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Friday March 15 ,2013 vol. cxxxvii no. 28

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In Opinion The Editorial Board suggests a P/D/F option for language classes, and Duncan Hosie argues in favor of allowing gay men to donate blood. PAGE 4

Today on Campus 10 a.m.: Princeton Poetry Festival will host readings and panel discussions by international poets. Alexander Hall.

The Archives

March 15, 1986 General Motors Foundation donated $750,000 to the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Online

Columnists debate the pros and cons of instituting a week of break before midterms.

PRINCETON By the Numbers

4

Number of students who will be living in Whitman College’s new collective.

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STUDENT LIFE

STUDENT LIFE

Former mascot reminisces

By Allison Kruk contributor

The Princeton tiger has been granted literary life with a memoir published in early February by Blanche Kapustin ’95, titled Tigering: Memoir of an Ivy League Mascot. The book details Kapustin’s time as the Princeton mascot. All profits from the sale are going to the Princeton band.

Kapustin, who majored in economics, said she never planned to become a writer.

However, she explained that she used to narrate her “tigering” exploits as bedtime stories to the children whom she babysat.

“I think I’ve always had these stories lingering in the back of my head,” Kapustin said.

From there, it was simply a matter of putting her “unusual experience” on paper for a wider audience. Some of Kapustin’s memories include the first time she stepped into the suit that “stank of some guy’s sweat” and the time she was attacked by the Columbia fencing team after a lost football game on Halloween of her sophomore year.

Kapustin said she first assumed her responsibility as mascot when she was approached by the men’s basketball coach at a game. She was See TIGER page 2

REBECCA TERRETT :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Recent thefts have prompted students to call for the installation of new surveillance cameras in the laundry rooms to prevent future crimes.

Students report laundry thefts

By Michael Granovetter senior writer

Emilie Burke ’15 left her clothes to dry overnight in the Feinberg laundry room on Feb. 11.

When she returned the next day, she discovered that her three loads of laundry, which constitute at least 70 percent of her wardrobe, had gone missing.

Burke, who said that she had lost at least 400 dollars worth of clothing, explained that she filed a report with Public Safety that same day, but noted, “There was nothing they could do for me.”

In addition to contacting Public Safety, Burke sent an email to WilsonWire, the Wilson

College listserv, asking for the thief to return her clothes. Hers was one of nine emails sent to the listserv regarding missing possessions from Wilson laundry rooms since the start of the spring semester.

Although a number of thefts have been discussed in WilsonWire emails, only one laundry theft has been reported to Public Safety according to the Department of Public Safety’s daily crime logs and clarifications from University spokesperson Martin Mbugua, since the start of February. The extent of theft in Feinberg remains unclear.

After receiving several emails about laundry that had disappeared from Feinberg, AJ Sibley ’16 decided to reach out to USG Senator

LATE NIGHTS OF MIDTERMS

LOCAL NEWS

Police chief under investigation

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News & Notes

By Loully Saney staff writer

Proposal to convert school into community center rejecte

A plan to repurpose the abandoned Valley Road School building into a community center was rejected by the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education at a public meeting last week. The board voted 9 to 1 to reject the 208-page proposal submitted by the Valley Road Adaptive Re-use Committee, a group of residents who have formed a nonprofit organization to advocate for the conversion of the school to a community center.

Board members cited the committee’s failure to provide “credible, documented assurances that it has or can secure funding adequate for the extremely extensive” renovations proposed for the building, The Town Topics reported. The cost of renovating the school would be about $10.8 million, according to a consultant hired by the district.

The lone dissenter on the board, John Clearwater, told Town Topics that an amended version of the proposal will be submitted after the committee makes inquiries about parking and zoning.

The three-building former school closed in the mid-1970s and is now in a state of dilapidation. The Princeton Fire Department has also expressed interest in the former school as a potential site for an expanded firehouse. The Princeton Council created a task force to consider the fire department’s proposal last month.

Both proposals have been in development and consideration for some time. The school board rejected earlier versions of both proposals in 2011.

news FOR LUC.indd 1

Eduardo Lima ’16 to discuss the possibility of installing security cameras in campus laundry rooms.

“This was a problem that had been persisting throughout the year, and no one else was doing anything about it,” Sibley said. “The administration probably doesn’t know this is a problem.”

In an email sent to Wilson College students on Feb. 27, Sibley enlisted his classmates to “stop the madness,” and support a petition to install security cameras in campus laundry rooms. Within a day, 23 students agreed to sign this petition, and Sibley forwarded the names of these individuals to Lima.

See FEINBERG page 2

DANIELA COSIO :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Students prepare for midterm examinations in Whitman College Library, which is open 24/7.

ACADEMICS

NASA scientist discusses Mars Rover

By Greta Shum contributor

Mars Science Lab Project Manager and professor of geology at California Institute of Technology John Grotzinger presented new evidence of ancient habitability on Mars, based on the findings from the Curiosity rover, in a lecture on

Thursday evening. On Tuesday, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. announced that Curiosity’s current location in Gale Crater very likely could have hosted microbial life.

Grotzinger explained that this particular location was chosen because it promised to have relevance to multiple in-

terests in the search for habitability on Mars. The rover’s eventual destination for the rover is Mount Sharp.

Researchers receiving Curiosity’s findings back on Earth were first struck by the rock’s surprising color — on the famous Red Planet, the rock in Gale Crater was gray.

See MICROBES page 2

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is currently reviewing allegations of administrative misconduct against Princeton Police Department Chief David Dudeck. Dudeck has been out of the office since Feb. 26, when the review first began.

The prosecutor’s spokeswoman, Casey DeBlasio, explained that this is not a formal investigation but that the office is “reviewing allegations of administrative misconduct.” Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert noted that the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for conducting all investigations in which a police chief or director is involved.

