The Daily Princetonian: October 6, 2023

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Friday October 6, 2023 vol. CXLVII no. 19

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U. AFFAIRS

Princeton to offer free Lyft rides to off-campus medical appointments

By Eden Teshome Senior News Writer

The University will soon launch a Lyft voucher program to transport students to and from off-campus medical appointments. Run through the Office of Campus Life, it will serve both undergraduate and graduate students.

The initiative is the direct result of a recommendation from a 2022 mental health resources report written in a working group collaboration between the Undergraduate

Student Government (USG), the Office of Campus Life, and University Health Services.

Although the recommendation was originally confined to mental health appointments, the Lyft vouchers will apply to all off-campus medical appointments — physical and mental.

According to USG President Stephen Daniels ’24, the full program is expected to be publicly announced on the University’s website sometime in the LOUISA GHEORGHITA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

See LYFT page 2

A Public Safety truck parked in front of McCosh Health Center.

Crowded field of Class Council Opinion candidates promise increased social Worker safety under events, advocacy for students an orange sky USG

By Ryan Konarska & Victoria

Davies

Staff News Writer & News Contributor

Twenty-three candidates have filed to run for the 2027 Class Council, the elected student officials that plan classwide social events and distribute merchandise. The Class Council is separate from the USG Senate, which deliberates on issues of student life and University policy.

The Daily Princetonian looked into the platforms and online presence of the Class Council candidates to better understand who seeks these leadership positions after just a few weeks on campus.

Despite there being almost 140 fewer students in the Class of 2027 than 2026, 23 candidates are running for Class Council in the Class of 2027, nearly double the number of the 12 candidates that ran for the Class of 2026.

Just under 60 percent of Class Council candidates attended public high schools, while about 15 percent of candidates attended private, religious

schools.

This aligns with the breakdown of the Class of 2027, which, according to the Frosh Survey, has about 60 percent of its students claim a public high school as its alma mater.

The candidates boast a variety of credentials and accomplishments. The Class Council election slate counts among its ranks one Jack Kent Cooke scholar, one Coke scholar, and one Amazon Future Engineer scholar.

One candidate is a published author. Abby Readlinger ’27 published “The Young Federalists,” a book where children travel through time to discover the importance of the Federalist Papers. Princeton professor Robert P. George left a positive review, saying “Everyone learns!”

Just under half of the candidates cited their role in a student council or student government on their LinkedIn. About a quarter were the valedictorian or salutatorian of their high school class, while a slightly higher percentage participated in high school sports.

According to the Frosh Sur-

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See COUNCIL page 3

Alex Norbrook

Contributing Columnist

T

wice this summer, an orange haze of incinerated Quebecois pines descended on Nassau Hall. The sun burned an ominous red, a wrathful pinprick in the sky.

My throat stung each day that the smoke engulfed campus, and at night I would wake up coughing. Later, as students returned to campus, we were met with scorching temperatures for the first week of school.

The wildfires in Canada and the record summer heat waves across the country were sobering reminders that nowhere is safe from the climate crisis, not even temperate New Jersey. As temperatures rise and fires continue to blaze hotter and larger, Princeton must swiftly adapt and create new policies for workers. To do this, Princeton

DATA

OPINION

should look beyond just the student body, to construction workers and outdoor Facilities employees, who are the most at risk in extreme weather events but also have the fewest protections.

In June, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Mercer County reached a terrifying 467, far above the cutoff for “hazardous air” of 300. But walking around campus, I saw many construction workers and outdoor Facilities workers carrying on as normal. The University encouraged scheduled events to move indoors, but that was not an option for many outdoor workers constructing buildings — they continued to work on the Art Museum, Dillon Gym, and other University construction projects in toxic air.

Later in the summer, these same workers suffered under the hottest national temperatures on record.

See HAZE page 12

Please send any corrections requests to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.

INSIDE THE PAPER

NEWS

Increased ‘incomplete’ financial aid applications lead to delays

by Staff News Writer Louisa Gheorghita and Assistant News Editor Miriam Waldvogel

vey, 52.5 percent of first-years took part in varsity athletics during high school. More than 20 percent of first-years were valedictorian of their high school class, and 7.2 percent were salutatorian.

Class Council candidates tend to be from the coastal regions. Nine candidates are from the Northeast, with four from New Jersey, three from New York, and two from Pennsylvania. Just four are from the interior of the United States (three from Texas and one from Wisconsin), while five are from the American South (Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida). Two are from California — the only candidates from west of Texas.

Promises in the platforms included a number of similar elements. Many of the candidates have made similar promises of advocacy and increasing the number of social events for first-years. Platforms were mostly divided along these lines, with about half promoting communication between the student body and student gov-

PROSPECT

FEATURES

Where has Princeton added staff over the past 10 years?

We looked at the numbers.

by Data Contributors Mary Ma, David Shao, and Alexa Wingate

President Eisgruber, step up or step aside

by Associate Opinion Editor Eleanor Clemans-Cope

Politics, porn, and polarization: a look back at Whig-Clio’s rise and fall

by Features Contributors Charlotte Young and Katie Thiers

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PAGE 15

How do you celebrate MidAutumn?

by Head Prospect Editors Kerrie Liang and Claire Shin and Prospect Contributors Melody Cui and Laura Zhang PAGE 17

The Daily Princetonian

page 2

Friday October 6, 2023

Daniels: “Transportation was going to be an issue — especially for students for whom that copay was already a bit of a financial burden” LYFT

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coming week.

The University declined to comment on the exact release date of the initiative. However, Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Campus Life Alison Greenberg told The Daily Princetonian that they “are hoping to have all of the logistics worked out by the end of this week.”

Daniels, who co-chaired the USG Mental Health Resources Task Force, explained that the recommendation was prompted by the University Health Ser-

vices’s practice of referring patients to off-campus providers for mental health care. “[T]ransportation was going to be an issue — especially for students for whom that copay was already a bit of a financial burden,” he stated in an interview with the ‘Prince.’

The development of the voucher program was overseen

by Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun and Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Calvin Chin.

Calhoun remarked on the existence of the initiative at the latest Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting, stating that the Lyft

program was “not publicized very well.”

Originally intended to launch in Spring of 2023, the initiative is not the first of its kind among Princeton’s peer institutions — its conception took direct inspiration from the University of North Carolina’s (UNC) Well Ride program.

In 2022, UNC’s student government began a partnership with Lyft to provide free transportation to off-campus mental health appointments for undergraduates. For UNC’s program, students submitted their therapist’s address to the student government. The student government would then coordinate

with Lyft on behalf of students to schedule rides.

Daniels noted that Princeton’s program will be funded and run through the Office of Campus Life, instead of the USG, to avoid encountering scheduling difficulties between students and members of the USG managing individual requests.

Participants in the program will receive Lyft vouchers to their off-campus appointments in the area. This is an expansion of the University’s existing relationship with Lyft’s rideshare service. Currently, University departments have the opportunity to design transportation programs with the company —

from one-use passes to autopay for rides.

It is unclear what restrictions may be applied on the vouchers for medical appointments.

The launch of the rideshare program will mark the near completion of the recommendations set by the Mental Health Resources Working Group’s report. During September’s CPUC meeting, Calhoun noted that 90 percent of the report’s recommendations have been met so far.

Eden Teshome is the head Podcast editor and senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’

STUDENT LIFE

Two floors over Coffee Club, flea infestation is fumigated

By Matteo Torres News Contributor

Two weeks ago, Campus Club suddenly shut down with a note attached to the front door that indicated that the club would be closed overnight from Sept. 14 to Sept.

15. The top f loor of Campus Club has also been closed at times during the past couple of weeks, including all day on Sept. 18, raising questions as to what’s going on the top f loor.

While the top f loor was closed, operations on the first f loor and the Coffee Club, located in the basement, continued as normal. Multiple students confirmed to The Daily Princetonian that it was communicated to them that f leas on the top f loor were responsible for the closure.

The secrecy of the infestation and fumigation has raised concerns for potential health and safety violations, given that Coffee Club serves food and drink in Campus Club, just two f loors below the fumigation site. Coffee Club has a dedicated clientele, and Campus Club in general attracts many students in search of a place to work.

In an email to the ‘Prince,’ University spokesperson Ahmad Rizvi wrote that “Environmental Health and Safety worked with Building Services and Princeton’s integrated pest management program contractor to treat the interior and exterior of the Campus Club building.”

“The remediation was successful. Campus Club was closed during the treatment and for the recommended

period of time afterwards to ensure the health and safety of the Princeton community.

As is protocol, the pest management contractor will continue to monitor the building to ensure that the issue does not return to the space,” Rizvi wrote.

Coffee Club employees declined to comment on the issue, and directed ‘Prince’ staff to contact Noah James ’25, the Executive Director of Coffee Club. James did not respond to a request for comment from the ‘Prince.’

An anonymous student reported that the f lea infestation was first reported to Coffee Club leadership in late August. The fumigation appears to have taken place in mid-September.

This is not the first time the University has dealt with

Late Meal Lunch Rush

infestations. In 2011, the University noted an uptick in the number of reported infestations across campus.

According to statistics released by University Housing Services, 134 pest extermination requests have been filed since the academic year began in September, an 11.6 percent increase over requests filed by the same time last year.

The University also dealt with an ongoing bedbug issue back in 2014.

“Bed bugs continue to be a problem in Holder Hall and Forbes College,” a contemporary article reads. “Following two reports of bed bugs last September, at least four reports were confirmed this March. The students have been temporarily moved to graduate housing, a move different from last year, when

By Austria Merritt |

Contributing Cartoonist

four students were moved to single rooms in 1915 [H]all, in Butler College.”

In a written statement to the ‘Prince,’ Gabriela Cejas ’25 gave her opinion on the f leas at Campus Club.

“I would say that’s very unfortunate but honestly not as bad as the time I was studying there on the third f loor with one of my friends and we heard a squeaking noise, and realized that there was a mouse.

Anyways, I would choose f leas over mice any day,” she wrote.

“I love Coffee Club,” she added.

Matteo Torres is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

The Daily Princetonian

Friday October 6, 2023

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Only one class council candidate is from the Princeton consulting clubs Midwest, while seven reflect on pro-bono culture in are from New York or light of compensation debates New Jersey ON CAMPUS

By Sofia Arora & Lia Opperman

News Contributor & Associate News Editor

COUNCIL

Continued from page 1

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ernment, while a smaller number promoted more social events.

One candidate promised to fix TigerHub, Princeton’s course registration platform, which has gained notoriety for glitches.

Candidates had no shortage of pithy catchphrases.

“Do you want amazing (and free) merch? Do you like having delicious and diverse foods at class events? Do you have a CHIN? Then the answer MAY be to vote for CHINMAY!” Chinmay Bhandaru ’27 wrote in his candidate platform.

Many students voiced their support for various candidates on social media, with an an-

nouncement post by Dean Minello ’27 having over 500 likes and a string of outlandish comments.

“Dean successfully fixed USChina relations,” Caleb Park ’27 wrote.

“This man personally inspired Drake’s hit single ‘God’s Plan.’ He also was a main character in the Quran, Torah, and Holy Bible.

He has my vote!” wrote Leighton McCamymiller ’27.

Voting for the Class Council begins on Monday, Oct. 2 at noon.

Ryan Konarska is an associate Data editor for the ‘Prince’ and a staff News writer.

Victoria Davies is a contributing News writer for the ‘Prince.’

VEENA KRISHNARAJ / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Holder Hall.

THE MINI CROSSWORD

By Kasia Kirnie

Contributing Constructor

Aca-Puzzle

Princeton University consulting clubs do not charge fees for their services or engage in profit sharing, even though the University allows clubs to accept payment in an organizational bank account as compensation. The issue came to attention recently, as the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business became one of the first universities to ban studentrun consulting clubs from charging fees.

Princeton University has four recognized consulting clubs, including Princeton University Nonprofit Consulting (PUNC), Princeton Graduate Consulting Club (PUGCC), the Princeton chapter of 180 Degrees Consulting (180DC), and Tiger Consulting Club.

In interviews with The Daily Princetonian, PUNC and PUGCC affirmed their commitment to pro-bono consulting. According to its website, 180DC — composed of student volunteers — is the world’s largest university-based consultancy for nonprofits and social enterprises and offers “high-quality consulting services without the premium price tag.” Tiger Consulting Club started this academic year and is in the process of membership recruitment. Tiger Consulting Club’s leadership declined to comment on their anticipated financial structure, noting they are still a new club.

“Student organizations are allowed to accept payments for services rendered (such as in the case of student agencies),” University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss explained in an email to the ‘Prince.’ He reaffirmed that no student consulting clubs currently collect profits, as the Wharton policy

prohibited.

