Thursday February 14. 2019 vol. CXLIII no. 9
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U . A F FA I R S
Committee recommends broader penalties for academic integrity violations By Ivy Truong Head News Editor
Almost five months after the Academic Integrity Report Reconciliation Committee was created, the committee has published its final recommendations that, if implemented, would dramatically alter the Honor Committee and the Committee on Discipline. “We believe that the recommendations submitted here will significantly improve the Honor System and increase student and faculty commitment to upholding it fully,” the report wrote.
The report and its recommendations were released in an email sent on Wednesday, Feb. 13 to the student body and faculty from Dean of the College Jill Dolan, Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun, and Dean of the Faculty Sanjeev Kulkarni. The recommendations include a broader range of penalties for violations of academic integrity and revisions to the Honor Committee’s investigative procedures, as well as making the process more transparent. “My sense is that everyone wants this process to be more transparent,
JON ORT :: PRINCETONIAN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
See INTEGRITY page 3
Nassau Hall, the seat of the University’s administration.
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
HUM sequence co-founder Rabb *61 passes away By Allan Shen and Paige Allen Contributors
Theodore K. Rabb GS ’61, co-founder of the Humanities 216-219 sequence, prominent historian of early modern Europe, and Professor Emeritus at the University passed away at the age of 81 on Jan. 7. Rabb died at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro, New Jersey. Rabb was known for using novel, interdisciplinary, and especially quantitative methods in the study of history, and his interests ranged widely from military history to the history of science. Professor Emeritus John V.
Fleming GS ’63, who co-created the Humanities Sequence with Rabb, voiced his admiration for Rabb’s scholarly and personal qualities. “He was erudite. He knew a lot about a lot of different things. He was also interested in identifying unifying, overarching ideas,” Fleming said. “He was just one very nice, feeble man. He was a gentleman and a scholar.” In the 1990s, Rabb collaborated with Fleming and Professor Emeritus Robert Hollander ’55 to create the HUM 216-219 sequence. The intensive four-course sequence introduces a group of first-year students to the literature, philosophy, and history of
Western civilization through the works of Ovid, Dante, Machiavelli, and many others. Andrew Malcolm ’09 was taught by Rabb when he enrolled in the HUM 216-219 sequence as an undergraduate. “[Rabb] was the epitome of a Princeton professor. He was so accomplished and so smart about his topic, but he was so accessible,” Malcolm explained. “He was really good at tying everything together; that class with him formed the foundation for my entire Princeton education.” Kathleen Crown, executive director of the Humanities Council at the University, remembered him for his hos-
ON CAMPUS
pitality. “He was one of the first people who reached out to me when I became executive director of the Humanities Council in 2013. He was very much there to welcome me and was just a wonderful, welcoming person,” Crown said. Crown noted that the Humanities Sequence has evolved since its founding more than two decades ago, with the addition of the EAS 233-234 sequence in East Asian humanities and the planned addition of a similar sequence in Near Eastern humanities. Born in Teplice-Sanov, Czechoslovakia in March
1937, Theodore Rabb was raised in London, United Kingdom. After earning both his B.A. and M.A. in history from Queen’s College, Oxford University, Rabb returned to the United States to study European and colonial American history at the University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1961. After earning his doctorate, Rabb held academic appointments at Stanford, Northwestern, and Harvard Universities before returning to the University as an associate professor. He taught in the history department for the remainder of his decadeslong academic career, except for a short time as a visitSee RABB page 2
STUDENT LIFE
Yee ’19 reflects on time as USG President Head News Editor
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Louis A. Simpson International Building, the location of Stephen Cohen’s talk.
