Tuesday, Feb. 4

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Tuesday february 4, 2014 vol. cxxxviii no. 2

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In Opinion Uchechi Kalu identifies the moral problems with bicker, and Ben Dinovelli argues against capital punishment. PAGE 4

Today on Campus 4:30 p.m.:The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Visual Arts holds a screening of student work. Stewart Theater.

The Archives

Feb. 4, 1994 Three undergraduate students needed medical help for alcohol-related problems at PMC during bicker week.

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Overheard:

quote of the day

“

What do you call a New Zealander with a hundred wives?

A sheep farmer.

“

- Michael Eggleton ’16

News & Notes Administrative offices closed due to snowstorm Administrative offices were closed on Monday due to a snowstorm, the University said. Although departments such as the Office of the Registrar did not operate and residential college offices operated for only a few hours, the dining halls were still open, as well as the libraries and Frist Campus Center. Employees in critical or essential roles, such as dining hall employees, were asked to report to work as usual.

University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua said that no classes were canceled via the Registrar’s office, but numerous professors decided not to hold lecture, including Scott Burnham, who teaches MUS 103: Introduction to Music, and Isik Ozge Ozturk, who teaches PSY 254: Developmental Psychology.

The University’s announcement Monday follows on a year of turbulent weather. On Jan. 21, the University issued a similar statement saying that it would dismiss employees at 1:30 p.m., with the exception of those in critical or essential roles.

During reading week, temperatures reached a low of two degrees Fahrenheit, well below the average of 23 degrees Fahrenheit for that period, according to AccuWeather.

See NOTES page 1

Over 1,000 sign up for USG Wintersession

BALLET BOOTCAMP

By Do-Hyeong Myeong staff writer

USG’s pilot Wintersession program, which took place over Intersession, ended with 53 course offerings and over a thousand participants.

Students said they appreciated the opportunity to learn subjects outside of the pressure of grades and schoolwork, but students and instructors noted the attendance rate in classes was low and the variety of classes could have been improved upon.

U-Councilor Laura Du ’14, the project leader for the Wintersession program, said the primary goal of the program was to provide an environment where students could explore various academic and non-academic fields of interests without much pressure.

The Wintersession program also brought together diverse members of the Princeton community, U-Council chair Elan Kugelmass ’14 noted.

Kugelmass said 12 staff members, 42 undergraduate students and five graduate students participated as instructors, and 189 graduate students, six staff members and one faculty member signed up for at least one course.

The program attracted many more people than the organizers had expected, Du said. She explained that while the USG had originally estimated a target of 100 to 200 students and thought that to be ambitious, it was exciting to see the numbers climb past 200 and eventually reach over 1,000.

Wintersession went very smoothly considering it was the first time such a program took place on campus, Du explained. She added that the program was especially well run in terms of funding and scheduling. Funding for the Wintersession program was $7,745 in total, with roughly half spent on instructor compensation and the other half on the closing reception and seven individual courses.

“In terms of funding for the project, we did a very good job of keeping below our budget, which was estimated for a program of only 100 to 200 students,” Du noted.

See COURSES page 3

ASAWARI SODHI :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

During Wintersession 2014, Caroline Hearst ‘14 taught Ballet Bootcamp for students with varying dance experience.

U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin to step down

By Lorenzo Quioque staff writer

Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin will step down at the end of this academic year, the University announced Monday.

Dobkin has been a faculty member at the University since 1981 and served as chair of the computer science department from 1994 to 2003. He was appointed dean of the

faculty in 2003 and oversees all academic departments. Dobkin also serves as secretary of the Faculty Advisory Committee on Appointments and Advancements and the Faculty Advisory Committee on Policy.

University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 said that Dobkin is a man who is well-known for his relationship with each member of the faculty.

STUDENT LIFE

DAVID DOBKIN Outgoing Dean of the Faculty

“I think the wonderful thing about David is that he has really learned every department in this See DOBKIN page 2

ACADEMICS

Jackson ’15: a look back on first term Katherine Pogrebniak’14

By Anna Mazarakis News Editor

With the newly instated USG administration set to hold its first meeting this Sunday, members of the outgoing executive committee reflected upon their time and accomplishments. Outgoing and incoming USG president Shawon Jackson ’15 said that increasing the accessibility of USG was his biggest accomplishment, while various other USG members explained that Jackson’s administration made several strides towards serving students.

As Jackson finishes his first term as president of the USG and prepares to enter his second term, he said the biggest success he found at his post was making the USG more accessible. Jackson said that through USG office hours, weekly ice cream dates and releasing applications for project teams, he has increased the accessibility of the USG by showing students they can still be involved with the USG without having to run for a position.

Accessibility was one of the frameworks for Jackson’s administration, as it was one of the canons of his first campaign along with accountability and approachability.

Once he won his bid for the

presidency and took office, however, Jackson chose the mantra “To lead is to serve,” a quote he attributes to Elie Wiesel, for his administration. He said the USG became very “mission driven” in making sure that all members had an understanding of why they were doing what they were doing. “ ‘To lead is to serve’ was to set a tone that all of the projects should be serving the student need, not necessarily our own interests,” Jackson said.

“Whenever we set up a project, we always said, ‘OK, what do the students want?’ and then made sure we created the project accordingly.”

Former USG vice president Carmina Mancenon ’14 said the quote helped to set a “broader vision” for the administration, both in terms of how meetings were run and how projects were completed.

With the USG’s broader vision, new projects geared toward helping the students took form. All USG members interviewed agreed that the pilot Wintersession program was a huge success in giving students an enriching opportunity during a time when nothing else is happening on campus.

“I think Wintersession went far better than anybody could

have possibly anticipated,” former social chair Carla Javier ’15 said.

Javier is also a video editor and a senior writer for The Daily Princetonian.

However, USG members did not think of all their initiatives as successful.