The ‘Prince’ did not look specifically at investment or investment consulting clubs on campus, which may operate on a profit model.

The University’s financial policy about student organizations specifically disallows profit sharing however, stating that funds collected “may not be deposited into an individual student’s bank account, held by an individual, or invested.”

According to Frederick Uquillas, president of the Princeton University Graduate Consulting Club, the club accepts donations, but they go directly to the club’s account and are later used to sponsor club events or membership recruitment.

Uquillas stated that members join consulting clubs to gain experience for future careers, not necessarily monetary payment. Student consulting clubs are a growing fixture of the campus community. According to the ‘Prince’s’ Senior Survey, 8.3 percent of graduates from the Class of 2023 and 9.5 percent of graduates from the Class of 2022 planned to begin careers in consulting after leaving the University.

Student consultants work for non-profit or start-up firms by assembling a team to work on a given “case” or problem. Consultants conduct market research and analysis to recommend a course of action for the firm. Nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity and even the Princeton local government have enlisted the services of PUNC. Members of PUGCC have consulted for companies like OatHaus, which makes spreadable granola butter, and groups like the Detroit Police Athletic League.

Wharton’s formerly forprofit consulting groups re-

sembled those at other elite schools like Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley. According to Director of Marketing and Relations of PUNC Christina Yao, Princeton’s clubs emphasize pro-bono work “because we don’t have a business school.

Liberal arts is the theme of our undergraduate population, so we’re not going to try to monetize every single organization on campus,” she explained in an interview with the ‘Prince.’

In an interview with the ‘Prince,’ Chris MacDonald, a professor at the Toronto Metropolitan University and an expert in business ethics, noted Wharton may have instituted the ban because students are “riding on the branding” of their school name as opposed to professional experience.

“The worry is not just that you’re using the brand, but you’re using the brand for a product that the owners of the brand haven’t vetted,” he said. “It looks like you’re part of Wharton, and therefore it looks like Wharton endorses you, and therefore it looks like there’s both an accountability and a quality control that really isn’t there.”

MacDonald added that probono student consulting is “mutually beneficial” for students and firms.

While “it’s good to give back to [your] communities,” he recognized that pro-bono work is not economically feasible for everybody. “I would at least have misgivings about the idea that students with skills should provide their labor pro-bono for customers that would otherwise be willing to pay,” he said.

Sofia Arora is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

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

ACROSS

1 With 9-Across, typical Princeton acapella group performance 5 "Funny seeing you here!"

7 Actress Knightley 8 Nail __ 9 See 1-Across

DOWN

1 Approves, informally 2 South American ostriches 3 Beans and beef in broth 4 Bird with an S-shaped neck 6 Counterpart to yin

See page 11 for more

ANGEL KUO/THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Students in the economics department use the basement public spaces of the Julius Romo Rabinowitz Building to study or “case.”

MORE ONLINE

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The Daily Princetonian

Friday October 6, 2023

Alumni from the ’90s dominate donations in the past year

By William Neumann Contributing Data Writer

A whopping $73,785,175 was raised from donors in the past fiscal year, according to the Annual Giving Office.

In all, 47.5 percent of the group that the University identified as potential donors participated, ranging from the Class of 1937 to the Class of 2022. Alumni are automatically considered potential donors, although they can be removed from the potential donor list under certain circumstances. According to the volunteer chair of the University-wide Annual Giving Committee, Chris Olofson ’92, “more than 37,000 gifts were made to the volunteer-led Annual Giving Campaign” last year.

Of the donations, nearly $60 million came from undergraduate alumni, with the remainder coming from graduate alumni, parents of alumni, gifts in memoriam, matching gifts, and other specialized gifts to the University.

Olofson said that the Annual Giving Committee’s goal is to “support current students through unrestricted gifts which are applied to the University’s highest priorities, such as Princeton’s leading no-loan financial aid program, faculty recruitment, programs for student wellbeing, and investments in the student experience.” In other words, these funds “complement the endowment” and cannot be directed toward one particular cause.

According to Princeton’s most recent Annual Giving Impact Report, funds from Annual Giving went towards fund-

ing projects such as Learning and Education through Service (LENS), a program that provides support for students seeking service opportunities, as well as funding for Princeton’s financial aid program.

Susan Walsh, the Assistant Vice President for Annual Giving at Princeton, said last year’s campaign “exceeded expectations” and raised the third-highest total in Princeton history.

Donation data released by the Annual Giving Office revealed each class’s participation goal and dollar goals from this fiscal year.

For each class year, the Annual Giving Office sets a “class goal,” or a percent of alumni in that class that they hope will donate. The Office also sets an annual “donation goal,” which is a target amount for that class to donate in a given year. Donation goals for classes in major Reunions years are typically higher than other classes’ donation goals.

Walsh explained, “major Reunions classes [typically every fifth reunion] account for about 40 percent of each year’s dollar total, with the milestone 25th and 50th Reunions typically raising the highest dollar totals.” In 2022–2023, the Class of 1973 experienced their 50th Reunion and the Class of 1998 experienced their 25th Reunion; their donation goals were $7,300,000 and $9,800,000, respectively.

Donation goals for the two decades of classes that graduating from 1981–2000 constituted more than half of the total donation goals, while both the oldest and most recent graduating classes were

expected to donate substantially less.

The actual amounts donated show that the classes that graduated from 1981–2000 made up the most of the fundraising total. The classes between 1991– 2000 out-donated all other decades, nearly doubling the second biggest donors’ contribution (of the classes graduating between 1981–1990). The Class of 1998 surpassed all other individual class years in fundraising totals with more than $9.2 million raised.

Subscribe Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now » Deborah Yu ’98, who has served as a class agent for her class since 2008, believes that a large part of their success this year was because of “a large and enthusiastic team of classmates [determined] to help with [her] class’s 25th Annual Giving Campaign.” It was her job to “recruit and organize classmates from all over the country and world to help us with personal outreach to classmates to ask them to join us with a gift.”

She corroborated that donations were especially encouraged during major reunion years.

When comparing the actual dollars raised to the University’s goals for the 2022–2023 fiscal year, only the classes graduating from 1961–1970 and 1991– 2000 surpassed their dollar goal. All other classes did not meet their goals.

Although the Classes of 1991–2000 donated $1,417,886 above the University goal, their surplus contribution only compensated for 30 percent of the large fundraising underperformance of

$3,437,526 just by classes graduating between 1981 and 1990.

Looking at goals and donations by year, only eight individual classes passed their goals. Only three classes that graduated after 1960 had more than 60 percent of the class done. The Class of 1963 had the largest class participation, with 75.5 percent of its class participating. Younger alumni are less likely to donate, as no class since 2010 has had more than 50 percent participation.

While younger classes tend to be larger, members also may be earlier on in their careers.

Nevertheless, University alumni and administrators pride themselves on some of the most successful donor campaigns among academic institutions, with Olofson noting that it remains “meaningful to Annual Giving donors and volunteers that Princeton has the No.1 participation rate among peer schools.”

When asked about her future plans for the Class of 1998, which had one of the highest participation rates of around 65 percent, Yu stated that she “hopes to maintain this high level of participation [by] keeping our classmates engaged with the University through class and regional activities.”

The University’s 2023–2024 Annual Giving Campaign is now well underway, with an alumni volunteer team leading the initiative to meet a new round of goals by June 30, 2024.

William Neumann is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’

Friday October 6, 2023

The Daily Princetonian

ON CAMPUS

Sparks fly between two scooters, cause fire in Whitman basement

By Hiba Samdani News Contributor

Within a matter of days, two fires occurred on or near campus, both requiring the attention of firefighters.

The most recent incident unfolded in the late afternoon on Sunday, Sept. 24 after an electric scooter was left in the study room of a dorm in Whitman College. According to students who spoke with The Daily Princetonian, the incident was caused by a wheel on a scooter which wouldn’t stop spinning, creating soot and causing the tire to fall apart.

Fadima Tall ’27, whose neighbor owned the scooter in question, told the ‘Prince’ that the spinning wheel “burned a hole in the ground,” setting off the fire alarm in the building and causing multiple fire trucks to arrive on the scene.

Some of the damage was visible in pictures shared by Barstool Princeton on Instagram, which showed the wheel created substantial soot and other debris through its disintegration.

“If you analyze the Barstool photos, it doesn’t look like a hole was created, just soot,” Louisa Gheorghita ’26, who was at Whitman when the incident happened, told the ‘Prince.’

Gheorghita is a staff News writer for

the ‘Prince.’

According to Tall, her scooter made contact with the malfunctioning scooter, leaving both smoking. Tall added that she and the others in Baker Hall were then questioned by firefighters and Public Safety.

This incident comes weeks after the University implemented new restrictions on scooters on campus, prohibiting the use of personal electric vehicles (PEVs) during “peak hours.”

University staff and students acted swiftly to the incident, alerting local authorities. The alarms went off in Baker Hall/1981 Hall at 5:35 p.m., and fire trucks arrived shortly after.

This came days after an oven caught fire on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at the nearby Wawa on Alexander Street. According to William Gil ’27, the fire alarm went off at 11:20 p.m., and firefighters arrived 20 minutes later.

“Everyone was shocked but was also laughing because it was an unexpected event,” Gil said.

Nobody was injured as a result of either fire.

Hiba Samdani is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

U. AFFAIRS

Increased ‘incomplete’ financial aid applications lead to delays

By Miriam Waldvogel & Louisa Gheorghita Assistant News Editor & Staff News Writer

In the first year of the University’s expanded aid policy, which covers all tuition and fees for most families making up to $100,000 annually, the University has also seen an increase in another statistic: delays. Over 200 undergraduates’ financial aid awards were delayed this academic year, with some awards still outstanding four weeks into the semester.

According to University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss, between Sept. 1 and Sept. 25, 223 aid decisions were posted compared to 50 in the same time frame last year. Hotchkiss noted that the Financial Aid Office had seen an increase in incomplete applications this year.

“As a result, the Office has had to reach out to families to gather additional documentation, delaying the decision timeline,” he wrote in a statement to The Daily Princetonian.

Thus far, all aid appears on track to be distributed. The delay, however, worried students given the high cost of tuition and the potential negative consequences if students did not get their aid packages.

Five students shared their experience on condition of anonymity to the ‘Prince’ for the purpose of protecting financial privacy.

“I wish they had notified me a bit sooner, while I was home, which is when I had access to the tax documents, or at least before school started so that it could have been a task I would have been able to focus on,” a student whose aid was delayed explained. “It feels like Princeton is asking for proof that I am poor.”

A July email sent to applicants for financial aid, acquired by the ‘Prince’, stated that students who submitted their documents before May 1 would be able to access their awards on July 14. Those who submitted documents between May 2 and July 1 would receive their awards on

or before Aug. 15, and those who submitted documents after then would receive their awards on a rolling basis after the 15th.

One student had not received their financial aid after being notified in midSeptember that their application was incomplete. They said taking care of their own financial aid forms was a source of stress.

Another student explained that they received their financial aid award during the second week of school, even after submitting their documentation on time. However, they had to resubmit documents in June after being told by the aid office that their documents were “incorrect,” they wrote.

The student recalled thinking at the time that they would be responsible for over $40,000 in tuition.

Another described receiving their financial aid during the third week of classes.

“I was super annoyed and frustrated about it,” they told the ‘Prince.’ “The financial aid department should … expand to support the [number] of students in Princeton now.”

The student also said that delay of their aid award contributed to their decision to not rejoin their eating club, as they didn’t receive money from the University in time to pay their dues.

Distributing aid remains one of the University’s core functions. The expanded aid has led to increased hires in the appropriate University departments to process forms more quickly. Hotchkiss also shared that “staffing has increased in the aid office in recent years, [and] there are currently several positions open.”

Miriam Waldvogel is an assistant News editor at the ‘Prince.’

Louisa Gheorghita is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’

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STUDENT LIFE

The Daily Princetonian

Friday October 6, 2023

The students in the committee room where it happens

By Annie Rupertus & Louisa Gheorghita

Associate news Editor & staff news writer

While the faces at the top administrative levels of the University are well-known, some of the most important decisions on campus are made by or in consultation with certain committees whose membership and inner workings are more of a mystery.

The Daily Princetonian analyzed the leadership and impact of three significant campus committees — the Honor Committee, the President’s Advisory Committee on Architecture, and the Committee on Naming. The first has long been a part of broader campus debate surrounding the Honor Code. The latter two committees have taken on increasingly important roles on campus, as it enters a transitional period with the myriad construction projects and discourse around renaming certain campus buildings and monuments has become more prevalent.