Russian studies expert Stephen F. Cohen talks Trump, Cold War legacy By Kris Hristov Staff Writer
In a Feb. 13 lecture on Russian-American relations, Professor Emeritus Stephen F. Cohen argued the United States and
Russia are engaged in a new Cold War. Cohen is the former director of the University’s Russian studies program and Professor Emeritus of Russian studies, history, and politics at New
York University. He is also a contributing editor at The Nation and author of numerous books, including “Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist RusSee RUSSIA page 5
Within days of being elected as 2018 Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President, Rachel Yee ’19 combed through The Daily Princetonian archives to compile a list of every USG president since 1953 in an Excel spreadsheet. “I just searched up anything that had ‘USG’ in it, and I read all the articles,” Yee said. “I wanted to come in with the most informed view of what’s been done in the past, what’s worked and what hasn’t.” She then compiled a second spreadsheet of information on past USG policies, attempts at reform, and anything else that Yee believed could help her in the months ahead. One year later, at the end of Yee’s term, this story is one of many that her friends and colleagues point to as they reflect on her legacy as USG president. According to them, Yee brought both her organizational instinct and astonishing energy to bear for the good of others. Nikoo Karbassi ’21, one of Yee’s closest friends, said that if she could capture Yee in one word, it would be “energetic.” “She really cares about the well-being of people,” Karbassi said. “She’s always projecting that energy to other people, being extremely engaging.”
In Opinion
Today on Campus
Contributing Columnist Brigitte Harbers offers a new perspective on coping with impostor syndrome and Ben Press ‘20, Dina Kuttab ‘21, Ling Ritter ‘19, and Olivia Ott ‘20 outline the changes expressed in a newly published report by the Academic Integrity Report Reconciliation Committee. PAGE 6
6:30 p.m.: Dhikr and Dinner; hosted by the Muslim Life Program Murray-Dodge Hall
Olivia Ott ’20, who served on the USG executive committee with Yee as the Academics Chair, echoed Karbassi’s sentiment. “Rachel is one of those people who’s always full of enthusiasm and energy no matter what the project is,” Ott said. “She was always willing to help.” Yee said that the initial stages of her presidency were anything but peaceful. Yee described the 2017 USG elections, in which she was elected, as “the most stressful time of her life.” “I felt like I aged ten years in that one month,” Yee said. Yee began her tenure in the midst of controversy over Honor Code reform. She described those first weeks as a “trial by fire.” While she believed the start was rocky, Yee said the difficulties of those first few weeks prepared her for the rest of her presidency. “There was intensity to USG that I hadn’t really experienced before,” Yee said. “It set a good pace for the semester.” Another hallmark of the Yee presidency was her active socialmedia presence. Throughout her tenure, Yee submitted daily updates to the @yung_usg Instagram account, detailing her work meeting with other student presidents and administrators, as well as the progress made by her and her adminisSee YEE page 4
WEATHER
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Rabb remembered for interdisciplinary interests, hospitality RABB
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COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Theodore Rabb, long-time Princeton professor, pictured on campus.
ing faculty member at Johns Hopkins University. Rabb earned emeritus status in 2006. Rabb’s academic interests mainly focused on the history of Europe from the 15th to 18th centuries. His many publications include “Renaissance Lives: Portraits of an Age,” “Enterprise and Empire: Merchant and Gentry Investment in the Expansion of England, 1575-1630,” and “The Artist and the Warrior: Military History Through the Eyes of the Masters.” Rabb edited The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, which he co-founded with Richard Rotberg in 1970. Rabb founded and directed the Community College Internship Program at the University, which allowed graduate students to train as teachers in community colleges in New Jersey. Rabb also directed the MidCareer Fellowship Program for faculty and administrators of New Jersey community colleges; the program enabled them to continue their education mid-career by enrolling in graduate courses at
the University. Anthony Grafton, a history professor who frequently taught courses with Rabb, praised Rabb’s commitment to expand scholarly opportunities for a great cohort of individuals. “He was just tremendously dedicated to finding opportunities for [undergraduate] students to study hard and demanding things, for graduate students [to teach at community colleges], and for community college professors to refresh and add to their knowledge,” Grafton expressed. “He was always doing something in sort of a public way, and he was very creative about it.” According to Samuel Haskell ’00, who wrote his senior thesis titled “The Path to an Empire: How the Young English East Indian Company Survived the Crises of 164957 and 1686-90” with Rabb as an advisor, “He was tough but fair; he did not hold my hand. He clearly had decades of publishing experience and decades of teaching [experience] behind him, but he was down to earth and approachable.” Rabb brought his academic devotion into his life as a father, according to his son,
