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Wednesday december 6, 2017 vol. CXLI no. 113
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Ozminkowski ’19 buys out U. unveils plan for 2026 fellow candidates’ domains campus map A mere week before voting began, USG presidential candidates Matt Miller ’19 and Rachel Yee ’19 discovered an alarming solicitation tactic used against their campaigns. On Monday, Dec. 4, Miller was informed that the website, www.mattmillerforpresident.com, existed, although it was not a part of his campaign. Upon searching this link, the user was redirected to www.ozforpresident.com, a blank page that belonged to Ryan Ozminkowski ’19, another USG presidential candidate. Less than 24 hours after the ‘Prince’ began looking into the matter, the former link now redirects to https://www. matt4usg.com/.
“It’s a dirty trick for what should be an above-board and fair election on what we do for USG,” Miller wrote in a text, adding that “if he bought all these domains, he’s close to, if not over, his campaign budget.” Yee reported a similar experience after friends brought www.yeeforpresident.com to her attention, which utilized a similar redirect method. “My first thought was, if I was just a general voter, that’s pretty clever,” said Yee. “Maybe not in the best spirits of the campaign, as I don’t necessarily think that that’s using the best judgement. It’s certainly not something that I would do.” Yee also noted that the redirection was “very reminiscent of what a Trump voter had done to Jeb Bush’s website in the primaries.”
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
ON CAMPUS
By Linh Nguyen contributor
By Mallory Williamson contributor
On Dec. 5, the University released a planning framework detailing plans to expand and develop campus over the next decade. The plan, which expands on a strategic planning framework proposed by the University in January 2016, identifies potential locations for new residential colleges, engineering and environmental studies facilities, and accommodations for new programs featuring partnerships with outside entities, according to a press release from the Office of Communications. Unlike previous iterations, Princeton’s updated 2026 planning framework makes use of land south of Lake Carnegie — which would form a new ‘Lake Campus’ — and land east of Washington Road. The ‘Lake Campus,’ described by a University press release as a “dynamic, mixed-use community in a gently sloping landscape,” would include athletic facilities, graduate and postdoctoral student housing, retail space, parking, bike paths, and transportation options. Another highlight of the plan is the proposed location of Princeton’s seventh residential college. Under the new planning framework, the new college — which would accommodate an extra 125 students in each graduating class — would be located south of Poe and Pardee Fields.
According to a map provided by the University in its press release, the planned new residential college would contain six new buildings, and would be outlined on the south with a planned “enhanced movement corridor.” Building this new residential college would require relocating athletic facilities currently used by Princeton’s softball and tennis teams. The facilities would be relocated to the new Lake Campus, where practice areas for rugby and cross country already exist. The University also allocated space for a second new residential college, which is not immediately in the University’s plans but could become necessary in future years. If not used for a new residential college, the space could also be used to “permit extensive renovation of existing dormitories.” Also included in the new framework are improved transportation options for cyclists and pedestrians on campus. The new plan outlines two new “campus connectors” — one from the Graduate College to East Campus, and one from Nassau Street to the Lake Campus. These new paths, along with a “diagonal walk” from Mathey College to McCosh Health Center, aim to make the campus more walkable. The framework also contains significant emphasis on sustainability, underscoring the need for new environmental studies facilities as well as See CAMPUS page 3
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
CVS buys Aetna; Student Health Plan unaffected By Scott Newman contributor
This past Sunday, CVS Health announced that it would be acquiring Aetna Inc., the care provider through which University students who opt for the Student Health Plan receive their insurance. The acquisition, however, is unlikely to affect those on the SHP. CVS Health broke the
In Opinion
news in a press release on their website entitled: “CVS Health to Acquire Aetna; Combination to Provide Consumers with a Better Experience, Reduced Costs and Improved Access to Health Care Experts in Homes and Communities Across the Country.” Citing the 90 million members of its pharmacy benefits plan and their See CVS page 2
Senior columnist Ryan Born explains why undergraduates should care about the taxation of graduate student tuition waivers, and columnist Kaveh Badrei calls out hypocrisy in our responses to natural disasters. PAGE 6
See USG page 3
Sykes talks conservative party divide By Nick Shashkini contributor
Charlie Sykes is a political commentator, writer, prominent conservative, and former talk show host. Sykes is the author of eight books and has written for major national publications. He is a contributor and analyst for MSNBC and was the host of WNYC’s “Indivisible,” as well as the founder and editor-in-chief of the website Right Wisconsin. Recently, Sykes has drawn attention for his vocal opposition of President Donald Trump. Sykes came to the University on Dec. 4 as part of its Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Leadership through Mentorship Program to give a talk based on his new book, “How the Right Lost Its Mind.” The Daily Princetonian sat down with Sykes to talk about his views, the media, and his thoughts on the direction of the Republican party. The Daily Princetonian: What encouraged you to leave radio and write this book? Charlie Sykes: I know that a lot of people think that I left my radio show because of Donald Trump, and that’s understandable, but actually I planned to leave the radio show anyway last year, but the rise of Donald Trump made the decision way easier. For the last 23 years I’ve been a conservative radio host in Wisconsin, and it played a significant role in Republican politics but was appalled by Donald Trump. Even though the audience was very receptive through the Wisconsin primary, you remember Donald Trump was defeated in Wisconsin; as the year went on, I was increasingly out of touch with the audience. I was one of those conservatives that refused to get on the Trump train. DP: What has the reaction been from other friends and conservative thinkers? Do you See SYKES page 4
ISABEL TING :: CONTRIBUTOR
Satterfield met with 12 undergraduate and graduate students in the Whitman College PDR on Tuesday.