“Ultimately, a lot of the efforts that, in my opinion, Shawon prioritized were somewhat of a distraction,” U-councilor chair Elan Kugelmass ’14 said. “I think that the effort to amend the USG constitution to redefine the relationship between the class governments and the senate was dead on arrival and was a distraction … It consumed a huge amount of USG time that we should have spent on other things.”

For example, Kugelmass said that he thought it would have been better to prioritize the compilation of the Committee on Background and Opportunity’s fourth report and the Extended Leave Report.

Other members of the USG agreed that the constitutional amendments took a lot of time away from other topics during meetings and that the body could have been more efficient with its time.

Overall, however, USG members interviewed said See USG RECAP page 3

named Churchill winner

By Sheila Sisimit staff writer

Katherine Pogrebniak ’14 was awarded a Churchill Scholarship to study for a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge.

The Churchill Scholarship, funded by the Winston Churchill Foundation, is awarded to at least 14 students each year who wish to pursue studies in engineering, mathematics or the sciences, according to its website.

Pogrebniak, a computer science concentrator, said she is planning to obtain a Master of Philosophy in computational biology and is excited for the classroombased learning and the research component of her studies.

There were two phases of the application process­ — applying for the Princeton nomination and then competing at the national level.

Pogrebniak was one of two students nominated by the University to move on to the national level and was then invited to do a phone interview.

The interview occurred over reading period. She was

offered the scholarship at the end of the call.

“It was exciting and crazy.

In one 20-minute conversation, something great and amazing happened to me,” Pogrebniak said. “I was completely thrilled. I’ve actually never been to England before, so I’m excited to go there.”

Professor of Computer Science Mona Singh served as Pogrebniak’s independent work advisor. Pogrebniak’s project focused on trying to predict aspects of small molecules that bind to proteins.

“She did a great job on her project. She was extremely consistent; she came in everyday and made steady progress throughout the term,” Singh said. “She worked independently, at a grad student sort of level.”

Computer science professor Brian W. Kernighan GS ’69 was also able to work with Pogrebniak in his advanced programming techniques class and was impressed by her work ethic.

Kernighan is a former faculty columnist for The Daily Princetonian.

Last spring, Pogrebniak, along with three other juSee CHURCHILL page 2

ACADEMICS

Faculty meeting results in formation of a Council on Teaching and Learning

By Anna Windemuth staff writer

University faculty and administrators voted to approve the formation of a Council on Teaching and Learning during this month’s University Faculty Meeting. The council will provide input and recommendations for under-

graduate policy with a particular emphasis on online courses.

Plans for the council were initiated by the Committee on Online Courses and had been proposed during the last Faculty meeting in December of 2013.

The outgoing Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin, who did not attend Monday’s meeting, sent

out a formal proposal last year, and the proposal has since been approved by the Academic Planning Group and the Faculty Advisory Committee on Policy. The meeting was instead chaired by University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.

Although the Academic Planning Group is currently responsi-

ble for methods of undergraduate instruction, the new committee would specifically cater towards the vast changes brought on by modern services such as online classes, Dobkin wrote in an email addressed to the current planning group.

In addition to online courses, the committee’s input will

touch a broad range of emerging academic issues, such as academic integrity and socioeconomic diversity. The council will be assigned routine responsibilities related to other councils in order to solidify its position in the administrative body.

The new council will consist See MEETING page 3

The Daily Princetonian

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Tuesday february 4, 2014

Pogrebniak’s work ethic praised Dobkin known for maintaining photo blog CHURCHILL Continued from page 1

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niors, built a program called “Project Nightcrawler: easy access to transport schedules,” which provided information about public transport routes along with

“She was inquisitive.

She wanted to learn, and when you are eight, nine and ten that’s not a typical age we see students.”

Pam Crawford

Mathematics department chair, jacksonville university

corresponding schedules and prices.

“I’m surprised at how well it worked and how fast it was,” Kernighan said. “She seems to get an enormous amount done. Her time man-

agement skills are off scale as far as I can see. It’s amazing how she can do all kinds of things and maintain sanity and a perfectly normal life.”

Pogrebniak also made an impression on professors outside of Princeton, including Pam Crawford, chair of the mathematics department at Jacksonville University, who taught her from 20022003, when Pogrebniak was eight years old.

“We enjoyed having her in class,” Crawford said. “She interacted well with the other students. She was a good student. She was inquisitive.

She was bright. She wanted to learn, and when you’re eight, nine and ten, that’s not a typical age we see students.”

Crawford said she was thrilled to hear the news of Pogrebniak’s scholarship and recalled having Pogrebniak in a precalculus class.

“I remember one of the students in the precalc class, after about a month, said to me, ‘So that’s not your daughter in our class?’ and I said, ‘No, that’s a student,’ ” Crawford explained.

On campus, Pogrebniak is very involved with Wilson College, serving as a residential college adviser during her junior and senior years.

She is also a peer tutor.

“Katherine is a remarkable student on several fronts: she is wildly intelligent and, working at the intersection of computer science and medicine, she belongs to a new generation of young women who will no doubt help shape the future of both fields,” Master of Wilson College and English professor Eduardo Cadava said.

She is also heavily involved with Community House, a tutoring center on campus, both as a tutor and the Community Outreach Chair.

“I enjoy mentoring younger students, especially women in math and sciences. We’ve come a long way with getting them more interested,” Pogrebniak said. “I organized science experiments there to keep them interested outside the classroom. I enjoy it and am passionate about it. Hopefully I can do that at Cambridge.”

Pogrebniak has also been honored with the Princeton Class of 1939 Scholar Award and the Princeton Accenture Prize for Computer Science in 2013. She is Vice President of Princeton’s chapter of Tau Beta Pi, a national engineering honor society, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, an academic honor society.

