November 19, 2015

Thursday november 19, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 107

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U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

U. changes title of residential college master

By Christina Vosbikian staff writer

SAMUEL VILCHEZ :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Students occupied the Nassau Hall office of University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 on Wednesday.

Student protesters organize walkout, sit-in

By Hannah Waxman and Do-Hyeong Myeong contributor and associate news editor

University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 said that he had no plans to sign the document outlining the demands of student protesters occupying his office in Nassau Hall on Wednesday.

The “Walkout and Speakout” protest, organized by the Black Justice League, began at 11:30 a.m, when nearly 200 students convened outside Nassau Hall.

The students then moved into Nassau Hall and filled the hall-

way, chanting, “We here. We been here. We ain’t leaving. We are loved.”

The organizers demanded cultural competency training for faculty and staff, an ethnicity and diversity distribution requirement and a space on campus explicitly dedicated to black students.

In addition, protesters sought acknowledgement that former University President Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879, has a racist legacy that is impacting campus climate and policies and requested that Wilson’s name be taken off of the Wilson School and Wilson College.

However, Eisgruber said he will not meet the demands.

“The demands include some things I have no authority to do, and some things I disagree with,” he noted.

Asanni York ’17, one of the organizers of the protest, explained the group would not leave until Eisgruber signed the document listing the demands.

“We are tired of talking to people. It’s conversation, conversation, conversation. We try and protest; we meet with the administration every other week,” York said. “We’re done talking. We’re See PROTEST page 2

Q&A

Q&A: Reverend William Barber, NAACP North Carolina chapter president

By Maya Wesby contributor

Reverend William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and founder of the Moral Mondays Movement, visited the University for a lecture at the University Chapel.

He also spoke with students of the Black Justice League during a protest in Nassau Hall.

After his lecture, Barber sat with The Daily Princetonian and discussed his involvement in social justice and his opinion on on-campus activism.

Daily Princetonian: What inspired you to fight for social justice?

Reverend Barber: Well, my parents — my father — made a decision in 1966 to come back to the South from Indiana. They went back to specifically being involved in the desegregation of schools and entered me into a segregated school — even though they didn’t have to — so I could be a part of the desegregation movement. Plus, my faith. I don’t know how to be a person of conscience, a person of faith, and not be

concerned about injustices in all of its forms — racism, classism, homophobia, fighting against immigrant status — they all are contrary to the deepest moral conditions of my faith.

DP: What more needs to be done to protect underrepresented groups like people of color, the LGBT community and those in poverty?

RB: Well, what I talked about tonight is we need what I call a Third Reconstruction. A revolution of values that understands the See Q&A page 4

The title of “Master” in all six of the University’s residential colleges has been changed to “Head of the College,” the University announced on Wednesday. The change is effective immediately.

University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 said the change from “Master” to “Head of the College” is in response to recommendations from the Special Task Force on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

“We continue to look forward to other opportunities to do things,” he said. “Even this morning, we abolished the old and antiquated title of ‘Master’ and replaced it with ‘Heads of College.’”

Dean of the College Jill

Dolan did not respond to a request for comment.

Head of Forbes College Michael Hecht indicated that the idea for this change was by no means new. The connotation of the title “Master,” Hecht explained, transcends racial connotations to also include instances of master and slave in other cultural traditions, like that of the Jewish people’s slavery in Egypt. He noted that the connotation may not be the one that Princeton or other universities like Oxford or Cambridge who have used the title of “Master” intended.

“Master is a very loaded word,” Hecht noted. “The word has this baggage associated with it, so let’s get rid of that baggage.”

Changing the title “Master” to “Head of the College,” See MASTER page 2

LECTURE

Rev. Barber discusses Third Reconstruction for minority rights

By Myrial Holbrook contributor

Moral language is an important means of re-framing policy, Reverend William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP of the NAACP Legislative Political Action Committee, argued in a lecture on Wednesday.

He denounced the use of political terminology such as “left” and “right” or “Democrat” and “Republican” because the fascination with labels and classification detracts from the bigger problems at hand, such as poverty, injustice and violence.

“Language is either a tool of liberation or a tool of domination, and if you allow your opponent to dictate the language you use, you have already given them a certain level of victory,” Barber said.

Instead, Barber stressed the importance of moral language.

“Moral language gives you new metaphors,” he explained. “You can say, ‘I’m against this policy — not because it’s a conservative policy or a liberal policy — I’m against this

policy because it’s constitutionally inconsistent, it’s morally indefensible and it’s economically insane.’”

He stressed a broad coalition of people from all faiths and walks of life to achieve a moral agenda of anti-poverty, economic sustainability, a green economy, affordable housing, strong safety nets for the poor, cessation of extreme militarism, educational equality, universal healthcare, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, equal protection under the law and the protection and expansion of voting rights.

“If you stay together, you can change the consciousness of the state, and if you change the consciousness of the state, you can change the public policy,” he said.

To understand the present social, racial and political situation in the United States, it is essential to study the first two reconstruction periods in America, the post-Civil War Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement Reconstruction, Barber said.

“We are in the embryonic stages, the birthing stages, of a Third See LECTURE page 2

LOCAL NEWS

Post office relocated to 259 Nassau amid 4-year debate contributor

After four years and significant debate, the old post office in Palmer Square officially moved to 259 Nassau Street on Nov. 9.

The post office will share space with a new 7-Eleven store, which is still undergoing renovation.

United States Postal Services regional spokesperson for New Jersey Ray Daiutolo did not respond to request for comment.

The relocation of the post

office has been discussed since September 2011, when USPS realized they were not utilizing the space at Palmer Square to the fullest extent possible. As a result, the organization began considering the idea of selling the post office.

The Palmer Square property has been purchased by real estate investment and development company LCOR Ventures, and will likely be developed into a retail or dining establishment, according to Planet Princeton.

See POST OFFICE page 4

KERITH WANG :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The post office in Palmer Square was moved to 259 Nassau Street last week after significant debate.

In Opinion

In Street

Columnist Zeena Mubarak argues that removing Woodrow Wilson’s name and picture will not spur change, and columnist Iris Samuels talks about drawing connections between Paris, Syria and Israel. PAGE 6

Associate Street Editor Harrison Blackman talks to four students who’ve worked on Nassau Street, contributor Catherine Wang profiles SPEAR and Associate Street Editor Jennifer Shyue explores Rua Sá Ferreiro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. PAGE S1-4

WEATHER

By Betty Liu

HIGH

64˚

LOW

48˚

Periods of rain. chance of rain:

90 percent

The Daily Princetonian

page 2

Thursday november 19, 2015

“Master is a very loaded Protesters circulate sign-up sheet to continue Nassau Hall sit-in word,” Hecht says MASTER Continued from page 1

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Hecht noted, is only the latest step in an ongoing process, at Princeton and universities nation-wide, of revisiting and looking at how individuals respond to the culture around them and whether individuals feel included or excluded in that culture.

“Since everybody on campus and other campuses is thinking about that, let’s think about it and take action,” Hecht said.

Head of Wilson College Eduardo Cadava and Head of Butler College Nicole Shelton did not respond to requests for comment. Head of Rockefeller College Jeff Nunokawa,

Head of Mathey College Harriet Flowers and Head of Whitman College Sandra Bermann declined to comment.

Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun did not respond to requests for comment.

Nathan Phan ’19 explained that he had seen some things on Yik Yak about the title change but had not fully understood what was going on.

Upon being informed that the masters of the residential colleges will now be called heads of colleges, Phan said that he didn’t see the change as making that much of a difference.

