation Shomrei Emunah in Montclair, N.J.

When Steinlauf received no tice Roth was leaving, he was initially concerned about what had happened, and if everything was okay. He decided to call a friend of his on the CJL Board of Directors. After informing Steinlauf that everything was all right, his friend suggested that Steinlauf consider applying for the position.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Steinlauf recalled how he felt at that pros pect: “We have an expression in Yiddish called bashert, which means ‘meant to be.’ And so I threw my hat in the ring. And it all turned [around] very quickly, within a matter of maybe two and a half months, I had the job. And so [I’m] very excited to be back here.”

After serving as a pulpit rabbi for 25 years, this past July, Stein lauf returned to Princeton to take over as Executive Director of the CJL.

Steinlauf grew up on Long Is land, New York. In 1987, he began his studies at Princeton, intend ing to major in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and pursue a career in in ternational relations.

Upon coming to campus, though, he was struck by the varied backgrounds of students he met and the conversations he had about identity.

“Everybody was talking about their experience and their identity, and having grown up in Long Island, it’s kind of like everybody’s Jewish, but here [at Princeton], not everybody’s Jew ish,” he said. “And I found my self explaining what it means to be Jewish to these people who were really interested, because they’re not from that world. I en joyed really explaining who I am and what that’s about.”

Through discussing his Jewish identity with his peers, Steinlauf developed an intel lectual interest in the study of Judaism. Instead of majoring in SPIA as he had planned, he con centrated in Near Eastern Stud ies, writing his thesis on premodern Jewish historiography. While pursuing his degree, he was very involved in the Jew ish community on campus. In

Steinlauf’s undergraduate years, the Orthodox Jewish commu nity was housed in the former Stevenson Hall, while Hillel, a Jewish campus organization with branches at over 550 colleg es, was based in Murray-Dodge Hall. Steinlauf was part of both communities.

“It was kind of a joke, [that] I sort of knew everybody on cam pus who was Jewish,” Steinlauf reflected.

Near the end of his under graduate studies, Steinlauf found himself at a crossroads. Until then, his interest in study ing Judaism had been purely academic, and he had focused on preparing to pursue a Ph.D. in Jewish history. But around time, people began to say that he would make a great rabbi.

“I didn’t know anything about that. As much as I was interested in Judaism, it was an academic interest,” he said.

Steinlauf decided to consult Rabbi Eddie Feld, then the direc tor of Princeton’s Hillel.

Feld affirmed that rabbinical school might be a good option and encouraged Steinlauf to ex plore it by going to Israel. Stein lauf then spent a year studying at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and subsequently de cided that rabbinical school was the right step and attended the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Thirty-one years after gradu ating from Princeton, Steinlauf finds himself back in the very place that inspired his rabbini cal career.

“I know how much it meant to me that the Jewish community was there for me here,” he said.

“To the extent I can now play that role in helping to shape the path of Jewish students on cam pus, not necessarily to become rabbis, but to simply know that their Judaism and the Jewish community is here for them, is an incredible honor for me. That’s why I’m here.”

Rabbi Ira Dounn, Senior Jewish Educator at the CJL and Steinlauf’s colleague, comment ed on the significance of Stein lauf’s return to Princeton.

“I think for him, it’s personal, because he was the Jewish stu dent here who was looking for robust Jewish student life. And now he gets to be the one who creates it for the next genera tions of students here,” he told the ‘Prince.’

After serving as a pulpit rabbi for over two decades, working at Hillel has marked a transition for Steinlauf. While serving in a congregation meant empower ing people to take on leadership roles, at the end of the day, many of the decision-making respon sibilities were his. At the CJL, while he still has many large in

stitutional responsibilities, he said that the “energy” is about student leadership.

“When you’re a rabbi in a congregation, it’s a big giant production, and you have pro fessionals hired to do all kinds of things. And here, it’s all the students,” said Steinlauf on preparing to lead his first High Holiday services at the CJL. “We had meetings all [throughout] the summer. I gave little inten tions before the prayers, and of course, I gave the sermon. But [the students] also gave speech es. And they also led all the prayers.”

Theo Gross ’24, President and

“There is an expression in Yid dish, when you feel pride, loving pride towards someone else — we say kvell. So I joke that I’m the ‘kveller-in-chief.’ I just walk around, and I just feel incredible pride, because I’m seeing these young adults doing remarkable things in thoughtful, brilliant ways,” Steinlauf said.

Marissa Michaels ’22, CJL Pro gram Coordinator and a former CJL undergraduate student, reflected, “It is really meaning ful to see that he is accessible to students and really cares about making the student experience as good, but also as meaningful to their overall growth as pos sible.”

Michaels previously served as an Associate News Editor at the ‘Prince.’

This passion for undergradu

What’s most special to Stein lauf about his new role is the chance to witness the way Jew ish life at the University has evolved since his own time as an undergraduate.