Although specific details of the allegations have not been revealed, Dudeck allegedly asked an officer to pull off his shirt to display his abs, called another officer a “fag” and made jokes of a sexual nature, according to

Princeton Patch.

Dudeck was formerly the police chief of the Princeton Borough Police Department and took command Jan. 1 as the inaugural chief of the consolidated Princeton Police Department.

Dudeck did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Messages left on his cell phone went unreturned.

Captain Nick Sutter, who is the only captain at the police department, is currently filling in for many of Dudeck’s responsibilities.

Sutter declined to comment on any details regarding Dudeck’s absence and allegations.

Sutter was also the department’s liaison for press inquiries until Thursday morning. In an email sent to the editors of several local news outlets Thursday, Sutter said Sergeant Mike Cifelli would take over the responsibility of issuing press releases and social media notifications.

Cifelli was the press liaison for the Princeton See PROSECUTOR page 2

STUDENT LIFE

Colleges implement living collectives for arts, humanities and civic services

By Jean-Carlos Arenas contributor

Two residential colleges will implement interest-based collective living programs next fall. Mathey College will implement a collective living program for a community of students with a shared interest for the arts and humanities on the third floor in Edwards Hall, while Whitman College will enact a similar initiative for a small group of students interested in civic

engagement on the third floor of Fisher Hall.

Mathey’s community, which will be called the Edwards Collective, received slightly over 50 applications, though some withdrew their applications in favor of joining eating clubs. While Whitman’s collective received nine applications, four students ultimately decided to join the program.

The idea for the collectives came out of many conversations about how to enhance

the residential colleges’ mission to “integrate the academic and intellectual with the residential and create opportunities for students outside of the classroom,” Dean of Whitman College Rebecca Graves-Bayazitoglu said.

Another inspiration was the idea of having opportunities and mentorship built into a specific community that encompassed students of all four class years, Mathey Director of Studies Kathleen Crown added.

Trips and other costs incurred for members of the collectives will be funded with outside funding rather than residential college funds, Graves-Bayazitoglu said. She explained that the colleges are looking into outside grants to finance the collectives.

To help students in the collectives achieve their respective goals, the Edwards Collective will partner with the Lewis Center for the Arts, while the Civic Engagement Community will collabo-

rate with the Pace Center for Civic Engagement and other service-oriented University offices.

All rising juniors and seniors were invited to apply to both collectives. Rising sophomores in Mathey and Whitman were also invited to apply to their college’s collective.

The application was not about evaluating academic qualifications or experience with the arts or service, but instead about gauging interest.

See MENTORSHIP page 2

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The Daily Princetonian

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Friday march 15, 2013

Students petition for new David Dudeck faces allegations of misconduct PROSECUTOR surveillance cameras Continued from page 1

FEINBERG Continued from page 1

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Lima discussed the idea of security cameras with USG President Shawon Jackson ’15, who plans to delegate this project to the Undergraduate Student Life Committee in the coming weeks.

According to Jackson, the USLC will consider this proposal and engage in a conversation with the University community before deciding whether to lead this project or to instead ask for support from the administration.

Mbugua explained that the decision to install security cameras would depend on discussions and evaluations by the Department of Public Safety.

In an email sent over the Wilson listserv on Tuesday, Wilson Director of Student Life Regan Crotty encouraged students to report any thefts to Public Safety, before adding, “Theft of someone else’s laundry, even if it is just one piece of clothing, is a violation of University policy and can lead to disciplinary repercussions.”

To address the recent unofficial reports of missing laundry, the Wilson College Office set up a laundry-return box in the Feinberg laundry room, so that students who have taken the possessions of a classmate can return these items anonymously. In addition, ten plastic laundry baskets have been added to the Feinberg laundry room, to keep individual loads separate, and to ensure that students do not inadvertently take their peers’ laundry.

While Sibley described the Wilson College staff’s actions as a “nice effort,” he said that they would ultimately be ineffective in the case that the items’ disappearances were actual thefts. He said that students who have supported his petition have cited cases of losing Princeton gear more often than other clothes.

“Princeton students aren’t going after things to sell on eBay,” he said. “They’re looking for things of practical utility.”

Burke said that after sending out an email to WilsonWire, she

found that only her winter jacket and Princeton rugby shirts had been returned to the laundry room. She added that she has not been able to replenish her wardrobe since the incident.

“I’m not from a wealthy family, and I don’t have the kind of money to just get new clothes,” she said. “I now only have one pair of pants, and I have to do laundry every other day. When you go to your closet and nothing’s there, you don’t know how to react.” She added that in addition to losing her Princeton t-shirts, her relatively expensive skirts and tops remain missing.

Ryan Patrick ’16 also said he lost two of his nicest articles of clothing from his laundry load, and he noted that his first reaction was one of “disappointment.”

“I don’t want to think of my fellow Princeton students as having a malicious intent,” he said, adding, “I was discouraged with my classmates and peers.”

Annie Tao ’16 also reported a theft over WilsonWire when she found that her bath mat had gone missing. While she supports the idea of installing security cameras, she said that she wished she could trust her classmates instead.

“Security cameras seem kind of ridiculous,” she explained. “Ideally, people could just use common sense and not steal or be considerate and not throw stuff into a machine with laundry already in it.”

In Tao’s case, however, the incident turned out to be an accident.

Nelson Collet ’16, who had taken the bath mat by mistake, had his roommate return it to Tao after reading her WilsonWire email.

“This obviously wasn’t a theft,” Collet said. “I wouldn’t know what I’d do with a purple bath mat.”

Burke added that while she believes her clothes were actually stolen, she believes that in most cases these incidents are not thefts. She explained that she was opposed to the idea of security cameras because it would detract from the “Orange Bubble” feel of the Princeton campus.

“The University trusts us as individuals,” she said. “It’s part of growing up.”

