The Daily Princetonian: February 10, 2023

U. unintentionally sends out information about over 200 students’ housing accommodations

The PROSPECT

For Valentine’s Day, six romance novels set in academia

By Emily Miller | Staff Prospect Writer

Content warning: The following piece includes reference to sexual assault.

Students who requested housing accommodations for the 2023-24 academic year instead received a 134 page email with all 206 email drafts granting housing accommodations. Each email draft included the approved student’s first name and the type of room they were granted based on their accommodation request.

Information in the emails sometimes included the age of the building assigned or specific features of the room, information that could possibly indicate a student’s disability status.

The email was addressed from the Associate Director for Student Housing Occupancy Management and Systems Angie Rooney, who followed up with another message less than two hours later asking recipients to “disregard and delete the erroneous message.”

This is the second major inadvertent exposure of pri-

vate data in recent years. In October 2021, a routine email asking students to submit COVID-19 tests after fall break accidentally included a spreadsheet with employment information about faculty, staff, and other members of the University community.

Students who received accommodations expressed a range of reactions.

“Somebody just f*cked up massively. And while it’s totally reasonable for people to be upset, at least it only provided first names and what types of accommodations students were giving,” one student told the ‘Prince.’

Another student, whose accommodations were disclosed in the email, described the University’s email as “unprofessional.”

“It’s a bad look. I think whenever you have people’s health information, you need to be super careful about it,” they said in an interview.

Both students were granted anonymity for privacy purposes.

Julia Elman ’23, who currently has disability housing,

commented on the implications of the email. “It’s a violation of privacy. No matter how much information was withheld, there’s a certain amount of identifiable information that has been released,” she said.

Students may request housing accommodations for disabilities or medical conditions, as well as private or single-occupancy bathrooms for a safety need or genderrelated reason. Decisions are made prior to Room Draw in March.

When asked for comment, University spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss referred the ‘Prince’ to Rooney’s followup email in which she asked recipients to “disregard and delete” the email.

Head Data Editor Charlie Roth contributed reporting.

Julian Hartman-Sigall is an Assistant News Editor and Assistant Newsletter Editor for the ‘Prince.’

Miriam Waldvogel is an Assistant News Editor for the ‘Prince.’

The dining pilot, explained

The University’s proposed upperclass dining pilot brought campus-wide controversy and discussions when it was announced this fall. With the pilot set to launch on Monday, Feb. 27, The Daily Princetonian answers questions about what we know and don’t know about the upcoming program.

What is the dining pilot?

The dining pilot will give randomly selected junior and senior students five swipes per week which they can use to eat at eating clubs, co-ops, dining halls, retail dining locations, and late meal. Unused swipes will not roll over to the next week.

The pilot was worked on by a working group including eating club and co-op presidents, and campus life, dining, and finance administrators. There was some controversy this fall when some eating club and co-op leaders claimed they had each been misled to believe that the other group had already agreed to the pilot. Which students and groups will be involved?

Approximately 10 percent of the upper-class student body will be involved in the pilot program. Those selected to participate will get an email the week of Feb. 20, and the program will run through Apr. 30.

The University last held a pilot for a dining plan when

150 undergraduates tried out an early version of the Pay with Points program. For that pilot, participants filled out a survey and were then randomly selected. The Pay with Points pilot was primarily administered by Undergraduate Student Government. The University has not mentioned any application or survey before random selection for the upperclass dining pilot up to this point.

Dining halls, eating clubs, and co-ops will be available to swipe in for meals, as will campus cafes, like the Frist Gallery and Café Vivian, and concession stands at athletic games. Students will not be charged to participate in the

Sometimes, I take a break from journal articles and dusty, jackettless Firestone tomes and read fiction. However, as an occupational hazard of being a social scientist, I stumble upon my research — which is focused on the transition to adulthood, marriage — everywhere in fiction. As much as I find themes that relate to me, it’s surprising how often there are characters who live my lifestyle — graduate students. This Valentine’s Day, I encourage you to put down the dissertation, thesis, or pset and pick up one of these romance novels featuring an academic protagonist.

My first foray into this micro-genre was “The Kiss Quotient” by Helen Hoang. This novel follows Stella, who got her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago and finished her postdoc by the age of 25. She should be on the tenure track; instead, she is five years into a middle management role at a marketing firm, approach-

ing thirty with a mother who wants her to get married. It’s okay, Stella — I am also approaching thirty and live in a dorm. Stella, like many real-life PhD students, has invested in her education and delayed marriage. As a result, she is worried she is only good at one thing, research, and has fallen behind in other aspects of her life, like romance. So, she hires an escort, Michael, to help her gain confidence, and eventually the two fall in love. Stella and Michael remind us that it is never too late to branch out, that sometimes things do not go according to plan, and that love can come from unexpected places.

Next up is “Take A Hint, Dani Brown” by Talia Hibbert. Dani, an English Ph.D. student, is devoting herself to her dream of being on the same panel as her academic inspiration. With her busy schedule, she just wants a friends-with-benefits situation. Zafir, an ex-rugby player who runs a non-profit to teach young men about the dangers of toxic masculinSee NOVELS page 10

U. announces salary increase for most employees

year,” according to a memo sent to employees by Dean of the Faculty Gene A. Jarrett ’97.

Six months after inflation in the United States hit a fourdecade high, the University announced a 2.5 percent midyear salary increase for most faculty, academic professionals and staff on Jan. 31. The salary increase, effective Feb. 1, does not apply to unionized workers working in the dining halls.

The raise, which applies to “eligible salaried and hourly University employees hired on or before Oct. 1, 2022,” comes in response to the inflation that “has affected the market competitiveness of some University salaries over the past

Last June, inflation in the United States hit a high of 9.1 percent year-over-year, sending the prices of consumer goods soaring. Wages have not kept pace with inflation, growing 4.5 percent from May to November of last year, when inflation was at 7.1 percent.

According to an FAQ attached in the University’s announcement of the pay hike, this salary increase will supplement an additional one ex-

See SALARY page 3

Please send any corrections requests to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.

The Valentine's Day Issue

NAOMI HESS / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Butler College.

Laura Robertson Associate Audience Editor

Julian Hartman-Sigall & Miriam Waldvogel Assistant News Editors

Sandeep Mangat Head News Editor

The dining pilot aims to ‘achieve fluidity and flexibility in our dining system’

Continued from page 1

program. According to the dining pilot FAQ, the University will reimburse co-ops and eating clubs for guest meals.

How will the program be implemented?

Each venue will decide its own space capacity, meaning that spots per meal may be limited at eating clubs and coops. Eating clubs and co-ops may also have members-only nights, but according to the dining pilot FAQ, University spaces, like dining halls, should have no capacity limits.

At eating clubs, meal swipes can only be used if students are accompanied by a member of that club. Protocol for swiping into co-ops has not been announced yet.

No-communication and no-contact orders will be honored under the pilot program, meaning that students who have had these filed against them may have limits on where they can use their swipes. No-communication and mutual no-contact orders “prevent parties from engaging in direct or indirect communication with one another” and typically last 12 or 3 months, respectively.

What’s the reason for the pilot?

The stated goal of the dining pilot is to “achieve fluidity and flexibility in our dining system” in order to develop “community connectedness and shared experience.”

This may be the latest step in a years-long push from the University to make dining and social experiences less segmented by community.

A task force in 2018 made twenty recommendations for how to make the dining and social experiences more inclusive. This included working with clubs to decrease costs and hosting on-campus events with alcohol for of-age students outside the eating clubs. In 2010, an earlier task force encouraged the University to increase financial support for students in eating clubs to cover social fees and sophomore charges, as well as to choose club membership through a ranked choice computer program. Since then, some of these recommendations have been implemented. What pushback has it gotten?

On Oct. 4, a group of student leaders, including several members of the working group which had designed the pilot, proposed and signed an alternative plan. The five-point plan suggests expanding the University’s “Two Extra Meals” program to also include

Roughly a dozen Divest Princeton protesters push for ‘complete dissociation’ from fossil fuel companies

Janny Eng News Contributor

late meal and meal ex ing the dining points program to upperclassmen, opening the eating clubs specifically for upperclassmen students at certain times during the semester, calling on the Interclub Council (ICC) to “open a campus-wide conversation around exclusionary aspects of the eating club system,” and asking the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) to open “supplemental social spaces” on campus.

On Oct. 6, the USG held a town hall meeting to collect student feedback on the program, as it was understood at that time. At the time, a USG survey suggested that 74 percent of respondents held “mostly negative” views of the pilot, while 15 percent held “mostly positive” views.

How does its success get decided?

After the pilot program has ended, the working group will look at “usage data, surveys and other qualitative data” to determine its success. If changes are made to campus dining, this will happen, at the earliest, in Fall 2024. If implemented in the future, the financial impact of the program will be announced later.

A large orange banner hung from the windows of Blair Arch, with the words “Divest in the Service of Humanity.”

Below, around a dozen students gathered, some holding signs with slogans including “Divest the Rest,” “Cut all Ties,” and “Divest Princeton Now.”

Four months after the University announced that it would dissociate from 90 public fossil fuel companies, a few members of Divest Princeton held a demonstration in front of Blair Arch on Feb. 3. The students called on the University to divest the rest of its portfolio from fossil fuels and cut all research ties with fossil fuel companies.

The temperature ranged between 19 and 26 degrees Fahrenheit, a rare patch of frigid cold amid an unseasonably warm winter.

The attendee count was much smaller than at some of the larger Divest protests, with over 100 people coming to the Earth Day No Delay rally in April 2021.

Attendees characterized this demonstration as part of a new campaign.

“Our two major goals for this push of the campaign are: divestment fully. No investment in fossil fuels from the Princeton endowment and then second, all research funding with the fossil fuel companies should be cut,” said Eleanor Clemans-Cope ’26, one of the coordinators of the event.

Clemans-Cope is an associate Opinion editor for The Daily Princetonian.

The University disassociated from fossil fuel companies that are active in thermal coal or tar sands, which the University characterizes as “among the sector’s largest contributors to carbon emissions.” The University also divested, from all publicly-traded fossil fuel companies, a move that does not include cutting research ties. The University left the door open to further dissociation from companies responsible for the spread of climate disinformation, though they noted that the bar for this standard is “exceedingly high … in light of the University’s commitment to embracing the vigorous exchange of ideas.”

According to Divest Princeton’s web page, $700 million are “still invested in private fossil fuel companies.”

The University characterized its dissociation as “focused on the most-polluting segments of the industry and on concerns about corporate disinformation campaigns.”

Makenzie Hymes ’26, one of the protestors, said in a statement to the ‘Prince,’ “the recent divestment announced a couple months ago or at the beginning of the school year was a great first step.”

She continued, “however, Princeton has not fully divested and we want to continue working and continue organizing until this has happened because this is the ultimate goal.”