“Being Jewish back in my day, on Princeton’s campus, there were certainly a number of Jew ish students. But there wasn’t the same kind of Jewish pres ence the way there is today,” he said. “The rhythms of the week are punctuated by really excel lent programming and classes and trips throughout the year. And there is this home of Jew ish life now on campus where students can come and feel wel come.”

Vasila Mirshamsova is a Features contributing writer for the ‘Prince.’ Please direct any corrections re quests to corrections@dailyprinc etonian.com.

COURTESY OF RABBI GIL STEINLAUF ’91

Rabbi Gil Steinlauf ’91 making Challah loaves alongside current Princeton undergraduates in the Center for Jewish Life.

‘You can do anything you put your mind to’

and then I departed from Whitman and came to fabulous Forbes.

DP: What made you want to work here at Princeton?

BO: My brother used to work here prior to me com ing, and he used to talk about Princeton all the time. There’s a lot of over time here, great pay, and most of all great benefits. I put in the application, and I got hired. It’s been a great adventure here. It’s helped my daughter with going to college.

DP: Can you tell us a little about your family?

BO: I have two [kids]. A 35-year-old son, a 6-yearold grandson, and an 18-year-old daughter that just went to Clark Atlan ta University. She didn’t want to come here! “I don’t want to go where mom works,” you know. So she went 13 hours away from me. But she’s in college, and Princeton is helping. It’s really a great place to work.

DP: What’s your favor ite part about working at Forbes?

BO: Coming to work on Sunday and enjoying the chocolate fountain. There is no other choco late fountain nowhere on campus except the fabu lous Forbes. I get to enjoy it with all of the cut up

fresh fruit which you can dip in your chocolate, and the pretzels. I enjoy Sun days also because there’s friends and family I get to see. I get to see students from other units. It’s just a great atmosphere on Sundays. Sunday’s my fa vorite.

DP: Can you take me through a typical work day for you?

BO: I reach here at 6 a.m., I punch in, and then I go to sanitize my tables, fill up my napkin hold ers, and make sure the salt and pepper shakers are filled. [I] make sure the floor is decent, wipe down the chef table. We open up at 7:30 a.m., so I come to my desk and hook up all the machines, and then whichever day it is … I’m always greeting my students with, “Happy Monday, Happy Tuesday, Happy Hump Day, Happy Friday Eve, and Happy Friday,” and so I try to greet them the best I can and try to keep a smile on their face, and I does that till 11 o’clock for breakfast. Then I go back and do my breakfast tables … to get them ready for lunch.

Lunch starts 11:30, so it’s only 30 minutes to do my tables, but they don’t be that dirty so I just wipe them off and come back to my desk at 11:30. Students come and I say, “Have a good class, enjoy your day,” to make my day go by from 11:30–2, socializ

ing with the students and the staff.

DP: After work ends, what do you do in your spare time?

BO: I get out of work pretty early, like 2:30. I’m kid-free since my daugh ter went to college, an empty nester, so now all I have to do is cook for my fiancé, which is her [my daughter’s] father. [We just] watch TV, maybe play a couple games if it’s the weekend, eat some good

food, and just enjoy each other. I talk to my daugh ter periodically, like every day we FaceTime each oth er. And I enjoy [time with] my six year old grandson when I can.

DP: What’s your favor ite way to spend time with your grandson?

BO: He loves Walmart, and so do I, so he goes and shops for a toy, and I go and shop for clothes. That’s our favorite. And Burger King is one of our favorites, so after that we’ll go eat something and then I’ll take him home.

DP: Can you tell me a bit about your childhood?

BO: I’m from Trenton, New Jersey, not far from Princeton. I grew up with a single parent, my moth er, [and] two siblings, my sister and my brother. I am the youngest of my mother’s three kids. A fa ther wasn’t in the house hold, but he was there for me. I grew up in a small neighborhood. My mother worked.

[In] my childhood I played with friends on the same street where I lived. Didn’t take trips a lot be cause we didn’t have the money, but we had a lot of gatherings, and those were great moments. Ev ery Sunday we would go to my grandmom’s. We’d be together and eat food and enjoy each other. I would go to church with my mother.

DP: Is there anything else you’d like to add to help the Princeton com munity get to know you better?

BO: I had my son at 17, and I was supposed to graduate in 1987 from high school. I didn’t be cause I was pregnant, and so after I had my baby and everything I went back to school in 2001 and got my high school diplo ma. And so I was living on my own with my son, a single mom, and then 2004 rolled around. I was in college [Mercer Coun ty College, Trenton, N.J.] and I got pregnant again [with] the daughter that’s in college, from my fiancé now. And I left college to have my baby, and I said I was gonna go back. I was gonna go back.