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Township Police Department before consolidation. Sutter did not respond to a follow up email asking if the new arrangement is expected to be permanent or temporary.

In a press conference in February, Sutter announced the police department was staffed by 51 members at the time, a number lower than the expected 56-member force following consolidation. With Dudeck’s absence, the force would be down to 50 officers.

Dudeck is not the first Princeton chief to be accused of misconduct and several officers have accused the Borowugh department of using internal investigations as a form of retaliation in the past.

“Members of the department too frequently stab each other in the back and behave like wayward teenagers,” former Borough Council member Roger Martindell said.

He explained he has been frustrated with the “intradepartmental politics” of the department in the past. He added that there exists a bureaucratic problem in that the municipality looks to the county for guidance. However, the county is not in charge of the police department, so essentially there is no one properly reviewing the allegations of misconduct against Dudeck.

“They don’t look out for the best interests of the department or the community as a whole — what they need is exposure to the sunlight, discipline, and leadership,” he said. “There should be a thorough and open investigation of the allegations.”

Martindell further explained that a resignation by Dudeck would be even more problematic for the Princeton Police Department, and suggested that tension between the Borough and Township management and the police union has led to a lack of unification and strong leadership within the department.

“To get rid of a chief for stupid comments, you are really closing down the ability of police chiefs to function because everyone makes stupid comments,” he said.

“Members of the department too frequently stab each other in the back.” roger martindell

former borough council member

Martindell explained that the police department is composed of “individuals with too much time, too much money and too little interest in the service of the community.”

However, Lempert noted that, “the police department has been one of the models in terms of consolidation.”

She added that the process of the consolidation has been “better than expected.”

Lempert declined to comment further on the Dudeck investigation, noting again that the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for dealing with all such personnel matters.

Dudeck is also the head football coach at the Hun School of Princeton. The Hun School did not respond to inquiries on whether the recent allegations have affected his post.

He has served on the Princeton police force since 1983 and was designated the chief of the Borough police department in 2009. He became chief of the consolidated police department last year. As of now, his absence from the department totals over two weeks and it is unclear when he will return to his post.

DeBlasio noted that the Prosecutor’s office does not have an approximation or timeline for when it will have completed reviewing the allegations.

Whitman, Mathey pilot interest-based housing MENTORSHIP Continued from page 1

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“In the Edwards Collective, we were looking for students who had artistic ambition … but also had a desire for community and connection,” Crown said.

“Genuine interest and motivation to be a part of the community is the overriding factor, I think, in that selection process,” Graves-Bayazitoglu added.

The Edwards Collective received unexpectedly high interest and admitted more students than it had originally intended.

The collectives are not expected to impact room availability in the residential colleges, Crown said, as any

rising junior or senior from any college already has the ability to draw into Mathey or Whitman.

“There’s just a lot to do in terms of seeing what it’s going to look like.”

Kristin Wilson ’14

The focus on community in the collectives is a major element of the initiative to introduce interest-based collective living programs in the residential colleges. Some

members of Whitman’s Civic Engagement Community expressed that they thought the presence of a community would encourage service work.

“In some ways, the Civic Engagement Community provides a framework for helping us be more intentional about giving back to the community. It’s also easier to do that kind of thing when you’re with other people — it makes it more fun and more effective,” Tobias Stoner ’16 said.

The Civic Engagement Community will have a great deal of freedom to collectively shape what the community does, according to Whitman College Council’s civic engagement chair Kristin Wilson ’14.

“I suspect … the Whitman collective is way less set in

terms of what it’s going to do.

I think both of these models are very flexible, but I think [with] the Whitman collective being smaller, and also being about civic engagement, which is already such a nebulous term, there’s just a lot to do in terms of seeing what it’s going to look like,” Wilson said.

Like other applicants, Wilson was interested in both collectives. To accommodate for interest in both areas, the two collectives will be encouraged to establish a relationship.

“Many students who are interested in the arts collective talked about their desire to do community-based projects … [such as] mural painting, poetry in the schools, so we expect there to be some collaboration,” Crown said.

Blanche Kapustin ’95 attacked by Columbia fencing team sophomore year TIGER

Continued from page 1

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friends with the cheerleaders, and they needed a substitute for the mascot, who was unable to attend that game.

According to Kapustin, putting on the tiger suit allowed her the freedom to express herself, to “be the person who can get up and dance to the band’s music even by myself, the person who can play with the little kids even though I don’t know them personally and clap for my friends even

though I’m not a cheerleader, the person who can go ahead and do those things without being afraid of messing up.”

Kapustin explained that the memoir and her mascot experience are about proving to people that she is not easily classified. “Everyone looks at you like you’re an animal in a cage and they’ve constructed those cages where they think you belong,” Kapustin said.

Although Kapustin composed the memoir, “to get some stuff off my chest,” she said her main motivation for writing was to give back to

the University, especially the band, a group with which she spent many hours at school events.

“Obviously I’m not looking for fame and fortune here.

[Writing the memoir] is my way of giving back to the band.

If you read the book I think you’ll understand that they’ve done a lot for me and for each other,” Kapustin said, referring to the band as “family.”

“Blanche takes Princeton spirit seriously and in the positive way of that. I kind of got the sense that she absorbed more of Princeton spirit than

other Tigers might have,” Sharon Beth Kristal ’94, one of Kapustin’s friends from the University Band, said.

Kristal remembered that Kapustin made appearances at events for every single sport because she felt it was important for the Tiger to show the athletes who weren’t men’s basketball players or football players that they were valued as well. “That’s Blanche,” Kristal said.

In her mascot duties, Kapustin encountered many University alumni including John Gore ’68, with whom she

became friends.

“The tiger is a universal singular noun and means everyone, you, me, anyone who’s been associated with Princeton. Blanche resurrected that and made it the self-effacing image of Princeton,” Gore said.

