The Daily Princetonian: First-Year 2022 Issue

August 2022 vol. CXLVI no. 13 First Year Issue Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998 www. dailyprincetonian .com{ } Twitter: @princetonian Facebook: The Daily Princetonian YouTube: The Daily Princetonian Instagram: @dailyprincetonian Welcome to First-YearPrincetonIssue

Letter from the

page 2 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

Marie-Rose Sheinerman is the 146th Editor in Chief of the ‘Prince’; she can be reached at eic@dailyprinc etonian.com.

Editor

College is the perfect time to reach outside your comfort zone and explore a new side of your self, or so we’re all told. I took that advice to heart during my first week on campus. With no experience at all, I decided to audition for two improv comedy groups on campus — and was promptly rejected. Sophomore year, I vied for a spot in an exclusive eating club, applied for a prestigious creative non-fiction course, and aspired to co-lead the news section of The Daily Princetonian — and got rejected each time. And no matter how much I denied it at the time, all three rejections stung. It feels counterintuitive to introduce myself, your community paper’s editor-in-chief, with the moments I’ve failed on this campus. But the truth is that you’ll have plenty of opportunities to feel surrounded by success from the moment you step on campus as newly-minted Princeto nians. We attend a university that has six affiliates among last year’s Nobel laureates, boasts a third of the U.S. Supreme Court among its alumni, and accepts 3.98 percent of applicants (or at least it did for the Class of 2025, when those rates were last disclosed.)

Marie-Rose Sheinerman Editor-In-Chief

It has taken me time to understand that growth — the vital academic, personal, and social growth that college years afford — comes from your successes, sure, but perhaps even more so from the times you fall short of your own goals. As an assistant opinion editor, Audrey Chau, argues in these pages, “Princeton students, who are often defined by their successes, need to fail early and fail often.” For my part, I will never regret the times when I reached for new opportunities and failed. Because that very act of reaching brought me success as well, though perhaps not the kind I en visioned in the moment. I’ve found an authentic community on campus, friends who push me to be the best version of myself, and an organization through which I feel I can make meaning. We at The Daily Princetonian try to reflect the humanity in our community. Like everyone else, we don’t always succeed, but at our best we can reflect the stories of students just like you and me: students navigating the task of building this temporary home, fighting to bring their full selves to the communities they love, and pushing for a campus that strives each day to live up to the ideals it professes. As an independent, student-run newspaper, our staff is you: future engineers and artists, economists and biologists, aspiring athletes and architects. This fall, I urge you to come join us: Apply to our staff, submit tips, send guest op-eds and letters. Or don’t. More importantly, challenge yourself at least once in your first few weeks to fail: If you succeed at that, this campus will be the better for it.

/ THE

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Staff News Writer Sullivan Meyer contributed reporting to this piece.

“The broader right to pri vacy as discussed in those cases does not involve the critical moral question posed by Roe and Casey,” Buck wrote, pointing to the majority opinion’s assur ance about other rights. Rep. Terri Sewell ’86 (DAla.), Sen. Jeff Merkley GS ’82 (D-Ore.), and Sen. Ted Cruz ’92 (R-Texas.) did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.SomePrinceton alumni in power have spoken pub licly on reproductive rights over the course of the past months, including at a Re unions panel dedicated to “Civil Rights in America.” At the May 20 panel, Antho ny Romero ’87, the execu tive director of the Ameri can Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), warned of a postRoe“I’mAmerica.notgoing to sugar coat what’s in front of us,” Romero said at the panel. “The fall of Roe v. Wade will be the center of the house of cards collapsing, where most of the rights and lib erties I spent my whole life fighting for are in peril.” The ACLU director said that while he “respect[s] and honor[s]” the wide diversity of opinion on the issue of abortion itself, there’s a line in the sand with Alito’s then-leaked draft opinion. “I usually show respect for the Supreme Court and its Justices, because that is the way I was raised,” Rome ro said. “Except it’s very hard to read that opinion and have any modicum of respect at all.” In an interview with the ‘Prince’ following the fo rum, Romero discussed the implications of the draft resolution on Princeton students and the role the University should play in helping students navigate abortion services.

Princeton professors, alumni react to SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade

In a majority opinion penned by University alum nus Justice Samuel Alito ’72, the U.S. Supreme Court held June 24 that the Constitu tion does not protect a right to an abortion, overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. As news broke, many Princ eton community members joined in the chorus of re productive rights activists protesting the ruling across the nation, while some con servative alumni and pro fessors lauded the decision. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organiza tion ruling, which upheld a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks in a 5-3-1 decision, falls largely in line with expectations based on a draft majority opinion leaked to Politico in early May. The decision will limit or eliminate abortion rights in at least 22 states. Two University alum ni, Sonia Sotomayor ’76 and Elena Kagan ’81, were among the three liberal jus tices who dissented from theAfterdecision.theleak on May 2, as many students and alumni rallied against the deci sion and condemned Alito as its architect, The Daily Princetonian spoke with University alumni serving in Congress, as well as pro fessors in the history and politics departments and the School of Public and In ternational Affairs (SPIA). Now, in the wake of the de cision and with abortion al ready illegal in five states, many of those same com munity members are speak ingAboutout. six hours follow ing the release of the deci sion on June 24, the Univer sity released a message to the undergraduate student body in reference to the court’sAfterdecision.reviewing the rul ing, University officials ex pressed confidence in the school’s ability to provide unchanged healthcare and benefits for students in New Jersey. The University is still assessing how the ruling will affect students outside of New Jersey and will provide information at a laterUndertime.the Freedom of Re productive Choice Act in New Jersey, “every individ ual present in the state with the right to choose or refuse contraception or steriliza tion, and to choose wheth er to carry a pregnancy, to give birth, or to terminate a pregnancy,” the University statement said. New Jer sey codified reproductive rights, including the right to an abortion, into state law in January 2022. The University also con firmed that student access through the University’s health plan to abortions and contraceptives will be covered in accordance with state law.

“I worry more about the students who come from the states that will outlaw abortion,” he said, “and so access to those services when they’re back home or on summer break or winter break will be something the University is going to have to help them think through, providing financial assis tance, and the ability to come back and consult with doctors and medical profes sionals here.” For Romero, the need for student activism on this is sue is more prescient than ever.“Long term, there has to be a political solution to this cataclysm of the Su preme Court,” he told the ‘Prince’ at the time. “It’s not through the courts any more, it’s through political activism, political mobili zation.”Students with questions about University health care coverage as it pertains to reproductive healthcare should reach out to Univer sity Health Services (UHS) at (609) 258-3141.

Many professors speak out against ruling, say the decision puts other rights in jeopardy Stanley Katz, a professor emeritus in SPIA, told the ‘Prince’ that the decision should come as “no sur prise.”“The decision is clear, and it takes us back to 1972, when those of us who fa vored the idea of a woman’s right to choose abortion were fighting in state legis latures for statutes to create such rights,” wrote Katz, a decorated scholar of Ameri can legal history. “It wasn’t easy then and it will not be easyKatznow.”said that the Dobbs decision appears particu larly hypocritical and in consistent to him in light of the high court’s ruling the day prior, when it struck down a New York law that limited the right to carry guns in public places. “Yesterday we were told by Justice Thomas that the states had no right to limit undoubted constitutional rights, since the US Su premes could set the rules,” Katz said. “Today we are told that ‘undoubted’ con stitutional rights can be terminated at will by the US Supremes, and that we should look to the states if we want to protect such as serted rights.” In Katz’s view, the court has failed to “play its appro priate role” as a democratic institution, and instead is exercising “brute judicial power.”“This is yet another ex ample of how the anti-ma joritarian bias of the 1787 constitution has made it possible for a minority to rule at the national level,” heMartinwrote. Flaherty, a visit ing professor at SPIA, called the court’s reasoning weak with regard to substantive due process analysis, and criticized it for giving “no serious consideration of al ternative bases of a woman’s right to choose, including the Equal Protection Clause and the Privileges or Immu nities“ThisClause.”radical step comes from a Court of question able legitimacy,” wrote Fla herty, who studies the role of history in American con stitutional interpretation. “Two Justices, Gorsuch and Coney Barrett, were selected in a manner that abandoned established norms concern ing the confirmation of Su preme Court Justices.” The ruling signals to Fla herty that there are “very dark days ahead” — espe cially as concerns other, re lated“Therights.Court stated that its decision is limited to the right to cho[o]se, and not to unenumerated rights in general,” he said in an email to the ‘Prince.’ “But given the boldness of today’s ac tion, it is hard to believe that the five justices repre sented in the Alito opinion will not restrict related sub stantive Due Process rights such as contraceptives, to sex between persons of the same gender, or same-sex marriage.”Invarious statements posted on Instagram, SPIA faculty weighed in on what the decision means, with many echoing Flaherty’s concern about what the rul ing could herald for rights beyond reproduction. “In taking the position that abortion does not have a long enough history to merit protection from the Court, the dissenters may prove prescient in their pre diction: ‘all rights that have no history stretching back to the mid-19th century are insecure,’” wrote Sarah L. Staszak, a lecturer in SPIA whose research concerns American legal systems and the Civil Rights era. In his concurrence, Jus tice Clarence Thomas spe cifically pointed to cases that concern the right to privacy, writing that “in future cases, we should re consider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” The concur rence stands in contrast to the majority opinion, which stated that “nothing in this opinion should be under stood to cast doubt on prec edents that do not concern abortion.”Similarly to Flaherty and Staszak, politics professor Paul Frymer, who serves as the director of the Program in Law and Public Affairs, argued that a wide pletho ra of rights are now on the line.“Other major tenets of the ‘rights revolution’ era will also be threatened, from in dividual privacy rights that include sexuality and mar riage, to Equal Protection Rights that include issues such as affirmative action (a matter that will be brought before this Court next year), and voting rights,” Frymer wrote.Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Eliza beth Levy Paluck discussed the court’s response to “the fact that the majority of this country supports legalized access to abortion.” Recent polling has shown 61 per cent of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. “Now, public reactions to the overturning of Roe will make it crystal clear: the Court has disregarded the preferences of the majority of people across the coun try,” she Elizabethwrote.Mitchell Arm strong, a sociology profes sor who studies the sociol ogy of reproduction, wrote that “the best guarantor of fetal health and wellbeing is maternal health and well being.”Atleast one faculty mem ber at the University spoke publicly of the ruling in a positiveMcCormicklight. Professor of Jurisprudence Robert P. George, a renowned con servative, wrote on Twit ter addressing “pro-life” friends. George encouraged his followers to “not exult over those of our fellow cit izens--good people who are sincerely concerned about women’s welfare--who see the demise of Roe as a di saster.”History professor Julian Zelizer, an expert of late 20th-century American his tory, put the ruling in his torical“Conservativescontext. have been playing the long game since the 1980s with respects to reproductive rights,” he wrote on Twitter. “Today SCOTUS delivered the rul ing they have been waiting for.” Alumni in politics’ views on court’s decision fall along partisan lines For alumni serving in Congress and those active in political organizations, views on the Dobbs rul ing largely fell along par ty lines: While Democrats expressed outrage, Repub licans celebrated the deci sion.Rep. John Sarbanes ’84 (D-Md.) said in a statement that a “crisis of legitimacy” has now engulfed the high court.“Today, the extremist Supreme Court majority struck down the constitu tional right to abortion — and with it, the funda mental right of women to control their own health, lives and futures,” he wrote. Like many of the profes sors, he also discussed the potential effects that the decision will have on other currently protected rights. “This decision opens the door to the passage of draconian measures that criminalize reproductive health care in states across the country,” Sarbanes said. “Moreover, this deci sion signals the Supreme Court’s intention to wage war against other constitu tionally-protected rights, including LGBTQ+ rights and access to contracep tion.”Rep. Raja Krishnamoor thi ’95 (D-Ill.) shared a simi lar“Theview. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is a tragic, devastat ing rollback of nearly half a century of progress and precedent in protecting reproductive rights, the right to bodily autonomy, the right to privacy, and the rights of women more broadly,” Krishnamoorthi wrote in a statement. In an email to the ‘Prince,’ Rep. Ken Buck ’81 (R-Colo.) held a different view, call ing Roe v. Wade “a mistake” and the Dobbs decision a “victory.”“TheSupreme Court tried to legislate on a difficult moral issue to unify the country and failed miser ably. The draft opinion is a victory for mothers, babies, and federalism,” he wrote. “Laws regarding reproduc tive rights for all Americans must be applied to protect the life of the mother and the unborn child.” Buck also said that Dobbs will not affect other SCO TUS cases, such as Oberge fell v. Hodges, Griswold v. Connecticut, and Lawrence v. Texas — the cases direct ly referenced in Thomas’ concurrence.

KATHERINE DAILEY DAILY PRINCETONIAN A crowd gathers outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. following the release of the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

JUNE 2022

By Isabel Yip and Lia Opperman Assistant News Editors

Morrison Hall houses administrators’ offices who oversee the Honor Committee.

NOVEMBER 2021

The majority of cases during the COVID-19 semesters, including Leo’s, involved either accusations of collabo ration or “use of unallowed notes.” But the virtual year proved challenging for collecting hard evidence. Without student witnesses in the “exam room,” the Honor Committee relied heavily on professor testimony. According to Masback, who oversaw or personally served as Peer Representative for most cases, professor accusations were often grounded in a suspicion that answers were too similar to come from different students — even as students insisted that the similarity stemmed from them having studied together, a permissible and even encouraged practice. ‘Past my breaking point’ For two students — referred to as Jen and Sophie throughout this story — an accusation of collaboration from a professor would lead to a hotel room panic attack, a 3 a.m. Zoom hearing, and what Jen would later call her “breaking point.”Jen and Sophie are underclass stu dents, friends, and varsity teammates. As first-years in the spring of 2021, the pair said they studied together for the final exam of their introductory eco nomics course, using the same flash cards and quizzing each other as prepa ration. But shortly after finals, just as they were about to compete in a highstakes athletic event, Jen and Sophie re ceived word from an honor investigator that they had been accused of collabora tion on the exam. Jen, who told the ‘Prince’ she suf fers from diagnosed anxiety, said she asked the investigators to postpone the initial meeting. After they refused, she said she joined a Zoom meeting with investigators in a hotel room between practices — and almost immediately felt that something was off. At the meeting, the investigators re peatedly challenged her story, Jen said, recalling how they asked questions like “You really expect me to believe that?” in response to her account of how she had studied for the exam. Eventually, she said she started “visibly showing signs of distress.” After having a panic attack, Jen left the meeting. “It bothered me that they didn’t rec ognize those signs before it built up to this point where I couldn’t handle it anymore,” she said. “They kept pushing me further and further.”

Chen Shueh maintains that this ac count does not represent the way Uni versity investigators typically conduct interviews. While the investigators’ questions may feel adversarial, “it is necessary for the investigator to obtain a detailed account of the student’s re sponses to the questions and concerns, clarify any inconsistencies, and review the information they have provided.” She added that throughout the process, students are provided breaks if needed and that “if students with disabilities ask for accommodations during the process,” her office works with the Office of Disability Services “to make reasonable accommodations.” (Jen said she did not reach out to ODS, nor did the Committee offer her the option of doing so in their initial com munication.)Inthedays that followed, Jen said she received a slew of emails — and then text messages — asking her to schedule another meeting. When she didn’t respond, she said she discovered her coach had been informed of the accusations against her. (Asked about this claim, Chen Shueh said that “if a student is not responsive to a request to meet,” ODUS deans may reach out “to the coach to determine whether it is possible for the student to be available for the interview.”) At the eventual hearing, Jen felt as though the investigators leveraged her mental health episode at the initial meeting as evidence of her guilt. “They almost used the first meeting against me,” Jen said. “They said, like, ‘she couldn’t answer these questions, which is really Meanwhile,suspect.’”acrossthe Atlantic, So phie was video-conferencing into the same hearing from home — scheduled from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. in her time zone, despite her objections. Sophie was on a strict training schedule and would start a workout at 6:30 a.m later that same day. “It was a bit of a nightmare for me,” she told the ‘Prince.’ “How do you liter ally sit here and defend your place at the University, when you know we didn’t do anything wrong — at three in the morning?”ChenShueh said that last year the Honor Committee “encountered chal lenges with scheduling hearings when participants were in multiple time zones,” but that accused students were allowed to indicate a “preferred time” and that the hearing “would not have proceeded if the student did not pro pose or agree to a particular time slot.” Ultimately, Jen and Sophie, like Leo, were found not responsible. And, according to Chen Shueh, “the over whelming majority of students who are suspended as a result of academic integrity violations return to campus and successfully complete their stud ies.” But for Jen, Sophie, Leo, and the five other accused students the ‘Prince’ in terviewed, the impact of their hearings lasted well beyond their final meetings with the Committee. Most reported that their experience permanently changed the way they approach their time at Princeton.“Iwould definitely say it put kind of a stain on my view of here,” Jen said. “I was kind of stressed out to come back [to Princeton] just because I went through this agonizing time.” Jen doesn’t study with teammates anymore, “which is sad, because I want to study with people, because that’s how I learn best,” she said. Similarly, Leo says he has “a lot of anxiety and fear” each time he turns in an assignment or an“Itexam.kind of soured my love of work and of school,” he told the ‘Prince’ around 10 months after the incident.

Four days before Christmas in 2020, a first-year student sat in a corner booth of the Mexican restaurant where his parents work, waiting to be admitted into a Zoom meeting that would stretch over seven hours. The meeting would mark the end of what he would later call “the hardest four weeks of my life.” The student, who spoke with The Daily Princetonian on the condition of anonymity and will be referred to in this story as Leo, began his college career in the fall of 2020 as one of just around 300 undergraduates who met the Univer sity’s criteria for emergency on-campus housing. For the Latin American im migrant, whose family earns around a third of the University’s tuition cost in a year, the semester’s virtual format amplified the pre-existing challenges of entering Princeton as a first-generation low-income (FLI) student. Prior to a summer at the University’s Freshman Scholars Institute, the high est level of math Leo had access to was precalculus. In the fall, he enrolled in an introductory math course. “I was doing okay in the class,” Leo said. “I was doing well on the problem sets.” But in early December, his experi ence with the class took a turn. After the semester’s third exam, he received an email at around 5 p.m. from a mem ber of the Honor Committee, informing him that he was under investigation and would be required to meet with the Committee that same night. Six hours later, at 11 p.m., he had his first meeting with the student investigators and learned he had been accused by his professor of collaborating with other students.InaZoom breakout room, a Peer Representative — a student volunteer charged with helping accused students through the process — told Leo not to speak too much. Anything Leo said could be used against him in a future trial, the student explained. “I was very nervous,” Leo said. “I was having a little bit of a panic attack.” After the initial meeting, he was told by the Honor Committee members that his case would be moving forward. On a campus populated by only six percent of the student body and con strained by social distancing regula tions, the remainder of Leo’s semester would be colored by feelings of isola tion, hopelessness, and shame, he told the“I‘Prince.’spent a lot of time locked in my dorm — sleeping, trying to gather evi dence, crying,” he said. Most of Leo’s days were spent pouring over his notes for the class, doing and re-doing the problems for which he was accused, and collecting screenshots that could help prove his innocence. “I was losing my appetite,” he said. “I was having a hard time engaging with people or talking to other people.” With finals and paper deadlines around the corner, he was left with “really no energy or motivation.” Throughout the entire affair, Leo felt he could not confide in anyone about the situation, least of all his parents. “College was the one way to help my parents and my family,” he said. “So to tell my mom that I might be suspended and I might not be able to come back to the school that I worked so hard to get into — I couldn’t do it.” With the constant fear of a suspen sion hanging over him, Leo said he be gan to have suicidal thoughts. Those thoughts followed him home, nearly three weeks after the initial email, to that restaurant booth on Dec. 21. Leo’s parents, a cook and waitress who lived in a mobile home at the time, had asked their employer if their son could use a booth and WiFi at the res taurant for an important meeting. They wouldn’t know what the meeting was about until it was over at 11 p.m. that night, when Leo was found “not respon sible.”The accusation Leo faced was one that dozens of Princetonians face each year — a violation of the Honor Code. Established in 1893, the code is outlined by University’s Rights, Rules, and Re sponsibilities handbook as an agree ment between faculty and students to preserve academic integrity. In exchange for unproctored exami nations, students pledge their honor to refrain from giving or receiving unfair advantages. Under the Honor Code, students are also bound to report any alleged violations to the Honor Com mittee. All reported academic integrity violations for in-class exams are adju dicated by 15 students, some elected to class government and others appointed to serve by existing members. Notably, the Honor Committee is distinct from the Committee on Discipline, which evaluates academic integrity violations committed outside of the classroom, like plagiarism on papers. Although the Honor Code has im pacted generations of students at Princ eton, the number of cases tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a typical year, according to Honor Com mittee Chair Wells Carson ’22. With the spike in cases came new challenges. The impact of accusations on student wellbeing was amplified by the isolating nature of the pandemic — and in the eyes of some students involved with the process, the Honor Code’s purported core principle of peer-to-peer responsi bility was eroded by increased professor and administrator intervention. According to Carson, all the inci dents during the pandemic were report ed by professors, marking a shift from the normal processes in which cases are primarily reported by fellow stu dents. Almost all the cases came from economics, mathematics, or computer science courses, he said. Despite the Code’s far-ranging im pact on the course of students’ academic careers, the process regulating it re mains murky to the vast majority who have never experienced it firsthand.