Satterfield reflects on Princeton’s AfricanAmerican community
By Isabel Ting contributor
In a dinner discussion on Tuesday, Shirley Satterfield, a longtime Princeton resident who experienced Princeton’s racial integration first-hand, reflected on the intersection between Princeton’s history and African American civil rights. Satterfield’s family, the Van Zan(d)t Moore May family, has resided in Princeton for the last six generations. She explained that the “d” is left in parentheses to “separate the blacks and whites” in her family, since her great grandfather was white. Born in Philadelphia but raised in Princeton, Satterfield has witnessed the town’s racial evolution. She attended Witherspoon School for Colored Children, when segregation still existed in Princeton, and later transferred to Nassau Street School in 1947 when integration began. Her mother, Alice May, and grandmother, Annie May, were her anchors while growing up. Satterfield’s mother used to work in the eating clubs, and Satterfield fondly remembers how her mother always brought home ice cream. Satterfield describes her grandmother as a very religious woman and her
Today on Campus 7 p.m.: Michael Signer ’95, the mayor of Charlottesville, Va., will speak at Robertson Hall, Arthur Lewis Auditorium.
“rock.” To Annie May, all Sundays were meant for church. In 1948, when Satterfield was in the third grade, all the schools in Princeton became integrated, and Satterfield believes that is when the achievement gap began, because the students “weren’t taught the same,” thereby affecting their progress. “Even though the schools were integrated, the teachers separated us,” Satterfield said. In 1954, she began attending Princeton High School. Black students were automatically placed in the general, less intensive program unless otherwise advised, but Satterfield’s mother made it a point to enroll Satterfield in the academic program. The racism extended beyond the schools. Satterfield recalls Christine’s Beauty Parlor, ran by an African American woman but catered to high-class, white women. When Satterfield was young, her mother sent her to the beauty parlor to wash her hair, and Christine washed Satterfield’s hair in the back, afraid that her business’ reputation would be tainted if her customers discovered that she had tended to a black girl. Despite the entrenched racism in Princeton, Satterfield See SATTERFIELD page 5
WEATHER
COURTESY OF PRINCETON.EDU
An illustration of the planning framework; see a larger version of the image at princeton.edu.
In response to the other candidates’ negative reactions to his campaigning, Ozminkowski sent The Daily Princetonian an official statement from his campaign. “We first of all apologize to all those who felt teased by our utilization of domain name redirection in our campaigning,” the statement reads. “We anticipated the act would be in good spirit, a[n] homage to national politics, and a means to get students not typically involved in USG interested in the election cycle. A lot of individuals on campus responded very positively and recognized the jovial nature of the action. Obviously the act was misinterpreted by some and not taken in the spirit by which it was intended.”
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Wednesday december 6, 2017
CVS’ purchase of Aetna valued at $69 billion, will be finalized in mid-2018 CVS
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9,600 locations, CVS used the press release to highlight the benefits that they hope the acquisition will bring. Among them, CVS Health cites “Integrated Community-Based Health Care Experience.” As reported in The New York Times, chief CVS Health executive Larry Merlo remarked, “We think of it as creating a new front door to healthcare in America.” The same article cites Aetna’s chief executive Mark Bertolini as expressing that “[CVS is] in their community. It’s in their home … CVS has the draw. People trust their pharmacist.” According to Princeton’s University Health Services website, all students receive insurance through the SHP at the time that tuition is paid. Once enrolled, students maintain
the right to use the SHP as a secondary means of insurance should they wish to maintain their own private insurance. The University does not plan to make any changes to SHP even after the deal is finalized, which will not happen until mid-2018 at the earliest. “Aetna does not control what is and is not covered under the SHP,” said Michael Hotchkiss, a representative from the University’s Office of Communications. Hotchkiss further explained that the University is in control of those decisions, adding that “the University does not plan to make changes to the Plan fees or coverage, regardless of whether a merger of CVS and Aetna is completed.” The purchase of Aetna by CVS is valued at some $69 billion and is expected to be finalized by mid2018.
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Wednesday december 6, 2017
Sites located for seventh, eighth residential colleges CAMPUS Continued from page 1
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emphasizing the need for “alternatives to singleoccupancy vehicles” for navigating campus. Constructing new academic buildings to house expanded environmental studies and engineering buildings would be a boon to those programs, but would also present logistical questions for the University. “[O]nce new spaces become available, decisions
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will have to be made about whether to renovate, repurpose or replace some or all of the existing Engineering Quadrangle buildings,” according to the press release. The University consulted with a wide range of campus planners on the new framework, namely Urban Strategies, a firm based in Toronto. The planning team also sought input from the Princeton community, and held open meetings on and near campus to solicit feedback.
