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Wednesday april 10, 2013 vol. cxxxvii no. 41
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Jackson discusses EPA’s “unfinished business”
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In Opinion
By Lydia Lim staff writer
David Will talks solutions for combating student loan debts, and William Beacom considers better uses of the endowment. PAGE 6
In Street Zoe Perot interviews the creator of the Sustainable Fashion Initiative. ONLINE
The Archives
April 10, 1998 Rockefeller College decides to close the Witherspoon kitchen due to recurring vandalism. KELSEY DENNISON :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Former Environmental Protection Agency director Lisa Jackson GS ‘86 spoke on ‘The Unfinished Business of the Environmental Movement’ Tuesday in Robertson Hall.
On the Blog Eric Levenson provides the best suggestions for post-thesis life.
On the Blog Gabbie Watts reviews Trevor Moss & HannahLou’s album, La Ferme de Fontenaille.
News & Notes Public Safety arrests juvenile at Wilson School fountain
the department of public safety arrested a juvenile on Saturday evening for defiant trespass, obstruction and resisting being held in Scudders Plaza next to Robertson Hall after skating in the area and refusing to provide identification. In addition, DPS held in custody three juveniles and one local 18-year-old. According to University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua, the individuals refused to leave the area when asked by a Department of Public Safety officer, adding that they had no form of identification on them and declined to provide their names. “The officer then informed the individuals that they had to identify themselves and one of them got up, resisted efforts to restrain him and left,” Mbugua said. However, Mbugua added, other DPS officers found the individual nearby. There are at least two small signs in the plaza indicating that skateboarding is prohibited, according to reporters at the scene. The signs are posted next to the steps that lead to the plaza and also prohibit “swimming, wading [and] dog bathing” in addition to skateboarding. A number of people could be seen wading in the plaza’s fountain on Monday evening. It remains unclear whether DPS would also ask these people to leave the fountain if seen. The individuals are not University students. The four juveniles were released to their parents, and the 18-year-old was released by DPS. Charges are pending for the whole group, Mbugua said. Public Safety’s daily crime log recorded the incident as trespassing.
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Former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson GS ’86 sought to dispel popular conceptions that the work of the environmental movement is finished and urged citizens to ensure that recent policy gains are consolidated in a talk in Robertson Hall on Tuesday afternoon. “I see a lot of unfinished environmental business,” Jackson said. She explained that while the environmental movement and the EPA have made progress toward conserving natural areas and cleaning up pollution in recent years, she said she feels that the federal government must continue to support those affected by environmental problems such as a lack of access to clean drinking water. Depending on one’s life experience, age, location of residence, income or access to information about the environment, people may see the environmental movement as anything from barely started to well under way or finished,
U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
Debenedetti named new dean for research By Kristin McNierney staff writer
Pablo Debenedetti, a professor of chemical and biological engineering, will succeed A.J. Stewart Smith as the next dean for research, the University announced Monday. Debenedetti, who will assume his new role on July 1, is the second person to hold the title since the
position’s creation in 2006. “This appointment is a tremendous honor,” Debenedetti said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to serve Princeton — there’s a lot of exciting work to be done in this area.” The role of the dean for research is to promote ethical and innovative research across campus and gather support from
she said. This diversity of viewpoints may make it easy to forget that some environmental problems have not yet been entirely solved, she explained. “I’m worried that we might have a tendency to move on to the next sexy thing rather than assure people that we stand with them to do the harder things as they work to finish the job that we started,” Jackson said. “It may mean that we’re leaving future environmentalists behind.” According to Jackson, a tension exists between environmentalists who want to “keep it clean” by emphasizing conservation and those who want to “clean it up” by removing pollution from the environment. Her work at the EPA more heavily focused on this “keep it clean” aspect of environmentalism, she said. This tension is problematic because it can distract from the problems that still remain, she said. For example, although over 90 percent of Americans have access to federally tested and approved water, the other 10 percent do not, and See ENVIRONMENT page 2
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
Afghanistan representative to UN discusses stability By Lillian Dattilo contributor
PABLO DEBENEDETTI next dean of research
potential donors and sponsors for research projects in a broad range See FACULTY page 4
STUDENT LIFE
Afghanistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Zahir Tanin, argued that international respect for his country’s national sovereignty is key to ensuring Afghan stability after the total withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2014, in a talk on Tuesday afternoon. While international organizations like the UN should support Afghanistan through humanitarian and development projects, the country’s national government should strive for independence from external agencies, he said. Tanin emphasized the role of the UN in maintaining international engagement with Afghanistan throughout his talk and said that the “normalization” of Afghan society through political, economic and social means must take place to strengthen national sovereignty. Next year’s presidential election will be crucial to Afghanistan’s current and
future stability, he said. He explained that the election is also of great symbolic significance, as it is important for the Afghan people to see a peaceful transfer of power. “We are trying to see how the shift of situation can be managed such that Afghanistan won’t enter into a new wave of conflict,” Tanin said. In an effort to avoid such conf lict, the Afghanistan government is seeking to involve the Taliban in the election preparations, he said. “The peace talks in the reconciliation process should open the door for the Taliban to become part of the peace process at the local and national levels,” Tanin said. Aside from upcoming political trials, Afghanistan faces economic challenges which threaten its stability, such as high unemployment. Tanin attributed this in part to the fact that over 60 percent of the country’s population is under the age of 30. Tanin added that See LECTURE page 3
JULIA WENDT :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students can borrow reusable plastic containers as part of Cafe Viv’s new GoViv campaign.