Honor Committee The Princeton University Honor Committee is a student-run committee responsible for violations of the Honor Code, specifically in regards to written exams, tests, and quizzes. Violations pertaining to work done outside of the classroom are mediated by the Committee on Discipline. The Honor Committee consists of 15 members, three of which are leadership roles.

According to their page, the Committee “consists of one member of class government from the sophomore, junior and senior classes and undergraduate students selected from the student body at large,” Matthew Wilson ’24 serves as chair and Caroline Schuckel ’25 serves as clerk.

Wilson is a columnist for the ‘Prince.’

The election process occurs after spring USG elections, when the Honor Committee begins to solicit applications. According to Rights, Rules and Responsibilities, a subcommittee is responsible for selecting all the appointed members, which are then approved by USG.

ANGEL KUO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Frist Campus Center bustles with students as the post-dinner crowd comes to study.

Newly elected members join the Committee at the start of the fall semester following approval, and members can seek reappointment after a one-year term.

According to Wilson, the typical applicant that meets qualifications is one who understands and maintains the Committee’s values of “integrity, honesty, forthrightness…[and the] keeping [of] the University’s spirit of truth-seeking, and genuine scholarship.”

If a member neglects their duty, a vote of twelve can be used if dismissal is deemed necessary. A new member will be appointed in their place. Anyone who becomes unable to serve or is dismissed must reapply as a new member if they wish to rejoin the Committee.

The Honor Code has faced criticism in the past, including in recent years when the number of cases sent to the Honor Committee tripled over the pandemic. Some students who spoke to The Daily Princetonian in 2020 reported deteriorating mental health before, during and in the wake of their hearings before the Committee.

“No one on the Committee kids themselves that it’s anything less than a deeply unpleasant process,” Dylan Shapiro ’23, former Honor Committee Chair and then Committee Clerk, told the ‘Prince’ then.

Another complaint has been that students receiving financial aid who are found to be in violation of the Honor Code lose their financial assistance if required to repeat a semester.

Wilson told the ‘Prince’ that maintaining transparency around the workings of the Committee is imperative to ensure students maintain trust in a both the Committee and the Honor Code, which he described as “perennially institutions of great scrutiny on campus.

“I don’t think the honor committee ought to be seen or ought to behave as if it’s some secretive secluded committee,” he said.

Wilson noted that support is available to students being investigated by the Committee.

“We always also refer students to Counseling and Psychological Services, and in hearings, there will often be a CPS staff member on standby in case a student needs to talk to them,” he said.

President’s Advisory Committee on Architecture A small number of students serve on the President’s Advisory Committee on Architecture (PACA), a group that advises President Christopher L. Eisgruber ’83 in the very early stages of certain construction projects. The committee has a limited scope: it only deals with capital projects, which are architecture projects that exceed a certain financial threshold, and it serves in an advisory capacity, so it doesn’t directly make any decisions.

Students on the committee generally have the same responsibility as the faculty and administrator members. The committee is called together on an as-needed basis, just once for each capital project, according to Jack Green ’24, one of two student representatives. Green told the ‘Prince’ that the collective mainly aims to generate ideas and make sure the Office of Capital Projects (OCP) and the Board of Trustees aren’t missing any key impacts of a project.

Because the timeline of the committee’s work is so far-reaching, Green noted that it tends to have “less direct relevance to students’ lives.” The committee has only met once since he joined — to discuss a facility that likely will not finish construction until the early 2030s.

These projects “just have timelines that are longer than a student’s time on campus,” Green said.

Green told the ‘Prince’ that although he does feel that his perspective and input have been taken seriously, especially compared to other channels he’s seen that aim to collect student feedback on construction — forums, he said, where it seems that feedback is collected “once all the design decisions have been made,” but in a way that made “students feel like they had more decisionmaking ability than they actually did.”

PACA, he said, meets before any decisions have been made.

Green added that he doesn’t necessarily believe that “there’s a consensus on campus that students really should be at the center of decision-making when it comes to campus planning,” because of factors like construction timelines and interest. “I was maybe one of three or four [undergraduate students] who applied to be on this committee,” he said.

Committee on Naming According to its website, the Committee on Naming “provides advice to the Board of Trustees with regard to the naming of programs, positions and spaces at Princeton,” and “considers significant questions or concerns about names or iconography on the University campus and, when appropriate, makes recommendations to the Board about renaming and/or changing campus iconography.”

The committee has 10 members: four professors, one graduate student, two undergraduate students, one alumni representative, and two administrators. Three additional administrators sit with the committee. The two undergraduate student representatives are currently Okezie Eze ’25 and Aishwarya Swamidurai ’26.

It was first established in 2016 following a campus conversation around former U.S. and University President Woodrow Wilson, sparked by the activism of the Black Justice League and its 2015 Nassau Hall sit-in. The Committee on Naming was implemented in 2022 as a standing committee of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC).

This spring, CPUC heard a presentation from the committee which mainly addressed a petition calling for the removal of the statue of John Witherspoon in Firestone Plaza. The committee had previously hosted community listening sessions about the statue and organized a symposium called “John Witherspoon in Historical Context.”

In 2022, the Committee also notably recommended changing the name of Marx Hall, which houses the Philosophy Department to Laura Wooten Hall, after a longtime Campus Dining staff member and the longest serving election poll worker in the United States.

Annie Rupertus is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Louisa Gheorghita is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’

Friday October 6, 2023 DATA

The Daily Princetonian

page 7

Where has Princeton added staff over the past 10 years? We looked at the numbers.

By Mary Ma, David Shao & Alexa Wingate Contributing Data Writers

Over the past 10 years, as Princeton has expanded its student body, it has also expanded its administration. Since 2012, the number of non-instructional full-time staff has increased by nearly 1200 people, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Peer institutions have faced backlash from their students on this issue. For example, in 2021, the Yale Daily News reported on a “proliferation of administrators,” while an opinion writer for The Harvard Crimson argued that Harvard should “fire them all” because “God will know his own.” This debate has taken place beyond the pages of student newspapers, spreading to groups like Fight for Yale and the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). These organizations contend that the rising cost of college tuition is driven, in part, by administrative increases.

The ‘Prince’ investigated trends in the makeup of non-instructional full-time staff over the past decade based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Certain occupational categories of non-instructional full-time staff have increased in size more than others. Computer, engineering, and science occupations have always contributed the largest portion of staff and have increased by 44.3 percent since 2012, higher than any other occupational category. This may be accounted for by a significant increase in IT positions as the University has expanded its digital operations. The greatest decrease in staff was in library technician jobs, with a drop from 150 to 125 employees over the past decade.

In 2018, the number of staff in business and financial operations more than doubled from 266 employees in 2017 to 581 employees in 2018. The following year, the size decreased to 323 employees. In 2018, there was also significantly more money allocated towards business and financial operations salaries, consistent with the staff increase. The ‘Prince’ could not confirm the source of this year-over-year change.

Among various categories of non-instructional staff, the employees in management occupations have consistently earned more than other employees. Management occupations is a major group of

occupations denoted by National Center for Education Statistics as including jobs such as chief executives, education administrators, and administrative services managers.

In 2021, the University paid 775 employees with management occupations an average annual salary of $165,227. The difference between the mean salary of those in service occupations and management occupations is especially stark, with the mean salary of management occupations in 2021 being around three times the mean salary of service occupations. Adjusted for inflation, mean salary in management occupations has increased by 6.96 percent whereas mean salary for service occupations has increased by 2.72 percent.

With a staff increase of 27.8 percent since 2012, the University has allocated more money towards salaries, now spending $500,846,635 on these employees, a 33.2 percent increase when adjusted for inflation.

Adjusted for inflation, tuition has increased by 20 percent, while the administrative body has increased by 27.8 percent between 2012 and 2021. Beginning in Fall 2023, Princeton University is expanding its financial aid program to fully cover tuition for most families making up to $100,000 annually.

There is also a wide range of demographic makeup depending on the occupation. For example, women make up a mere 11.9 percent of natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations, while office and administrative support occupations are dominated by women. In most occupations, the proportion of female employees has remained stagnant.

The racial makeup of some categories of staff is also noticeably skewed. In 2021, 76.1 percent of management employees, the occupation with the highest mean salary, identified as white. In contrast, among service staff, the occupation with the lowest mean salary, 47.8 percent of staff identify as white.

Alexa Wingate is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’

Mary Ma is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’

David Shao is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’

page 8 DATA

The Daily Princetonian

Friday October 6, 2023

Who runs Princeton? The University cabinet, examined.

By Rishi Kannan & Ryan Konarska Data Contributor & Associate Data Editor

With over 1,000 faculty, nearly 9,000 students, and an annual operating budget of nearly three billion dollars, Princeton University is a colossal institution to manage and maintain. While much of the work of running the University is carried out by almost 7,000 staff, the top-level administration of Princeton is carried out by a group of 25 individuals colloquially known as the Cabinet.

While another well-known administrative body, the Board of Trustees, makes the decisions regarding the governance of the University, the officers of the University handle the day-to-day operations. Examining the Cabinet is essential for understanding who runs Princeton, not just who governs it. While the Board of Trustees is composed of prominent figures like former president George W. Bush’s Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten ’76 and businessman and politician Bob Hugin ’76, the Cabinet is staffed by those who have made their careers in academia and University management.

The Daily Princetonian broke down the various positions within the Cabinet, their compensation, and how power is structured within the Cabinet to better understand the most powerful individuals in the University, who deal with everything from managing tenure policies to crafting the University’s DEI report. The University did not provide any administrators to speak on the record with the ‘Prince’ for this piece.

Who are the cabinet members?

The University Cabinet, as defined by the officers on the University’s public website, is led by President Christopher Eisgruber ’83. The next highest-ranking officials are Provost Jennifer Rexford, and Executive Vice President Katie Callow-Wright. The provost is the chief academic and budgetary officer of the University who oversees academic officers, while the executive vice president oversees the physical campus and the provision of campus services and supervises the officers of the corporation.

The bulk of the Cabinet consists of vice presidents and deans. There are vice presidents for Campus Life, Communications and Government Affairs, Information Technology, Advancement, University Services, Finance, Human Resources, Counsel, Compliance, Facilities, and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The Cabinet includes deans for the Faculty, Libraries, Admission and Financial Aid, and Research.

The deans of the Schools of Architecture, Public and International Affairs, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Graduate School are also Cabinet members.

Another Cabinet official is Dean of the College Jill Dolan, who recently announced her intention to step down at the conclusion of the 2023–24 academic year.

The only Cabinet official with the title “President” besides Eisgruber is the President of the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO), Andrew Golden. Golden has also announced his retirement, which is set to take effect on June 30, 2024. Golden is the longest serving member of the cabinet, having served since 1995 in the role.

Where did they study?

While all appointed trustees are Princeton graduates, just five of the 25 Cabinet members graduated from Princeton. All five of these Princeton graduates attended at least one graduate school other than Princeton, notably the University of Chicago, Oxford University, The College of New Jersey, the University of Michigan, Harvard University, and Brown University.

Only three members of the Cabinet went to more than one graduate school, while five members either did not complete a graduate degree at all or the ‘Prince’ was unable to find any information about their graduate degrees.

The composition of the Cabinet is not limited to graduates of Ivy League schools, with a significant diversity in institutions. Two members of the Cabinet obtained an undergraduate degree from outside of the United States — Vice President and Chief Audit and

Compliance Officer Nilufer Shroff, who received her degree from Mumbai University, and Dean of Libraries Anne Jarvis.

How is the cabinet structured?

The Cabinet is generally structured around the provost and executive vice president, though some positions report directly to the President.

There are two major categories of Cabinet members as listed by the University bylaws in Resolution I: “Officers of the Corporation” and “Academic Officers.” The former consists of the President, Provost, Treasurer, Secretary, and most of those who hold the title of “vice president.” The latter consists of those who hold the title of “dean” as well as the Vice President for PPPL. Reporting to Provost Jennifer Rexford are the vice president for information technology, vice president for PPPL, dean of libraries, dean of the college, and the deans of Princeton’s various schools, including the School of Public and International Affairs and the Graduate School. The provost is also responsible for the broader areas of academic affairs, resource planning and institutional research, institutional equity and diversity, international affairs and operations, and space programming and planning.

The Office of the Provost was created in 1967. The provost is the general deputy of the president and also serves as acting president in the event of their absence or disability.

The vice presidents for campus life, human resources, university services, facilities, and audit and compliance all report to Executive Vice President Katie CallowWright. Many of these vice presidents are powerful in their own right; Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun oversees the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, the Pace Center for Civic Engagement, the Office of Religious Life, University Health Services, Center for Career Development, Wintersession, Campus Recreation, and Princeton Athletics.

