Wednesday, Feb. 5th 2014 by The Daily Princetonian

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Wednesday february 5, 2014 vol. cxxxviii no. 3

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In Opinion The editorial board discusses ways to improve SCORE, and Shruthi Deivasigamani defends artful skimming. PAGE 4

Today on Campus 8 p.m.:The Freshman Class Council will hold a s’mores and scarves study break where students can eat s’mores and buy class of 2017 scarves for $10. Frist South Lawn.

The Archives

Feb. 5, 1958 Four University seniors qualified to appear on CBS and compete in “The College Bowl,” a competition centered on general knowledge in the humanities and current events. The top prize was a $1500 scholarship fund.

On the Blog Intersections provides a motivational playlist to beat second semester blues.

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Overheard:

quote of the day

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After I’m with [politicians] for a long time, for most of them, I have to take a shower. - John Scully ‘66

News & Notes

“

Two students hospitalized during weekend of pickups

One student was taken to McCosh Health Center and another to the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro for alcohol intoxication this weekend. These hospitalizations occurred during the same weekend as some eating clubs pickups. This year’s figures, provided by the Department of Public Safety, are significantly lower than those of past years during similar weekends. In 2013, six students were taken to McCosh and four to UMCPP; five of those students were under the age of 21. In 2011, three students were taken to McCosh and eight to UMCPP, while in 2010, three students were admitted to McCosh and two to UMCPP. These numbers coincided with pickups of nonBicker clubs Cloister Inn, Colonial Club, Quadrangle Club and Terrace Club, which accept students based on a sign-in policy rather than by holding Bicker and discussions. The six Bicker clubs on campus, Cannon Dial Elm Club, Cap & Gown Club, Tiger Inn, Ivy Club, Tower Club and Cottage Club, will have pickups later this week.

No trustees donate to Christie

STUDENT LIFE

256

RCA APPLICANTS BY YEAR

(2010-2014)

252 248 244

By Jacob Donnelly staff writer

Of the 39 active members of the University’s Board of Trustees, the only contributor to either of Gov. Chris Christie’s gubernatorial campaigns has been Chris Christie himself, according to a search of public records through the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission website. Christie donated a total of $14,400 to his campaigns spread over four separate occasions. As governor, Christie serves as an ex-officio trustee. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment. However, two emeritus trustees, John Scully ’66, founder and managing director of SPO Partners & Co., and Edward Matthews ’53, President and Director of C.V. Starr & Co. Inc., donated to Christie’s campaigns. Scully donated $1,000 in 2009 and $3,800 in 2013, while Matthews made two $500 donations in 2013. Scully told The Daily Princetonian that Christie reminded him of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower and other past Republican figures. “He’s a throwback, moderate Republican, not like all of the wackos that that party has blessed us with since Bush 41 [George Bush, Sr.],” he said. Matthews did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Overall, current trustees See CHRISTIE page 2

201

2014 RCAS

ROCKY

15 RCAS 2 ARCAS

201

FORBES

201

BY RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE

BUTLER

15 RCAS 3 ARCAS

201

12 RCAS 4 ARCAS

MATHEY

12 RCAS 3 ARCAS

WILSON

15 RCAS 2 ARCAS

WHITMAN 12 RCAS 2 ARCAS

AUSTIN LEE :: ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR

99 students to become RCAs By Jasmine Wang staff writer

Approximately 40 percent of student applicants for the position of residential college adviser were offered a position this year, Associate Dean of the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students Michael Olin said. Olin noted that there will be 99 RCAs and assistant residential college advisers next year, including 52 new advisers and 47 returning advisers. Two hundred forty-seven students applied for the position this year, a slightly higher number than the 245 who applied last year. The remaining students were waitlisted or rejected depending on the individual

choices of the residential college staff members. According to Olin, Butler College accepted 12 RCAs and four ARCAs, Forbes College accepted 15 RCAs and three ARCAs, Mathey College accepted 12 RCAs and three ARCAs, Rockefeller College accepted 15 RCAs and two ARCAs, Whitman College accepted 12 RCAs and two ARCAs and Wilson College accepted 15 RCAs and two ARCAs. Although the University originally anticipated 51 acceptances, Wilson College decided to hire an additional ARCA, increasing the number to 52, Olin said. While ARCAs are not assigned to a specific advisee group, they aid RCAs with different types of programming and would po-

tentially replace any RCAs who have to leave the position, Olin explained. Olin said that the position of RCA is a demanding one, requiring individuals who succeed both as individuals and as community-builders. He added that especially given the gravity of the discussions that occur at the beginning of each year between RCAs and their ’zees, one of the most prominent qualities in an ideal RCA is a willingness to put himself out there. “They’re charged with some pretty serious conversations about alcohol, sexual assault, other important issues on our campus,” Olin said. “They have to be able to shift from facilitating a very serious conversaSee RCA RESULTS page 3

ACADEMICS

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

Class of 2018 applicant pool third highest in U. history

Director of Google Ideas discusses power of Internet

By Ruby Shao staff writer

The University received a total of 26,607 applications for the Class of 2018, the highest number it has received since the reinstatement of the single-choice early action program with the Class of 2016. The applicant pool is the third highest in the University’s history, the University said in a press release. The total number for the

Class of 2018 marks a 0.4 percent increase from the Class of 2017 and includes 3,854 applications from the early round. Prior to the decision, the number of applications had risen for seven consecutive years until reaching an alltime record of 27,189 for the Class of 2015. The Class of 2016, the first to apply under the single-choice early action program, saw a 1.7 percent decrease in applica-

FRESHMAN ONE ACTS

tions compared to the record number the previous year. The Classes of 2016 and 2017 represent, respectively, the second and fourth largest application pools in University history. “We’re really pleased with the size and the quality of the applicant pool this year,” Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said in an interview. Rapelye attributed the increase in applications to See ADMISSIONS page 4

Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas, spoke Tuesday afternoon about the new and complex challenges facing technology users and developers in the near future. Cohen began by exploring how technology shapes individual lives today and then delved into how new geopolitical issues will soon arise when an even larger portion of the world’s population attains greater access to the Internet.