GoViv offers reusable containers
By Hannah Schoen contributor
Reusable containers will now be offered at Frist Campus Center’s Cafe Vivian through the new GoViv program, a collaboration between Dining Services and the Greening Dining club. To participate in GoViv, customers purchase a $5 token, which can be exchanged for a reusable plastic takeout container when food is ordered. Students can then take the container with them and return it — without having to wash it first — to Cafe Vivian whenever they like, at which point their token will be returned. Customers also get 25 cents off each Cafe Vivian purchase they make using reusable containers.
According to Executive Director of Dining Services Stu Orefice, the reusable containers cost about $5 per set, and the utility costs to clean them are minimal since they undergo the same dishwashing cycle as other utensils in Frist. The idea originated a few years ago when the Frist Gallery began to use reusable containers, but students took them out of the gallery and did not return them, according to Matt Silver ’16, a member of Greening Dining who led the effort to create the new program. After hearing about this previous project through his work at Greening Dining, Silver did research on similar programs at other schools. He said he discovered that some universities, in-
cluding Columbia and the University of Vermont, were solving the problem that Frist had encountered by offering tokens, which gave students an incentive to bring the containers back. Silver said he proposed the idea to Dining Services in January and worked with them over three months to develop the new program. “They were really excited about it, and they were really helpful,” he said. Silver said Dining Services was particularly excited to implement the environmentally conscious program at Cafe Vivian, which, according to Dining Services’ website, “offers organic, sustainable and local food in a relaxed See FRIST page 5
BEN KOGER :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Ambassador Dr. Zahir Tanin delivers lecture called ‘Left Behind: The United Nations in Post-Transition Afghanistan’ Tuesday afternoon.
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Lecturer rumored U. presidential candidate ENVIRONMENT Continued from page 1
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this is “not an insignificant number,” she said. Jackson also clarified her position on the term “environmentalist” and discussed her education in chemical engineering at the University. “Many people hear the word ‘environmentalist’ and automatically think ‘environmental advocate,’ immediately thinking of volunteers or nonprofits whose focus is maybe entirely to advance the ball on environmental issues,” Jackson said. She said she has never been an environmental activist in this sense, noting her 25 years working in the public sector after leaving the University. Although she said she deeply prioritizes the environment, she explained that she does not consider it as an abstract concept, but rather as an important one for its impact on people’s health and prosperity. Jackson said she became interested in the environment as a result of growing up in a lower-middle class community that gave her a chance to see
the “great disparity” in worker health and safety between the privileged and the less-privileged. At the University, where she earned her master’s degree in chemical engineering, Jackson said she sought to develop the tools to solve such problems. “As an engineer, I remember thinking it is engineers, chemical engineers by the way, who by and large design the processes that make all this hazardous goop, and it will be chemical engineers that design the process who will clean it up,” she said. Engineers are taught to be problem solvers, and the idea that solutions could constitute not only making money in the private sector, but also working in the public sector to improve society, left a deep impression on her, she said. When the lights in Dodds Auditorium turned off by accident, Jackson evoked laughter from the audience when she said, “Thank you for that energy conservation.” During the question-andanswer period following the lecture, a student asked whether Jackson regretted her use of a “non-official email account” at
the EPA. This was in reference to the revelation that Jackson had used an online alias to conduct offical EPA business. “It is not an unofficial account,” Jackson said. She explained that the career staff at EPA advised her not to use the username “admjackson” — Jackson’s initial inclination — because people would be able to locate her too easily. As a result, she decided to use “Richard Windsor,” a combination of her dog, Ricky, and East Windsor Township, her previous residence. “I get very angry at the way politics is done,” Jackson responded to the question. “The difference between fact and ascription of motive is the most base form of our politics today.” Jackson has in the past been rumored to be a potential candidate for University president. The lecture, titled “The Unfinished Business of the Environmental Movement,” was a part of the Dean’s Innovation Science, Technology and Environmental Policy leadership program, which brings esteemed environmental leaders to the University for a two- to three-day visit.
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The Daily Princetonian
Wednesday april 10, 2013
Tanin talks need for humanitarian projects, development schemes LECTURE Continued from page 1
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Afghanistan must build a strong national economy by being transparent in the way it distributes aid to struggling economic sectors, as well as sticking to its budget. Economic sustainability, he said, promotes normalcy and thereby sovereignty. With Afghanistan’s government playing a greater role in the country’s affairs, questions remain about the degree of UN involvement in Afghanistan in 2014 and beyond, he said. Tanin said he believed that any UN assistance should act to strengthen Afghan sovereignty and reflect a “more effective, ef-
ficient and accountable UN.” Although Tanin emphasized the importance of the UN’s continued vigilance
Tanin emphasized the role of the UN in maintaining international engagement with Afghanistan. and responsiveness to Afghanistan’s evolving needs, he disagreed with some Afghans who “would like to see the UN come to pick up the pieces.” The UN’s role, Tanin
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SUNNY DAY
added, should be primarily to support Afghanistan’s national government. Ambassador Tanin has been a member of the Afghan delegation to the UN since 2007. He served as Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform and has served as a Vice Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People since 2006. His lecture, “Left Behind: The United Nations in PostTransition Afghanistan,” took place in Robertson Bowl 016 and was cosponsored by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, the Department of Near Eastern Studies and the Woodrow Wilson School.