The ‘Prince’ spoke to eight students who have been through the disciplin ary process (five of whom were accused during the virtual semesters), as well as the previous and current Honor Com mittee chairs, the Committee student clerk, two faculty members, two ad ministrators, six past or current Peer Representatives, four alumni, and other individuals involved with the process.

page 4 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

The ‘Prince’ also reviewed emails and documents provided by the students. Most of the accused students spoke to the ‘Prince’ anonymously, express ing fear of consequences and stigma around honor violations. Nearly all reported experiencing a system that they felt presumed their guilt, severely harmed their mental health, and cre ated long-lasting damage to their rela tionships with both the University and academia.Askedabout the impact of the Honor Code system on student well-being, Se nior Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Joyce Chen Shueh told the ‘Prince’ that the University takes care to connect students going through the process to mental health resources, in cluding Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS), the Office of Religious Life, and their residential college staff. While the Honor Committee highlights University mental health resources in their initial email to students, Leo and others interviewed for this piece refrained from contacting CPS, due to lack familiarity with mental health sup ports and lack of trust in the University in the wake of their accusation. Students “are expected to abide by our rules of conduct, both behavioral and academic,” Chen Shueh said in a lengthy statement. “While these are necessarily difficult conversations and processes, we strive to ensure that they are respectful, sensitive and fair.” Chen Shueh claimed that violations looked different as a result of virtual learning, a trend many have pointed to across the country, given that “op portunities to seek help or input from others or to look at one’s notes or at internet resources (when not permitted) were available in ways they normally are not during an in-person exam.” To handle the increase in cases, and in light of ongoing implementation of 2019 reforms, the honor system saw new protocols. Historically, two stu dents have been assigned to investigate each case before the initial hearing. But according to Peer Representatives CoChair Isra Thange ’22, the University’s Office of the Dean of the College (ODOC) began relying on private investigators — trained legal professionals — to help lead the evidence-gathering process during the fall of 2020. These private investigators could open students’ Canvas records and IT files, according to Grace Masback ’21, the former co-chair of the Peer Repre sentatives. Chen Shueh confirmed that investigators can “request information from instructors or OIT [Office of Infor mation Technology] about students’ use of Blackboard or Canvas,” but cannot access students’ “documents located on their laptops unless a student is present and agrees to access their documents.”

“I’ve been in kind of an academic funk since then that I haven’t been able to break.” In part because he’s now “weary of the math department” and reluctant to take its courses, his trajectory at the University and plans for after gradua tion have changed.

This was an excerpt of a nearly 5,000 word investigation into the enforcement of the Honor Code dur ing the time of COVID-19. For the remainder of the published piece, please scan the QR code above or visit princeton-life-after-accusation/.ian.com/honor-code-investigation-https://projects.dailyprinceton

By Marie-Rose Sheinerman and Claire Silberman News Editors Emerita ANGEL

KUO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Life after accusation: Inside Princeton’s Honor Code

USG Senate upholds appeal over Caterpillar referendum, will withhold statement to University for or against referendum

Senior News Writer Sam Kagan contributed reporting to this piece.

ANNIE RUPERTUS / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Flyers both for and against Referendum No. 3 were pinned in Frist Campus Center.

By Annie Rupertus, Katherine Dailey, and Paige Cromley Staff News Writer, Head News Ediotr, and Senior News Writer

The official opposition state ment, published on @princ eton_tigers_united on Instagram, shared similar sentiments, writ ing, “We are pleased the USG Sen ate has overwhelmingly found that the counting of votes in the Caterpillar referendum was not conducted fairly and effectively nullified the results.”

A week after voting closed on student body referenda, the Un dergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate announced in an email to students that in an Ex ecutive Session on Monday, April 18, the body decided to uphold an appeal against the actions of USG Chief Elections Manager Brian Li ’24 in a 15–5 vote with four mem bersWhileabstaining.upholding the appeal, USG also said in the email that by the rules of the USG Constitution, the referendum, which called on the University to boycott Caterpil lar equipment, passes. “Under the provisions of the USG Constitution, with a major ity of student votes, Referendum 3 passes,” the Wednesday, April 20 email read, “however, the USG Senate voted to uphold the appeal as detailed above and has voted on the substance of this paper as a remedy.”Referendum No. 3, the last Spring 2022 result to be certified, was sponsored by Princeton Com mittee on Palestine (PCP) President Eric Periman ’23 and calls upon the University to halt its use of Cater pillar construction machinery in campus construction, “Given the violent role that Caterpillar ma chinery has played in the mass de molition of Palestinian homes, the murder of Palestinians and other innocent people, and the promo tion of the prison-industrial com plex.”Preliminary results showed that the referendum had passed with a 52 percent majority of the votes, according to USG Consti tution that states that referenda must receive a majority of votes for or against, excluding absten tions. But in an appeal initiated by USG Treasurer Adam Hoffman ’23 cited communications between Li and Tigers for Israel (TFI) Presi dent Jared Stone ’24, which implied that abstentions would be counted in the total number of votes cast, thus theoretically giving the ref erendum 44 percent of the vote if abstentions were counted in the total.Hoffman is the former vice president of TFI. In upholding the appeal, the Senate took a number of steps as remedies to the appeal. The first was to develop a Paper on Referen dum 3, which will be sent to Uni versity officials to demonstrate the will of the student body. “The USG will not make a state ment on behalf of the student body in favor of or against the referen dum,” the announcement stated. USG Vice President Hannah Kapoor ’23 wrote in a message to The Daily Princetonian, “Though there was indeed disagreement surrounding the outcome, the conclusion was reached by fair and democratic procedure.” “It is disappointing to see the USG act in violation and contradic tion of the USG constitution by not declaring a clear winner in this referendum election,” Periman wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’ “Nevertheless, PCP is incredibly enthusiastic by our victorious re sult and we intend to use the clear will of the undergraduate student body and the momentum gener ated by our campaign to continue to pressure the University admin istration to halt all usage of Cat erpillar construction machinery.” PCP celebrated the referendum election results in an Instagram story following the announce ment“Weemail.want to thank EVERYONE who put their passion, time, and energy into this campaign and al lowed us to create real change and promote real conversations about Palestinian liberation on campus,” the PCP post said. “This is not the end but just the beginning.” Myles McKnight ’23, a member of the opposition to the referen dum, wrote in an email to the ‘Prince,’ “In upholding our objec tion, the USG Senate declared its own election unfair. That was the right call, and we are very pleased.”

The Senate also expressed plans to amend the Constitution to clarify “constitutional guidance on abstentions,” to consider ap pointing a deputy chief elections manager and a co-chief elections manager, and to review the Con stitution and Elections Handbook with the consideration of amend ments by the end of the summer. The announcement included a condemnation of “harassment, dissemination of personal infor mation, and targeted claims of bias and corruption” against Li, as well as of discrimination and ha rassment more broadly. “We stand with each and every member of our community — including our peers of Jewish, Muslim, Palestin ian, and Israeli identities,” they wrote.“Iwould like to echo the state ments by my colleagues that our Chief Elections Manager deserves so much better than he has re ceived,” CCA Chair Isabella Shutt ’24 wrote in a message to the ‘Prince.’ “His character, dedica tion, and passion for the demo cratic process have and continue to impress me.” Li wrote to the ‘Prince’ in re gards to the election, “I’m hoping that the student body will have a clearer picture of how the events unfolded and what has been done aboutThethem.”Paper included the text of the referendum, as well as the ap peal submitted by Hoffman and co-signed by Sustainability Chair Audrey Zhang ’25, U-Councilor Carlisle Imperial ’25, and Class of 2025 Senator Ned Dockery ’25. Reid Zlotky ’23, the official op position leader to the referendum, could not be immediately reached at the time of publication. The vote followed a special meeting of the Senate on Mon day, April 18 during which USG members heard statements from co-signatories of the appeal, the referendum sponsor, and a repre sentative of the opposition leader before heading into a closed meet ing to discuss and vote on whether to accept an appeal. USG President Mayu Takeu chi ’23 noted in a message to the ‘Prince’ that the meeting lasted over three hours. Both the meeting and the an nouncement follow a week of heated campus discourse over the election results for the referendum ballot.Academics Chair Austin Da vis ’23, Hoffman, USLC Chair Avi Attar ’25, Zhang, Class of 2024 Senator Mariam Latif ’24, Class of 2023 Senators Gisell Curbelo ’23 and Kanishkh Kanodia ’23, UCouncil Chair Riley Martinez ’23, U-Councilors Stephen Daniels ’24, Imperial, Mohamed Jishi ’24, Alen Palic ’23, Anna Sivaraj ’23, Eric Sklanka ’23, Vian Wagatsuma ’23, and Jiwon Yun ’22, did not respond to requests for comment from the ‘Prince,’ nor did they disclose their votes, prior to publication. Kapoor, Social Chair Madison Linton ’24, Class of 2024 Senator Sean Bradley ’24, Class of 2025 Senator Walker Penfield ’25, Diver sity, Equity, and Inclusion Chair Braiden Aaronson ’25, and Takeu chi declined to disclose their votes. In a message to the ‘Prince,’ Takeuchi explained this choice, writing, “I won’t disclose my votes out of respect for the Constitu tional procedures of the Executive Session, which are designed as closed sessions so voting Senate members can fully and honestly deliberate without any external pressures, and out of respect for my fellow members of the Senate.” Dockery expressed the same sentiments to the ‘Prince.’

APRIL 2022

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A long-awaited Uni versity report, authored by the Faculty Panel on Fossil Fuel Disassocia tion, has proposed cri teria for identifying companies from which the University may pos sibly divest holdings of its $37.7 billion endow ment.Inthe new report, the group of faculty mem bers, chaired by civil and environmental en gineering professor Anu Ramaswami, focused on creating metrics for two overarching issues: whether companies are engaged in intention al dispersal of climate disinformation, and whether companies are engaged in two specific sectors of the fossil fuel industry — thermal coal and tar sands oils. In order for a com pany to be considered to be “spreading cli mate disinformation,” the disinformation has to come from “an agent communicating with the intent to mislead,” according to the report. In determining whether such intent exists, the panel wrote that civil lawsuits could serve as a useful meetingreleasedcoalemissionsedfuelsegmentsformationspreadniesdisengageintention2021,University,ItmentpathlatestBoardprovalJunecriteria,tendedwouldspecificterminationsforproposedischancegreaterbeenthestandardusedstandardponderanceUniversityrecommendingframework,thattheusethe“preofevidence”—generallytoindicatealegalunderwhichburdenofproofhasmetifthereisathan50percentthattheclaimtrue.Thepanelalsoa“scorecard”navigatingthesedeandlistedargumentsthatqualifyasindisinformation.Thereport’sproposedpublishedon2,nowawaitapbytheUniversityofTrustees.ThereportmarksthestepinPrinceton’stopartialdivestfromfossilfuels.comesayearaftertheonMay27,firstannounceditstofinanciallyfromcomparesponsiblefortheofclimatedisinandcertainofthefossilindustryassociatwithespeciallyhighrates,suchasandtarsands.AccordingtofiguresattheMarchoftheCouncil of the Princeton Univer sity Community (CPUC), the University’s endow ment currently has a total $1.7 billion expo sure to the fossil fuel in dustry, with $13 million held directly in fossilfuelThoughinvestments.termed a “substantive step for ward” by Undergradu ate Student Government President Mayu Takeu chi ’23, some student cli mate activists said the faculty panel’s report felt to them like another hurdle in a long bureau cratic process that they believe has frustrated divestment“Princetonefforts.still has not divested a single dollar from its $1.7 bil lion in fossil fuel com panies,” Aaron Serianni ’25 and Nate Howard ’25, co-coordinators of Di vest Princeton, the stu dent group dedicated to advocating for full divestment from fos sil fuels, said in a joint statement to The Daily Princetonian.“Thisreport is only now being sent to the Board of Trustees for further discussion, a full year after Princ eton’s first announce ment about possible partial divestment,” theyTheadded.faculty report’s criteria for evaluating companies’ climaterelated disinformation were created around five categories of “‘super claim’” content areas, which the report said were developed based on existing climate dis information campaigns in the United States and globally. Accord ing to the report, the five categories include “climate change is not happening,” “human greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are not caus ing it,” “climate impacts are not bad,” inments,socialexternalpanies’dataThelegitimateindicatecompanies’change,misleadingniestermineingiscard”scienceworking,”policy/solutions“climatearenotand“climateisunreliable.”Thereport’s“scorerecommendationgearedtowardhelptheUniversitydewhichcompaareintentionallyonclimateversuswhichclaims“maypotentialforskepticism.”scorecardevaluatesitemssuchascominternalversusstatements,media,advertiseandmembershiporganizationsthat

“spread disinforma tion.”The panel report also includes metrics to identify power plants and coal producers in volved with thermal coal or tar sands oils. The panel supplemented these tools with recom mendations, suggesting that the University fo cus “on the most severe and egregious cases” of disinformation, and be gin fossil fuel reviews with the largest fos sil fuel companies in Princeton University’s investment portfolio. Though the report identified disassocia tion priorities as eval uating companies’ en gagement with climate disinformation as well as thermal coal and tar sands oils, the panel said they designed the metrics with the poten tial for an expansion of the University’s disas sociation scope in mind. According to the re port, contributing fac ulty “sought to develop metrics, standards and algorithms such that they could be updated in future years and po tentially translated to other industry seg ments.”OnMay 12, the report was submitted for re view to the Adminis trative Committee — a six-person board of University administra tors and representatives of Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO). The Trustee Committee on Finance has begun initial re views and will convene in a special meeting this summer to consider the report, according to the University mentof“commitmentflectssueseesthatare‘Prince’arydentUniversitywebsite.VicePresiandSecretaryHilA.ParkertoldthethatthesestepsaimedatensuringtheBoardofTrustcanactontheseisinthefallandretheUniversity’sandsenseurgencytoimplethedissociation decision.”Somestudent activ ists see it differently. With Princeton now one of three Ivy League in stitutions that has yet to fully divest from fos sil fuels, Divest Princ eton activists argued that the institution is falling behind its peers. “Divest Princeton will continue demanding full, rapid, and trans parent divestment and dissociation from the fossil fuel industry,” Se rianni and Howard told the inflaggedleasesityofapprovalCommitteebyedAfter‘Prince.’therecommendcriteriaisfinalizedtheAdministrativeandpendingbytheBoardTrustees,theUniverisexpectedtorealistofcompaniesfordissociationearlyFall2022.

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University recommends criteria for Princeton to evaluate companies for fossil fuel dissociation

By Tess Weinreich Assistant News Editor

KRISTAL GRANT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN JUNE 2022

News staff writer Annie Rupertus contributed re porting.

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On Feb. 28, a group of Rus sian students circulated a Let ter of Solidarity with Ukraine on University email listservs; the letter was later published in The Daily Princetonian. In an interview with the ‘Prince,’ Kate Ivshina ’23 said that the idea to write the letter came to her as she felt “very helpless” while reading the news.“Ifelt that not enough peo ple on campus care about this right now, or like, not enough of this information [is] shared here,” Ivshina said. “And so we decided [that] the first step could be writing a letter show ing that we support Ukraine.”

MARK DODICI /

The letter called on University President Christopher Eisgru ber ’83 to publicly support the people of Ukraine and con demn the Russian invasion. A few hours after the letter was sent out, Eisgruber issued a statement about the war. An other organizer behind the let ter, Nadya Fishchenko ’24, said that she appreciated that the president’s statement was not anti-Russian.“Itisveryimportant for us to differentiate this war from our nation and our home country,” Fishchenko, a Rus sian citizen, said. “Because, yes, the Russian army invaded Ukraine, but we — and a lot of Russian people, both in Russia and abroad — are against it.” Politics professor Mark Beissinger, an expert on the post-Soviet states, told the ‘Prince’ that an independent poll found that approximately half of the Russian population supports the war. “Which is actually pretty astounding,” he said of the poll. “When a country goes to war and only half of your citizens support it, that’s not really a very good degree of support from the public.”Henoted that the poll also showed that about a quarter of Russians firmly oppose the war.“But, what I think is inter esting is [that] a lot of peo ple in Russia — a significant number of people who sup port the war — don’t really know why the war is taking place,” he said. Liza Rozenberg ’22, another organizer of the letter and a Russian citizen, shared her frustration with her govern ment, but emphasized the im portance of individuals like her taking action.

“I guess the one thing that we can do is use our voice and the freedom of speech that we have here that people back home don’t have,” Rozenberg said.The same group of students has also launched an orga nization called “02.24.2022,” named after the date of the invasion. As of March 17, they received enough signatures necessary to be recognized as a student organization by the Office of the Dean of Under graduate Students. The student group’s goal, ac cording to the students, is to provide accurate and reliably sourced information about the war to Princeton students and to organize future acts of solidarity.Alsoon campus, the Center for Jewish Life (CJL) took ac tion to fundraise for Ukraine during the holiday of Purim on March 16 and 17. The holiday of Purim traditionally empha sizes giving and generosity;

The annual Princeton ‘preread’ for the Class of 2026 will be “Every Day the River Changes: Four Weeks Down the Magdalena,” written by Jordan Salama ’19, according to an announcement on April 28.Salama describes himself as a “writer, journalist, and producer,” according to his website. He has covered is sues on climate change, let ter writing, and American Jewish life for The New York Times. He has also inter viewed a Syrian traveling salesman in the Andes and was the producer for a radio feature about a cross-country railroad journey that made an appearance on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.Salamasays one of his pri mary inspirations is cultural reciprocity and using stories as the medium to create con nections between societies across the world. He stated on his website that he’s “most passionate [about] telling stories about people and na ture that connect cultures andHiscontinents.”mostrecent work, the November 2021 publica tion of “Every Day the River Changes,” details his journey down the Rio Magdalena, the longest river in Colom bia stretching almost 1,000 miles from the heart of the Andes to its delta terminus at the Caribbean Sea. Following a campus visit organized by the Princeton’s J-Lats, Princeton’s JewishLatinx student organiza tion, back in December 2021, Salama spoke with The Daily Princetonian about his book. “Colombia is filled with these stories. There are an unbelievable quantity of tales that people tell along this river, which is a really special thing in itself,” Sala ma said at the time. Salama is of Argentine, Syrian, and Iraqi Jewish de scent, and in this travelogue, he “writes against stereotype and toward the rich lives of those he meets” throughout his escapade, according to the description of his book. Among the people in his book, the description says, are “a canoe builder, bi ologists who study invasive hippopotamuses, a Queens transplant managing a fail ing hotel, a jeweler practicing the art of silver filigree, and a traveling librarian whose donkeys, Alfa and Beto, haul books to rural children.” Salama’s work stems from reporting originally under taken in fulfillment of Sal ama’s senior thesis, which won the Ricardo Piglia Award and Stanley J. Stein Prize for Best Senior Thesis in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Princeton Uni versity.Inthe Pre-read announce ment, Salama described the book as “a story about a young person’s journey down a river, how the people he met changed him and changed his view of the world.” In addition, Salama men tioned that he “hope[s] that when you read it, you think about all the ways that you can chase your own passions at Princeton, [and] that you can pursue projects that may seem ambitious, challeng ing, but exciting to you at itsIncore.”an interview with The Daily Princetonian, incom ing first-year Amy Liu from New York stated that she’s “really excited about [the] Pre-read, because of the chance to fall in love with a book” alongside new class mates.“Itsounds like a fun, nostress way to start off the aca demic year and get to know the people I’ll be spending the next four years with,” she said.In a message to the ‘Prince,’ Salama stated that he is “ex tremely honored and grateful that my book was selected as this year’s pre-read.” “I can’t wait for the chance to come back to campus and discuss it with incom ing students and the rest of the university community,” he told the ‘Prince.’ “I’ll also be engaging with readers all summer on social media, answering questions and sharing behind-the-scenes stories, so I want to encour age incoming first-years to follow me on Instagram (@ jordansalama19) and to tag me in a picture of the book when it arrives!”