Cohen began by assessing the political and strategic importance of technology. He charted technology’s evolving importance in foreign and geopolitical policy, arguing that technology must be integrated fully into every aspect of how we think about the world strategically. “Foreign policy and statecraft are basically just fancy and sophisticated ways to say troubleshooting,” Cohen said, noting that, when troubleshooting, one must make See GOOGLE page 5

Questions raised about Luminate drug staff writer

Freshmen rehearse for Theatre Intime’s Freshman One Act Festival. Look out for Street’s full review on Thursday.

senior writer

STUDENT LIFE

By Joe Sheehan

KASSANDRA LEIVA :: PRINCETONIAN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

By Warren Crandall

Hafiz Dhanani ’16, the creator of Luminate, has been accused of borrowing formulas developed by the founders of a supplement company called Natural Stacks without giving due credit. Luminate is marketed as a natural supplement that boosts concentration. Ben Hebert and Roy Krebs, the founders of Natural Stacks, said that one of their products, called CILTEP, contains the same combination of artichoke and Forskolin that Luminate does. They said that Stacks Director of Research and Development Abelard Lindsay came up with the idea of combining the two items to make CILTEP, although the product was developed in an open-source enviroment and tried by thousands of users. “It was just odd that he didn’t credit Abelard Lind-

say,” Hebert said. “He explained that it worked by increasing cAMP and using artichoke extract, and, well Abelard Lindsay is the only person to have figured that out, and by [Dhanani] trying to claim that, we kind of took offense.” Dhanani declined to comment for this story. Despite the accusations, which were first reported by the blog IvyGate, Herbert noted that they did not considered that they had intellectual property over the ingredients in their product, but that “some sort of respect was due to the creator.” While Hebert and Krebs contest the originality of Luminate, others question whether or not it works at all. Samuel Wang, associate professor of molecular biology, said he couldn’t attest to the functionality of the Luminate or the CILTEP supplement.

“The key test is whether such supplements are known to work in controlled studies in humans, where there is a matched control,” Wang said. “What I see on that [Luminate] website are general review articles and some work in rats. I do not see any human studies.” The creators of CILTEP said they didn’t have any clinical trials to back up their claims. “There have not been any clinical studies,” added Hebert, “but [CILTEP] was open-source created for about two and a half years now, so thousands of different people have tried it.” Wang went on to say he didn’t see a huge need for people to take supplements like Luminate to improve focus. “Personally, if I want a cognitive enhancer,” Wang said, “it is hard to beat currently approved drugs. Some are even over-theSee LUMINATE page 3

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The Daily Princetonian

Wednesday february 5, 2014

Scully, Matthews donate to Christie CHRISTIE Continued from page 1

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have contributed a total of $35,500 to the New Jersey Republican State Committee and local Republican county committees between 2004 and 2014, while donations to their Democratic counterparts totaled only $500. However, Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s mayoral campaigns garnered $16,500 and his 2013 senatorial campaign raised $1,500 from current trustees. Cory Booker ran for mayor of Newark in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Scully also donated to Booker’s mayoral campaign. “[Booker] and Christie are really a promising duo,” Scully said. None of the current trustees donated to the campaigns of Christie’s past Democratic challengers, Gov. Jon Corzine and state senator Barbara Buono. However, trustee donation patterns follow a different trend on the federal level. Among current trustees, donations to Democratic congressional and presidential candidates or to “victory funds” directly associated with Democratic federal-level candidates total at least $503,900 since 2004. The figure for Republican candidates amounts to at least $436,300, according to a Federal Election Commission public database. Current trustees also donated $10,100 to independent candidates. Since the FEC only displays contributions equal to or above $200, these numbers may not account for all campaign con-

tributions. Additionally, contributions to political action committees and similar structures are not included in the data. In the 2012 presidential election campaign, 99 percent of faculty and staff donations went to Barack Obama. Politics department chair Nolan McCarty suggested that selection bias plays a role in the difference between the campaign contributions of trustees and faculty. “I don’t think it’s overt discrimination against conservatives,” McCarty said. “I do think there probably is a sense in which academia is now overwhelmingly Democratic and liberal to the extent to which some conservatives don’t feel comfortable, and that presumably has an effect on career choices.” He explained that people employed in the business and finance industries might similarly come to hold more conservative or libertarian attitudes over time. Group dynamics likely help move people toward the majority ideology in their profession, McCarty said. McCarty cited both political access and a sense of personal fulfillment as reasons why individuals might give substantial amounts of money to political candidates. “Some donors are giving to get access, some kind of price of admission to be involved in politics in some way that’s close to the candidates and to the policymakers,” McCarty said. “It’s sometimes hard to know from the figures how much is just the price of admission to a fundraiser … You not only get to interact with the candidates,