SHANNON MCGUE :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students enjoyed the warm weather on Tuesday by studying outside in the sun.
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The Daily Princetonian
Wednesday april 10, 2013
Smith to become vice president for PPPL
RELIGION + POLITICS
FACULTY Continued from page 1
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HARRIET KIWANUKA :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Eric Gregory, professor of religion, speaks on ‘Modern Politics in the Shadow of Augustine’ Tuesday afternoon.
of disciplines. In addition, the dean for research is responsible for collaborating with the University Research Board to formulate research policies and standards. As dean for research, Debenedetti will oversee the offices of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Research Integrity and Assurance, Research and Project Administration, Laboratory Animal Resources and Technology Licensing. “The job is really to enable research and to help create conditions where the best people will decide to come to Princeton,” Smith said. When Debenedetti takes over this July, Smith will become the University vice president for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, an endeavor to which he said he was not able to devote as much time over the past few years in his role as dean. Though Smith’s tenure as dean for research was initially planned to end on Jan. 1, 2013, he remained in his post for an additional six months after the search committee appointed to name his successor was unable to fill the position by the January deadline. Debenedetti has been a faculty member at the University for 28 years, serving as both chair of the chemical engineering department from 1996 to 2004 and as vice dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science since 2008. Debenedetti is also a researcher in the field of thermodynamics and the theory of condensed matter. “Pablo has all of the right skills,” chemical and biological engineering professor Christodoulos Floudas said. “He is a superb colleague, he has leadership capabilities,
he has been an exceptional chair in the department and his scholarly work has had a tremendous impact across disciplines.” Floudas, who joined the faculty just a year after Debenedetti did in 1985, said he was happy that the University chose someone with such a diverse background for the position.
“Pablo has all of the right skills. He is a superb colleague, he has leadership capabilities, he has been an exceptional chair in the department and his scholarly work has had a tremendous impact across disciplines.” Christodoulos Floudas, Professor
In his new role, Debenedetti said his three broad goals will be to enhance funding by strengthening the University’s connection to the foundation and corporate worlds, encourage interdisciplinary research among faculty in different departments and promote “risktaking research” through an increased use of innovation funds. According to Debenedetti, “risk-taking research” includes any idea that is not yet ready to compete for funding through usual funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Sci-
ence Foundation. Debenedetti added that he hopes to conduct a “listening tour” across a broad research community on campus to determine the best way his office can serve the needs of the faculty and the University. “He’s a brilliant person, not only as an adviser and as a professor, but also as a person,” said Victoria Hwang ’13, who has Debenedetti as her thesis adviser. “Working with him has been terrific — he is very caring for his students, and he was always making sure I was happy.” The federal budget sequestration that took effect on March 1 has created an added level of uncertainty at the University in terms of its research programs and activities, Debenedetti said. He noted that he is still waiting to hear about his own research proposals from the NSF, which, according to him, would already have provided a response under normal circumstances. Smith said the main challenges Debenedetti will face in his new role are those involving research funding and grants. “The unpredictable funding in the university environment is difficult — we have to be careful not to be too cautious,” Smith said. “We want to keep the research operations going, but there is definitely a risk.” Smith said the best way Debenedetti can promote research on campus is to direct funding to areas where the University has demonstrated strength. “It’s important to build on your strengths,” Smith said. “You can spend a lot of money on trying to do something, but unless you can get it to a level where you can impact the debt, then it’s problematic at an outstanding university like Princeton.”
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environmentally conscious atmosphere.” “They do a lot of things very well, except for packaging and containers, which were all disposable before this,” Silver said of Cafe Vivian. Silver, who said he has had an interest in environmental issues for a long time, explained that the program appealed to him because, like other environmental initiatives involving changes to dining practices, it was practical. “It’s something that is not necessarily easy, but attainable,” Silver said. “You can change dining habits pretty easily. You can get some more local food, [and] just change a few containers.” Though similar programs have had considerable success at other universities, the GoViv program is still in its beginning
stages in terms of sales, he said. According to the Dining Services Facebook page, the program began on March 25, immediately after spring break. During that week, Silver and other members of Greening Dining tabled outside Cafe Viv to promote the program and sell tokens. They offered free tokens to the first 25 people who signed up for the program. Describing people’s responses to the tabling effort, Silver said, “I think a lot of people were interested. Even if they didn’t necessarily make a purchase, they were considering it and thought it was a good idea.” Silver said he thinks GoViv has the potential to become as successful as Columbia’s analogous program, which has enrolled about 800 students. “I think it’s just a matter of exposure, really,” Silver said. “I think, as much as we were promoting it here, I don’t think we
were forward enough about it.” Silver said GoViv was considering asking cashiers to remind customers about the program, putting up additional signs advertising it and potentially partnering with the USG to spread knowledge of and participation in the program. Students sitting in Cafe Vivian on Tuesday night said they supported the idea of the GoViv program. “I like the idea especially because I think there aren’t a lot of reuseable options,” Maddy Russell ’16 said. “I would use it, I’m not sure if others would be as interested.” Martina Fouquet ’16 said she was pleased that the University was being more environmentally conscious through the GoViv initiative. “I think it’s important to be aware,” she said. “This is one place where they’re being more efficient, so that’s nice to see.”