News & Notes Bernanke to join Brookings Institution After stepping down from his former position as chairman of the Federal Reserve last Friday, former Princeton professor Ben Bernanke joined the Brookings Institution as a distinguished fellow in residence in the economic studies program.

Bernanke had served as chairman of the Federal Reserve since 2006. During

his tenure, he oversaw the administration’s response to the 2007-09 financial crisis and tried to foster recovery by buying large numbers of bonds.

Bernanke had served as a tenured professor in Princeton’s economics department, chairing the department from 1996 until he left in 2002 to join the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve. He ultimately left his position in 2005 but returned to Princ-

eton to speak at the Baccalaureate ceremony for the Class of 2013.

At the Brookings Institute, Bernanke plans to write a book about his time at the Federal Reserve. The Brookings Institution announced that he would also contribute to an initiative on government economic policy.

Janet Yellen, former vice chair of the Federal Reserve, succeeded Bernanke as chairman on Monday.

DOBKIN

Continued from page 1

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university, so if you ask him about a member of the faculty, he knows who that person is, he knows their achievements, he knows their concerns, he knows what their sense of humor is like, and to get to know an entire faculty like ours personally like he did is really what makes Princeton a strong place,” he explained.

He added that Dobkin’s legacy would be the lineup of faculty he assembled during his term as dean.

“As you know, David likes to think of himself as a collector and he collects lots of things, and he sometimes talks about himself as having collected faculty,” Eisgruber said, referring to Dobkin’s penchant for collecting everyday objects, which was featured in a University exhibition. “The principal legacy is the set of people that are here on this campus, that have either been recruited, which is visible, and retained, which is pretty much invisible, during David’s time on this faculty.”

Eisgruber noted that other policies that Dobkin has put in place include a successful retirement plan, more familyfriendly policies and new initiatives around diversity.

Dobkin could not be

reached for comment Monday. He’s out of the office until Feb. 11, according to an automated email response.

At Monday’s faculty meeting, Eisgruber said that Dobkin was currently in the Virgin Islands.

He plans to take a sabbatical for a year after the end of his term on June 30 and will return to his position as the Phillip Y. Goldman ’86 Professor in Computer Science at the start of the 2015-16 academic year.

The search committee for the new dean of the faculty will be headed by Leora Batnitzky, the chair of the Department of Religion. The other faculty members serving on the committee are chemistry professor Robert Cava; Wilson School professor Christina Davis; mathematics professor Weinan E; associate classics professor Brooke Holmes; history department chair William Jordan; electrical engineering professor Antoine Kahn; and chair of the department of civil and environmental engineering James Smith.

The search committee will look for a candidate who can help increase the diversity of the University’s faculty, Eisgruber explained. Eisgruber noted that a joint trusteefaculty committee last year identified increased diversity

as a major need for the University and added that he is fully committed to pursuing that objective.

University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua explained that the University expects Dobkin’s successor to take office by July 1 of this year, in time for the start of the next academic year, and that there would be no need for an interim dean of the faculty while the search committee makes its selection.

Eisgruber added that Dobkin was always someone he could turn to for advice throughout his term as dean of the faculty.

“One of the things I would always count on David for was wise advice about how best to deal with a problem in ways that treated everybody respectfully and appropriately, that was true to the sensitivities of the faculty,” Eisgruber said. “Because David knew people so well, it was always possible to turn to him and say, ‘David, here’s a tough question. I have to find a constructive way to talk to people about this. Can you give me some advice about how to present this issue, so people don’t become defensive and we can have a good conversation?’ David was always forthcoming with his advice and virtually always right.”

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Tuesday february 4, 2014

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Students appreciate opportunity to share passions Council to address COURSES academic integrity Continued from page 1

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Student instructors said they enjoyed the teaching experience as well as the opportunity to share their passion for fields that are not widely known on campus.

Katie Dubbs ’14, who taught Intro to Sight Singing, said she enjoyed teaching such a diverse group of people.

“I wanted to teach this class because sight singing is one thing on campus that is not fully addressed or catered to in already existing groups. It’s hard if you love music, but you don’t want to do it at an intensive level,” Dubbs said.

Edgar Yu ’17, who took Ballroom Dance Camp, said he valued the opportunity to learn a skill that he always wanted to learn but had never had the opportunity to study elsewhere.

Likewise, Poupae Sinsub ’17 said she appreciated the chance to take courses on subjects she was

interested in but was too afraid to take as formal courses.

However, organizers, instructors and students all noted that there are still some areas that could be improved upon and expanded in the Wintersession program.

Du suggested that the program website might need to be improved in the future and added that the USG would have liked to have had more funding and more people to help instructors.

Instructors and USG members also noted the low attendance rate. According to Kugelmass, the average course was only attended by 50 to 60 percent of registered students.

Drew Wallace ’17 noted that only 25 out of 45 students who registered for his course actually showed up, and only 10 continued until the last session.

“You can’t make people go, but I’d like it if they [USG] said [to students], ‘If you signed up for a course, please actually go, or don’t sign up if you aren’t planning on going anymore,’

” Wallace, the Video Game Development instructor, said, “because my class was full, and there’s a good chance that other people wanted to take it but couldn’t.”

I think that we’re hoping this will be a long-standing Princeton tradition.

Laura Du ’14

Students said that the variety of course offerings could also be improved. Sinsub said she registered for two courses but only went to one session for one course because the other

course was too easy for her. She suggested that she would have preferred if some courses were offered at varying difficulty levels for students with different backgrounds and experiences.

Yu explained that he hoped there would be more sessions per course and that class sizes would be larger.

“I wanted to sign up for Archery, but it was filled up, and other classes like Finance and other popular classes filled up really quickly too,” he explained.

Both Du and Kugelmass said the USG is very enthusiastic about the Wintersession program and is willing to offer it again in the following years, although Kugelmass added there have been no formal plans yet.