Six positions report directly to President Eisgruber: the dean of the faculty and the vice presidents for advancement, communications and government affairs, finance and treasurer, general counsel, and secretary.

The Dean of the College Jill Dolan is not the highest-ranking dean — that’s Dean of the Faculty Gene A. Jarrett. The dean of the faculty had many of the dean of the college’s responsibilities until that position was created in 1909.

According to University bylaws, the PRINCO President reports to the Board of Directors of PRINCO, which in turn reports to the President.

Both academic officers and officers of the corporation are elected by the Board of Trustees following nomination from the President.

How has the cabinet changed during Eisgruber’s tenure?

Eisgruber’s Cabinet has seen significant turnover since his time as president began in 2013. Just six Cabinet members have served during the entirety of Eisgruber’s tenure, while two positions have seen multiple transfers of power.

Indeed, the two highest positions in the cabinet below Eisgruber are some of the newest members of the body. Both Provost Jennifer Rexford and Executive Vice President Katie Callow-Wright began their tenures in 2023.

Turnover has been concentrated during two time periods: in 2014, when the dean of the Graduate School, vice president and general counsel, and dean of the faculty positions all changed hands, and in 2022, when the dean of the graduate school, vice president for human resources, and provost saw new officeholders fill those positions.

With the aforementioned announcements that Dean of the College Jill Dolan and PRINCO President Andrew Golden would be stepping down, as well as Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Jay Dominick’s upcoming retirement, 2024 looks to be another year with major turnover in the University Cabinet.

The newest member of the Cabinet is Dean of Research Peter Schiffer, who began his role in August 2023. Following Golden’s retirement in 2024 after running PRINCO

since 1995, Nilufer Shroff, the Vice President and Chief Audit and Compliance Officer, will be the longest-serving cabinet member, having served in her position since 2007.

How much does the cabinet make?

During this past fiscal year, which ended June 1, 2022, even the Cabinet member with the lowest salary made over 6.5 times the average salary in New Jersey. The average salary of the Cabinet, not counting the PRINCO President, was around $650,000.

Golden makes, by far, the most of any Cabinet member, with a salary nearing $4 million — four times the salary of the president of the University. Golden’s compensation is structured differently than other cabinet members – while his base salary is around a million dollars, he receives bonuses and deferred compensation that far exceed the entire salaries of other cabinet members. In 2021, Golden was awarded almost $2.8 million in deferred compensation to be paid at a future date.

The president and provost receive similar compensations of around one million dollars.

Vice presidents and deans make between $470,000 and $850,000 dollars, with many of these members being paid around $500,000–

$600,000.

Despite being a higher-ranking official, the executive vice president makes less than the vice president and general counsel.

University administrators make significantly more than faculty members. As of 2021, the 363 male professors make an average of $271,898 per year and the 140 female professors make $253,086 per year. Each rank below professor makes less, with the lowest rank of male and female lecturers making $102,440 and $92,432 annually, respectively.

Over the past five years, the members of the cabinet have generally received small raises each year. Historically, the compensation for each role has ranged from around $400,000 to $800,000, with higher-ranking members receiving higher salaries.

The salaries of some positions dropped following personnel changes. Upon the retirement of Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee ’69, the compensation of this role fell from over $530,000 to below $400,000.

Rishi Kannan is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’

Ryan Konarska is an associate Data editor and staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’

This Week in Photos Fall semester updates Friday October 6, 2023

By Jean Shin, Louisa Gheorghita & Ammaar Alam

Head Photo Editor, Staff Photographer & Contributing Photographer

The Daily Princetonian

page 9

Hum r RoMa strives to make ‘It’s an omen’: students page 10

Indian food Saturdays, like, super authentic

react to Edwards tree crashing through window

By Sophia Varughese

By Caroline Rasmussen & Arika Hassan

Associate Humor Editor

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional.

In an attempt to increase the authenticity of cultural expression around campus, University administration has announced planned changes to a number of Universityrun cultural events, starting with RoMa’s Saturday Indian dinners.

These changes will include a new uniform including sarees and kurtas made of craft felt as well as “those pointy shoes they wear in Aladdin,” said Sal Adbar, Director of Dining Services.

“At what point in the serving of tofu coconut ‘curry’ is it required to dress like an Indian bride?” asked Katherine Anderson, a member of RoMa’s dining hall staff. “I can’t even tell you how many pounds of clipon nose rings have fallen into this food.”

The music previously played during dinner has reportedly been changed to more culturally appropriate Indian pieces, including Bollywood movie soundtracks and Hindustani classical music.

Some students have noted that the new music is actually an Arabic rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ on loop.

“We’ve also displayed shrines honoring many different types of cows, as is customary in the Hindu religion,” said Adbar. “I’m particularly proud of our veneration of Otis, the star of Nickelodeon’s ‘Back at the Barnyard’.”

This inclusion of cultural symbols has forced costs to be cut elsewhere. The decision was made to begin serving chicken in an alphabet soup broth flavored with five-spice, which will be advertised as both “butter chicken” and “chicken tikka masala.”

“We’re not too concerned about cutting food costs,” said Adbar.

“We’re really only switching from Campbell’s Tomato to Campbell’s Alphabet, so a decline in quality is not to be expected.”

Sophia Varughese ’26 is an Indian associate Humor editor. She was the whitest Indian and Indianest white at her PWI private high school.

Contributing Humor Writers

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional.

At 4:32 a.m. on Saturday, Sept.

23, a tree fell over onto Edwards Hall, crashing through one of its windows. Students, many of whom are members of the Edwards collective, were awake and witnessed the event.

“I thought I had finally broken glass with my voice, but it was just that f***ing tree,” said distraught music major Anita Singh ’25, in an interview with the Daily PrintsAnything. “It’s an omen. I’ll never make it.” On Monday, she switched to EEB. Theater major and president of the Les Miserables Club, Vean Jal Vean ’25, expressed similar anguish. “I was wearing full mime makeup, practicing Act II, Scene 4 of my most recent play in which my character experiences the most traumatic event of his life. Needless to say, I now have more material for my method acting.”

While many were saddened by

the damage to such a campus treasure, one architecture student Bob Buildering ’24 told the ‘Prints’ he actually likes it better now. “Much better ventilation and south-facing light is divine. Plus, campus has needed a treehouse ever since organic architecture became popular.”

Luckily, all residents were safely evacuated to Dillon, where they found life boats, hazmat suits, a full English breakfast, and SZA singing SOS. The entire arts collective is reported to have been seen at the Terrace rave that night.

Caroline Rasmussen is a member of the Class of 2026, and last Saturday morning, she woke up at 9 a.m. in Blair. She can be reached at cr3730@ princeton.edu.

Arika Hassan is a member of the Class of 2026 who claims to be a Matheyite when she wants to. This was not one of those moments. She can be reached at ah5155@princeton.edu.

ISABEL RICHARDSON / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Scooter Ban

ALEXANDER NORBROOK / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

By Elizabeth Medina | Senior Cartoonist

The Daily Princetonian

Friday October 6, 2023

“Star Studded”

page 11

By Jasin Cekinmez Contributing Constructor

ACROSS 1 5 8 13 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 24 28 30 31 32 34 36

40 41 43 46 48 49

Texter's expression of gratitude www.unicef.___ Color blending Aptly named largest Great Lake Every sixty minutes *Actor who played Hawkeye in "M*A*S*H" Grilled, in Santiago Beam of sunshine Nonprofit media organization you might hear on a car ride Joint between the femur and pelvis Imitate *Spanish and Cuban actress in Blade Runner 2049 Small town Black cat crossing one's path, say ___ of Capri Burj Khalifa resident, maybe Mazel ___ *Author of the letter "Remember the Ladies" who said "All men would be tyrants if they could" "This instant!"

Locale of Galway and Limerick Certain pear Intl. price-setting group Stupefy *First African American tennis player to win a men's Grand Slam singles title

52 Pending, on a sched.

53 Certain Wall St. acquisition, for short 54 Meas. of a country's economic output 55 Sound of contentment 57 Twofold 59 Top stars ... or a hint to the answers to the starred clues 64 "S.N.L." alum Cheri 65 Large-scale use of viruses 66 Donkeys 67 Japanese currency 68 Game where you might say "Found it!"

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14

Airport agcy.

Brynner of "Westworld" Barbecue portion Region stretching from Iran to Morocco: Abbr.

What 46-Across regulates Cone's complement, in the eye "7 Rings" singer Ariana Catherine of "Schitt's Creek" Rapper ___ Def "Cradle Song" composer Type of tire Pass, like time Disney's "___ and the Last Dragon"

20 22 23 25 26 27 29 33 35 37 38 39 42

One of five rulers Nickname of Lincoln Adidas competitor "Don't speak of this!" ___ Stewart, singer with the 1979 #1 hit "Knock on Wood" Harvard and Princeton, e.g.

Dr. Seuss title character Word after "ages" or "moons" Keats work Pinocchio's nose gets longer when he tells ____ Dave of rock Rudely overlook Genetic stuff

43 44 45 47 50 51 56 58 60 61 62 63

Fictional boxer Rocky Circles, in a way People often skip them Another name for the government of Vatican City Jamaican fruits Freedom from anxiety "The Bell of ___" (Longfellow poem) "___ you ok?"

Chemical in drain cleaners ___ Saud (Saudi Arabia's founder in 1932) Future genre?

"I apologize," in text

The Minis

By Kasia Kirnie

Contributing Constructor

“Aca-Believe It”

“Talk-A pella”

Scan to check your answers and try more of our puzzles

ACROSS

ACROSS

1 With 5-Down, Princeton treble voice acapella group founded in 1987 5 Precursor to chocolate 6 ____-garde 7 Little giggle 8 Govt. IDs

1 Federal org. for food 5 With 9-Across, Princeton acapella group named after a Disney character 7 Certain white collar crime 8 Left alone 9 See 5-Across

DOWN

DOWN

1 2 3 4 5

Says goodbye Genomics laboratory at Princeton Bowling divisions Extraordinarily fond of See 1-Across

1 Sports org. with the New Jersey Generals and Philadelphia Stars 2 3 4 6

Onion-loving ogre Tarot card signifying major change Small nation off the coast of Venezuela Godly garden

online!

Opinion

page 12

Friday October 6, 2023

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

“The lack of clear protocol meant that Facilities workers continued to work outdoors, breathing in vaporized chemicals and dangerous particles all the while” HAZE

Continued from page 1

.............

As our climate collapses, smoky skies and searing days will only become more common. This change is dangerous for our outdoor workers.

“Workers are literally risking their lives to work in this kind of heat,” said Professor Susan Marquis, the Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor at the School of Public and International Affairs, in an interview. “Heat illness is tremendously dangerous,” Marquis, who studies heat illness policy, continued. “You’re seeing more and more cases of this in the United States.” The same is true for lung damage following wildfire smoke events.

Our approach to workers’ climate safety has been scattered.

Princeton requires the contractors involved in campus construction to take care of their workers on their own, but there aren’t sufficient federal or state requirements to enforce adequate protection. Moreover, their wildfire policy is almost nonexistent. Princeton’s protocols for their own workers similarly neglect clear wildfire smoke protocols. To better protect our outdoor workers’ safety, Princeton can follow the lead of states with stronger worker safety regulations.

Currently, the University requires that their construction contractors “manage their own health and safety programs and provide the appropriate protec-

tive equipment and protocols,” according to an email from Derek Ziegler, Assistant Director for Emergency Preparedness. Many of Princeton’s hired contractors, including building groups Skanska, LF Driscoll, and Turner, follow guidelines to protect workers from extreme heat, like increasing the frequency of breaks and providing water. These companies did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

These policies are strong first steps. But because they are not backed up by government regulation, they aren’t enforceable by law. State safety policies concerning extreme heat fall far short — in fact, they don’t exist at all in New Jersey. At the federal level, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) doesn’t require any safety regulations related to heat at all, only offering recommendations for workers when temperatures exceed 91 degrees.

As these are only recommendations, rather than “mandatory and enforceable” rules, Marquis argues that it can be “difficult for workers, those who contract for services, and the community to hold employers accountable.”

Worse still, Princeton’s contracted construction companies lack policies around wildfire smoke in the first place. None of the aforementioned companies’ manuals provide guidelines (much less mandates) in their safety manuals for their workers and managers on how to stay safe in hazardous AQI situ-

ations. This vacancy is unsurprising; major wildfire events are new for the east coast of the U.S., and even state and government policy hasn’t caught up.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends that employers monitor air quality and limit employees’ exposure to wildfire smoke. But this is only a recommendation; once again, there is no federal policy that legally protects outdoor workers from exposure to wildfire smoke events.