According to Gore, the image of the Princeton Tiger dates back to the 19th century when players wore a “black leotard” during athletic contests. In order to tell the teams apart, Princeton decided to place ribbons on their uniforms. Because Nassau Hall was named in honor of King

William III, Prince of Orange (of the House of Nassau), the ribbons were orange, prompting spectators to say that the Princeton athletes “looked like tigers.”

“The tiger was a kind of iconic, new, romantic thing in everyone’s literature,” said Gore. Consequently, it became the “brand” of the University, what Gore calls “the physical manifestation of being a Princetonian.”

Tigering: Memoir of an Ivy League Mascot is currently on sale on Amazon.com in hard copy or as an e-book.

Grotzinger discusses recent mission MICROBES Continued from page 1

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“Red Mars turned gray at Gale Crater,” Grotzinger said.

The rock found in Gale Crater has been notable to scientists because it suggests a long history of interaction with neutral pH water. This water, which would likely have had a low salinity concentration, would have been far more inviting to microbial life than any other location.

Researchers found that the magnetite found in the rock was not fully oxidized. The discovery of both oxidized and reduced substances in these samples suggests that microorganisms that subsist simply on the chemical

energy potential present within a rock could have lived within the Gale Crater rock.

Back on Earth, scientists like Princeton’s own Tullis C. Onstott have touted the importance and vitality of prokaryotes that live in extreme habitats like these in recent years.

These so-called “extremophiles” were probably the first organisms on Earth, Grotzinger explained.

“This is the most complex spacecraft ever to be sent to the surface of another planet,” Grotzinger said as he explained an image of Curiosity’s insides.

Curiosity is equipped with tools with names like CheMin, Curiosity’s X-ray diffraction instrument, and Dust Removal Tool.

One of the challenges of the

Mars mission has been the need for vigilant communication with the rover, Grotzinger explained. Furthermore, the scientists must take meticulous precautions in every action.

Not only must every movement be simulated on Earth before it can happen on Mars, but every sample must be taken several times in order to prevent contamination.

This time commitment can become a problem when Mars begins its transit behind the Sun. For that period of about a month, the Earth will not be able to communicate by radio signals with Curiosity.

Grotzinger expressed his anticipation for the coming Mars Sample Return Mission scheduled for launch in 2020.

CORRECTION Due to an editing error, the last names of senior writer Sohee Khim and copy editor Andrew Sartorius were misspelled in the March 13 edition of The Daily Princetonian. The ‘Prince’ regrets the errors.

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Friday march 15, 2013

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Duncan Hosie

guest contributor

Bigotry and blood

L

ast Friday, I tried to donate blood. I hydrated throughout the day, walked across campus for my 2 p.m. appointment and chatted with the amicable nurses. Yet, I was turned away for one reason: I am a gay male.

Thirty years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned any man who has had sex with another man from donating blood.

The policy was an understandable, and perhaps even reasonable, response to the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic. At the time, bloodscreening technology for detecting HIV was rudimentary and imprecise. Beyond knowing that a disproportionate number of gay men were infected, doctors’ knowledge of HIV/AIDS was limited. The very fact that doctors referred to AIDS as gay-related immune deficiency, or GRID, in the 1980s epitomizes the minimal understanding. Consequently, scientists and the nation’s blood banks considered a ban essential to ensure the integrity of the blood supply.

However, the science of the past should not determine the public policy of the present. Since 1983, there have been substantial, revolutionary advances in blood-screening technology and our understanding of HIV/AIDS. Today, all donated blood is tested for HIV. Given the sensitivity of today’s blood testing, only one HIV-positive donor will be missed out of one to two million people giving blood. Even the FDA acknowledges that modern HIV tests are “highly accurate.”

Accordingly, the American Red Cross now calls the policy of excluding homosexuals “medically and scientifically unwarranted,” a conclusion shared by the American Medical Association, American Blood Centers and the American Association of Blood Banks.

And yet, the policy still stands. Thus, I fear that the FDA’s ban is now driven by discrimination, not data. Implicit in the policy is an egregiously unjust double standard. Two HIV-negative men in a committed, monogamous relationship (maybe even a marriage, dare I say it) are banned from donating blood for life. A heterosexual male who has sex with an HIV-positive female would be banned for 12 months, at most. For this reason alone, the prohibition contravenes the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. To quote Justice White, the Equal Protection Clause is “a direction that all persons similarly situated should be treated alike,” a principle the FDA’s ban flagrantly violates by insisting that an HIVnegative homosexual is less suitable to donate than a “similarly situated” heterosexual. The policy also perpetuates pernicious and pervasive myths about gay men. Stereotypes hold that gay men are sexually promiscuous and the only people who contract AIDS, both of which — though it should go without saying — are incredibly false.

The FDA reaffirmed the ban this past summer and routinely defends its regressive policy in two different ways. First, the government agency contends that the ban does not single out gays because it bans heterosexual males who have engaged in homosexual sex from donating blood, as well. The ban, the FDA asserts, does not offer “any judgment concerning the donor’s sexual orientation.” Frankly, this argument is ludicrous. To paraphrase Ruth Harlow of Lambda Legal, this type of reasoning is tantamount to arguing that a law banning Roman Catholic mass applies equally to Catholics and non-Catholics.

Second, the FDA declares that its prohibition is necessary to “protect all people who receive blood transfusions” on the grounds that “men who have sex with men and would be likely to donate have an HIV prevalence that is at present over 15-fold higher than the general population.” It claims that these men are “at increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and certain other infections that can be transmitted by transfusion.” This strain of logic is extraordinarily dangerous. As astutely noted by William Saletan of Slate, black women are 18 times more likely to have HIV than white women. Is that a reason to bar black women from donating blood for life? Banning black women from donating blood strikes me as grossly unjust, but it seems to be the logical extension of the FDA’s statistical argument.