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Opinion
William Beacom columnist
The luxury of education
I
t seems we’re all a little bit fixated on why we’re here at Princeton. We have Ms. Patton telling us the point of Princeton is to get married. In the pages of the ‘Prince,’ we had the “point of college” debate. Isabella Gomes told us in one of her columns that the point of college is to map our identity by locating ourselves among others and our associations. The idea that such a notion could ever be taken as a given certainty explains our obsession with eating clubs. Susannah Sharpless rebutted in her column appropriately named “The point of college” that the central focus of our time here should be self-discovery. I would figure that the point of college is to get an education. This may seem too obvious to even warrant discussing it, but it is all too easily forgotten. I accept the terms are broad: Education can range from learning for learning’s sake to a step toward a career path, but both ends of the spectrum are more valid than self-discovery or social association. Our confusion about why we’re here disturbs not only the way we collectively approach our time at Princeton, but also the way the University views itself and the way it allocates its resources. The perception that college is something other than an education is fully entrenched in American pop culture. In addition, we are accepted on a broad range of criteria, which vaguely includes evidence of “passion” and “curiosity.” While enrolled, we are encouraged to enjoy and experiment. As one foreign friend explained, she never applied to colleges in the U.S. because Ivy League universities are “outrageously expensive, four-year-long summer camps.” The academic is de-emphasized for development of the whole person, which explains Sharpless’s call for self-discovery. The time to “figure things out” while still being enrolled in a university is a great luxury, and it is a luxury that attracted me to attend school in America. However, a key part of self-discovery is doing. Self-discovery is an ongoing product of the choices we make. Valorizing it as a meditative and all-consuming goal of our 20s would prevent us from discovery itself. Treating education as anything but education is also indulgent. Our place at this university directly displaces others who vie for similar educational opportunities. To treat college as a free card and a given stage in one’s life is presumptuous. It is strange that we stigmatize discussing our future and educational ambitions when our contributions and drive underscore our right to be here. The confused point of college is not just an individual problem. On an institutional level, Princeton lacks a well-defined raison d’etre. While public educational institutions are solely responsible to the public good of educating and researching, Princeton and other Ivy Leagues claim to achieve more. Princeton is whatever we want it to be because the school is responsive to our visions, especially as alumni. Creating a quintessential and memorable Princeton experience is essential to securing alumni giving. This different incentive structure also skews the way Princeton spends money; we spend on creating an experience. Of course, I thoroughly enjoy the wide array of activities, scholarships and free food. It is a point underscored in the Chinese press. A Chinese newspaper article reported this summer that a number of high-earning individuals who were educated in both China and the U.S. opted to donate to their American university but neglected their Chinese alma mater. While the Chinese universities provided education to massively more students and a much higher cost-efficiency, the alumni simply enjoyed themselves more at the American universities. The “experience” approach pays off. However, there is no overarching rationalization of Princeton’s enormous spending. Maybe that free cupcake from Bent Spoon turned many Princeton students into future loyally-giving alumni, but I’m not so sure. We do manage to pull off the impressive feat of being a world-class research university while having a tiny graduate school and a relatively small base of professors, but couldn’t we exercise a little discretion in our spending? Princeton’s spending seems particularly misguided with respect to activities. Serving as a treasurer for an ODUS-funded organization, which I have done in the past, is a bit of a joke. There is really very little budgeting and no fundraising involved when a couple of forms give you access to more money than you could ever need. I understand that taking the financial pressure off of activities is, in a way, creating a free sandbox for ingenuity. However, the ease with which activities can be created and sustained feels a bit like Princeton foots the bill for us to pad our resumes. The abundance of managerial-type positions could take some pruning to match how much some of these organizations actually do, especially when University employees cover the bulk of the mechanics like catering and maintenance. We fetishize the corporatism and organizational hierarchies of our organizations without ever questioning whether they are justified. Even if the point of activities is not to be productive, but to provide a learning experience, a dose of reality and frugality would be an important lesson. We could squeeze some of the excess in our spending, or at the very least establish what excess is by our standards, and direct it more purposefully toward academic goals. More classes, professors, research grants and departments enhance the educational experience — the point of being here. I would rather be flush with summer funding for a research project than overwhelmed by Fruity Yogurt flavors at my residential college study breaks. William Beacom is a sophomore from Calgary, Canada. He can be reached at wbeacom@princeton. edu.
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Student debt and American decline David Will
columnist
S
ince the late ’90s, America moved from the dot-com bubble to the housing bubble, and the market rose and crashed in spectacular fashion along the way. The student loan bubble is next. While Princeton shields its undergraduates from sinking into the red, national student loan debt surpassed credit card debt in 2012 to be the American people’s largest outstanding financial strain. This colossal burden looms not only over students’ heads, but over the economic recovery and future generations’ prosperity as well. Provisions that disadvantage younger, debt-ridden Americans should be modified to put millenials on equal footing with their fellow citizens. As a part of the bankruptcy process, debtors may typically shed financial burdens that they are unable to meet. But the law treats education loans differently based on the lender, and as a result only about 40 percent of student loans are currently dischargeable. However, back in February, Democratic congressmen Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Danny Davis of Illinois introduced a bill that would allow borrowers to drop all types of private educational debt in bankruptcy. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that private loans make up $150 billion of the $1 trillion total student debt in the US. The bill doles out no special treatment, nor does it create any new entitlements; rather, the act rectifies an inequity. Why should education loans be viewed differently from credit card debt, home or car loans?