The protestors specifically focused on the University’s research ties to fossil fuel companies.

Clemans-Cope said that Divest Princeton is pushing to “reach full divestment and also complete dissociation on research terms in order to restore the informational capacity of our research.”

While other universities — including Harvard, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Brown — have divested their endowments from all fossil fuel companies, Princeton is the only Ivy League institution to include cutting research ties in addition to investment as part of their definition of dissociation.

However, Raphi Gold ’26, a member of Divest Princeton who helped to plan the event, told the ‘Prince’ that the University must go further.

“Much of Princeton’s research, for example, the Netzero America project is funded by fossil fuel companies, like BP and Exxon,” she said.

Gold is a Features staff writer for the ‘Prince.’

The University, when dissociating from the 90 fossil fuel companies, used a reworked definition of dissociation which includes “no longer soliciting or accepting gifts or grants from a company, purchasing the company’s products, or forming partnerships with the company that depend upon the exchange of money.” This precludes any research funding from companies on the list. The ExxonMobil Corporation is one of the companies dissociated from, meaning that research grants should no longer be expected, including to the NetZero America project. British Petroleum did not meet the criteria for dissociation.

Alex Norbrook ’26, another coordinator of the demonstration, spoke about the University’s financial sources of climate change research.

“[The University] also accept[s] fossil fuel money to fund climate research, which we think is a conflict of interest and something that needs to be stopped, basically as soon as possible,“ he said.

Norbrook noted that funding climate research “isn’t wrong itself,” but noted the potential for biased results. Norbrook alleged that funders may have influence over research content and questions.

The University’s Research Integrity & Assurance page states, “The University does not accept research sponsorship predicated on the finding of predetermined research results.“

Clemans-Cope emphasized the University’s responsibility towards climate protection.

“Princeton is the number one university in the country,” she said, “and we have a major responsibility to act responsibly and protect the climate for future generations and change our current behavior.”

Janny Eng is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Laura Robertson is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’

ANGEL KUO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The dining hall in between New College West and Yeh College bustles with students as classes start up.

Sophomore Jaqueline Gonzalez dies following prolonged illness

Julian Hartman-Sigall Asssistant News Editor

Content Warning: The following article contains mention of death.

University Counseling services are available at 609-258-3141. Students can contact residential college staff and the Office of Religious Life for other support and resources. For employees, Carebridge counseling services are available 24/7 by calling (800) 437-0911.

Jaqueline “Jaki” Gonzalez ’25 died at the Children’s Hospital of Chicago on Feb. 1 due to complications related to liver and kidney failure following a prolonged illness. Gonzalez was on a leave of absence this semester to focus on her health. She was 19 years old.

According to a GoFundMe started by her family, Gonzalez was a resident of Harvard, Ill. and graduated as valedictorian from Harvard High School in 2021.

At Princeton, Gonzalez was a resident of Forbes College. In an email to Forbes residents earlier today, Dean of Forbes College Patrick Caddeau wrote, “Jaki was a valued member of the Forbes community, a talented and dedicated student, and a highly engaged member of multiple groups on campus.”

“Her passing is a tragedy for us all,” Caddeau continued.

Gonzalez was an active member in the Scholars Institute Fellows Program (SIFP)

How does the AP African American Studies curriculum compare to courses at Princeton’s AAS Department?

Justus Wilhoit Assistant News Editor

and the Freshman Scholars Institute program (FSI), which is run through the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity. In an email earlier today to the FSI and SIFP community, Director of the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity Dean Khristina Gonzalez wrote, “Jaki was a central member of our community.”

“[Gonzalez] had a true commitment to supporting every other member in our community, whether it be by providing resources on our Discord server, helping fellow students in our SIFP precepts, or serving as a research assistant working to identify areas of growth or our programs. Her passing is a tragedy for us and for the world,” she wrote.

Gonzalez’s passing is the fifth death of a Princeton student in the past nine months.

A gathering to remember Gonzalez will be held on Feb. 8 at 4:30 p.m. in the Forbes College Living Room. All members of the Princeton community are invited.

A funeral for Gonzalez will be held on Feb. 8 in Harvard, Ill.

Gonzalez is survived by her parents Maria Dolores Martinez and Genaro Gonzalez Mercado, her older sister Daisy Gonzalez Martinez, and younger brother Giovani Gonzalez Mercado.

Julian Hartmann-Sigall is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Increase includes some campus dining staff members who are part of SEIU

SALARY

Continued from page 1

pected in July as a part of the Merit Increase Program.

The Merit Increase Program — which is determined by market information, economic indicators, as well as Princeton-specific, local, and national related data — will be effective on July 1, 2023, and is given based on staff performance ratings. According to a University website, staff “who perform at a ‘partially achieved expectations’ level or greater are normally eligible for an increase.”

Postdoctoral fellows, visiting faculty, senior scholars, and faculty and academic professionals whose salaries are contractually fixed by external agencies are ineligible for the 2.5 percent raise.

Postdocs recently received a pay hike to ensure a $65,000 minimum annual salary but on Jan. 19, they sent an open letter to Jarrett and Provost Deborah A. Prentice urging that this minimum be raised to $68,500 to account for the cost of living in Princeton. Postdocs are excluded from this 2.5 percent raise because, according to a postdoc FAQ,

any additional salary increases, beyond the $65,000 minimum, are to be determined by the principal investigators with whom they work.

Unionized workers are also excluded from this pay raise. This includes some campus dining staff members who are a part of the Service Employees International Union, which represents almost two million workers in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

University employees who have received salary increases of at least 2.5 percent on or since Oct. 2, 2022, those receiving this percentage raise “as part of a position reclassification or change effective Feb. 1, 2023,” and those who work for the Princeton University Investment Company or the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory are all ineligible for the raise as well.

The University referred the ‘Prince’ to the University announcement and attached FAQs when asked for comment.

Sandeep Mangat is a Head News Editor who has reported on labor shortages on and off campus, University guidelines regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, and research led by Princeton faculty.

Abby Leibowitz News Contributor

Advanced Placement (AP) classes are a mainstay of the resumes of incoming Princeton students. Coming into Princeton, 86.3 percent of first-year students have taken at least one AP class, and over 80 percent of incoming students have taken three or more AP courses, according to The Daily Princetonian’s 2022 Frosh survey.

Since the Class of 2023 graduated high school, the College Board has rebranded AP World History as AP World History: Modern and added AP Japanese Language and Culture and AP Precalculus as new offerings. AP African American Studies is currently being piloted in select U.S. high schools through 2024. The new AP class is an “interdisciplinary course” designed to “explore the vital contributions and experiences of African Americans.”

In January, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration blocked local high schools in the state from offering the pilot AP African American Studies course (AAS), a move that has elicited some criticism. According to an Associated Press report, a Jan. 12 letter sent to the College Board from the state education department called the program “inexplicably contrary to Florida law.”

Jennifer Jennings ’00, a Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs who teaches a course called SPI 387: Education Policy in the United States, noted that she was apprehensive about colleges potentially accepting credit for the AP course, which she views as diluted. A comparison of the curricula of AP African American Studies and African American Studies offerings at Princeton reveals the two curriculums are similar in terms of major themes covered.

In an email to the ‘Prince,’ she described the impacts of the recent revisions, which excluded major AAS scholars like Ta-Nehisi Coates.

“I have major reservations about awarding college credit for an African-American Studies course that bears weak resemblance to what is taught in universities,” Jennings wrote.

“Exposing students to an idea is distinct from indoctrination or endorsement. Students are free to develop their own perspectives. Omitting topics like reparations or incarceration is to erase critical conversations in the study of Black experiences and lives,” she added.

Jennings is referring to the updated course curriculum, released after Florida’s ban, which has no mention of Coates. Topics on reparations and incarceration are included in the Sample Project Topics section but are not requirements of the course. This is in opposition to the original version of the course in which Coates’s text was included and reparations and incarceration were both topics within a unit of the course.

At Princeton, the Department of African American Studies describes itself as curating “a curriculum that reflects the complex interplay between the political, economic, and cultural forces that shape our understanding of the historic achievements and struggles of African-descended people in this country and around the world.” Incarceration and reparations are tackled within the AAS department in classes such as AAS 209: Race, Racism, and Racial Justice.

Based on available course information, the ‘Prince’ went unit by unit, comparing the subject matter of the pilot AP African American Studies curriculum and African American Studies offerings at Princeton. An analysis shows that the two curriculums match rela-

tively closely, at least in topics. AP curriculum unit one covers the histories of the continent of Africa. Princeton courses focused on African history are centered in the African Studies program and include AFS 250: The Mother and Father Continent: A Global History of Africa and AFS 316: Colonial and Post-colonial Africa.

Unit two of the AP AAS curriculum covers freedom, resistance, and enslavement. Much of the unit focuses on the history of American slavery, including the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the War for Freedom. The Princeton AAS core courses engage this material through classes such as AAS 366: African American History to 1863 (pre-20th century). There are also courses in the history department, such as HIS 373: Democracy and Slavery in the New Nation, that touch on slavery and the lead-up to the Civil War.

Post-Civil War African American history is covered in AAS 367: African American History Since Emancipation.

Subtopics in unit two include “Music, Art, and Creativity in African Diasporic Cultures,” “Black Pride, Identity, and the Question of Naming,” “Radical Resistance,” “Race to the Promised Land: Abolitionism and the Underground Railroad,” and “Gender and Resistance in Slave Narratives.” The Princeton AAS junior seminar AAS 300: Research and Writing in African American Studies tackles similar themes in required readings, such as “Dispossessed Lives: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Archive” and “The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics.” These books strive to include narratives of women, queer people, and intersectional subjects within African American history.

Unit three of the AP AAS curriculum covers the practice of freedom. Subtopics include “The New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance,” “Photography and Social Change Images,” and “Envisioning Africa in Harlem Renaissance Poetry.” Princeton core AAS courses similarly emphasize African American artistic accomplishments and goals, such as AAS 245: Introduction to 20th-Century African American Art, AAS 353: African American Literature: Origins to 1910 (pre-20th century), and AAS 359: African American Literature: Harlem Renaissance to Present.

Other unit three AP subtopics include “The Birth of Black History” and “Genealogy of the Field of African American Studies.” Princeton’s AAS required junior seminar AAS 300: Research and Writing in African American Studies, which introduces students to methods of research design in African American Studies, touches on similar threads in the history and practice of studying AAS.

Unit four of the AP curriculum covers movements and debates. These subtopics include “The Black Power Movement,” “The Black Panther Party,” “Black Women and Movements in the 20th Century, “Overlapping Dimensions of Black Life,” “The Growth of the Black Mid-

dle Class: charts on the Black middle class,” “Black Political Gains,” “Demographic and Religious Diversity in Contemporary Black Communities,” “The Evolution of African American Music,” “Black Achievements in Science, Medicine, and Technology,” and “Black Studies, Black Futures, and Afrofuturism.” Contemporary movements and cultural development subjects in African American Studies are also included in Princeton’s AAS junior seminar reading list, reflected in titles such as “The Black Revolution on Campus” and “White Logic, White Methods: Racism and Methodology.”