For its own workers, too, Princeton lacks a clear wildfire smoke protocol. The University’s Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) website only indirectly addresses outdoor worker protection in the case of high AQI from wildfires. EHS’ Outdoor Worker Safety guide does not include information or specific guidelines around wildfire smoke safety. Moreover, though Ziegler said that EHS encouraged “those working outside to take extra precautions,” he did not list any more concrete strategies or hazard thresholds for when certain precautions must be followed.

The lack of adequate policy became dangerous this summer, as Princeton had a disorganized response to wildfire smoke. They distributed N-95 masks to the campus community at four locations and encouraged outdoor workers to take “extra precautions,” according to Ziegler. But, the lack of clear protocol meant that Facilities workers continued to work out-

doors, breathing in vaporized chemicals and dangerous particles all the while.

Princeton’s disorganization feels inevitable among some outdoor workers on campus.

Robert Agostini, a builder working on the renovation of Prospect House, seemed resigned. “We’re just going to have to work through it,” he said, referring to the extreme conditions. “It’s scary. But what can you do?”

Fortunately, Princeton can do more to protect its workers, both contracted and directly employed, in the absence of federal or state mandates. Its approach must be twofold, applying to both directly employed Facilities workers and campus construction workers who are contracted through companies like Skanska, Turner, and LF Driscoll.

First, to keep contracted workers protected in extreme heat conditions, Princeton can vigilantly watch their contracted construction companies to ensure they adhere to their own heat guidelines. This is especially important when there are no federal protections, whose absence makes it harder to enforce safety guidelines.

Further, to mitigate the potential injuries from wildfire smoke, Princeton should follow the lead of state policies from California and Oregon, which require employees to train workers on the risks of wildfire smoke and to offer “schedule changes, relocations or other interventions to reduce expo-

sure” during such events. Where reducing exposure is not possible, these states require that employers provide high-quality masks at no cost to all employees. And when AQIs surpass a certain threshold (in the case of California, a threshold of 501), employees are required to wear these masks when their work cannot be avoided. Princeton should consider similar threshold figures across all stages of its hazardous air quality policy to add clarity to its guidelines and regulations. Beyond its own direct employees, Princeton should encourage its contracted construction companies to develop strong guidelines around wildfire smoke that model these state regulations.

The University, and New Jersey as a whole, don’t have these policies because we simply haven’t needed them before. But this summer made it clear; we have a new, unpredictable climate, which requires us to act.

While we work to slash carbon emissions, we must also protect our campus communities from the heating that has already occurred – especially the people who make the University run, but whom we so often overlook.

Stronger environmental safety measures represent a strong first step in that direction.

Columnist Alex Norbrook (he/ him) is a sophomore from Baltimore, Maryland, intending to major in history. He can be reached at alexnorbrook@princeton.edu.

ALEXANDER NORBROOK / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The American flag on Nassau Hall with an orange sky.

Opinion

Friday October 6, 2023

page 13

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } vol. cxlvii editor-in-chief Rohit Narayanan '24

business manager Shirley Ren ’24

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

president Thomas E. Weber ’89

assistant treasurer Kavita Saini ’09

Kathleen Crown Suzanne Dance ’96 Gabriel Debenedetti ’12 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Michael Grabell ’03 Danielle Ivory ’05 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Julianne Escobedo Shepherd Abigail Williams ’14 Tyler Woulfe ’07

trustees Francesca Barber Craig Bloom ’88

trustees ex officio Rohit Narayanan ’24 Shirley Ren ’24

vice president David Baumgarten ’06 secretary Chanakya A. Sethi ’07 treasurer Douglas Widmann ’90

147TH MANAGING BOARD upper management

Kalena Blake ’24 Wilson Conn ’25 Katherine Dailey ’24

Julia Nguyen ’24 Angel Kuo ’24 Hope Perry ’24

Strategic initiative directors

Education Kareena Bhakta ’24 Amy Ciceu ’24 Financial Stipend Program Genrietta Churbanova ’24

Mobile Reach Rowen Gesue ’24 DEIB Chair Christofer Robles ’25

head audience editor Rowen Gesue ’24

head opinion editor Abigail Rabieh ’25

associate audience editor Paige Walworth ’26

community opinion editor Lucia Wetherill ’25

head archives editor Raphaela Gold ’26 Kaylee Kasper ’26

associate opinion editors Eleanor Clemans-Cope ’26 Ashley Olenkiewicz ’25

head copy editors Jason Luo ’25 Nathalie Verlinde ’24

head photo editor Jean Shin ’26

Sections listed in alphabetical order.

associate head copy editors Tiffany Cao ’24 Naisha Sylvestre ’25 head data editor Elaine Huang ’25 Charlie Roth ’25 associate data editor Ryan Konarska ’25 head features editors Paige Cromley ’24 Tori Tinsley ’24

head podcast editor Eden Teshome ’25 associate podcast editor Senna Aldoubosh ’25 Vitus Larrieu ’26 head print design editors Avi Chesler ’25 Malia Gaviola ’26 head prospect editors Kerrie Liang ’25 Claire Shin ’25

associate features editor Sejal Goud ’25

associate prospect editors Isabella Dail ’26 Joshua Yang ’25

head graphics editors Noreen Hosny ’25 Katelyn Ryu ’24

head puzzles editors Joah Macosko ’25 Simon Marotte ’26

head humor editor Spencer Bauman ’25

associate puzzles editors Juliet Corless ’24 Sarah Gemmell ’24 Jaeda Woodruff ’25

associate humor editors Sam McComb ’25 Sophia Varughese ’26 head news editors Sandeep Mangat ’24 Isabel Yip ’25 associate news editors Lia Opperman ’25 Annie Rupertus ’25 Tess Weinreich ’25 head newsletter editors Olivia Chen ’26 Sidney Singer ’25

head sports editors Nishka Bahl ’26 Cole Keller ’26 associate sports editors Diego Uribe ’26 Hayk Yengibaryan ’26 head web design and development editors Ananya Grover ’24 Brett Zeligson ’24 associate web design and development editor Vasila Mirshamsova ’26

147TH BUSINESS BOARD assistant business manager, director of sales Aidan Phillips ’25 business directors Benjamin Cai ’24 Jessica Funk ’26 Gabriel Gullett ’25 Andrew He ’26 Tejas Iyer ’26 Daeun Kim ’26 Jordan Manela ’26

Robert Mohan ’26 Kok Wei Pua ’25 project managers Julia Cabri ’24 Jason Ding ’25 Bibiane Kan ’26 Kaustuv Mukherjee ’26 Shravan Suriyanarayanan ’26 My Ky Tran ’26 Brian Zhou ’26

Students won’t take COVID-19 tests unless University accommodations improve Frances Brogan

Contributing Columnist

M

y roommate and I missed the first three days of the second week of classes due to COVID-19 isolation. Left hungry by the inadequate portions of isolation meals, we relied on the generosity of friends who brought us, among other things, a jumbo-sized jar of peanut butter, miso soup, and gummy bears.

We were sick and exhausted, and our capacity to keep up with Princeton’s academic rigor was severely diminished.

We worried that spending five days out of the social loop and missing our first Lawnparties would cause our burgeoning friendships to stagnate. The immense cumulative setback of missing a few classes means we’re still catching up on work.

Some of these problems were inevitable, but others were preventable. The current consequences of testing positive for COVID-19 are severe. Indeed, Princeton’s lack of accommodations for those infected with COVID-19 is ultimately discouraging students from testing, leading to even greater spread on campus. If the current policies were improved by providing more resources to infected students, more symptomatic students would test, reducing the length of this surge and minimizing further interruptions to the semester.

The University could begin to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus and take better care of students by allocating more isolation spaces for infected students or alternative spaces for their healthy roommates. Currently, the University offers no support for roommates of students with COVID-19, instructing them to either stay with a friend or risk infection by staying in their dorm. This is especially difficult for first-year students, who are already navigating the struggles of managing their

own healthcare for the first time and might not feel comfortable asking to stay with newly established friends. For upper- and underclassmen alike, however, the burden of responsible isolation rests on the student — a difficult burden considering the close living quarters with which we are provided. The University’s failure to provide resources for roommates can provoke resentment between friends and roommates, and detrimentally impact students’ living situations. Students are disincentivized from testing when the University neglects the most rudimentary needs of those in isolation. When the consequences of a positive test are so high, students might not want to take the risk.

In addition to the social and personal implications of COVID-19 isolation, the academic ramifications of missing several days of class can be extreme. Right now, determining accommodations for sick students is up to the discretion of each professor. Only some classes offer Zoom links or pre-recorded lectures, and varying degrees of f lexibility among professors means that a five-day isolation period can have drastically different effects for each student. In order to remedy this inequity, there should be a standardized approach to COVID-19 isolation, and the University should heavily encourage individual departments to provide a Zoom option. Students would feel less apprehensive about taking a COVID-19 test if they knew there were measures in place to allow them to continue to participate in class from their rooms.

Life at Princeton moves at a breakneck pace; missing five days here feels like missing three weeks anywhere else.

Many symptomatic students reluctant to test for COVID-19 cite fear of falling behind, should they test positive and be required to isolate, as a primary deterrent. One student

I spoke to who exhibited COVID-19 symptoms but chose not to test explained her rationale, stating “I’m going to live in dangerous denial … I don’t want to miss class.”

Additionally, the University’s lack of transparency on COVID-19 cases exacerbates confusion. Even though cases have declined over the past three weeks, the predominance of unrelated viruses on campus creates a sense of alarm. The University’s public COVID-19 dashboard, which tracks cases on campus, hasn’t been updated since June 7, 2023. While widespread resistance to testing could affect the efficacy of a case counter, the presence of such a dashboard could empower students to take appropriate precautions. Additionally, students who are ambivalent about testing might be reassured by the knowledge that if they do test positive, they won’t be alone.

Clearer information would combat the stigma surrounding what is already a controversial issue on campus.

While the University can’t penalize students who don’t test or report positive results, violating the terms of COVID-19 isolation can precipitate serious consequences, including civil action, according to the letter from Global and Community Health sent to students who submit positive test results. If the University implemented the above recommendations for COVID-19 accommodations and demonstrated a clear commitment to alleviating the struggles of isolation, more students would decide that the moral imperative of testing when symptomatic outweighs the unique challenges of missing five days at Princeton.

Frances Brogan is a first-year intending to major in the School of Public and International Affairs.

147TH TECHNOLOGY BOARD

chief technology officer Joanna Tang ’24 lead software engineer Roma Bhattacharjee ’25 software engineers Pranav Avva ‘24 Carter Costic ’26 Dylan Epstein-Gross ’26 Jessica-Ann Ereyi ’24 Ishaan Javali ’26

Adam Kelch ’24 Austin Li ’26 Isabel Liu ’26 Tai Sanh Nguyen ’26 John Ramirez ’26 Hang Pham ’26 Aidan Phillips ’25 Caitlin Wang ’26 Jessie Wang ’25 Shannon Yeow ’26 Brett Zeligson ’24

THIS PRINT ISSUE WAS DESIGNED BY

Avi Chesler ’25 Malia Gaviola ’26 Vivi Lu ’26 Vanessa Auth ’26 Kayla Memis ’24 Haruka Nabeshima ’27

Sydney Hottenstein ’26 Yuka Childers ’26 Ethan Cheng ’27 Ahania Soni ’27 Madeline Rohde ’27

AND COPIED BY Nathalie Verlinde ’24

RYLAND GRAHAM / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

COVID tests in Mathey Common Room.

Opinion

page 14

Friday October 6, 2023

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Princeton must remain steadfast and transparent in its divestment commitments Guest Contributors

The following is an open letter and ref lects the authors’ views alone.

D

ear Princeton Trustees and President Eisgruber,

One year ago, the Board of Trustees announced that Princeton would dissociate from 90 coal and tar sands companies and divest all its direct and indirect holdings in publicly traded fossil fuel companies. Today, we call on the University to make good on those promises.

These remarkable decisions were welcomed by many on campus and around the world.

It was later confirmed that the divestment commitment was worth one billion dollars of the University’s endowment, which accounted for 60 percent of its fossil fuel holdings.

At least five of the 90 companies on the list were recognizable names: ExxonMobil, NRG Energy, Total, Suncor, and Syncrude. While a step in the right direction, there were still issues with the commitment. Only 10 of the companies on this dissociation list have had a recent or current relationship with Princeton at the time of the announcement. As a result, the University promised to dissociate from 80 companies with which it had no association, but left its relationships with BP and Shell intact.

Since the University’s announcement, we have seen unprecedented climate disasters which have caused immeasurable loss across the country and the world. Scientists, including those working for the fossil fuel industry, have been predicting these climate catastrophes for decades.

Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the potential impact the University could have as a climate leader, our community needs a transparent update on the state of the divestment and dissociation initiative. The University must make good on its past promises, but it must also commit to more ambitious goals to combat the impending and apparent climate crisis. We ask the Princeton administration:

CALVIN GROVER / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Climate march in New York City.

1. Has Princeton completed the divestment of all its holdings in publicly traded fossil fuel companies?

2. Will Princeton divest the approximately $700 million it still has invested in privately held fossil fuel companies, known to be amongst the highest emitting and least responsible fossil fuel companies?

3. Has Princeton completed its dissociation from the 90 companies on the list? When will Princeton dissociate from all fossil fuel companies? And when will dissociation return to its original meaning and encompass non-financial partnerships and on-campus activity, including recruiting?

4. Will Princeton refuse BP funding and bring to an end its extensive presence and inf luence on campus through the Carbon Mitigation Initiative?

5. Who is funding the new Energy Research Fund, created by the University in the wake of the dissociation announcement? Is it receiving fossil fuel funding? Can dissociated companies, including ExxonMobil, be corporate partners for the Energy Seed Grant and other official nonfinancial partnerships?

6. When will the University set a target for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the University’s endowment portfolio, as promised by the Board of Trustees in 2021?

7. Will the University update the timeframe of the net-zero goal from 2046 to a date in line with the urgency of the climate crisis, ideally closer to 2030?

announcement last year, the Attorney General of New Jersey filed a lawsuit that alleges that ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, the American Petroleum Institute, and Princeton partners BP and Shell are liable for damages to the state caused by global warming. It also claims that these parties have committed fraud by failing to warn the public about the dangers of unchecked carbon emissions.

It defies belief that the state government — whose chief executive sits on the Princeton Board of Trustees — is suing these companies, yet the University continues to support them. The Princeton community was encouraged by the promises made a year ago, but those words need to be followed up with bold action and true leadership.

Signed, Alex Norbrook ’26 Eleanor Clemans-Cope ’26 Aaron Serianni ’25 Nate Howard ’25 Anna Hiltner ’23 Hannah Reynolds ’22 Tom Taylor GS ’21 All signatories are past or current coordinators of Divest Princeton. They can be reached ffdivestprinceton@gmail.com.

Shortly after the University’s

President Eisgruber, step up or step aside Eleanor Clemans-Cope

Associate Opinion Editor

P

resident Christopher Eisgruber doesn’t speak publicly much, but when he does, we’ve gotten jarring reminders about how little he understands students and our problems. Take the most pressing campus issue: Princeton’s well-documented mental health crisis, which calls for a transformational response from administration. But instead of taking responsibility for — or having curiosity about — the University’s role as both a potential driver of this crisis and a provider of solutions, he’s blamed it on ‘online activity’ making it hard to “think healthy” and now-infamously belittled students’ concerns with Princeton’s toxic work culture to calls for “academic mediocrity.”

The dismissal from Nassau

Hall is not isolated to mental health: Eisgruber doesn’t understand the world and future of young people. He wrote in this paper last year to bemoan the increase in young people “choosing” not to go to college and blamed this trend on “cognitive biases,” missing the fact that college is financially untenable for a vast swath of Americans. He doesn’t treat the climate crisis, which will define the lives of current students, with any urgency. His public statements are mostly about campus free speech, which is less of a real problem to students than it is a problem in off-campus conservatives’ imaginations.

The decision-makers who govern our Princeton lives — both Eisgruber and the Board of Trustees — are disconnected from the student body and don’t show a real interest in our most pressing problems, making it difficult to solve them.

The disconnect isn’t surpris-

ing. Eisgruber is a famously isolated president: he holes himself up in Nassau Hall, away from student criticism, and makes himself available to students only rarely and in highly structured formats.

And the Board of Trustees is structurally out of touch.

Once a year, a committee on student life affiliated with the Board listens to a presentation from USG, and that’s the end of student involvement in our ultimate governance.

We have little visibility into their deliberations, can’t tell which ones are voting in our interests, and are only represented by two Young Alumni Trustees (of 37 total) who take a vow of silence about policy decisions in order to run.

This gap between students and decision-makers hinders resolution of student concerns. The Board of Trustees’ lack of accountability and opaqueness means that it’s difficult for students to tell whether their problems are

being taken seriously and difficult to engage and advocate if not. And Eisgruber’s disinterest in talking to students, even though he’s the top decision-maker on campus, means that our problems may not even enter the room where decisions are made.

One increasingly urgent problem is the mental health crisis. And it is not intractable. Princeton could vigorously strive for zero suicides — research shows that suicide is preventable — and revolutionize mental health care for students by providing high-quality, innovative, and low-cost care of adequate duration on campus. Princeton could promote behavioral health more broadly through harm reduction on campus to achieve zero overdose deaths.

Princeton has extreme wealth, a profusion of dedicated employees, and a massive support infrastructure. We have the means to solve these problems, just not the leadership.

Eisgruber and the Trustees must begin acting meaningfully on behalf of the students. They have made some good steps in the past – four of them, over Eisgruber’s tenure as president: ending grade def lation in 2004, deciding to slightly expand the student body in 2016, partially divesting the endowment from fossil fuels, and somewhat expanding financial aid in 2022.

Next, they need to take on the mental health crisis.

So, here’s a challenge to Eisgruber and the Board: listen to us and take visionary steps to address our problems. Step up – and if you’re not ready to, step aside.

Eleanor Clemans-Cope (she/ her) is a sophomore from Rockville, Maryland intending to study economics. She spends her time making music with Princeton University Orchestra and good trouble with Divest Princeton.

Friday October 6, 2023

The Daily Princetonian

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page 16

Features

Friday October 6, 2023

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Politics, porn, and polarization: a look back at Whig-Clio’s rise and fall

By Katie Thiers & Charlotte Young Contributing Features Writers

On and off Princeton’s campus, Whig-Clio is recognized as a political force in the history of debating societies. Today, the society prides itself as “the oldest college and literary debating club in the United States.” Notable alumni include James Madison Class of 1771 and Woodrow Wilson Class of 1879.

Originally founded as two separate societies, The American Whig Society and the Cliosophic Society, the joint American Whig-Cliosophic Society were forced to merge in the 1920s. The development of the Woodrow Wilson School (now known as the School of Public and International Affairs) and the eating clubs began to replace WhigClio’s influence on politics and social life on campus. In 1941, Whig Hall and the society’s assets were transferred to the University, creating the structure of today’s Whig-Clio. What followed is decades of turbulent campus organization politics.

While the club boasts itself as the premier political organization on campus, often bringing popular speakers, hosting parliamentary debates, and holding councils on national and international affairs, it has struggled to sustain its membership over the years.

In 1981, the club had 1,500 members.

Now, it has around 300 members — a sharp decline from Whig-Clio’s glory days. Over the past decades, Whig-Clio faced many challenges: dramatic membership loss, a global pandemic, and controversy over one of its most notable alumni, Ted Cruz ’92 (R-Texas). Nevertheless, the club has remained tenacious in their fight to maintain campus relevancy.

A class of its own Whig-Clio has a storied history, dating back to America’s founding. The societies were sites for government planning. Two notable alumni of Whig and Clio, Madison and William Paterson Class of 1763, presented plans of government to the Confederation of the Colonies. Paterson wrote the New Jersey Plan, which supported a unicameral legislature and equal votes of states.

Madison wrote the Virginia Plan, featuring three branches of government, the format we are familiar with today.

Whig-Clio members were also present during the Continental Congress, which held sessions in Nassau Hall.

Over the next few centuries, WhigClio positioned itself as the dominant organization on campus. They hosted their own classes, taught their own curriculum, had their own libraries, and awarded member exclusive diplomas to graduating members. Additionally, Whig-Clio would regularly host debates with other colleges, such as Yale and Harvard, which drew in large crowds regularly and provided students a place to fulfill their political and intellectual thirst.

The 1980s: porn films and future politicians In 1980, Whig-Clio had 1,100 members, and membership peaked in subsequent years at about 1,500. “There would be hundreds of people who would come [to events],” recalled Jordan Katz ’81, who was president of Whig-Clio in his senior year. “We were the largest student extracurricular organization.”

By the 1980s, Whig-Clio had reached record-highs for membership, though not for its commitment to the society’s formidable reputation. Instead, WhigClio was known for its debates about porn.

To Katz, the reason for Whig-Clio’s dominance is clear. “We were providing a service that everybody wanted, which was to be able to go to the movies,” he said. At the time, Whig-Clio membership had offered the additional benefit of a Film Society which showed free movies on Friday and Saturday nights.

This was likely the motivator for the hundreds of people Katz recalled seeing regularly. Whig-Clio created the Film Society as an extension of its literary branch, but not all members supported its existence as a subsidiary of the society. Most importantly, members, and the wider campus, disagreed on what kind of movies Whig-Clio should be allowed to show.

In 1983, Whig-Clio was engulfed in debate over a scheduled Friday night showing of the pornographic film “Debbie Does Dallas.” The choice provoked sharp criticism, both from members of Whig-Clio and the Women’s Center, which called for the showing to be canceled. Conversely, other members of Whig-Clio were enraged at the threat of cancellation, casting criticism as an attempt to censor the society. While the movie was eventuall ay canceled, students opposed to the decision formed the Coalition Opposing Censorship, lambasting both Whig-Clio and the Women’s Centers as “denying us our choice.”

The debate didn’t end there. 1983 and 1985 issues of The Daily Princetonian noted showings of several pornographic or X-rated films by Whig-Clio in the past, including “Last Tango in Paris,” “Deepthroat,” and “Emmanuel.” Another controversy followed in 1985 over an additional showing of “The Opening of Misty Beethoven,” leading to a second Whig-Clio debate on the showing of pornography on campus and a resolution banning the showing of X-rated films in the future.

The pornography debate was an intense and divisive issue for WhigClio. Even with X-rated films banned, many members still found the Film Society to be a distraction from the traditional aims of the society. In 1985, Steven Schoenfeld ’87 ran for president of Whig-Clio with the promise that he would eliminate the Film Society as part of the club’s programs. “We’re tired of being thought of as a film society when we run one of the best debate programs in the country,” Schoenfeld was quoted as saying at the time. He won the election and, in June of 1986, WhigClio’s film program came to an end.

While some members were thrilled to see Whig-Clio refocus on politics and debate, many members were less enthusiastic. “The movies are the only reason for membership,” one student told the ‘Prince’ at the time.

But Schoenfeld was adamant that reduced membership was not a negative, insisting that “a small committed membership is better than a larger, more apathetic one.” Whig-Clio’s membership sank to approximately 100, according to estimates in 1990.

The 1990s: shifting and refocusing Those who remained in Whig-Clio were the types of members Schoenfeld had hoped to attract a few years prior.

VEENA KRISHNARAJ / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Whig Hall.

Noah Steinberg ’90, a member of the Whig Party at the time, described himself as “intensely” involved in the club during his first three years at Princeton. “I looked at it as an opportunity to be part of a Princeton tradition … to be with people and focus on a lot of stuff that I was interested in,” he told the ‘Prince.’

This version of Whig-Clio that Steinberg experienced was what Schoenfeld tried to create when he disbanded the film program in 1986. It was a WhigClio that traded campus popularity for its traditional aims as a literary, political, and debate society.

The 2000s: a further decline Nevertheless, Schoenfeld’s decision to ax the film program continued to have grave repercussions. Whig-Clio was losing its hold on campus life. In 2002, there were 200 active members.

The political society struggled to keep those members involved, with many paying their dues and later dropping out of the society. The society’s dedication was also blamed on its commitment to “political neutrality,” something ‘Prince’ columnist Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky ’04 claimed was “driving the society into irrelevance.”

Another student columnist, however, sought to reinvigorate Whig-Clio’s presence on campus. In an article titled “Give Back Whig Hall,” Jason Sheltzer ’08 argued that the University should transfer Whig Hall back to the WhigClio Society in order to attract more members. “If Princeton were to return ownership of Whig Hall to Whig-Clio, then the Society could reestablish itself in its original role as not just the center of political debate on campus, but also as the hub of a student’s social life as well,” said Sheltzer.

Present day: an insurrection and a global pandemic By the 2020s, Whig-Clio was faced with a global pandemic that slowed down the club’s growth. “COVID killed not just Whig, but a lot of organizations on campus … and also destroyed some institutional history,” said Whig-Clio Secretary Santhosh Nadarajah ’25. Today, Whig-Clio has between 200 and 300 members.