“Regardless of their title, I feel like they should be capable of doing the same job they’ve always been doing,” he explained.

PHOTOS!

Visit our website to view photos and purchase copies! photo.dailyprincetonian.com

PROTEST Continued from page 1

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going to be here until he signs this paper. We’re going to be here until things are met.”

University spokesperson Martin Mbugua said that as of Wednesday at 10 p.m., students were still occupying Eisgruber’s office and that the Department of Public Safety had no intention of disciplining or evicting them.

The protesters circulated a sign-up sheet for 30-minute shifts to continue the sit-in from 9 a.m to 6:30 p.m until next Tuesday.

Eisgruber explained that he had an hour-long discussion with the student protesters about their demands and the current racial climate at the University.

He described the conversation as very engaged, adding that it was very important for him to hear exactly what their concerns were and why they had chosen to act in this way.

“I think that it is harder to be a black student on our campus than it is to be a white student.

We should be aiming for a campus in which all students feel equally welcomed,” Eisgruber said.

He added that he agrees with some of the students’ points, saying that Wilson was a racist and that the University should talk candidly about his legacy, including both its good and bad parts.

However, he added that he disagrees with the idea of renaming the Wilson School and Wilson College.

“I think it is important for me to be sensitive about these points and honest about my views that I talk about,” he said.

Eisgruber also agreed that an ethnicity and diversity distribution requirement would be a good thing for the University to have.

However, he noted that the decision belongs to the faculty and should be made through the appropriate processes.

The request for a space specific to black students is reasonable and desirable, Eisgruber said, adding that he and his colleagues will work on creating such a location on campus as quickly as possible.

“We have to figure out what’s feasible and we have to recognize if we do that, we can’t do this for black students and not also do it for, for example, students from Latinx, who are also very interested in having a dedicated space,” he explained.

Eisgruber said that cultural competency training for the faculty could be useful, but that mandatory training is neither feasible nor effective because many different ways, rather than simply one way, exist to respond to diversity and intercultural differences. He noted that these changes would have to be made by the faculty in a vote and that he does not think the faculty would approve that measure.

He supported improving the accessibility of voluntary training available to interested parties, explaining that people who care about the programs are likely to benefit from them.

He noted that some reforms have already been put into effect, such as the replacement of the title of “Master” with “Head of the College.” The University announced the change on Wednesday morning, nearly two hours before the protest.

York explained that the group views protest as necessary in changing the racial climate at the University.

“A sit-in hasn’t been done on Princeton’s campus in 20 years. It’s time to make something happen,” York said.

He explained that the University administration has been addressing race-related issues on campus “in a very white comfortist manner.”

“They talk about issues without talking about the issue,” he said.

“They stray away from making

statements that make bold claims because they don’t want to make some people uncomfortable. But black students on this campus feel uncomfortable every day.”

Trust Kupupika ’17, a member of the Black Justice League who attended the meeting in Eisgruber’s office, said that the conversation was interesting, but not in a good way. She explained that she felt much of what was said formed part of a diversion tactic, a way to tire out those who were speaking or to paint those who were speaking in a very malicious manner.

When asked about the issue of cultural competency training, Kupupika said that Eisgruber seemed more concerned about the feelings of his staff rather than those of the students in his office.

“He would never want to force his staff to do anything, that they should make a choice to do it, and yet he didn’t see a problem in having students of color being forced to get a degree, or eat dinner or lunch or live in a place that’s named after a racist,” Kupupika said.

Leea Driskell ’17, one of the student protesters, said that she felt that students do not get the voice they need to have within the administration, and if they do have that voice, it is not often heard.

“The University has a tendency to throw money at things to silence us and to hold events to try to appease students, but it doesn’t directly meet our demands,” she said.

Precepts in the African American Studies department were held in Nassau Hall on Wednesday. William Barber II, a Protestant minister and political leader in North Carolina who spoke Wednesday night in the University Chapel, and Ruth Simmons, the first black provost at the University, also made an appearance at the sit-in.

The doors to Nassau Hall were locked at around 6:30 p.m. because the building is normally locked at night, according to Mbugua.

Barber urges for moral not political language LECTURE Continued from page 1

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Reconstruction of America, and if we can fully grasp the power of moral fusion, intersectional movement building, we can birth it into existence,” he said. “You cannot expect to elevate the conversation and the actions of your politics if you keep dumbing down people’s understanding of history.”

He stressed the foundation for the First Reconstruction as an agenda of national moral redemption on all fronts — social, racial and political. From voting rights to public education to equal protection under law to criminal justice improvements, the First Reconstructionists worked together in moral fusion, Barber said.

By 1883, however, the Deconstructionists had taken control in the courts, rolled back voting rights and unraveled these efforts, he added.

“They said, we have come to redeem America,” he said. “They used moral messages for immoral activity.”

Barber charted the path of the Second Reconstruction with a similar focus on the broad-reaching agenda of a moral movement.

In 1954, he said, blacks, whites, Latinos and young people came together, willing to march, suffer and build the fusion movement with deep moral underpinnings.

“The language of the streets and the pulpits matched, and from the jail cell they changed the language of the halls of power — presidents and senators and congresspersons and newspapers and poets began to write and talk about moral urgency and the need for reconstruction,” Barber added.

The Second Reconstruction was not just a civil rights movement, Barber said. This era marked a moral movement socially and politically as the War on Poverty took form in education through Headstart, K-12 programs and Pell grants, expansion of Social Security, Medi-

care and Medicaid and opportunities for educational job training and a general moral commitment to lift the poor, Barber noted.

Even these advances, however, cannot last forever. Politicians and extremists alike have subverted the moral movement to decrease funding to these initiatives and divert attention away from pressing societal problems, Barber said.

“That’s the contradictory nature of racism and the kind of social gymnastics or contortions that you have to go through to exist in this society,” he noted.

Barber called for a Third Reconstruction, based on the successes of the past reconstructions and adjusting for their failures. He said he wanted to suggest how Americans can learn from history to make progress.

“First, we must start recognizing the need for indigenously led, statebased, state government-focused, deeply constitutional, anti-racist, anti-poverty, pro-justice, pro-labor, transformative movement-building,” he explained. “There’s no shortcut for it. We must build the movement from the bottom-up.”

He stressed the importance of building relationships at the state level to counter the extremism and deconstructionism it has notoriously bred in the past and present.

With the tactics of civil disobedience, non-violence and togetherness, Americans can build the Third Reconstruction, Barber argued.

“We have to have a grown-up conversation from our deepest moral perspective, about class, about race and about how the reincarnation of the white Southern strategy is still haunting our politics,” he said.

Princeton College Democrats, Princeton Progressives and the Office of Religious Life co-sponsored the lecture, titled “America Now and the Need for a Third Reconstruction and Revolution of Moral Values.” The event took place in the University Chapel at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday november 19, 2015

The Daily Princetonian

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WALKOUT, SIT-IN

by Samuel Vilchez :: Contributing Photographer University students participated in a walkout day that was organized by the Black Justice League. Students walked out of class at 11:30 a.m. and marched to Nassau Hall in protest, then entered the building and occupied the office of University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83. The students declined to leave his office until he agreed to a list of three demands.

The Daily Princetonian

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Thursday november 19, 2015

Barber discusses visit to sit-in, thanks New post office location less accessible, students say students for their participation Q&A

Continued from page 1

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intersectionality between all issues, whether it be educational equality, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, health care — they all intersect.