Criticism of the DeSantis administration’s decision on campus

In an email to the ‘Prince,’ Collin Riggins ’24, an AAS concentrator, expressed his disagreement with the DeSantis administration’s decision.

“Whether [AAS] is comfortable for everyone to acknowledge or not is a different story, but it cannot be the thing that holds institutions back from fulfilling their responsibilities to develop critical thinkers,” Riggins wrote.

AAS concentrator Storm Stokes ’24 expressed a similar sentiment in an email to the ‘Prince.’

“It is necessary for students to receive [AAS] education to understand how blackness was constructed — at least implicitly, certainly explicitly — through policy and government in order to make holistic decisions about policy agendas moving forward,” Stokes wrote.

Professor Douglas S. Massey GS ’78, who teaches the AAS course Race and Public Policy, suggested that DeSantis may be obstructing the AAS course for political purposes. “DeSantis is using [prison abolition and queer theory] terms because they are buzzwords that resonate with his conservative base,” he wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “[I doubt] that Afro-Am AP courses contain much on these topics.”

“To capture the potential of Black legacy in a narrative which amplifies the surface level challenge of white privilege and power provides a controversy perfect for winning elections and appealing to the white American,” Stokes added.

For many, what DeSantis will do next may set a precedent for other political leaders when creating accessibility to Black scholars in education at the high school level.

“By targeting African American Studies, you attack the souls and restrict the futures of Black students around the country,” AAS concentrator Kennedy Primus ’24 wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’

“It is critical for students to understand how [Black] visionaries [abolitionists, artists, and architects] paved this path for them,” Primus said.

Justus Wilhoit is an assistant news editor for the ‘Prince.’

Abby Leibowitz is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Hum r

U. responds to postdocs’ protest, raises minimum salary by 7,000 Paw Points

Sophia Varughese Associate Humor Editor

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional.

Following an announcement by the University that the minimum salary for postdoctoral researchers has been raised to $65,000, a group of these individuals petitioned the administration, calling for a further increase in the minimum salary to help cover the cost of living and raising families in Princeton.

In a recent press release, a University spokesperson responded enthusiastically, “We heard your concerns, and we listened. Boy oh boy, did we listen! Not only did we increase the minimum salary by 3,500 Paw Points like you asked — we doubled your request. It’s just our way of showing our appreciation for the postdoc community.”

When the Daily PrintsAnything asked why this raise wasn’t in dollars, the spokesperson said, “Oh? As an administration, we collectively heard them say ‘Paw Points.’ And, if I

might add, I much prefer Paw Points to dollars. The exchange rate is actually favoring them right now, you know.”

Reactions to this increase among postdocs have been overwhelmingly negative, with one postdoc, Rhea Sercher, explaining, “I just had my second kid. Now, instead of being able to buy formula, I can either feed a Junbi matcha latte or Thomas Sweet melted vanilla ice cream to my infant child. Great.”

Postdoc Imhel LaBroke stated, “We didn’t write a whole petition just to be able to eat at

Proof Pizza every f***ing night for the next year. I need actual money to pay my rent, not motherf***ing Paw Points.”

After being informed that they were probably thinking about the University’s Pay with Points program, which has a currency of Dining Points, Sercher and LaBroke responded with confusion.

“Wait, so what on earth are Paw Points then?” Sercher asked.

The two postdocs had no comment after learning that Paw Points have no value out-

side of a few on-campus locations and are primarily useful for replenishing your pencil supply at the U-Store.

Responding to this backlash, Vice President of Dining Services Sal Adbar stated, “My 401K is in Paw Points, per University regulations. I don’t understand the issue.”

Sophia Varughese is an Associate Humor Editor. She says hi to the Yeh dining hall staff everyday so she can convince herself she’s a good person.

By Bryan Zhang

Down Bad

By Joah Macosko

By Bryan Zhang

1 Reactions to a big reveal

2 "Hi," in Hawai'i

3 *Choo-choo train

4 Word after "hot" or "ejector"

5 ___ acid (vitamin B9)

6 Nickname for filmdom's titular Lebowski

7 Iraq war subj.

8 Robotic "Teen Titans" member

9 Swingers use them?

21 Like Zulu and Swahili

24 *Not-so-frequent band on the radio?

27 Major

45 Gold medalist gymnast Suni 47 Swingers use it? 49 Bewilder 51 Really aced 53 Award for "Braveheart" 54 Overdone, as a joke

The Minis

By Bryan Zhang

If ChatGPT can do our homework, AI isn’t the problem

Christopher Lidard Technology Columnist

Recent coverage of ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI that uses the power of machine learning (ML) to generate responses to text prompts, has primarily fallen into one of two camps: those that assert the death of the college essay and those that hail a new era of streamlined education where students are freed from mucking through first drafts. My perspective is more realistic and lies somewhere in between: the limitations of ChatGPT are significant enough that it can and should serve as a helpful tool, but it won’t be able to kill the college essay or revolutionize much of anything, at least in its current form.

Last month, Senior Columnist Mohan Setty-Charity ’24 urged the University to be cautious before rushing to ban tools like ChatGPT. He is correct, but not because artificial intelligence (AI) will replace the college essay for Princeton students. Instead, we should use the advent of this tool to question whether our homework assignments are just asking to create coherent text rather than develop coherent ideas.

To start, GPTZero is not particularly effective at writing college essays. As advanced and sophisticated as lan-

guage models like ChatGPT may seem, it is important to remember that they are just algorithms trained on vast amounts of data. Further, as computer science professor Arvind Narayanan and PhD candidate Sayash Kapoor recently explained, they can easily become “bullshit generators” if we don’t use them with caution. This is because ChatGPT, like any AI model, is only as good as the data it is trained on. If the model is trained on a dataset that contains inaccuracies or biases, it will reflect those in its generated text. Further, the actual output of ChatGPT is based on the probability of certain sentence constructions, not any measure of truth. This means that any text produced by ChatGPT, while potentially helpful in terms of finding content or ideas, needs to be thoroughly checked for accuracy and precision before being submitted as student work. In my experience, over a longer stretch of text, it doesn’t appear that GPT says anything beyond the superficial. Even those with heavy reliance on the tool for written work will still have to undertake a great deal of original thinking to create any assignment worthy of merit.

Given this, if students are being assigned essays that can be written by ChatGPT, perhaps it’s not a good assignment in the first place. ChatGPT begs

us to rethink the purpose and value of homework. Some would argue that ChatGPT subverts the purpose of a good education by providing students with instant, personalized assistance on a wide range of subjects and topics. Yet if Princeton homework can be completed by a machine, what is its true value?

Instead of assigning homework as a way to evaluate learning, it should be used as an opportunity to challenge students and their ability to extend upon core concepts, while generating original arguments and insights. ChatGPT can be used to help students achieve the bare minimum, but Princeton courses generally have a more ambitious aim: to teach students to think critically, solve problems, and apply what they have learned in new and creative ways. That is something that ChatGPT cannot do well, and, consequently, any student will still find themselves “filling in” critical thinking for their essays. AI is simply a tool, and, like any tool, it needs to be used with caution and in conjunction with human intelligence. The aspects of homework that are actually valuable won’t be lost if students draft individual parts of essays with ChatGPT, then edit them. In fact, this represents a valid and time-efficient way of completing written work that avoids the minutiae of drafting

while preserving the voice and original thinking of the writer.

The sure sign of pure ChatGPT output that will show through in any written work is a lack of critical thought. A ban is not necessary for students to face the consequences of an unedited draft. On the other hand, if a ban on ChatGPT were put in place, teachers may rely on tools like GPTZero, an AI detection algorithm made by Edward Tian ’23. While GPTZero is an impressive tool, its accuracy remains untested in a real-world context at this time. Teachers don’t need to rely on the suspicions about esoteric measures such as “perplexity” and “burstiness” that GPTZero may raise; the clear lack of coherence or accuracy from ChatGPT output is a much easier indicator of failure to demonstrate critical thought. These key differences become clearer and even more obvious as a user becomes more familiar with AI-generated text. I anticipate that faculty will learn rather quickly how to spot the aforementioned ‘generated bullshit,’ and assign a commensurate grade without bringing honor into question. In contrast, if faculty were to become reliant on an AI detection tool with contested accuracy because of a ChatGPT ban, the amount of false positives and false negatives may confound a grading process that should be focused on a broader sense of under-

standing.

It is clear that banning ChatGPT at Princeton University is not only unnecessary—it would be silly. If anyone were foolish enough to turn in a raw ChatGPT-produced essay, it would be easily detectable with other AI tools such as GPTZero, not to mention that the inaccuracies in the text could be easily spotted by any grader. The University needs to see clearly how the limitations of this product allow for a better learning environment that is by no means substantively threatened by plagiarism or dishonesty. By the way, more than 80% of this column was drafted by ChatGPT. It took me slightly less time to edit and augment than writing an article from scratch, but much of the work of developing ideas remained the same as an original piece. If you run it through GPTZero, it raises some flags, but this column has been so heavily edited that it appears to be human text. My main thesis statement, most importantly, was 100% original, much like any ChatGPT-assisted essay worth turning in.

Christopher Lidard is a sophomore from outside Baltimore, Maryland. A computer science concentrator and tech policy enthusiast, his columns focus on technology issues on campus and at large. He can be reached at clidard@princeton.edu.

Princeton’s climate research, in the service of BP

Eleanor Clemans-Cope Associate Opinion editor

The federal government put Princeton’s renowned research on display last October. But far from being a source of pride exemplifying the University’s scientific discoveries, it was an exhibit of a House Oversight Committee investigation into fossil fuel misinformation. The investigation highlighted BP’s (formerly British Petroleum, now known as Beyond Petroleum) efforts to “confidently and conspicuously” wage campaigns of climate disinformation aimed to protect their brand and their mission to extract oil and gas indefinitely. And the House Committee’s recently released trove of subpoenaed documents implicates Princeton’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) in these efforts.

BP’s relationship with CMI reaches back over two decades: When the world considered serious climate action in the late nineties, BP and other companies ramped up climate disinformation efforts, and the company went looking for a university to house a new “energy institute.” In 2000, they chose Princeton, and soon after, the Carbon Mitigation Initiative was launched.