Ultimately, sexual orientation does not determine HIV prevalence; risky sexual behavior does. Instead of categorically excluding gay and bisexual men from giving blood, the FDA should focus on screening for risky behaviors, not on screening by social, ethnic or other groups. In this regard, America can learn from Mexico, Italy and Spain, all of which recently ended their bans on gay male blood donations and moved toward a focus on individuals and their actions.

Rather than asking men whether they “had sexual contact with another male, even once,” the FDA should inquire about an individual’s condom use, drug use, number of partners and relationship status. It should ask for the last time an individual was tested for HIV, the last time an individual had sex and other germane factors.

Our country faces a blood shortage, which is one of the primary reasons I wanted to give blood.

In June of last year, USA Today reported that the American Red Cross’s “national blood supply [was] at its lowest level in 15 years,” even though the organization was faced with unprecedented demand. A flyer for a blood drive in Frist Campus Center reminded me that donating can all too often be a question of “life or death” for recipients. As a young, healthy and HIV-negative male, I felt (and feel) a responsibility to do my part. It’s far past time for the FDA to update its discriminatory, antiquated policy and let people like me donate.

Duncan Hosie is a freshman from Belvedere, Calif.

He can be reached at dhosie@princeton.edu.

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Friday march 15, 2013

Opinion

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{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

EDITORIAL

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On P/D/F language classes

W

hile Princeton students are able to fulfill distribution requirements with numerous courses that can be taken pass/D/fail, students are required to take all introductory level language courses on a graded, no-P/D/F scale. The Editorial Board agrees that a letter grade should be required for fulfilling the University language requirement. However, the Board believes that students who have already completed the University foreign language requirement should be allowed to P/D/F introductory level classes for additional foreign languages.

The justification for maintaining the lettergrading scheme for students initially fulfilling their language requirement is important and valid. Learning any foreign language is a difficult skill, and first-time language learners need to fully commit to this multifaceted challenge. The letter-grading scheme helps provide this incentive — students are generally more willing to work harder in courses where the grades matter more. Moreover, because introductory courses are typically small and discussion is emphasized, all students in the course benefit when their peers are investing themselves in the language. By contrast, if a student P/D/F-ed a language course and did not devote the necessary time, he or she would be adversely impacting the rest of the class.

However, with the current no-P/D/F policy, even students who have fulfilled the University language requirement, whether through bi/multilingualism, testing out or the completion of a 107/108 language course at Princeton, are unable to P/D/F intro-level language courses when taking a new language. These students have already acquired advanced language learning skills.

vol. cxxxvii

Therefore, one of the no-P/D/F policy’s objectives is inapplicable to these students: They are already proficient in a foreign language and need not be incentivized to devote themselves to language mastery.

Moreover, this new policy would provide students the opportunity to invoke their intellectual curiosity and become better-rounded, multilingual individuals — a truly Princetonian perspective. The choice to take additional languages is just that: a choice. Only students who are motivated and curious enough to learn an additional language will take another language, due in no small part to how intro-level language classes meet every day. These select students are clearly willing enough to put in the time necessary to learn more languages successfully. Accordingly, they should be allowed to take intro-language courses without the stress of a GPA hit, especially since these courses often have extremely difficult curves.

Furthermore, the implementation of this new policy is not unfeasible with our current Registrar system. SCORE already identifies fulfilled distribution requirements, and departments are able to individually grant permission for students to join courses. The combination of these two built-in tools would enable the University and departments to easily determine which students have completed the language requirement and to allow these students to P/D/F the intro-level language courses.

In summary, the opportunity to P/D/F introductory language courses after fulfilling the University requirement would align Princeton’s interest in promoting intellectual growth with students’ incentives for exploring additional languages.

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“

I love learning. I love learning. I love learning.”

This was my friend’s mantra as she looked at her calendar, highlighted with a hectic schedule of endless lectures, precepts, seminars and office hours — each with its own ensuing work. I remember her crestfallen face as she left my room to start on her chemical and biological engineering problem set, which would demand no less than 10 hours of her time. Ten hours for about four problems.

Although I am on the A.B. track and thus have a different course load, I can easily relate to my friend’s problem. Often, feeling as if I am drowning in readings and papers, I have to remind myself that the quest to scholarship makes everything well worth it. I too have to remember that I love learning.

In telling myself this, I continue the string of one-sided conversations and think, “I actually do love learning … So where is that feeling when I’m actually doing my work?” Of course, I don’t expect to feel warm and fuzzy while reading about the history of an ancient

civilization and its ramifications for broken global relations today.

I definitely don’t feel butterflies when I’m doing a problem set on finding the incidence of a government-levied tax. But sometimes, I would like to feel attachment to my studies rather than a sense of wearied accomplishment after making my way through an unreasonable length of text before it’s due.

In the end, it makes me wonder if what I’m doing here is, in fact, learning.

Coming to college, I didn’t have very many preconceived notions because I did not truly know what to expect. I did not expect to reenact the photo in all the college pamphlets, the one with a class of 12 or so students and their professor out on a lawn, staring intently at one another as they discuss some complex, grandiose idea. It’s good that I did not have these expectations because I have never seen this on campus. But I also did not expect the opposite structure of learning — walking into a seminar, or more likely, a lecture, in which a professor bombards you with facts and figures and for which you trudge through tedious assignments in the pursuit of a solid grade. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

To be fair, I can’t say this has been the makeup of all of my courses. But I’ve experienced this structure — and have seen my friends experience it — enough times to be disgruntled. Moreover, this issue is also exacerbated for freshmen: We enter college and quickly panic at the sight of everyone else’s seemingly put-togetherness. So instead of exploring courses for personal desire or curiosity’s sake, we enroll in courses to begin fulfilling prerequisites and distribution requirements immediately — courses that are typically large lectures. This can create unhappiness with course materials and entire subjects, both because we take courses we think are necessary for ends we may not even want and because of presentation of material.