but you also get to interact with all of the other donors of the candidates, creating networking opportunities that may be completely apolitical.” McCarty also noted that the people who would make the best trustees are more likely to be actively engaged in the community and thus inclined to make political contributions. Scully added that his own political contributions give him an access that he feels affects the types of ideas and discourse that policymakers take into account. Scully was optimistic about the future of the Republican Party. “I am encouraged that the Republicans seem to be moving a little bit off their chaotic, prehistoric bent, simply,” Scully explained. “[Christie] comes over very, very well with Meg Whitman types — educated, smart business people who are not radical, who … don’t want to go back to the Stone Age in terms of social policy.” Nonetheless, he said he could still end up voting for a Democratic candidate in 2016. “I think Hillary Clinton has merit — she’s proven that,” Scully noted. “I might give to both candidates if they’re good.” Scully added that political access has its drawbacks as well. “Most politicians frankly turn me off,” Scully said. “I feel after I’m with them for a long time, for most of them, I have to take a shower.” Christie and his administration were recently implicated in a scandal involving politically motivated lane closures in Fort Lee, N.J.

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The Daily Princetonian

Wednesday february 5, 2014

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Originality of RCA application process “supportive,” says Adler ’16 Luminate contested RCA RESULTS Continued from page 1

LUMINATE Continued from page 1

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counter, such as caffeine. That’s the one to beat. When someone develops a cognitive enhancer as powerful and generally safe as caffeine, that will be a multibillion-dollar drug. Of course, then it could compete with Small World Coffee.” Andy Hunt ’17, who took a sample of the supplement in the past month, said that he was instructed to take three pills of Luminate and two of

caffeine. Hunt was then asked to send Dhanani a product review later that day. “I told him how [the combination of pills] made me feel, which was that I felt like I could study better,” Hunt said, “lots of energy, which is true, but it was probably the caffeine, and he quoted my feelings but not the caffeine part.” Though Hunt said he would not buy any Luminate, his experience sampling the pills did lead him to buy caffeine pills online.

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tion to being able to run a very fun scavenger hunt, and it’s a transition that not everyone can make.” Olin noted that because the RCA position is so unique, the RCA selection process requires multiple tools, including an application and interviews, to gauge the success of applicants. The process itself started with the submission of an online application during November of last year. The application consisted of basic personal information, several standard essay questions and two letters of recommendation. After an initial screening, some students were asked for an interview. The interview selection process depended on standards similar to those of job selections, such as past academic performance, involvement in extracurricular activities and commitment and dedication to the position of RCA, among other criteria, according to Emily Adler ’16, who will serve as an RCA in Mathey College next

year. She said that the selection process was overall a positive experience. “I definitely felt supported,” Adler said of the application process. “The thing is, you work so much with your RCA core group,

“Princeton students are solid to begin with and so the applicant pool is usually very strong.” Michael olin

associate dean of undergraduate students

where the RCAs get together and talk about issues, so you want your friends to also get the position because you’d be working with them. It was a really supportive process.” Olin works with the directors of student life each year to set up the application and the timeline

for the application process. The application deadline was moved one week earlier than usual this year in order to give more time for residential colleges to review the materials, Olin said. He is not involved in the interview process, however, leaving that up to the residential colleges themselves. “Princeton students are solid to begin with and so the applicant pool is usually very strong,” Olin said, adding that the administration is spoiled with the impressive quality of the applicant pools. “It was definitely the case this year. It is unfortunate that there is a limited number of positions, and the colleges are definitely having to turn away applicants who would succeed as RCAs.” While RCA applicants have various motivations, Adler recalled that she wanted to be an RCA because of how amazing her RCA had made her first year at the University. “My best friends are from freshman year. My RCA really brought together our ’zee group,” Adler said, adding that she is looking to the year ahead with excitement. “I didn’t grow

up with little siblings — I’m the youngest — so it’s really fun playing the role of a big sister.” While the position can be appealing because it is one of the most direct ways to mentor students, especially freshmen, Ross

“My personal philosophy is that everything happens for a reason.” Ross donovan ’16

future butler rca

Donovan ’16, who will be an RCA in Butler College next year, said that it’s not the only way. “My personal philosophy is that everything happens for a reason,” Donovan said. “Not getting an RCA position means that you might get to work with freshmen in a different capacity or maybe new opportunities will open up.”

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Wednesday february 5, 2014

Applicants to other Ivies increase ADMISSIONS Continued from page 1

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We write real good.

greater University outreach. Admission officers traveled more often in groups with other schools and tried to make sure they were accessible to students by responding to requests for information as quickly as possible, she said. Rapelye explained that there has been a recent plateau in the number of high school graduates, and therefore a small jump in applications from the Class of 2017 is not surprising. Moreover, she added, the quality of the applicants matters more than the quantity. “This is a very good place for us to be,” she said. “This is not necessarily a race to get a total number. We want to make sure the students applying to Princeton are really serious about their candidacy,” she said. The current admission cycle involves a 94.3 percent increase in applicants from 10 years ago, the University said. In the past, Rapelye has

attributed the growth in the applicant pool to the University’s outreach to high school students, switch to the Common Application and use of Score Choice, which allows students to send only their best standardized test results. Among early applicants to the Class of 2018, the University accepted 714 students at a rate of 18.5 percent. Only 1.3 percent of early action applicants were rejected this year, compared to 7.9 percent for the Class of 2017 and around 23 percent for the Class of 2016, according to figures maintained by The Daily Princetonian. Ongoing problems with the Common Application from August to November caused many difficulties in submitting application materials, and the admission office rejected fewer early applicants to ensure that candidates received fair treatment, she explained. “We always make our own decisions. We always make it in the best interest of the students. And I think most stu-