Miller ’19 , Yee ’19 express concern over election race USG
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According to the USG Elections Handbook, each candidate is allotted a “campaign expenditure allowance of $50.00.” It is currently unclear whether Ozminkowski exceeded his budget or if the solicitation of the domain violates any section of the handbook. “Truthfully, I think that it is very vague,” said Yee about the handbook. “It really comes down to the Election Manager’s jurisdiction. There’s no precedence for this in past USG records.” Laura Hausman ’20, the USG Election Manager, did not respond to the request for comment. Ozminkowski’s statement also addressed the campaign’s decision to relinquish the domains. He confirmed that his campaign’s director of technology “will be transferring the domain names to the respective candidates tonight.” As a final note, his statement emphasized that “the Ozminkowski
campaign strives to endorse campus ideals and hopes to infuse fun into this election cycle.” Both Miller and Yee expressed concerns that this would detract from the actual content of the candidates’ platforms. “I’m disappointed in the fact that Ryan or someone in his campaign would use an underhanded trick in this election,” said Miller. “This election is about how we can make Princeton a better place, and despite this, I’ll continue to campaign on the issues and my platform.” “Personally, I think that it’s up to the voters to decide what to make of this,” said Yee. “The information shouldn’t be kept in the dark. But let’s not get bogged down on the details about things that are distracting. Let’s really focus on the issues.” Miller, Ozminkowski, and Yee are the three presidential candidates for the USG Winter 2017 elections. Voting will take place from noon on Tuesday, Dec. 12 to noon on Thursday, Dec. 14.
The Daily Princetonian is published daily except Saturday and Sunday from September through May and three times a week during January and May by The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc., 48 University Place, Princeton, N.J. 08540. Mailing address: P.O. Box 469, Princeton, N.J. 08542. Subscription rates: Mailed in the United States $175.00 per year, $90.00 per semester. Office hours: Sunday through Friday, 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Telephones: Business: 609-375-8553; News and Editorial: 609-258-3632. For tips, email news@dailyprincetonian.com. Reproduction of any material in this newspaper without expressed permission of The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc., is strictly prohibited. Copyright 2014, The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Princetonian, P.O. Box 469, Princeton, N.J. 08542.
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Wednesday december 6, 2017
Sykes discusses future of conservative party post-Trump SYKES
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feel ostracized because you don’t support Trump? CS: There is a “never Trump” movement, but it’s incredibly small, we all know one another. I knew we were going to be in the wilderness,
but I didn’t know we were going to be on such a tiny desert island. But back home, in Wisconsin, one of the more unpleasant things was, after having been part of the movement for 20 years, to be really excommunicated by the end of the year. And I was really struck by the way that their loyalty to Donald Trump be-
came the hill that they wanted to die on. There are people who will inevitably say that I have betrayed the cause, I was labeled a “Judas goat,”; people believe that I am a turncoat, because I am not enthusiastically supporting Donald Trump. I look at them and go “how can you?” These were people who spoke out strongly
against Trump earlier in the year, who understood that he was unfit, that he was erratic, that he was a conman, that he was a fraud, and yet somehow they have now talked themselves into thinking that he’s our great leader. So we’re definitely out of sync, and there’s been a high personal cost and I’m sorry to say that a lot of friendships and relationships are now broken. DP: But do you feel that the mainstream media has been receptive to your movement and what you have to say in general? CS: Yes, very much so, and I appreciate that I’ve been treated extremely fairly. It’s somewhat ironic, when I was a conservative talk show host, I was, you know, a conservative talk show host who was easily ignored, and now suddenly I have a wider audience. Really since last spring, I don’t think I have been treated unfairly in a single interview that I’ve done, I will often tweet out that I’m quoted accurately in a story, so as far as I’m concerned, the media has been extremely fair. DP: Have you been keeping up with the conservative media? Especially other radio hosts? And now that you’re no longer part of it all, how do you feel about the state of
conservative media? CS: It’s embarrassing what it’s become. Back in Wisconsin, some of the conservative radio hosts turned on me because I must’ve never been a conservative if I didn’t support Donald Trump. This is one of the themes of my book: what happened to the conservative media? How it morphed into an alternative reality silo, not just an echo chamber, with its own set of facts and narratives, and how tolerant it was of propaganda and of hoaxes. I devote several chapters of my book to what was the fundamental betrayal of the conservative movement by people like Rush Limbaugh, who pursued the popularity of the Trump movement rather than hold up his hand and say, “People, this is crazy!” We have all of these other choices, why would we do this? This failure of thought leadership and this failure of principle was pretty appalling. So I think that when it mattered the most the conservative media betrayed its listeners. DP: So you feel that the conservative media is partially to blame for the rise of Donald Trump and for the Republican party’s embrace of populism? CS: Yes, hugely. I think that between Fox News, conservative talk radios, the online networks centered on Breitbart, they went all in on Trumpism and created for him what is now the news state media. DP: When do you believe that the Republican party first showed signs of embracing populism? CS: Well, that’s an interesting question. Part of this book was my attempt at doing an autopsy, going back and asking, “What the hell just happened?” How far back does this go? Did Donald Trump take over an otherwise healthy political party, or was he a symptom of something? Ultimately, I’ve concluded that the dysfunction was a preexisting condition, and a lot of this went back a long way. It’s hard to pinpoint all of the things, but was it the moment, in terms of alternative facts, when publications like the Drudge Report began linking to conspiracy sites like Alex Jones’ InfoWars, which is the worst of the worst? Was it when Republicans decided that Sarah Palin should be their vice presidential nominee? I mean there’s a lot of moments where you can go back to and go, “Okay, that was a warning sign.” When the Tea Party morphed into a perpetual outrage machine that was more focused on what it was against than what it was for … I mean there were populist strains in the party going back to the 1970s, there were people who toyed around with the idea of George Wallace. But ultimately that was rejected, and most of those extremist ideas were rejected. So the question is, “What happened in 2016 that the immune system totally collapsed?” It’s like the human body, you always have the viruses and bacteria that are around you, but what happens when it invades and takes over? And I think that the story of conservative media bubble is really central to that story. DP: Do you think that the Republican leadership has by now hopelessly embraced the fringe extremes of their party, or do you think that there’s any way for the Republican party to go forward? CS: You know, this feels like the week where their capitulation to Donald Trump feels complete. The President endorsed Roy Moore, a candidate who’s an accused child molester, and the Republican National Committee reverses its decision and goes all in. The Republicans are rallying around the tax plan, so that feels as though there’s no resistance to Trump anymore. Does that mean that they’re embracing all of the extreme positions, though? You emSee SYKES page 5