Obviously, it would be unrealistic to always learn by the “precept– turned–intellectual–kum-ba-yah” method. I feel this form of learning encapsulates more of knowledge for knowledge’s sake. However, in order to use newfound knowledge and to apply it to future careers, to be in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations, the “lather, rinse, repeat” structure is necessary. Because, of course, only through practice can we learn how to find tax incidence;

only through readings can we learn about the history of any civilization.

But I think it’s impossible to truly retain and revel in new information if a university does not constantly endorse both systems. Both strict presentation and regurgitation of facts and exploration of new material in a purer sense are necessary. The problem is striking the right balance, which is tantamount to enjoying the academic experience at any college.

With the added pressure of applying everything that we’ve learned to a single goal after graduation, whether it be grad school, a career or field work, we often forget that there is an actual learning process in which we can participate and even, dare I say it, enjoy.

Because remembering to enjoy it — remembering that you love learning — is the fundamental basis of all that we’re doing at Princeton. You cannot be passionate about effecting change and you cannot boast of this “intellectual curiosity” everyone here is so keen to speak of unless you are inspired by what you are learning.

Lea Trusty is a freshman from Saint Rose, La. She can be reached at ltrusty@ princeton.edu.

3/14/13 11:32 PM

The Daily Princetonian

Friday march 15, 2013

page 5

After seven Big Dance appearences, Banghart hopes to have found formula COLUMN Continued from page 6

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

the Tigers’ first. After doubledigit losses to St. John’s with a young team in 2010 and to Georgetown without Niveen Rasheed in 2011, the Tigers earned a No. 9-seed and took Kansas State to the wire last year. For 30 minutes, the lead flipped back and forth, but the Wildcats held off a late Princeton rally to win 67-64.

Only five Ivy League teams have played NCAA tournament games decided by single digits, and Banghart has been a part of three of them (along with 1995 at Dartmouth, which lost 71-68

to Virginia, and 1998 at Harvard, which beat Stanford 71-67 for the league’s only tournament victory). All three times, however, she ended up on the gloomy half of the postgame handshake.

“We could’ve won the Kansas State game just as easily as we could’ve lost it. But what matters at the end is if you have the win or the loss,” Banghart said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve broken down those games, possession by possession.”

With each successive defeat, Banghart said, she has learned new secrets about how to win in the tournament. As an assistant at Dartmouth,

she discovered just how much preparation was involved for coaches; this year, she and assistant coach Milena Flores have studied how successful each offensive play has been over the course of the season, so they know what to call in crunch time. As a head coach three seasons ago, she found herself distracted by meetings, media sessions and team functions; this year, she promises to keep her focus between the lines whenever possible.

In 2010, and to a lesser extent in 2011, Princeton rolled to a gaudy record in the regular season before struggling against a tougher foe in March; for the last two seasons, Banghart

beefed up the team’s schedule significantly. This year, seven of Princeton’s 14 non-conference opponents are expected to make the 64-team tournament field. The Tigers may have gone 2-5 in those games, but each was competitive, and now they know exactly what they’ll be up against next weekend.

Above all, Banghart’s wisdom from seven tournament trips can be summed up in one philosophy, which she has repeated several times in recent years: The winning team doesn’t have to be better over the course of a season; it only has to be better for 40 minutes. That motto makes for a nice sound bite, but it hides the

real question — besides simple

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve broken down those games, possession by possession.”

Courtney Banghart

luck, what does it mean to be better for 40 minutes?

To Banghart, it means committing to the finer details of basketball, like boxing out on every loose rebound and knowing the scouting report by heart, but it also means something else: playing with an extra fire. With four senior starters who have made winning a tournament game their main goal since the start of the year — and whose college careers will end with their next loss — that fire shouldn’t be hard to find.

“You have to have an edge in March, and not just pride.

We’ve had a lot of pride, and I think we just need an edge,” Banghart said. “I’ll make sure they have that edge.”

Women will face tough Senior talks cat noises, Lord of the Rings, cake ON TAP opponents over break Continued from page 6

LACROSSE Continued from page 6

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Quakers, an easy 11-4 Princeton victory. Penn enters the game on a two-game winning streak, having defeated No. 19 Lehigh and Villanova since suffering the team’s only loss, to No. 5 Denver, earlier this month.

The Tigers’ March 22 home matchup against Yale (3-1) will mark the first time the teams have met since the Bulldogs dealt the Tigers a crushing 15-7 defeat in the Ivy League championship match last May in Princeton.

Last March, the rivals went into quintuple overtime in an intense regular season match before the Tigers finally came out on top, 10-9. Yale is currently riding a three-game winning streak in which it has outscored its opponents a resounding 41-22.

Like the men’s team, the women’s lacrosse team (3-1 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) has also begun its season on a very strong note and will look to continue its success in several important games over spring break. After opening its

SPORTSUPSTAIRS.indd 5

season with a home victory over Villanova, Princeton suffered a tough loss to then-No. 10 Georgetown in Washington D.C. The squad quickly rebounded, however, scoring 18 points in each of two wins over the University of Southern California, 18-13, and Ivy League rival Brown, 18-11, earlier this month. Sophomore attacker Erin McMunn had a career-high five goals against the Bears.

Over break, Princeton will face the toughest challenge of its young season. The Tigers will face No. 9 Virginia (3-4) in Charlottesville on Saturday before taking on Rutgers (6-1) on the road on Tuesday and No. 12 Johns Hopkins (4-2) at 1952 stadium on March 23. The Tigers most likely have vivid memories of the last time they played Rutgers — the last time the two teams met, early last season, the Scarlet Knights outlasted them 11-10 in a double overtime match. The Tigers also faced off against both Virginia and Johns Hopkins last season, defeating the Cavaliers 9-7 in Princeton and falling to the Blue Jays 9-8 in Baltimore.