In the weeks following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many members of the Princ eton community have sought out avenues to express solidar ity with the Ukrainian people. On Feb. 25 — just a day af ter the initial assault began on Feb. 24 — students, faculty, and local residents gathered outside of Nassau Hall for a rally. In the days that followed, community members have raised funds for humanitar ian organizations working in the region, signed onto peti tions of support, and formed new campus groups centered on the conflict.

By Aidan Iacobucci Staff News Writer

it is a custom to gift bags of treats to friends and family, and donate to charity. In the days leading up to Pu rim, CJL student leaders sold gift bags in both Frist Cam pus Center and in the CJL to students. They also took dona tions via Venmo. The money raised from the gift bags and donations went to the Hillel International Emergency Re lief“We’reFund. part of a worldwide network of more than 550 Hil lels around the world, five of which are in Ukraine, one of which was bombed by the Rus sians,” CJL Executive Direc tor Rabbi Julie Roth told the ‘Prince.’ The Hillel chapter in Kharkiv was destroyed amid the war on March 3. Roth also spoke about how Hillel organizations across Eu rope are assisting refugees. “Students who are involved in the Hillel in Poland are run ning a daycare, basically, for the children of refugees,” she said. “The Hillel organizations aren’t just helping students and professionals who work at Hillels in Ukraine, but they’re taking in all kinds of refugees, not just Jewish refugees.” Sarah Bock ’24, a student leader at the CJL, told the ‘Prince’ that the fundraiser was a success. “Because it’s such a universal issue on cam pus — at least I felt like — when we were in Frist, we got a lot of attention that I don’t think we necessarily would have with a different cause,” Bock said. As of March 18, the CJL had raised more than $600, accord ing to an email to the ‘Prince’ from Roth, and the Princ eton Orthodox Union Jewish Learning Initiative on Cam pus had also separately raised over $1,100 to directly support Ukrainian people, according to Rabbi Mati Kahn in a state ment to the University. The Scharf Family Chabad House of Princeton had also independently raised over $3,000 to send to Ukraine, ac cording to the group’s Insta gram story.

fundraise,

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THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Princeton students and town members came together in front of Nassau Hall to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

MARCH 2022 MAY 2022

Students petition, express solidarity with Ukraine following Russian invasion

Three years ago, it was an undergraduate senior thesis. Now, it’s the basis of the Class of 2026 Pre-read.

By Hope Perry Staff News Writer

A food service worker in the Butler and Wilson dining halls and a 79-year-long poll worker, Laura Wooten died on March 24, 2019. She was 98 years old.

By Madeleine LeBeau Staff News Writer

University renames Marx Hall to honor Laura Wooten, the nation’s longest-serving election poll worker

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The dismissal also hinged on the Dean of the Faculty report’s find ing that Katz had discouraged the alumna from seeking mental health care during their relationship, in an effort to keep himself out of trouble, according to The New York Times, which reviewed the report.

PHOTO CREDIT: JAMIE SAXON / OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Stained glass windows in East Pyne Hall, home of the classics department.

By Paige Cromley and Evelyn Doskoch Senior News Writer and Head News Editor Emerita

An individual who was inter viewed by University investigators in the summer of 2021 — a close friend of Jane’s at the time of the relationship — previously told the ‘Prince’ that she disclosed to inves tigators that Jane had “tried to seek help multiple times during her se nior year,” but ultimately did not access mental health care in light of Katz’sMonday’sinfluence.University statement said that these actions by Katz “ex posed the alumna to harm” and were taken “in an effort to conceal a relationship he knew was prohib ited by University rules.” The University described the be havior as “not only egregious viola tions of University policy, but also entirely inconsistent with his obli gations as a member of the Faculty.” According to the University’s Rules and Procedures of the Faculty, faculty subject to proposed disci pline are entitled to a hearing with the Committee on Conference and Faculty Appeal (CCFA), an indepen dent committee composed of and elected by members of the Faculty. The CCFA found that the record supported the initial dismissal rec ommendation from the Dean of the Faculty, and submitted the recom mendation to Eisgruber.

The building formerly known to campus as Marx Hall will now bear the name of Laura Wooten, a long-time University em ployee and the longest con tinuously serving election poll worker in the United States history, according to a University announce ment on Monday, June 6. Wooten had volun teered at local, primary, and general election poll ing sites in New Jersey for 79 continuous years. She also served on the Univer sity’s staff for more than 27 years, most notably in Butler and First College dining halls. Wooten died in 2019 at the age of 98. With the renaming of the campus building that houses the University Center for Human Values as Laura Wooten Hall, the University intends to “honor her extraordinary contributions and em phasize the importance of civic engagement at all levels,” according to Mon day’sThestatement.renaming comes af ter a vote by the University Board of Trustees, which followed the recommen dation of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) Com mitee on Naming — made up of faculty, staff, gradu ate student, undergradu ate, and alumni represen tatives.Associate Professor of History Beth Lew-Wil liams, who chairs the committee, noted in the University statement that Wooten’s “status as the longest continuously serving poll worker in the nation is a rare and ex ceptional achievement, one that offers a powerful example of how ordinary citizens can perform ex traordinary service to the nation.” Lew-Williams also tweeted about her thoughts on the renaming. On behalf of Governor Phil Murphy’s adminis tration, press secretary Bailey Lawrence wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian that “the Murphy administration is pleased to know that Laura Wooten’s legacy will continue to live on within the halls of Princeton Uni versity.”“Justas importantly, the spirit of Wooten’s dedica tion to civic engagement will also be imparted upon New Jersey middle school ers, who will receive re quired civics instruction beginning in the 2022–2023 school year because of a law signed by Gov ernor Murphy last July,” Lawrence added. “Laura Wooten’s Law,” signed into law by Mur phy in July 2021, mandates the teaching of civics and civic values in New Jersey’s middleLawrenceschools.further noted that “it is our collective re sponsibility to equip our younger generations with the knowledge and skills necessary to meaningfully contribute to their com munities and participate in the political process, just as Wooten did for nearly eight decades.” Wooten, born in 1920, grew up in a segregated Princeton. She began vol unteering at election poll ing places after graduat ing from high school in 1939.Wooten worked at Princ eton Hospital and, at 72 years old, became a Uni versity staff member, working in Campus Din ing for more than 27 years. Caasi Love, one of Woo ten’s two grandsons who are currently working at the University, noted in an interview with the ‘Prince’ that, “being a card checker [in Butler College] ... she always had great words of inspiration, she always talked [to students].” “She passed on a lot of herself to other people,” Love said. For Wooten’s family, the naming of the building is a moment of pride and an important acknowledge ment of Wooten’s endur ing legacy at the institu tion.“We are all very, very ex cited about the naming of the building, and the lega cy that it leaves. I think it really points to what she was able to do,” Love said. “[She did] what she felt was right and what everybody feels is right, and to actu ally get recognized for it is very important ... espe cially when we talk about voting and how important it “Votingis.“ plays a critical role in ensuring a vibrant and thriving democracy,” agreed Sara Gruppo, the Community Action Pro gram Director at the Pace Center for Civic Engage ment, where she leads the center’s efforts to increase student voter turnout. Gruppo added that in a statement to the ‘Prince’ that “Ms. Laura Wooten’s commitment to volunteer ing as a poll worker offers an outstanding example of one of the many ways we can all contribute to the civic health of our com munity.”Similarly, President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 said in the University statement that he is “de lighted” by the change. The “addition of Laura Wooten’s name to the tap estry of our campus will recognize Princeton’s his tory, the breadth of our community, and the posi tive impact that one re markable person can have through lifelong dedica tion to public service and civic values,” Eisgruber said.The building’s renam ing will officially become effective on July 1. It will be formally dedicated at a later date, yet to be an nounced.“Itisthrilling and in spiring to know that Ms. Wooten’s name and her legacy will be known and shared with future gener ations of Princetonians,” said Gruppo.

JON ORT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

MAY JUNE20222022

On May 23, the University Board of Trustees voted to dismiss classics professor Joshua Katz from his ten ured faculty position at Princeton, effective immediately, according to a University statement to The Daily Princetonian.Thedecision follows last week’s recommendation from University President Christopher L. Eisgruber ’83 and two separate University in vestigations into Katz’s misconduct. Katz was originally disciplined by the University in 2018 for engag ing in a sexual relationship with an undergraduate student in the mid-2000s. He received a one-year unpaid suspension for the 2018–19 academic year, and according to the University’s Monday statement, three additional years of probation. In February 2021, the ‘Prince’ pub lished an investigation into three alleged instances of inappropriate conduct with female students by Katz. The reporting included a mid2000s relationship with a female advisee — acknowledged by Katz in a statement soon after the ‘Prince’ investigation — and two other per ceived boundary violations with alumnae who said Katz pursued them during their undergraduate years in ways they felt crossed pro fessional boundaries. A second University inquiry be gan in spring of 2021, when the mid2000s alumna, referred to by the ‘Prince’ pseudonymously as Jane, submitted a detailed complaint to University administrators. Accord ing to Monday’s statement, this complaint provided new informa tion to the University, prompting a separate investigation. This time, the investigation “did not revisit” the policy violations that caused his 2018 suspension, instead establishing that Katz had “misrepresented facts” and failed to be fully forthcoming during the 2018 investigation, the statement said. Additionally, according to the statement, Katz had “a successful ef fort to discourage the alumna from participating and cooperating after she expressed the intent to do so.” In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal by Katz Mon day night, however, he stated that Jane had “resolutely refused—of her own volition, I stress,” to participate in the 2018 investigation. He also claimed that he “provided the con text, in full detail” on her allega tions to the University during the recent investigation.

The Board of Trustees vote came after further review by an “ad hoc committee,” and upon recommen dation of both Eisgruber and Dean of Faculty Gene Andrew Jarrett, ac cording to the statement. When asked about her husband’s dismissal immediately following the announcement, Solveig Gold ’17 told The New York Times, “That’s news to me. We have nothing.” Neither Katz nor his lawyer, Sa mantha Harris ’99, responded to a request for comment from the ‘Prince.’Butin the Journal op-ed, Katz wrote that the dismissal subjects him to “cultural double jeopardy” in what he argued constitutes re-litiga tion of an offense for which he had previously faced punishment. In a text message to the Times, he said “I am both angry and heartbroken, which is a dreadful combination.” In a statement to the ‘Prince’ on May 20, Harris said that “the suc cessful effort to destroy Professor Katz for daring to say what many think but are too afraid to say will have a profound chilling effect on free expression at Princeton and be yond, as few people are willing to pay the price of having their person al lives turned inside out in search of damaging information.” In the summer of 2020, Katz drew headlines when he wrote a column in Quillette opposing a then-circu lating faculty letter with a series of demands for Nassau Hall on race and equity measures. In that col umn, the classics professor referred to a former Black student activist group as a “small local terrorist or ganization,” a statement that saw backlash from students, colleagues, and Eisgruber himself, who also af firmed that the University’s policies “protect Katz’s freedom to say what he Indid.”the two years since, Katz had become a “cause célèbre” among some conservative commentators, who have argued — as Katz himself does in the Journal op-ed Monday night — that the recent University investigation into his alleged mis conduct and the dismissal itself stemmed from controversy around his Quillette column. Katz has not actively taught at Princeton since the spring of 2021, according to the Office of the Course Registrar website. In the fall of 2021, he was initially scheduled to teach classes, which were removed from course listings by August. He did not teach in spring 2022 and was not scheduled to teach in fall 2022. Katz served as a trustee at the ‘Prince’ from 2014 to early 2020, and before that, as a faculty columnist from 2006 to 2013.

University dismisses professor Joshua Katz ‘effective immediately’ after U. investigation finds policy violations

On July 4, Jasper Cragwall GS ’07 had planned to walk in the parade near his home in High land Park, Ill., but didn’t make it out because his son’s newly-built Lego castle had collapsed. And then the annual Independence Day celebration became the site of a mass shooting. “We had to spend minutes calming him down, and because of that we were delayed out of the door to walk through the pa rade,” Cragwall said. “And by the time we left, we pretty quickly encountered crowds running in the opposite direction saying there was a shooter.” As celebrations unfolded across the country, the nation re ceived news of another tragedy, one in a series of mass casualty shootings that have roiled the country this summer. This time, the shooting struck close to the home of dozens of Princeton Uni versity alumni and community members who live in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. Seven people, all between the ages 35 and 88, were killed by a gunman who positioned himself on a fire escape to fire on the families gathered to watch the commu nity’s first annual Independence Day parade in two years. The ac cused shooter, who injured 46 people, was not detained until several hours after the violence.

Cragwall recalled “tearing up because there’s a part of the pa rade, where a klezmer band goes by on a float, and then a mariachi band goes by on a float. And then bagpipes marched down, and then the school band goes.” Now, like the shattered glass of beloved storefronts scattered on the streets downtown, the resi dents of Highland Park are left to pick up the pieces. “Scars remain and won’t disap pear despite the national atten tion, the prayer vigils, and ral lies,” Harold Krent ’77 said. For some residents, the local and national support flowing into the town has been a welcome source of support. “There were policemen and EMT groups from all kinds of vil lages around, and suburbs, some of them fairly far away,” Frohm an, who lives near the site of the shooting, told the ‘Prince’ while reflecting on the aftermath. Cragwall expressed his grati tude for the resources coming into the community. “I was so grateful for the Red Cross coun seling — the disaster, mass ca sualty mental health crisis coun seling.”Ina community that has felt so small for many residents, per sonal ties to the shooting feel in evitable.“Iknow the father of the kid that was the shooter,” Brad Block ’84 told the ‘Prince.’ “He owns a store in the community. I used to go to that store all the time, down theAndstreet.”assome begin to look for ward and think about what could have been done to prevent such a tragedy, some residents feel they are left with more questions than answers.“Ourmayor, Nancy Rotering, stood up to the gun lobby before a lot of other politicians were brave enough to do so when she banned assault rifles in our town,” said Azza Cohen Highland’16.Park has one of the most restrictive gun laws in the country. That fact left one key question for Anne Houde ’80: “What could have prevented this?” ‘Freedom to not have this violence in our communities’ Along with many towns and cities across the nation, High land Park now grapples with what moving on can look like. “There’s so much pain,” said Francesca Block ’22, who was raised in Highland Park. “I don’t know how you recover. Highland Park is a wonderful community. But I just don’t know how you move on … that is something to be determined.” (Block previous ly served as an Associate Podcast Editor for the ‘Prince.’) Even as some residents feel locked in this state of shock, oth ers are beginning to think about the“Onefuture.of the things that I’m most scared of here in Highland Park is that we will inflict new traumas on ourselves by learn ing the wrong lessons,” Cragwall said.Bernat, who chairs the preven tion subcommittee of the Illinois School Security and Standards Task Force, helped the commit tee put together an education program called “See, Hear, and Speak“WeUp.”looked to see if there were commonalities in all of these in cidents. And sure enough, there were a lot of them, and we de cided what we could do is to use the pathology of these people who would do harm. Not to harm them, but to actually stop them to interdict the event,” he explained. Bernat also believes that en hancing security is a necessary part of the solution. “You don’t want to tell parents their kids are safe when they’re not. You want them to be safe. So if enhanced security is called for, just do it in as discrete a way as possible,” he said. “But it’s better to have the security than not.” For some, the events of July 4th sparked a call toward advocacy. “Humans are extremely adapt able and resilient,” Kosarin noted. “But resilience has to also include action. And I think the best action we can take is Woldenbergadvocacy.”expressed frustra tion with the availability of “in struments of war.” “My right to quiet enjoyment of my life,” he said, “and the safety and sanctity of our family seems to be a secondary consideration.” Kosarin felt similarly. “We have to be really vigilant about our rights, but also our freedom,” she said. “And that means freedom to not have this violence in our com munities. Freedom not to have this violence in our country.” And until change comes, some residents said that all they can do is try to honor the community members’ whose lives have been lost in the small ways that they can.“So much needs to change,” Mace said. “But for now, all I have are flowers.”

page 10 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

‘Scars remain’: Princeton alumni in Highland Park reflect on a community forever changed

JULY 2022

By Eden Teshome and Hope Perry Contributing News Writer and Staff News Writer

Jacquie Toettcher, Manager of Administration for the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Stu dents (ODUS), wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian that ODUS reaches out to “students whose hometowns are affected by mass shootings” and con firmed that ODUS has reached out to students from Highland Park.Danny Frohman ’71 told the ‘Prince’ that he lives in an apart ment just a block away from Highland Park’s main street. He was listening to the parade with his windows open when the shooting began. “I heard this sort of — sort of dull staccato sound. At first I thought it was like a drum and bugle corps that starts with some loud drumming, but it was er ratic. And then it was clear it was something else,” Frohman said. Bob Bernat ’75 was driving his historic WWII Jeep in the parade when gunfire broke out. “I heard what sounded like a firecracker to me,” Bernat said. “It sounded too high-pitched to be a rifle round, but I guess I was wrong.”“Allof a sudden this mass of humanity comes running at us,” Bernat said. “And I hear some body say — and I had no idea who — I heard the word ‘gun.’” Dr. Emily Mace GS ’10 told the ‘Prince’ that, for her and her chil dren, their choice to sit and eat their ice cream in one place over another during the parade may have saved her life. “Thank God we sat down by Dairy Queen,” she wrote. “Thank God my children sat in front of the curb, ready to grab candy af ter two years of no parade, not knowing this was a good place to be ready, instead, to run. Those twenty or thirty feet were the dif ference between life and death.” As Mace fled, she recalled that a man was telling people to “stay down.”“His wife clutched their tod dler to her body,” Mace contin ued, “and behind me a woman

Content Warning: The following piece contains detailed mentions of gun violence, shooting, and death.

COURTESY OF DR. EMILY MACE GS ’10 Community memorial for victims of the Independence Day shooting in Highland Park.

screamed and sobbed in panic and I looked at my husband, our eyes meeting from ten feet away as I called out ‘Where are the kids!’ and he shouted back, ‘I don’t know!’”Mace recalls that she then re membered she should stay quiet in case the shooter was “looking for people who are alive to shoot.” “I shut my mouth and tried to look for my kids without raising my head,” she said. ‘All of a sudden it was in my town’ For Cragwall, the thought of a mass shooting striking his own community was almost unthink able prior to that day. “I had thought — and I had been privileged to think — … that gun violence was like be ing struck by lightning. A thing that happens. But not a thing that one reorganizes one’s life around,” Cragwall said. “For too many Americans, that’s just not theOvernight,case.” Highland Park was transformed from a peaceful and quiet American town to the cen ter of the nation’s attention. The change was deeply unsettling for residents.LevyNathan ’21 described learning about the violence from afar as “surreal.” “I grew up go ing to this parade,” he told the ‘Prince.’ “It’s one of the most shel tered“You’vethings.”seen this before for ev ery event whether it be Uvalde, Texas, or Sandy Hook, Conn., the way the scene looks with all the news crews,” Bernat said, “but outside of that it’s the grocery store or Walgreens or whatever — it doesn’t look any different. So the juxtaposition of these is really fascinating because you see something you never expect to see right next to something that looks quite usual.” For Julie Kosarin GS ’83, the shock set in when she saw televi sion journalist Ali Velshi report ing for MSNBC downtown. “Two weeks before I had seen him from a warzone, basically, you know, on the border from Russia, right? And that kind of reporting. And all of a sudden it was in my town,” she said. Many recent alumni said they have reflected in the past weeks on the small and tight-knit com munity that defines Highland Park.“Iwent to the same high school that my parents did. They grew up not far from each other, and just around the corner from where they eventually raised me,” Daniella Cohen ’22 wrote to the ‘Prince.’While some reflected on grow ing up in the same community as their parents, others said they are now raising the next genera tion of Highland Park residents themselves.“Thisisa place that has been multi-generational for a lot of rea sons,’’ Kosarin explained. “There’s a real emphasis on things that re ally support families, and com munity and a tremendous spirit.” Even for those without genera tional ties, Highland Park stands out for its community spirit. “I have lived many places in my life, and I have never felt so quickly in tegrated into a community,” Erin O’Shea ’03 told the ‘Prince.’ The community prides itself as a welcoming place for individuals of all backgrounds. To many, the 4th of July parade was a part of celebrating that pride.