Wednesday december 6, 2017
Satterfield shares personal stories of her activism SATTERFIELD Continued from page 1
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still has fond memories of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood. Previous local establishments, like the 41-year old restaurant owned by Mr. Griggs and located where Griggs Corner is now and the Princeton Playhouse where a quarter afforded one movie showing, all contributed to a good childhood. According to Satterfield, Albert Einstein also used to walk around her neighborhood when he took strolls around the Institute for Advanced Study. He knew about segregation because of how Jewish people were treated in Germany. “I remember his sandals and his hair,” said Satterfield. “I remember him taking me around, but I had no idea who he was.” Although Satterfield began her college education by studying secretarial science at Rider College in Trenton, she “hated every single minute of it” and transferred to Bennett College in North Carolina instead. While studying at Bennett, Satterfield sat at the counters with the Greensboro Four during her participation in the Greensboro sit-ins, a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960. She recalled white hecklers calling them out, throwing things, and shouting “n*gger.” After graduating from Bennett College, Satterfield and two of her “Bennett sisters” moved to Las Vegas, where they each paid $33 monthly rent. While living in Las Vegas, Satterfield
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and her friends drove across the country to visit Princeton in 1964, and she remembers the discrimination she faced in the Deep South during the road trip. In Tennessee, although they had called ahead to place a hotel reservation, upon their arrival, they were directed to the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed four years later. After teaching in elementary and high schools in the 1960s and 1970s, Satterfield resumed her education by earning a master’s degree in guidance and counseling at Trenton State, now known as the College of New Jersey. Joining the Historical Society of Princeton in 1990, Satterfield established the Albert E. Hinds Memorial Walking Tour to increase awareness of the African American history in Princeton and to commemorate her “history partner” and friend, Hinds. In 1993, Satterfield returned to where she started and became a guidance counselor at Princeton High School. Over a catered dinner on Dec. 5 in Whitman College’s private dining room, 12 undergraduate and graduate students joined Satterfield in this intimate conversation, accompanied by a slideshow featuring photographs from Satterfield’s lineage, tracing it all the way back to her great-grandparents. Along with a map of Princeton, Satterfield marked historical places relevant to Princeton and African American history, while narrating her childhood’s intersection with the town’s racial evolution.
Anti-Trump conservative Sykes speaks on campus SYKES
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brace Trump, you embrace all the baggage. You have now enabled and empowered all of the things that he has done and said, his comments about Charlottesville, his winkwink to the alt-right. This is the price tag that you pay in this Faustian bargain. You sell your soul to the Devil, you get what you want, your heart’s desire, but then you find out that the price was way higher than what you thought it was. Even the Republicans who are capitulating to Trump deny that they are embracing those darker, more extreme elements, but they’re complicit in them. So I think it’s going to be very hard to wipe the taint of that off of conservatives. How do Republicans come back to young people and women? To Hispanic Americans, to African Americans, to Asian Americans, Muslim Americans, and say, “Hey, we’re on your side! We’re open and inclusive, that wasn’t us!” Well, it was you! You embraced all of this. I spent most of 2016 saying, “Don’t do this, you don’t understand what you’ll be doing to yourself for a generation, if you embrace these things.” DP: What has your reaction been when you see prominent Republicans like Lindsey Graham speaking out against Trump and then either voting in accordance with his wishes or supporting him later? CS: Well, I understand the people who will denounce Trump but then say, “Hey, I’m still a conservative Republican, this doesn’t mean that I’m going to vote against what I believe to be conservative legislation.” And I think it’s somewhat unfair to expect them to vote against conservative proposals. But going back to Lindsey Graham, did you see the video tape last week? That was classic. He says, “You know, the problem with the media is that they’re trying to portray the President as a kook who’s not fit
to be in office” and then cue the tape of him saying, “He’s a cook, he’s not fit for office.” This is what I don’t understand. How do you go from recognizing that the man is unfit for office in early 2016 to now being a cheerleader and an enabler? That’s part of the trajectory, it’s a political party that has embraced someone after Access Hollywood. After he bragged about sexually assaulting women and is today embracing a candidate who has been accused of molesting children … so you have this long line of decline. You swallow this, which makes it easier to swallow this, and the people who have raised their hands against this, like former President George Bush, John McCain, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake all denounced what Trump was doing, but there was just complete silence from everyone else. These are the voices of decency but they’re all on the way out the door. The Republicans who might’ve agreed with them in private didn’t speak out. So that was, in so many ways, a defining moment for the party. DP: Do you have any suggestions for the way forward for the conservative movement? CS: The conservative movement, as distinct from the Republican party, can move forward. Donald Trump doesn’t discredit ideas. If freedom is a good idea, if limited government is a good idea, then they remain unsullied. I would say the same thing that I’ve been saying for a while, when this is over, if conservatives want to be taken seriously, they’re going to have to be able to say that they were not complicit in Trumpism. They’ll need to go back to first principles, even if that means they won’t be popular and never be on Fox News again. Even if Breitbart denounces them. Ultimately, I think history is going to vindicate the people who were able to stand principle rather than get on board the train.