Fifteen years later, my daughter is 18, I still

haven’t gone back. Yet. So this is the thing I want to close with … I want to go back now. I have courses from college, but I wan na go back now and fin ish what I started. You go through life, and it’s not the mistakes. You learn and you grow. You can do anything you put your mind to. And so I’m gonna finish what I started.

***

The ‘Prince’ also asked students about their ex perience with O’Hara.

DP: Can you say a little bit about Brenda from the Forbes dining hall?

Talia Czuchlewski ’26: She’s so sweet, and she says my name a different way every time, but she always greets me. I love it.

Aaron Cohen ’23: Bren da is always very welcom ing and cheerful, and I look forward to seeing her every morning when I go to breakfast.

Avery Williams ’26: No matter what kind of day I’m having, seeing Brenda always brings a smile to my face. One of my fondest memories was when I got really sick the third week of school (not COVID-19), and I was so weak that I couldn’t get out of bed. When I eventu ally went downstairs for dinner Brenda reminded me of how strong I was in an empathetic tone similar to my late, pater nal grandmother. These words stick with me to this day, so I remember to keep showing up as my whole self to Princeton. So please, whether you’re a Forbesian or not, stop by the Forbes Dining Hall and get to know Brenda. She is truly a bubbly ball of energy beyond belief!

This article is part of a series of ‘Prince’ profiles on Princeton dining hall work ers and others who take care of our community. See pre vious articles on Howard Supthin from Rocky-Mathey (RoMa) and Heather Parker from Mathey.

Raphaela Gold is a Fea tures contributing writer for the ‘Prince.’ She can be reached at raphi.gold@ princeton.edu.

COURTESY OF BRENDA O’HARA

&

the PROSPECT.

A graduate student’s guide to group fitness

Writer

By Emily Miller

When I told professors, friends, and coworkers that I was going to graduate school, I received an abundance of comments warning me that graduate school would be the unhealthiest period of my life. Knowledge is power, and armed with these warnings, I was inspired to try and exercise consistently for the first time in my life.

However, it took me a semester or two before I was able to meet this goal. My graduate school friends would invite me to run to Dillon Gymnasium at 6 a.m. and, because I am someone who once faked falling down the stairs to avoid Physical Education in high school, I balked. I liked group fitness as an undergraduate, but I had reservations about going as a grad student. Everyone was going to be younger and better than me! (Spoiler: No one cares.) I would feel like an interloper and stand out! (Hint: Unless you wear a grad student shirt, no one can tell you are a grad student.) I would run into my students! (Ok, this one has happened.)

There are many reasons to attend group fitness classes offered through Campus Rec. Importantly, they are fun and free for students. Because group fitness classes are at a set time, they add some structure to your life, which is especially important in post-general-exam life. I also found, especially when I was starting out, that these classes provided an accountability mechanism. The gym can be intimidating, and group classes are a great intro duction to fitness.

I used to lurk in the back, but now, I am proudly up front. So grab some tennis shoes and your finest athlei sure, because no matter your interest or fitness level, I can assure you that there is a group fitness class for you. Disclaimer: I was not able to review 100 percent of the Group Fitness classes offered. I have to write my disserta tion sometime.

BodyPump

This was my first ever group-fitness class at Princ eton. An undergraduate friend was an instructor and in vited me to her class, and I was hooked. It is the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure: You can pick from a range of class times and the amount of weight. You hit every major muscle group by doing exercises like squats, chest presses, pushups, rows, and overhead presses. This class was my first ever exposure to any sort of activity with weights or barbells. I am still not convinced I know what a pectoral is, but I am pretty sure I felt them for the first time at this class. Focus on your form, go at your own pace and at your own weights, and if you have questions, you can always ask.

Pro Tip: BodyPump is a different type of exercise than traditional strength training. BodyPump doesn’t care if you can squat your bodyweight, it will still be hard.

BodyCombat

This is a great class to take out any frustrations with research or the world. It is choreographed mixed martial arts. It is also one of the most intense cardio workouts around. If you are on the fence about going, go on Satur day morning. The class generally is less crowded, which means I am less concerned about kicking someone, a recurring nightmare of mine.

Pro Tip: It is ok not to do the jumps. Or the kicks. Or the jump kicks. My knees have been through enough.

305 Fitness

Where is the best dancing in Princeton? Tuesdays at 5 p.m. with Ashlee or Dr. Shaw (depending on how you know her, as she introduces herself at the beginning of a session). Whether this is a statement on how bad Princ eton’s nightlife is or how good 305 Fitness is, that is for you to decide. You will shimmy, shake, smile, and strike a pose to the latest hip hop, R&B, pop, and Latin hits or throwbacks. If Body Combat makes me feel like a badass, 305 makes me feel like a diva.

Pro Tip: After four years, I am only a marginally bet ter dancer. You can enjoy something even if you are not good at it.