And we need a recovery of a debate in this country that’s not about left and right, but about what’s right. That says, you know, our Constitution only mandates a democracy that establishes justice. So if marginalized communities are not experiencing justice, that’s un-American. So anything that claims to be faith but then stands on the side of that which is against poor people that are marginalized is hypocrisy. I’m saying, in North Carolina and across the South, we have

“You don’t have to choose academics over activism — in fact, we need academic activists.

We need activists informed on academics.”

Reverend William Barber to have a fresh moral movement. Just like the Reconstruction of the 1800s, the Reconstruction of the Civil Rights Movement: we see a reconstruction movement born today.

DP: I understand you took part in the Black Justice

League sit-in earlier today — why? And what are your thoughts on on-campus activism?

RB: I was invited. They heard I was in town. I went over to not be in the cameras but to simply, first of all, thank them for standing up for what they believe, challenging institutional disparity and racism on this campus. It was powerful to see such a diverse room. I went to say to them that they are part of a larger movement in the country where people are beginning to speak up and wake up. I asked them to hold their space and, you know, everybody can’t do everything — but do what you can do. And then I went in, as an elder, to say we’re with you, we support you, stand strong. Stand with integrity. And they did. I called back to the people in North Carolina to say, look — we’re standing with these students today, we were standing with Walmart workers that were fasting in front of the Walmart corporate headquarters yesterday or standing with a community this past Saturday where they’ve had a hospital close. We all stand together.

DP: What would you say to young people today who want to be activists but aren’t sure how to get started?

RB: Well, there are so many ways. There’s Raise Up For $15, the Moral Mondays Movement, the fight for voting rights, what’s happening on campuses — I say if you want to be an activist, be an activist. Get involved. Find a place to expend your energy.

And particularly on college

campuses, you know, activism is as much of a part of your education as going to class. Because any education that does not teach you to have a conscience and a concern and an ability to stand up for what’s right is actually a mis-education. But I also say to students — don’t dis-

“I went in, as an elder, to say we’re with you, we support you, stand strong. Stand with integrity. And they did.”

Barber said about his visit at the sit-in miss your studies. Because even your studies prepare you for conscientious activism. You don’t have to choose academics over activism — in fact, we need academic activists. We need activists informed on academics. Because I often say, the worst thing you want to be is loud and wrong. So even what the students are doing in [Nassau Hall], they studied. They know the history of Woodrow Wilson, they’ve looked at the statistics, they’ve done their homework, so they’re not being frivolous. And they have a clear agenda of what they want. So get involved, make it a lifelong commitment, engage with other people, build allies, find a place in your deepest moral center that motivates you to do what you do, and never stop caring for other

POST OFFICE Continued from page 1

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Representatives from LCOR Ventures did not respond to a request for comment.

Some students are unhappy with the move because the new location is about a 10 minute walk from the old one and is less accessible to people on campus.

“It’s annoying to have to walk all the way down the street now,” Lloyd Feng ’19 said.

However, others are relatively indifferent to the move, since mail services are already provided at Frist Campus Center.

“I never really use the post office,” Ruchita Balasubramanian ’19 said.

Mark Aksen ’17 said he did not even know about the existence of the post office until he heard about the move.

Community members have expressed concerns about relocation, especially regarding the potential loss of the history the building represents.

The sale was initially blocked because of misgivings from the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office. State officials were unsure if sufficient measures would be taken

to preserve the history of the building.

The Palmer Square post office was constructed in 1934 as part of the New Deal. Part of the building includes a mural painted by artist Karl Free in 1939, titled “Columbia Under the Palm,” which was a painting commissioned under the New Deal as a public arts project. “[The Palmer Square post office] was built during the Depression to make people feel proud of their communities, actually to restore confidence in the government,” said Steve Hutkins, a literature professor at New York University.

Hutkins runs a website called Save the Post Office, which tracks and reports on the closings of local post offices.

He said that the new post office building is nondescript at best, and lamented the diminished view of the post office.

Hutkins added that going into the old post office was similar to going into an art museum, a feeling that cannot be replicated in the Nassau Street building.

Hutkins noted that the relocation of the post office is yet another example of the current trend of selling post offices.

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Opinion

page 5

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We must not erase Woodrow Wilson

vol. cxxxix

Zeena Mubarak Anna Mazarakis ’16 editor-in-chief

Matteo Kruijssen ’16 business manager

139th managing board news editors Paul Phillips ’16 Ruby Shao ’17 opinion editor Benjamin Dinovelli ’16 sports editor Miles Hinson’17 street editor Lin King ’16 photography editors Natalia Chen ’18 Sewheat Haile ’17 video editors Leora Haber ’16 chief copy editors Caroline Congdon ’17 Joyce Lee ’17 design editors Austin Lee’16 Julia Johnstone’16 prox editor Rebekah Shoemake ’17 intersections editor Jarron McAllister ’16 associate news editor Do-Hyeong Myeong ’17 associate opinion editors Jason Choe ’17 Shruthi Deivasigmani’16 associate sports editors Sydney Mandelbaum ’17 Tom Pham ’17 associate street editors Harrison Blackman ’17 Jennifer Shyue ’17

columnist

O

n Wednesday, the Black Justice League presented to the student body and the administration a list of three demands, designed to make Princeton more welcoming to black students. The first of these demands was to problematize the legacy of former University president Woodrow Wilson and remove his name from the Woodrow Wilson School and Wilson residential college, and to remove the mural of his face from Wilson dining hall.

Problematizing his legacy is an important and worthwhile goal. However, removing his name and picture from Princeton’s campus, although well-intentioned, is short sighted and detrimental to real debate and discussion.

The argument for removing his name and the mural depicting his face is that Wilson held morally reprehensible positions and, in light of that fact, it is unfair to glorify him.

While I agree that Wilson was a racist and a bigot, I think to judge him by today’s standards is ahistorical. We cannot remove people from historical narratives simply because we disagree with their positions.

The fact of the matter is that Woodrow Wilson did not live in the twenty-first century. He was not exposed to the same type of education and society that we have been exposed to. Some people might respond to this by saying that there were other people in his time who did not share his racist beliefs. This is true, but those people were remarkable. In addition, some of those same people might have held other objectionable beliefs. For example, someone in Wilson’s time might have supported racial equality, but still professed homophobic or transphobic beliefs. Would we discount their anti-racist work for those

reasons?

In an op-ed in the Daily Princetonian in October, the Black Justice League claimed, “We owe nothing to people who are deeply flawed.”

I disagree strongly with this assessment. First of all, logically, everyone is deeply flawed. In twenty years, even our seemingly liberal positions will be horribly outdated. Will that erase the sincere attempts we are making now?

On a more practical note, there are so many problematic historical figures that I, personally, believe I owe a lot to. There are men like Thomas Jefferson, who were instrumental to establishing the political freedom that I enjoy today. There are writers like Rudyard Kipling, whose works have given me so much pleasure.

There are suffragettes like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who fought for women’s rights and derived support for that fight by playing on fear of African Americans. Since I am a black girl, it is likely that none of these historical figures would have deigned to speak to me. Is that an uncomfortable realization? Yes. Does that change these figures’ enormous historical impact? No, of course not.

We must not erase Woodrow Wilson, because to do so is to play into an almost dystopian mentality where the things we do not like are simply thrown down the memory hole.

It is true that it is wrong to deify historical figures. Thus, acknowledging Wilson’s racism is important. We cannot allow him to be portrayed as the infallible patron saint of Princeton when his words are hurtful to so many current Princetonians. However, wiping out his name and face would do nothing to spur on dialogue or to change racist institutions.