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Opinion
Wednesday december 6, 2017
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Lend your ears and your heart
vol. cxli
Kaveh Badrei
senior columnist
T
he world today is politically polarized and radically diverse, riffed by the divisions of politics, international relations, and conf licting ideologies. In this landscape, natural disasters are some of the only instances left in which global citizens form a unified, cohesive response. Individuals and leaders of different nations, faiths, and political ideologies overcome obvious differences, banding together to provide aid and security to those aff licted in these catastrophes. We saw such a response in Haiti and Fukushima, and more recently in Texas, Louisiana, and Puerto Rico.
But our sympathy and the strength of our response is not consistent. Our hearts are seemingly uncaring when disaster strikes a particular people; our thoughts and prayers are selective. The 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Iran and parts of Iraq on Nov. 12 — the deadliest earthquake of 2017 — stimulated a far colder, weaker response than other recent disasters. Over 500 Iranians were killed in the natural disaster, and over 12,000 individuals were injured and displaced by the devastation and destruction to homes, infrastructure, and buildings in the region near Iran’s western border with Iraq. The survivors were forced to take refuge outside the ruins of their houses and living spaces in makeshift tents in regions where temperatures dip below freezing in the night. But despite the catastrophic damage and loss of life, the media and collective conscious of our country fostered no sense of empathy and bolstered no sense of
responsibility to respond with the urgency offered to Haiti, Japan, or Houston. The Iranian earthquake was clearly underrepresented in mainstream news. No articles from the most popular news sources came out shedding more light on the earthquake; there was a distinct absence of substantial coverage of the disaster in the 24-hour news cycle following the earthquake. Similarly, social media — a medium so often in tune and ablaze with attention to all parts of the world — appeared to me uncharacteristically silent. I had a very different response to Iran’s disaster. As the son of Iranian parents who came to this country seeking peace in the midst of the country’s 1979 revolution, the news of this tragedy in my familial and ancestral homeland took hold of my heart in a way that no other breaking story truly could. With family still living in Iran, I was immediately overcome by the fear of loved ones being harmed by the earthquake. While my family members were untouched by the earthquake, the very notion of worrying and feeling such a tinge in my heart moved me to an emotional and somber realization amidst a current society that seemed to have turned a blind eye to the devastation felt in Iran. In turning my worries and attention to a place stricken by disaster, never mind the fact that it felt so dear and close to my heart and identity, I was alone. The reality is that the west has demonstrated, in large part, an inaction and a carelessness towards the people of Iran. An increasingly antagonistic political re-
lationship stemming from the 1979 American hostage crisis has rendered American consciousness largely unresponsive and apparently uncaring towards the people of Iran. With this dehumanization, Iranians are seen as the other, a people disconnected from our common humanity and the need for collective action in the face of tragedy. The fog of an understandably hostile and rocky political relationship between the two countries renders us desensitized to the horrors felt by our fellow human beings and inoculated to the blatant inaction on our part. But politics even seeps into the channels of direct humanitarian relief. Because of harsh sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States, Americans who want to donate money to the cause are not able to do so easily. Forced to provide financial contributions only through a small number of certain institutions, the potential f low of aid and humanitarian relief to Iran from the United States proves constricted. This obvious and saddening disregard weighs heavily on the notion of human compassion that we so desperately try to achieve towards others. The neglect and turning of the heart from those who need it most pulls and hurts our simple conception of kinship with one another, and the only way to rebuild and to replenish this void of compassion is through a renewed devotion to care, help, and humanize the other. In our current political climate, it seems forcibly and unrealistically idealistic to expect any sort of deviation from the norm with
a President and a political system so riffed and divided by party agenda, fierce rhetoric, and a lack of compassion and common human decency. So I turn my attention to you, the people of Princeton, of the United States, of our society. In the face of negligence, seek out, acknowledge, and grip the causes and the peoples that cry for help; in the face of a disregard of humanity, embrace the other. While the people affected by the natural disaster in Iran remain devastated by the deadliest earthquake of the year, lend your ears and your hearts to help them, to listen to their struggle, to open your arms to embrace these fellow humans in despair. Iranians are a loving, beautiful, and culturally rich people whose civilization draws its roots to the ancient beginnings of human society. They have left their mark on the history of the world through lasting contributions in literature, poetry, art, music, science, math, religion, politics, and language. Amidst such truths and the clear signs of our reality, these moments demand ref lection and a reevaluation of the self. What lies at the heart of our compassion and care for those in need? And why do individuals’ concern, empathy, and love sometimes remain silent? In the words of the fourteenth century Persian poet Hafez who is now regarded as one of the greatest writers in the tradition, “What’s happened to the breeze of spring?” Kaveh Badrei is a sophomore from Houston, Tex. He can be reached at kbadrei@ princeton.edu.