By Candace Do, Justin Cai, Abby de Riel, Isabel Richardson, Zoe Berman, and Angel Kuo Photography Staff

page 11August 2022 The Daily Princetonian The Nor'easter hits Princeton

After the first snowstorm of the spring semester hit on the week of January 30, students and visitors took advantage of the abundant snow to explore campus and go sledding. See how a blanket of snow enhances the beauty of Princeton’s campus.

Hannah Faughnan ’23 is used to navigating Princeton as a disabled student. As someone with rheumatoid arthritis, she has had chronic pain for her entire life. As her disability progressed over the last year, she began using a mobility scooter on days when her condition flared up. After she started using her scooter, she faced questions from students who were surprised by her use of a mobility aid.“For the first few weeks, there would be people that were in my department but I never talked to and they’d stop and be like, ‘Oh my God, what happened?’” she said. Although in those moments, Faughnan said she didn’t respond forcefully, looking back, she wished she could have conveyed a message to her peers: “I don’t know how to tell you that disabled people just exist.” Faughnan’s story, and many others, shows how more Princetonians have disabilities than might be outwardly visible.

Amid mixed experiences in eating clubs, disabled students find (and found) their own social outlets

“The process to notify faculty of accommodations is through a letter and we do not disclose a student’s disability. We keep that confidential, but we tell them what accommodations they need to approve or arrange,” Erickson said. Jennifer Lee ’23, who has Crohn’s Disease, described how her professors’ understanding of the flexibility she needs in order to complete her school work has enabled her to thrive at the University. “I’ve noticed that the empathy and compassion that comes from faculty is one of the most powerful gifts that I received,” Lee said. Still, Lee said that she has occasionally encountered professors expecting her conform to a certain expectation of how a disabled person might look or act. During a particularly severe flare-up of her disease, Lee tried to dress up for her virtual office hours appointment with a professor. She remembered the professor saying, “I was so worried. We agreed to do all these extensions, but you look fine. You look“Itgreat.”wasvery well-intentioned,” Lee said. “It was a compliment from the professor, but I remember thinking that I need to look worse in order to be validated for extensions or to be sick, and that there was a certain image of what sick or chronically ill or disabled was supposed to look like in order to justify having these accommodations.”IzabelaKonopka ’25, who has ulcerative colitis, explained that she usually faces no trouble from her professors when it comes to getting the academic accommodations she needs. Although her language class allows for a maximum of five absences, after talking to the professor, Konopka has been allowed unlimited absences. When students need extensions, they are often told to talk directly to their dean. But students told the ‘Prince’ such conversations have had mixed results. When Ellen Li ’23 asked her dean for an extension, the dean mentioned Li’s recent high grade in a different class and questioned whether Li needed this leniency.“Even when you have it on paper, you have to keep fighting for your right to get things accommodated,” Li said. “You have to keep arguing about why you’re actually sick and why you actually need it. It’s just kind of tiring.”Erickson explained that ODS only steps in to talk to professors if students tell the office about problems they encounter. “We aren’t involved in the implementation conversation about testing accommodations because it doesn’t make sense to have ODS in the middle,” Erickson said. She continued, “If a student comes back to me with an issue about an accommodation, then I’m the one, rather than the student, who tries to understand what the problem is and address it, so it’s really about the faculty or student coming to us and saying something’s off, something’s wrong, so we can fix it.”

For many community members, having a disability impacts every part of their time at Princeton, from academics to residential life to social life. Several students spoke with The Daily Princetonian about their experiences as disabled students on a campus that wasn’t designed with their unique needs in mind.

JUNE 2022

By Naomi Hess Associate News Editor Emerita

Increasing support for disabled students over the past decade

Students who require housing accommodations work with the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS) to provide documentation of their disability and explain what accommodations they need in a room assignment. According to Housing Engagement Specialist Dennis Daly, around 200 students were approved for housing accommodations for academic year 2022–2023, a 20 percent increase from this past academicFaughnanyear.was originally placed in Spelman Hall when she moved back to campus in summer 2021. At first, her room assignment worked for her, but as her disability worsened, the room no longer met her needs. “There were days when I wasn’t eating or leaving my room because I couldn’t,” she said. It took a long time for Faughnan to be relocated to a more accessible room.“When I communicated that it was no longer accessible for me, it took about two months to get me here [to her new room in Dod Hall],” sheDalysaid. said in an email to the ‘Prince’ that currently matriculated students who need a new housing accommodation mid-semester can submit such requests and relevant documentation to ODS. “If approved for a mid-semester housing accommodation those students are offered an appropriate modification or a room change that meets their documented need based upon availability,” he wrote. Konopka requested a private bathroom as part of her housing accommodations. Yet as an incoming first-year, she was placed in Rockefeller College, which does not have private bathrooms. “I already submitted all my forms by that point, so they could have easily put me into one of the Butler or whatnot considering they were already making the assignments, but they didn’t,” she said about the process of assigning her a residential college.She spends most nights in her boyfriend’s room because it meets her needs better than her own room. “I stay in Whitman with my boyfriend because he has closer access to a bathroom, and so basically, I have to figure out by myself what’s going to work the best for me,” she said. “If a student feels that their assignment does not meet their approved documented need, then they should reach out to Housing and ODUS to discuss,” Daly wrote.

Much of Princeton’s social life revolves around “the Street,” the set of 11 eating clubs lining Prospect Avenue. The eating clubs are a main source of food and social events for the campus community, particularly for upperclassmen. Despite their prominence in University life, many of the eating clubs are not fully accessible.Apage on the eating club website created in 2019 details the accessibility of each club. Ten out of the 11 clubs are at least partially accessible, with ramps leading to some floors of the clubhouse. Five clubs have elevators, while one club, Cloister, is not accessible at all. Faughnan is a member of Quadrangle Club, yet she cannot access the full clubhouse because stairs are required to reach the second floor. To get to the basement, students with mobility disabilities must enter through the back of the club. She received a discount on club dues to make up for her limited ability to navigate the club.

‘You have to keep fighting for your right to get things accommodated’ ODS facilitates academic accommodations by providing letters of accommodation to faculty members. Disabled students who spoke with the ‘Prince’ explained how those accommodations have been vital to their University experience. Even so, for some disabled students, navigating the classroom and interactions with faculty members still bears significant challenges.

Disabled students at Princeton and the ongoing fight for a more inclusive campus

Residential assignments and re-assignments: Dorm life for disabled students

Faughnan recently started a petition to install an elevator that could transport her and future members with mobility difficulties to every floor. Currently, 128 members and alumni have signed the petition, according to Faughnan. As of now, the graduate board estimates that they can install an elevator in about three to four years, Faughnan said. “Right now, I am the most vocal person in the club about this, but I’m not the only person in the club that needs it. There are other disabled people currently in Quad that just aren’t as comfortable or aren’t as public about things,” she said. Other eating clubs are moving towards installing elevators to improve accessibility. Tower Club will be installing an elevator this summer, according to former president Savannah Hampton ’22. “This is important to Tower as part of our continuing effort to become ADA compliant and work for inclusion within our Club,” she wrote. “The Club has been around since 1902, and we’re constantly looking to adapt for the benefit of our membership. This takes form in a few ways, and the elevator is a salient point to see this ongoing effort.” But physical accessibility is not the only issue that disabled students have faced at the eating clubs. Students report also experiencing a general lack of understanding from eating club staff and contracted security personnel about how the club can accommodate their needs. Due to her disability, Julia Elman ’23 cannot stand for long periods of time, especially in the cold. One night, as she struggled to wait in line at an eating club, she asked a security guard if she could sit inside to warm up.“He said, ‘Okay, come this way’ and I was like, ‘Oh, thank God.’ And then he put his arm out and directed me out of the line,” Elman said. “No, this isn’t a place for you. You shouldn’t be here,” she said the guard had told her. The ‘Prince’ was not able to independently contact this guard as Elman could not disclose the eating club in Outsidequestion.ofthe eating clubs or other social spaces on campus, disabled students have found their own community through the Disability Collective (DisCo) student group, which was founded in 2020. Members described how this group provides a sense of solidarity and shows them that they are not alone in their experiences. “It’s been great to talk to other people in a way that gives me more confidence to stand up for myself and ask for accommodations and use ODS,” Elman said. Because the club was created right before the pandemic, much of the community was formed through a virtual group chat. Disabled students use the chat to ask each other questions about accommodations and share their experiences surrounding accessibility and inclusion.Inthe fall 2021 semester, Li organized several in-person gatherings in her room or in Campus Club so that members could get to know each other better. As one of the founding members, she expressed how appreciative she is for this community.“Itseems so small, but just the fact that you have people to rant to when you have a flare, or when the housing accommodations cycle pops up again, just the fact that people are there to listen to you who get it, it really changes things. I think emotionally, it’s meant a lot to me that it started to exist,” she said. While Konopka has enjoyed being part of DisCo, she also hopes that the club expands in the future and can plan more in-person activities. “I think it’s really nice to have that community. I feel like it needs to be more advertised more because it’s sort of underground,” she continued. Even with the accessibility barriers present on the Street, disabled students have formed their own communities and made impacts that they hope will last for years to come. Beyond the importance of the social ties of these communities for students like Li and Konopka, the groups’ efforts have extended into campus advocacy as well, with some concrete results. The future of disability on campus In recent years, DisCo and the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) disability task force have engaged in sustained organizing to improve disability representation on campus. (Full disclosure: This reporter founded the USG disability task force in fall 2020 and co-led it withTheLee).task force has spearheaded a variety of initiatives related to accessibility and inclusion, such as a training for eating club officers on making their clubs more accessible and an introduction to disability services module in summer programming for incoming firstyears.Beyond projects strictly related to disability information and education, the task force has also been collaborating with other members of USG to make disability a more central part of broader USG programming. As a result of this collaboration, the recent USG survey included several questions about the disabled student experience. “I think we’ve been able to work with other USG members to normalize the conversation around accommodations and disability and accessibility such that when they launch USG-wide projects, like a school-wide survey, we’re able to be a part of that conversation, that disability isn’t left behind,” Lee said. Faughnan and Lee have both participated in conversations with University administration and representatives from University Health Services (UHS) and Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) about the University’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affects disabled students. In one of these recent conversations, Faughnan brought up her concerns about the recent change to the masking and testing policies. “I don’t know how much it is always doing,” she said about her participation in these meetings. “But I think I’m very grateful to still be able to have that voice and be able to say that, even if it’s just going out into the Elmanether.”believes there has been an increase in awareness of the needs of disabled students in the past few years, especially in light of the pandemic.“People [are] thinking a bit more about invisible disabilities and specifically immunocompromised people. The pandemic has made it [so] there’s more visibility,” she said. “It’s still nowhere near where it needs to be, but I have seen that change and it has been nice.” Current disabled and chronically ill students hope that their activism will help students in the future. “It’s a matter of just having the strength and the bravery to advocate for themselves,” Lee said. “As scary as that can be, I think knowing that people are in their corner and that people have done what they’re doing can be a great source of solace, as it was for me.”

Features

The Office of Disability Services (ODS) was first established in 2006, and Elizabeth Erickson, the office’s director, has been there since the beginning.“Whenthe Office of Disability Services was created back in fall 2006, the main charge for the office was to provide academic accommodations for students with disabilities,” Erickson said. “Along with that, we also were charged to be a resource to the campus in general, faculty, staff, visitors.”Over the years, the University has seen an increase in the number of disabled students on campus. Erickson provided data about the number of students who receive accommodations from ODS — not including housing accommodations. (She did not grant The Daily Princetonian permission to print exact numbers, citing concerns about misinterpretations of theThedata.)number of students receiving accommodations in the academic year 2019–2020 is over 250 percent higher than the number of students who had accommodations in academic year 2010–2011. Hover over each column to see the percentage increase in students with accommodations, utilizing the 2010–2011 school year as a baseline. One explanation for the increase in students registered with ODS is that ODS now provides more accommodations for students with psychological disabilities than they did in the past, according to Erickson.“When I first came to the University, students with psychological disabilities really weren’t accommodated through the Office of Disability Services,” she said. “Now, the numbers of students with those disabilities is pretty much neck-and-neck with students who have cognitive disabilities.” The data provided by Erickson shows that the percentage of students with cognitive disabilities and sensory disabilities registered with ODS has decreased since 2010, while the representation of students with mobility and psychological disabilities has increased. The following chart displays the primary disability for students registered with ODS, with primary disability referring to the category of disability that ODS considers the most prominent.Yeteven with this documented increase in the number of disabled students and the increase in approved accommodations, students continue to face a variety of challenges.

page 12 www. dailyprincetonian .com }{ August 2022

page 13August 2022 The Daily Princetonian

Rohit A. Narayanan Community Opinion Editor

The Princeton School and State Report’s once-lightheart ed residential college ranking is influencing more and more students’ decisions on which residential colleges to apply to, which is driving admis sion rates at the top residen tial colleges to subterranean levels. The other residential colleges feel the pressure to be come more selective. “We were fourth last year! Fourth!” the Rocky College Head explodes, “We need to seem more selec tive. More essays! More weird requirements!”Wenowmove to a confer ence room at a top company, where the CEO chomps on a cigar and demands to hear what factors known at hiring time correlate with job perfor mance. “Well, sir,” whimpers a data scientist vastly overquali fied for her position, “among our Princeton employees, grades were a good indica tor of job performance — but there also seems to be a strong correlation to what residential college they were in.” “That’s fantastic!” the CEO cries, sur reptitiously firing half the recruitment staff. “Why do I need to bother identifying the most qualified applicants when Princeton already sorted them by merit their freshman year?”Students now spend years in a furious rat race to make their Whitman application stand out and thus punch their ticket to career success. Some where, a student protests to their parents: “I don’t want to apply to Whitman! Everyone gets the same degree, it’s just a residential college. I have always wanted to live in the architectural manifestation of a cardboard box, which is why New College East is for me!” “Stop setting such low stan dards,” their parents scoff. “If you can get into Whitman, you have to go.”

Whitman even mean?

It’s a col lege, not an airline seat! But instead of saying any of that, the admissions officer hands over the applications with the top WAT scores, which is re ally the only thing he knows how to sort. “These people are a perfect fit for Whitman,” he declares, as if he could say any thing else without eliminat ing his own position.

Princeton’s commitment to inclusion must extend to athletics MCALPINE PRINCETONIAN

The sham of meritocracy in Princeton admissions

Opinion

A scandal erupts as it turns out Whitman has been allo cating a certain number of spots to students who went to the same high school as past Whitman-ites, which of course favors the wealthy from pri vate schools that send many students to Princeton. “It’s a tiebreaker used only in the rar est of circumstances,” the Col lege Head lies, as if the staff could make heads or tails of the uniformly perfect applica tions without the use of that tie-breaker. Outside, students protest, demanding an end to the privilege. “All we want is to be judged on merit,” they chant.But as right as they may be about the unfair tiebreaker, they’re missing the point. The whole system is a sham — a game of arbitrary sorting over a totally meaningless prize. Sorting by merit to pick a resi dential college has no value. If you were hiring a brain sur geon, you would sort the can didates by merit. But why do the smartest students have to live next to each other? What does that have to do with fit? It was a great idea to have stu dents choose between Rocky and Forbes, but are the super ficial differences between the two colleges worth the years of stress the application creates? Are the differences between Princeton and Georgetown and Washington University at St. Louis important enough to justify the same system? This experiment must be judged a failure. The benefits are not worth the costs. And the same goes for college admissions. Princeton could eliminate its admissions department and form an admissions col lective with other private col leges of similar size, expense, and offerings. Students would apply once to the collective and the larger team would form multiple college classes, then randomly match each class with one of the colleges in the collective — eliminat ing the hierarchy between se lective colleges. The collective would not include all colleges: it may not be prudent to have students randomly placed between a large state school and a small liberal arts col lege. But where the differences are largely superficial, a col lective could better manage admissions rate deflation and dampen the absurdity of col legePrincetonsorting. assigns residen tial colleges randomly for a reason. If only it could ap ply that same wisdom to the much more destructive system of college admissions that it helps perpetuate. Rohit Narayanan is a rising Junior concentrating in electri cal and computer engineering from McLean, Va. He is the Community Opinion Editor at the ‘Prince.’ You can ratio him on Twitter @Rohit_Narayan an or spam his email at rohi tan@princeton.edu.

/ THE DAILY

AJ Lonski Guest Contributor ETHAN

This fall semester, my quality of life improved dra matically. I found friends that care about my wellbe ing and make me excited to get up every morning. I am so thankful for the inclusive and kind friend group that I have become a part of. Both individual faculty members and members of the GSRC and SHARE groups have helped improve my mental health beyond what I used to think was possible. But athletic culture at Princeton remains an ongo ing problem. On the wres tling team, there have been steps in the right direction, including the creation of a women’s wrestling program. While I was ultimately not the person who could bring about the cultural change that the team so sorely needs, I am hopeful that in the fu ture every Princeton athlete will have the benefit of an inclusive and understanding environment.

Content Warning: The follow ing article contains descriptions of homophobia and sexism. The following is a guest contribution and reflects the au thor’s views alone. For information on how to submit an article to the Opin ion Section, click here. Princeton is supposed to be a place where everyone is welcome. People here fre quently talk about their com mitment to diversity and in clusion. That’s why, when I first committed to Princeton for varsity wrestling, I was ecstatic. But as it turns out, the commitment to diversity and inclusion often doesn’t extend to Princeton’s varsity sports teams. In order to en sure everyone feels welcome, that culture has to change. I started wrestling at the age of seven. My father, a for mer Princeton wrestler, en couraged me to try the sport. I quickly fell in love with it and found myself compet ing in tournaments across the country. There’s a certain magic to competing on your own, without the added com plexity of a field full of team mates.Butthat magic was clouded by the culture of toxicity and intolerance that surrounded me throughout my wrestling career. Growing up, my pri vate coaches regularly used homophobic slurs to berate those who were not perform ing up to their standards. My high school teammates did the same. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I was scared to speak out — wor ried that the backlash would make an already brutal sport that much more difficult. Even as a varsity captain of a nationally ranked program, I knew I could not approach the subject of the toxic cul ture without being made fun of by teammates and coaches alike and facing the risk of being outed. My teammates and coaches would often make up scenarios where an LGBTQ+ individual was dis covered on the team — and how they would try to push them away from wrestling by any means possible. It felt like I had to choose between my passion and my identity. That’s why wrestling at Princeton was such a dream come true. My very conser vative, private Catholic high school had numerous na tionally successful athletic programs, but intolerance and bigotry were espoused by both faculty and students. Princeton had both an excel lent athletics program and many inclusive places on campus — such as the Gen der and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC). The thought of interacting with openminded and kind people at Princeton kept me excited throughout my senior year of highAfterschool.arriving on campus, I realized that this was not the environment that I had envisioned — at least not on the wrestling team. The first thing I noticed was the casual use of homophobic slurs, which only got worse when members of the team drank alcohol. Moreover, constant jokes were made at the expense of minority group members of the team. Women involved with the wrestling program were dis paraged constantly. The drinking culture be came another point of exclu sion. My freshman year, an other freshman on the team voiced that they disliked drinking alcohol. The upper classmen on the team never let him live it down. When I, myself, declined to drink the day after I had a moder ate amount of alcohol, I was mocked mercilessly. The em phasis placed on the “team culture,” of which alcohol was a major part, meant that my social interactions with the team were often forced and uncomfortable. I often left events and gatherings early because of how anxious I felt.One of the most salient memories I have from my time on the team occurred in the locker room, before prac tice. When an upperclassman was addressing the wrestling team, the topic of LGBTQ+ athletes came up. Rather than expressing acceptance, he stated, “The day that there is a gay person on this team is the day that the wrestling program has gone to s***.” Hearing that intolerant senti ment was heartbreaking, but notUnfortunately,surprising. I faced di rect discrimination as well. At Princeton, I have disabil ity housing due to my sleep ing disorder, anxiety disor der, and depression. When my teammates saw my Whit man single — they became fixated on their belief that I “had lied” in order to re ceive better housing accom modations. Despite my pro tests, my teammates never acknowledged my disability. I felt distant, excluded and uncomfortable — just the things I had hoped Princeton wouldMostcure.students have lots of choice when it comes to which communities they want to be a part of on campus. Ath letes don’t — team culture is tight-knit. When that cul ture is as exclusionary as my experience demonstrates, it becomes a straightjacket for athletes that break the norm. The culture can’t be blamed on any specific person — it’s the result of a collective lack of will to do better. Despite the overwhelming discom fort I felt each day at Prince ton, I maintained my silence. I participated in a culture that disappointed me deeply. After COVID-19 sent the Princeton population home in March 2020, I realized just how unhappy I had been on campus. So, I left the team at the end of July 2021. While I gave up the opportunity to compete for an excellent D1 athletic program, my mental health was more important.

page 14 www. dailyprincetonian .com }{ August 2022

AJ Lonski is a rising senior from Franklin Lakes, NJ major ing in Neuroscience. He can be reached at alonski@princeton. edu.