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

She juggles bowling pins, beanbags, tennis balls, heavy dumbbells and boys’ hearts.

She’s my lifting partner and personal hero.

Q: What is the most noteworthy pre-game ritual your team or an individual teammate practices?

A: Did I mention we love to dance? It’s also our favorite post-win ritual.

Q: Here is your chance to publicize the quirk of one teammate.

Go. A: [Senior pitcher] Alex Peyton. She’s a ginger. She has no soul. When she looks at me, I suddenly feel empty inside. I imagine that’s how opposing batters feel before they strike out.

Q: Yikes. What are the top three most played songs on the postpractice playlist right now?

A: After practice, I thesis. And then I thesis some more. And at least 80 percent of my thesis has been written to Chris Brown and Kanye West. It’s a

fact that I have yet to come to terms with, and I don’t think I ever will. But outside of their realm: One: “Who Did That To You?” by John Legend Two: “Shake It Out” by Florence and the Machine Three: “No Me Ames (Tropical Remix)” by Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony

are half-Chinese. Some people tell me I still can’t identify as Asian. All I know is when we stopped at Wegman’s on our way back from a doubleheader this weekend, and I realized they had a dim sum dumpling bar ... My heart skipped a beat.

It just made me feel like ... I’d been locked out of heaven ... for so long. So long.

Q: It has been reported to us through your teammates that you like to “reer.” Since I have no idea what this means, care to shed some light on the issue?

A: Reer — it’s the sound a cat makes. It’s the softball team’s most used phrase because it’s an all-encompassing expression. There are happy reers.

There are sad reers. There are angry reers. There are mad reers. There are reers that mean everything, and reers that mean nothing at all. It’s so meta. Sidenote: I’m most definitely a dog person. Ironic reer.

Q: How do you feel about jeans, and why?

A: I haven’t worn a pair of jeans since freshman year.

I was young and naive back then. #YogaPantsForLife

Q: [Senior infielder] Nikki Chu has insisted that you speak at some length on the significance of your respective heritages. Don’t let her down.

A: Nikki and I are Wasians. We

Q: I’ve heard you’re quite the baker. What is your favorite kind of cake, and why?

A: Cake is as versatile as Bubba Gump shrimp. You can frost it, sprinkle it, flour it, bake it, layer it. There’s cupcakes, cake lollipops, cake bites. Pan fried, deep fried. There’s pineapple cake, lemon cake, coconut cake, cheesecake, ice cream cake, cake and ice cream, coffee cake, pound cake, wedding cake, red velvet cake, Bundt cake, black forest cake, chocolate cake, vanilla cake, confetti cake, strawberry shortcake.

That … well that’s about it.

Q: What are the three nerdiest things about you?

A: Only three?

One: My eighth grade birthday cake: Lord of the Ringsthemed, complete with Frodo, Samwise and Gandalf figurines that I still have. Hobbit Hole made of ice cream cones; it was genius.

Two: My eighth grade Halloween costume: an Elf — ears and all. Less Arwen, more Galadriel. Weapon of choice: duel-wielding scimitars and a longbow for kicks.

Three: Favorite pastime from eighth to ninth grade: Everquest. It’s the cooler version of W.o.W. I dominated as a 62-level Wood Elf Druid.

Can it still be considered a phase if it never ended? Game of Thrones, March 31!

Q: Which softball moment on or off the field are you most looking forward to this spring?

A: Winning the Ivy League. If you like it, then you should put an Ivy League ring on it. And our team doesn’t like softball; we love it. Come watch a game, and you’ll see what I mean.

3/14/13 11:29 PM

Sports

Friday march 15, 2013

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Banghart’s eighth time the charm?

LACROSSE

Men to begin League play

By Mark Stein staff writer

Kevin Whitaker Sports Editor Emeritus

It didn’t take women’s basketball coach Courtney Banghart long to learn that an NCAA tournament win wouldn’t come easy. As a junior in 1999, she was the nation’s top three-point shooter and a first-team All-Ivy selection, helping lead her Dartmouth team to the postseason with a 19-8 record and a playoff victory over Princeton. But just four minutes into a firstround game at Rutgers — the tournament debut for Banghart and all of her teammates — the No. 14-seed Big Green found itself down 12-0 and overwhelmed by the Scarlet Knights.

“They pressed us right away, and at a timeout our point guard said, ‘Coach, I can’t even see anybody else but Rutgers players.’ That was how it felt,” Banghart said, whose team trailed by as many as 28 points in the first half and lost 84-70.

“It was a welcome to the big leagues.”

Banghart has returned to the postseason several more times as a player, assistant and head coach in the 14 years since, including many games that were much closer than her first. But when she goes to the NCAA tournament for the eighth time next weekend, and the fourth as Princeton’s head coach, she will still be seeking her first victory.

One of the closest calls came in 2000, when Banghart closed her playing career with her second tournament berth. For the first 12 minutes, the Big Green was on track for another blowout loss, falling behind 30-10 to defending national champion and No. 4-seed Purdue. But thanks in part to Banghart’s 20 points, Dartmouth came back to tie the game at 66 before the Boilermakers broke that deadlock in the final minute, eventually winning by four points.

She returned to March Madness in 2005 and 2006 as an assistant at her alma mater, with a primary responsibility for Dartmouth’s perimeter players. In 2005, the Big Green was smoked

by No. 3-seed Connecticut, but the following year, a veteran team nearly pulled a major upset.

Playing No. 3-seed Rutgers in the tournament again, Dartmouth erased most of a 13-0 deficit and had the ball with a chance to tie in the waning seconds before losing 63-58.

Two seasons later, Banghart became Princeton’s head coach; two years after that, she was back in the tournament for her fifth time and See COLUMN page 5

MONICA CHON :: FILE PHOTO

Sophomore middie Kip Orban scored three goals in the Tigers 15-2 route of Manhattan.