Jeremy Rabb ’92. “His love of the arts exposed us from a very early age to a vast array of theater, music and visual art,” his son said. “In fact, his intense commitment to and love of the humanities contributed to why my brother and I chose careers in the arts.” Rabb is survived by his wife of 60 years, Tamar; his daughter, Susannah Bailin; his two sons, Jonathan and Jeremy Rabb ’92; a sister, Judith Tapiero; and five grandchildren, Alexandra Rabb ’13, Juliet, Isabel, Emilia and Benjamin. In the introduction of his booklet “Looking Back on the Heritage of Western Culture,” which featured Rabb’s last lecture before retiring, he highlighted the “[students’] absorption of the culture of the West that is our fundamental heritage, and their ability to draw on shared concerns and insights that have accumulated over the centuries. Thus armed, they can go out into the world securely connected to a tradition that remains at the heart of liberal education.” “This, I believe,” wrote Rabb, “is what the humanities at Princeton are all about.”
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Committee report advocates for ‘months’ standard INTEGRITY Continued from page 1
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more fair, and more humane,” Dolan said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian, “and that was the basis on which all the work the faculty-student committees have done these past two years proceeded.” The report comes a year after the University declined to implement three of four referenda passed by the student body that promised to shake up the Honor System by reducing the standard penalty, among other changes. They were rejected, according to the faculty, because of the lack of faculty input in developing the changes. The Academic Integrity Report Reconciliation Committee comprises a number of faculty and students whose mission it was to reconcile the Honor System Review Committee (HSRC) report of August 2018 and the report of the Disciplinary Review Committee (DRC) of June 2017 and to present a set of final recommendations from the two. “We are very pleased to have arrived at this moment on what’s been a twoyear campus conversation, and many of the people who worked on it feel like we’re in a much better place at the end of the process than we were when we started,” said Dolan, emphasizing that the University welcomes feedback on the report. The new report moves away from the idea of a “standard penalty” and toward a graduated penalty structure that would apply to both the Honor Committee and the Committee on Discipline. If implemented, minor first-time offenses — such as overtime cases — would receive a “reprimand,” which would not appear on a student’s disciplinary record. Similarly, the report recommends that the Committee of Discipline and Honor Committee establish a one-semester suspension as a possible punishment. “The Honor Committee is fully on board with the recommendations brought forward by the Reconciliation Committee and plans to work with students, faculty, and administrators in order to implement the changes in as timely a manner as possible,” Honor Committee Chair Camille Moeckel ’20 wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’ “I am pleased with the recommendations contained in the Reconciliation Committee’s report and look forward to working with colleagues and with the COD and the HC to implement them,“ said Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan, who also chairs the Committee on Discipline. The report also advocates that the Honor Committee adopt the “months” standard for probationary period. The range of each period would vary from three to 48 months, instead of a number of semesters. “We as a committee emphasize that we are recommending a broader range of penalties for violations of academic integrity at Princeton in order to allow fairer and more commensurate responses to the range of violations that have evolved over time,” the report wrote. With the Honor Committee’s investigative procedures, the report endorses the improvement of the “timing and contents” of the first contact email sent to students under investigation, the elimination of character witnesses, and