Core and BodyCombat

If doing an hour of something is intimidating for you, do two 25-minute sessions of something!

Pro Tip: Somehow the core portion never gets any easier. Make. It. Stop.

HIIT Strength

Marina got me through 2020. She streamed the class and a group of us socially distanced while we followed along on the Lakeside basketball court or occasionally the top of the Lakeside parking garage. What is unique about this class is that Marina does her own routine, and each week is different. It is also hands down the hardest group class I have ever taken at Princeton. But do not let that deter you from going if you are a beginner. Marina provides excellent modifications for all levels. You can go at your own pace, and every week you will leave with a sense of accomplishment or relief (probably both).

Pro Tip: You can do it! Believe in yourself.

Barre/Pilates

My primary engagement with these classes was through Zoom. Campus Rec maintains a library of these recorded classes (NetID login required), which helps on the days you might not want to leave your apartment. Barre and Pilates are both full-body workouts. Unlike

some of the other classes, these workouts are low impact. In my opinion, they are also calmer. I have never heard the bass drop at a pilates class.

Pro Tip: You might want your own equipment — weights, bands, yoga boxes — for some of the virtual workouts.

Zumba

While Body Pump was my first ever group fitness class at Princeton, Zumba was my first group fitness class ever. Zumba is a tour of music and dance styles around the world, with an emphasis on Latin America. You will salsa, cha cha, and samba. The Zumba soundtrack is defi nitely a favorite of mine.

Pro Tip: Zumba will typically teach you the steps and provide more water breaks. It is a great intro to a group class.

Yoga

I must confess, I am not a yoga person. But for those of you who are, yoga in lots of different styles is offered nearly every day. That being said, I show up maybe once a semester for events like Earth Day Yoga.

Pro Tip: Keep your eyes and emails open for special yoga events — like this semester’s yoga series at Law rence Apartments.

Cycle

I tried to do my own research on spin classes, but you have to sign up and spots go quickly. I do not need the stress of scheduling alarms to sign up for things. But here is a lovely feature from last year about instructor Caroline Kirby ’23.

Pro Tip: Full disclosure, I first heard of spin class via the TV series, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

Campus Rec offers a variety of other options. For ex ample, instructional classes that teach you a special skill like ice skating or boxing, or personal training.

If you are a team person, there are intramural sports. In a prior life, I played ice hockey. Alas, games start after my bedtime. If you want a bit more intensity, you can also join or try out for club sports. Most teams are welcoming and excited for new members. This is a great way to learn a new skill. Plus, as someone whose main job is to stare at a computer by myself all day, it is a nice way to build camaraderie, collaboration, and connection.

Emily Miller is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Population Studies and Social Policy from Palisade, Colorado, and is a contributing writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’ She can be reached at eenm@princeton.edu.

10 best Halloween movies, shows, and songs to make your week extra spooky

By Tyler Wilson | Contributing Prospect Writer

Halloween is rapidly approaching, and since we’ve (unfortunately) outgrown making arts-and-crafts skeletons in school, we must instead envelop our selves in all the ghoulish whimsy that spooky season has to offer through other means. To make the most efficient use of your time, I’ve compiled a list of some new and old staples of the season for you to check out.

1. “Over The Garden Wall”

There is no single piece of media more autumnal than “Over The Garden Wall,” the absolutely enchant ing animated miniseries by Patrick McHale. It has frightful moments; it has mystery; it has pumpkinpeople; it has foliage; it has a singing frog, and of course, it is a beautiful story of two brothers entering the unknown — all while being one large reference to Dante’s “Inferno.” What more could you ask for?

2. “Return to Halloweentown”

The Disney Channel Original Movie is the ideal vessel for reliving one’s childhood, which means that no attempt to recapture Halloween nostalgia is com plete without a “Halloweentown” rewatch. Everyone has a favorite, but the one I’m recommending is the fourth in the tetralogy, “Return to Halloweentown.” This corny, 2006 Harry Potter rip-off is the perfect way to remind you what you thought college was like when you were a little kid.

3. “Halloween” (1978)

Recommending the movie whose title is lit erally “Halloween” feels almost too easy, but it is

just so good it cannot be excluded. If you have not yet watched it, please do. It features just the right amount of terror in suburbia to freak you out as you walk around campus.

4. “Bodies Bodies Bodies”

Thus far, 2022 has been an exceptional year for hor ror cinema, and “Bodies Bodies Bodies” even man ages to stand out in that crowd. If you are planning on hosting a movie night, look no further, this is the one to watch. It is the most hilarious, thrilling, GenZ satire that will have you quoting Rachel Sennott’s character for days.