Although Princeton’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative conducts real, insightful, and critical research, the fact that it is solely funded by BP raises suspicions when the Institute’s work allows the company to direct the climate conversation towards energy changes that benefit it. This is sponsorship bias, a well-documented phenomenon where industry funders influence research questions and the framing of issues to the general public. CMI’s research does not neces-

sarily produce incorrect results — its papers are certainly highquality. Rather, CMI’s funding structure allows BP to set the agenda on climate research, directing dollars towards activities that help protect their business and away from research that doesn’t. Further, through CMI, BP leverages its relationship with Princeton to greenwash its image into that of a “climate leader,” despite plans to continue fossil fuel extraction past critical tipping points.

The first of BP’s strategies to direct the conversation in ways that benefit them has been to promote natural gas, an emissions-intensive fossil fuel mostly made up of methane, as a “green” option. Although burning methane emits less carbon than coal or oil, research shows that natural gas is far dirtier than the public has been led to believe. With a high chance of catastrophic pipeline leaks that potentially outweigh its relative carbon savings, natural gas is rapidly becoming one of the biggest impediments to a fossil fuelfree world. Yet BP aims to “advance and protect the role of gas — and BP — in the future of energy conversation.”

CMI’s research helps BP in this quest. For one, in CMI’s groundbreaking Net Zero America Project — which aims to lay out pathways to decarbonize the United States – four out of the five proposed pathways involve some level of natural gas use. This bias permeates to the top of CMI: Director Stephen Pacala was quoted in a 2018 BP tweet saying that a “cost-effective” energy transition would “require expanded production of natural gas in the near and intermediate terms.” This is part of a broader trend: a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change found that fossil fuel-funded climate studies are more likely to be favorable towards natu-

ral gas, as opposed to other research that proposes renewable energy as alternatives.

BP justifies its focus on natural gas with a second tactic. The company claims that gas emissions can be offset by carbon capture and storage, a technology that aims to suck carbon dioxide out of the air and sequester it in the ground. Carbon capture will play a role in decarbonization — reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommend that carbon capture be deployed to reduce emissions from critical, tricky-to-decarbonize sectors like cement or steel. But that’s not what BP envisions, or what CMI recommends. Out of public view, CMI wrote in a report to oil companies, specifically BP, that carbon capture could “enable the full use of fossil fuels across the energy transition and beyond.” That’s CMI telling BP that they never have to stop drilling and fracking and burning our future away.

These CMI recommendations are completely out of line with those of scientists and policymakers who don’t take their funding from fossil fuels. The International Energy Agency warns us that we can’t afford to develop any more new oil and gas production. Carbon capture is not the solution to increased fossil fuel development: it only offsets production increases if it captures 100 percent of related emissions, but current systems only capture about 10–11 percent and are mostly used for “enhanced oil recovery” — injecting captured CO2 into oil wells in order to wrest even more gas from the ground. CMI’s recommendations about carbon capture are a dangerous distraction, serving to prolong the life of fossil fuels — and the life of BP as a dirty-energy behemoth. Furthermore, CMI’s association with BP greenwashes the fossil fuel company through

Princeton’s credibility and name brand. Subpoenaed documents show that the company leverages CMI as a “core programme” to help “authenticat[e] BP’s commitment to low carbon.” Meanwhile, the company’s true goal is to produce “more oil, more efficiently.” This goes both ways: CMI recommended methods that BP can use to greenwash its image. BP’s entanglement with CMI is a straightforward conflict of interest. BP is a fossil fuel company. Fossil fuels are the biggest contributors to the climate crisis. CMI is supposed to study solutions to the climate crisis. BP’s “corporate responsibility” is not to humanity and the planet — it’s a profit mandate to shareholders. So it seems they fund CMI not for humanitarian reasons, but for financial ones. As the documents described above show, BP uses CMI to launder its image, to ensure a stream of studies that give it legitimacy, and to preserve its business model. This exploitation of research is just as bad as the tobacco industry funding studies that investigate whether smoking causes cancer or pharma companies running their own clinical trials, both famous cases of research biased by industry.

It’s time to get the fossil fuel industry out of our University’s research. Princeton has more than enough money to fund CMI itself, and over time, researchers can find new grants from independent nonprofits and government sources. What BP gets out of CMI is worth much more than the millions they paid for it: a social license to continue destroying the world, and Princeton’s reputation to light their way.

Eleanor Clemans-Cope (she/ her) is a first-year from Rockville, Md., intending to study economics. She spends her time making music with Princeton University Orchestra and good trouble with Divest Princeton. She is an associate Opinion editor. She can be reached on Twitter at @eleanorjcc or by email at eleanor.cc@princeton.edu.

Alex Norbrook (he/him) is a first-year from Baltimore, Md., intending to study anthropology or politics. He spends his time organizing with Divest Princeton and being funded by BP. You can inquire about his carbon footprint and the individual actions he is taking to fight climate change by emailing him at alexnorbrook@ princeton.edu.

CANDACE DO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

Alex Norbrook Guest Contributor

vol. cxlvii

editor-in-chief

Rohit Narayanan '24

business manager

Shirley Ren ’24

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

president

Thomas E. Weber ’89

vice president

David Baumgarten ’06

secretary

Chanakya A. Sethi ’07

treasurer Douglas Widmann ’90

assistant treasurer

Kavita Saini ’09

trustees

Francesca Barber

Craig Bloom ’88

Kathleen Crown

Suzanne Dance ’96

Gabriel Debenedetti ’12

Stephen Fuzesi ’00

Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05

Michael Grabell ’03

John G. Horan ’74

Danielle Ivory ’ 05

Rick Klein ’98

James T. MacGregor ’66

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

Abigail Williams ’14

Tyler Woulfe ’07

trustees ex officio

Rohit Narayanan ’24

Shirley Ren ’24

147TH MANAGING BOARD

upper management

Kalena Blake ’24

Katherine Dailey ’ 24

Julia Nguyen ’ 24

Give me Ted Lasso, and don’t make me pay

Grace Rosenberg Guest Contributor

The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.

Angel Kuo 24 Hope Perry ’ 24

Strategic initiative directors

Archivist

Gabriel Robare ’24

Education

Kareena Bhakta ’ 24

Amy Ciceu ’ 24

Financial Stipend Program

Genrietta Churbanova 24

Mobile Reach

Rowen Gesue ’24

DEIB Chair

Christofer Robles ’25

Sections listed in alphabetical order.

head audience editor Rowen Gesue ’24

associate audience editors

Laura Robertson ’24

Paige Walworth ’26

head copy editors

Jason Luo ’25

Nathalie Verlinde ’24

associate head copy editors

Tiffany Cao ’24

Naisha Sylvestre ’25

head data editor

Elaine Huang ’25

Charlie Roth ’25

head features editors

Paige Cromley ’24

Tori Tinsley ’24

associate features editor

Sejal Goud ’25

head graphics editors

Noreen Hosny ’25

Katelyn Ryu ’25

head humor editors

Spencer Bauman ’25

Liana Slomka ’23

associate humor editors

Sam McComb ’25

Sophia Varughese ’26

head news editors

Sandeep Mangat ’24

Isabel Yip ’25

associate news editors

Lia Opperman ’25

Annie Rupertus ’25

Tess Weinreich ’25

head newsletter editors

Olivia Chen ’26

Sidney Singer ’25

associate newsletter editor

Aly Rashid ’26

head opinion editor

Abigail Rabieh ’25

community opinion editor

Lucia Wetherill ’25

associate opinion editors

Eleanor Clemans-Cope ’26

Ashley Olenkiewicz ’25

head photo editor

Jean Shin ’26

head podcast editor

Eden Teshome ’25

associate podcast editors

Senna Aldoubosh ’25

Kavya Kamath ’26

head print design editors

Avi Chesler ’25

Malia Gaviola ’26

head prospect editors

Kerrie Liang ’25

Claire Shin ’25

associate prospect editors

Isabella Dail ’26

Joshua Yang ’25

head puzzles editors

Joah Macosko ’25

Simon Marotte ’26

associate puzzles editors

Juliet Corless ’24

Sarah Gemmell ’24

Jaeda Woodruff ’25

head sports editors

Nishka Bahl ’26

Wilson Conn ’25

associate sports editors

Cole Keller ’26

Brian Mhando ’26

head web design and development editors

Ananya Grovr ’24

Brett Zeligson ’24

associate web design and development editor

Vasila Mirshamsova ’26

147TH BUSINESS BOARD

assistant business manager

Aidan Phillips ’25

business directors

Benjamin Cai ’24

Juliana Li ’24

Samantha Lee ’24

Gabriel Gullett ’25

Amanda Cai ’25

Jonathan Lee ’24

project managers

Brian Zhou ’26

Sophia Shepherd ’26

Andrew He ’26

Diya Dalia ’24

Tejas Iyer ’26

Laura Zhang ’26

Dauen Kim ’26

Julia Cabri ’24

Jessica Funk ’26

Tony Ye ’23

Anika Agarwal ’25

147TH TECHNOLOGY BOARD

chief technology officer

Joanna Tang ’24

lead software engineer

Roma Bhattacharjee ’25

software engineers

Eugenie Choi ’24

Carter Costic ’26

Dylan Esptein-Gross ’26

Avi Chesler ’25

Malia Gaviola ’26

Ishaan Javali ’26

Adam Kelch ’26

Tai Sanh Nguyen ’26

John Ramirez ’26

Aidan Phillips ’25

Jessie Wang ’25

Shannon Yeow ’26

Brett Zeligson ’24

Annabel Green ’26

BY Lindsay Pagaduan ’26

Over the course of my time at Princeton, I’ve found that community can be both fulfilling and draining. Among a crowd of stressed students, connections with others can often be a comfort. The University’s attempts to foster community through large-scale events like Lawnparties and smaller ones like residential college study breaks are appreciated. Yet engaging in student groups and community events, when following a busy day or week of academic work, often means we have less time to recharge and relax alone.

For many students, especially introverts and those of us with mental health challenges like anxiety, constantly engaging in the Princeton community can be especially draining. Throughout my own experience, I’ve found that due to my anxiety, I tend to spiral into self-doubt in group settings. This spiral, combined with my anxiety about illness (triggered by all the coughs in any and all communal spaces), makes constant social interaction a detriment to my mental health, rather than a benefit.

If the University is to make strides toward supporting students’ mental health, it must encourage and fund not only community events, but also resources for students to spend stressfree time alone.

Princeton’s mental health efforts should help all of its students, and that includes introverts, who make up around one-third of the population. In our stress-driven culture, it sometimes feels overwhelming to attend community events, or even to spend time with friends; coordinating schedules themselves can be stressful. Connection is crucial to our mental health, yes, but for those of us for whom connection is an additional stressor (and, I would wager, for us all), it is even more important to have the ability to fall back on, value, and trust oneself — to enjoy one’s own company.

Something different will work for everyone. For some, it’s finding a productive hobby, like learning an instrument or reading a book; for others, it’s rejecting frustrating and delusive notions of productivity and education and tuning out. For me, it’s the latter, in the form of comedy television. I can be feeling the worst about myself

— job rejections are piling up, no one has texted me back, and I’m doubting my own skills and friendships — and then I put on “Ted Lasso” and proceed to laugh for half an hour.