the adoption of “less confrontational” language in Honor Committee proceedings. The initial report from the Honor System Review Committee recommended eliminating character witnesses, since the Honor Committee does not use the character testimonies in their evaluation. According to the HSRC report, the Honor Committee automatically assumes the student’s “good character.” The new report also includes recommendations to expand the elected student membership of the Honor Committee, to allow students to have a dean present or on-call during proceedings, and to pair professional investigators with Honor Committee student investigators. The report calls for increased awareness among the students and faculty about the Honor System, namely through a “Guiding Principles” document that clarifies the “relationship among students, faculty, and administrators” in the Honor System. The committee also recommends a module and quiz that students would take every two academic years as well as standardized language across syllabi and examinations that would address examination procedures and calling times. The academic quizzes would replace the current summer module that students take before their first year at the University. According to the report, some of the recommendations made may require a vote by the student body, the faculty, or both before being implemented. Dolan, however, noted that, since she, Calhoun, Kulkarni, and Eisgruber have accepted the report’s recommendations, the recommendations do not need a vote from faculty and can be implemented. “We’ll be happy to hear from the Honor Committee folks and USG to see whether they think there needs to be a vote, but these recommendations seem, to me, to be very much in line with where the referenda were taking us a year ago,” she said. Though the new report aimed to address student concerns, not everyone is happy about how the reforms came to be. Micah Herskind ’19, a former member of the Honor Committee and an integral member of last year’s campaign for Honor Code reform, thinks that the recommendations are “fine” and that the changes to penalty will improve outcomes for “some” students. However, he believes that the new report is “premised on a lie.” Herskind notes that, although the University remanded the three referenda because there was not enough faculty engagement during the referenda process, the Honor Constitution itself says that amending the Honor Constitution requires no faculty engagement. According to Article VI of the Honor Constitution, it can be amended by a threefourths vote in a student referendum or by a threefourths vote from the USG on an initiative supported by 13 out of 15 Honor Committee members. “When we played by the University’s rules to change the system, they decided to throw out the rule book and write another one, which they present to us in this report as if it were the original,” he wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’
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Thursday February 14. 2019
Outreach counselors, shorter CPS wait times among Yee’s feats YEE
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COURTESY OF RACHEL YEE ’19
USG President Rachel Yee speaks in November at the celebratory bonfire for Princeton’s football team.
tration. “It kept me on track — I knew if I had to report something each day, I’m going to do something each day,” Yee said. Yee said that initially she had wanted to send out a daily email updating students on all of the different committees and activities USG had a hand in. When colleagues from USG informed her that the tactic could cause students to tune out, she turned to Instagram. One of Yee’s primary concerns in office was ensuring that students were informed about the activities of USG. Yee’s post from Dec. 8, 2017, what she called “#Day1,“ announced that she would “[repurpose] this account to provide a daily update on what USG does on a daily basis because no one knows & this is my first micro step to change that.” Yee was particularly proud of USG’s efforts in mental health and civic advocacy. Her tenure included pushes for shorter wait times at Counseling and Psychological Services, the implementation of outreach counselors for students to be able to see counselors in their own residential colleges, and the Vote100 Program. Yee also emphasized that USG’s accomplishments often appeared in subtler forms. For example, Yee worked with the administration to shift the focus of the monthly meetings of the Council of Princeton University Community (CPUC) from re-
alized to incremental progress, so that students could offer feedback on unfinished initiatives. Yee acknowledged that she was not able to accomplish everything she set out to do over the course of the year. Some of her USG Senate Colleagues, including Ott, were impressed by Yee’s candor in recognizing her shortcomings. “Rachel is never afraid to be honest with all of us about the few times she made a mistake or when things we had done did not go well,” Ott said. “I’ve never met someone who was able to be as open with self-criticism as she was in a way that was positive.” In particular, Yee wished she could have created a more direct way of receiving feedback from the student body and made more students feel as if USG represented them and their needs. If she could go back to talk to herself from a year ago, Yee said she would advise her younger self to have a “thicker skin” and not to take herself so seriously. “I would tell myself a year ago to build myself an identity outside of my role as USG president,” Yee said. For her parting advice, Yee recommended to both future USG leaders and the student body as a whole to never forget to make time for themselves. According to Ott, her impact on the USG and the student body continues to be felt even after her tenure is over. “She was the type of person who was always there to provide support and feedback,” Ott said. “She was good at being the type of leader that every scenario called for.”