5. “Hocus Pocus” and “Hocus Pocus 2”

One of the most quintessentially spooky movies has finally gotten its sequel, and it is just as good as the original. Both “Hocus Pocus” movies are the perfect, family-friendly double feature to check out with your younger sibling. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy are absolutely magnetic as the Sanderson Sisters, the baddest coven to ever touch down in Salem. Watching them return after almost 30 years is the sweetest treat you’ll get this season.

6. “Hellraiser” (1987 + 2022)

This double feature, on the other hand, is definite ly not for the little ones. 2022, like every year, is chock full of new installations in legacy franchises, and both “Hocus Pocus 2” and “Hellraiser” (2022) meet the high bar set by their predecessors. Check out both Hellraiser films for that classic supernatural horror goodness. Beware of gore.

7. “What We Do in the Shadows” (TV Series)

If you want a perfectly horror-tinged belly laugh, please check out one of the best, most underrated television shows on air about a group of vampires liv ing together in Staten Island. Every actor truly gives their all to each unique, endlessly quotable character — with a few great cameos sprinkled throughout.

8. “Frankenstein” by Rina Sawayama

This recently dropped Halloween banger is essen tial for any party playlist. Good Halloween songs are definitely a bit harder to come by than some other holidays, but this will certainly satisfy as Sawayama sings, “I don’t wanna be a monster anymore,” over and over again.

9. “Night Crawling” by Miley Cyrus ft. Billy Idol

An underrated song from an underrated album, this exceptional duet from Miley Cyrus’s 2020 release “Plastic Hearts” oozes 80s slasher vibes.

10. “Calling All the Monsters” by China Anne McClain

This is a timeless classic. No doubt about it. China Anne McClain set the precedent for Halloween music now and forever. It’s the “All I Want For Christmas Is You” of Halloween. It’s everything.

Tyler Wilson is a contributing writer for The Prospect and Humor at the ‘Prince.’ He can be reached at tyler.wil son@princeton.edu, or on Instagram at @tylertwilson.

The Prospect 11

Weekly Event Roundup

This week is filled with

exhibitions, performances, and more that will help

return to campus after fall break.

1. ‘HERE YE, HEAR YE!!!’: An Exhibition by Mark Thomas Gibson

Hurley Gallery, Lewis Arts Complex

Oct. 27 – Nov. 23, open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily

This is an exhibition of new work created by Mark Thomas Gibson during the course of his 2021–22 Hodder Fellowship at Princeton. Gibson’s work employs satire to depict the subtext of American life and politics through caricature. The exhibition is free and open to the public; no tickets or ad vance registration required.

3. Princeton Triangle Show — Campelot: It’s In-Tents

McCarter Theater

Nov. 4 – 5 at 8 p.m., Nov. 6 at 2 p.m.

Princeton Triangle Club’s new musical comedy show — written, produced, and performed by students — features mysterious events at a summer camp, Camp Backwash. Tickets available at Triangle Club’s website: triangleshow.org/events.

5. Fund for Irish Studies — Tracing the Celtic Ritual Cycle through Music, Manuscript and Performance

4. Princeton & Harvard Glee Clubs: Football Concert

Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall Saturday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

The Harvard Glee Club visits the Princeton University Glee Club in the an nual “Football Concert” — a choral tradition over a century old that takes place the weekend after the Princeton-Harvard Football game. Tickets available through University ticketing.

6.

Taplin Auditorium

Tuesday, Nov. 1 at

A program of

James Stewart Film Theater, 185 Nassau St. Friday, Oct. 28 at 4:30 p.m.

This lecture-recital by Helen Phelan, Professor of Arts Practice at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland, explores the musical and ritualistic evidence for the emergence and continuity of the Celtic ritual cycle, with a focus on the rituals of Imbolc and Samhain, a pre cursor of Halloween. This event is free and open to the public.

Ellie’s Studio, Lewis Arts complex Saturday, Oct. 29 at 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5 at 1:30

This

11. Coaching Lab Theater Co-curricular Class

Donald G. Drapkin Studio

Oct. 31, Nov. 7, Nov. 14 at 4:45 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.

A masterclass taught by Yuval Boim, creating a supportive space for students to work on theatrical performance. Free and open to students.

&

Raghallaigh

Princeton men’s water polo makes program history with thriller win over No. 3 Stanford

By Hayk Yengibaryan Sports Contributor

When the buzzer sounded at the end of Sunday morning’s match, the No. 9 Princeton men’s water polo team (19–5 overall, 5–0 North east Water Polo) beat the No. 3 Stan ford Cardinals (19–2 overall, 0–1 MPSF) for the first time in program history.

This was the first time Stanford had lost to a team from the east coast, and it also marked the first time Princeton has beaten a topfour school in its history. Perhaps the most impressive part of this vic tory was that the Cardinals never held a lead against the Tigers.