“I think that we’re hoping this will be a long-standing Princeton tradition, so even though I won’t be here, we’re definitely going to make sure that within the USG team, we’re able to pass this on to future generations,” Du said.

MEETING Continued from page 1

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of eight faculty members from a diverse range of divisions and will be appointed by the Dean of the Faculty and the Dean of the College. However, all work within the council will be monitored and verified by the University administration as well as any relevant faculty committees, such as the Committee on Grading.

Eisgruber said that Monday’s meeting was “bittersweet” because “our beloved Dean of Faculty David Dobkin has announced that he would like to return to his teaching duties in the department of computer science.” Eisgruber also jokingly praised Dobkin’s good judgment in retreating to the Virgin Islands during the day’s snowfall.

Professor Jacques Fresco delivered a commemoration to late professor Charles Gilvarg of the

molecular biology department, who remained an active member of the research department until the very end, when he died of a stroke at 87.

“Just as he was demanding of himself, thus did he teach his scientific progeny to expect the same of themselves,” Fresco said. He added that Gilvarg was “in no way a narrow scholar,” as he occupied himself with other branches of science and the humanities and noted that he had received several emails from Gilvarg’s former students praising his impact on their careers.

Gilvarg attended Cooper Union and was the 1963 winner of the Paul Lewis Award of the American Chemical Society.

Faculty members also agreed to add courses in the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Mathematics, Molecular Biology and Sociology and drop one molecular biology class from the curriculum.

USG now more accessible, says Jackson USG RECAP Continued from page 1

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Jackson was a good leader and worked seamlessly with Mancenon, making the two an effective pair.

None of those interviewed said they believed Jackson’s class year — he started his term as a sophomore rather than a junior — had an effect on his ability to lead.

“Surprisingly, no I don’t think it had much of an effect – I thought that it would have,” Jackson said, a contrast from the experience of Michael Yaroshefsky ’12, who also served as USG president as a sophomore and told Jackson that he had had difficulty gaining respect from older members. “Thankfully with the team this year, everyone was very cooperative and really pushed back when needed and they took on projects that were priorities for me without saying ‘Hey, I don’t want to do that,’ so I was pleasantly surprised by that.”

Outgoing Campus and Community Affairs chair Trap Yates ’14 said all of the USG members were supportive of initiatives that Jackson wanted to accomplish and outgoing Academics Committee chair Dillon Sharp ’14 explained that there was a mutual respect between Jackson and the members of his administration.

Yates is a former associate editor for the Street section of the ‘Prince.’

Sharp said that his committee made a number of gains during the last year and struggled to determine which project was his committee’s biggest success. One project was the change to the academic calendar in order to allow the semester to begin a day earlier so students could shop a Monday/ Wednesday class during the first week of classes and take the Wednesday of Thanksgiving break off so students could spend more time with their families.

“To be able to carry that through and see that be successful, I thought, was one of the most significant academic changes this decade,” Sharp said.

“Whenever we set up a project, we always said, ‘OK, what do the students want?’ and then made sure we created the project accordingly.”

Shawon Jackson ’15, USG President

Since Sharp’s predecessor Steven Rosen ’13 started that proposal, Sharp said the policy he proposed that he was most proud of was the change to the overcrowding policy for final exams, which now allows students to reschedule an exam if they have one at night and another the following morning.

On the other hand, he said that he was disappointed in the faculty committee’s unanimous vote against the academics committee’s proposal to allow students to rescind a pass/D/ fail grading option for a class.

“I’m still incredibly proud of it even though it was a failure,” Sharp said. “I expect that in the next decade, the same proposal or a similar proposal will be successful.”

Yates said he was satisfied with his committee’s “fixed” events: Communiversity and Restaurant Week. He also said that he liked that the committee’s relationship with University administrators and townspeople is in good standing.

However, he said he thinks there’s “a long list” of things that could have been done differently. In particular, Yates said that all of the Campus and Community Affairs initiatives seemed to revolve around monetary transactions between students and the town when he had hoped to be able to just get more students off of campus and into the town.

“It would be nice, I think, if students had more reasons to be in town other than ‘I want to buy things,’” Yates said.

Outgoing Undergraduate Student Life Committee chair Greg Smith ’15 also said that he was pleased that his committee was able to build a lot of important relationships with administrators, but he said that he wished his committee had a “bigger, more substantial project” with which they could have ended the year.

Javier said she thought it was good that her committee organized a variety of artists for both the spring and fall Lawnparties and that it was able to save some money to be able to fund the bonfire in November.

“Even though we had less things happen, I’m proud of the quality of all of them,” Javier said.

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Opinion

OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE

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Tuesday february 4, 2014

page 4

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A tradition of casualties

Benjamin Dinovelli columnist

An appropriate punishment

L

ast week, news broke that the Department of Justice would seek the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who, along with his deceased brother, was allegedly responsible for the bombings during the Boston Marathon last year, taking the lives of three people. According to Attorney General Eric Holder, “[t]he nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision.”

Although the crimes he is charged with undoubtedly “betrayed his allegiance to the United States” and inflicted extreme pain upon all those affected, the United States should not try to seek the death penalty because it is an inappropriate punishment for even the most heinous of crimes.

For years, the issue of the constitutionality of the death penalty has been hotly contested. It was even held unconstitutional between 1972 and 1976 as a result of Furman v. Georgia, which claimed that the “harsh, freakish and arbitrary” nature of sentencing clearly made it unconstitutional.

The question of whether capital punishment constitutes something like cruel and unusual punishment appears to be a difficult one. The main concerns of the past, such as in Furman, were ones over its accuracy — caused by fears that its imposition was arbitrary in the sense that not all who were accused of murder received the death penalty, and often decisions were decided on the basis of race or class. However, what if the evidence is clearer? What about cases such as Tsarnaev’s in which we can prove with almost little to no doubt that the suspect is responsible?