I first discovered the crazy power of comedy television in the ninth grade (a time I was feeling constantly down) in the form of “30 Rock.” It became a daily habit, and I am so much happier because of it. It’s a cliché, but laughing even for a few minutes really is good for you. For myself, I know that half an hour of comedy television helps me recharge — it helps me gain perspective, get out of my limited and stress-crazed headspace, and brings a smile to my face. It helps me feel better about myself so I can then enter those University communities more confident and positive.

But not everyone can afford cable or a streaming service, let alone the plethora of streaming platforms among which favorite shows are divided. Many of us already have access to streaming services through our families, but it’s not equally easy for everyone to gain that access. Moreover, as mentioned, many of the shows we might want to watch are spread across platforms, increasing the monthly cost (for example, Netflix’s $15.49/month standard plan, plus Apple TV’s $6.99/month plan would come out to $22.48/month; add Amazon Prime’s student plan and Disney+, and you’re looking at $36.96).

And access to our families’ streaming services might be precarious: Netflix recently floated tightening password sharing rules, with the result that if students don’t visit home each month — most probably don’t — they won’t be able to use their family accounts.

So, why not pay for our streaming services (or cable)? Princeton has plenty of money — far more per student than NYU which, as I learned from my brother who generously let me watch HBO with him, provides cable and HBO Max for its students. If the University truly wants to help us improve our mental health, to help us connect with one another and with ourselves, it should invest in our alone time by granting us free access to streaming services. Because of my partiality to “Ted Lasso,” I’d put in my vote for Apple TV, and, because of “Veep,” HBO Max. But don’t just listen to me. See if anyone agrees — and if they do, run a poll to see which services students want. Provide access to as many platforms as possible.

Grace Rosenberg is a senior studying German.

CPS doesn’t meet student needs. Hire more counselors

Eleanor Clemans-Cope Associate Opinion Editor

Content Warning: The following article includes mention of student death and suicide. University Counseling services are available at 609-258-3141, and the Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 988 or +1 (800) 273-TALK (8255). A Crisis Text Line is also available in the United States; text HOME to 741741. Students can contact residential college staff and the Office of Religious Life for other support and resources.

Our community has suffered too many tragedies.

In the past year, we have lost five members of the campus community, four students and one staff member. If Princeton had the U.S. average rate of suicide deaths among 15- to 24- year-olds, there would be about one each year. One death would be too many — but four is a disturbing indictment of the way that Princeton University addresses student mental health.

Suicide is the second-highest cause of death for young adults aged 20–24. Princeton students, who often feel pressure to achieve, are a particularly at-risk group. Other risk factors for suicide, including hopelessness, anxiety, and substance use, are also common on college campuses. The University can and must take a much more robust approach to mental health care, starting with a more effective specific program to prevent suicide. Our goal should be zero suicides on campus. This can only be done by reenvisioning Princeton as the primary mental health care provider for students, moving away from the current broken model of referring students to scarce and expensive community providers who are unable to meet student needs.

Community and Psychological Services’s (CPS) current model relies on referring students out to counselors in the community, a system riddled with problems. For one, there

is a shortage of mental health care providers willing to provide long-term support. The University also can’t ensure external care is high quality nor that the care can provide the full range of treatment options, including the evidencebased care offered at CPS. And the referral model can make CPS itself less effective — if the CPS counselor’s end goal is to refer you to an outside provider, it’s difficult to build a trusting therapeutic relationship. Reliance on outside providers also adds a financial barrier to care: the cost of treatment plus transportation is likely unaffordable for many students on the Student Health Plan.

Director Chin said that students on the plan pay a $20 copay per session to see a nonUniversity provider on the Exclusive Provider Network, or $480 per year for 24 weeks of therapy. Even for in-network care, co-insurance is 10% of the cost of care. Although students can apply for the possibility of financial assistance with these costs, this adds yet another barrier to care, making it harder to get mental health help.

There’s a reason why offcampus mental health care is expensive — basic microeconomics: fewer people try to access care when it costs money compared to when it’s free, even when they really need it. Fewer people accessing care reduces strain on the system. But there’s a better way to reduce strain than preventing people from getting care: increasing treatment capacity.

CPS currently has only 29 care providers and, given our student population of about 8,600 graduate and undergraduate students, our counselor-to-student ratio is about 1:300. Although this is better than many other schools, Princeton’s average wait time for a mental health intake screening is nearly five days, and the wait for an actual appointment is another 14 days. And many students are soon referred to off-campus care, where they must

start treatment again with a new counselor. This delay is unacceptable and potentially lethal. CPS only somewhat acknowledges the treatment gap: Director Calvin Chin told the ‘Prince’ recently that CPS has hired new counselors, but these counselors are “temporary.”

It’s a major perspective change to envision the university as a mental health provider -- traditionally, universities haven’t been responsible for that. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be. The University needs to take over providing mental health care for students and at least double the number of mental health care providers at CPS. This probably means substantially increasing the salaries of these coveted providers, especially those who can provide culturally and linguistically effective care for our diverse student body. This will be expensive, but with the University’s astonishingly excessive wealth, it’s well within reach for Princeton to pay in full to make this high-quality care free for students.

Princeton is doing some things right: CPS offers dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a type of talk therapy used to treat suicidality,

which is widely considered to be effective in treating suicidality among young people, as well as the highly successful cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Centering mental health resources on campus would also allow Princeton to provide universal, standardized screening for suicide risk, ensure timely follow-up care, and offer the highest quality care, including the most promising advances in treating mental health issues, such as ketamine and folic acid to address severe suicidal ideation. It would also give Princeton the opportunity to provide culturally and linguistically effective care, including more diverse providers from a broader range of backgrounds, that student groups such as Princeton Ethiopian and Eritrean Student Association (PEESA) have been calling for.

Princeton can’t expect students to fight mental health problems alone. The past year has shown us that, despite some high-quality care being offered, the status quo is not enough. So here’s an idea for what Princeton should do with its exponentially growing endowment: transform CPS into a primary, centralized mental health system by

doubling the number of psychologists and psychiatrists in CPS, moving away from its current referral system, prioritizing the hiring of diverse providers with cultural and linguistic skills to match student needs, and investing in cutting-edge, culturally effective therapies. To inform and monitor our progress, Princeton can hire independent researchers and conduct surveys to understand unmet student needs, barriers to care, and to collect detailed information about the medical and cultural preferences of students.

Princeton has the financial resources, administrative capacity, and expertise to achieve a zero-suicide campus. Let’s do this.

Eleanor Clemans-Cope (she/ her) is a first-year from Rockville, Md. intending to study economics. She spends her time making music with Princeton University Orchestra and good trouble with Divest Princeton. She is an associate Opinion editor. She can be reached on Twitter at @eleanorjcc or by email at eleanor.cc@ princeton.edu.

Rather than skip meals, let’s have them delivered

Prince Takano

During my time at Princeton, I’ve realized that unhealthy eating habits plague the student population. Whether it’s skipping meals or inconsistent eating schedules, Princeton students see proper nutrition as secondary, as they may feel too busy to prioritize eating. Some students are simply forced to skip meals due to class or extracurricular commitments.

While Princeton’s late meal program is intended to accommodate those who have irregular eating schedules, the food options are limited, and late meal operation hours don’t sufficiently accommodate those who spend hours studying after sunset. The main dining option for Princeton students who are hungry after 10p.m. is Wawa, which has limited choices and notoriously long lines. Third-party services such as DoorDash and Postmates are not allowed on campus grounds, and meeting delivery drivers off-campus grounds can be tedious, difficult, and time consuming. Moreover, some students simply get tired of food from dining halls, eat-

ing clubs, or Nassau Street.

I propose a solution to improve eating habits and provide more food options for students: TigerEats, a service that would deliver meals from third-party apps, dining halls, and eating clubs directly to a student’s location.

Nutrition experts agree that food is important for mental well-being. The brain requires certain foods to function properly. While students may feel that skipping meals saves them precious time that they can redirect to work and assignments, missing out on nutrition often affects the brain’s ability to think and leads to decreased cognitive performance. It can also be damaging to mental health: lower levels of nutrients have been linked to worse moods and increased likelihood of depression. Many Princeton students, who can be chronic meal-skippers due to their busy schedules, face these consequences.

TigerEats could give students more easily accessible food throughout campus. The program would offer students the choice of having food delivered to their dormitory building or to drop-off spots located at various busy locations

around campus, such as Frist Campus Center and classroom buildings. This would ensure that students who are unable to go to dining facilities or restaurants would not skip a meal.

TigerEats could take the form of either a student-led startup initiative or a program subsidized by the University. Students using this food delivery service would be expected to pay a small fee for operation costs, in addition to the fees for thirdparty products. The exact logistics of this service would be sorted out based on demand and willingness of the Princeton administration to pursue such an endeavor. This type of student-led or student-staffed delivery service is feasible — look no further than Fordham University’s “Raccoon delivery” and University of Florida’s BYPPOCampus.

With my proposal, if a student anticipates that they will miss a meal at the dining halls or their eating club, they could request a boxed meal through the TigerEats app. When the dining halls and eating clubs close, TigerEats staffers would pick up the items and distribute them to the student’s location. For third-party delivery services, delivery drivers

would drop off food items at a station on the south end of campus, near Lot 20 where they could be picked up by delivery riders.

A potential argument is that TigerEats may actually perpetuate unhealthy eating habits rather than ameliorate them. Perhaps by giving students the opportunity to skip a visit to the dining hall, more may be tempted to replace the healthy options provided by the University with cheap and unhealthy meals. While it is true that unhealthy food options, such as fast food, would be more accessible through TigerEats, the harmful effects of forgoing a meal may be just as unhealthy, if not more, as eating fast food. Nutritionists generally agree that it’s better to eat an unhealthy meal than to eat nothing at all.

Relying on food delivery services may increase the likelihood of poor time management, where students find it acceptable to work through meals and are satisfied with a delivery in lieu of a break. While developing or encouraging poor time management skills is a valid concern, delivery services are usually available during any hour of the day in the ‘real world.’ For now,

as students, Princetonians are constrained to the limited hours of dining halls and eating clubs, as well as limited restaurant options outside of campus — but this is not the case after graduation. Rendering delivery apps accessible only allows students the choice that will be available to them once they leave the Orange Bubble.

A service like TigerEats is one step to making Princeton healthier. This proposed program would benefit all students, from those who are stressed about their work, to those who have to skip meals due to classes, office hours, or unexpected schedule conflicts, in addition to students with workstudy who have irregular working hours. No student should have to skip a meal because of inflexible food options on campus.

Prince Takano is a junior from Los Angeles majoring in Politics. He can be reached via email at takano@princeton. edu. He is obliged to credit Professor Majora Carter and his peers from ENT200 Fall 2021 for inspiring him to write about this idea.

