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Thursday February 28, 2019 vol. CXLIII no. 19
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U. experiences 7.3 percent decline in first-year applications
By Linh Nguyen Associate News Editor
JON ORT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
The applicant pool to the Class of 2023 was the second largest in University history.
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John Bonner, former chair of Department of Biology, passes away at 98 By Katie Tam staff writer
John Bonner, Professor Emeritus and pioneering expert on cellular slime molds, passed away on Feb. 7 at the age of 98 in Portland, Oregon. Bonner was a member of the University faculty for 42 years and served three terms as chair of the Department of Biology. He was known in the field for his work on slime molds, a class of soil-dwelling organisms that can exhibit unique collective behaviors. Bonner’s research on these protists, which he described as “no more than a bag of amoebae encased in a thin slime sheath,” was revolutionary at a time when few researchers were interested in the creatures. Throughout his career, Bonner remained at the cutting edge of research on both molecular mechanisms and the evolutionary balance between the group and the individual. “He touched on problems in both molecular biology and evolution that are right at the forefront today,” Henry Horn, Professor Emeritus said. Bonner established the use of slime molds as a model system to test assumptions about evolution. One of his most important findings showed that even simple organisms like Dictyostelium discoideumum can be altruistic — able to benefit other organisms at a cost to themselves. As a group, these cells travel in a “slug” formation. At some point, they form a fruiting body, with some cells forming the stalk and others releasing reproductive spores. The stalk cells, however, do not reproduce, sacrificing themselves for the sake of the live spores. This finding shed new insight into how evolutionary cooperation takes place, said Professor in
In Opinion
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Simon Levin. “He was a pioneer. He did this work before anybody was thinking about these things,” Levin said. Other colleagues agree that Bonner’s work continues to shape their research today. “His early work on cooperation and self-sacrifice between different cell types provided insights that helped shape my work on balancing cooperation and competition,” Professor of Zoology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Daniel Rubenstein wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian. Bonner was born on May 12, 1920. A native of New York City, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy and then earned a B.A., M.A., and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, completing his studies in 1947. Prior to earning his final degree, he served in the U.S. Army Air Force for four years. Bonner began working on slime molds as an undergraduate in 1940 and continued this research when he joined the University as an assistant professor in 1947. He became the Moffett Professor of Biology in 1966 and transferred to emeritus status in 1990. In the decades after, however, Bonner would continue teaching, researching, and writing. Slime molds fascinated Bonner for over 70 years. He studied their ability for chemotaxis, or movement in response to chemicals. He also studied how they moved together as a group and how they oriented towards gases. Bonner authored 20 books and more than 160 papers on slime molds and beyond — one of which was accepted for publication in the last few months of his life and has yet to come out. Besides its impact on the field of evolutionary biology, his work See BONNER page 3
Senior columnist Kaveh Badrei discusses racial themes within the big winners at the Oscars, and Contributing columnist Jasman Signh explains the consequences of Jussie Smolett’s false reports of a hate crime. PAGE 4
The University received a total of 32,808 applications for admission into the Class of 2023, indicating a decrease by 2,578 applications — or 7.3 percent — from the Class of 2022 applicant pool, which had a total of 35,386 applicants. Of these total applicants for the incoming first-year class, 5,335 applied for the University’s single-choice early action program. According to an email from Deputy University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss, the early action applicant pool represented 36 different countries and 49 different U.S. states, in addition to Washington, D.C. and the Virgin Islands. Although this year saw a decrease in the number of total applications, the Class of 2023 applicant pool is still larger than the 31,056 applications to the Class of 2021 by 5.6 percent, giving this year the second highest number of applications in University history.
In an email to The Daily Princetonian, Dean of the College and acting Dean of Admission Jill Dolan noted that the University admissions office is “not at all concerned” by the slight decrease in applications this year. “This year’s pool is consistent with our application numbers historical trend and, most importantly, remains incredibly robust,” Dolan wrote. Dolan also pointed out that the University’s new requirement of a graded high school writing sample could have contributed to the decrease. Although this requirement is meant to make applying more accessible to low-income potential applicants by replacing the required essay score on the SAT or ACT, this requirement is not practiced by any other school in the Ivy League. In addition, although specific applicant demographics are not made publicly available, Dolan noted that the University’s “international applicant See APPLICATIONS page 2
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CHARLOTTE ADAMO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
91.5 percent of U. security filings in one real estate company, JBG Smith By Benjamin Ball head news editor
Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO), the University’s investment arm, invests 91.5 percent of its total securities in the real estate firm JBG Smith Properties, according to the most recent quarterly U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. The University filed its SEC holdings on Thursday, Feb. 14. Looking to the rest of its securities, the University invests 2.5 percent of its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Inc., and the remaining six percent in the technology companies Carbon Black Inc., Appian Corp., and DocuSign Inc. The nearly $66 million the University reported in securities last quarter make up a relatively small portion of the total endowment, valued at $25.9 billion. The SEC fil-
ings include the investments PRINCO manages directly. The shares in JBG Smith alone add up to a value of around $61 million. JBG Smith is a D.C.-based real estate firm that, according to its website, owns, operates, develops, and invests in nearly 19 million square feet of operating assets. Yale University and MIT also have substantial holdings in JBG Smith, while Harvard University has no direct holdings there according to filings of the same time period. The SEC requires investment managers like PRINCO with more than $100 million under management to disclose securities holdings annually. Managers are not required to report mutual fund holdings, but they must include their exchange-traded funds. The SEC filings represent only a small portion of the University’s total endowment
Today on Campus 12:00 p.m.: Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World, Adam Tooze A71 Louis A. Simpson International Building
and are only the funds that PRINCO manages directly. Of the top five University endowments — the other four being Harvard, Yale, Stanford University, and the University of Texas system — the University ranks second in investment to technology companies. Harvard ranks first by a wide margin, with 83 percent of its holdings in technology companies. Last year, the University earned the greatest endowment return of any Ivy, at 14.2 percent. The amount in reported securities is also small compared to those in other Ivies’ filings. Harvard, for example, reported $475 million in securities, while Yale reported $681 million. Deputy University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss and President Andrew Golden of PRINCO declined to comment.
WEATHER
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HIGH
40˚
LOW
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Partly Cloudy chance of rain:
10 percent