It would only allow us to try to forget that we have inherited a legacy that was created by people whose personal views we do not agree with.

Zeena Mubarak is a junior from Fairfax, Va. She can be reached at zmubarak@princeton.edu.

associate photo editors Gabriella Chu ’18 Grace Jeon ’17

Someone Not Paying Attention?

associate chief copy editors Chamsi Hssaine ’16 Alexander Schindele-Murayama ’16

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Rita feng ’17

editorial board chair Jeffrey Leibenhaut ’16 Cartoons Editor Terry O’Shea ’16

NIGHT STAFF 11.8.15 senior copy editors Grace Rehaut ’18 Jessica Ji ’18 Maya Wesby ’18 contributing copy editors Sarah Kim ’17 Katie Peterson ’19 Nina Rodriguez ’19 news Betty Liu ’18

Afraid to say “Black”: let’s be explicit Imani Thornton columnist

T

here are many in this country that argue political correctness is killing our constitutional right to freedom of speech. I usually contest such notions, particularly when they concern events such as those that have occurred at Yale, the University of Missouri and other campuses where students feel unsafe. However, last week I came to the conclusion that perhaps political correctness may be murdering something else: the way in which we can express our feelings about race relations in this country.

Last week, there was a storm: posts of solidarity flooded Facebook newsfeed.

Many of my fellow students expressed solidarity with people of color at Yale, Ithaca College, Claremont McKenna College and Mizzou. Consequently, I followed the lead of my peers, doing a quick copy and paste without really thinking too much about it. Soon, however, some of my other peers emphasized that it was Black students at Mizzou who were being disproportionately affected by last week’s events. Unlike fellow opinion columnist Sarah Sakha, who wrote about whether or not she as an Iranian-American could identify as a “person of color,” my attention was directed towards the receiving end of the label. Consequently, after thinking about it for quite some time, I changed my status to reflect this, expressing solidarity with Black students at Mizzou.

I edited my status for many reasons.

For one, my initial status reflected a need to remain politically correct amongst my racially varied Facebook friends. “People of color” seemed a good way to do just that, avoiding the possibility that I could alienate those of other racial groups. In retrospect, I should have first analyzed the formation of “people of color” and why it can do comparable amounts of damage to any number of other words and policies that marginalize Black people in this country.

So how can we conceptualize “people of color” as a term? According to an NPR article, the term “people of color” derives from the now-derogatory historical term “colored.” Many of us may even recognize the phrase “colored” from our history lessons about Jim Crow laws or even Apartheid South Africa. Use of this phrase has stood as an alternative for the term “non-white,” which is less politically correct than “POC.” Regardless of their etymological evolution, as Sakha’s column mentions, the selective use of such terms is to pretend that marginalized people have been oppressed in the same ways. If we fail to acknowledge the differences in oppression, how should we expect to find solutions to the problems we claim to be working toward?

When we use “people of color,” it is no accident. Racial labels scare us and many of us want to be inclusive. In her column, Sakha highlights how the imposing of labels such as “whiteness” can fail to align with one’s self-identification. Use of terms like “Blackness” and “Whiteness” is a daunting task because it seems to evoke

a sense of history and politics that have failed to acknowledge the nuances of racial groups in this country. Our fear, however, should not deter us from finding solidarity with the groups we wish to include. Case in point: although “POC” is an all-encompassing term for millions of people in this country, I must wonder how many fewer copy-pasted posts would have appeared on my newsfeed were the original post in solidarity with Black, Latinx, Asian and/or Native American students?

Instead of comparing the specifics of how Black, Latinx, Asian and/or Native American students were treated at campuses like Mizzou, I want to emphasize the importance of being explicit when we discuss race. As a Black person in this country, the history of my ancestors is different than that of my Indian or Latina friends’. Although we may all find many things in common as racial minorities in this country, our separate stories should not be grouped together to fall under the veil of yet another politically correct catchphrase. The term “POC,” rather than unite marginalized people, brushes under the rug individual stories that may indicate better ways to solve the problems of racial injustice. We cannot expect to be in true solidarity with any racial group if we fail to take the time and acknowledge that each group has a story — and, indeed, millions of stories within a larger story — that should not be turned into one giant monolith, even for a Facebook post.

Imani Thornton is a sophomore from Matteson, Ill. She can be reached at it4@princeton.edu.

When bombs go off Iris Samuels

contributing columnist

W

hen bombs went off this weekend in the Paris, I was sitting in a workshop discussing the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. As a woman spoke about human rights violations in the West Bank, I wondered what connection could be drawn between these injustices.

Trying to make connections between the plights of different people can seem like a manipulative way to create empathy. But academic institutions encourage the study of history and society, and what is the meaning of such intellectual quests, if not to draw parallels between seemingly separate phenomena, if not to understand the faults of our past in order to not repeat them in the future?

Growing up in Israel, I was struck by the fact that just seventy years ago, the Jewish people were denied a right to their own country, and here we were denying the same right to the Palestinians. Shouldn’t it be obvious that just as the Jews rightly deserve a nation where they will be free of persecution, so do the Palestinians?

Another comparison can be made: In 1939, the SS St. Louis sailed from Europe in search of a new home for 937 Jewish refugees. They were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, before eventually returning to Europe, where more than 250 of them found their death during the Holocaust. And now — millions of displaced Syrians are knocking on our metaphorical doors with the plea to be given a safe haven from persecution.

Shouldn’t we be opening our homes and ensuring that eighty years from now, we will be able to look back with a clean(er) conscious?

However, as I thought of these parallels, I realized that unfair connections could be made just as easily. A few weeks ago, a rapid series of terrorist attacks were committed in Israel, creating a wave of hatred towards Palestinians among some Israelis. But the decision of certain Palestinians to commit evil crimes does not mean that millions of innocent Palestinians do not deserve to live in dignity. Similarly, the terror attack in Paris might lead to a deepening of the Islamophobia that has permeated Europe. But this attack should not be used as an excuse to lessen commitment to ending the Syrian crisis.

France’s motto is “liberty, equality, fraternity” — a motto that encourages the view that the loss of an innocent Syrian life is just as tragic as the loss of an innocent Parisian life. And yet, it was the death of 129 people in Paris that has awakened the world to hatred and violence, and not the 210,000 confirmed Syrian deaths over the past four years of fighting, or the 3,000,000 Syrian refugees who have fled their nation, or even the 6,500,000 Syrians who have been displaced within Syria.

The tragedy that took place in Paris should be a call to protect all human lives.

This past Monday, I attended a benefit concert for the Syrian refugees, organized by the Center for Jewish Life’s Social Justice Committee and Muslim Advocates for Social Justice and Individual Dignity. The concert was planned months ago, but it seemed particularly fitting in light of this past week’s events. The message sent out by the Israeli musician, Gabriel Meyer Halevy, was remarkably simplistic: we are all human; we all deserve to live happy and dignified lives.

The landless Syrians and Palestinians, the hurting French and Israelis — are all equal in their quest for safety.

Is attending workshops and benefit concerts enough? Will projecting the flag of France on national monuments and lighting candles make the world a better place? Even as these questions have occupied my thoughts this past week, I have no definitive answers. I do think that these actions are a good start. As students, our power to affect change is still limited, but as we continue to find the differences and similarities between evils, we should wonder how to contribute to making the world one in which we are proud to live — a world in which the wrongs of our past are not repeated.

Iris Samuels is a freshman from Zichron Yakov, Israel. She can be reached at isamuels@princeton.edu.