Contributing Columnist

ABBY DEL RIEL / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The McCosh Health Center entrance during day time.

This Week in Photos

New year, same routine

By Guanyi Cao, Angel Kuo & Jean Shin Staff Photographer, Art Director & Head Photo Editor

The busy buzz of campus life on full display, as students navigate the crowded road in front of Whig and Clio Halls on foot and on wheels.

Fences up, sidewalks down: Construction creeps in, leaving a path of detours behind.

A pause in time to bask in the beauty of a downtown sunset. Nassau Street and Vandeventer Ave. at dusk.

The end of a day, but the beginning of a beautiful view. Yeh College basks in the glory of a stunning sunset, as seen from Peretsman Scully Hall.

PROSPECT.

Seeing like a student

Kyung Eun Lee

Contributing Prospect Writer

From the first floor of East Pyne, I head toward Chancellor Green and turn right just before reaching the doors of the rotunda. There are four benches in total, three on one side and one on the other. The three oriented toward Nassau Street face a rusted statue of John Witherspoon, and the last one stands alone. Even though these wooden benches seem old and worn, often suffering the harsh wind and rain without proper support from the slanted ground underneath them, they have character. One is more intimate than the others and hides me from the open space of Firestone Plaza. Another encourages vulnerability as it inches me toward a pair of trash cans.

During the fall semester, I always made sure to leave a window of seven minutes before my first class of the day to stop here, no matter how winded I was from speed-walking up campus. Seven minutes of morning. Seven minutes of mourning. Seven minutes in heaven.

Everyone needs a safe space. Even though I didn’t realize it until now, there was always a ready-made excuse for me to pass the time and waste away while sitting there. I don’t know what to call it — my site of enjoyment, I’ll say. Facing the lone bench, I feel as if I’m part of an audience somewhere. It’s accompanied by a cigarette disposal that stands long and tall, and I replay all the possible scenes of people who have come and gone here for a smoke break. From this burrow of my own mind, I stick my head out and take occasional mental photographs, trying to freeze passing bodies in motion.

After I sit for too long, my lower back and neck hurt from sitting on a form that refuses to follow function. The almost silly infrastructure echoes the voices of those who designed it and those who built it. It’s easy to imagine the construction workers preparing my site, given that they’re everywhere now. The history of this space changes me, and with every cosmic trace I leave, I change it, too.

Residual cigarette butts mark the

specter of a smoker. There’s a cognitive dissonance — they must know it’s bad, but they’ll do it anyway. My own cognitive dissonance always tells me that I am doing something useless. The staircase from East Pyne that leads down and away to Firestone is a constant reminder that I’m always stuck in a purgatory: I’m in between one destination and another — not in class, but not studying in the library either — with the ambivalence of two sides tugging at me, leaving me unable to move in either direction.

On one hand, I always wonder what could have happened if I were to skip over these moments, what I could’ve accomplished by now, and how many days it would all add up to. The ice breakers to awkward conversations between students always include having too much work, being so busy, having the GCal stacked, or not having accomplished enough on the weekends. These despairing remarks have been repeated too many times that the words have worn themselves out for me. It’s become a hobby to complain.

On the other hand, I secretly enjoy it too much. I love to look the other way, I watch when someone tells me not to, and I sit at my designated site of enjoyment, doing a whole lot of nothing. That’s why my site of enjoyment, not quite here or there, makes the contradiction in just existing so recognizable. It’s jarring and comforting at the same time. Everything that seems unnatural and out of place is a testimony to the usual comfort of nature; every imperfection signals the great potential of what could be.

Seeing like a student, I can’t help but notice the details in every angle. Useless things, pointless places, mistakes and miscalculations make the details all the more apparent. As a student, I write assignments that count for a fraction of my grade, for classes that I might not even remember in 10 or 20 years. A friend once told me, “You might die tomorrow, so what does it matter if you don’t finish your homework?” — to which I responded, “Well, if I’m going to die tomorrow, I really have to finish this tonight!” Another friend I recently met came back to campus with a nostalgic bead bracelet

that spelled “Nietzsche” — she’s a philosophy major. Which reminded me that “nothing matters,” so everything matters all the more — who’s to say what ethical route to take? Should I fully commit to being a student, or should I abandon it for something better?

Frankly, I recognize myself as the type of person to over-romanticize things, which manifests in many of my daily practices, like doing nothing — because, in all honesty, doing nothing is doing everything at the same time. It’s full of movement. With every step the professor, student, or tourist makes, I also move a little bit. From the eyes of a student, I’m always moving from one thing to another, but, at the same time, even my transitional stages are fixed. I don’t necessarily feel like I’m wasting away completely when I procrastinate or when I take sudden detours during my schedule.

I can’t fully convince myself that I’m the type of person to dissociate from the competitive culture for the sake of doing what’s right. It’s hard to parse out which choices are driven by my own dreams and which are driven by a desire to overachieve for its own sake.

It’s never clear-cut.

This semester, I won’t be able to frequent my site of enjoyment as often anymore, since my bones weren’t built to withstand the Northeast temperament. But hopefully, I’ll find a new spot. The ambivalence and uncertainty of everyday life have me wandering in places that I never would’ve found if I had been born free and limitless. It’s hard to imagine a limitless life; limits give me a reason to transgress them, so I think I would like to transgress them. I think I would like to wander around a bit more, procrastinate a little longer, and keep looking for reasons to do absolutely nothing.

Kyung Eun Lee is a contributing writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’ She can be reached at kl4617@princeton.edu or on Instagram @entertainmentkyung.

Self essays at The Prospect give our writers and guest contributors the opportunity to share their perspectives. This essay reflects the views and lived experiences of the author. If you would like to submit a Self essay, contact us at prospect[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

On romance novels with academic protagonists

DINING

Continued from page 1

ity, awkwardly rescues her from an elevator during a fire drill. It is caught on video, and the hashtag #DrRugbae goes viral. A beautiful relationship is born in the ensuing chaos. I love this book because it is the reversal of the hypergamy trope where women couple up with men with higher educational attainment. At one point, Zafir essentially Google Scholars Dani’s articles, so he can better understand her research. Swoon. This novel is an important reminder that communication and support are the foundation of a healthy relationship.

No piece on academia-themed romance novels would be complete without “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood. Opinions on this book seem polarizing: On Goodreads, “The Love Hypothesis” has a 4.2, but all my friends in academia detested it. Lesson one of academic life: read sources before you cite them. I needed to unearth the truth for myself.

This book follows Olive, a third-year Ph.D. student in biology at Stanford. To prove that she is in fact capable of having fun, she lies to her best friend she is on a date. In actuality, she’s in the lab. Relatable. When her friend almost discovers the truth, Olive responds by grabbing a random man and kissing him. Turns out, he is the professor in her department who everyone hates. They agree to fake-date because ~reasons~. This book feels like it should be a PSA about why rules about professors dating grad students exist, but somehow the novel’s characters are onboard with the romance. Suspension of disbelief is important in romance novels, but while I had no problem rooting for Dani and Stella, I could not do it for Olive, since the novel’s characters behaved

in truly incomprehensible ways. For example, at one point Olive sits on the professor’s lap...during seminar.

I wondered if this book is a satirical take on the trope that PhD students can be brilliant but socially incompetent. I felt insulted. Furthermore, consent and power dynamics are treated as an afterthought at best and played up for laughs at worst. Hazelwood has a series, but I will not be reading the rest.

The next book, “Never Tell,” is a romantic thriller by Selena Montgomery, the pen name of politician and activist Stacey Abrams. This book follows a PhD student turned criminal profiler, Erin Abbott, and journalist Gabriel Moss, who reluctantly team up to track down a serial killer in New Orleans. This book contains the most outrageous archetypes of an abusive academic advisor and evil teaching assistants. It serves as a reminder that you, like Stacey Abrams and our protagonist, can build an identity out of more than just your primary profession.

If you have read any list of the top books of 2022, you have probably seen “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus. This is barely a romance, but it is on this list because it appealed to my interests: family demography and food. This book follows chemist Elizabeth Knott as she struggles to prove to the patriarchy that she is a scientist, and yes, can still wear a dress. The only person who seems to understand her brilliance is her coworker Calvin Evans. They eventually move in together but do not get married, which was considered scandalous in the 1960s California. “Lessons in Chemistry” is marketed as “laugh out loud funny,” but it deals with serious issues that are still prevalent in academia, such as sexism and sexual harassment. Knott does not pursue a PhD because her master’s thesis advisor sexually assaults her. She gets called horrible names, her ideas

are stolen by her lab manager, and she does not appear as an author on papers she wrote. It’s a visceral look at some of the real problems in academia.

The last book I read was “Honey Girl” by Morgan Rogers, which features astronomer Grace Porter, who has spent the last 11 years trying to become “the best.” Now, she is Dr. Porter, and she is in the throes of searching for a job. She is constantly belittled and questioned about her Black and queer identity in a field that is very much neither Black nor queer. Porter’s experience reminds us that it is important to understand the intersectionality of identities to better understand the systemic forces that affect outcomes and life trajectories. Porter’s romance enters the picture after a particularly bad interview, when Porter makes her way to Vegas, gets drunk, and marries a woman whose name she does not know or remember. Porter decides she needs a break and goes to New York City to spend time with her new wife. A quarter-life crisis hits; Porter then finds a therapist and begins to discover what being the best actually means. This book speaks to the challenges of wrapping your identity with your research, finding a grand plan for life and career, and dealing with your family’s high expectations.

These books in one way or another reflect themes not only in my work but also in my time thus far in academia. I enjoy reading about characters with similar doubts, banter, journeys, and questions as me. For some, these books might be too close to home — especially at this time of year — but I like to lean in and appreciate the connection and ultimate triumph, even if it is fictional.

Emily Miller is a staff writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’ She can be reached at eenm@princeton.edu.

JOSHUA YANG / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The Prospect 11

Valentine’s Day Edition

This coming week features multiple student-directed plays, concerts, workshops, and more. Take a break from midterms and check out these events.

1. Beat Kill

SYMPOH

Frist Theatre

Feb. 11, 2023, 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Take a “break” this weekend with Sympoh! Sympoh is a B-Boy/B-Girl crew focused on promoting breakdancing and hip-hop to the wider Princeton community. Throughout the year, you can catch them in one of their workshops or doing freezes all around campus.

3. Staged reading of “Villa Dolorosa (Three Botched Birthdays)”

Rebecca Kricheldorf

Godfrey Kerr Theater Studio, Lewis Arts complex

Feb. 15–16, 2023, 7 p.m.

Award-winning playwright Rebekka Kricheldorf takes Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” and adapts it into a comedy for the 21st century. This humorous play has been translated from German by Princeton Translator-in-Residence Neil Blackadder and is performed by Princeton students. This event is free and unticketed.