Student loan rates are set to double in June, leaving borrowers to face the specter of $5,000 in additional debt. Students won’t absorb the blow in a vacuum — this money is removed from the economy and people’s life savings. Representative Karen Bass, a Democrat from California, offers a comprehensive solution that Congress should, but has yet to, pass. The Student Loan Fairness Act limits federal interest rates at 3.4 percent, forgives a large portion of college debt accumulated by public servants and caps monthly payments to 10 percent of discretionary income. Additionally, the law forgives remaining debt for students who make every payment for 10 years. Critics of Congresswoman Bass’s bill cast the act as yet another government dispensation for a spoiled generation. But this is nothing more than fresh paint slapped on a trite claim: Past measures have overcome generational condescension to later better the lives of millions. Proposed student loan alterations, like the benefits in the GI Bill, are predicated on demonstrated commitments from citizens, which differentiates the measures from entitlements, like social welfare programs. Each bill would rectify inequalities that students face before the law. That said, concerns still remain about depleting a contract’s symbolic value. Students, though young, are adults; in signing their names, they agree to certain conditions. But institutionalized hurdles deter students from making good on their obligations. Back in October, the CFPB issued a scathing critique of lenders’ behavior toward student borrowers that found parallels to impropriety in the housing market prior to the Great Recession. Borrowers seeking forbearance — which, in the context of mortgages, delays
vol. cxxxvii
foreclosure — incur monthly charges. Ironically, this forces students to pay extra fees just to go through a process designed for those with depleted funds. Apart from sparse options to refinance, many students also reported that the legal language in their agreements was esoteric and difficult to navigate. The loan and repayment process must fundamentally change in order to restore students’ ability to hold true to their agreements. According to new research by the Urban Institute, the income inequality that has plagued the country for decades has compounded into a generational wealth gap. Annie Lowrey of The New York Times writes, “The average net worth of someone 29 to 37 has fallen 21 percent since 1983; the average net worth of someone 56 to 64 has more than doubled.” With the average student facing about $26,000 in loans and the interest rate set to rise, millennials will be delayed for decades from saving. All told, the $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt will accelerate the first American generational decline in wealth in modern history. Student loans are a clear and present danger — any system that contributes to the take-down of the world’s largest economy is due for radical change. None of the proposed measures carve out special exceptions that could be abused by irresponsible parties in the future. Rather, the bills before Congress both correct past injustices and guard against future crises by making the law more transparent and fair. As Princetonians, we are future leaders who must anticipate and diffuse this coming, if not already present, crisis. David Will is a religion major from Chevy Chase, Md. He can be reached at dwill@ princeton.edu.
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
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The Daily Princetonian should have a weekly section for foreign dispatches. While America was going nuts over Susan Patton’s letter published in The Daily Princetonian last week, I was interviewing refugees in northern Syria. “ ‘My wife will die if she doesn’t have heart surgery in three or four days,’ Asad Mohamed lamented as he prepared tea in his UN refugee tent. But getting the operation first requires getting her out of war-torn Syria and into a Turkish hospital that would somehow be willing to treat her for free.” So began my news dispatch from the edge of a devastating war. Shortly after the University’s largest student publication managed to get its website back online, the editors rejected this article, proposing that I might write an op-ed on my experience but couldn’t publish in the News section. Among the reasons the editors at The Daily Princetonian cited for
rejecting the story on Syrian refugees was that they couldn’t fact-check it. I responded with a perhaps inappropriately terse letter detailing the safest way they could enter Syria (meet trusted Free Syrian Army contacts after the minefield, speak with refugees unable to leave the wasteridden camp, hope not to get kidnapped by rogue groups or bombed by the regime jets they’ll hear a few miles away) and check the facts. The whole point of journalists (or, in my case, an aspiring journalist) crossing into a war zone is to function as a voice for a suffering, disenfranchised population. With kidnappings on the rise and dozens of journalists killed in the Syrian war, international media has begun to streamline its focus on the front lines and swelling jihadist support. But nobody is more innocent and less heard than Syria’s refugees. That’s why I went in. This wasn’t some sick adventure. Still, The Daily Princetonian’s existing policies would allow me to write about myself and my experience
in Syria, but not Asad Hoammed and the humanitarian crisis in the transit camp near A’zaz. I find that baffling, and I won’t do it. Here’s a sampling of headlines in the News section of the ‘Prince’ at the moment: “Big Sibs mentors visit charter school in Camden Former Borough,” “Township Halls renamed in contest” and “Terra Momo to operate eateries in Arts and Transit neighborhood.” And here’s the headline of my submission: “Syrians stuck between war and Turkish Border.” It is entirely correct and appropriate that The Daily Princetonian focuses primarily on local goings-on, as most of its reporters are, of course, in Princeton. But, broadly speaking, I find Princeton undergraduates’ tendency to ignore the outside world troubling. The later explanation offered for blocking the Syrian refugee article was that there’s an existing policy of only publishing news from within The
