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Monday march 11, 2013 vol. cxxxvii no. 26
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In Opinion Luke Massa poses a pro-gay argument against gay marriage, and the Editorial Board discusses sexual violence. PAGE 4
The Archives
March 11, 1999 Dean of Student Life Janina Montero threatens to punish any future Nude Olympians with a one-year suspension.
On the Blog Richard Daker criticizes the statement that students come to college to make friends as ridiculous.
On the Blog Check out James Corran’s review of the new My Bloody Valentine album, “m b v.”
STUDENT LIFE
SHAB raises tobacco concerns
CHAMPIONS
By Ronan O’Brien contributor
Following the efforts of other universities to address smoking-related concerns, Princeton students, in collaboration with the Pace Center, have formed the Princeton Tobacco Control Policy Group to raise awareness about secondhand smoking. “The overall goal is to have a healthier campus for students and faculty … and to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco,” president and founder of PTCPG Judy Hou ’16 said. Hou, who was involved in tobacco prevention activities in high school, said she formed the group because she felt that Ivy League schools have not done enough to address the health effects of secondhand smoking. “This is a topic that hasn’t been approached as much at Ivy League schools … People don’t think it’s really something that affects them directly, but I think a lot of state schools have seen that it’s a bigger issue,” Hou added. “I talked to a lot of my peers, and I did hear people with complaints about having to breathe in smoke, especially walking to class or See TOBACCO page 3
PHOTO COURTESY OF TIM WILLIAMS
The men’s distance medley relay team won the DMR NCAA Championships with a time of 9:33.01 on Friday. See page 8 for details. BEYOND THE BUBBLE
CEO argues for stable dollar By Monica Chon senior writer
Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine and CEO of Forbes, Inc. Steve Forbes ’70 argued for a stable dollar and simplification of the tax code as keys to recovering from the 2008 economic crisis and ensuring a prosperous American economy in the future in a lecture on Sunday afternoon. Forbes, who founded the magazine Business Today as an undergraduate at the University, campaigned for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1996 and 2000 on a platform of flat income tax and served on the University Board of Trustees from 1992 to 2002. Forbes pre-
viously visited campus for Forbes residential college’s 25th anniversary in 2010. Forbes spoke about the United States’ role in maintaining the stability and prosperity of the world. “We are the guarantor of free trade, peace and safety in this world,” Forbes said. “Without the U.S., this world would be much more violent, more unstable, less prosperous and have less prospects for the future.” He contrasted the 1980s and the present day, arguing that the ’80s were a period of positive change in which democracy came back into fashion, Silicon Valley was starting to boom, the Berlin Wall fell and Soviet communism collapsed. “From the early 1980s to 2007, when this financial crisis started … we went through
STUDENT LIFE
ACADEMICS
U. researchers publish model that predicts parasite survival
PRINCETON By the Numbers
540
The number of additional minutes Murray-Dodge is operating every week.
By Elizabeth Pail
News & Notes
contributor
Republicans filibuster D.C. circuit court nominee Halligan ’88
Senate Republicans filibustered a vote to nominate general counsel to the Manhattan district attorney’s office Caitlin Halligan ’88 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on March 6, The Washington Post reported. The Senate’s vote to end floor debate was 51 to 41, nine short of the supermajority necessary to proceed with the vote on Halligan’s nomination. The Republicans who blocked the vote on Halligan’s nomination cited concerns that Obama’s nominations were a form of judicial activism. “As we all know, judges who sit on the D.C. Circuit are frequently considered for the Supreme Court,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told The Washington Post. “This is a court where we can least afford to confirm an activist judge.” Halligan, who served as New York State’s solicitor general from 2001 to 2007, is the second well-known appellate court nominee to be filibustered by Republicans in recent years. Obama nominee Goodwin Liu withdrew his name from consideration for a seat on the bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2011 after facing a prolonged Republican filibuster.
3.11 news FOR LUC.indd 1
one of the most amazing periods in human history,” Forbes said. “Never before have so many people, in so many parts of the world, advanced so quickly.” Since the 2008 economic crisis, however, the pace of historical progress has slowed and the U.S. economy has gone stagnant, Forbes argued. This decline has been difficult for the United States to shake off and is perceived by the outside world as a “fundamental flaw of free market capitalism,” he said. According to Forbes, however, the American decline stems from fundamental policy errors in two areas: money and taxes. “The reason we are not doing well today is See MONEY page 2
SHENG ZHOU :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Student helper at Murray-Dodge Leea Driskell ’16 makes a fresh batch of cookies. The Cafe is open for extended hours.
Murray-Dodge to open afternoons
By Seth Merkin Morokoff contributor
Murray-Dodge Cafe has expanded its hours to open Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to
6 p.m. as part of a trial program to gauge student interest in permanently adding afternoon hours to the schedule. The new afternoon hours began on March 3. The Office of Religious
Life, which provides the funding for the cafe, will cover the overhead costs of the expansion. Popularity will be the deciding factor in determining whether the cafe will remain open in the
daytime, according to Dean of Religious Life Alison Boden. “It’s not about money. We want [the cafe] to thrive,” Boden explained. “If the See COOKIES page 3
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
Congressman Holt discusses federal budget By Daniel Johnson staff writer
New Jersey Rep. Rush Holt, a Democrat who represents New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, held a questionand-answer discussion before approximately 50 members of the University community on Friday evening at Terrace Club. Holt responded to ques-
tions on subjects ranging from the federal budget to his legislative priorities. “What has taken hold in Washington, in at least the House of Representatives, is the idea that we are a poor debtor nation and might as well face it,” Holt explained. “We can’t invest in education; we can’t invest in research; we can’t do anything except
pass legislation to reduce the deficit.” Expressing his frustration with this “misguided” view held by some House Republicans, Holt pointed out that the United States has carried debt since the 18th century. Holt explained that despite our debt obligations, we invested in the country and “out-educated, out-innovated,
the rest of the world.” “That is what has made us successful, I think,” he explained. “It has made us more equal and equitable but also more prosperous.” With deep national spending cuts, or sequestration, in effect as of March 1 and the possibility of a government shutdown later this month, See TERRACE page 2
A new study published in Ecology Letters by postdoctoral researcher Peter Molnar and ecology and evolutionary biology professor Andrew Dobson outlines a model predicting the survival of parasites in certain regions of the globe as climate change progresses. While scientists 20 years ago predicted climate change would cause parasitic disease to increase overall, Molnar said his model quantifies the idea that this picture is too simplistic. “To sum these complications up, it basically depends on what parasite you’re looking at, its life history parameters and where in the world you’re looking,” Molnar explained. Instead of a universal expansion of parasite populations, Molnar’s model predicts that under the influence of climate change, the future survival of parasites will depend on their thermal niche, or the range of temperatures in which a parasite can survive. Parasites at the low end of their temperature niche will be able to establish novel populations, while mortality will increase in parasites that are living at the high end of their possible temperature range. Unlike previous models that were limited to analyzing data for a single parasite species, this theory can be applied to any species, Molnar explained. “If you basically consider that there are 300,000 or more parasites of vertebrates, it will basically be impossible to ever gather enough data to understand climate change in each taxa separately,” Molnar said, referring to the data-gathering limitations on previous models. Molnar’s theory generalizes parameters for the life cycle of any parasite species based on the metabolic theory of ecology, which establishes the relationship between an organism’s body mass, temperature and metabolic rate. This can be used to determine how the life cycle of a parasite changes with temperature. See SCIENCE page 2
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