P rinceton’s admis sions system is under increasing scrutiny. As other colleges eliminate their legacy preferences, some think Princ eton should do the same. The SAT, long the cornerstone of college admissions, is being abandoned to eliminate so cioeconomic disparities in ad missions.Breaking down the rem nants of a self-serving system for the elite is a noble goal, but nobody seems to be question ing the fundamental principle behind college admissions: meritocracy. We’re getting better and better at sorting high schoolers into colleges by merit and accepting the fact that the all-consuming nature of college admissions is inevi table. But if we created such a ridiculous system in any other context, we’d immediately rec ognize its absurdity. To prove it, let’s take a trip to an alternate reality. Princeton suddenly has an idea: instead of randomly assigning firstyear students to one of the six (soon to be eight) residential colleges, why not let students choose which residential col lege they prefer? Prospective students who have a fond ness for Nassau Street might choose a room in Rockefeller or Mathey Colleges. Aficionados of the Forbes dining hall might decide that living in Forbes is worth the walk. Students who like air conditioning and So viet revival architecture might choose one of the new colleges. But considering that the luxury of the rooms and their durability against dragon at tacks are top priorities for many students, Whitman College is likely to have more applications than the others: likely more than they have room for. The Whitman Col lege staff wonders what to do. Should they just accept stu dents randomly? “No, no, no!” someone says, “We have to find the students who are a good fit for Whitman. Let’s have them write essays about why they want to be in Whitman.” This idea achieves broad ac claim. So now, students com ing to Princeton spend their summers refining their Whit man admission essays. And the Whitman College staff sit on the floor, sorting through hundreds of applications. “This is hopeless!” someone cries out. “Everyone has the same story about how they’ve dreamed of living in Whitman since the womb. There has to be some way to tell them apart! What we need is more data — an aptitude test and letters of recommendation. Let’s have them submit their high school transcripts. Then it’ll be clear who should be a part of Whit man College.” So students now spend their summers balancing studying for the Whitman Aptitude Test (WAT), coaxing their friends to write letters of recommenda tion attesting to their natural sociability, and writing evermore dramatic tales of how their life is really an epic quest that ends in Whitman College. And the Whitman staff once more look at the applications. “So, do you know which ones are a good fit for Whitman?” the college head asks the newly appointed admissions officer. Of course not, the admissions officer thinks, I’m an admin istrator, not a mystic. What on earth does a good fit for

Audrey Chau is a ris ing sophomore from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She can be reached at audreychau@ princeton.edu.

Nobel prizes won by Princ eton affiliates in a single year. This achievement speaks volumes about the quality of a Princeton ed ucation — one that fuels passion, celebrates excel lence, and promises suc cess no matter what path youPresidenttake. Christopher Eisgruber ’83 echoed this premise of excellence in his interview with The At lantic: “The idea of a place like Princeton is that you can identify young people who have extraordinary talent and will benefit from an intensive academ ic experience.” Extraor dinary is a big word that conveys immense expec tations: accepted students are already extraordinary individuals, and with an “intensive” Princeton edu cation, they are set up for success.Itisnot a surprise, then, that failure is a taboo top ic among different social circles here. It is feared and to be avoided at all costs. Though nieduglyselectiveishere,counterkind.themWhatareknowingGatethroughofPrincetoncredibletively.ofplicationandetonadmissionsfailmentneedsanMeanwhile,failtheirwhothatcounterintuitive,seeminglyIarguePrincetonstudents,areoftendefinedbysuccesses,needtoearlyandfailoften.Princetonaseducationalinstitutiontocreateanenvironwherestudentscanwithoutfear.Forthetwomostrecentcycles,Princaccepted3.98percent5.55percentofitsappoolfortheClass2025and2024,respecBeatingtheseinoddstobecomeaTiger,membersthefirst-yearclasswalkFitzRandolphforthefirsttimethattheytrulythecreamofthecrop.isnotexpectedfromisafailureofanySowhenstudentsentheirfirstfailuresithurts.Whetheritbeingrejectedfromaclub,gettingangrade,orbeingdeaninternship,stu

uring the week of Oct. 11, fourthcelebratedPrincetontheandfifth

page 15 www. dailyprincetonian .com }{ August 2022 Opinion vol. editor-in-chiefcxlvi Marie-Rose Sheinerman ’23 business manager Benjamin Cai ’24 BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president David Baumgarten ’06 secretary Chanakya A. Sethi ’07 treasurer Douglas Widmann ’90 assistant treasurer Kavita Saini ’09 trustees Francesca Barber Craig Bloom ’88 Kathleen Crown Suzanne Dance ’96 Gabriel Debenedetti ’12 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Michael Grabell ’03 John G. Horan ’74 Danielle Ivory ’05 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Julianne Escobedo Shepherd Abigail Williams ’14 Tyler Woulfe ’07 trustees ex officio Marie-Rose Sheinerman ’23 Benjamin Cai ’24 146TH MANAGING BOARD managing editors head audience editor Rowen Gesue ’24 associateeditorsaudience Meryl Liu ’25 Sai Rachumalla ’24 head cartoon editors Inci Karaaslan ’24 Ambri Ma ’24 associate cartoon editor Ariana Borromeo ’24 head copy editors Alexandra Hong ’23 Nathalie Verlinde ’24 associate copy editors Catie Parker ’23 Cecilia Zubler ’23 head web design editors Anika Maskara ’23 Brian Tieu ’23 associate web design editor Ananya Grover ’24 head graphics editors Ashley Chung ’23 Noreen Hosny ’25 print design editor Juliana Wojtenko ’23 special issues editor Evelyn Doskoch ’23 head data editor Sam Kagan ’24 head features editors Alex Gjaja ’23 Rachel Sturley ’23 associateeditorfeatures Sydney Eck ’24 head news editors Katherine Dailey ’24 Andrew Somerville ’24 associate news editors Kalena Blake ’24 Anika Buch ’24 Miguel Gracia-Zhang ’23 Sandeep Mangat ’24 newsletter editors Kareena Bhakta ’24 Amy Ciceu ’24 Aditi Desai ’24 head opinion editor Genrietta Churbanova ’24 community editor Rohit A. Narayanan ’24 associate opinion editors Won-Jae Chang ’24 head photo editor Candace Do ’24 associate photo editor Angel Kuo ’24 Isabel Richardson ’24 head podcast editor Hope Perry ’24 associate podcast editors Jack Anderson ’24 Eden Teshome ’25 head prospect editors José Pablo Fernández García ’23 Aster Zhang ’24 associate prospect editors Molly Cutler ’23 Cathleen Weng ’24 head puzzles editors Gabriel Robare ’24 Owen Travis ’24 associate puzzles editors Juliet Corless ’24 Joah Macosko ’25 Cole Vandenberg ’24 head satire editor Claire Silberman ’23 associate satire editors Spencer Bauman ’25 Daniel Viorica ’25 head sports editors Wilson Conn ’25 Julia Nguyen ’24 associate sports editor Ben Burns ’23 Elizabeth Evanko ’23 associate video editors Daniel Drake ’24 Marko Petrovic ’24 146TH BUSINESS BOARD assistantmanagerbusiness Shirley Ren ’24 business directors David Akpokiere ’24 Samantha Lee ’24 Ananya Parashar ’24 Gloria Wang ’24 project managers Anika Agarwal ’25 John Cardwell ’25 Jack Curtin ’25 Diya Dalia ’24 Jonathan Lee ’24 Juliana Li ’24 Emma Limor ’25 Justin Ong ’23 Xabier Sardina ’24 business associate Jasmine Zhang ’24 THIS PRINT ISSUE WAS DESIGNED BY Dimitar Chakarov ’24 Juliana Wojtenko ’23 Accessibility Isabel Rodrigues ’23 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Melat Bekele ’24 Auhjanae McGee ’23 Education Evelyn Doskoch ’23 José Pablo Fernández García ’23 Financial Stipend Program Rooya Rahin ’23 Sections listed in alphabetical order. Omar Farah ’23 Caitlin Limestahl ’23 Tanvi Nibhanupudi ’23 Zachariah Wirtschafter Sippy ’23 Strategic initiative directors 146TH TECHNOLOGY BOARD chiefofficertechnology Pranav Avva ’24 leadengineerssoftware Roma Bhattacharjee ’25 Joanna Tang ’24 software engineers Eugenie Choi ’24 Giao Vu Dinh ’24 Daniel Hu ’25 Dwaipayan Saha ’24 Kohei Sanno ’25

Princeton needs to make more space for failure amid the abundance of success D

Audrey Chau Assistant Opinion Editor

dents belatedly realize that failure at Princeton is inevitable, and yet they are not mentally prepared to deal with it. This fear of failure among the student body is further exacerbated by the rigorous nature of a Princeton education, one that leaves no room for reflection and recovery from failures. Semesters at Princeton are 15 weeks long; this extremely fastpaced semester leaves no time for rebound if a stu dent gets bad grades on major exams, which often count toward 20–40 per cent of their entire grade. With this schedule, even when students are open to the idea of failing, they do not have enough time to bounce back from the inci dent, let alone extrapolate important lessons from it. It is also not hard to re alize that while opportu nities to be involved on campus are endless, they are also measurements of students’ capabilities. Outside of the classroom, anything can turn into a competition, from the number of selective clubs one is in, the prestige of a summer internship, to the amount of sleep one gets. When students are in an environment where one’s success can feel like an other’s failure, expecting them to detach their selfworth from their achieve ments (or lack thereof) and to truly embrace failure when everyone else seems to be moving forward is a tallWhileorder.this culture of failure-fearing and com petitiveness stems partly from the naturally driv en personalities of most Princeton students, the University should also foster a learning environ ment that provides a safe ty net for students when theyGranted,fail. the Univer sity Student Government (USG) has initiated certain efforts towards this pur pose. One such effort is the student-driven Princ eton Perspective Project (PPP) which aims to defy the notion of effortless perfectionism — the “il lusion that other’s paths to success and fulfillment are easy, uncomplicated, and free of failure.”

CANDACE DO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

I talked to Mayowa Oke ’22, a former Ambassador of the Princeton Perspec tive Project to learn about the University’s role in the project. According to Oke, while there were men tors, faculty members, and hefty funding available at their disposal, PPP activi ties in the past years were mostly student-led. Even though PPP has undoubtedly helped more students realize that it is okay to fail at Princeton, it still lacks a top-down approach with concrete policy changes that are necessary to create sub stantial impacts on cam pus and truly facilitate the systematic transition from a success-only to failurefriendly environment. It is also important, however, to acknowledge that the pervasiveness of these issues is not Princ eton-specific. There are several accounts regarding how the same problem also plagues other top insti tutions like Harvard and Stanford, where accepted students are also under a constant fear of failure. Nevertheless, that does not mean that we should wait for someone else to take the initiative. In this regard, Oke be lieves that the University needs to utilize a truly human-first approach. Through more tangible regimes such as bolster ing the mental health sup port system or researching ways to make the teaching and evaluation system less credentialist, the Universi ty can more easily encour age students to take intel lectual risks — knowing that even if they fail, they will have the time and re sources to stand back up. The Princetonians I have met during my short time here are nothing short of extraordinary. Yet, Princ eton needs to create a safe environment where students know that they cannot be extraordinary without first learning to embrace their ordinary, fallible selves.

Abigail Rabieh Columnist

Why won’t anyone teach me math? Last July, I decided I wanted to take math in college. My heart was set on it. Did I have any desire to major in math? Absolutely not. Did I need a math class to fulfill a requirement? Nope, I wanted to be a history major. But I enjoyed math in high school, and I wanted to continue to explore the field. I had previ ously taken classes up to lin ear algebra, so I selected MAT 202 from the Math Depart ment website. I took math because I de sired to learn. One would think a student like me would thrive in this class, especially at a university that prides it self on enabling students “to pursue multiple interests rig orously and deeply,” as Presi dent Eisgruber says on the University website. Unfortu nately, it is difficult for stu dents pursuing humanities and social science degrees to explore classes within STEM departments due to the in accessibility of introductory courses.Though I passed MAT 202 class just fine, my experience in it was miserable. The way the course was run did not at all set up students to succeed — or even learn math. For ex ample, though we were pro vided with practice problems to prepare for our exams, we were never given solutions. My class consistently begged my professor for these, yet all he could say was that not pro viding them was departmen tal policy, and it was out of his control.This begs the question: what interest does a depart ment have in making it im possible to study? Study materials are given so that students can learn the course material and prepare ad equately for the exam. Solu tion sets are part of this: to properly learn, one needs to be able to identify their mis takes and understand why they are wrong. By not sup porting students who are making an effort to study, it becomes both extremely dif ficult to learn material, and demoralizing to even try. This struggle was reflected in our exam averages, which were, respectively, in the 50s, the 60s, and the 30s. I am far from the only per son who felt this way about my class. MAT 202 has an abysmal rating of 2.71 on princetoncourses.com dur ing the spring 2020-2021 se mester. The evaluations on the Office of the Registrar’s website are no better. Stu dents described the course as “disheartening” and said they “lost a lot of respect for the Math department after taking this course.” The ad vice that came up again and again in many reviews was: “Don’t take this class unless you have to.” MAT 202 is not a course that math majors typically take, but rather for under classmen who are majoring in engineering or sciences. Because of this, the priority of the class should be teach ing students as much as pos sible about math so that they will remember and utilize the discipline in classes and ma jors that are not focused on that realm — something that would be equally interesting, if not as useful, for humani ties majors. Is this not what introductory classes are all about? Princeton promises students a “liberal arts edu cation,” and defines that as an education offering “ex pansive intellectual ground ing in all kinds of humanistic inquiry.”Yetas a humanities stu dent, it feels extremely diffi cult to explore STEM fields. I wanted to learn some in troductory physics in college because I had an awful expe rience with it in high school, but I’ve been dissuaded my experience in math — not to mention that the most recent average rating of the four in troductory physics courses (PHY 101, 102, 103, 104) is a 3.2, and the comments repeatedly have told me to only take this class if I have to. We are often told of engi neering or STEM students exploring the humanities to their heart’s content, but I feel that we rarely hear of students in the humanities being en couraged to take scientific or quantitative classes. The University website assures readers that “Students who elect to major in the natural sciences or engineering, for example, also take classes in history, languages, philoso phy, [and] the arts,” but I don’t see any inspiration for those of us who really want to learn math, or physics, or chemis try, but just don’t want to fo cus on it for 4 years. On face value, 100 and 200 level classes appear approach able for students who simply want an introduction to a field. I wanted to learn lin ear algebra! I had the correct prerequisite knowledge to do it. So why didn’t the math department encourage me in this pursuit? I understand that profes sors and departments have an obligation to teach a cer tain amount of material and maintain a certain pace, but there are ways to teach that focus more on developing an understanding of a field rather than beating down students’ self-confidence and making problems so hard that learning at all is diffi cult. I would think that de partments want students to fall in love with their subjects. But though I entered the se mester with a love for math, I left with the certainty that I would never take a math class again, and a lack of desire to explore other scientific fields for fear that I would have a similar experience.

Simply put, the skills ar tistic groups seek in their applicants are expensive to develop. For example, an hour-long music lesson in the US costs above $60 on average. It is precisely these costly lessons that help ap plicants get into groups such as the Princeton Uni versity Orchestra. On the same note, a naturally tal ented singer who has taken years of expensive sing ing lessons likely has an advantage over an equally talented singer with no for mal training during an a capella audition. The same principle can be applied to dance lessons and athletic coaching.Sowhat can we do to make access to extracur riculars more equitable at Princeton? The answer is different for every club; dance teams will obvious ly have different consid erations than consulting clubs. But PMUNT offers a goodAccordingexample.to Richter, “in the first round [of PMUNT tryouts], the first portion is country speeches, but the second portion is actu ally a game that tests criti cal thinking. It has abso lutely nothing to do with policy or really Model UN. That gives a real advantage to people who don’t have experience to show their ability to come up with cre ative solutions.” Including a non-traditional element, such as a game, in the ap plication process can alle viate the stress of applica tions and allow students of all backgrounds a more equal chance to shine. As for artistic clubs, making the audition pro cess more equitable pro vides more of a challenge. But groups that do not do so already could offer a handful of training ses sions before formal audi tions, during which appli cants would be taught the fundamentals of the artis tic form they are interested in.The majority of clubs’ ap plication cycles have come to a close this semester, but another application cycle looms around the corner. For those readers who have the power to make the club application process more equitable, I urge you to take the time and effort to do so.

ROHIT NARAYANAN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Fine Hall, home of Princeton’s Math Department. P rinceton is an in credibly competi tive Duringinstitution.itsappli cation cycle for the class of 2025, the University ac cepted only 3.98 percent of applicants. But, as most undergraduates come to realize during their time at Princeton, competition does not end with admis sion.Princeton’s extracur ricular clubs are notori ously competitive as well. Everything from dance teams and a capella groups to entrepreneurship or ganizations and consult ing clubs require applica tions or auditions. Given that Princeton’s clubs are drawing from an applicant pool made up of some of the most motivated young adults in the country, get ting into one of these ex clusive groups can be quite a feat.Inan ideal world, clubs would not require applica tions. The unfortunate re ality is, however, that the number of applicants of ten exceeds the quantity of available spots in a student group. Little can be done to change that. But there is an element of the club application process that re quires our attention: much like the college admissions process itself, the club ap plication process at Princ eton favors high-income individuals.Thereisno denying that the college application process favors the wealthy. More disposable income means greater access to ex pensive extracurriculars, private schools, and wellfunded public schools. The same factors that make high-income students more likely to be admit ted to competitive colleges also increase their chances of being welcomed into highly selective extracur ricularLow-incomegroups.students are less likely to participate in costly after school activi ties, resulting in what “The Atlantic” refers to as “the activity gap.” The schools low-income students at tend are less likely to of fer niche extracurriculars, such as active school papers and programming clubs. In short, low-income students have, on average, less expo sure to the kinds of activi ties offered at Princeton than their higher-income peers. But does prior expe rience in the extracurricu lar in question benefit club applicants?Intheir advertising, many of Princeton’s clubs claim that no experience is necessary to join. Students habitually complain that such statements are false and only make stomaching club rejections more diffi cult. I am not here to eval uate whether such claims are true or false. What I will argue, however, is that even when clubs genuinely are not concerned with ap plicants’ prior experience, the club application pro cess nonetheless favors ap plicants with certain skill sets — skill sets that wellfunded public schools and private schools tend to em phasize.Takefor example Model United Nations. I spoke with Sophia Richter ’23, captain of the Princeton Model United Nations Team (PMUNT), to gain in sight into PMUNT’s appli cation process. When asked what makes for a successful PMUNT applicant, Richter answered: “We are definite ly not looking for experi ence. We take people every single year who don’t have any Model UN experience and sometimes don’t even really know what Model UN is. We are much more look ing for people who are good speakers, who understand policy well … We also look for people who seem like they are leaders.” The skill set expected of PMUNT applicants — pub lic speaking and leadership ability — is significantly easier to develop at the type of schools high-income students tend to attend. Such schools tend to have smaller class sizes, which increases students’ chanc es to speak up in class. Such schools also foster leader ship skills via their broad club offerings. This is not to say that low-income stu dents cannot be effective public speakers or leaders regardless of past experi ence. I am simply pointing out the unfortunate reality that high-income students are more likely to attend high schools that encour age the development of certain skill sets, public speaking and leadership amongThus,others.academic clubs’ ap plication process often fa vors high-income students. But what about competitive creative clubs, such as a ca pella and dance groups?

Opinion

Genrietta Churbanova is a rising junior from Little Rock, Ark. She can be reached at geaac@princeton.edu.

Genrietta Churbanova Head Opinion Editor

Competitive clubs: how Princeton’s selectivefavorextracurricularsthewealthy

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Abigail Rabieh is a rising sophomore columnist from Cam bridge, Mass. She can be reached at ar5732@princeton.edu.