After sophomore utility Roko Pozaric won the opening sprint, first-year utility Luke Johnston got the scoring started for the Tigers. After a few missed opportunities by both sides, senior attacker Yurian Quinones scored on a man-up ad vantage for the Tigers off an assist from senior utility Ryan Neapole to make the score 2–0.

Head Coach Dustin Litvak com mented on the strong start by his side, telling The Daily Princetonian, “getting off to a fast start up 2–0 and never trailing was very important. It is easy to have energy when you

FOOTBALL

are winning, but just as easy to lose hope when you make mistakes or lose the lead. Our guys never lost hope. The energy in the water and on the bench was just incredible.”

After Stanford responded with a goal, Neapole found sophomore de fender Vladan Mitrovic whose goal kept the advantage at two for the Tigers. Stanford, the former No. 1 team in the nation, responded at the end of the quarter with a five-meter penalty goal from junior driver Soren Jensen.

In the second period, Quinones assisted Mitrovic to make it 4–2 Princeton. After Stanford respond ed, senior attacker and captain Keller Maloney scored to put the lead back at two on a man-up advan tage for Princeton.

After back-to-back goals by the Cardinals from Speedy Laster and Jack Martin, it was tied 5–5. Pozaric scored his first goal of the game off an assist from senior utility Joan Coloma to make it 6–5 Princeton at the break.

The third period started exactly how the second did: Quinones to Mitrovic to make it a hat trick for Vladan, and it was back to a twogoal lead for the Tigers. After Stan ford responded, Pozaric scored his second goal of the game making it

8–6 for Princeton.

Two quick goals from driver Jackson Painter tied the game, but Mitrovic continued his dominant game with his fourth goal of the game to make it 9–8 Tigers.

“Four goals were the product of the team,“ Mitrovic told the ‘Prince.’ “The element I loved most about the game was the energy and belief from our team that led us to dictate the tempo of the game.”

“This is just a small step to the team’s ultimate goal,” Mitrovic continued, referencing their ulti mate goal being to win the national championship.

After Quinones opened the scor ing for the Tigers in the fourth pe riod, Stanford’s Grant Watson as sisted and scored to tie the game at 10 with five minutes remaining.

After multiple defensive stops and missed shots by both sides, it was still 10–10 with one minute re maining. After a timeout, Pozaric drew an exclusion for the Tigers with just over 30 seconds remain ing.

With 13 seconds left in the game, Pozaric got the ball, threw a few fakes, and drilled the ball in the top left corner of the net.

When asked about what was go ing through his head during the

shot, Pozaric told the ‘Prince,’ “I felt confident I could go around the block and score on the near side of the goal.”

He added that getting the win against one of the best teams in the country felt amazing, and that “all of us are very happy and excited for the rest of the season.”

After a missed shot by Stanford, Princeton secured the 11–10 victory to end the Santa Clara Invitational for the Tigers, making history in the process.

“As the game ended, I looked around at ecstatic parents and fans who were in shock at the result,” Maloney told the ‘Prince.’ “When I looked at our team, nobody was surprised. Every single guy on our team knew that we earned our spot with the best teams, proving we can compete with any team in the country.”

Senior goalie Antonio Knez made 10 crucial saves for the Tigers. The Cardinals never led throughout the game and could not stop the Princeton power play, which went 6–11 on the day.

“Beating such a storied program like Stanford feels amazing,” Litvak said. “I felt really good about the game going into it. We have been playing pretty well lately, and the

guys are extremely bought in.”

After this win, Princeton is ex pected to move into the top seven of the next rankings. The Cardinals have beaten No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Cal, and No. 4 Pacific this season. This win by the Tigers sent a clear mes sage to the top five: Princeton can — and will — compete for a na tional championship this season.

The Tigers return to action this Saturday at DeNunzio Pool, hosting St. Francis Brooklyn and Iona Uni versity in hopes of continuing their perfect conference season thus far.

Litvak remarked, “we will enjoy this today and then quickly move on. We do not want this to be the peak of our season. We can only get better. This is a very special group. I enjoy coaching them and I’m excit ed to see what we can do from here.”

Senior attacker and captain Keller Maloney put it best, saying, “We’ve done things the right way all year, and we’re more excited than ever to keep climbing. If we keep doing what’s made us successful so far, we can make history.”

Hayk Yengibaryan is a contribu tor to the sports section at the ‘Prince.’ Please direct any corrections requests to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.

Princeton football crushes Harvard on Crimson territory in a 37–10 victory

By Brian Mhando Sports Contributor

Though the fans weren’t treated to another quintuple-overtime game, Princeton football (6–0 over all, 3–0 Ivy League) remained victo rious against the Harvard Crimson (4–2, 2–1).

This past Saturday, the Tigers left no room for doubt as they dominat ed Harvard on both ends of the ball in a 37–10 victory. With this win, the Tigers continue their five-game win streak in the regular season against Harvard, with their last loss against the Crimson in 2016.