Daily Princetonian’s pool of internally trained reporters. I am not one of them. That’s a fair policy, and provides an absolutely necessary structure of accountability. However, it woefully ignores the extraordinary foreign reporting potential to be found in scores of students studying abroad each semester and perpetuates a disturbing bubble of insulation within Princeton’s zip code. For this reason, I think, The Daily Princetonian ought to establish a weekly dispatch section from students abroad. Real news reporting, but also various adventures, ramblings, windows into cultures beyond the confines of campus. People grow up a lot when they’re not just worrying about “Love and Lust in the Bubble.” Include a disclaimer that factchecking is not always feasible and authors are responsible for all content and errors. But please — please — puncture the Bubble once a week. Ben Taub ’14 Transit Camp, A’zaz, Syria
EDITOR’S RESPONSE
.............................................................. We agree with Ben Taub ’14 that students should follow current events and that staying on top of news from around the world is vital. However, for a variety of reasons, The Daily Princetonian is not the proper forum for news reporting about international affairs that lack a connection to the University. The mission of the ‘Prince’ is to cover news and uncover stories about this University and its students. This means that a large portion of news stories
discuss occurrences on campus. In our capacity as a student newspaper, we regularly publish news stories about international events as they relate to Princeton, including interviews with international relations practitioners teaching here, profiles of alumni working in international politics and coverage of lectures on timely events. But we do not have the capacity to set up a full-fledged foreign correspondence operation. News organizations that specialize in international reporting
have the capability to offer contacts and resources, thoroughly fact-check and edit international stories and protect reporters and sources. In order to ensure the accuracy and integrity of each story, the ‘Prince’ only publishes news articles written by its staff members with the assistance of editors. We cannot publish guest submissions of news articles because editors are not intimately familiar with how the piece was reported. We continue to welcome guest
columns and Letters to the Editor from non-staff members, including submissions that discuss students’ experiences abroad or aim to raise awareness on campus about a particular issue. In fact, the Opinion section has consistently published excellent columns about international events and experiences that occur far outside campus. Luc Cohen Editor-in-Chief
4/10/13 12:01 AM
The Daily Princetonian
Wednesday april 10, 2013
page 7
Jumper has learned time management, loves sand, music, Nike apparel ON TAP
Continued from page 8
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A: After I land I’m hoping it’s a good jump, but if it’s not, I’ll be really upset. But sometimes it’s alright and I like it. Q: What are some of the team’s traditions? A: There are a lot. We have a guy named [sophomore] Dan McCord who will come on and put Trey Songz in the locker room and some people like it, some people don’t. So different people like different things because it’s such a diverse team and everyone does their own thing. A lot of people do the Snapchat thing
nowadays, they’re really big into that … We joke a lot on the team and we try to keep it relaxed, but at the end of the day we’re just trying to get the work done. Q: Who is your quirkiest teammate? A: We have this guy on the team called [Bryan Oslin], he’s a freshman decathlete. He’s a really weird dude. I don’t even know how to explain it. He’s really weird, you know, he’s just, like, jittery all the time; he’s never composed. But he’s always upbeat and you can always get a good smile from him. Q: What is the strangest or fun-
niest thing that has ever happened at a meet or a practice? A: For me, I’ve dislocated my shoulder on long jump, which is unheard of. I’ve fallen on my face twice in the sand, which is not necessarily good but it’s a bit weird. Q: What is the best thing about being an athlete on campus? A: Can we skip the best thing? But yeah the best thing I would say is, honestly, it teaches you time management. For me it’s like, I have shit to do, so when I’m already three hours on the track and I know coming in afterward I have to just do work, I can’t be like ‘Oh, I’m going to take a nap,’ you know, I have to
do work. So they’re teaching you really good time management. Q: What is the worst thing about being an athlete on campus? A: The worst thing is that it’s just so goddamn hard here at Princeton. You have all these classes plus you have to be on the track. It’s rough. And I think that’s one of the worst things about being an athlete, not saying we’re looking for preferential treatment, but it slaps you in the face more than you can imagine. Q: What is your favorite thing to do when you are not at practice? A: I listen to music. I love mu-
sic and I listen to the radio a lot, especially Jamaican radio. I kind of DJ, but I’m not really a DJ, but it’s fun. I love music … I would listen to music all day — that’s what I do. Track has taken up most of my time right now, so I haven’t really — I’m not sure if you’ve heard of [Wilson] Blackbox, but I run Blackbox. So I love advertising for that, I love promoting that, I love planning that. Q: What is the best song on your iPod and what’s the most embarrassing song? A: I wouldn’t say there are any embarrassing songs because I listen to everything. If you ask the people who listen to my music, I play everything, I
listen to everything. The best song, it’s really hard because I listen to a lot of Jamaican music and, to me, those are the best songs. That and some gospel. Embarrassing songs? I really don’t, because it’s like songs grow on me so after a while I’m like, ‘Oh, this song is horrible,’ but people know that I listen to everything so it wouldn’t be embarrassing. Q: What is one thing that not that many people know about you? A: I love Nike Frees. I’m in love with Nike. I really do love athletic wear and so spring break we went to a Nike store and I just went wild in the Nike store.