It was this logic that compelled the Supreme Court to restore capital punishment’s constitutionality only four years later in Gregg v. Georgia, requiring that there simply be “objective standards to guide, regularize and make rationally reviewable the process for imposing the sentence of death.” Some of the resultant standards are the proportionality of the crime committed to the punishment, the methods of execution and the limitations on using it against certain groups like juvenile and mentally retarded criminals.

Still, even in a case where one’s guilt is much more determinable, capital punishment is still excessive. The justice system serves multiple functions in society. One of its main purposes is to remove threats from society. By using retributive justice to punish wrongdoers, we constrain those victims who may view the government’s supposed ineffectiveness as justification to otherwise rely on vigilante justice.

In the case of capital punishment, we clearly do not aim to rehabilitate, and the goal of removing one from society can be achieved without taking a person’s life. In light of this, we seem to only be able to justify the taking of a life either on the basis of retribution or deterrence.

When we choose retribution, we resort to a Hammurabi-esque “eye for an eye” mentality.

Granted, any punishment will be somewhat retributive, as ignoring it may lead to an even greater desire for it, but it is the government’s job to try to limit this vengeance as much as possible. When we deal with crimes that involve the death penalty, which can only be done if the accused is charged with taking the life of another, it is easy to be swept up by emotion. However, the justice system is not meant to please the will of the majority, but rather to apply a punishment that will do its best to incapacitate those who may do us harm.

That being said, if it can be proven that capital punishment serves as an effective deterrent and reduces the incentive for others to kill or murder, it may be somewhat justified.

Yet, even this is questionable. To serve as an effective deterrent, as Jeffrey Fagan, professor of law and public health at Columbia Law School, argues, “Execution would have to occur with sufficient frequency and with widespread knowledge among would-be murderers to create a credible threat considering the types of murders that might be eligible for execution.”

The problem is that many are misinformed.

With issues such as racial and class disparities and the long periods of time spent on death row by prisoners before actually being killed, it would appear that capital punishment fails miserably at serving as a deterrent.

In fact, one only has to look at the contrast between states that do and do not allow the death penalty post-Gregg. In the 1980s, states that permitted it had an annual rate of 7.5 criminal homicides per 100,000; states that removed the practice had a rate of 7.4. In deterrence, we should seek the least severe punishment that achieves our aims. We can remove threats like Tsarnaev from society through less barbaric means.

In light of its failure as a deterrent and our expectations of being in society, it appears that capital punishment is an improper punishment, even for the worst of crimes. Although it is tempting to wish for the death of those who bring us great harm, the state should be better at remaining objective than the individual.

Otherwise we will devolve into barbarism — letting our emotions blind us from doling out fair and rational punishments.

Benjamin Dinovelli is a sophomore from Mystic, Conn. He can be reached at bjd5@princeton.edu.

Uchechi Kalu

guest columnist

A

s the tides of Bicker crash upon us I raise a middle finger one final time to the parasitic system that has won the unquestioning loyalty of Princeton’s social culture. We continue to delude ourselves into believing that maintaining the integrity of Princeton lies in our ability to subject classmates to social isolation and shame. I have long since been unmoved by claims of the clubs’ overarching inclusivity. I sulk at exaltations praising the efficacy with which our clubs bring together disparate student populations. In truth, Bicker is but Princeton’s version of playground politics — “friendships” are determined through terms of utmost irrelevancy: the name of your prep school, the combination of your Greek letters, your athleticism, your extracurriculars, your perceived ‘rowdiness,’ your perceived ‘class,’ how token African-American/gay/Asian/ ethnic you are …

These are but external factors that say nothing about the virtue of a person. In ignorance, we use them as signifiers of social worth.

And yet Princetonians continue to portray Bicker as the ultimate tradition, where social exclusion and exclusivity are but the backdrop to a process that provides every student a fair shot at succeeding. The ease with which we facilitate our peers’ social humiliation only to suppress our own guilt thereafter is appalling. Once and for all we

must bury the question that drives Bicker: “Would I have a meal with you?” We derive its answer through means so nebulous and infantile that it is impossible to consider ourselves well-formed adults. No student body should flaunt a process as morally questionable as Bicker. And no accredited university should have an established platform for students to resurrect their grade school addictions for being “liked,” “wanted” and “chosen.”

What amazes me most is the naive candor with which we’ve learned to justify Bicker. The excuses are endless. To a confounding degree Princetonians proclaim that life is just a large-scale version of Bicker. We say that social exclusion is inevitable and often preferred. We say that Bicker is just preparation for what is to come. If any of these excuses are even true, then the “real world” is nothing but a country club. We’ve got it all wrong. Exclusion is best used in our world as a means of efficacy. For example, when a job or leadership position opens up, it is crucial that only a few candidates are chosen. With the most capable people on staff, work is completed efficiently. Exclusion, therefore, plays a justifiable role in society because it identifies and rewards merit and intellect.

Bicker does neither. Bicker thrives on petty exclusion. I’ve often heard people rebut, “Well, I have the right to choose my own friends.” Sure, choose the members of your church so you’re all praying to the same God. Choose the members of your book club, so no one

complains about reading Nicholas Sparks’ novels week after week. But don’t limit who you dine with at Princeton and then justify Bicker with pre-packaged responses that are so overdone they reveal just how little you’ve thought about the process. Conducting (or even attending) Bicker is not a life skill, nor is it a valuable part of what we should consider tradition. These excuses are meant to soothe our psyches when cognitive dissonance takes hold — when we remember how painfully corrupt the process is and yet continue partaking anyhow.