Princeton started the game with the ball possession, showcasing their offensive prowess early with a three-minute touchdown. Follow ing a slow start to the drive, ju nior quarterback Blake Stenstrom found a wide-open senior wide re ceiver Andrei Iosivas, who cruised into the end zone for the 61-yard touchdown. The drive by Iosivas catapulted a strong performance from him, as he finished the night with one touchdown, nine recep tions, and 176 yards.

“We performed well, there are always things to work on but a win is always the goal,” Iosivas wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “If you prepare with intention for every game, you set yourself up for suc cess, which is what we do for every game.”

Harvard was unable to respond until four minutes into the first quarter, settling for a field goal and making the score 7–3 after miss ing the game-tying touchdown by inches in the end zone.

Neither team scored until the fifth minute of the second quarter, where first-year running back Ryan Butler caught a pass from Sten strom for his first touchdown of the game. Harvard managed to respond after Princeton’s second drive, scor ing their only touchdown of the game immediately after to make the score 14–10.

Along with a huge offensive display, the Tigers bolstered their play throughout the game with their suffocating defensive pres sure. Prior to Butler’s touchdown, Princeton recovered a fumble from Harvard, which helped spark a Princeton offense that initially struggled against Harvard in the second quarter.

The Tigers’ defense continued

its impressive outing in the second half, forcing multiple punts and two interceptions from the Harvard offense. This was Princeton’s third game this season where the oppos ing team scored 10 or fewer points.

In the third quarter, the Tigers took control of the game, scoring two touchdowns, while successful ly defending against the Crimson in every possession. For their first touchdown of the third quarter, Stenstrom threw a well-timed 23yard pass to senior wide receiver Dylan Classi, who caught the ball as he ran into the end zone.

Throughout the game, Sten strom led the Tigers offensively, throwing for 278 yards and three touchdowns. He also completed a touchdown of his own in the fourth quarter, ending his night against Harvard with a performance strong enough to win Ivy League Player of the Week.

“Friday’s game was a great expe rience for our team,” Blake wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’ “Our approach in practice every week is process-oriented rather than re sults-oriented, so the standard by which we prepare does not change week to week. We are excited to take the same approach in practice this week.”

The second touchdown of the third quarter was manufactured by Princeton’s rushing. Butler finished off the drive for his second touch down of the game, managing to squeeze into the end zone for a oneyard touchdown to make the score 28–10. His impressive performance earned him Ivy League Rookie of the Week.

In the final quarter, following a field goal by sophomore kicker Jeffrey Sexton to make the game 31–10, Princeton tallied one more touchdown. After a wonderful 31 yard catch by Iosivas, Stenstrom concluded the night offensively for Princeton with a four-yard drive into the end zone. For the rest of the game, the Tigers would not let Har vard advance down the field.

With just four games left in the season, Head Coach Bob Surace ’90 is focused on how the team can con tinue to improve.

“I think our effort through our first 6 games has been consistently at a high standard. I think the big gest key is continuing to prepare with the same urgency and level of detail,” Surace wrote in an email to

the ‘Prince.’ “Our league certainly has a lot of parity, and the prepara tion doesn’t guarantee success on a given week, but it gives us the op portunity to play well.”

The Tigers will look to uphold their undefeated season when they

host the Cornell Big Red on Satur day, Oct. 29 for the Homecoming game. The Big Red is currently 4–2 in the League and have won their last two matchups against Lehigh and Brown.

Brian Mhando is a contributor to the sports and podcast sections at the ‘Prince.’ Please direct any corrections requests to corrections@dailyprinceto nian.com.

HOCKEY

Tigers field hockey add to their win streak with 4–2 victory against Harvard

By Olivia Chen Sports Contributor

If there’s one thing the Tigers don’t know how to do, it’s lose.

On Sunday afternoon, No. 10 Princ eton (11–4 overall, 5–0 Ivy League) faced off against No. 15 Harvard (11–4, 4–1) and won 4–2 at Bedford Field.

Just last year, the Crimson denied the Tigers an Ivy League champion ship in a penalty shootout. This year, Princeton was looking to change the outcome of this game and continue their five-game winning streak. While the Tigers were eager for history not to repeat itself, they remained focused on the game at hand.

“Going into the game we knew there would be a lot of pressure on the match. Our mentality was just to treat this like any other game,” junior defender Sam Davidson wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “We were confi dent that if we played our game we would be fine, but we didn’t want to underestimate our opponent.”

Preceding the game, a moment of silence was held in honor of fellow Ti ger Misrach Ewunetie ‘24, who passed away during fall break.

From the very first whistle the game was action-packed, with the Ti gers starting off with aggressive of fensive play. Less than five minutes into the game, junior forward Grace Schulze, assisted by senior defender Hannah Davey, scored the first goal of the game for the Tigers.