Thursday november 19, 2015

Sports

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{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Tigers face crucial matchup vs. Harvard

by Stephen Craig :: Staff Photographer The women’s volleyball team (15-8 overall, 10-4 Ivy League), fresh off of its 15th Ivy League title, will take on the Harvard Crimson (14-10, 10-4) in Cambridge, Mass. on Friday to determine who will represent the Ivy League in the NCAA Tournament. The teams look evenly matched coming in, having gone 1-1 against each other in the regular season.

Tigers to take on USC in second round of NCAAs

by Stephen Craig :: Staff Photographer After delighting Princeton fans in a 4-2 victory against Boston College at home, the women’s soccer team (14-3-1 overall, 6-0-1 Ivy League) travels to Virginia to take on the USC Trojans for a spot in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Both teams showed off their offensive prowess in previous rounds, each scoring four goals to make their way past the initial round of the tournament.

Tweet of the Day “This past week I caught that Bieber fever that’s been going around. It’s real contagious..” hannah winner (@hannahisawinner), junior goalie, women’s soccer

Stat of the Day

13 games The women’s soccer team is undefeated in 13 straight games as it enters its match with USC.

Follow us Check us out on Twitter on @princesports for live news and reports, and on Instgram on @princetoniansports for photos!

Thursday november 12, 2015

The Daily Princetonian

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the real students of nassau street

PAGES DESIGNED BY LIN KING :: STREET EDITOR

Student employment outside the Orange Bubble We all have work, and more work after work. But not all of it is confined to the boundaries of this Orange Bubble-defined campus. This week, Associate Street Editor HARRISON BLACKMAN talked to four students who have worked jobs at establishments on Nassau Street, with an interest in discovering what it means to work in downtown Princeton while being a student.

W

hen Naomi Lake ’17 decided to pursue a parttime position at Olsson’s Fine Foods and Cheese, part of her reasoning involved a desire to experience a little bit of life outside the Orange Bubble.

“Instead of finding employment on campus … I wanted to do something that got me out of the Princeton bubble a little bit, especially for employment purposes,” Lake said. “It’s nice to be considered a twenty-something in the workable, real world, as opposed to being a Princeton student who had a job.”

Jobs. Princeton students always seem to be looking for them, in New York, Washington, California and elsewhere, perhaps not fully aware that Princeton itself is a regional locus for employment. The largest employer in Mercer County, Princeton University employs 6,000 benefits-eligible employees. According to Princeton’s student employment guide, over 2,400 students work part-time or temporary jobs on campus to help pay for their education, make a little money on the side and learn skills applicable to other careers. That said, while much of the Princeton experience can involve working on campus, in libraries and thinking about post-graduation employment, we don’t often think about what it means to work on the other side of Nassau Street.

For Victoria Liu ’17, a former employee of Infini-T Café & Spice Souk, what makes working at Nassau Street establishments alluring is the ability to fulfill a role that has an instant, measurable impact on others.

“There’s something incredibly charming or satisfying about being to able to make someone’s day by just handing them a cookie,” Liu said. “It’s so nice to have a

place with such tangible product to your work, especially when you’re at Princeton every day, and you put so much emotional energy and stress into these papers, and you don’t ever see the end of it; you don’t ever feel like you’re making an impact.”

The instant gratification of giving someone a cookie is just one reason to work on the other side of Nassau Street. Other students are more into gaining casual expertise in the industry.

Case in point: Zachariah DeGiulio ’18 works at Rojo’s Roastery once a week in a long seven-hour shift. Perhaps fittingly, his favorite thing about the job is the coffee. “[Working at Rojo’s] definitely takes a huge portion of my time relative to most other activities, so it’s kind of something that I do more about the enjoyment of coffee than anything else,” DeGiulio said. “It’s just another thing that I schedule into my week. I don’t see it as a job … so it’s something that I like having in my schedule.”

While DeGiulio’s experience may not feel like a job for him, for Lake, working off-campus is an exercise in balancing school and work.

“I only work 12 hours a week, which might sound like a lot upfront, but it’s mostly hours that I would otherwise be spending with people on campus vaguely studying and not getting anything done,” Lake said. “Right now, since my schedule is very front-heavy in the beginning in the day, I tend to work afternoons that I have off, and by the evening I’m getting dinner with friends and involved in campus life again with the evening.”

Lake explained that though her schedule sounds stressful, she appreciates the ability to experience a different side of living and working in the Princeton community.

“It sounds really stressful to balance between the two worlds, but it’s really nice to have two worlds to choose from,” Lake said. “The owners are a husband-and-wife team, with kids that come in, so it’s just a different ecosystem.”

Interacting with the side of Princeton outside campus is something Emily Kamen ’17 is quite familiar with.

Kamen teaches two yoga classes a week at YogaStream, a yoga studio on COURTESY OF SPOON UNIVERSITY the corner of Tulane and Storefront of Olsson’s Fine Foods and Cheese, where Naomi Lake ’17 works.

Spring Street.

“I really like getting to know people that live in the town and the surrounding area,” Kamen said. “People are always bringing me books to read, or articles, or snacks that they made, or sometimes I’ll babysit [the kids of] people who work there.”

Similarly, interacting with customers at Rojo’s allows DeGiulio to connect with a variety of customers — predominantly townspeople, graduate students and tourists — in a different way than is COURTESY OF INFINI-T CAFE & SPICE SOUK possible on campus.

“You kind of get to Interior of Infini-T Café, where Victiora Liu ’17 worked last spring semester. connect with people that you don’t necessarlike it.” about Liu’s background, she ily get to connect with as often The need to take a break from would explain that she studied on campus, which I really like, the career-oriented mindset of at Princeton and would field too, because it provides a feel- ambitious, competitive students questions about her life, a prosing of grounded-ness … because who see their peers as a roster of pect that was much more pleasPrinceton at times can feel super qualified rivals is something that ant and contrasted with her isolated,” DeGiulio said.

Liu considers an important aspect experience of how Princeton Moreover, talking with a wide of working off campus as well. students tended to size up one range of people can serve as a “It’s very strange, because nev- another on campus. valuable dose of perspective from er on campus do we just stop and “It was very cool just talking the fast lane of Princeton student let people be people,” Liu said. to random people who came for a life. Kamen explained the per- “Here, it’s like what are you ma- cup of tea,” Liu said. spective she’s gained from work- joring in? What’s your goal in The social implications of serving with the students in life? What’s your career path? ing Princeton students notwithher yoga class, who can What classes are you taking? Are standing, the off-campus work range from 18 to 70 years you dying from midterms? We’re experience can be very valuable of age. never like, what’s your deal? … for both sides of the equation, as “People are always re- What kind of person are you? We is the case for Kamen. ally interested in what I’m never ask anyone what kind of “I think it’s really nice to see learning about at Prince- person you are.” how appreciative everyone in this ton, so that kind of makes According to Liu, there’s an yoga community is,” Kamen said. me more excited about my inherent tension to being in the “[Yoga] students are very thankclasses too, getting to talk position of serving Princeton ful for me for just doing this job. about them with some- students, however.

They paid for this service and I’m one who doesn’t have the “I was very weirded out by the doing it, but just they don’t seem experience of attending perspective of waiting on Princ- to look at it that way; it’s like, classes here,” Kamen said. eton students,” Liu said. “I be- wow, thank you for taking your “It kind of offers me a came very oddly invisible when time out of your day to teach me fresh perspective of like, I stepped behind the counter…. this class.” wow, I’m really lucky to it was very weird to know that In essence, for Kamen, it’s a be here. And at the same [there] were Princeton students win-win situation. time, wow, there’s a life and have them not consider that I “And I’m like yeah, cool,” KaCOURTESY OF NJ.COM beyond Princeton, and it was a Princeton student.” men said. “I love doing it, and I Rojo’s Roastery, a coffee bistro where Zachariah DeGiulio ’18 works once a week. seems cool, too. So I really When customers did ask got paid for it. It was awesome.”