This goes out to everyone gearing up to bicker someone else: Think not about the successes, but the casualties. And that those hosed will be your friends and classmates. People no different than you will be forced to hang their heads in shame unless they sign in to an alternative club, bicker in the fall and succeed, or finally “get over it” as I’ve often heard people mutter with arrogant nonchalance. We throw around terms like “tradition” and “The Princeton Experience” as if they can somehow justify a social system as brutish as Bicker. Let’s stop fooling ourselves. There is nothing about Princeton culture that makes this acceptable. Just because Bicker existed in the past doesn’t mean we must continue to perpetuate it. As long as we do, we bring shame upon ourselves, our values and our intellect.

Uchechi Kalu is a Near Eastern studies major from Orangeburg, SC. She can be reached at ukalu@princeton.edu.

weather swings

vol. cxxxviii

rita fang ’17 ..................................................

Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 editor-in-chief

Nicholas Hu ’15

business manager

BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 vice presidents John G. Horan ’74 Thomas E. Weber ’89 secretary Kathleen Kiely ’77 treasurer Michael E. Seger ’71 Craig Bloom ’88 Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Richard P. Dzina, Jr. ’85 William R. Elfers ’71 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 John G. Horan ’74 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Betsy J. Minkin ’77 Alexia Quadrani Jerry Raymond ’73 Annalyn Swan ’73 Douglas Widmann ’90

138TH BUSINESS BOARD business manager Nicholas Hu ’15 head of advertising Zoe Zhang ’16 director of national adversting Kevin Tang ’16 director of recruitment advertising Justine Mauro ’17 director of local advertising Mark Zhang ’17 director of online advertising Matteo Kruijssen ’16 head of operations Daniel Kim ’16 head of finance Charles Zhou ’16 comptroller Denise Chan accounts receivable manager Eugene Cho ’17

NIGHT STAFF 2.3.14 news Do-Hyeong Myeong ’17 copy Julie Aromi ’15 Joyce Lee ’17 Rebekah Shoemake ’17 Sharon You ’17 design Carrie Chen ’16 Julia Johnstone ’16 Hannah Miller ’16 Sean Pan ’16

Making the connection Lea Trusty

columnist

I

t’s February, and while this can mean a lot of different things for Princetonians, there’s one particular feature of the college experience that many of us undergo at this time: applying to internships. While I can’t speak for everyone, I would say the search for the perfect internship is always a fairly stressful one. First, it’s always tempting to apply to the first few that you fall in love with. Even with your heart set on one specific opportunity, though, contingency plans must always be made. With each summer possibility comes a timeconsuming application, or equally as frightening, a simple request for a cover letter (the magical formula for which I have yet to crack). Still, these parts of the process cannot compare to the one that will forever haunt me: letters of recommendation.

If I’m being completely honest, asking professors and former bosses for letters of recommendation is not even the most stressful part of the process. What’s actually stressful is the connection-making that requires one to feel comfortable enough to make these requests. All other stressful parts aside, I often feel like a large part of networking involves making artificial relationships and hoping they will become more

natural for the sake of personal advancement. It’s not as if the people we seek out here are insincere. In fact, I would argue that the most helpful resources here are the professors and alumni.

Here, professors are dedicated to both their work and their students.

Just this past semester, I couldn’t make any precepts for a particular course. I thought I would have to drop it, but my professor created an entirely new time for me and four other students in a similar situation. In this instance, he showed us both his dedication and his accessibility. Creating new precept times isn’t very common, but using office hours to reach out to students is a more obvious option that is equally helpful. They make getting help with your paper or simply introducing yourself to your professor much simpler. Moreover, if your schedule does not allow you to attend your professor’s regular office hours, many are so accommodating that they will schedule time to meet with you personally. I found out quickly that — as many Princeton pamphlets and tour guides insist — professors really are here to help.

Our alumni network is also unbelievably strong and enthusiastic. At the end of every academic year, hundreds return to Old Nassau to reminisce and reconnect with old friends over

Reunions. Still, many come back for more than the good times Reunions offer. They return to help current students, whether it’s through imparting wisdom of the real world, post-Princeton, or getting us connected with people whom they think may be of help professionally. And while many of us may think we need to wait to reach out to this network of people until after graduation, they are accessible throughout our undergraduate careers and beyond. One of my own friends was able to find an amazing internship doing biomedical research with an alumnus at Penn, and she would have never found it had such an amazing opening not been posted online.

With these resources, it is no wonder so many Princeton students say a major deciding factor of their enrollment was the quality of networking. Our time here is so pivotal and, no matter what each of us decides to pursue upon graduating, having connections is ridiculously beneficial. But for students who are unaccustomed to the world of networking, the prospect of reaching out for guidance or advice can be a daunting one for a number of reasons. There is always the fear of being brushed off. Worse, there is a fear of negative judgment. But my greatest worry has always been, and will always be,

coming off as insincere.

I love being a wallflower at times, but I also enjoy meeting new people, talking about our common topics of interest and just hearing their stories in general. If it flows, then it flows. If not, it might be disappointing, but it’s simple to walk away. Networking is a slightly different ballgame.

I feel strange when I seek help from a professor outside of the classroom. I don’t feel disingenuous, but I do fear the entire situation is a bit more forced. It can also be intimidating talking to a person who has studied for years what you just discovered you’re interested in week ago. Furthermore, while the ease of the conversation or connectionmaking process is still important, a lack of ease does not necessarily mean it’s best to walk away.

I hope that one day, when I email a professor or a potential connection, it’ll be with more confidence and less (hopefully subtle) unease. The tiny feeling of guilt that tells me that I am using someone will be gone, because I will have fully realized and accepted that people do in fact want to help us, and that using these connections is not a crime.

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

The Daily Princetonian

Tuesday february 4, 2014

page 5

New Zealander Eggleton likes Mexican food, American Football ON TAP

Continued from page 6

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

Skux, Google it. General foreign names.

Q: Are you an NFL fan?

A: Yeah I’m a fan of the NFL

— I learned football for a while just playing Madden with my boys back home growing up.

Q: Did you watch the Super Bowl and what’d you think?