5. For the Love of It

Jazz Vocal Collective featuring Camille Thurman

Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center

Feb. 11, 2023, 8–9:30 p.m.

Nothing is more romantic than jazz! Under the direction of Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin, vocalist Camille Thurman joins Princeton’s Jazz Vocal Collective in delivering a diverse selection of music styles and composers. Princeton undergraduate and graduate students can access free tickets with Passport to the Arts using the promo code PUTIGER.

7. Lecture/Workshop with Chief Ayanda Clarke: The Relationship Between Music and Dance

Murphy Dance Studio, Lewis Arts complex

Feb. 13, 2023, 2:30–4:20 p.m.

As part of Dyanne Harvey-Salaam’s dance course, “The American Experience and Dance Practices of the African Diaspora,” Chief Ayanda Clarke leads a fun workshop on the connection between music and dance over time. This event is free and unticketed.

9. MTea

86 Nassau St

Sun-Thurs: 11a.m.-10p.m. & Fri-Sat: 10a.m.-10p.m.

MTea is a great place to chat over bubble tea, with its vibrant decorations and cozy atmosphere. Head inside to escape the chilly winter breeze this Valentine’s Day and enjoy a sweet beverage, some sushi, or dessert. What could possibly be cuter than a boba date?

11. SCHOUSE

238 Nassau St

Sun-Thurs: 11a.m.-9:30p.m. & Fri-Sat: 11a.m.-10p.m.

Whether it’s Lunar New Year, Thanksgiving, or simply a random Sunday, SCHouse is a go-to restaurant for many Princeton students looking to celebrate a special occasion — and for good reason! If you’re hoping to have some delicious Szechuan food to spice up your day, you’ve definitely found the right place.

2. Fuzzy Dice and the Mushy Gushy Valentine

Fuzzy Dice

Class of 1970 Theatre, Whitman College

Feb. 11, 9 p.m.

If you’re looking for a good laugh this weekend, head right over to Fuzzy Dice’s show. Fuzzy Dice is an improv comedy group that will surely have you (and your date) rolling on the floor. You can buy tickets through University Ticketing or in person at Frist Campus Center.

4. Live Electronic Music with John Bischoff and James Fei

Listen

Hosted by PLOrk

CoLab, Lewis Arts complex

Feb. 13, 2023, 8–9 p.m.

Electronic musicians John Bischoff and James Fei experiment with electronic music, using machine interjection and event patterning to create new sounds. Bischoff is a composer who explores analog and digital sound, creating music forms spontaneously and algorithmically. Fei is known for his conceptual style and exciting improvisation. This concert is great for those who are looking for something fun and experimental!

6. Shifting Ground: Alexi Kenney, Violin

Richardson Auditorium

Feb. 16, 2023, 7:30 p.m.

If you’re hoping to have a fancy, romantic date with great music, this is the show for you. Alexi Kenney is an highly-acclaimed violinist, having played as a soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and more. In this concert, he will be playing works by Bach, as well as contemporary composers Samuel Adams, Du Yun, and Angélica Negrón.

8. On Being: New Dance Works by Becca Berman and Leah Emanuel

Hearst Dance Theater, Lewis Arts complex

Feb. 16–18, 2023, 8:30 p.m.

Created by seniors Becca Berman and Leah Emanuel, “On Being” consists of two dance works that explore the self, the mind, and society. “Frame of Mind” depicts the puzzling and mysterious relationship between a person and their mind. Meanwhile, “Artistic Wandering” questions the self and its connection to society. This event is free and unticketed.

10. Teresa Caffe

23 Palmer Sq E

Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat: 11:30a.m-9p.m. & Sun: 11a.m.-9p.m.

Italian is a classic date night food. Rustic yet elevated, Teresa Caffe is a great place to fill up on some delicious carbs before heading to a concert or a movie. From pizza to pasta, they have all the staples that will certainly start the night off on a good note.

See See See Listen Listen Do Do Eat Eat Eat

Neurodiversity advocates push for greaterinclusionrecognition,

“In our conversations around [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion], the same topics, understandably, often bubble up to the top,” Laura Murray, assistant director for learning programs at the McGraw Center, said to a group of 20 undergraduates, graduate students, and staff. “But there are many other identities that we need to include in those conversations, one of which is neurodiversity.”

The Princeton University Neurodiversity Collective (PUNC) presented the aims of the neurodiversity movement — an “emerging civil rights movement” — and prompted attendees to imagine a more inclusive campus in the Wintersession workshop “Neurodiversity in Academia” on Jan. 19.

The term “neurodivergent,” coined in the 1990s, refers to individuals whose neurocognitive functioning is not considered typical by dominant societal standards. The PUNC defines neurodivergence as “having a mind that functions in ways that diverge significantly from dominant societal standards of ‘normal’ (examples: autism, ADHD, dyslexia, mood and anxiety disorders).”

Through the workshop, PUNC sought to open conversations and increase visibility of the barriers facing neurodivergent individuals.

Reflecting the “infinite variation in human minds,” neurodivergence can be considered a natural form of human diversity subject to similar social dynamics as race or gender, workshop organizer Sashank Pisupati told attendees.

“There is no single ‘normal’ or ‘right’ style of neurocognitive functioning,” Pisupati, a researcher at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, said. “This is meant to contrast the ‘pathology paradigm,’ the notion that if your particular way diverges from the dominant social norm, there’s something wrong with you.”

The pathology paradigm, long reinforced by academic work in psychia-

try, has resulted in “grave harms” — such as the eugenics movement, shock therapy, and wrongful incarcerations — against neurodivergent people throughout history, Pisupati explained. Anti-psychiatry activism emerged in the 1960s and evolved alongside the broader disability rights movement in the 70s and 80s.

“The neurodiversity movement is only the latest version of a longstanding struggle toward civil rights and societal inclusion,” Pisupati said.

Despite gains for accessibility with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 which led to the creation of the Office of Disability Services (ODS) at the University in 2006, neurodivergent students still face barriers to inclusion, Murray told attendees. Several speakers emphasized that enduring stigma, requirements for medical documentation, and the limited scope of institutional accommodations prevent some students from receiving support.

“If, as a student, you want to access academic accommodations, you need to self-identify and go over to the Office of

Disability Services and disclose,” Murray said. “That can be anxietyinducing and tricky and complicated for people.” ODS allows students to make appointments and accommodation requests on its website.

She also noted that official accommodations tend to address classroom instruction and test-taking, doing less to help graduate students immersed in full-time research.

Attendees participated in a “divergent groupthink” activity to brainstorm ideas to increase inclusion, using a shared document to free-write about stigma, disclosure, allyship, and accommodations.

Several comments shared during the activity focused on the need to correct misconceptions about neurodivergence.

“What I hear often is, ‘Oh, we don’t need to provide our 4.00 GPA students with accommodations,’” one participant wrote, alluding to the idea that since many neurodivergent individuals are high achievers, they don’t need accomodations.

“How much more could they accomplish with the tools or accommoda-

tions needed?” another responded.

Others urged instructors to implement Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in their course curricula, which would increase accessibility without requiring students to seek out official accommodations.

UDL is an educational framework that prioritizes flexibility for all students to learn and demonstrate mastery of content, Murray explained in the workshop. Under this framework, professors might allow students to participate by submitting written reflections after class. Professors could also offer asynchronous modules in addition to live instruction.

“Despite tools like UDL, which have been validated and tested over time, a lot of instructors don’t know about them,” Murray said, “and are not necessarily using evidence-based, inclusive teaching practices.”

Beyond proposing changes at the institutional level, the workshop also spotlighted personal experiences with a panel of researchers. The panel included Prakriti Paul Chacha, a graduate student in computational biology at Princeton, Carla Rodríguez Deliz, a graduate student in neuroscience at New York University, and Kirsten Smith, a fellow at the National Institutes of Health.

When asked about the intersection of research and advocacy, Rodríguez Deliz discussed their approach to challenging the pathologizing frameworks in neuroscience that aim to “solve” or “cure” certain conditions.

They acknowledged it can be difficult to shift the way academic research approaches neurodiversity.

“You can’t come in on your soapbox and try to tell [experts] how to do [their] work,” they said.

“All you can do is speak up when you feel like speaking up — when you feel

like it’s right — and find connections with people who want to take action, because the space is out there.”

Outside of research, Chacha underscored the value of developing relationships and fellow PUNC members.

“We are asking each other, ‘what are the common struggles we face? How might we want those things to be addressed?” Chacha, who identifies as neurodivergent, said. “That gave me the confidence to advocate for what I needed.”

In 2019, Murray connected a small group of neurodivergent students who expressed interest in meeting others, which led to the formation of PUNC. The group has since expanded across the University, holding regular meetings, workshops, and a book club.

“I attended this workshop to gain a sense of solidarity with other neurodivergent folks on campus,” Gabby Chavarria ’26 wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “I found that students, faculty, and so many others all have a yearning to center ways of learning that support neurodiversity.”

Workshop organizer Laura Bustamante GS ’22 is also optimistic about the potential for higher education to better support neurodiversity more broadly. Bustamante also works on the Graduate Mental Health Initiative, which is led by graduate student Mira Nencheva. Nencheva was also a part of the team that planned “Neurodiversity in Academia.”

“There were many times when we said [to administrators], “Oh, can you change this?” Bustamante said. “And yes, they’re changing. It can be slow, but the goodwill is there. Princeton is capable of taking up this charge.”

Molly Taylor is an assistant Features editor for the ‘Prince.’

NATALIA MAIDIQUE / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Molly Taylor

Assistant Features Editor

Women’s basketball sweep the weekend with double-digit wins over Columbia, Cornell

Isabel Rodrigues Staff Sports Writer

Put yourself in Kaitlyn Chen’s shoes.

It’s Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023.

At 1 a.m., you get off of a bus that carried you from Ithaca to Manhattan; at both stops, you’re greeted by temperatures in the single digits and an unforgiving icy wind. 15 hours later, you’re standing at center court of Columbia’s Levien Gym, starting in what could be one of the most important games of your junior basketball season.

No matter how the ball gets into your hands, it’s accompanied by a chorus of boos. People you’ve never met screaming as loud as they can about how bad (in their opinion) your next shot will be. The clock is ticking, and despite it all, you have to make something, a winning kind of something, happen.

No pressure, right?

But Kaitlyn Chen is Princeton’s leading scorer for a reason, and she’s been here a couple of times before — Columbia (18–4 overall, 7–2 Ivy) has been on the receiving end of her two career-best performances, including a 30-point deluge in last year’s Ivy Tournament Final.

When asked about how she handled the pressure, Chen had an even bigger grin: “I felt like this was a really fun environment to play in,” she said after the game. “Shoutout Columbia for bringing out so many people!”