The Daily Princetonian

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Thursday november 12, 2015

UNFAMILIAR STREET

Rua Sá Ferreira, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil JENNIFER SHYUE Associate Street Editor

‘Unfamiliar Street’ is a column series in which we take you around the world and introduce you to a cool STREET far from the well-trod gravel of Prospect Avenue. s soon as I told our airport taxi driver the name of the street I would be living on for the next four weeks — “Rua Sá Ferreira,” I said, the unfamiliar whooshy h-like rr’s of Portuguese tumbling gracelessly out of my mouth — he nodded. “Ah, I know where that is,” he said. “In Copacabana.”

On our way there, the driver pointed as we passed to the Sambódromo, where Rio’s fa-

A

mous Carnival parades take place every year; the Estádio do Maracanã, where Rio’s World Cup games had been played the summer before; and Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, the lagoon in the middle of the city whose curves we followed as our car thrummed toward our destination. I was surprised when we arrived at Sá Ferreira to see that it was lined with tall, well-maintained apartment buildings — from the way the taxi driver had recognized it instantly, I would’ve thought it was a bustling street in the middle of the metropolis.

After the guard sitting in the

lobby buzzed me through the gate — virtually all the buildings on Sá Ferreira had gates, and watchful guards sitting behind desks — he helped me roll my suitcases into the elevator and sent me up to the sixth floor. In apartment 604, two silent cats greeted me at the door, tails curled around their feet. I would later find out that the white one’s name was Frank (for Frank Sinatra, whose blue eyes he shared), and the orange-striped one’s name was Fubar. Their owner, my host mother, was Lalá.

Within a few days, I was comfortable enough to leave

COURTEST OF ADVENTUREWOMEN.COM

A common summertime weekend scene of bustling crowds at Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro.

the building and explore the surrounding area accompanied by just one other Princeton in Brazil student. The asymmetrical white mosaic tile of the street was broken by square patches of dirt, out of which solitary trees grew.

They were tall. The occasional fruit would fall down and land splat on the sidewalk; once, other students in our group who also lived on Sá Ferreira told us they saw a fish hurtle down from above, probably launched by a mischievous tree-dwelling monkey.

On one end of the street was a dead-end bend to the left and an entrance to the General Osório metro station. We rode the escalator down into its depths on free Thursday afternoons, on Friday nights, on Sunday mornings, and took the metro to tourist places; to leafy, grassy outside places; to lightsoaked, art-filled places; to dark, loud, people-filled places.

On the other end, the street extended for two, three more blocks until it hit Copacabana Beach. Sometimes we walked to the beach at night, shoulders tightening as we walked past the bulky bodies of the gun-slung police officers who stood on either side of an entrance to the favela next to Copacabana. As we waited for the light to change at that corner, we would look up at the squat houses brimming over the edges of streets cut into the hills surrounding the heart of

Rio and wonder at the tricks of fate that had put us (Asian, white, Latino — but American) down here and them (“them”) up there.

At the beach, the nondescript white mosaic tiles of the floor morphed into black and white tile waves, one of many things for which Copacabana Beach is famous. Beyond the tiled walkways, there was sand, and then there was sea.

At the end of June, in the taxi on our way back to the airport, I noticed I was feeling a strange, unexpected ache. Four weeks wasn’t supposed to be enough to fall in love, but here I was, the stone in my stomach swelling heavier the farther we got from Rua Sá Ferreira. We passed Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, whose still waters I had finally seen up close for the first time in our last week; the Estádio do Maracanã, where a group of us had swayed along with the roaring crowd at a soccer game; and the Sambódromo, where my host mother Lalá, now, at 70, past her competitive samba years, had once danced every year with her samba school.

“I’ll be back,” I’d told new friends before hugging them goodbye. “I’ll be back,” I told my companion in the taxi, the now-friend with whom I’d shared the ride from the airport. “I’ll be back,” I repeated to myself, silently. How could I not? Portuguese h-like rr’s were finally starting to roll off my tongue more naturally.

Q&A AUTHOR, VETERAN AND HODDER FELLOW PHIL KLAY Interviewed by

ANGELA WANG Contributor

P

hil Klay is a veteran of the Iraq War, having served as an officer in the Marine Corps. His 2014 collection of short stories, “Redeployment,” won the National Book Award for Fiction and has since been heralded as the next Tim O’Brien by critics.

Klay is a 2015-16 Hodder Fellow in the Lewis Center for the Arts. In an email interview, Street asked Klay about his

wartime experiences, writing style and future projects.

Daily Princetonian: What made you want to join the Marines after college?

Phil Klay: I joined because we were at war. There’s a tradition of service in my family, though not necessarily military service. My father was in the Peace Corps. My mother has worked for years in development, mostly in international medical development though more recently at the Children’s Defense Fund.

And my maternal grandfather was a career diplomat.

If you’d asked me in high school what I was going to do with my life, I likely would have told you that I’d follow in his footsteps and become a diplomat. But we were at war, so the Marine Corps seemed to be the best way of serving my country.

DP: What are some of your most unforgettable experi-

ences in Iraq?

PK: My most memorable moments from Iraq: barbecuing with my Marines, an Iraqi sheik showing me his bullet wounds and the aftermath of the suicide bombing in Habbaniyah, when they brought the injured into the surgical center on my base and there were so many injured the doctors ran out of trauma tables and ended up doing surgery on the floor.

DP: Some people call you the new Tim O’Brien. Did you have a hard time transitioning back to normalcy like O’Brien did? What about your experience is similar to or different from O’Brien’s experience after the war?

PK: I didn’t have a hard time, personally, returning to normalcy after the war, though of course I didn’t experience anything like what O’Brien did.

What did take me a long time, and what I’m still grappling with, is how to morally reckon with what the war means. How do I make sense of myself, not only as a Marine who served in the war but as a citizen responsible for what my country does and doesn’t do?

I admire O’Brien tremendously, and I think there is plenty of continuity between the types of feelings he explores and the experiences of modern soldiers, but at the same time it’s a remarkably different war.

When I was overseas, the mili-

tary strategy of the counterinsurgency was drastically different from the kind of bodycounting attitudes common in Vietnam. Everybody was a volunteer, and so the troops tended to be highly professional. We came home to a warm reception, albeit one from a public that seemed not to [be] paying too much attention, perhaps because there was no draft and therefore no reason for them to have to.

DP: How is your book structured? What are the main themes/motifs?

PK: The book is composed of twelve stories, all in the first person, from different narrators with different jobs. There’s an infantryman, a chaplain, a mortuary affairs specialist, an engineer and so on. Oftentimes I return to the disconnect between veterans and civilians, the different ways we choose to remember what happened or what we’ve done, the raw emotions sparked by killing or ex-

COURTESY OF TELERAMA.FR

posure to death and how those become processed or communally understood.

DP: In the future, are you planning on writing more wartime stories or move on to a different genre? If so, what is the new focus?

PK: I’m working on a novel about the U.S. involvement in Colombia. It’s difficult to tell exactly what the shape of it will be at this time, though it will also deal with the aftermath of war.