A: It was a pretty one-sided affair, but pretty good. Halftime

show was pretty average. I’m not a huge fan of that Mr. Bruno Mars.

food down in New Zealand so it’s quite a new, distinct taste for me.

Q: What’s your favorite place for food in the town of Princeton?

A: Well for a quick bite, you can’t go wrong with Qdoba. We don’t have too much Mexican

Q: Do they serve eggs?

A: I don’t know, I might have to ask. Maybe an egg-based wrap or something.

Q: Do you have any favor-

Nelson sets school record, swimming splits HYP meet SHORTS

Continued from page 6

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

son next weekend at Columbia and home against Cornell as they move towards the College Squash Association Team and Individual Championships later this month.

Sophomore Lavondré Nelson sets school record in 60-meter dash This past weekend, Princeton men’s and women’s track and field competed in the Lions Invitational at the Armory Track and Field. The facility, home for the Lions, hosted an Ivy trio of Columbia, Princeton and Penn in addition to several northeastern university and college teams and a number of unattached athletes.

For the men, sophomores John Hill and Dre Nelson placed fourth and sixth respectively in the 60-meter dash with times of 6.90 and 6.94 seconds. In a preliminary heat, Nelson set the Princeton record with a blazing 6.79, beating his previous best of 6.84.

Freshman pole vaulter Benjamin Gaylord set his personal record with a mark of 4.90m, while classmate and thrower Jared Bell approached his own best in the shot put with a final distance of 17.04m, good for fourth in the event.

Freshman Bryant Switzer ran 49.08 in the 400-meter final, earning sixth overall and third among college student-athletes.

In a close 4×400 relay the Tigers finished fifth with a mark of 3:18.50, less than half a second behind Penn.

Four Tigers secure wins in Lions Invitational The women’s side earned four event wins on Saturday. Freshman Lizzie Bird outran the pack by nearly two seconds in the 1000 meters, posting a time of 2:52.95. Senior teammate Molly Higgins followed her in third place with a personal best mark

of 2:54.92.

In the 3000-meter race, junior Emily de La Bruyere cruised to a victory with a time of 9:37.38.

This time was over 11 seconds faster than the next runner.

Also competing in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles, freshman Allison Harris edged out the competition in the pole vault, clearing 3.70m. Fellow freshman Alex Lanzafame placed fourth in long jump final with a mark of 5.55m, but fouled out of the triple jump event.

Reigning Ivy League hammer throw champion sophomore Julia Ratcliffe continued to impress as she dominated the weight throw — hammer throw does not feature in indoor meets — with a distance of 18.90m. Her closest competition managed 17.12m.

The women’s team will visit Penn State this upcoming Saturday for the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup. Their next home meet will be the Princeton Invitational on February 23.

Men’s and Women’s Fencing continue strong seasons at Northwestern Nationally ranked third, the men’s fencing squad traveled to Evanston, Illinois for the Northwestern Duals. On day one, the Tigers fell in close contests to no. 4 Notre Dame, no. 10 Stanford and no. 6 Ohio State. They emerged from the day with a 5-3 record. The team cruised to three more wins over Lawrence, Detroit and Cleveland State on Sunday.

Currently ranked no. 1 in the nation, the juggernaut that is the Princeton women’s fencing team continued its run of dominance with a 13-0 sweep of all competition at the Northwestern Duals. Over the weekend, no.

3 Notre Dame, no. 5 Ohio State and no. 9 Temple managed to steal a few wins from the Tigers, but in the end could not stop the defending national champions.

The Ivy League Championships, hosted by Brown, fall next

weekend. Princeton men’s and women’s should enter the contest as consensus favorites.

Tigers take top three places in men’s backstroke The men’s swimming and diving team split its annual HYP meet last Friday and Saturday in New Haven, as the Tigers returned to competition for the first time since Jan. 4. Princeton took down the Bulldogs 194-159 but fell to the Crimson 140213. The five-time reigning Ivy League champions, however, experienced a similar regular season defeat to Harvard last season, before coming back to edge the Crimson by 68 points at the conference championships.

A 1-2-3 finish in the 100-meter backstroke highlighted the weekend for the men, as sophomore En-Wei Hu-Van Wright won in 48.21 seconds. Juniors Michael Strand and junior Connor Maher, reigning Ivy League champions in the 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke, respectively, placed second and third in the event.

While Hu-Van Wright grabbed Princeton’s only top finish in the weekend’s 19 events, the Tigers had a number of strong performances in other events. Maher, junior Harrison Wagner, freshman Julian Mackrel and sophomore Jeremy Wong kicked off the meet Friday evening in the 200-meter freestyle relay with a second place finish in 1:19.86.

Harvard’s ‘A’ squad bested the Tigers’ quartet by less than a second, as the Crimson posted a time of 1:19.12.

On the diving platform, freshman Nathan Makarewicz shined brightest for the Tigers. The Salt Lake City native placed third in the 3-meter event on Friday evening and was fourth in the 1-meter event on Saturday afternoon.

The men return to Denunzio Pool this Friday night, as the Tigers take on Columbia in their final home meet of the season.

Meet time is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Princeton women split HYP

Take it like a polaroid picture.

meet in New Haven The women’s swimming and diving team experienced similar results to the men’s at its HYP showdown this past weekend, as the Tigers (4-2) split with a win over Yale and a loss to Harvard. The Tigers fell to the Crimson by a score of 111189, while they took down the Bulldogs 171-129. Like the men, however, the women’s team fell to Harvard at last year’s tri-meet before hoisting the Ivy League championship trophy less than a month later.

Sophomore Nikki Larson highlighted the Tigers’ success in New Haven with victories in the 100-meter and 200-meter fly. Larson took first in the 200-meter fly with a time of 2:00.36 on Saturday and won the 100 fly in 55.11 on Sunday.