{

on tap

With warm weather finally melting the snow on the fields and lacrosse season shifting into full swing, the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, each with several games already under their belts, will turn their attention to key midseason matchups. Over spring break, both teams will compete in several important contests that pit both Tiger squads against some of the top teams in the nation.

For the men’s team (4-1 overall), a strong early season stretch has seen the Tigers defeat four of the five nonconference teams they have faced so far. After opening the season with impressive road victories over No. 10 Hofstra and then-No. 3 Johns Hopkins, the No. 7 Princeton squad continued its streak by defeating Villanova last week in

its first home match at Classs of 1952 Stadium.

Despite a difficult 16-15 loss to No. 9 North Carolina this past weekend, the Tigers rebounded with a home victory over Manhattan on Tuesday, in which Princeton head coach Chris Bates earned his 100th career victory. The Tigers took out their frustration from the UNC loss on the Jaspers, winning 15-2 as freshman attacker Ryan Ambler had his second three-goal night of the season.

Now, the Tigers will prepare to begin Ivy League action over the spring recess. During the break, Princeton will face off against two of its staunchest Ivy League rivals: No. 14 Penn and No. 15 Yale. The contest against Penn (4-1) in Philadelphia this Saturday will be played nearly one year to the day since the Tigers last squared off against the See LACROSSE page 5

}

On Tap with ... Lizzy Pierce

By John Wolfe

Ivy League Championship and J.R.R. Tolkien varieties.

staff writer

Senior centerfielder Lizzy Pierce hails from Modesto, California, where she batted .350 as a junior in high school before missing her senior season due to a broken ankle. After her year off from the sport, Pierce started 21 games as a freshman at Princeton and became a First-Team All-Ivy League selection just a year later.

During the team’s seasonopening trip to Florida two weeks ago, she recorded the seventh home run of her career. The ‘Prince’ had a chance to catch up with Pierce this week to examine her baking expertise, her reering and her affinity for rings of both the

Q: Describe softball’s role on campus as succinctly as you can.

A: We bring moves to the dance floor and ungodly hunger to Late Meal.

Q: If you and your teammates could challenge one other varsity team to a competition in their sport, which would you pick?

A: BAC to a dance competition.

Q: We can make that happen.

Which freshman has had the biggest impact off the field and how?

A: [Catcher] Skye Jerpbak.

She’s on the juggling team.

KATHRYN MOORE :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Senior outfielder Lizzy Pierce has helped lead the softball team to a 6-3 record.

See ON TAP page 5

THE

AROUND I V I E S

Ivy League play will get underway shortly after spring break, but every baseball team in the Ancient Eight has already seen action and it is clear that this season’s Ivy League championship will be exciting to watch. Here’s how the teams stack up after the first few weeks of the season:

1.

Cornell (4-4) Last year’s champion is looking capable of repeating so far this season. Sophomore starting pitcher Brent Jones has a 2.57 ERA and two victories already, and the Big Red can expect another great year from junior starter Connor Kaufmann, who threw a no-hitter against Dartmouth last April. Cornell ended Princeton’s season last year, taking one of four games in the series to clinch the Gehrig Division title.

2.

Dartmouth (3-0) The Big Green won the Rolfe Division comfortably last season and has had a perfect start to this one. It proved its lineup had depth in its first game. Dartmouth’s early-April series against Princeton will be a rematch of 2011’s Ivy League Championship series, which the Tigers won in three games.

3.

Penn (5-5) The Quakers have been shaky so far this year, with two shutout wins as well as a 19-5 loss to William & Mary and lots of close games in between. They have had very little trouble scoring runs, thanks in part to outfielder Ryan Dietrich, who is batting .487 through 10 games and has already knocked two triples. First baseman Spencer Branigan is right behind him with a .389 average and is second on the team with eight RBI.

4.

Princeton (1-6) The Tigers don’t have the record to show for it, but they are doing a lot right. Senior pitcher Zak Hermans had issues in his first start but has since improved, and junior pitcher Mike Ford has looked better than ever, letting up just one earned run in his first 10 innings of work. Princeton has also seen a solid start from freshmen infielders Danny Hoy and Billy Arendt. Last year’s season ended in disappointment after an extra-innings loss to Cornell, and the Tigers can’t afford to make many mistakes if they hope to get the better of the Big Red this time.

5.

Columbia (1-6) After finishing just a game behind Princeton in the Gehrig Division and winning three of four meetings with the Tigers last year, Columbia is looking dangerous again. The Lions have only one win, but it came against last year’s national champion Arizona Wildcats. Reliever Joey Domino was recently named co-Ivy League Pitcher of the Week.

6.

Brown (1-6) The Bears won only six games against Ivy opponents last year. With a 3.75 mark, starter Anthony Galan leads a pitching staff that had a collective 8.22 ERA last season and will need to improve if the Bears hope to be more competitive this season.

7.

Yale (1-5) Freshman Nate Adams is third on Yale’s team with a .400 batting average and looks as if he will be a nuisance to Ivy League pitchers in the coming months. The Bulldogs are also returning both of their top hitters from last year and will need all the hits they can get in order to improve on last year’s 13-31-1 record.

8.

Harvard (1-6) Runs have been a problem, as the Crimson has not scored more than five in a game yet this season and has been shut out three times in seven games. This doesn’t bode well for its Ivy schedule, but there is a ray of hope — freshman third baseman and catcher DJ Link is hitting .385 and has knocked in three runs, leading the Crimson in both categories.

Tweet of the day

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‘Couldn’t be more motivated for NCAAs in a weekend and less motivated for these two papers due tomorrow.’

The women will find out their NCAA tournament opponent this upcoming Monday.

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3/14/13 11:30 PM