Schreiber, Froccaro, MacDonald net 7 M. LACROSSE Continued from page 8
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tional rankings since the start of the season and have lost to some historically beatable, though certainly not always easy, opponents, they have scored in double figures in all 10 games this season. Together, MacDonald, Froccaro and Schreiber have notched 73 goals and 39 assists. The rest of the team, meanwhile, has compiled 52 goals and 35 assists over the span of 10 games. Schreiber had posted at least three points in every game this year coming in and kept that streak alive when, on the restart with 14 seconds remaining in the first half, he carried the ball to Rutgers’ net for his third and final goal of the evening to expand the Tigers’ lead to 9-6 into the second half. Perhaps more exciting than the trio’s usually notable performances, however, was senior attack Luke Armour’s threegoal spell in the first 18 minutes
of the matchup. Battling foot injuries at the start of the season, Armour remained on the sidelines throughout Princeton’s first nine games after also missing half of the 2012 season due to injuries. At last cleared to play, he started in the spot that freshman attack Ryan Ambler had successfully filled since the start of the season. Elsewhere on the field, the Tigers adapted well as starting positions changed hands. In particular, senior shortstick defensive middie Chris White and junior shortstick defensive middie Jack Strabo took the bench because of injuries. Freshman shortstick defensive middie Austin deButts joined his brother, junior middie Hunter deButts, and assumed one of the unfilled positions, ripping a shot on goal in his longest playing streak in a single game this season. Senior Bobby Lucas, a shortstick defensive middie prior to the extensive pre-2013 season reshuffling and team rebuilding, returned to his old position against Rutgers
last night. Lucas had been starting as an offensive middie. Despite what one may assume given Rutgers’ record, the Scarlet Knights held on against their ranked opponent. Returning from a 5-2 deficit, they rallied to tie the game 5-5 with 6:59 remaining in the first half, and then again at 6-6 a little over a minute later. In typical MacDonald-Froccaro-Schreiber fashion, however, the Orange and Black scored three goals in the final three minutes of the first half and brought that momentum into the second. The beginning of Princeton’s rally came from freshman middie Jake Froccaro, who now boasts 15 goals and six assists. The Tigers, now with a needto-win approach toward their final games of the season, travel once again this Saturday. Dartmouth, currently sitting at the bottom of the Ivy League with a 0-3 conference record, will host Princeton before the Tigers return home for an evening matchup against Harvard the following Saturday.
Kessel tallies career-high 31 kills VOLLEYBALL Continued from page 8
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notably including a pair in the first set when the Tigers were struggling to keep up with Juniata. Schwagler and Kessel also both hit for over .420 while the Tigers hit .299 as a team to help Princeton secure the victory. Rookie outside hitter Michael Bagnell also joined in with a team-best seven digs while also adding six kills, and junior setter Davis Waddell recorded 36 assists. Junior middle blocker Brad Howard also recorded six kills, including the winning hit in the first set and a block
in the fourth that clinched the victory for Princeton. Siroky, who hit .500 for the night, said that the addition of Schwagler in this year’s faceoff was critical. “We’re a lot more physical this year,” he said. Princeton will play two more matches to close out the regular season. The Tigers will host Hunter College on Sunday in a nonconference game before playing EIVA rival George Mason on April 20. Princeton and George Mason are currently locked in a battle in the conference standings, with the Patriots currently in second and the Tigers in third. Should Princeton win
the matchup, it will clinch a top-three seed in the EIVA playoffs, which would allow the team to avoid conference heavyweight Penn State. “It’s the same thing that happened last year where it’s a big game for us and it doesn’t matter that much to George Mason so it’s going to be hard to get them as excited and motivated as we are,” Siroky said. “On top of the fact that we’re fighting for a seed and [George Mason is] playing for fun, yeah I think that we definitely have what it takes to come out with a win.” The Tigers were taken out in the semifinals last year by Penn State in three straight sets, 25-20, 25-12, 25-22.
T HE DA ILY
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Sports
Wednesday april 10, 2013
page 8
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
MEN’S LACROSSE
Tigers return to Dillon, beat Juniata
Armour returns in win vs. Rutgers
By Victoria Majchrzak
By Ali Goedecke
associate sports editor
senior writer
This year’s matchup between the men’s volleyball team and the Juniata Eagles) could not JUNIATA 1 have been PRINCETON 3 more different from last season’s encounter. On Tuesday night, the Tigers (12-8 overall, 9-4 EIVA) cruised to an easy 3-1 victory on their home court, a much easier victory than their hard-fought 3-2 comeback the year before. In last year’s encounter, then-freshman outside hitter Cody Kessel, the nowreigning EIVA Newcomer of the Year, had a career-best 31 kills. Kessel led the Tigers in recovering from the first two sets, which they dropped 25-23, 28-26, to sweep the last three 25-20, 25-23, 15-11. The entire Tiger squad pitched in to earn the victory — then-freshman middle blocker Will Siroky recorded a season-best 11 blocks, and then-freshman libero Tony Ensbury had a team-best 12 digs. Princeton hit .304 for that match as it struggled to push past the Division-III Eagles, a reflection of its hunt for a spot in the EIVA playoffs. Tuesday night, however, was a different story. Kessel ended the match with 15 kills, five digs and two blocks against the Eagles (22-11, 6-2 CVC). Junior outside hitter Pat Schwagler added another 14 kills and four digs in the 25-19, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22 win. Schwagler also had three service aces,
The No. 10 men’s lacrosse team once RUTGERS 8 again utiPRINCETON 13 lized stat leaders sophomore attack Mike MacDonald, senior midfielder Jeff Froccaro and junior offensive middie Tom Schreiber Tuesday night, rebounding from its nail-biting 13-12 home loss against No. 8 Syracuse on Saturday to defeat in-state rival,
See VOLLEYBALL page 7
CONOR DUBE :: FILE PHOTO
The Tigers scored three goals in the final 2 minutes and 23 seconds of the first half at Rutgers Tuesday.
{
On Tap
Rutgers. The Meistrell Cup will thus return to Princeton’s campus for the 24th time in the past 25 years. After topping the Scarlet Knights (2-10 overall, 0-4 Big East) last night, the Tigers (73, 2-1 Ivy League) now lead the all-time series by an enormous margin of 59-29-3 and have captured 24 of those 59 victories in the last 25 meetings between the two teams. Though the Tigers have dropped in the Division I naSee M. LACROSSE page 7
}
On Tap with ... Damon McLean By Anna Mazarakis
ple, mainly it’s warm; I like the warm.
contributor
Q: How did you decide to start long jumping? A: Everyone likes to play in the sand. You run and you jump — it’s a pretty easy event, and it’s fun. I like having fun; I like playing in the sand.