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Cohen argues Russia, United States engaged in ‘new cold war’ RUSSIA
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sia.” “This new Cold War is more dangerous than the one we survived,” Cohen said. He followed by outlining the major reasons to believe his claim. Cohen explained that the “new Cold War” began in the early 1990s, immediately following the end of the Cold War, when American policy specifically antagonized, isolated, and demeaned Russia.
During that time, the U.S. expanded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), despite promising not to do so after the German unification in 1990. The U.S. also intervened in Serbia during the Yugoslav Wars, further angering Russia, which considers Serbia a cultural and ideological “little brother.” For Cohen, these two actions, as well as the recent U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, have significantly con-
tributed to current poor relations. Russia’s concern about nearby NATO bases continues to fuel the new Cold War. “NATO conventional (non-nuclear) weapons in the Baltics could hit Saint Petersburg,” Cohen said. “Imagine if Russia had artillery in Canada or Mexico that could hit the U.S.” Potential conf lict extends even beyond the nations’ borders. Cohen said that there are many places, like Ukraine and Syria, where American and Rus-
sian personnel have the potential to fire on each other and trigger a major diplomatic incident. To further complicate the relationship between the two countries, the American media’s outlook on Russia is overwhelmingly negative with regard to Vladimir Putin. The American public also holds the misconceptions that Russia has a small economy and lacks allies. To solve the crisis, Cohen recommended recognizing Russia as an equal Great Power and increas-
ing cooperative ties in counter-terrorism efforts. He concluded by quoting an old Russian adage, “A pessimist thinks everything is as bad as it can be, an optimist knows it can get worse.” The lecture, entitled “War with Russia,” was sponsored by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies. The event was held in the Louis A. Simpson building at 4:30 p.m.
Thursday February 14. 2019
Opinion
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We may not belong here, and that’s okay Brigitte Harbers
Contributing Columnist
At the beginning of the school year we were told admissions doesn’t make mistakes. I’m certain each student at Princeton deserves to be here for some reason or another. Firstyears, however, enter college having only known an academic environment that is typically easier to manage than college. Thus, the beginning of the spring semester reminds me of the dreaded “impostor syndrome,“ defined as constantly doubt in your accomplishments and persistent fear that you will be exposed as a fraud. The feeling that you are neither qualified nor do you fully belong is unfortunately common here. In this case, the cause of my “impostor syndrome” is Princeton: the shock of a college work load, expectations, and responsibilities coupled with less-than-desirable results on tests and papers that quickly cause one to feel less than com-
petent. As a freshman who has recently undergone my first college finals and received my final grades, I found myself looking back at my first semester experience and wondering if I am really as smart and capable as Princeton told me I am by admitting me. My biggest question was why the study habits and work ethic I had in high school were hindering, rather than helping, me. I was only taking four classes, one of them a freshman seminar. Yet, I was struggling to understand the material and meet deadlines, not to mention that I was unable to keep healthy lifestyle habits, get enough sleep, and feel like I had any sort of potential for success. I felt as if I was having to improvise every aspect of my academics, and I began to doubt myself at a time when I should have felt confident. Although it is easy to assume you are alone in these feelings of anxiety and mediocrity — something I originally thought — know you are not the only one facing these fears of inadequacy. For firstyears, we all come to the realization that college is
different from high school. In order for us to succeed, we must adapt. So yes, to answer many first-years’ question: part of us does not belong at Princeton. That doesn’t mean we will never belong at Princeton. It just means we need to recognize that college requires a new approach to problem solving and time management. We must learn that responsibilities now hold more weight and can carry greater consequences. Who each of us was in high school is not enough to thrive at Princeton. It doesn’t mean we need to entirely change who we are. But, in order to feel confident in our qualifications and abilities, we need to change something about our approach to handling classes and work, while learning how to be more adult all at the same time. Ultimately, we need to accept that as much as our friends, family, and even members of the Princeton community may tell us not to worry, “impostor syndrome” is partially true and accurate in our case. It is easy to view these feelings of incompetence
and mediocrity as the proverbial end of our Princeton career. Harnessing those anxieties to overcome our self-doubt would be a better use of our time and result in a better outcome overall. This is the first real opportunity we have in our lives to understand that we need to let go of some parts of who we are in order to move forward. People often say that college presents the opportunity to debut a “new you” to the world. I think, however, that we should focus on the attitudes that hold us back from success. Identify the patterns of behavior that end with feeling inadequate and learn how to change them. Remember, Princeton accepted us because they wanted who we are as individuals and what we can bring to the community. But that doesn’t mean every aspect of who we are should remain the same. Brigitte Harbers is a firstyear from New York, N.Y. She can be reached at bharbers@ princeton.edu.