dents would prefer to be deferred and considered again than to be refused on the first pass,” Rapelye said. The admission staff will reevaluate the files of deferred applicants and adjust to the workload as it does every year, she added. Several other Ivy League schools have also reported greater numbers of applications. Yale recieved a record 30,922 applications, a 3.8 percent increase over its previous record with the Class of 2017. The University of Pennsylvania received a record 35,788 applications in a 14.4 percent jump from last year. Brown received its second largest applicant pool in history, a slight increase from the previous cycle. Harvard, which also reinstated its early action program in 2012, saw a 1.9 percent drop in the number of applications for a total of 34,295. Dartmouth, Columbia and Cornell have not yet released application numbers. Admission decisions will be announced on March 27.

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The Daily Princetonian

Wednesday february 5, 2014

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Cohen discusses issues of censorship, leaks GOOGLE Continued from page 1

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sure to use the sophisticated tools at one’s disposal, which in this case would be technology. Technology is essential to a modern worldview, Cohen argued, because of its vast and rapidly increasing reach. He noted that more than two billion people have access to the Internet and that over 100 hours of YouTube footage is uploaded every minute. Cohen added, however, that the facts and figures he shared couldn’t illustrate why the increasingly widespread reach of such technology was important, especially on an individual level. To demonstrate such an individual importance, Cohen turned to numerous stories of personal empowerment through technology. Most of his stories of technological empowerment centered on developing countries like Mexico and Afghanistan. One narrative involved Libyan girls who used Google Maps to chart out conflictfree routes to attend school safely during the Libyan Civil War. Cohen told the story of one woman in Pakistan whom the Taliban had punished by burning off her skin with acid and who ultimately married a man she met online — the Internet had provided her with opportunity beyond her burned skin. Cohen took from these stories a theme of individual empowerment and innovation. His argument was that, just as in the stories he told, people do more with less and that necessity drives innovation. “Countries that are impoverished … are the ones where people are going to do the most interesting things with technology,” he explained. Having discussed the impact of technology on the individual in the present, Cohen progressed to talk about

what future issues would arise as technology continued to permeate the world’s population. He noted that currently only a fraction of the global society has real access to technology and added that with up to five billion new technology users primed to connect in the future, new problems would arise for technology users, developers and other concerned parties such as governments. Cohen especially focused on the impact of technology’s increasing accessibility in many volatile, developing environments, arguing that technology in these areas would cause challenges very different from the ones confronting the more industrialized users who make up the majority of technology users today. Of these new and evolving challenges and problems, Cohen identified numerous future “big disruptions,” including issues of reputation, revolution, information leaks, censorship and terrorism. The same motivations that drive sectarian violence, ethnic discrimination and other such forms of intolerance also exist in the online world in forms such as cyberbullying, Cohen noted, adding that the barrier to entry for engaging in such online actions is much lower. Cohen argued that, as consequences are muted by the anonymity of the Internet, more people would be willing to engage in discriminatory and harmful activities. On the topic of revolutions in the coming years, Cohen said “they will be easier to start, [will] happen faster and will be much harder to finish,” citing the recent Arab Spring as evidence. He stated that technology created a crisis of leadership by accelerating the pace of revolutionary movement making, which in turn made becoming a truly established, credible leader much less possible.

Cohen also touched on the future of information leaks such as those by Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. To this end, he predicted that leaking would only increase in frequency, as technology has allowed people like Snowden to leak in bulk, make information drops from remote locations and publish the information independently of any media outlet. “We will be operating in a world where keeping secrets is far more difficult,” Cohen said. With regard to censorship, Cohen said he worried that developing countries with autocratic leadership would use new technology to restrict key tools such as the Internet. Although he fretted about “groups banding together to create collective editing of the Internet,” he also noted that technological capabilities to combat censorship are rapidly evolving. Cohen concluded his remarks by discussing education, saying the Wilson School should assume a leadership role in attempting to hybridize the social sciences and their more technical scientific counterparts. He added that despite the relatively gloomy job statistics undergraduates face today, there is no better time to graduate than now. In his view, because this wave of graduates will be the first to have technology integrated into their lives from start to finish, every student is going to intuitively know more about technology than their employers, a comparative advantage for new graduates. “I would kill to graduate at the time kids are graduating today,” Cohen said. Cohen’s lecture, entitled “The World in 2020: Technology, Geopolitics, and the Next Disruptions,” took place in Dodds Auditorium and was sponsored by the Wilson School.

CORRECTION Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of the Feb. 4 “USG members look back on first term” said the first USG meeting of the semester will be this Sunday. The first meeting will be on Feb. 16. Due to an editing error, an earlier version of the same article article misstated Elan Kugelmass’ title in the USG. He is U-council chair, not U-councilor chair. The ‘Prince’ regrets the errors.