But Whig-Clio President Won-Jae

Chang ’24 sees it differently. “People were stuck at home and [Whig-Clio] was a nice community to find,” with Zoom making meetings super accessible, he said. Whig-Clio especially gave students an opportunity to voice their thoughts on the Biden-Trump electoral race.

More than three years removed from that election, both Nadarajah and Chang say they don’t feel as though the intense political polarization that ensued has affected the club in a negative way. Because of Whig-Clio, Nadarajah “[has found] friends who range from socialists to conservatives” and says that he gets along with all of them. He said this is “in stark contrast to the national environment, where you see people attacking each other on social media all the time.”

While the interior of the club was somewhat sheltered from the intense political drama that followed the 2020 U.S. presidential election, one of their most esteemed alumni was at the center. Ted Cruz ’92 (R-Texas), former member of Whig-Clio and recipient of the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service (JMA), alleged voter fraud and formally objected to the certification of votes in Arizona. The January 6th insurrection just hours afterwards made Cruz’s actions instantly controversial. Members of Whig-Clio called for Cruz’s award to be rescinded.

A vote of the membership to rescind the award passed 37–32 in favor of rescinding the award, but the Board of Trustees later reversed the decision because “there [was] no basis for a new group of students to evaluate actions after the JMA is given and subsequently to revoke the award.”

When asked how this affected the club, Chang seemed unperturbed. “I’m not sure it affected our club as a whole,” he said. However it did bring a lot of new attention to Whig-Clio. “Ted Cruz tweeted about us, Robbie George tweeted about us. We became much more well known,” he added.

Where does Whig-Clio go from here?

“I’ve thought about [joining WhigClio], but I haven’t actually tried to apply or anything or look super into it,” said Angie Rodriguez ’26. “They always have relevant [debate] topics,” she later added, echoing the recent efforts of

Whig-Clio leadership.

When talking about Princeton as a political campus, Nadarajah said “compared to some of our peer institutions like Stanford and Yale and Harvard, I would say we are definitely at the lower end [of political involvement and] of enthusiasm for politics.” This is something he claims Whig-Clio is actively trying to change. “I think that’s the type of change that’s going to take some time,” Nadarajah said.

When she heard the name WhigClio, Claire Filipowicz ’27 first thought of “the building.”

“It’s the debate thing, right?” she asked.

To remedy this, Chang said the club is “trying to avoid [niche politics] and offer varying levels of political involvement.” The most recent Whig-Clio debate this year focused on “hookup culture” at Princeton, which is something everyone, regardless of their political knowledge, could have a say in. Another debate focused on the bioethics of CRISPR babies. The goal is to find topics that are “somewhat politically adjacent, but don’t just orient themselves towards people who are in the sphere of politics majors,” said Nadarajah.

“It’s a struggle between increasing membership and increasing the intensity of politics in Whig-Clio,” said Chang. “The more intense we get about specific niche politics things, the more inaccessible it becomes to the public.”

Both Chang and Nadarajah said they feel membership is on the rise again, with their broader topics attracting a wider, more diverse crowd. During Nadarajah’s first year, only about 10 people applied to be officers, but this year they had over 70 applications.

With the recent addition of the firstyear officer program, they have seen an increase in first-year involvement with the club. Club membership is on the rise again, but only time will tell the club’s future.

Katie Thiers is a contributing Features writer for the ‘Prince.’

Charlotte Young is a contributing Features writer for the ‘Prince.’

the PROSPECT. Friday October 6, 2023

The Daily Princetonian

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ARTS & CULTURE

How do you celebrate Mid-Autumn?

Every year as fall rolls around, East Asian and Southeast Asian communities gather to celebrate. Whether you know it as the Mid-Autumn Festival or Chuseok, September is a time to give thanks for the harvest and for harmonious reunions. This year, we asked our editors and staffers to see what this time of the year looks like for Princeton students and their families.

In my family, Mid-Autumn celebrations begin early, often around late August when mooncakes start flooding the supermarket aisles of my neighborhood’s G-Mart. The traditional food for China’s Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes are a reference to the bright and full moon that appears every year on the 15th day of the lunar calendar’s eighth month. This year, that corresponds to the Gregorian calendar’s Sept. 29.

In contemporary times, the Mid-Autumn Festival, like most Chinese holidays, has become primarily an excuse to gather family together. While some people still hang glowing lanterns in door frames, the focus of the holiday is almost always sharing a meal with both close and distant relatives, some of whom you will not see until Lunar New Year, four months away.

But, thousands of miles away from relatives still in China, my family tries to find community in new places. Some years, we will flock to the houses of nearby Chinese people, dressing up in red sweaters (or red qipao for the more traditionally-inclined) to celebrate with new friends. More often than not though, we will spend the mornings using up international call minutes and then leave evenings for our small, fourperson nuclear family. We will treat it like any other family dinner, just with slightly more complex dishes, and afterward we will take a walk around our neighborhood, flitting from topic to topic and pausing every now and then to marvel at the moon.

Melody Cui Contributing Writer, The Prospect

My family isn’t big on celebrating holidays. As much as I’d like to have felt the ineffable, incredible excitement that kids have when they peek inside their stocking on Christmas morning, or find a bright egg hidden in the bushes on Easter, or dig into a giant stuffed turkey on Thanksgiving, I haven’t. The only holiday that comes to mind when people ask me, “How does your family celebrate traditions?” is Chuseok, which takes place on the same day as the Mid-Autumn Festival, but whose origins have much more of an emphasis on giving thanks to family and ancestors.

I can’t even say that we celebrate Chuseok the same way that the most fervent celebrators in Korea do. In the morning, I say “Happy Chuseok” to my parents, and tell them thank you, but I never say what for. My mom has the day off, and we go to a little shop in Bayside, Queens to treat ourselves and my grandma to fancy hand-made rice cakes. On the way home I gobble $50 worth of rice cakes in five minutes. At home, there’s tteokguk, or rice cake soup (but not the same rice cakes I just downed, which are much sweeter), waiting for me, thanks to my grandmother, and my family eats together for probably the only time this year. It’s definitely not the most dramatic or tradition-y of rituals, but I find such warmth and comfort in these small routines.

Claire Shin, Head Editor, The Prospect

Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Sydney, Australia with my mom looks a bit different from how we’d do it back in China. When it’s just the two of us, the food we eat is not necessarily traditional, but rather, our own special adaptation. We gather the essentials — minced pork, garlic, ginger, chives, sesame oil — and mix them together into a dumpling filling. We wet our fingers and crease dumplings one by one whilst chatting with the balcony window open and the night sky keeping us company.

When all the dumplings are folded, we heat oil up in our wok and fry them to a crisp. We add them to our table of warm, savory lotus and pork rib soup; lotus mooncakes loaded with four salted egg yolks; chewy, gently crisped nian gao, or rice cake; and bitter and earthy puerh tea.

After we’re full, we pack away the leftover food and give some ribs to our cat. We sit on the balcony, open WeChat, and call those back home — our own type of family reunion. Although every Mid-Autumn Festival reminds me of the distance between me and my family, it also gives me comfort in knowing that, no matter where I am in the world, I can gaze up at the same moon that my parents are gazing up at, fill my tummy with the same food, and wish each other health and prosperity for the upcoming year.

Laura Zhang Contributing Writer, The Prospect

Sometimes I forget that my parents lived half of their lives in China. When my dad proudly shows off his collection of Australian flag merch, it’s weird to think that there was a time when Australia was just a foreign land to him.

So, every September when my mom announces that she has to buy mooncakes, my instinctive response is always, “What for?”

For the most part, Mid-Autumn comes and goes like any other day — except right after dinner, my dad will open the embellished tin of mooncakes, cut a slice, and ask me to try it. Every year he claims the one he bought is better than the last. “This is gāo jí mooncake — it’s that high quality stuff,” he says. The image is jarring — my mom in the bakery, calculating how many boxes to buy as gifts; my dad standing in the kitchen, eating packaged mooncake in his obnoxious Australia flag t-shirt. I’ve always wondered if they miss their motherland.

I don’t think they do. These days I wonder how they do it — move away from home and not miss it. I miss mine every waking second.

Growing up, I hated mooncakes. The pastry crumbled in all the wrong ways and the saltiness of the egg yolk never sat right with me. This year, I would eat a hundred mooncakes if it meant that I got to do it in matching Australian flag t-shirts with my dad.

Kerrie Liang Head Editor, The Prospect

KERRIE LIANG / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The Daily Princetonian

page 18

Friday October 6, 2023

can’t compete with late meal

By Isabella Dail | Associate Prospect Editor Frist Campus Center hosts various delectable spots for students to grab a bite to eat or drink, including cafes, a convenience store, and the much-esteemed late meal. Café Vivian, tucked into the back corner of Frist’s first f loor, is a lunch spot that recently opened for the year. Attracted to the brightly-lit, retro-style entrance sign, I decided to check it out.

Café Vivian functions like a standard delicatessen and includes a range of basic lunch options. There are daily deli-style sandwiches, such as roast beef with gouda cheese and egg salad. The Café features a customizable salad bar with some pre-prepared choices as well. For instance, one day featured a white bean salad, an orzo salad, and a quinoa and mixed vegetable salad. There are also menu options for a more comforting, hearty lunch: for example, one day the café served mac-and-cheese as a hot meal.

Additionally, there is normally a soup and some prepared snacks, such as a small dessert case and cut fruit.

The sandwiches that I sampled were

well-prepared, classic lunch options.

I tried a turkey sandwich with arugula and a Dijon sauce, as well as a roast beef sandwich with horseradish. Both sandwiches included fresh ingredients, and the sauces elevated otherwise basic sandwiches. Given that not every dining hall consistently serves deli-style sandwiches for lunch, my experiences at Café Vivian were a refreshing break from the typical dining hall experience.

Customization is Café Vivian’s greatest strength. Although I ordered menu items during my trips to the café, I was asked about substitutions or alterations that I might want to make. Both the sandwich and salad bars can be entirely customizable. For anyone with specific preferences or special requests, Café Vivian serves as a great option for a unique meal that fits an individualized taste. For people with minor allergies or dietary restrictions, Café Vivian can also accommodate that, as specific ingredients can be taken out from or adjusted in the menu’s items. The café is also friendly for vegetarian and vegan customers, with its expansive

salad bar and sandwich options that feature main ingredients like portobello mushrooms.

Despite Café Vivian’s fresh produce and f lexible menu, I noticed that the restaurant did not seem to be the hottest spot in Frist. The darkly-lit café had several empty seats, and an overwhelming majority of the customers chatting over lunch appeared to be graduate students or professors. As I left Frist through the back entrance, I quickly understood where much of the undergraduate population was during lunchtime: late meal. Students bustled in the late meal area on the lower f loor of Frist, where it was almost impossible to find an open seat.

Café Vivian cannot seem to compete with late meal for undergraduates — especially underclassmen — with a new kiosk ordering system and expanded hours. While Café Vivian accepts student dining points, late meal is included in the dining hall plan and does not require extra dining points for relatively similar options. The exact same fruit cups that I saw in Café Vivian could be found

downstairs at late meal. Additionally, the hours for Café Vivian and late meal are essentially the same. Café Vivian is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., while late meal is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for lunch.

While Café Vivian may not be the most popular option for the undergraduate body, I would still recommend it as a lunch spot, especially for students who prefer to customize their food or have special adjustments for their meals. For days when late meal is packed with students and endless lines at lunchtime, I recommend Café Vivian as a potential break from the usual routine of late meal.

So, while I cannot say that Café Vivian is a place that I plan to return to regularly, the spot is a great café for graduate students and an option for undergraduates, perhaps even underclassmen.

Isabella Dail is a sophomore and an associate editor for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’

LOUISA GHEORGHITA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

A slice of Princeton: The history of Conte’s Pizzeria

By Alistair Wright | Contributing Prospect Writer

Outside the illustrious FitzRandolph Gate lies the suburbia that is Princeton, New Jersey. For the past 87 years, the town has been partly defined by one historic establishment: Conte’s Pizzeria.

In 1936, Sebastiano Conte built a bar on Witherspoon Street with his own hands. The business slowly expanded as he introduced sandwiches and food into the menu. Towards the late 1940s, Conte’s bar wasn’t able to make ends meet, which inspired

him to try his next venture: selling pizza. With no pizza spots in town, locals were forced to travel long distances for a pie - a problem he wanted to fix.

Every Thursday, Sebastiano Conte paid a chef from New York City to come down to Princeton and teach him how to make pizza. Although Mrs. Conte opposed, as the family was struggling financially, Sebastiano insisted that it would help the restaurant. In 1950, Conte’s officially sold its first pizza pie. Since then, Princeton residents have enjoyed pizza made using the exact same recipe that first inspired Sebastiano Conte.