Jamaican junior jumper Damon McLean has had quite the year, coming in 14th place at the indoor NCAA Championships for the triple jump, becoming an indoor Ivy League champion for both the triple and long jump and making second-team All-America Indoor for the triple jump. He sat down with The Daily Princetonian to discuss what he thinks about while he’s jumping, his team and his love for music and Nike Frees.
Q: What are some of your athletic accomplishments? A: I’ve been to nationals, NCAA tournament twice since I’ve been here, I’ve won Ivy League indoors three years consecutively and I’ve been athletic athlete of the region this year, so those are some of a few.
Q: Where are you from? What’s it like there? A: I’m from Jamaica, 20 minutes outside Kingston. It’s much like what it is like today [Monday] almost every day. It’s pretty warm, and I love it there. It’s warm, it’s nice, it’s nice peo-
Q: Do you have any pre-jump rituals? A: Not really, it depends on the day. There are days when I’m trying to achieve different things so if I’m trying to really
go out there and have some fun, then I’ll be talking to my teammates a lot just joking around. There are other days when I’m trying to go there and just compete and do what’s required of me. You know, I’ll be really silent — a lot of the times I don’t talk to people the night before the meet or the day of. That’s just me, not doing anything major. Q: What do you think about while you are in the middle of a jump? A: I don’t think; I think that’s key. It’s like, you do it so much — I think about it in training but during the meet it’s like second nature, you just do it. But that’s ideally because if I think about it too much I mess up. Q: What do you think about after you land? See ON TAP page 7
See STORY page 8
MERRILL FABRY :: PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Junior Damon McLean was first team All-America in 2012.
THE
AROUND I V I E S
With inter-divisional play over, the more crucial part of the Ivy League season is about to begin, as the teams are all about to play their division rivals. Below, we break down the race so far:
1.
Columbia (13-15 overall, 6-2 Ivy League) Despite being atop the Lou Gehrig division, Columbia has a long way to go in order to win the Ivy League. Though they have beaten Yale and Brown on the road, the Lions lost both their games to Dartmouth, arguably the only competitive team in the Red Rolfe Division, at home.
2.
Cornell (17-10, 5-3) Cornell is an interesting team, as almost every game that it has played has been close. Of its eight Ivy League matches, all but one have been decided by three runs or less. They are third in the league in on-base percentage, which is particularly beneficial for the Big Red as it is second in the league in stolen bases and has four players in the top 10 in bases stolen.
3. 4. 5.
Penn (18-11, 5-3) One of just three Ancient Eight teams with a winning record, the Quakers pulled off two wins over Dartmouth but have not looked overly impressive this season. The Quakers are primarily relying on a handful of individuals, including Ryan Deitrich, who leads the league in batting average (.450), Michael Vilardo, who leads the league in RBIs (26) and pitcher Dan Gautieri, who leads the league in wins (5) and is second in ERA (1.38). Princeton (7-20, 5-3) The Tigers split their games this past weekend and were an inning shy from being tied for the division lead. Despite having the league leader in ERA in senior pitcher Mike Ford (1.12), the Tigers have not pitched well as a team, posting the third-worst ERA in the league. Pitching was a big problem this past weekend, as the Tigers failed to beat Harvard despite scoring 19 runs in a game, as they gave up 20 to the Crimson. Dartmouth (17-5, 4-4) Since starting the season off 12-1, the Big Green has had a harder time since the start of Ivy League play. Its primary issues have come in the runs department, as it ranks last in the league in runs scored in conference play despite having the second-most runs scored in non-conference play. The problem for Dartmouth appears to be in bringing the runners home, as the team is in the top half of the league in hits during conference play.
6.
Yale (6-18, 3-5) The Bulldogs started the season off 2-2 but have since lost four straight road contests. They were not able to cash in on four straight home games to follow that, however, getting swept by Columbia and barely managing to split the doubleheader against Penn thanks to David Hickey, who pitched nine scoreless innings with four hits, 11 strikeouts and no walks.
7.
Harvard (6-21, 3-5) When looking only at conference play, it is clear that the Crimson is a very one-sided team. It leads the league in batting average at .291 but has the worst ERA in the league by far at 6.57. Its defense has not been doing the team any favors either, as the Crimson has the most unearned runs allowed in conference play, with 12.
8.
Brown (3-19, 1-7) The Bears have been without a doubt the least impressive team so far this season. They managed one impressive performance against Penn for their only conference victory but have been outscored 40-13 in the rest of their Ivy League games. The Bears’ near future doesn’t look too much better, as they have a four-game series on the road with Red Rolfe division-leading Dartmouth this Saturday.
Tweet of the day
Today
Trivia
‘On a 90 minute conference call for TFA. I guess the real world is starting. #BigBoyPants’
The women’s lacrosse team takes its 5-game win streak to College Park to face No. 1 Maryland.
The men’s lacrosse team is 2-1 in the Ivy League and faces Dartmouth Saturday. No team has ever won three league games and missed the Ivy tournament.
senior pitcher Zak Hermans of the baseball team, on twitter (@zhermans12)
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