SYDNEY PENG / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

By Elizabeth Medina, Staff Cartoonist By Fizzah Arshad, Staff Cartoonist By Elizabeth Medina, Staff Cartoonist

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Advice Cookie

Relativity

Looking for a way to practice read ing in Hawaiian, Travis Chai Andrade ’24 approached Firestone librarians about materials in the indigenous language. He learned that there were nearly 300 sourc es — books, old newspapers, artifacts — for him to explore. He also brought a Hawaiian Bible to school. “I’m not even religious,” he said. “But there are so many words there.” The University offers instruction in 26 languages, but ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i is not one of them. To study languages outside the formal curriculum, Chai Andrade and several other students engage in selfdirected education, illuminating both the limitations and potential of informal languageSreenikethpractice.Vogoti ’25, the founder of the Telegu language table, moved to the United States from Andhra Pradesh, In dia when he was three years old. Growing up, he was exposed to several languages — Hindi, Telugu, Sanskrit — through his family and developed an appreciation for multilingualism, which he hoped to pursue at Princeton. “I wanted to interface with Telugu in the University,” Vogoti said, “but there was no formal medium to do that through courses.” In conversations with friends from the Princeton Hindu Society, Vogoti re alized that other students also hoped to practice Telugu, a Dravidian language spoken in southeast India. After gauging student interest, Vogoti began the Telugu language table at the beginning of his second semester at the University. “I don’t think that we should have to look for formal validation from an ex ternal source, like the University, to give credence to a certain topic or language or culture,” he Languagesaid.tables have a particular ad vantage over a classroom setting, accord ing to “WorksheetsVogoti. and conjugations and things are important but often dry, ” he said. “In a social setting, people of ten want to talk, and they will try to get through the barrier. The informality makes it enjoyable while not putting on the pressure of grades.” Still, to Chai Andrade, co-president of Natives at Princeton, it is important to learn Hawaiian in an academic set ting. Formal instruction in the language would allow him to more fully pursue his research interest in Hawaiian religious tradition.“Wehave all of these Hawaiian lan guage newspapers and documents and songs and chants that have cultural meaning and traditional knowledge em bedded in them,” Chai Andrade said. “If you lose the language, you lose the ability to understand these connections.” His motivation is personal, too. “As somebody who is Native Hawai ian and has struggled in finding ways to connect culturally,” Chai Andrade said, “[learning Hawaiian] is something I feel I need to do. Oftentimes, if you want to do something at Princeton, you have to find ways to say that it’s intellectual. But there’s this side of learning an indigenous language that is important in itself.” This significance, Andrade said, is conveyed by a Hawaiian proverb: I ka ‘Ōlelo nō ke ola, i ka ‘Ōlelo nō ka make, “In language there is life, in language there is death.”

The Quechua at Princeton workshop, led by Natalie Stein ’22 and Liam See ley ’23, has been involved in advocacy concerning the addition of indigenous language offerings.

The group has also hosted events — such as a discussion with the Quechua Collective of New York and a performance by Quechua-language poet and activist Irma Alvarez Ccoscco — in celebration of the Andean language. “Raising awareness and education about indigenous peoples of the Ameri cas is very important and relevant,” Stein said. “Having more language options, especially non-European or non-colonial dominant languages, is a really great way to expand the education that happens at Princeton.”Callsfor increased language repre sentation come at a moment when the University is expanding its Indigenous studies offerings. In December 2020, the University announced a $5 million dona tion to create an endowed position for the first professorship of Indigenous studies. Still, the implementation of a new language program — such as one for an indigenous language — is a lengthy pro cess dependent on factors beyond student advocacy.“Thedecision to offer a new language sequence at Princeton is one that takes time and planning to ensure its longev ity,” Jamie Rankin, director of the Center for Language Study and a senior lecturer in the German department, wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “Any new language sequence therefore requires ongoing student interest, as well as a sustainable commitment of departmental resourc es.”One option for students interested in a language not taught by the University is to take a summer course at another insti tution. According to Rankin, the Univer sity also partners with peer institutions to offer “less commonly taught” languag es for credit — for example, Princeton students can enroll virtually in Vietnam ese courses taught at Brown University. Within the Ivy League, Princeton offers instruction in a fewer number of languages than many of its peers. The University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Co lumbia, and Yale each offer over 40 lan guages, while Harvard offers close to 90. “It’s exciting to see how eager Prince ton students are to learn new languages,” Rankin wrote, “both those that are taught here and those that Princeton doesn’t cur rentlySteinoffer.”looked to learn Quechua inde pendently after studying abroad through Princeton in Argentina during the sum mer of her sophomore year. On a trip to the northern province of Jujuy, she first heard live performances of Andean mu sic.“I ended up really loving this music, so when I came back as a junior, I re searched Andean music the whole year,” Stein, a music concentrator, said. “A lot of the materials I was working with were in Quechua, so that’s what got me interested in theLikelanguage.”Stein, Benjamin Roberts ’22 looked to continue practicing the lan guage he learned abroad in Senegal, where he participated in the University’s Novogratz Bridge Year program. He used Wolof in his work at a community radio station and arts center, and more broadly, to get to know the people around him. On his way home each day, he’d chat with a man who’d teach him a new proverb.

Students find limitation and possibility in language practice outside University curriculum

By Molly Taylor Staff Features Writer

ANGEL KUO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN JULY 2022

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In language there is life

East Pyne Hall, home to many language departments.

“I thought it would be a shame to lose it,” Roberts said of his Wolof proficiency. When Mouhamed Ndiaye ’22 started the Wolof language table during the 2018 academic year, Roberts said he was en thusiastic to participate. Ndiaye lived in Senegal, where he spoke Wolof as his first language, until he moved to the United States at age 12. “The language table is a great oppor tunity to get other people who are inter ested in the language to practice,” Ndiaye said. “Usually we just sit around a meal of dining hall food, and we have prompts and share a bit about ourselves. It’s really informal.”Princeton offered Wolof courses, taught remotely by a Columbia Universi ty professor, in 2019 and 2020. Since then, the course has not been offered. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wolof language table continued to meet virtually. In each call, Ndiaye would introduce different media, such as short news clips, for the group to watch and Accordingdiscuss.toNdiaye, attendees of the Wolof table tend to fall into two catego ries: Bridge Year students, like Roberts, and heritage speakers. For heritage speakers, Ndiaye said, practicing Wolof can be particularly meaningful. “It is an important way to connect with family and friends, and to learn more about this culture that they have a tie Despiteto.”a lack of formal course offer ings for these heritage speakers and oth erwise interested students, the groups nonetheless persist in their language study — and in their advocacy for ex panded language opportunities in the University curriculum.

Grace Morris ’24: She’s very sweet. When you walk in and swipe your card and she smiles at you, it’s a little burst of happiness to take you through your day even on a random Wednesday. It’s really special that she makes the effort to take care of the students. Colby McArthur ’24: I don’t go to RoMa often but when I do, Heather makes my whole day. Sometimes when I’m deciding where to go, I’ll go to RoMa just because Heather and ev eryone at RoMa is so nice. Gabriela Veciana ’24: Heather and her needle point at RoMa are so love ly. Alessandro Troncoso ’25: I appreciate how gen uine she is, it makes me feel welcome at RoMa.

The Daily Princetonian: What do you prefer people call you?

HP: I like whodunnit books. The current author that I’m getting into read ing is Carlene Thompson. And I usually if I find an author I like I will read all of their books. So I was a big fan of Mary Higgins Clark, and read those.

DP: What is one of your favorite parts about work ing in RoMa? HP: The students. That’s my honest answer. You all keep me young. You know I’m certainly not hip, but I’m learning. My favorite part is just doing the job that I have, working with you guys: greeting people at the door. I wish every one a good morning, and I try to make sure no one goes by without a hello. I don’t have much fam ily that is local. But I al ways like to say you kids [Princeton students] are my kids. I dress up for the Halloween dinner which is always fun and you kids seem to like it.

“Fisayo” Adeyina ’22: Heather is lovely, she is always wel coming when I come into the dining hall. One time sophomore year I ripped my shirt, and she sewed the button back on for me. That was really nice of her.

DP: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

DP: Where in Pennsyl vania do you live? HP: In Levittown. It’s a nice neighborhood. It reminds me of the neigh borhoods I grew up in in the 70s. It’s a nice, easy home. Not too big. I know who my neighbors are but I don’t have to know their business.

DP: Do you live in the town of Princeton? HP: I’ve always lived in Jersey all around the state. I’m a born and raised Jer sey Girl. Hence my accent. I don’t live in Princeton now, but I did years ago with my husband. We lived in the area for may be a year or so. But now we live in Pennsylvania.

Nina De Marcken ’24: I love Heather and will talk about my love for her all day. ***

DP: Can you describe a day in your life?

Caio Costa ’22: She’s great! One particular day I was really down, and she noticed I wasn’t do ing well and came and gave me a hug. It’s a small thing and pre-COVID so I doubt she remembers, but it was a real highlight during a bad time.

Features

DP: What is your favor ite thing to cook or bake? HP: My mother’s choco late cake is the best cake ever. DP: What is your fa vorite needlepoint that you’ve done? HP: I would have to say the flower map, because that was the first piece I had done in 40 years. I had learned how to do embroi dery with my sister when I was little, maybe eight years old. She and I used to sit on Saturday morn ings and do our embroi deries watching old black and white movies. The flower map was a piece that I found in an old box of stuff I had from when I was a kid, and it had a few stitches in it. So I took out the stitches, got the colors I needed, and just started working on that. Although, I do like the other flower one that I have posted up on the door now.

DP: What do you do for fun or to relax? HP: I talked about the camping and most people

It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes sev eral thousand employees to educate and care for Princ eton undergraduate students once they begin their Univer sityHeathercareers.Parker is one such employee. For nearly two de cades, Parker has been greet ing students and swiping their prox cards as they en ter the Rocky-Mathey Dining Hall. During that time she has had a significant impact on the daily life of under graduate students. We sat down with several students and with Parker herself for a Q&A about “Ms. Heather.” The conversations below were edited for length and clarity.

The Daily Princetonian: Will you talk a little bit about Ms. Heather from RoMa?Olufisayo

page 19 www. dailyprincetonian .com }{ August 2022

SYDNEY ECK / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Ms. Heather holding her embroidery outside RoMa dining hall.

***

HP: I think my days at Princeton are probably more exciting than my days not at Princeton at the moment because it’s cold and there’s not much to do outside. My alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. DP: That’s early. HP: I don’t have a prob lem getting up at that hour anymore. When I was your age, if I had to be somewhere at 7 a.m., I was going to be late. But now I just come in in the morning, I help in the servery, then fill the nap kin holders, then the day really starts when I open up that door and greet ev eryone that comes by.

DP: You read a fair bit. What have you been read ing lately?

DP: What did you do before you came to Princ eton? HP: Well, I’ve pretty much always had counter jobs. I think that’s why I have a good time working at the door. I worked as a hotel clerk up at Newark Airport in the 80s, at the Holiday Inn. I also worked in Atlantic City at Bally’s Park Place. I like customer service, and I think I’m good at it at this point. I also used to do massage, but I got it in my head that when I reached a certain age I would stop massag ing and increase my hours here, which is what I’m doing.

I think know that I do needlepoint. But I think I’ve gotten a little old and a little boring. There are days when I am happy to go home, shut the door behind me, turn on the TV, and continue to sew. I used to host a “knit and stitch” where students could come sew and knit and crochet with me, but it’s been hard to get that together with COVID. I used to do a lot of walking and will when the weather gets warmer again. Walking down by the canal is always nice, but I have to be careful because if I go 45 min utes out, I have to go the 45 minutes back too. I also like to bake and I like to cook, so with my husband, and he will say “come sit down and re lax.” But when I’m up and baking I am relaxing.

By Sydney Eck Associate Features Editor face: a Q&A with Mathey College’s ‘Ms. Heather’

Princeton’s friendliest

HP: Come by my line and see me! I know Rocky and Mathey are far, but it’s worth the walk up here. I think our food is deli cious and I think we have a great group of people here who are pretty friendly.

DP: What about a not Princeton day? HP: You may know that my favorite saying is a bad day fishing beats a good day at work. Some times I’ll go grocery shop ping or do some house keeping, nothing too exciting. My husband and I like to go camping when the weather allows for it. We’ve been to some state parks and there’s a place out in Pennsylvania called Knoebels, which is a family-run amusement park. I like getting all the joys of an amusement park without the expense of a great adventure. The rides aren’t very high, and the custard is delicious!

Heather Parker: I like when people call me Ms. Heather. When I was growing up, there were women that were part of the family, even though they weren’t related to us. We called them Aunt Mary and Aunt Mildred. And even though we weren’t related we wanted to give them that respect. And I think I’ve reached that age. DP: When did you start working at the Universi ty? HP: Officially I am a FSW (a Food Services Worker). I started card checking back in 2003. I started at about twenty hours a week and through the years worked my way up, now I’m thirty hours a week, and I’m hoping to be a forty hour employee.

MARCH 2022

One of the first times they did Hidden Chaplains, I think five people from this unit were nominated, and I think that says a lot about the people here. And it’s our pleasure be ing here for you kids. Just know that you’re always

dents who are not in the room draw, 73 are first-years, 158 are sopho mores, and 303 are juniors.Those who chose to remain in room draw often tried their luck in a number of the lot teries. On average, juniors entered 3.9 draws, servecollegefractionedproceedbuttheirbersremaininggroupbreakgroupsmanydifferentferentoneFurthermore,accommodations.securenodifferentmayroom.uteswithinhousingonesecureenttakeAllhousingcomplicateditionaldents.inpopular,legewhile1,548tion,mostlegeothers.moreroomsomeclassmores.niorsallsixonecollege,ownconfinedandenteredsophomores5.4draws,first-years,totheirresidentialallentereddraw.Twenty-peopleentered10draws:11juand15sophoAmongupperstudents,residentialdrawswerepopularthanNewColWestwasthepopularopattractingstudents,ForbesColwastheleastbringingjust622stuAnumberofadfactorsone’sprocess.ofthedrawsplaceatdiffertimesand,tothespace,mustsignacontractfifteenminofselectingaWhileoneevaluatemanyoptions,individualcanmultipleasmayenterdifdrawswithgroups,roomdraweventuallyup.Ifone’schanges,thememdonotlosedrawtime,rathermustwiththegroup.Eachresidentialmustreasetnumber of spaces for firstyears and sopho mores. While there is no limit to the number of upper class students who may enter the draw for a given residen tial college, each college only has the capacity for a fraction of the sophomores and juniors on its room draw list. Spelman and sameFacebookResidentialsourcedbytaldraw.theMarchingUniversitysourcedthisdraweasier.isn’tnyfootage,location,lection,culuschoices.challengesaentsElmspanprojectsandbydraw,oneCollegebleswithresidentialmeanwhile,theefellergles,haslege,es.roomingdependingdifferentdrawsdentialcapacities.muchclasswhereaslarhousingindependentfacesimilimitations,upperhousinghaslargerhallDifferentresicollegemaysuitstudentsontheirpreferencWhitmanColforinstance,themostsinwhereasRockCollegehasfewest.Forbes,isthecollegethemostdouandMatheyistheonlywithquints.Thisyear’sroomcomplicatednewcollegesconstructionwhichthelengthofDrive,presstudentswithnovelseriesofandThecalofroomseweighingsquareandalitaofotherfactors,gettinganyAllhousinganddatausedinanalysiswasfromtheHousPortalon28th,beforestartofroomDataontoenrollmentclassyearwasfromtheCollegeonthedate.

By Sam Kagan, Lia Opperman, and Anika Maskara Head Data Editor, Assistant Editor,

We analyzed room draw: Over 50% of available housing will be next to construction

page 20 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

On March 27, the University released draw times for the most conventional room draw since the beginning of the COVID-19 pan demic. This year will be the first under the Univer sity’s plan to fully implement a fouryear residential college system, al lowing rectlydowsrooms“TheselyanchaelSpokespersonutysites,”todiatelythatdormsstanddentsaRooms’onarematicsures,year.2022-23atstructionadjacentbeavailableandofthatThehousingdentsRooms”theinggraduatehousinganthetions(NCW)NewlegedormsfirstdrawFurther,versitypurchasinghousingresidentialstudentsupperclasstoliveincollegewithoutaUnimealplan.thisroomcycleisthetofeatureinNewColEast(NCE)andCollegeWest—addithatpresentUniversitywithunprecedentedlottery.OntheUndermyHousportalunder“Availablelist,stumaybrowseoptions.listindicates15.2percentavailablerooms15.9percentofbedswill“immediatelytoaconproject”thestartoftheacademicBysomemeathisisadraundercount.“Thedormsthathighlightedthe‘AvailablelistarepromptforstutounderthatthosehaveroomsareimmeadjacentconstructionwroteDepUniversityMiHotchkissinemailtoTheDaiPrincetonian.designatedhavewinthatopenditoconstruc tion sites and that will expe rience the high est impacts

News

posesrenovationbeavailableandofcent,”structionreviewsessedtionssideringlinespectively,inglist“Availablements,structionacademicperiodstructionbeavailableandofsomeHall,TemporarymansonArtDilloningwhenfromoficcordinglierEstateHousingbyoverviewtotionsablecent”“constructionareaHobsonthebe——constructionthethe—likestance,projects.tionsexperienceadjacent,”eredwhileOtherconstruction.”fromhalls,notconsid“immediatelywillstilldisrupfromongoingForinbuildingsEdwardsHalldirectlyacrossstreetfromArtMuseumsiteorYoseloffHallwhichwillonlyseparatedfromconstructionofCollegebysinglewalkway—notdesignatedadjabythe“AvailRooms”list.TheseclassificaruncontraryaconstructionreleasedUniversityandRealServicesearthisyear.Actoagraphatthebeginningapresentationtheoffice,considertheprojectsatGym,theMuseum,HobCollege,WhitLawn,ButlerDiningandMcCosh,53.6percentavailablerooms53.9percentofbedswillnexttoconforsomeofthenextyear.ThetwoconassessfromtheRooms”andtheHousServices,redonotup.Whenconalllocathatareasbyeithertobe“conadja59.2percentavailablerooms59.1percentofbedswillnexttoacampusproject.Thiscountopaclaimmade on the “Available Rooms” list, which states that “there is enough capac ity for students to not have to select rooms that are im mediately adjacent to confined:dentsary.occurredlotterywereinfirst-yearCollegenowFirstdentstialassignedroomseligiblefirst-yearsacademicentiretyeatingmealpendentpledgesofingindependentdrawonlyple,ments.restrictivedrawstialassignedforwithdrawfortion.thearealldents,ofaeachstudentsanalyzedvenience.toric,space,thereadjacentoftheuponsible.sertionthistioningsites.”constructionInconsidertheconstrucindicatedonsheet,theasseemsplauHowever,examiningexpandedslateconstruction-rooms,isnotenoughbyanymetforallstudentsavoidtheinconThe‘Prince’alsowhichenteredroomdraw.OnemayenterdrawinagroupuptoeightstusolongasofthestudentseligiblefordrawinquesAfirst-year,example,mayinagroupasophomorethatfirst-year’sresidencollege.SomehaveotherrequireForexamastudentiseligibleforainSpelmanorhousifatleasthalftheirdrawgrouptobeinde(notonaplanorinanclub)fortheofthenextyear.Asinthepast,areonlytodrawfromtheirresidencollege.First-yearstuformerlyinCollegewillliveinNewWest,andstudentsNewCollegeEastchosenviaasystemthatinFebruUpperclassstuarenotaswithev ery residential col lege accepting ju niors and seniors, they may enter as many of the seven residential col lege draws as they please. With the added option of entering draws for upperclass, Spel man, and inde pendent tery.tenhaveeatingoffRCA,bedationshousingroomhaveinThosecollegeperundergraduates86.6housingpatechoseundergraduatesple,fourconsisteryman,wasofhadindependenteragedForbes,people,2.34groupclaimedresidentialallconsistentgenerallydrawvarioustionsiadaffiliation.residentialyearconsiderspointsisplaceentaentaoretically,juniorssophomoreshousing,andcould,therequestspotin10differroomdrawsaspartof10differgroups.One’sineachdrawdeterminedbyasystemthatclassandoriginalcollegeDespitethemyrofcomplicainenteringlotteries,groupsizesremainedacrossdraws.Everycollegeanaveragesizebetweenpeopleand2.39exceptforwhichav2.07.Thedrawanaveragesize2.03,upperclass2.67,andSpellinwhichevgroupmustofeitheroreightpeoaveraged4.24.Atotalof3,459toparticiinthisyear’slottery,percentofalltheresidentialfacebook.whoarenotthelotterymayreceivedathroughtheaccommodraw,mayservingasanmaybelivingcampusorinanclub,ormaysimplyforgottoenterthelotOfthose534stu

and Web Design Editor MARCH 2022

page 21August 2022 The Daily Princetonian

page 22 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

3. Water in between alcoholic drinks helps prevent hangovers (at least from personal experi ence).

1. Ask for the damn extension! More often than not, professors want to see you succeed, and help you to do so. If asking for an extension will help you suc ceed, then it never hurts to try.