Chen is composed on every play and lets her seemingly bottomless playmaking toolkit take the lead. With her lethal mid-range shot, signature acrobatic layups, and even a four-point play, she tallies up a game-high 16 points.

She carves her way into the

paint to grab seven rebounds, the second highest on Princeton’s roster (junior forward Ellie Mitchell had that one covered, with a game-high 17 boards of her own). And, because Chen is typically Princeton’s primary ball handler, she slings passes and operates the Tigers’ offense, wracking up four assists along the way.

By the time she’s done (a fifth foul forces her out of the game in the final minute), all that remains is a valiant 74–56 Princeton (16–5, 7–2) victory, an ear-to-ear smile, and a wave goodbye to Levien Gym, as if to say, “See you next time!”

But it wasn’t just Chen who was all-systems go: senior guard Julia Cunningham grabbed four steals and put up 15 points on her way to her 1000th career point. Cunningham became the 27th player in Princeton women’s basketball history to hit this milestone. First-year guard Madison St. Rose was a defensive stalwart, forcing a couple of key offensive fouls out of Columbia’s top scorers early on. She added 14 points, including 2-of-5 from three-point range, and five rebounds on the day. Then came senior guard Grace Stone, who made all six of her free-throw attempts, to add in 13 points, two assists, and three rebounds.

The Tigers took the lead early in the first quarter and never looked back — even as Columbia cut a 20-point lead down to just 10 in the late third quarter, Princeton rallied to build up the cushion again. The Tigers’ trademark defense was as efficient as it’s ever been. Usually averaging 80.2 points per game, Columbia had a season-low 56 points on 26.2 percent shooting. Before Saturday’s game, the Lions had never shot be-

low 30 percent from the field.

“We worked so hard on our defense and it’s coming together so much better than it was early in the year,” head coach Carla Berube said after the game. “So much credit to our players for working really hard day in and day out.”

Even as four of Princeton’s starting five logged four or more fouls, critical minutes from senior forward Chet Nweke and senior point guard Maggie Connolly off the bench helped maintain the Tigers’ oppressive forward momentum. Though they combined for just five points and three rebounds, the pair kept the Princeton machine running while starters managed fouls and got in a couple of minutes of rest.

“They don’t get rattled, whatever is happening out there,” Berube said of her team. “That non-conference schedule has helped us in these big games.”

“They’re battle-tested. They’re ready,” she added. Having also defeated Cornell (9–13, 2–7) 63–52 the day prior on Friday, Feb. 3, the Tigers improved to 6–2 in Ivy League play, good enough for a three-way tie for first place. St. Rose posted a game-high 18-points, four rebounds, and four assists in the win over the Big Red to push the Tigers into a comfortable lead, while Chen racked up 15 points, six assists, and four rebounds.

The Tigers return to action on Feb. 11 when Dartmouth (0–9, 2–21) visits Jadwin for a celebration of Black History Month and National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD).

Isabel Rodrigues is a staff writer for the Sports section at the ‘Prince’ who typically covers women’s basketball.

Football standout Andrei Iosivas competes in Senior Bowl

Eric Lee Senior Sports Writer

On Saturday, Feb. 4, senior wide receiver Andrei Iosivas participated in the Reese’s Senior Bowl, a showcase of the best National Football League (NFL) draft prospects in the nation. Following in the footsteps of Hollie Donan ’51 and Caraun Reid ’14, Iosivas is the third Tiger to play in the Senior Bowl and the first Ivy League representative since 2016.

The Honolulu-born captain is coming off his best season to date. Iosivas finished the 2022 season with 66 receptions, 943 yards, and seven touchdowns. His season earned him national honors, including FirstTeam All-Ivy, Associated Press Second-Team All-America, and Senior Bowl Offensive Player of the Week, among many others. Iosivas’ talents extend beyond the football field to Princeton’s track. Named a 2022 NCAA All-

American in the heptathlon, Iosivas holds the NCAA Indoor Championships record for the fastest 60-meter ever at 6.71 seconds and has been named Ivy League Champion in the event three times.

Leading up to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, Iosivas displayed his skills in front of the NFL scouts present at practice. Up against some of the best secondary defenders in the country, Iosivas held his own in one-on-one drills, boasting a great release and generating immediate separation. As an athlete in a Non-Power Five conference, Iosivas’ Senior Bowl performance demonstrated that he could play against the highest level of competition.

“If you could build the ideal wideout prospect, it’d look something like Iosivas,” The Draft Network’s scouting report on Iosivas explained.

“On his out-breaking routes, Iosivas displays an innate ability to break

MEN’S TRACK & FIELD

The Guttormsen brothers continue to shine on the track

Dana Sarea Contributing Sports Writer

When two brothers play the same sport, one might assume that there might be a sibling rivalry between them. But that isn’t the case for Sondre and Simen Guttormsen.

“I’ve never really felt as if we’re competitors. Sure, we are competing, but I always want him to do well regardless of how I do,” senior pole vaulter Sondre Guttormsen told The Daily Princetonian.

“Whenever I PR, Sondre is very happy for me, and when he PR’s, I’m very happy for him,” senior pole vaulter Simen Guttormsen said, using the shorthand for personal record. “We’re always competing more against the heights than each other.”

Living just 100 meters from a track in Norway, Sondre and Simen grew up in the track and field world. Their father, Atle Guttormsen, also trained in track and field events. Atle always reveled in the idea of pole vaulting but didn’t pursue it because he didn’t have a coach. When the two brothers were young, he made them try the event, and soon, the Guttormsen family was constantly at the track, with Atle training the two boys.

Since coming to Princeton, the two brothers have made NCAA and Ivy League history. Sondre was the 2022 NCAA indoor and outdoor pole vault champion, and he holds the Ivy League pole vault records on both the indoor and outdoor track.

Simen also holds top-five NCAA marks on the year with 5.65m in the outdoor season and 5.56m in the indoor season. He also finished fourth in the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships for the 2022–21 season.

This past weekend at the New Mexico Collegiate Invitational, Sondre demolished his Ivy Record pole vault, with a vault of 5.90 meters. This effort from Sondre is the fifth highest jump in NCAA history.

“Knowing that I’ve improved myself and that I’ve gotten better since the last few years means more to me than knowing it was the highest jump of the year. The season’s still young,” Sondre said. “I think that jump in New Mexico really made me realize that training has been working and it has been going in the right direction.”

“Every ten centimeters is an achievement,” Sondre continued. “Your name is always related to the amount of meters you’re jumping. I went from a 5.80 [meter] jumper to a 5.90 [meter] jumper and I think that’s really cool.”

his routes without losing any speed, making him a matchup nightmare for corners throughout their entire phase.”

During the Senior Bowl itself, Iosivas had one carry for the American team and was overthrown by Texas Christian University (TCU) quarterback Max Duggan in the end-zone. While unable to log a reception, Iosivas’s draft stock has reportedly risen throughout the week, as some mock drafts currently have him projected as a fourth to sixthround pick.

“I’m going to get drafted, it’s just a question of when and where,” Iosivas wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “I’ll be grateful to any team that wants to take a shot on me. I think I have all the potential in the world and can’t wait to just hone my craft by focusing on just football.”

Eric Lee is a senior writer for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

in not taking the most challenging classes for the future,” Sondre added.

“As an athlete, you may not have as much time doing other events with your friends,” said Simen. “Sometimes you miss out because you have meets or practice. But, we enjoy so much of what we’re doing that it’s not a sacrifice that we have to make.”

The Guttormsen brothers also have an impressive drive to keep themselves motivated in such a difficult sport. “It’s more of a want than a need. And with that, you want to get better. To perform better, you want to do it,” Simen said.

“You need to love your sport and not think about winning all the time. You have to actually enjoy the whole process of putting in the hours on the track and in the weight room. If you have a big passion for that, it’s not hard to be focused because it’s what you really enjoy doing,” said Sondre.

“Sure, the external motivation, the medals and winning, it helps. But without that internal passion and motivation to do the work, you’re not going to be a good performer,” he added.

When the brothers are not in the classroom, they live as professional athletes in Norway, traveling throughout Europe and competing in international events during the summer. Their father is also there to coach them. “When we compete all over Europe, he’s always with us,” Sondre said.

Looking to the upcoming spring season, the two brothers want to continue performing to the best of their abilities. “I’ve had the best start of my season that I could ever imagine. Just continuing that will be amazing. In terms of results and achievements, I’m trying to win another indoor title. For the championship, the most important thing is to win, no matter how high I jump,” Sondre said.

Sondre also aspires to achieve the collegiate record of six meters. “As a kid, six meters was a dream that I thought was impossible. Only about 20 guys have done that in history. It would be a goal and a dream to do that. I want to win, that’s the number one goal, and afterward, I want to win again. Not only for myself but for the team,” he said.

“I’ve seen him in training, and I know he’s been improving. It was very fun to see that happen, and I think there’s even more to be done,” Simen commented on his brother’s accomplishment.

During his sophomore year, Sondre transferred from UCLA to Princeton to join Simen on the track. It was Simen who ultimately convinced Sondre to make the move. “I took his word for it and trusted him. The opportunity to train with him and train with the team here is the main reason why I decided to come,” Sondre said. “There’s a good track team, coaching staff, and support system.”

Though the two are in the same graduating class, they are not twins, with Sondre born in 1999 and Simen in 2000. Although the life of a student-athlete can be challenging, the two brothers feel they balance it well. “There are more benefits than drawbacks in student-athlete life,” Sondre told the ‘Prince.’

“I think academic and athletic life are both important. There is a set time and place for track. For me, I don’t worry about school when I’m on the track. You have to manage your time correctly,” Simen said.

“You can’t do everything. I can’t take the most interesting or challenging courses just because I know that it’s going to be hard to balance. I’ve made some sacrifices

Simen added, “I just want to keep jumping higher. I’m hoping the team does well. We want to win the Ivy League conference championships. We should be able to do it if everything goes our way. If we do, then we win the triple crown (winning cross country, indoor, and outdoor track and field), which would be very cool. It’s both our last years here, so it would be really cool to end on a good note with the team and individual performances.”

After graduating, the two brothers will be pursuing master’s degrees at University of Texas at Austin to continue competing in the NCAA. After that, their goal is to compete professionally and potentially receive international, world, and Olympic medals as well.

“We have good chances of making the Norway Olympic team. We have more goals than just simply making it. I think I’m at the level of having goals to get a medal, and Simen getting to the final and doing the best he can there,” Sondre said.

But for now, the two brothers look forward with bright eyes as the 2023 spring outdoor season approaches. Simen is still recovering from an injury and will continue to train and prepare until he is ready to compete. Sondre is excited for what’s to come. “Last year we got first and fourth place at the NCAA Championships. This year, we want to maximize our points in getting first and second,“ he said. “I don’t think many brothers from the same school in the same event have gone one and two, and that’d be pretty sick.”

Dana Serea is a staff writer for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

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