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Shruthi Deivasigamani

Opinion

Wednesday february 5, 2014

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

columnist

On skimming

n her October 9 column “Skip the skimming,” Prianka Misra wrote about the increasingly prevalent phenomenon in humanities classes at Princeton to assign reading that far exceeds what is humanly possible for a student to complete. The Daily Princetonian’s editorial board later agreed. Misra wrote that course syllabi that proudly flaunt 200-300 pages of reading per week “beg for insincerity.” While it is certainly true that several hundred pages is a lot of reading — probably more than a student can feasibly do for a single class on top of other coursework, extracurricular obligations and sleep — I don’t believe we should be so quick to dismiss the idea of skimming. Skimming isn’t a mark of insincerity. Rather, it shows a strong ability to prioritize. Skimming doesn’t impart a superficial understanding of a topic. It imparts the most important facts, because it’s hardly ever the tiny details that make or break your understanding of a topic. The things you learn in college aren’t limited to the things you stay up late studying, such as the exact mechanism of a gene inversion or the deeper theory behind Nietzsche’s later work. You also build a work ethic and learn habits that help you succeed in a more

“Skimming is a necessity in virtually any profession that you could end up pursuing.” shruthi Deivasigamani,

EDITORIAL

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Improve SCORE

uring their four years of study, every Princeton undergraduate becomes familiar with SCORE, the University’s Student Course Online Registration Engine. The Editorial Board believes that given SCORE’s essential functions, such as enrolling in classes and accessing transcripts, it is currently subject to a variety of shortcomings and inconveniences that interfere with its efficiency and utility for student users. SCORE serves key functions including updating personal information such as emergency contact numbers, processing payroll data and enrolling in and changing courses. Accessing the system is necessary to see anything from distribution requirements and degree progress reports to information about academic advisers. The capacities of this engine have even recently been upgraded by installing an earlier direct selection of precepts through the system. While SCORE has the content and potential of a powerful tool, it is restricted by certain factors, beginning with its availability. This engine has operating times that limit student access. It is unavailable every morning from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m., except on Wednesdays when the window is extended further to 8 a.m. The Board recognizes that the shutdowns are likely due to maintenance or security needs but that these functions should not require daily inconvenience. SCORE

columnist

general sense than just passing an exam. Learning to skim helps you survive in college, but will also absolutely carry over to the real world. Skimming is a necessity in virtually any profession that you could end up pursuing in the future. Lawyers need to be able to skim their case files, gleaning the essentials in documents that they perhaps don’t have the time to prioritize. Doctors need to be able to skim literature when they’re trying to diagnose a patient, as meticulously reading through a whole library of case studies is a waste of valuable time. Furthermore, Princeton has long been working on a way to standardize policies across departments. The most infamous example of this is the grade deflation policy, which was put in place in part to keep some majors from being significantly “easier” than others. No one could argue that humanities at Princeton are easy, namely because they assign so much reading. In my opinion, the amount of reading assigned is in part to match the level of time commitment required by science and math students. Take a simple example. CHM 303/304: Organic Chemistry has two 80-minute lectures a week, in addition to a three-hour lab and a 50-minute precept. This comes out to a total of six and a half hours. A representative history class — HIS 361: The United States Since 1974, for instance — has two 50-minute lectures and a 50-minute precept, which adds up to two and a half hours of class time. Keep in mind that this is just raw class time. Science problem sets are notoriously intensive, with time commitments as high as 12 hours per week in some courses. Science majors usually take two or three such classes at a time. For a humanities class to be roughly the same time investment as the average science class, it would require an additional seven hours of homework, outside of class time. If the average college student can read 40 pages in an hour, it just about evens everything out. Now, there are obviously many simplifications in this example. It’s not that class times should be extended unnecessarily to even things out across departments. And this does not in any way speak to the difficulty of the material being taught, either. A philosophy class can be just as challenging as one in the biology department. But in terms of how many concrete hours per week a student has to devote to a certain class, heaps of reading is one of the most obvious ways to even out the interdepartmental playing field. It’s very true that the workload measured in pages is sometimes downright egregious in certain classes offered here. But the time commitment asked of students enrolled in these classes isn’t any more than what is asked of students in other departments, who cordon off three-hour blocks of time for labs and problem sets. Beyond that, adapting to change is one of the points of coming to college. In the end, you come to college knowing that you’ll be challenged more than you were in high school. Skimming is an incredibly important tool with a great measure of practical use for the future. Shruthi Deivasigamani is a sophmore from Cresskill, N.J. She can be reached at shruthid@princeton.edu.

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also only has certain functions, such as course registration, open during very specific and usually limited times. The Board sees the restricted window for course registration as particularly incapacitating, especially since it closes over winter, Intersession and summer breaks. Many students are still modifying and altering their class selections during the break time leading up to the beginning of classes and cannot effect the decisions they are considering. Students are also left out of external developments such as messages from professors, precept openings and syllabus announcements that could greatly affect the compatibility of their schedules. While these restrictions are a burden, logging on is a more fundamental issue. The log-in procedure for the SCORE system is notoriously fallible and often shuts down log-in attempts brusquely and for no reason. At times, students are immediately excluded from the system on the first try and, in spite of repeated careful attempts, are still denied access. Occasionally, there is no remedy other than the great trouble of changing passwords. The suggested alternative of changing Internet browser is similarly erratic and inconsistent. Even during the limited time SCORE is open and available, full access is not a guarantee. Even once log-in is achieved, most of the useful information is oddly organized and poorly

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presented in the user interface. The links are small, unclear and often hidden. Finding desired information on SCORE requires much trial and error, and there are some sections so remote that few people even know they exist. Useful information such as automatically calculated GPA and quintile ranking is available but unknown to many students because of its inaccessibility. The Editorial Board believes that the University, particularly through the Office of Information Technology and Office of the Registrar, should make efforts to improve these complications and improve the quality of SCORE. The varied difficulties found in availability, accessibility and interface limit students’ ability to complete academic and enrollment functions and utilize the information on SCORE for their academic success. Integrating SCORE log-in into the Central Authentication Service could perhaps mitigate log-in problems. Another improvement could be to create an integrated system for all student information. While SCORE contains many vital functions and information, much other class information is housed on the Blackboard system. While there are further complications to integrating the separate systems, the Board sees improving SCORE as the beginning of many possibilities to better serve the student community through improved online resources.