Senior Lisa Boyce also added significant points for the Tigers, beginning on Saturday evening in the 200-meter medley relay. Junior Emily Yu, freshman Olivia Chan and sophomore Morgan Karetnick joined Boyce in putting up a time of 1:43.87, good for second overall. Boyce, the reigning Ivy League champion in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle, took second in the 50-meter with a 23.14 mark and first in the 100-meter with 50.51.

The divers also had strong showings, as freshman Caitlin Chambers placed third in the 3-meter event, missing gold by less than three points. Senior Rachel Zambrowicz finished a point and a half behind Chambers, good for fifth overall in the event.

ite New Zealand jokes?

A: Let me think of some appropriate ones … What do you call a New Zealander with a hundred wives? A sheep farmer. I could maybe tell an Australian joke. We kinda hate them. Well not really. It’s just we crush them at sport a lot so I think they’re

bitter … Actually I’d better not, should probably leave that one out. Don’t want to offend Mr. Northrop [sophomore lightweight rower Ed Northrop].

Eggleton is also a Sports contributor for The Daily Princetonian

Sports

Tuesday february 4, 2014

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } O N TA P

On Tap with Michael Eggleton

By John Bogle staff writer

Q: Where are you from and what’s it like there?

A: I’m from a central-north island of New Zealand, and I went to boarding school in a city called Hamilton. Same city as where sophomore hammer thrower Julia Ratcliffe is from. It’s a lot warmer than here, I had never really seen snow in my life. Generally nicer than New Jersey.

Q: Are you a big rugby fan?

A: Oh yeah, pretty big. I suppose it is to us what football is to you Americans.

Q: Do you follow a particular team?

A: Mostly we just watch our national team, the All Blacks. It’s pretty hard following provincial games. I’ve lost connection with it a bit since coming here. Around here with the time zone difference — 18 hours right now — it’s very hard.

Q: Do you have any favorite New Zealand rugby drinking songs?

A: We don’t really sing when we drink. More just bottle to mouth. Sometimes we hop in trees and play a game called Possum.

Q: What does Possum entail?

A: Sit in a tree with a box of beers and you drink ’em.

You can’t come out of the tree until you finish all your beers

MEN’S FENCING

SPORTS SHORTS

Track & Field, Fencing and Swimming

By Andrew Steele

or you fall out.

sports editor

Q: What’s your favorite preparation of eggs?

A: Sunny side up. Definitely sunny side up. Sort of entails my personality as well.

Q: Did you play any other sports growing up?

A: Well, I did track all year and cross country. Played a bit of rugby, social rugby. Had a stint at water polo. Then I figured out I couldn’t really swim so it didn’t work out.

Also played a bit of field hockey, you know, guys play that down there unlike America.

Q: If you didn’t run track, which sport would you most like to play at Princeton?

A: Probably water polo.

They’re a good, relaxed group of guys. They have a lot of fun and get to go to California to play some games.

Q: If you had to pick one teammate to eat whole, who would you pick and why?

A: To what? Eat them physically? Wow, probably our freshman William Paulson.

He’s British so maybe that adds a bit of an exotic taste to his meat.

Q: If you could be a professional athlete, which sport would you play, and why?

A: Probably soccer; more of a world game. It’s in some cool countries like Spain and Italy.

Who would say ‘no’ to being in Cristiano Ronaldo’s shoes?

Q: Which dining hall

ED KELLEY :: FILE PHOTO

Princeton’s number three ranked men’s fencing team fell to three top ten opponents on Saturday

serves the best eggs?

A: Definitely Whitman, hands down.

Q: What are the best and worst parts of running?

A: The worst part is probably coming here when it’s like 10, 15 degrees Fahrenheit or whatever you guys use for your temperature scale. You have to step outside and it feels miserable. Best part is

probably, which doesn’t happen too often for me, when you’re injury-free and running and training well and you can look back at your week and say, ‘Wow I was able to do this amount of training without feeling anything.’ Also, the ridiculous amount of female attention we get.

Q: Would you rather have an extra leg or an extra

head, and why?

A: Probably an extra leg.

Might be able to run a bit faster and get a few extra steps in there.

Q: So your last name is Eggleton, do you have any nicknames? Such as ‘Dr. Eggman’ or ‘Hard-Boiled?’

A: Most people call me Eggy. Some people call me See ON TAP page 5

Men’s Squash sweeps Brown, falls in close match to no. 3 Yale Intersession was no break for Princeton men’s squash. The defending Ivy League champions, now sitting on a 4-6 overall and 2-3 league record, swept Brown (4-11, 0-4 Ivy) but dropped matches to Penn (7-3, 3-2 Ivy), Trinity (15-0) and Yale (12-1, 4-0 Ivy). The Trinity Bantams — the great dynasty of college squash and defending national champions — are ranked no. 1 in the nation while the Bulldogs currently hold the no. 3 ranking.

The dominating performance against Brown this past Saturday saw the Tigers competing in Jadwin Gymnasium for the first time since late November.

In this showdown as well as the matchups against Trinity and Yale, Princeton demonstrated strength at the top with junior Samuel Kang and co-captains junior Tyler Osborne and senior Dylan Ward winning three matches in the first three spots.

Osborne was injured for the contest against Penn.

Sunday saw a match against Yale that was close throughout and drew sizable crowds at every court. Princeton earned victories at spots one through three but the Bulldogs edged the home team by winning in the next five spots. Spots six through eight saw a trio of tight five-game contests that all went in the visitors’ favor.

The Tigers will look to continue their strong showings in the final two meets of the seaSee SHORTS page 5

HANNAH MILLER :: SENIOR DESIGN STAFF

Tweet of the day

‘does anyone have cross-country skis I can borrow? b/c the trek to this new neuro building is no joke.’

Alexandra Wong of the golf team, on twitter (@YouAreWong)

Tomorrow A LOOK BACK AT THE LEGENDARY 1997-1998 MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM

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