vol. cxliii
editor-in-chief
Chris Murphy ’20 business manager
Taylor Jean-Jacques’20 BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 trustees Francesca Barber David Baumgarten ’06 Kathleen Crown Gabriel Debenedetti ’12 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Michael Grabell ’03 John Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Kavita Saini ’09 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 Abigail Williams ’14 trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 William R. Elfers ’71 Kathleen Kiely ’77 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73 trustees ex officio Chris Murphy ’20 Taylor Jean-Jacques’20
143RD MANAGING BOARD managing editors Samuel Aftel ’20 Ariel Chen ’20 Jon Ort ’21
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head news editors Benjamin Ball ’21 Ivy Truong ’21 associate news editors Linh Nguyen ’21 Claire Silberman ’22 Katja Stroke-Adolphe ’20 head opinion editor Cy Watsky ’21 associate opinion editors Rachel Kennedy ’21 Ethan Li ’22 head sports editor Jack Graham ’20 associate sports editors Tom Salotti ’21 Alissa Selover ’21 features editor Samantha Shapiro ’21 head prospect editor Dora Zhao ’21 associate prospect editor Noa Wollstein ’21 chief copy editors Lydia Choi ’21 Elizabeth Parker ’21 associate copy editors Jade Olurin ’21 Christian Flores ’21 head design editor Charlotte Adamo ’21 associate design editor Harsimran Makkad ’22 cartoon editors Zaza Asatiani ’21 Jonathan Zhi ’21 head video editor Sarah Warman Hirschfield ’20 associate video editor Mark Dodici ’22
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Thursday February 14. 2019
Opinion
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What students should know about Honor Code reform Ling Ritter ’19, Ben Press ’20, Olivia Ott ’20, Dina Kuttab ’21 Guest Contributors
In December 2017, four referenda concerning changes to the University’s Honor System were proposed and voted on by the student body. The subsequent remand of three of these referenda to the Committee on Examinations and Standing in January 2018 sparked a full year of conversation on campus, and numerous University committees met during that time period to evaluate Princeton’s academic integrity system. Throughout the process, representatives from the student body, faculty, and administration came together to improve academic integrity practices across the University, while keeping the intentions of the student referenda and the clear desire for reform they expressed in mind. This year of diligent reflection and conversation culminated in Wednesday’s release of a report by the Academic Integrity Report Reconciliation Committee, a group which brought different campus constituencies together to finalize recommendations for improving the Committee on Discipline (COD) and the Honor Committee (HC). The report reaffirms the importance of academic integrity while identifying areas where the academic integrity structure at Princeton requires significant improvement. Since October, we have served as the undergraduate members on this committee and have been substantially involved
We, the undersigned students, alumni, and faculty of Princeton University, stand in solidarity with Dr. Vanessa Tyson ‘98. We believe Dr. Tyson‘s allegations that Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax sexually assaulted her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in
in the formulation of these recommendations. We strongly encourage all students to read the report in its entirety, but we write to provide students with an explanation of its major changes and to highlight the next steps in the reform process. The report recommends that important changes to the HC and the COD be undertaken “with all due speed,” and specifies steps that must be taken by students, faculty, and administrators. The implementation of these recommendations is already being discussed by the relevant parties, and we expect them to be enacted in the next few months. The most notable body of recommendations in the report details three key changes to the penalty structure available to both disciplinary committees. The first change establishes a new “reprimand” penalty for minor first offenses (such as writing overtime) that would not appear on a student’s disciplinary record unless they committed an additional infraction. The second alteration expands the range of probationary periods that can be given as penalties and gives the HC and the COD more