Undergraduates: The Republican graduate-tuition waiver tax affects us too Ryan Born
senior columnist
T
he Republican Congress is currently debating, voting on, and passing extremely complex legislation designed to change the tax code. As of Dec. 2, the Senate version of this legislation was passed, and has seen a range of analyses ranging from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, Vox, and the Washington Post. This article will not be focusing on the Senate version, but rather the House version, which is still under debate. As reported by NPR, the House version is especially controversial in academia because the bill treats graduate tuition waivers as taxable income. Graduate students often see the high tuition costs of graduate education waived by their institutions to allow them to come and study, especially if they cannot otherwise afford to study. These waivers are currently tax-exempt, so taxing them would create a serious new burden for the 145,000 graduate students in the nation. As Sarah Arveson has written, at Yale, grad students earn about $30,000 a year, but without tuition waivers, they would be taxed like people who make $70,000. This would amounts to a third of their take-home pay going to taxes.
However, I argue that what hurts graduate students at Princeton hurts undergraduate students at Princeton. We have an interest in agitating for the interests of our graduate students. First, graduate students are our teachers, and we have a vested interest in the quality of our TAs. Second, as undergraduates, many of us will become graduate students and hence ought have an interest in our future prospects. Third, undergraduates helping the cause of graduates can engender student solidarity across the undergraduate-graduate divide, helping undergraduates’ causes as well as graduate students’ causes. To begin, the overwhelming majority of students at Princeton will have to interact with graduate student preceptors at some point or another. Preceptors are our teachers, often taking the incredibly important roles of discussion leader and grader in our lives. We expect them to teach us well, take active interest, hold office hours; we expect a lot from graduate students. A class can be good or bad solely based on the ability and care of the preceptor in charge. We therefore have an interest in three things: first, ensuring that we have the access to the very best graduate students we can
get. This includes making sure graduate students who teach well, but could not otherwise afford a graduate education, get non-taxable tuition waivers. Second, we want to avoid a drop in graduate student quality. We do not want graduate students distracted by problems that impact their lives as deeply as the graduate waiver problem. We cannot expect graduate students to give full attention to both their and our studies and classes if they are terrified about their income. Third, graduate student quality drops because fewer socioeconomically diverse preceptors will be available for our classes. Obviously rich grad students can remain graduate students without waivers, but the less well-off will suffer, denying Princeton the best selection from the entire socioeconomic ladder. Princeton undergraduates stand to lose if graduate quality drops. It is not only the quality of preceptors that should concern undergraduates; rather, many undergraduates at Princeton also desire to become graduate students. Next to finance, consulting, and technology, graduate education is among the most popular graduate pathways. For many of us, it is not the conditions of grad school currently this
year that really matter to us, but rather the conditions in one year, or two, or three. The dissolution of the taxwaiver for graduate tuition waivers is therefore a future threat that we must take the prescient approach to deal with now. We must take our future interests seriously. There is more to be concerned about than just our future interests; there are also our interests right now. Because of those, undergraduates have an interest in promoting the interests of graduate students in general to form student solidarity. There are 5,232 undergraduates at Princeton University, with an additional 2,747 graduate students. Graduate students can thereby increase our bargaining power as a student body by roughly 50 percent. But why should graduate students take into account our needs as a student body if we do not take into account their needs as a student body? What more pressure can we bring to bear on the University and the nation if we work together as a coalition of aligned interests? We deserve it to ourselves to be aware of our older peers in graduate school and create a type of student consciousness, pushing for their agenda as they help us push for theirs. Undergraduates and graduates can work together for
Sarah Sakha ’18
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 Kathleen Crown William R. Elfers ’71 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 John Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Kathleen Kiely ’77 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 Lisa Belkin ‘82 Francesca Barber trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73
141ST MANAGING BOARD managing editors Samuel Garfinkle ’19 Grace Rehaut ’18 Christina Vosbikian ’18 head news editor Marcia Brown ’19 associate news editors Kristin Qian ’18 head opinion editor Nicholas Wu ’18 associate opinion editors Samuel Parsons ’19 Emily Erdos ’19 head sports editor David Xin ’19 associate sports editors Christopher Murphy ’20 Claire Coughlin ’19 head street editor Jianing Zhao ’20 associate street editors Lyric Perot ’20 Danielle Hoffman ’20 web editor Sarah Bowen ’20 head copy editors Isabel Hsu ’19 Omkar Shende ’18 associate copy editors Caroline Lippman ’19 Megan Laubach ’18 head design editors Samantha Goerger ’20 Quinn Donohue ’20 cartoons editor Tashi Treadway ’19
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change, and ought to. A key issue is this tuition-waiver provision. We have an interest in agitating for the interests of our graduate students. They are our teachers, they are our future, they are our colleagues. We must fight against the reform of graduate student taxation. One step can be to sign the petition: Princeton Graduate Student Petition Against Taxation of Tuition Waivers. The Republican graduate tuition waiver is an attack on academia, and it affects us too. Let us fight against it together. Ryan Born is a junior in the philosophy department from Washington, Mich. He can be reached at rcborn@princeton. edu.