pretend time

alexis foster ’17

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Rethinking Intersession Barbara Zhan

columnist

his past week, I visited my friend at MIT during the school’s Independent Activities Period, a monthlong term that spans from the beginning to the end of January, somewhat parallel to Princeton’s Intersession. During this time, students can “organize, sponsor and participate in a wide variety of activities, including how-to sessions, forums, athletic endeavors, lecture series, films, tours, recitals and contests.” There were informal classes on figure skating, cooking, research methodology, etc. There were also formal, credited classes for certain subjects, including many pass/fail only classes. Some students also chose to take on winter internships, gaining perspective and experience that ultimately helped them decide upon or obtain summer opportunities in similar fields. Many students participated in the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, a career services program with company seminars and leadership classes, which has a near 100 percent success rate for matching its students with internships. Although Princeton’s Intersession is a break I fully support, especially following the end of stressful finals, I think Intersession could

benefit from a stronger sense of direction and purpose. Many people don’t go home during Intersession because it’s right after winter break, and yet there aren’t many activities to do on campus. This year’s pilot Wintersession program, organized by the USG, was created in order to “build a community on campus during a time that is ‘unaddressed’ by the University administration,” U-Councilor Azza Cohen ’16 explained. The program met massive demand, counting over a thousand registered students, showing that students want to participate in organized activities during Intersession. According to U-Councilor Laura Du ’14, the top Intersession courses were the Excel Workshop, the My Money Workshop, Scientific Computing in Python, Effective Public Speaking and Intro to Cooking. The popularity of these courses demonstrates students’ interest in building practical skills and pursuing personal enrichment. Perhaps if the University formally acknowledged Wintersession as a part of Intersession break, the program could expand its membership and the number of courses available. Additionally, recreational activities offered during the school year are discontinued during Intersession, which detracts from the assumed purpose of providing

a fun break to students after finals. Intersession could definitely benefit from USG movies, Broadway trips, skate nights and other activities that usually fall on school nights. These activities, if anything, should be offered more frequently during Intersession because there is more free time available than during the academic year. Intersession could also benefit from offering credited courses, although that would be more difficult considering the rather short time frame of a week. However, given the number of distribution requirements that students must satisfy and the number of interesting courses that Princeton offers, I think students would greatly benefit from having an extra pocket of time to fulfill those requirements and explore off-major courses. In particular, pass/D/fail-only courses could be feasibly condensed into a shorter time period in a way that lab classes and lecture and precept classes cannot. Winter internships would be another activity the University could formally acknowledge as a part of Intersession. Although Princeternships, alumni-based shadowing externships allowing for career exploration, are an option during Intersession, many companies such as Jane Street and

Google offer full winter internships. Intersession would be a good time to pursue those internship opportunities, leaving winter break as a time to relax and go home. This way, students can gain experience to contribute to their summer internship search, before applications close. They can also decide what direction to choose for their summer internships, which is longer and more intensive. While IAP at MIT is definitively for pursuing out-of-class academic endeavors, professional opportunities and recreational activities, Intersession does not have that level of structure. Regardless of whether Intersession should be extended or not, it is clear that students want more direction and purpose during this time period. Intersession is a great time to relax after finals, but that goal is already fulfilled by not having class or academic responsibilities. Offering more activities during Intersession would be a great way to fulfill students’ interests in educating and improving themselves. Although some students may still prefer to use Intersession as an opportunity to just relax, it would be nice to have the option to do something else. Barbara Zhan is an Operations Research and Financial Engineering major from Plainsboro, N.J. She can be

The Daily Princetonian

Wednesday february 5, 2014

page 7

Team from 16 years ago reached eighth in AP Poll, went undefeated in conference M. BBALL Continued from page 8

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their stroke. One of the duo led Princeton in scoring in 11 of the 14 league games, often going 1-2 and piling on rebounds and assists. The team won games by scores such as 69-38, 71-39, 76-48, 78-48 and 74-53 while progressing to number eight in the AP poll. The final Ivy League matchup was against hated rival Penn at the Palestra. Though the Ivy League title and an NCAA berth were already wrapped up, a loss could have had a serious impact on Princeton’s tournament seed. There was plenty of talk in the national media that the Tigers didn’t deserve their number eight ranking or a high tournament seed since they had not beaten a team that remained ranked throughout the season. The first half went as planned, with Princeton draining nine threes and outshooting the Quakers by more than 20 percent. Penn then went on a tear, making up an 18-point deficit with a 42-point second half, by far the most points Princeton allowed in a half all season. The Tigers survived an open look at

the buzzer and won the game in overtime, 78-72. Goodrich’s 33 points saved the day and set a season best for points in a game. At last it was tournament time. Princeton drew the number five seed in the East region, the highest ever seed for an Ivy League team, but still quite low for the eighth ranked squad in the country. They came in with a school record 26 wins and faced a UNLV team riding a six-game win streak having just won the WAC conference tournament. The Runnin’ Rebels led most of the first half, but the trio of Earl, Henderson and Lewullis ripped off 20 straight points in eight minutes to go into the half up 35-22. They survived a UNLV run that shrunk the margin to five, but Princeton made its free throws down the stretch and took care of the ball to earn a 69-57 victory, setting a program best with its 20th straight victory. “It was a big win for us and a big win for the program,” James Mastaglio ’98 said in the locker room afterward. “I’m sure there were millions of people who didn’t think we should be ranked eighth in the country and didn’t think we should be a five seed. It was a huge win