I don’t necessarily expect to only write about war for the rest of my life, but it is something that I’m still trying to understand better.

COURTESY OF PHILKLAY.COM

WRITE AND DESIGN FOR STREET features, profiles, theater, dance, music, art, fashion, humor, health.

For more information, email us at: streeteditors@gmail.com

Thursday november 12, 2015

The Daily Princetonian

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SPEAR: CAMPUS VOICES ON PRISON REFORM CATHERINE WANG Contributor

F

or 23 hours between Oct. 22 and 23, many students crowded curiously around the outside of Frist Campus Center, watching a University student sit motionless and alone inside of a 7x9 foot box. Word spread quickly, and many students soon knew about the performance, also known as “7x9”; the box represents the size of cell that prisoners in solitary confinement live in. What some students may not have known was that “7x9” was planned by a student organization called Students for Prison Education and Reform.

SPEAR was formed four years ago, and for the past three years it has performed the solitary confinement piece, which has also been done at several other colleges.

“Solitary confinement is an issue we worked a lot on, because it’s one of the most profound problems of the criminal justice system, and it’s one of the easiest to explain to people,” co-president Daniel Teehan ’17 said. “We wanted to do it in a thoughtful and meaningful way ... and we wanted to put a seven foot by nine foot space in a place where people wouldn’t normally see it.”

However, SPEAR’s work is not just limited to protesting against solitary confinement. There are five committees: Events, Research, Advocacy, Communications and Education, which each have their own specific projects including workforce preparation programs and letter-writing campaigns. But what defines SPEAR as an organization?

“SPEAR draws crowds of people who are interested in social justice issues,” Teehan said. “But having a group that’s specifically focused on issues of mass incarceration

is important, because prisons are a place where many of the most profound issues in our society, be it systemic racism or problems with integration, surveillance, policing, are all coalesced in the criminal justice system.”

Co-president Clarissa Kimmey ’16 initially found herself interested in the educational aspects of the prison system through the Petey Greene Program, which is a University tutoring program that works with incarcerated students in two youth correctional facilities, helping them prepare for their high school equivalency exams.

“I really got interested in advocacy against mass incarceration, because I was working with people who had been impacted by our justice system in really problematic ways ... who were really smart and talented, but were facing many challenges because of their criminal history,” Kimmey said.

Kimmey then got involved with SPEAR’s Education Committee because she hoped to help give incarcerated persons a chance to achieve their goals, specifically in regards to presenting themselves to future employers and schools.

Much of her efforts have gone into the creation of a workforce preparation program, also known as Princeton Reentry Preparation Program, that is run at three correctional facilities.

“We do resume-writing, interview skills, creating a space to think about the job search and future employment goals,” Kimmey said. “In the prison system, your achievements and agency and potential isn’t recognized … so to create a space where people could recognize all the cool things they had done with their life was great.”

GRACE JEON :: ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

On Nov. 16, SPEAR hosted a public lecture by Anthony Ray Hinton, director of the Witness to Innocence Project, who was on death row for 30 years prior to his exoneration.

One educational reform SPEAR is working on which relates directly to the University is the Admissions Opportunity Campaign. The goal of the campaign is to remove questions about criminal history from applications to the University.

“We think it’s really problematic to include the question on the application because it is so prejudicial, and admissions officers aren’t necessarily trained on how to deal with those kind of questions,” Kimmey explained.

The Admissions Opportunity Campaign is working within a national coalition called Abolish the Box, which is directing its efforts to removing questions about criminal history on the Common Application.

This week, SPEAR launched

another campaign called “Who Do We Kill?” which is both a memorial to those who have received the death penalty and a protest against the institution of capital punishment.

“On the day that someone is scheduled to be executed, we will send out an email that will include biographical information about the person which isn’t available in the media,” Kimmey said. “We’ve also written to people on death row, hoping to give them a chance to share their voice and not just writing about them. We’ll also have pictures of them, a letter or information about them in Frist.”

SPEAR invited Anthony Ray Hinton, who was on death row for 30 years before being exonerated, to speak on Monday before launching the campaign. Stu-

dents who wished to get involved wore a black ribbon distributed as a tribute to those who have died after receiving the death penalty.

Kimmey and Teehan encourage students looking to get involved to come to their full-group meetings, which take place on Monday at 8 p.m. in East Pyne 111.

“There is a lot going on. This year we had someone who was affected by solitary confinement Skype in, we had someone who runs a program focused on women’s incarceration come and speak to us, and we’re having a graduate student who has worked a lot on incarceration issues come and speak to us — so they’re very educational and as a social justice group, we try to be very inclusive so anyone who is interested can come at any time,” Kimmey said.

‘Zoyka’s Apartment’ achieves diverse, symbolic production OLIVER SUN Senior Writer

T

his weekend, the Princeton Program in Theater presents “Zoyka’s Apartment,” a play by Kiev-born Mikhail Bulgakov. Performed by Princeton students enrolled in THR 451: The Fall Show and directed by professional Alexandru Mihail, “Zoyka’s Apartment” takes place in a Soviet Russia trying to reconcile centuries of imperial tradition with the dawn of the New Economic Policy era.

Zoyka, the title character, was a wealthy woman before the Bolsheviks came to power, and under the NEP she struggles with the government’s demands for industrial production. Through clever

COURTESY OF LEWIS CENTER OF THE ARTS

“persuasion” of the local committee chairman, she secures permission to maintain possession of her spacious home, inhabited only by her and her maid, who the chairman believes to be her niece. Evelyn Giovine ’16 plays Zoyka, who ostensibly runs a needlework school that is actually a front for an illicit speakeasy. In a performance reminiscent of her role as the actress Vanda in Theatre Intime’s spring 2014 production of “Venus in Fur,” Giovine as Zoyka is alternately beguiling and innocent, as she plies her charms on the chairman yet seeks to keep up appearances as the director of a legitimate institution in Stalin’s economic program. She

asserts her dominance over easily manipulated yet surprisingly sympathetic petty bureaucrats, while presenting herself as an ever-gracious host to her not-so-legitimate guests.

One of the stated casting goals was to create “an ensemble as diverse as possible.” While the show takes place in 1927 Moscow, the cast features actors from different racial backgrounds as well as cross-

gender casting. For instance, Gandzalin, a Chinese man who runs a laundering business, is played by Kathy Zhao ’17, who wears a fake Fu Manchu moustache. On the f lip side, several women models are played by male actors.

Bulgakov’s decision to include a racially diverse cast and use cross-gender casting serves “to make a point that theatre and performance transcend all social categories,” according to the description on the Lewis Center’s website. This theme of a fluid social order meshes well with the themes of “Zoyka’s Apartment.” In the play, social order in 1927 Russia has been inverted by the rise of the Communist Party and the strict quotas of Stalin’s NEP, and Mihail’s production emphasizes this with its nontraditional casting choices. This bold decision pays its biggest dividend in a scene where three ladies, played by Carey Camel ’17, Justin Sansone ’19 and Luke Soucy ’19, discuss fashion. Many of the play’s wealthy characters languishing under Stalin’s regime dream of an escape to Paris, which is thought of as a capitalist utopia. This scene with the three “women” seems to serve as a commentary on the Russians’ perceptions of Paris: splendid, lavish and ultimately fantastical.

Symbolism plays a major

role in Mihail’s production.

Just as casting choices ref lect the play’s themes, the set and props are also important. The set is dominated by Zoyka’s apartment, which materializes as a large wooden frame on wheels. Curtains divide rooms, and characters open and close them to symbolize private conversations. In one scene early on, several characters rotate the apartment so that instead of facing the audience directly, the apartment is askew. The decision to include a physical “building” rather than the open “rooms” more typical of theatre productions is a conscious choice that both ref lects the show’s title and provides the characters with another symbol of upsetting the social order.