Wednesday december 6, 2017
Opinion
page 7
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }
The case for cash Jon Ort
contributing columnist
“
Wifi: No hardware installed.” The unwelcome message f lashed across my computer screen last Thursday. After three hours of repeating the same futile steps to revive it, I decided to seek professional help. My computer spent the weekend as a guest at the Quaker Bridge Apple Store.
Four days later, when I returned to the store to pick up my device, the register rejected my only credit card. I panicked for a moment, thinking that Apple would detain my computer. Fortuitously, I had enough cash in my wallet to pay for the repairs. But, in having to pay in cash, I was forced to pay closer attention to the exact cost. Before, I would have swiped my card with little regard to the price the register displayed. As I rode back to campus, clutching my computer with a fierce protective instinct, I wondered how often I use my credit card without think-
ing about the charge. In this case, the spending was necessary because I needed a functional computer. With other purchases, however, do I even pay attention? As a society, we have embraced an electronic economy. Our use of cashless cards, both credit and debit, is astronomical. In 2015, the most recent fiscal year for which the Federal Reserve System has collected data, American consumers executed more than 144 billion cashless transactions, twenty-one billion more than the number in 2012. In total, Americans spent nearly $178 trillion in virtual money. Respected scholars at peer institutions advocate for eliminating cash altogether, arguing that paper currency is no longer practical and benefits black markets. They envision a national economy fueled solely by credit and debit cards and other virtual platforms, such as the money-sharing app Venmo.
A cashless economy would endanger our centuriesstrong tradition of financial autonomy and accountability. Cashless platforms facilitate imprudent and impulsive spending, because we are less likely to care about the amount we spend than if we used cash. Cash is tactile, making us painfully aware when it leaves our wallets. Nothing, however, seems to happen when a cashier swipes a credit card. We defer the actual payment, making purchases easier to stomach. In fact, Visa cites the higher spending that results from cards to encourage its business clients to accept cashless payment. Debit cards do not defer payment. Instead, they immediately deduct money from the spender’s banking account. An oblivious spender would soon drain his account. Nonetheless, debit cards are not a panacea. They still transfer money without cash, con-
tributing to our financial complacency. With the benefit of hindsight, we know that the 2008 financial crisis largely came about because Americans spent beyond their means, taking out mortgages and loans that they could not afford. While Wall Street bears no small responsibility for this systemic failure, cashless platforms also contributed. Consumers put down electronic down payments of sizes that they evidently failed to appreciate. Abandoning cash jeopardizes more than just our personal finances. It also endangers our economic security. Electronic transactions rely on a complicated and fragile infrastructure. So, threats as diverse as natural disasters, hacking attacks, electrical shorts, and government surveillance loom when we buy and bank online. These threats would only compound if we were to reject cash.
Stages of Laundry pulkit singh ’20
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In the four days I was bereft of a computer, my connection to the online world was tenuous at best. Commonplace tasks, from printing to logging into Princeton’s Central Authentication System, became impossible. If a simple hardware malfunction could so severely limit my activities, imagine the catastrophic effects of a failure in our national network. While cash may seem to be a vestige of the past, it helps us to spend responsibly. Cash transactions are immune to technical malfunction and continue to serve a useful purpose. We should not be complacent about our financial security for the sake of convenience. Jon Ort is a first-year from Highlands Ranch, Colo. He can be reached at jaort@princeton. edu.
Sports
Wednesday december 6, 2017
page 8
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WRESTLING
Tiger wrestling takes next step with schedule of top 25 teams By Molly Milligan staff writer
The Princeton wrestling team will continue their season this Sunday, Dec. 10 against Virginia Tech at Madison Square Garden in the annual “Grapple at the Garden.” The Hokies are ranked No. 10 in the latest Coaches poll, so the Tigers will be in for a challenge this weekend, but that’s nothing new to them. This match-up follows Princeton’s first home dual meet of the season, last Saturday’s loss to No. 5-ranked Lehigh. Junior Mike D’Angelo at 157 pounds and freshman Patrick Brucki at 197 pounds, an Illinois high school state champion last year, fought for comeback wins. Lehigh only finished with a 6-4 edge in overall match wins, but prevailed 25-13 thanks to the many bonus points being awarded. The Mountain Hawks were able to ride the strength of their four nationally-ranked wrestlers, including the reigning NCAA champion at 125 pounds and Scott Parker, who is ranked third at 133 pounds. Princeton sophomore Matthew Kolodzik, who is currently ranked No. 4 at 149 pounds, defeated Cortlandt Schuyler for the Tigers’ first win of the night. His win was followed by D’Angelo’s comeback and then-senior captain
Jonathan Schleifer’s highscoring victory over Gordon Wolf at 165 pounds. The Tigers were excited to wrestle in front of a large crowd at Jadwin Gym, hoping to show they have what it takes to produce another special season. Kolodzik discussed how the Tigers were happy to qualify for NCAAs last season and grew “content with how far [they] had come instead of realizing how far [they] could go.” This season, he says the team is “hell-bent on reaching that potential.” Princeton will have a good idea of where they stand following the meet with Virginia Tech. Last weekend, the Hokies wrestled at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, where they saw four wrestlers place in the top seven in their weight classes. The Hokies finished sixth as a team behind five others who rank in the top 16 nationally: Ohio State, Michigan, Arizona State, Northern Iowa, and Nebraska. The Tigers are hitting the ground running, as December includes another matchup against No. 2 Ohio State. The challenging schedule for Princeton spills over into winter break and early January, as the team will face No. 20 Purdue, No. 9 Michigan, and No. 22 Rider prior to resuming Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association
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Freshman Patrick Brucki sent the crowd into a frenzy with his comeback win during the Lehigh match.