4. REJECTION IS REDIRECTION. After not getting into some clubs that I had based my entire identity around in high school, I felt lost, especially seeing peo ple around me find their own little communities. But if I had gotten accepted by those clubs, I never would have even consid ered applying to Coffee Club on a whim in November. That deci sion turned out to be one of the best I’d ever made because of the people that I met and the abun dant warmth of the community.

25. Appreciate the little things. Your time in the Orange Bubble passes faster than you expect it to, and it’s the little things that break you out of the monotony of classes, problem sets, and life. I literally didn’t even real ize the flowers in spring were beginning to bloom until the entryway to Holder Courtyard was laden with them, and it did make me a little sad. 26. I’d say that the greatest thing that I’ve learnt from Princeton is what I genuinely value. I com mitted here in pursuit of the American Dream — Princeton, allegedly the No. 1 university in America, seemed able to foster that success. But as time has gone on, I’ve realized that I want to be chasing kindness instead of success. Rather than being great or being remembered, I want to be a good person; I want to be kind, and to always face the world from a space of love. I urge you to question your values to figure out what you genuinely want to pursue. What do you believe? Who do you want to be at the end of these four years? And although high school me may be unimpressed with who I am today, I wouldn’t change this for the world.

6. Study in spaces that aren’t Fire stone Library. Murray Dodge Cafe — they have free coffee, tea, and cookies; Empty class rooms. The Princeton Public Library! 7. Napping spots are more than abundant on campus — the Chancellor Green sofas, the Lewis Library sofas, any sofa that is even vaguely hidden from the public (or not!). Of course, your room works, too. 8. Caffeine is NOT your best friend. There are actually differ ent types of people & how they respond to caffeine — listen to your body! 9. And to reiterate: listen to your body! If you are exhausted, de hydrated, and hungry, more of ten than not, you will not be able to do good work. This may be the mom in me speaking, but please take care of yourself. Deciding to stop working at a certain point and just go to sleep — instead of shotgunning a Monster Energy — has often been the best decision for my body, sanity, and soul for the following day. 10. The person you’re in tears over right now? Within a month, you will literally not remember why you were sad in the first place.

11. Google Calendar is a religion — follow it as such. 12. DO NOT OVERLOAD YOURSELF — everyone goes at their own pace, and has their own path through Princeton and through life. 13. Do not feel pressure to have a “friend group” — everyone here is so busy that you’re reduced to spending time with people who genuinely bring you joy and whom you care about. So do exactly that. 14. Studying with friends is less ef ficient, but definitely more fun. 15. Study groups! Checking prob lem set answers and talking through concepts with other people is immensely helpful, both in terms of motivation and understanding the material. 16. Go to office hours! Especially in big intro STEM class, the office hours offered aren’t necessar ily your professor’s, with whom you may not particularly vibe. 17. On that same note… actually going to classes helps massively with understanding the mate rial, even if you don’t take notes. Where you direct your attention is where you will gain the most. 18. Dressing up when you’re not feeling great can make a huge difference in your mood. 19. Noise canceling headphones are the BEST investment I’ve made. 20. Not all days will be great. And sometimes you just have to push through to the next nap. 21. If you can wake up early, slow mornings where you can get breakfast are elite. 22. Having a specific song on repeat when writing/performing tasks is incredibly effective. Pavlov yourself into productivity. 23. Be genuinely intellectually engaged with the things that you’re studying — there will al ways be some small sliver of in formation that actually tells you a lot about the world. PHY104? Literally explains ELECTRIC ITY, which is what I am using to write this, and what you are (probably) reading this using.

Dear Class of 2026, When someone is a naïve high school senior, gaining acceptance from an institution supposedly as elite as Princeton can be an egobooster of exorbitant amounts. Upon getting into college, I thought I’d made it. But when I waded through the damp air of New Jersey August, I realized that I still had a long way to go. In honor of the first year that has flown by too fast, no lon ger being among the youngest the University admits, and the Orange Bubble that I now call home, here are 26 things that I’ve learned. Whether you take my word as gospel or close the tab af ter this sentence, these are some things that I personally think are worth sharing by virtue of lived experience, even if they are not applicable to all. I feel grossly un der-qualified to give this advice, but these reflections are more for myself than for anyone else — to remind myself that these past eight months have been more than just a fever dream. In a year’s time, whether you find this university the ‘best damn place of all’ or despise it with every single bone in your body, it is undeniable that you will have learned more about yourself as a person than you probably will have ever before. Make those memories, cherish your friends, and most importantly, do what fills your heart with joy. Because (although it pains me to say this) before you know it, you’ll be a rising sophomore, writing 27 les sons for the Class of 2027. Good luck, have fun, and here are 26 lessons for the Class of 2026. Self essays at The Prospect give our writers and guest contributors the opportunity to share their perspec tives. This essay reflects the views and lived experiences of the author. If you would like to submit a Self essay, contact us at prospect@dailyprinc etonian.com.

2. Take a freshman seminar! Some of the most invaluable lessons I’ve learned, both academically and in life, I’ve gained from sit ting amidst the lovely chaos of FRS105: American Identity at a Crossroads. Having a small seminar freshman year, and being able to discuss topics you’re passionate about with a distinguished academic as well as friends, is an irreplaceable experience.

Dear Class of 2026: Here are 26 things I’ve learned from my first year

the PROSPECT.

ARTS & CULTURE

By Stephenie Chen Contributing Writer

5. Take courses you genuinely en joy — you only get this giant intellectual playground once. Everything else will fall into place.

24. And if you can’t bring yourself to do that — at this point in the semester, the lack of intellectu al motivation is definitely hit ting — then gamify it. You are a hot Princeton student complet ing your silly little tasks, and you will succeed.

Staff recommendation

The Coffee Club Tasting experience Coffee Club’s latte was fairly typical. The coffee flavor was present, but not overly bold or complex, which is perfectly fine for a standard latte. The vanilla flavor wasn’t too sweet, just barely taking some of the bitterness off of the coffee. Coffee Club’s latte was creamy and smooth. Without turning into “milk with a bit of coffee,” it managed to be more filling than just black coffee. Sadly, the baristas had run out of both ice and icedcoffee cups by the time I arrived due to their insane popularity on opening day, but the coffee was still chilled and very enjoyable in its insulated cup. Staff recommendation Macchiato ($2.50) with a pastry from the Gingered Peach ($3.00)!!

Vibe: Rojos is no-frills and high quality in everything they do. Their interior is dark and wooded with low lamplight, but a fair bit of natural light comes in through the windows if you are in need of a secluded corner to do work without having to strain your eyes.

The Nola Iced Coffee ($5.00).

Price: $4.60

Staff Recommendation

Price: $4.50

By Sydney Eck Associate Features Editor

Final thoughts All roads lead back to Rome, and I can say with 1000 percent certainty that I will be consuming this drink again many times throughout my life. Star bucks is a safe standby for any caffeine-dependent college kid. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

We tried 6 iced lattes in Princeton so you don’t have to

Small World Coffee Tasting experience

Starbucks Price: $4.25

Vibe: Sakrid is light, bright, and airy. Just by step ping inside you feel more awake. With floor to ceiling windows, you have a fascinating view into the lives of all those who pass by on Nassau Street.Final thoughts Sakrid has become my go-to for a sweet treat and effective pick-me-up. Whether this is due to the superb lattes or the proximity to my dorm, the world may never know.

Tasting experience Bread Boutique’s iced latte was light and nutty, but fairly weak and nei ther sweet, bitter, nor acidic. While it was refreshing, I wish it had packed a bit more of a punch. It seemed as though a fair bit of ice had already been melted into the cup by the time it reached me, leaving me generally underwhelmed.

Sakrid RoastersCoffee

Final thoughts Fate will definitely bring me back to Small World. That, or one of their many other innovative menu items.

Rojo’s Roastery Price: $5.25

Staff recommendation The Lavender Latte ($4.89).

Coffee Club is a great place to swing by for a pick-me-up between classes when you don’t want to trek all the way up to Nassau Street. You are sure to run into a few friends and can find a nice study spot inside if needed.

Vibe: Bread Boutique gives the vibe of a hole-in-the-wall European café. With light tiling and small, intimate tables, it immediately presents itself to cus tomers as a casual place where you can stop by briefly or sit for hours. The smell of fresh pastries and bread

Bread Boutique Price: $4.50

A piping hot cup of café au lait ($3.73). The lack of ice melt-off and the unsweetened coffee is a wonder ful pairing for any of their many im pressive traditional French pastries.

Vibe Small World is a Princeton town insti tution. Local art fills the walls, and the shop’s signature red color flashes in ev ery corner. Filled to the brim with flyers for Princeton events and various people of Princeton, you definitely won’t have a hard time spotting someone you know.

Staff recommendation Seasonal drinks such as the Pumpkin Spice Latte ($5.25).

Tasting experience Decadent. Sakrid’s lattes are a wonderful blend of robust coffee, soothing cream, and flavorful vanilla bean. Yes, that’s right: their house-made syrup is more than straight sugar. It carries the full flavor of real vanilla to elevate the drink. That being said, while their syrup isn’t just sugar, the latte is definitely on the sweeter side, so if you prefer your coffee less sweet, maybe ask for less syrup. But if you are in the mood to treat yourself, bop on Sakrid’sover.lattes have that full-bodied coffee flavor, and are rounded out by a generous helping of milk that offsets the inten sity of its flavor. Sakrid’s lattes are rich, smooth, and most definitely substantial enough to help you power through that next chunk of reading.

Hey there Tigers!

For those of you who are not yet familiar with our vital work, Tiger in Town Treats is a Prospect series where we compare delicious snacks-’n-sips from local businesses so you know where to go to satisfy that one craving or reward yourself after that rough p-set!

Vibe I visited Coffee Club on their infamous opening day, full of clubs tabling, a capella groups harmonizing, and students literally lining up out the front door of Coffee Club as they waited to put in their orders. Even on less crowded days, Coffee Club has a unique vibe, as it is entirely student-run and student-frequented. At other coffee shops in town, you will find a mix of townies, tourists, professors, and stu dents, but Coffee Club has a singularly “Orange Bubble” feel. Additionally, while other coffee shops in town are stand-alone store fronts, Coffee Club is located in the basement of Campus Club, one of the mansions on Prospect Avenue, making it feel all the more collegiate.

This Installment’s Treat: Iced Vanilla Lattes!!

page 23August 2022 The Daily Princetonian Tigers in Town Treats |

Tasting experience It is no secret that Starbucks coffee tastes slightly burnt and rather bitter. But coffee flavor is, in fact, present. So are copious and concerning levels of sugar. All of this evens out to produce a rather enjoyable, though supremely average latte.

Final thoughts: Iced coffee isn’t Bread Boutique’s specialty. Luckily they have a host of other deli cious and impressive treats to sample. I will definitely be back. (You may want to keep an eye out for future Tiger Town Treats reviewing some of their pastries.)

Tasting experience Rojo’s did not have vanilla flavoring available, so I went for a standard iced latte. But Rojo’s coffee really can stand on its own: nutty, acidic, and aromatic, it was bold and packed a significant punch. Without being truly bitter, it still had that kind of “heavy” taste that sits in your mouth afterwards. The milk worked well to cut some of the acidity, but Rojo’s coffee really wants to shine solo. In the future, I might go for an espresso or just a plain Staff recommendation the Guatemalan roast ($20 for a bag to make at home)!

Final thoughts: If you are a coffee person, go to Rojos. If you just like lattes, maybe check out some of the other spots on this list.

Vibe: The Princeton Starbucks has very little to distinguish it from any other Star bucks in America. And I find great com fort in this fact.

Final thoughts

I sampled sweet iced coffees from six establishments in town. In al phabetical order, they are Bread Boutique, the Coffee Club, Rojo’s Roast ery, Sakrid Coffee Roasters, Small World Coffee, and Starbucks. At each location I got a small iced vanilla latte (unless the location did not carry vanilla syrup) with “regular” milk in order to make a fair comparison. But of course, every shop has its own specialties, so I also asked the staff about their favorite specialty drinks. Along with my reviews you can find other recommendations for location-specific (and delicious) ways to get your caffeine fix! In addition to my reviews, I’ll also be giving you my impressions of

Small World’s lattes have a strong coffee flavor, and you can taste their vanilla syrup without the drink becoming overly sweet. Generally, Small World’s cof fee tends to be a bit more bitter and acidic, which balances with the milk and sweetener for a fairly well-balanced drink. Small World’s lattes are perfectly adequate in every way. They are neither overly watery nor straight cream. They hit that sweet spot of a strong standard latte where the body of their coffee is complemented by the other elements,

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lived

the

find myself holding onto the last threads of my STEM persona. As a prospective philosophy major who has already satisfied their Quantita tive and shouldofamside,isderthoughthatallowedchoosebefordedfeelthisthisgeneratesorthequestionanweueItandapproachlosophysciencehumanitiessafeclassfoundglesdifficultlosophy“yeah,achievementsjobnotpeoplecialtheetonevenidentitydefinedofhard.tobecausethroughstopforIclassthatestfindplications,LinearImath.sonthereReasoningComputationalrequirement,isliterallynoreaformetobetakingYetthissemester,findmyselfinMAT202:AlgebrawithApstrugglingtoanyshredofintertowardsthecontentisbeingpresented.It’snotthatIthinktheisimpossiblyhard,justsimplydonotcareit.Still,IrefusetoputtingmyselfthesecoursessayinggoodbyemySTEMpersonaisIt’shardtoletgothequalitiesthathavemyintellectualforsolong.AndthoughmostPrincstudentscelebratehumanitiesandsosciences,hearingjokeaboutmebeingabletogetaordiminishingmybysayingbutshe’saphimajor”canbetoswallow.Throughoutthestrugofhighschool,Imyphilosophytobemypersonalhaven.Likemanyorsocialdisciplines,phiinvitedmetotheunsolvabletheundetermined.invitedmetocontinpondering,evenafterfeellikewe’vefoundanswer,becauseadoesn’tendatlastlineofaproofwhenthecalculatoranumber.Andinvitationstandstoday.NowatPrinceton,Iliberated.IamaftheprivilegetodiscerninginwhatItodoandIamtodropthingsIdon’tenjoy.AndalsomedaysIwonwhetherthegrassgreenerontheotherforthefirsttimeIlearningforthesakelearning—andthatbeenough.

share their

our

InMathematics.the10thgrade, stu dents are given this lifealtering task to choose six subjects to pursue further studies in un til graduation. While students are told that subject selection is an opportunity to study topics that they enjoy, it is this idea that STEM is inherently more intel lectual — that no mat ter how high you excel in a class like history, you will never even be valued as much as an av erage student in math — that drives students to sacrifice their interests to get into a good uni versity program. For me, this meant clawing through three years of physics despite knowing that once I graduated, I would never touch that subject again. It meant sharing my in terest in music with my career advisor, only to be told in front of my mother that I needed to start separating my hob bies from my potential career paths. And sure, I could have switched out of physics to take music, but every time I brought up the idea at school, I was told to “think about the subject scaling.” No body ever questioned whether graduating with a top rank was worth de priving themselves of an enjoyable learning expe rience.When ATAR Day came, many of my friends who took a allyplayedtionmeansforandworkars,ForofBachelortwiceitschool.disappearsuperiority”quencesships.programspetingdifficultieslowerSTEMnumericallyit,oflearning,tofectreflectrankingsstudentcoursehumanities-heavyloadopenedtheirportaltoseethatdidnottheirnear-perscores.Theychoselearnforthesakeofandinsteadbeingrewardedfortheyweredeemedlessthanstudentswithtestscores,facingwhencomwiththemforandscholarHowever,theconseofthis“STEMdon’tjustafterhighFormyfriends,meanshavingtopayasmuchtogetaofArtsinsteadaBachelorofScience.educatorsandscholitmeanshavingyourbeunderfundedundervalued.Andstudentslikeme,ittreatingeducalikeagametoberatherthanactulearning.AtPrinceton,Istill

Breaking Up with STEM

I don’t like math. Sitting in my high school calculus class, I came to the not-soshocking conclusion that, quite frankly, math was boring. Don’t get me wrong, my distaste for the subject has nothing to do with the teaching style or its difficulty — that’s right, even the great work of Sal Khan can’t get me to enjoy lin earInstead,algebra. the reason why I don’t like math is simple: I just don’t. And yet, even though it’s been two years since I came to that conclusion, I still can’t seem to stop taking math courses. Going into 7th grade, I was the poster child for STEM. Having found math and science easier than English in primary school, it seemed like a no-brainer to enroll in my school’s advanced STEM classes. Despite having no concept of engineering at all, I had also opted into the ex tension engineering program, because how bad could it possibly be, right? One month into the semester — and at least two breakdowns over not understanding how to use Autodesk In ventor — I realized that bad was an understate ment.In retrospect, I should’ve dropped engi neering when given the opportunity to do so, but 12-year-old me re fused to look like a quit ter. And while it seems ridiculous to say, even after being presented with multiple chances to switch into some thing more enjoyable, I had said no every time, convinced that I would feel great satisfaction in knowing that I per severed. In fact, I had stuck with that class until I stopped being eligible for it. And when I emerged from the oth er side after three long years of crying over failed code and stressing over robotics, I did not feel fulfilled. Instead, I was left with the re gret that I had wasted so much time over some thing I didn’t even like. However, my tumul tuous journey with STEM subjects did not end there. In Australia, students graduate high school with an Austra lian Tertiary Admis sions Rank (ATAR), a per centile that ranks them among other students in the state — this score is the sole determinant of what university de gree you can study. This rank is an amalgama tion of various factors, with arguably one of the more important ones be ing which subjects you choose to study. It is common knowl edge that while you could choose to never take science again and opt to fulfill the math re quirement with the gen eral-level math course, it is nearly impossible to achieve the top ranking without some combina tion of chemistry, phys ics, and advanced math. In fact, with inter-sub ject scaling, you could score in the top 1 percent of students taking An cient History and still have it curved to be low er than someone scoring in the top 50 percent of students taking Special

The Pros

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the author. If you would like to submit a Self essay, contact us ian.com.prospect@dailyprincetonat KERRIE LIANG / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN 1879

By Kerrie Liang Assistant Prospect Editor ist

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page 24 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

Self essays at pect give writers and contributors portunity to perspectives. re flects views and experiences of Hall houses

the philosophy department.