Overall, “Zoyka’s Apartment” is a success. While the cast delivers great performances and the set is welldesigned, the real treat in this production is the symbolism inherent in the casting choices and the props. Mihail succeeds in driving home Bulgakov’s points about the turbulent times facing Russian bourgeoisie at the beginning of Stalin’s regime.

5 out of 5 paws.

Pros: Strong symbolism; well-designed set Cons: None

BAGHDAD THROUGH THE EYES OF A TIGER

T

heatre Intime’s “Benghal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” closes this weekend. The play, written by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Mariel VanLandingham ’16, follows the ghost of a tiger wandering the streets of wartime Baghdad as he meets Americans and Iraqis searching for understanding, redemption — and a stolen toilet seat made of solid gold. The show will run Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.

Photos courtesy of Wesley Cornwell ’16.

STREET’S

TOP TEN

1 3 5 7 9

Things to be thankful for It’s still pretty warm outside.

2 4 6 8 10

More-secular-than-usual Starbucks cups.

Star Wars is one month away.

Kung Fu Panda 3 is two months away.

Pies, pies, pies.

The squirrels are getting fatter.

Cold weather = fewer bugs.

Big sweaters.

It will soon be acceptable to only listen to Michael Bublé’s holiday album.

It’s still pretty warm outside!?

CAMPUS PICKS COMEDY FUZZY DICE IMPROV COMEDY PRESENTS “SIDEKICKS” Theatre Intime Thursday and Friday, 11 p.m.

ASK THE SEXPERT

This week, we discuss protection for oral sex.

Dear Sexpert,

I recently learned that you can catch STDs from oral. I had no idea and now I need to know: how I can protect myself from them during oral sex?

Dear Lips,

— My Lips Are Sealed

Many people are not aware that oral sex of any kind increases risk for sexually transmitted infections for both partners, so kudos to you for learning this and for thinking about reducing your risk. As you may know, STIs are types of bacteria, viruses or parasites that are transmitted during sexual contact. They can be transmitted via bodily fluids or via skin-to-skin contact.

The bodily fluids include not just semen, vaginal fluids and blood, but also saliva.

When giving or receiving unprotected fellatio (oral sex performed on the penis), cunnilingus (oral sex performed on the vulva) or anilingus (oral sex performed on the anus), you are exposed to one or more of these fluids. Skin-to-skin contact also occurs during unprotected oral sex and can result in the transmission of some STIs. Some of the most common STIs contracted during oral sex are Human papilloma virus or HPV, Herpes Simplex Virus, Syphilis, Gonorrhea and Chlamydia. While you can lower your risk of HPV transmission by getting vaccinated, once contracted, HPV may go away on its own or if un-

treated, could lead to other diseases such as genital warts, or in some extreme cases, cancer. Herpes HSV-1 and HSV-2 both cause blisters and sores, but HSV-1 is mostly present on and around the mouth, while HSV-2 causes sores on the genitals. However, both types can be present on either area. There is no cure for herpes, but there are medications to reduce the likelihood of transmission. Herpes can be contracted even when sores or blisters are not visible. Syphilis also appears as sores on the genitals or around the mouth and can cause severe complications if untreated. Gonorrhea and Chlamydia can be contracted in the throat from a partner who is infected. Both could be asymptomatic, but gonorrhea can also cause strep throat-like symptoms. Finally, there is the risk of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which travels in blood, ejaculate, vaginal secretions and other bodily fluids. The risk of catching HIV from oral sex is lower than for vaginal or anal sex, but is still possible.

Luckily, there are many options for reducing risk during oral sex and many of them come in a variety of flavors. When performing or receiving oral sex, use a barrier between the mouth and the genitals. For fellatio, use an external “male” condom on the penis. For cunnilingus or anilingus , use an internal “female” condom (for anal use, take out the inner

ring and let the end hang out of the anus), a dental dam, or you can cut open a nonlubricated latex condom and use it as you would a dental dam. Do not use the same side of a dental dam over multiple areas and do not flip the dental dam over and apply to other areas. You can write your name on one side so you use only one side.

Each of these barriers should be used only once and then properly disposed. Dental dams and condoms are available from the front desk at McCosh Health Center as well as at the LGBT Center.

If you have any more questions about practicing safer oral sex, I encourage you to make an appointment with Sexual Health and Wellness at UHS. The clinicians there can provide you with more useful information and demonstrate how to use each barrier method effectively so that you can reduce your risk.

Some refer to them as “scrubs” or “newbs” (alternatively, “n00bs”), but Fuzzy Dice would like to introduce their new members as “sidekicks.” Sidekicks aren’t lame; they’re necessary for bringing out the awesome in the superheroes they will eventually become.

Don’t miss out on these Robins before they take over for Batman and, by extension, become way too cool for you to sit with at lunch. Tickets are on sale at the Frist ticketing office.

POETRY SONGLINE SLAM PRESENTS “LOST & FOUND” Class of 1970 Theater Thursday and Saturday, 8 p.m.

Weeks ago, we told you about Songline’s new members arch. Now, they are all grown up (as far as weeks of growing up go) and ready for their first “real” show of the year. Come find every emotion and every pretty word you’ve ever lost — or never knew you needed — at Whitman’s Class of 1970 Theater this weekend, entirely free of charge. Just bring your ears, your snapping-ready fingers and your love for spoken word.

— The Sexpert

Information included in this article and more information on STI’s can be found at bedsider. org and cdc.gov.

Interested in Sexual Health? The Sexpert is always looking for members of the community to join the team of sexual health educators who, along with fact-checking from University health professionals, help write these columns. Email sexpert@ dailyprincetonian.com for more information and questions about sexual health.

HEADLINERS AND HEADSHAKERS headlines you didn’t read this week DAILY PRINCETONIAN STAFF

U. SEES RISE IN HEIGHT OF INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE STUDENTS

year Café, restaurant to open next rete alongside forthcoming conc monolith for the arts

Candidates for USG elections announced; studies show mere acquaintances likely to ask you to like their campaign FB pages

Authors lecture on history, current state of Medicare, Medicaid programs, medical stuff, sorry wasn’t paying attention

Honor Committee announces changes to constitution via email, freaks everyone out when they see the sender in their inbox

Admission office sees 9.4 percent the increase in early action applications; god vengeful U.S. News & World Report reportedly appeased

MUSIC PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ROCK ENSEMBLE PRESENTS “GOING DOWN SWINGING” Frist Film/Performance Theatre Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 8 p.m.

It’s official: Fall Out Boy has made the most unexpected comeback of the 2010s, and we’re happy to go down swinging with them — with help from PURE. The concert will also feature covers of a wide range of contemporary classics and rock legends, including Muse, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Stevie Wonder and more. Tickets are $8 for students and $10 for general admission.

EVENT PRINCETON MUSLIM STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION PRESENTS “MUSLIM MONOLOGUES” Wilson Black Box Friday, 8:30 p.m.

It is always easier to generalize cultures than to understand them. Given traumatic events in recent history and the present day, it is perhaps especially easy to do so about Islam. But it is much more productive to try to understand rather than to draw unfounded conclusions, and this Friday, Muslim Students on campus will share their stories “uncut and unedited.” Go, listen to their stories, and learn.

This event is one night only Tickets are available free of charge at the Frist ticketing office.