(EIWA) competition. Kolodzik commented on the competition the Tigers are yet to face, crediting Head Coach Chris Ayres and the rest of the coaching staff with putting together an “amazing schedule … all with the goal of pushing the team’s mental and physical boundaries.” He noted the necessity of a strong
schedule in “getting the guys to a place where [they] realize [they] can win an NCAA title.” The Tigers finished 25th as a team at last year’s NCAA Championships, and sent a school-best seven wrestlers to the final meet of the season. The Princeton Wrestling team “has really started to take off” in the words of
Kolodzik, as the team works towards their goal of a topfive finish at NCAAs. “There’s a tangible momentum and sense of excitement to how the guys operate, and that feeds off itself,” he added. Look for the wrestling team to make their goals a reality this winter, because these Tigers are on the prowl.
CLUB SWIMMING
Club swim anticipates successful season, builds team chemistry By Daniel Gitelman staff writer
For a team founded just over a decade ago, club swimming at Princeton has come an extremely long way in growing into the competitive and tightknit outfit that it is today. After a short history which has seen the club expand, shrink, and now expand again, it seems the team is finally finding its feet on the competitive stage, boasting a number of outstanding swimmers who have excelled at events past and look to continue exceeding expectations at future national-level tournaments. The composition of the team has changed drastically even over the last couple of years. Club swim had no representatives in the 2017 graduating class; however, this didn’t prevent the team from having its largest pool of successful swimmers. Roughly 20 swimmers competed in last year’s Ivy League Championships; club president junior Fritz Hillegas projects an increase to 25 competitors at this year’s rendition, which would shatter the previously-held attendance record. The anticipated increase
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Princeton Club Swim shows off its team spirit in a group Lawnparties photo.
stems from a very dedicated class of junior representatives, including around 15 who attend all practices and events, alongside an unusually large class of freshman swimmers. “We definitely go to a lot more meets than we used to when the team was younger,” explained Hillegas, who joined club swim as a freshman before assuming the role of vice-president and now president. “We’ve been able to build up somewhat of an alumni
Tweet of the Day “Final @UnitedCoaches poll is out. Your Tigers finish the season ranked No. 7 in the nation!” Princeton Women’s Soccer (@PrincetonWSoc)
network even though we’re so young.” The team partakes in a variety of invitationals alongside the crucial Ivy League and National Championships each year. Princeton held a club swimming invitational just a few weeks ago, hosting three other competing schools. Against Ivy League opposition last year, the club came in a respectable third place, even in the face of purported scoring issues. Meanwhile, a number of
Princeton club swimmers placed in the top 20 of last year’s Nationals, a remarkable feat considering the magnitude of the tournament and volume of swimmers. The team looks to attend more invitationals in the near future, while also aiming for at least a top-two finish in the Ivy League considering the comparatively increased size of the club this year. Hillegas identified a number of star swimmers on the team, including junior Ashley Drengler and seniors Effie Angus and Zoe Tu of the women’s team alongside graduate student Akshay Krishna and sophomore Changxiao Xie of the men’s. There has been significant improvement even among the B-heat, contributing to hopes of an even more successful competitive future for the squad. Beyond the competition, club swim is, at its core, all about the community. Contrary to many other club sports, swimming is not gendered, and the environment is described as highly supportive across all years, with upperclassmen serving as supportive mentors to their underclassmen counterparts. An increase in team bonding activities over the last few years has
Stat of the Day
8–7 Freshman wrestler Patrick Brucki rallied for a last-second 8–7 victory in the Lehigh match on Saturday.
successfully fostered this collaborative environment. “I think it’s the best club on campus because I tend to think of everyone on the team as my family. I think it’s so nice to know you can show up to practice when you’re having a down day and someone will be there and make you feel better,” Hillegas ref lected. “Sometimes at Princeton it can feel a bit alienating if you’re not part of a group, so it’s nice to always have club swim there. It also definitely helped with my sense of leadership and time management.” It is clear from recent developments that the club has the ambition to succeed on the Ivy League and Nationals stage. However, it is the increase in team chemistry which can be attributed as the source of increasing participation and corresponding success. Club swim is a team whose members feel genuinely at home, away from the worries of the outside world and focused on a common goal alongside dedicated peers. As Hillegas put it, no matter the background, aspirations, or abilities, “We will always love to have you.”
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