for us, especially because of the way that we did it. I think we surprised a lot of people who were sitting at home watching tonight.” The second round matchup was against a powerful Michigan State team that won the Big Ten regular season title and ranked 12th in the country. Princeton came out of the gate slowly, missing its first four shots and falling into a 10-0 hole. But just as they did against UNLV, the Tigers went on a run to tie the game at 15, eight minutes in. The two teams played a back and forth game the rest of the half and went into the locker room with the Spartans ahead 33-31. Things started to unravel for Princeton in the second half in a way they had not all season. The Tigers shot 9-23 in the second half and a pitiful 4-11 from the line, including the front end of four one and ones. Coach Carmody ripped off his blazer in frustration as several Tigers missed key layups down the stretch. The only thing keeping them in the game was Michigan State’s 22 turnovers, which kept the Spartans to just 14 shots in the second half. But they made eight of them and shot 13-17 from the line to stay in front. Despite

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all this, Princeton managed to tie the game at 54 with two minutes to play. The final possessions are forever etched in the memories of the players and fans who bore witness to them. Mastaglio managed to free himself right under the basket, but Goodrich did not see him in time and Princeton settled for a three, which missed as the shot clock expired. Up two, the Spartans wasted away the shot clock before their guard Mateen Cleaves, a second team All-American and future national champion, nailed a three to ice the game. A few Spartan free throws and one Princeton bucket brought the game to its final score, 6356. The scene afterwards was one of heartbreak, as the dream season had come to an end with a game the Princeton players thought they should have won. The much anticipated and nationally hyped Sweet 16 rematch with North Carolina was not to be. “This season, at some point, I’ll remember how great it was,” Lewullis said. “But right now, I don’t feel too good.” What truly made things heartbreaking was the realization that this team represented

a perfect alignment of the stars, a combination of players so perfectly skilled and complementary that it might not appear again for decades. Walters called this group the program’s best ever, above even the Final Four team he played on in 1965. The entire starting five earned some sort of All-Ivy honor. Goodrich and Lewullis were named to the first team, while Earl and Henderson were named to the second team and Mastaglio earned honorable mention. Goodrich also picked up Ivy League Player of the Year and was named an honorable mention AP All-American before eventually playing in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls and New Jersey Nets. Earl, Henderson and Mastaglio all briefly played professionally in Europe before getting into coaching. The team left its mark on the team and NCAA record books. It has the most wins in a season in school history as well as a tie for the fewest losses. Its 20game win streak is also a school record, as are the 265 made and 681 attempted three-pointers. It ranked among the top few teams in the country in both offensive and defensive efficiency. It was second in scoring margin per

hundred possessions at +25.9. It led the nation in scoring defense for the tenth time in a row at 51.6 points per game. It also shot well, as evidenced by the number one rank in points per field goal attempt at 1.194. Of course the players took care of the ball and had great teamwork, leading to a then-NCAA record 1.665 assists per turnover. But no number can capture the magic that the ’97-’98 team brought to the campus, the league and even the nation. Every time a great Ivy League team comes along, people are fascinated with a group of non-scholarship, less athletic, often nerdy kids going toe to toe against teams laden with NBA-caliber talent. They think it’s a “throwback” and that it’s “refreshing” to see a team that can win with teamwork, strategy and precision. There have been ranked Ivy League schools since and teams that made deeper tournament runs, but none have accomplished the regular season success of this team. It’s in the debate for greatest Ivy League team ever, despite lacking the postseason success of the older teams, mostly due to the more modern professionalized era in which they played.

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Sports

Wednesday february 5, 2014

page 8

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } A BUMP IN THE ROAD?

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Remembering the 1997-1998 Tigers By Eddie Owens associate sports editor

This is the first in a series of articles recounting the feats of great Princeton teams from a variety of sports.

SHANNON MCGUE :: FILE PHOTO

Princeton men’s basketball is off to its worst Ivy League start since 2007, having lost a doubleheader this weekend

Third Eye Blind’s November 1997 hit asked the question, “How’s it Going to Be?” which is asked every fall by college basketball fans nationwide, but particularly by Princeton supporters that year. The ’97-’98 version of the Tigers returned five of its top six scorers from a team that went 24-4, undefeated in Ivy League play, and nearly upset fifth seeded Cal in the NCAA tournament. Led by second year head coach Bill Carmody, Princeton started five upperclassmen who had all played in the team’s legendary upset of UCLA two years earlier. The season clearly had sky-high potential, but would it rank among the program’s best? Center Steve Goodrich ’98 captained the squad along with point guard and current head coach Mitch Henderson ’98, while forward Gabe Lewullis ’99 led the team in scoring and rebounding. Shooting guard and current assistant coach Brian Earl ’99 was the third leading scorer, and forward Jamie Mastaglio ’98 was the third leading rebounder. That lineup started every game and would play nearly every minute of every close matchup. The team used a Princeton offense that required