flexibility in issuing penalties for different infractions. The third change establishes a one-semester suspension as a new penalty for violations of academic integrity adjudicated by the COD or HC; this means that many violations currently receiving a oneyear penalty would likely be assigned a one-semester penalty under the new system. All three changes to the disciplinary system’s penalty structure were designed to directly address the concerns raised by students in the 2017 referenda and to allow fairer responses more commensurate to the range of academic integrity violations. The report also recommends several important changes to the composition and procedures of the Honor Committee. First, it calls for increasing elected student membership. USG and the Honor Committee will be collaborating over the coming months to determine how best to include more elected representation, but both parties agree that this reflects the 2017 referenda’s desire to make the Honor Committee more accessible and accountable. Second, in order to align the HC’s practices with those of the COD, the
report calls for incorporating professional investigators into the investigative process. We believe this will improve turnaround time on Honor Committee investigations while reducing its workload. Lastly, the Committee is also being asked to reform its communication and hearing practices to mitigate potential negative impacts on student mental health, including improving its initial contacts with witnesses and students in question and issuing guidelines on the use of non-confrontational language in hearings. We believe that each of these recommendations responds to the clear student desire for a less confrontational and intimidating process. Moving forward, we will continue working with the administration and faculty to implement the aforementioned recommendations, and we plan to address the proposed changes to the academic integrity system before the end of the spring semester. We are conscious of how difficult it was for many students that these recommendations were delayed and remanded by the University, and we shared your frustration at this turn of events. In order to ex-
peditiously implement the report’s recommendations, the USG and the HC will be working with other campus stakeholders to compose a series of resolutions and referenda to reflect these changes in both bodies’ constitutions during the spring term. We have already taken steps to address many of these changes, and expect that they will be formally implemented during the next few months. We also want to emphasize that we welcome student feedback on the report and on the wider topic of academic integrity at Princeton. Disciplinary reform will continue to remain an ongoing and openended topic of conversation, and we hope that the campus community continues to engage with this issue. We encourage students and other University stakeholders to share their thoughts on this topic and are currently planning several initiatives during the spring semester that will give students the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback to USG, the HC, and the University. If campus community members have immediate feedback or thoughts on this issue, we encourage you to contact us via the emails provided
In solidarity with Vanessa Tyson ’98 Boston. Lieutenant Governor Fairfax has categorically denied these allegations and has opted to demonize Dr. Tyson. We demand his immediate resignation, as both the alleged assault and his vicious attacks on Tyson are disqualifying for a public servant.
Dr. Tyson‘s decision to share her story with the public earlier this week is a courageous one. In her written statement, Dr. Tyson said, “I felt a responsibility to myself, the beloved students I teach, and the brave women I‘ve tried to help overcome their own trauma.” Dr.
Tyson has demonstrated fortitude and integrity, serving as an example to the Princeton community, Virginia, and the nation, as a whole. We thank her for her bravery. This week, we have been disappointed by the leadership of Virginia. The failures of Governor
Ben Press is a junior History concentrator from Vienna, Virginia. He can be reached at bpress@ princeton.edu. Dina Kuttab is a sophomore from Amman, Jordan. She can be reached at kuttab@princeton.edu. Olivia Ott is a junior Wilson School concentrator from Ketchum, Idaho. She can be reached at oott@princeton.edu. Ling Ritter is a senior Politics concentrator from Salt Lake City, Utah. She can be reached at nritter@princeton.edu. The authors are members of the Academic Integrity Report Reconciliation Committee. These views are their own and do not represent the positions of the Academic Integrity Report Reconciliation Committee, USG, or the Honor Committee.