I had the privilege of speaking to Cynthia

Lucullo Astrom, one of Sebastiano’s granddaughters and the third-generation owner of Conte’s Pizzeria.

She has worked for the restaurant since her 13th birthday, as it’s almost entirely staffed by family and close friends of the extended Conte family.

When asked about how the pizza has shifted over time, Cynthia Astromsaid, “it’s all the same recipe… my joke ends up being that the only thing that’s changed are the prices.” Speaking from experience, that recipe still works wonders. I went to Conte’s for the second time in mid-September and was once again impressed by the quality of their pizza. The crust is thin and crispy, the cheese is rich and f lavorful, and the sauce brings it all together into a perfect bite. My personal advice is to get sausage on top, as their homemade mix is some of the best I’ve ever had.

Not only is the pizza recipe the same, but Conte’s has kept most of their original charm intact. The restaurant is situated in the same house the business first opened in, along with its original bar, iconic dark green sign, and white tables, all of which Sebastiano built himself (he was too cheap to hire a contractor, according to Cynthia Astrom).

What’s even more impressive than Conte’s incredible pie is how ingrained the restaurant is in Princeton’s culture. Not Princeton University, but rather the town beyond. Many locals can be found there at least once a week, often in the same exact chairs with the same exact order. According to Cynthia Astrom, roughly “80%85% [of diners] every single night are regular customers.”

It looks like Conte’s great reputation reaches beyond Princeton: families from all over New Jersey stop by to enjoy a slice. In fact, some regu-

lars come from over 45 minutes away every week.

However, customers don’t just enjoy the food—rather, they’ve served to help make Conte’s the institution it is today. For years, they’ve supported and embraced the business.

Everyone from Princeton knows and values the restaurant, a sentiment that its current staff are very thankful for. “We are forever grateful towards our customers,” Cynthia said.

“It’s been a very nice ride.”

Though Princeton has evolved over the years, Conte’s has remained constant. Elena Bruno, Cynthia Astrom’s sister and another longtime employee, has so much well-deserved pride for the restaurant’s legacy and success. When asked about what makes Conte’s special, she said, “I mean, people describe it as an institution, because the food is consistent. There’s nothing that changes here. We’ve ordered from the same supplier for years, and people will wait: there are times that it’s out the door like crazy.”

Many Princeton students (possibly including you) have never been to Conte’s, but should try it immediately. A straight 15-minute walk from Nassau Hall, it is bustling with energy every night of the week. Although they don’t accept Paw Points, an average portion is around $6 per person if you go as a group—an incredible deal for several slices of world-class pizza.

“I’m just happy my grandfather’s legacy continues,” Elena Bruno said.

Sebastiano Conte would for sure be proud of his restaurant, as what started as a small handmade bar has come to define a town for almost a century. At this point, the two have become intertwined; there is no Princeton without Conte’s.

Alistair Wright is a contributing writer for The Prospect in the Class of 2027.

The Prospect 11 The Daily Princetonian

Friday October 6, 2023

page 19

Weekly Event Roundup

By Ivy Chen, Contributing Prospect Writer

1 2 3 4 5 6

When Pages Breathe: Bringing Good Books to Life — An Evening of Reader’s Theater

Lewis Center for the Arts October 10 at 7 p.m.

Chancellor Green Rotunda and Milberg Gallery in Firestone Library

ART Atelier@Large: Conversations on Artmaking in a Vexed Era — Kyle Marshall and Lorrie Moore Princeton Atelier October 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium

THEATER

Not Your Buddy by Chloe Satenberg ’24

Program In Theater October 6 & 7 at 8 p.m., October 8 at 2 p.m.

Wallace Theater, Lewis Arts Complex

In a new play by senior Chloe Satenberg ’24, four camp counselors at a Jewish summer camp, one of whom is in-crisis protagonist Buddy, navigate friendships and identity during the time between high school and college through monologues and dreamscapes.

THEATER

Paul Muldoon, Pulitzer Prize winner and director of the Princeton Atelier, moderates a discussion with 2018 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award-winner and choreographer Kyle Marshall and award-winning fiction writer Lorrie Moore. This event is part of a series aiming to open conversation with guest artists about making art in the modern world. It is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.

Tularosa: An American Dreamtime: Residency with Kamara Thomas & Band of Toughs

Lewis Center for the Arts October 8 & 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Hurley Gallery & CoLab, Lewis Arts Complex

THEATER

MUSIC

Award-winning actors Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Sharon Washington, Maren Maclean, and Antoinette LaVecchia will read selections of the “In the Company of Good Books: Shakespeare to Morrison” exhibition by writers including Toni Morrison, Mary Shelley, Maya Angelou, and Walt Whitman. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

In a performance by Princeton Arts Fellow Kamara Thomas and her collaborators, they aim to tell the overlooked stories of New Mexican families that identify as “Downwinders” through immersive storytelling and theatrical performance. This discussion highlights the consequences of Tularosa Basin nuclear activity and testing near the homes of the Downwinders. It is free and open to the public.

Princeton University Orchestra

Chanticleer Vocal Ensemble

Department of Music October 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium

Princeton University Concerts October 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium

This program is presented by the Princeton University Orchestra and conducted by Director Michael Pratt. It includes Mykola Lysenko’s Elegy, Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 featuring soloist Aster Zhang ’24, and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances.

8 10

MUSIC

The Grammy-Award winning Chanticleer vocal ensemble performs a concert aiming to encourage the listener to reconsider the sounds around them. The program includes two new works: one written by the composer-inresidence Ayanna Woods and a new arrangement of Princeton alumna Majel Connery ’01’s song cycle “The Rivers are our Brothers.”

Princeton Sound Kitchen presents Nick Photinos

MUSIC

Department of Music October 10 at 8 p.m.

Taplin Auditorium

Nick Photinos, a Grammy-award winning cellist, performs pieces composed by Princeton graduate students Ellie Cherry, Francisco del Pino, Kennedy Taylor Dixon, Soo Yeon Lyuh, Lucy McKnight, and Nathan Schram.

Live Music Meditation: Chanticleer Vocal Ensemble

MUSIC

Princeton University Concerts October 12 at 12:30 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium

Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer performs alongside guided meditation instruction by Associate Dean in the Princeton University Office of Religious Life Matthew Weiner. The performance is free with limited capacity, and doors will open at 12:00 p.m.

9

7

Community Chamber Jam: Sing Alongside Chanticleer

MUSIC Princeton University Concerts October 11 at 7:30 p.m.

Princeton University Chapel

In this concert, community members and amateur musicians are invited to sing alongside members of the Chanticleer vocal ensemble. Participants will be given a score and will sing the third movement of Stephen Paulus’s “The Lotus Lovers.”

Dreamers’ Circus Princeton University Concerts October 8 at 6 p.m.

Richardson Auditorium Dreamers’ Circus, a Scandinavian band featuring violin, cittern,

and accordion/piano, performs original compositions drawing from MUSIC Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland folk traditions. Their music com-

bines influences from jazz, pop, and classical styles. The audience can appreciate the band up close, with seating on stage alongside the musicians.

11 LITERATURE

Guided tour of “In the Company of Good Books: Shakespeare to Morrison” Princeton University Library October 8 at 1 p.m.

Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery, Firestone Library

A student guide will lead a tour of the exhibition “In the Company of Good Books: Shakespeare to Morrison” in Firestone Library. The exhibition showcases Princeton’s collection of English literature, including manuscripts, annotated and inscribed books, and samples from archives ranging from three original First Folios by Shakespeare to Toni Morrison’s handwritten manuscript drafts.

page 20

Sports

Friday October 6, 2023

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } FOOTBALL

Football stuns Columbia 10–7 in thrilling Ivy League opener

By Sarina Sheth Staff Sports Writer

Facing rainy conditions for their third game in a row, Princeton football (2–1 overall, 1–0 Ivy League) emerged victorious in their Ivy League opener against the Columbia Lions (1–2, 0–1). The Tigers edged out the Lions with a final score of 10–7, giving Princeton a crucial head start in the Ivy League conference standings.

The first half saw only one scoring drive by either team, with the Tigers’ junior kicker Jeffrey Sexton knocking through a 28-yard field goal in the first quarter for a Princeton 3–0 lead. Princeton managed to hold this narrow lead going into halftime.

Columbia overtook Princeton early in the third quarter, with defensive lineman Justin Townsend intercepting Princeton senior quarterback Blake Stenstrom at Princeton’s two-yard line. Townsend’s pick six would be the only points Columbia scored throughout the game, elevating the Lions to a 7–3 lead.

The pivotal moment for the Tigers came during an electrifying 20-play drive early in the fourth quarter. Princeton started the drive at their own 19-yard line with 12:14 left on the clock. Stenstrom and the Tigers charged down the length of the field, successfully converting three fourth-downs along the way. Stenstrom threw to junior wide receiver Luke Colella on two of these fourth-down conversions.

Colella recorded seven receptions for a total of 53 receiving yards throughout

the game. Stenstrom noted how essential Colella was in moving the chains on that final drive. “Luke has done a great job stepping up this year,” Stenstrom told The Daily Princetonian. “That fourthand-six where he reached out and picked it up just barely off the ground, it was amazing,” in reference to a play on Columbia’s 29-yard line with less than ten minutes left in the game.

The Tigers finished the drive with a one-yard rush up the middle by junior running back John Volker. Volker’s touchdown came in a nerve-wracking fourthand-goal situation on Columbia’s twoyard line, giving Princeton a 10–7 lead.

“All night we had been really close in a lot of our drives. We had just shot ourselves in the foot on a number of them,” Stenstrom noted. “[During] the last drive, the whole team across the board did a great job… Ultimately, it came down to one yard. John Volker ran through somebody and made a great play.” “[The team] had the fire in their eyes late in the game when things weren’t going that great offensively. It was just awesome to see the guys believe and have one final drive to win the game,” Stenstrom continued.

The Tigers handed the ball back to Columbia with just 2:07 left in the game. The Lions threatened with two fourth-down conversions and a 21-yard completion to wide receiver Bryson Canty, placing the Lions at the Princeton 45-yard line.

Princeton’s high-powered defense put a quick stop to Columbia’s momentum.

Tiger sophomore linebacker Sekou Roland sacked Columbia’s quarterback Caden Bell for a 22-yard loss. Bell lost the ball on the play, with Princeton’s senior defensive lineman Ryan Savage recovering the fumble with 16 seconds left to seal the game for the Tigers.

The game featured two of the Ivy League’s top-rated defenses, as Columbia’s scoring defense ranks first in the conference, while Princeton comes out on top in total defense. Both teams showed off their defensive prowess throughout all four quarters.

Princeton’s defense overpowered Columbia’s offense, allowing no points throughout the night. They limited the Lions to only 179 total yards and successfully shut down the passing game by allowing only 71 passing yards. Senior linebackers Ozzie Nicholas and Liam Johnson recorded 19 combined tackles for the Tigers.

“An elite defense wins championships at the end of the day,” said sophomore defensive lineman Bakari Edwards about the defense’s outstanding performance in Friday’s game. “We had to go out there and do our part, get some turnovers. We got a turnover at the end, a lot of fumble recoveries. It was just a great win overall.”

“We have a great senior class, and they really lift us up… Liam [Johnson] and Ozzie [Nicholas], those are the greatest leaders we have,” Edwards added.

Princeton head coach Bob Surace ’90 echoed Edwards’ sentiments.

“The speed on our rush is doing really

well. Whether it’s Bakari [Edwards], Sekou [Roland], Nicholas [Sanker], or the linebackers,” Surace said. “[Senior associate head coach and defensive coordinator] Steve Verbit is doing a great job,” Surace continued. “He’s got some tremendous unique athletes that he’s blitzing, dropping, making it hard for the quarterback to hit his first screen.”

Princeton’s offense also displayed its forcefulness throughout the game. The Tigers’ offense recorded 271 total yards, and Stenstrom finished the game with 191 passing yards.

After an overtime loss against Bryant University last Saturday, this crucial win gave Princeton some much-needed energy as they look toward the rest of the season.

“It was a punch in the gut last week, a wake up call for a lot of the guys,” Stenstrom continued. “I think we did a really good job this week in practice focusing up. I was really proud of how our team responded from that.”

Princeton will look to build on their momentum next Saturday as they host a non-conference game against Lafayette (4–1 overall, 1–0 Patriot League conference).

“We have tomorrow off. We all need to self-reflect,” Surace added. “There is hopefully going to be growth each week.”

Sarina Sheth is a staff writer for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

TESSA MUDD / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Senior quarterback Blake Stenstrom waiting for snap against Columbia.