selflessness and perfect synchronization. They shot more threes than in previous years, but the ball movement and slow pace were still trademarks. Athletic director Gary Walters said the group played “with the greatest artistry of any team I’ve seen here.” Artistry is indeed a good way to describe the way Henderson nonchalantly threw bounce passes with one hand, or Goodrich floated hook shots over defenders like Lew Alcindor. The season opened with the Coaches vs. Cancer classic at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. The first opponent was 20th ranked Texas, who jumped out to an early five-point lead with four threes on seven attempts in the first 10 minutes. Princeton rallied after the break with four threes of its own during a 16-6 run. It hung on to win 62-56 as all the starters but Henderson reached double digits. The Tigers won the championship game 38-36 the next night versus NC State, scoring their fewest points in a game all season. Earl led the way with 15 points. The team won five games over the next month and earned its first AP ranking in seven years ahead of the much anticipated matchup at second ranked North Carolina. The Tar Heels featured future NBA stars Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison and would go on to reach the Final Four. Despite shooting just 4-26 from three and allowing

nearly 50 percent shooting, the Tigers led 35-33 with 8:20 left in front of a sellout crowd of 21,500 at the Smith Center. But UNC rattled off eight straight points and avoided a massive upset, 50-42. Henderson, always at home in big games, scored a team high 14 points. Princeton was afforded no time to wallow in defeat as six days later they squared off against 23rd ranked Wake Forest in the Jimmy V. Classic at the Continental Airlines Arena. Led by Earl’s 18 points and Henderson’s nine assists, the Tigers downed the Demon Deacons 69-64. In typical Princeton fashion, they won the turnover battle 15-8, dished out nearly twice as many assists and were outrebounded 35-23. Continuing its grueling out of conference schedule, the team returned to action in the ECAC Holiday Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Perhaps nursing a Christmas hangover, the now 18th ranked Tigers escaped with two single-digit victories against unheralded Drexel and Niagara squads. They would be the last singledigit games against Division I opponents for the next two months. The only team to give Princeton a run for its money was Division III TCNJ, whom the Tigers fended off 59-50 coming off their break for finals. From there, it was smooth sailing through Ivy League play as Lewullis and Goodrich found See M. BBALL page 7

THE

AROUND I V I E S

The Ivy League saw a power shift this past weekend as Princeton suffered a pair of major losses on the road at Harvard and Dartmouth. After two weeks of conference play, here’s how the Ancient Eight stack up:

Harvard (17-3 overall, 4-0 Ivy League): Reigning league champions for three years running, the Crimson is off to a hot start in pursuit of a fourpeat. On average it has outscored opponents by 11.5 points per game. Guard Wesley Saunders, a first team all-Ivy selection last year, dropped a monstrous 24 points on 13 shots against Princeton. The most complete squad of the Ivies, it will look to move toward a title and NCAA tournament berth in this weekend’s

Brown (11-7, 3-1): This defensively strong team leads the league in rebounding and sports a talented guard in Steven Speith. Speith won the past weekend’s Rookie of the Week honors thanks in part to a lights-out shooting performance against Cornell (5-5 FG, 8-9 FT). The Bears split their series against Yale and comfortably overcame Cornell and Columbia, but will face their biggest challenge yet this Friday against the red hot Crimson in Cambridge.

Yale (9-9, 3-1): Forward Justin Sears headlines an offense which ranks next to last in the league in scoring. The co-player of the week put up 22 points and managed eight rebounds against Columbia. Having won all three of their home games, the Bulldogs will go on the road to face Dartmouth and Harvard. Dartmouth (9-9, 2-2): Historically lurking at the bottom of the conference table, the Big Green injected some life into the program with a pair of home wins over Penn and Princeton. Co-player of the week forward John Golden managed 15 and 19 points against the Quakers and Tigers, respectively. He and his team will try to continue the impressive home stand this weekend against Yale and Brown, but will face an uphill battle against two strong teams.

Columbia (13-8, 2-2): The Lions boast the league’s second-best average scoring margin and entered last weekend with a six-game winning streak. In Morningside Heights’ Levien Gymnasium, Columbia has managed to keep opponents scoring totals down and limit shooting efficiency. However, as shown in the past weekend’s losses at Yale and Brown, the team’s high shot efficiency may not be enough to contend with the league’s best.

Princeton (12-5, 0-3): Despite a trio of disappointing Ivy League outings, there is still plenty of time left for the Tigers to make positive strides. Sophomore forward Hans Brase remains one of the league’s best offensive forwards. Senior guard TJ Bray has also managed to keep up his high level of scoring efficiency. However, the offense — a prolific unit earlier in the season — was unable to overcome deficits in close games at Penn, Harvard and Dartmouth. These three contests revealed a need for a defensive regrouping, if the Orange and Black hope to find themselves near the top of the table by season’s end. A total collapse by Harvard would also be helpful.

6. 7. 8. Tweet of the Day

‘Sprint Football making moves. I’m with it’ Caraun Reid, Defensive Lineman for the Football team on Twitter (@ChopReid), on the Sprint Football Head Coach hire

University of Pennsylvania (4-13, 1-2): The Quakers lost big this past weekend at Dartmouth and Harvard. Despite their upset of a heavily favored Princeton team, it is unlikely that this Penn team has the talent to hang with the league’s best teams. They have managed to lead the league in assists with 15.5 per game. Cornell (1-17, 0-4): Four consecutive Ivy League losses were not at all what the Big Red needed, having only beaten Division III Oberlin College this season. Statistics place it near or at the bottom of the league in nearly every category. It is unlikely the team will pose much

Trivia

Olympians

Who are the two Olympians currently enrolled at Princeton?