Northam, Lieutenant Governor Fairfax, and Attorney General Herring serve as a reminder that we need more women, people of color, and especially women of color in office. For the full list of signatories, please see the online version of this article.
my friends and i vincent deluca ’22 ................................................. Everyone else at Princeton
below and to reach out to the other members of the Academic Integrity Report Reconciliation Committee. On a final note, we want to reiterate how thankful we are for the continual student engagement on this issue. Because of the clear and resounding message the student body sent to the campus leadership, students have been able to drive a profound and positive transformation in the way that our Honor System operates.
My Friends and I
Thursday February 14. 2019
Sports
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{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WOMEN’S SQUASH
COURTESY OF GOPRINCETONTIGERS.COM
Senior Samantha Chai in the match against Virginia.
Women’s squash prepares for Howe Cup By Molly Milligan
Senior Staff Writer
No. 2 Women’s squash (13–1, 6–1 Ivy League) completed its regular season schedule last weekend in Ithaca, defeating No. 11 Cornell 8–1. In an impressive showing, first-year Andrea Toth dropped only 11 points total at the number six position. First-year Elle Ruggiero, senior Sam Chai, sophomore Emme Leonard, and senior Izzy Hirshberg each joined Toth in contributing a 3–0 win. For seniors Chai and Hirshberg, the match marked the regular-season end to their impressive careers as four-year starters for Princeton. First-year Bubble Lui was the only player to drop her match. She has been playing in the number-one position since her debut, in November. It has been a stellar season overall for the squad. Princeton began its 2018-19 campaign with a dominating 9–0 win at Virginia. After that victory, Hirshberg, a co-captain, praised the team’s momentum. Princeton carried that momentum right through the winter, claiming an upset victory over then second-ranked Trinity College, in January. That win gave the Tigers the number two slot. They have not relinquished it. In New Haven, Princeton topped No. 4 Yale, 5–4. The victory set them up for a battle of the un-beatens with No. 1 Harvard. The Tigers would fall 0–9 to the “unbelievably strong” Crimson. “It definitely was tough for us to suffer our first loss of the season,” said Hirshberg. But the team has been using its one blemish as nothing if not fuel in the lead-up to the Howe Cup. The Howe Cup, collegiate squash’s team nationalchampionship event, will
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Women’s squash defeated Cornell 8-1 last weekend
be hosted at Trinity from Feb. 22-24, in Hartford, CT. In preparation, head coach Gail Ramsay says the team’s focus has shifted to maintaining fitness, resetting mindsets, and
making “small but important adjustments to our games.” Hirshberg reports that the players are prioritizing staying injury free, as they “hopefully will have the opportunity to
play [Harvard] again.” Ramsay also expects sophomore Gracie Doyle to be back in the line-up for the Howe Cup. Doyle was a huge contributor in the fourth and fifth slots all
season long – but did not play against Cornell. Princeton’s lineup has been incredibly deep and well-balanced this season. Most matches featured three first-years, three sophomores, one junior, and two seniors. Both Ramsay and Hirshberg have been especially impressed by the first-year class, headlined by three players — Lui, Ruggiero, and Toth — who each held the No. 1 junior ranking in their country prior to becoming Tigers. But from the coaching perspective, Ramsay knows her underclassmen have benefited from the “senior leadership” of Hirshberg and her co-captain, senior Kate Feeley. Ramsay applauded the senior class for the “important statement” they have made to the younger players – and its potential to “positively impact the future of Princeton Squash.” Ramsay sees the team’s success as a product of her players’ total investment. Hirshberg recognizes it, too, saying, “Each member has raised the bar of their teammates by pushing one another on court.” Both know it’s hard to get to 13-1 without each player giving her best effort. That total buy-in has been easy to achieve this year, says Hirshberg, because of the team dynamic Ramsay fosters. “We are as close as ever, and each member has contributed to the success of the whole.” But Princeton isn’t resting on its laurels quite yet. The players and coaches are eyeing a potential rematch with Harvard at the Howe Cup. A national championship is by no means out of reach for the Tigers, said Ramsay. “We will need some best- ever performances from as many people as possible.”
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