In the sixth minute, Princeton was awarded a penalty corner, and sopho more midfielder Beth Yeager, assisted by senior forwards Ophélie Bemel mans and Ali McCarthy, scored her eleventh goal of the season, putting the Tigers up 2–0.

Davidson followed this with a pen alty stroke goal, giving Princeton a three-goal advantage in just the first quarter.

“I think our first quarter was the key to the game. We knew we wanted

MEN’S SOCCER

to come out strong and assert our dominance from the beginning,” Da vidson said.

Harvard began to put defensive pressure on the Tigers in the second period with a series of blocks and a save by Harvard goalie Ellie Shahbo during penalty corners. Midfielder Emily Guckian finished the action in the second quarter with Harvard’s first goal of the game.

The Crimson carried this momen tum with them into the second half of the game with midfielder Siofra Murdoch scoring another goal for Harvard. With two unanswered goals, the Crimson put themselves within striking distance of the Tigers, 3–2.

The Tigers remained steady as se nior forward Sammy Popper scored her eighth goal of the season with a reverse chip, setting the Tigers up for what would be a 4–2 victory.

“We obviously felt great to go up 3 goals early, but knew that we couldn’t get complacent and wanted to keep strong, sustained energy throughout the game,” Popper wrote to the ‘Prince.’

Next week, Princeton will host Brown (8–7, 1–4), and the Tigers are looking to continue their undefeated streak in the Ivy League and become Ivy League Champions.

With just two games left in the regular season, Princeton is keeping focused with hopes of entering postseason play.

“We’re just continuing to focus on getting better as a team and playing our game regardless of what the other team does,” Davidson said. “We’ve done a really great job of controlling what we can control and not worry ing about external factors, and I think that’ll be the key to our success in post season.”

Olivia Chen is a contributor to the news letter and sports sections at the ‘Prince.’ Please direct any corrections requests to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.

Men’s soccer bounces back with road win over Fordham

By Kameron Wolters Staff Sports Writer

Coming off a disappointing 3–1 loss against Cornell (11–3, 3–1 Ivy) at home on Saturday, the Princeton men’s soccer team (6–5–2, 1–2–1) over came an early deficit in the Bronx on Tuesday night to bring home a 3–2 victory over Fordham (3–3–9, 1–1–5 Patriot).

Fordham opened the scoring in the match with a goal in the 18th minute. Princeton answered minutes later in the form of a curling free kick by senior midfielder Mateo Godoy in the 25th minute to level the playing field. From about 20 yards out, Godoy sent a low ball around the wall and notched it into the bottom left corner of the goal to tie the game.

“We came into the Fordham game with every intention of recti fying the mistakes we made against Cornell,” Godoy wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “Namely, being more solid defensively, moving the ball with urgency to break lines and get forward, and finishing our chances.”

Just a minute later, Godoy scored again thanks to an assist from sopho more forward Nico Nee. Nee dribbled past a couple of Fordham defenders before dishing a short pass to his left which connected with Godoy, who powerfully deposited the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the night.

Later on, in the 38th minute, the Tigers doubled their lead on a cor ner kick taken by first-year mid fielder Jack Jasinski. After the ball was bounced around a bit, junior de fender Francis Akomeah eventually tapped it in for the Tigers’ third goal of the half.

“Thankfully we were able to put away some of our better opportuni ties late into the first half, but we very

clearly have a lot to clean up if we are to win our remaining games,” Godoy said, referring to the team’s scoring on Tuesday night.

Head Coach Jim Barlow comment ed on the team’s ability to respond to the early goal by Fordham.

“Last night, when we conceded a goal on a restart, we bounced back, picked up our energy, became dan gerous in the attack, and scored 3 before half[time],” Barlow told the ‘Prince.’ “It was a really good response and a lot of guys contributed to that.”

The score remained 3–1 through out the second half until the 85th minute, when Fordham was able to narrow the deficit to one goal. The Fordham Rams’ comeback chances were stopped by a late save by sopho more goalkeeper Khamari Hadaway, who recorded four saves on the night.

“We rotated the line-up a little bit against Fordham,” Coach Barlow explained. “But I think what helped more than anything was we got back to doing some of the things that make us good — aggressive defending and pressing in the right moments, good ball movement and connections in transition, dangerous runs and ser vice in the attack and on restarts.”

The Tigers have three games re maining, each against Ivy League op ponents.

“We have to make the most of the very difficult games coming up — I think our guys are up for the chal lenge,” Coach Barlow said.

Princeton will look to build on this victory when they travel to Provi dence to play Brown (7–4–2, 0–2–2 Ivy) on Sunday, Oct. 30.

Kameron Wolters is a staff writer for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’ Please direct any corrections requests to correc tions@dailyprincetonian.com.