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page 25August 2022 The Daily Princetonian

An ode to offeringcourseday

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By José Pablo Fernández García Head Prospect Editor

Every semester, in the wake of mid term’s stress, there’s always one day that feels just like Christmas: the day the Of fice of the Registrar releases the course offerings for the upcoming semester. For me, it feels like the academic equivalent of running down the stairs on Christmas morning to discover what magically ap peared under the tree overnight. There’s an element of surprise, of possibility, of newness, and even a bit of discovery shared between the two days. It hasn’t always been this way for me, though. The first time I browsed the Reg istrar’s website in search of my freshman fall courses, the dominant feeling was more a mix of intimidation and fear of theAsunknown.aprefrosh, Princeton’s classes and professors are still a mystery. There are courses in topics you’ve never previously heard about that seem too unbelievably advanced for you. There are professors for whom a quick Google search reveals them to be leaders in their field — win ning Nobel prizes and serving presi dents — and it’s hard to believe that you can have a seat in their classrooms. And somehow, in the midst of all this, you’re supposed to find the right four or five courses with which to begin your Princeton career. It’s all a lot to grapple with while simultaneously acclimating to a new campus and trying to form your firstCoursefriendships.offerings and selection didn’t stay like that, however, as I grew more comfortable with Princeton’s academics and became more sure of my place here. In the semesters since that first one, a new slate of course offerings has instead brought me all the feelings I described at the start of this essay. Most immediately, Course Offerings Day brings a bit of a reprieve to the current semester. Caught in the thick of it, with mid term results returning, new assign ments piling up, and now as a junior, independent work intensifying, I look forward to finding a refreshing break in browsing through next semester’s poten tial courses. It lets you get excited about school without feeling overwhelmed by any academic stress. In a more literal sense, the day simply brings an opportunity to put a pause on your current coursework and procras tinate by browsing the offerings and imagining what your courses and life in general will look like during the next semester.It’sthis opportunity for rampant imagination that most likely produces the greatest excitement on Course Offer ings Day for me. In the days leading up to it, I imagine all the possibilities, wonder ing what classes I previously missed out on that might return and anticipating all the newly-offered and once-in-a-lifetime courses to be discovered. Then, as soon as a click of the re fresh button reveals the new offerings, there’s a shift in my imagination. Every course description and sample reading list sparks different potential journeys ahead — all leading to wildly different ends. So then it becomes an imaginative exercise in devising all the different sce narios for the next step in my academic journey.AsIbookmark courses and finagle with the tetris game that is putting to gether a workable course schedule, I’m not only deciding what requirements to fulfill, how many pages I’ll have to read per week, or how many essays and exams I’ll have to complete. I’m also deciding who I want to be at the end of the follow ing semester, as starry-eyed as that may sound.Now with a handful of Princeton se mesters under my belt, I can’t ignore all the ways Princeton courses have shaped who I am — both intellectually and per sonally. Had I not taken FRS 166: What to Read and Believe in the Digital Age during my freshman spring semester, I likely wouldn’t have committed my self as much to The Daily Princetonian at the time or be in my position as an editor today. Had I not taken FRE 211: French Theater Workshop and ART 212: Neoclassicism through Impressionism during my sophomore fall semester, I likely wouldn’t be a French concentrator today writing about cultural policy and art museums for my first Junior Paper. None of these courses were ones I ever anticipated taking before enroll ing in them, especially not back when I thought I might be an engineer. Still, these courses have deeply molded my academic interests and also taught me so much about myself — about who I am and want to become. This all reminds me of something President Eisgruber said all the way back during Princeton Preview 2018. In his remarks to the admitted students in Richardson Auditorium, he emphasized his hope for us: not that we would come to see our four years at Princeton as the best years of our lives but as the most transformative years of our lives. To that end, I’ve already found each se mester some of the most transformative couple of months of my life. I’ve found many of the courses I’ve taken to be some of the most transformative experiences I’ve had. So maybe that’s why Course Of ferings Day feels a bit like an academic version of Christmas: I get to unwrap and discover the unexpected, and dis cover the unexpected transformations that lie ahead.

page 26 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

By Harsimran Makkad Managing Editor Emerita

page 27August 2022 The Daily Princetonian

It was a little over four years ago that I first stepped foot onto cam pus. I had missed Princeton Preview because of classes, so I was touring campus with my family later in the spring. I remember the sun scorching the back of my neck as I questioned why the Engineering Quadrangle was so distant from everything else. I was most confused by how buildings with vastly different architectures could constitute a cohesive campus — take, for instance, modern buildings such as the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Inte grative Genomics and compare them to gothic buildings like Firestone Li brary. Nothing appeared to fit in. During freshman fall, I found myself in a new, exciting but fright ening world. As someone who often felt alienated from my peers in high school, I was uncertain about what lay ahead. Walking around campus during those first few months as a first-year, I felt no tangible connec tion to the campus. I had no friends to make it a home, no sanctuaries to hide away in, no knowledge of build ing names and locations — why are there so many Lewises, again? I joined different groups searching for a place to belong. Because I couldn’t seem to fit in Semestersanywhere.passed. I found steady study groups for my departmental courses, claimed an alcove on the second floor of Firestone for myself, and no longer needed to open Google Maps to get to class. I had finally mas tered the art of waking up at 7 a.m. for course selection, managed to survive my first encounter with room draw, and moved up the ranks in the orga nizations I hadn’t dropped following my first semester. I eventually be came an artistic director in TapCats and head design editor at The Daily Princetonian, believing that I could find that sense of belonging I was searching for if I could meaningfully contribute to these organizations. Then came March 2020. Following a flurry of tears, hur ried goodbyes, and soon-to-be-broken promises about future meetings inperson, campus as we knew it was transformed. Buildings were emptied, the people who brought campus to life departed, and everything became quiet. I found myself at home, like so many others, displaced and missing that connection to campus even more. Grappling with my anxieties while mourning what was and could have been, I couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of loss: no more quiet nights with my roommate or lengthy re hearsals filled with chaotic laughter, no more random drop-ins into the newsroom to check on my new design ers and snag some snacks for later, no more mealtimes where one friend be came two then 10. Without a campus, how could I hope to fit in? But somehow, against the odds, “campus” life continued strong. Random encounters were replaced by impromptu Zoom calls, friendly outings by FaceTime walks, and crowded mealtimes by never-ending text chains and Slack messages. Even with the uncertainty of the future looming ahead like an omnipresent nightmare, I found hope in a com munity that stretched beyond campus grounds. And I slowly found myself becoming more outspoken at meet ings and in class, more eager to bring about change, more confident that what I said and did had value — that it mattered.Itwasthis burgeoning feeling of belonging, along with the encourage ment of friends, that prompted me to apply for and persevere as a managing editor at the ‘Prince’ while simulta neously spearheading TapCats. The learning curve that followed — late nights consumed by “newsZoom” production and rehearsals, making important decisions and grappling with the ensuing backlash, and lead ing my own projects and meetings — pushed me out of my shell. When we arrived back on campus, I finally felt like I was carving my own path, helping those around me without the stress of attempting to adhere to oth ers’Reflectingexpectations.onthe past four years, I am grateful for the spontaneous con versations and random encounters, for late nights talking with friends and laughing about anything and every thing, both on Zoom and in-person. I am thankful for personal victories, like speaking in front of a large crowd without trembling, taking charge of show preparations, and initiating conversations with strangers. I even appreciate the difficult memories — the times when I cried because I didn’t feel like I belonged or when I doubted if I was capable — because they helped me grow. I leave Princeton a different person, more self-assured and ready to take on the challenges that lie ahead. But what I value most is the realiza tion that I didn’t need to fill any mold in order to belong because I can create myThereown. is a famous proverb in Islam that says, “A lot of different flowers make a bouquet.” Well, a lot of differ ent buildings make a campus. A lot of different people make a community. Just like the collection of mis matched buildings I first noticed four years ago, every student on this campus comes from a variety of back grounds with vastly different perspec tives, experiences, and personalities. But buildings don’t need to match each other on campus and we don’t need to change to fit in; everything, everyone belongs as they are. Some how, we all form a community, a cam pus that we can call home — a place where I’ve found my own home. Self essays at The Prospect give our writers and guest contributors the oppor tunity to share their perspectives. This es say reflects the views and lived experiences of the author. If you would like to submit a Self essay, contact us at prospect@dai lyprincetonian.com.

A lot of

flowersdifferentmakeabouquet: Reflecting on the past four years

SAMANTHA LOPEZ-RICO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The pizza has a thin, crispy crust — slightly charred on the bottom, but I don’t mind that. The crust is thinner than D’Angelo’s and Proof’s but around the same thickness as Jules’. It has a good ratio of sauce to cheese to crust, and the sauce was flavorful: a bit salty but not as much as Proof’s sauce. The pizza was a bit oily, however. Overall, I found it to be very tasty! Pizza Den also has gluten-free crust and vegan cheese options. Although Pizza Den is a bit further from cam pus than D’Angelo’s and Jules, it is certainly worth the walk.

Most popular pizza: Kim’s Pie or Bruschetta

Final thoughts: Conte’s has a crunchy, thin crust — I would have preferred the crust to be softer and chewier, as its brittleness reminded me a bit of a cracker. The pizza is slightly oily, and although the sauce is good and herb-y flavored, I wish there was a higher amount of sauce and cheese, and I wish that the crust itself had more flavor. very good!

Staff recommendation: Truffle Pizza or the Porky Pie Pizza

Conte’s Pizza Price: $10.60

The crust is very flavorful and soft, and relatively thin; it can be charred on the bottom sometimes. The sauce is delicious and there is a good ratio of cheese to sauce to crust — less cheese than at some of the other places on this list. There is less sauce than at Proof, but more than at Jules. I also ap preciate the added basil! Nomad also has a variety of other toppings, such as shiitake mushrooms, arugula with prosciutto, and even nutella pizza.

Jules, as per its name, has a soft, thin crust, and the pizza itself is not too oily. It has a wide variety of pizza options, both with vegetables and meat. There is also a gluten-free crust option, only 50 cents more expensive than Final thoughts

Overall,

This Installment’s Treat: Cheese Pizza!!!

Overall best crust: Nomad — the soft and very flavorful crust won over my heart.

I ordered: Plain cheese slice

What I ordered: Small plain cheese pizza Address: 339 Witherspoon Street Most popular pizza: Pepperoni, Onion, and Garlic Pizza, or Sausage Mushroom Pizza Staff Recommendation: Pepperoni, Onion, and Garlic Pizza Vibe: Pizza is at least a 20-minute walk from most dorms on campus, so I did not go there in person. Instead, I ordered a pie through GrubHub to The Daily Princetonian newsroom.

| We

Address: 18 Witherspoon Street

Tigers in Town Treats tried 6 local pizza places in Princeton so you don’t have to

Nomad Pizza Staff recommendation: Pepperonia Pizza Vibe: With the closest Nomad location at least a 30-minute walk away from central campus, I ordered a pie through Door Dash, so I will not be rating the ambi ance for Nomad. (Although I have been to the restaurant in pre-COVID-19 times, and the ambiance was quite enjoyable, with calming lighting coming from string lights hanging from the ceiling.) hard time spotting someone you know.

Jules Thin Crust PizzaWhat

Conte’s Pizza, D’Angelo Italian Market, Jules Thin Crust Pizza, Nomad Pizza, Pizza Den, and Proof. What I ordered: Plain cheese slice Address: 35 Spring Street Most popular pizza: Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch Pizza What I ordered: A Margherita pie Address: 301 N Harrison Street Most popular pizza: Shiitake Mushrrom Pizza or Margherita What I ordered: Plain cheese slice Address: 242 Nassau Street Most popular pizza: Pepperoni Pizza What I ordered: Regular cheese slice Address: 84 Nassau Street Most popular pizza: Truffle Pizza or Brooklyn Pie Pizza Price: $14.00 Final thoughts: T he crust was soft and not too thick, but still thicker than many of the oth er places featured on this list, such as Jules and Nomad. This slice had more sauce than any of the other places that I have tried, and although the sauce was very tasty, it was a bit salty for my taste.

At each restaurant, I asked the workers what their most popular pizza type was, as well as their personalrecommendations (interesting flavor combos await!). Ialso voted which pizza place, in my opinion, has the bestcrust, the best “American-style” pizza, the best amountof cheese for cheesy-pizza-lovers, the best sauce, the bestambiance, the most “Instagrammable” vibe, and the bestselection of toppings.

Personal prize winners!

Vibe: Although Proof can get a bit crowded, it has a great ambiance with chill mu sic. The best parts are the contemporary wall decorations, with Princeton’s own Einstein’s face adorning the wall, and math-inspired posters. It’s definitely a good place to get inspired to finish your Price: $3.37

Vibe Jules is probably the most Instagrammable place on this list, along with Nomad: the slices are (usually) served on wooden platters, and the place has a very good ambiance, often playing 2010s music. The walls are tiled, and the large windows allow you to see locals walking their dogs up Witherspoon. I also love the interesting selection of toppings: mushrooms and arugula, pesto, potato carbonara, etc. It can get somewhat busy around dinner time, but the line moves quickly.

Vibe: The interior is nicely decorated, in a wel coming fashion with white walls, bright light bulbs hanging down from the ceil ing, and a brick oven in the back. I sat by the window seat in front of the Einstein poster while quiet music played in the back ground. I also really liked how the pizza was served on a wooden tray.

Today, I’ll be reviewing six different pizza places near campus. To compare them fairly, I ordered a plain cheese slice (or a whole pie, at places that only offer that option) from each place. The restaurants are, in alphabetical or der:

Staff recommendation: Bruchestta or Pesto

D’Angelo Italian Market Price: $3.15 Staff recommendation: Sicilian Pizza or Buffalo Pizza Vibe: Since this is a market and not a typi cal restaurant, it would be unfair to compare its ambiance to that of other restaurants. Nevertheless, the tables were tidy and clean, and it wasn’t too loud.

Final thoughts

Best selection of interesting flavors: Nomad and Jules Best for cheese-lovers: D’Angelo Italian Market Best sauce: Proof Pizza Den Staff recommendation: Long Hots and Bacon Pizza

Final thoughts: The crust was relatively thin and crunchy, similar to the crust from Proof’s; not as thin as Jules’ and Pizza Den’s, and definitely crunchier than Nomad’s. The sauce was good, but a bit watery. This is most certainly a cheese slice: there was a lot more cheese on D’Angelo’s pizza than at any other place reviewed for this article! For those who love a huge amount of cheese, this is a great option. Personally, however, I found there to be too much cheese. Proof Price: $3.00

page 28 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

By Maria Khartchenko Staff Writer

Best “American-style” pizza: Pizza Den — great ratio of sauce to cheese to crust Most Instagrammable: Jules and Nomad Best ambiance: Jules — I love the 2010s music and the table setup! Pizza Den’s ambiance, especially if you get the window seat, is very pleasant too — would be a great place for a conversation.

Final thoughts

Entryway, n. Self-contained section of a dorm or classroom building. Most frequently found in older buildings, which were built to be riot-proof. Only way to get from one entry to another is to go outside and back in again or go through the basement or up to the top floor. Partly because of this system, you may never meet the person who lives on the other side of your bed room wall.

E-reserves, n. Catalogues of off-cen tered scans of many required read ings. Thank your professors when they offer these in place of Pequod packets. Bow down to professors who are able to photocopy readings not upside down. Curse all profes sors as you wait for 300 pages of readings to print. See “Pequod.”

Consulting, n. What many of your classmates will go on to do. No one actually knows what consulting means, but they do know it brings in the bucks. See “SPIA.” Co-op, n. Upperclass dining alterna tive in which members share cook ing responsibilities. Vegetarians, try 2 Dickinson St.; omnivores, stick to Brown, Real Food, or the In ternational Food Co-ops. Cottage Club, n. Officially called “University Cottage Club.” Bicker club populated by athletes, South erners and the wealthy. Known for its spring Sunday Fundays, darties with various themes that can al ways be counted on to feature beer and American flags.

Cap & Gown Club, n. Consistently the most bickered club, Cap has a self-proclaimed reputation for be ing “chill and diverse” and hosts many athletes from track and field. Some of its classic night out themes include Capmandu and Boxers and Blazers.

EC, abbrev. Epistemology and Cog nition. Distribution requirement with no discernible meaning. Filled most frequently by philosophy and psychology classes. See “P/D/F.” Eisgruber, Christopher, n. Your fear less leader. Eisgruber ’83 ascended to the University presidency from the position of provost in 2013. Seems to have forgotten that this isn’t high school and assigned you summer reading. Well-respected in academic circles.

F Fall break, n. Week-long vacation im mediately following fall midterms. Implemented in the 1970s when campus activists demanded time off before Election Day to campaign for their favorite bleeding-heart liberal congressional candidates. A prime road-trip week. See “Break out Trips.”

Certificate, n. What we call minors, soon to be archaic. Options include finance, theatre studies, environ mental studies, political economy, etc. Your certificate area of study must be addressed in some capacity in your thesis. Start planning for these now. See “thesis.”

Carrel, n. Like the all-male student body and the old pub in Chancellor Green, carrels are the newest addi tion to the ghosts of Princeton past. For better or for worse, you will nev er know the four-by-six-by-eightfoot metal study closets in Fires tone Library where seniors locked themselves around February to emerge in April with 30,000-word theses. Don’t worry, you’ll get study spaces that aren’t fire hazards. See “thesis.” CD, abbrev. Culture and Difference. New distribution requirement beginning with the Class of 2024, and the only requirement that can be satisfied concurrently with an other. Interdisciplinary require ment whose applicable courses are in many fields.

DEFINITIONS

Carl A. Fields Center, n. Properly called the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understand ing, but colloquially known as CAF. A building located on Prospect Avenue that hosts events and pro gramming aimed at celebrating diversity.

Chapel, n. Site of religious services and opening exercises at the start of every year. Third-largest univer sity chapel in the world. Contrary to Orange Key legend, it wasn’t built by a Yalie. Chancellor Green, n. Gorgeous li brary attached to East Pyne featur ing stained-glass windows and amazingly comfortable couches. Naps happen here.

Cloister Inn, n. Sign-in club known for hosting a high percentage of wa ter-based athletes. Popular street destination for first-years since it’s PUID.

Dei Sub Numine Viget, phrase. Latin motto on Princeton’s seal. Transla tion: “Under God’s Power She Flour ishes.” Unofficial version: “God Went to Princeton.”

A A.B., abbrev. Artium Baccalaureus, or Bachelor of Arts. Though called B.A. at most other schools, it’s still your typical liberal arts degree. For the same strange reason we have “certificates” instead of “minors,” you’re receiving an “A.B.” instead of a “B.A.” Unless you’re an engineer, of course. See “B.S.E.” Adviser, n. 1. Faculty member as signed to freshmen to assist in course selection. Usually a special ist in a field totally unrelated to yours. 2. Faculty member assigned to sophomores with an unclear role. 3. Faculty member assigned to ju niors and seniors to provide guid ance in writing junior papers and theses. All vary widely in quality of advising and level of engagement. Alcohol Initiative, n. A trustee-spon sored attempt to reduce alcohol consumption by throwing huge sums of money at undergraduates for alternative activities. Alexander Beach, n. Princeton’s ver sion of a beach. Lacks sand and wa ter but is filled with lots of bodies in bathing suits on sunny spring days. Located in front of Alexander Hall on the northern end of campus. See “Poe Field.” All-nighter, n. Grim, dusk-to-dawn studying or writing marathon in which sleep is postponed indefi nitely. Often procrastination-in duced and caffeine-fueled. Usually followed by prolonged periods of hibernation. Your freshman 15 will probably be 60 percent the food you eat during these. Welcome to col lege. Alumni, n. pl. Those who came be fore. Gosh, do they love the place. Prone to wearing abominable com binations of orange and black. See “Reunions.”

CPS, abbrev. Counseling and Psy chological Services. Office of thera pists located on the third floor of McCosh, available to you free of charge. Use with caution. See “Mc Cosh.” C-Store, n. A godsend with every thing from nail clippers to bulk candy, found on the first floor of Frist.

Clapper, n. Part of the Nassau Hall bell that the incoming class tried to steal each year. The logic behind the age-old tradition is that if the clapper is stolen, the bell signify ing the start of classes won’t ring, so classes can’t be held. After Geoffrey MacArthur ’95 fell from the tower in 1992, the administration decided to remove the clapper permanently.

Colonial Club, n. Sign-in club that re cently claimed Friday nights from Charter. Often serves hard cider on tap.

D-Bar, abbrev. Debasement Bar. Sole hangout for graduate students, lo cated in the basement of the Gradu ate College. According to reports, highly awkward. See “Grad Col lege,” “graduate student.” Dead Week, n. Week between the end of finals and graduation, when se niors and students employed for Reunions hang out and try to do as little as possible. This can take the form of group vacations to the beach. See “Reunions.” Dean’s Date, n. The last day of reading period, when course papers are due. Stress reaches all-time high as stu dents realize the number of pages they have left to write exceeds the number of hours before the dead line. To combat this stress, students over time have created many tradi tions, including the Band playing around campus and in Firestone and a midnight meal in the res col leges. See “all-nighter.”

Construction, n. The thing more than 50 percent of students live ad jacent to. We recommend investing in ear plugs.

Dinky Bar, n. Where graduate stu dents and seniors who are too ma ture for the Street go for expensive cocktails.

Carnegie, Lake, n. Five minutes from campus, five miles long. Scenic venue for crew but too slimy for swimming. Gift of Andrew Carn egie so that Princeton could have a crew team, after then-University President Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879, asked him for money for University construction. Wilson’s reported comment: “We asked for bread, and he gave us cake.”

Eating clubs, n. Eleven large man sions on Prospect Avenue that serve as the hub of upperclass student life. What you would get if a fancy dining hall had a baby with a soror ity/fraternity house. You probably weren’t allowed to ask questions about them on your tour. Biggest reason that Princeton is still con sidered elitist by the outside world.

C Cafe Vivian, n. Slightly pricier food spot located on the first floor of Frist Campus Center that serves amazing flatbread pizzas, calzones, and sandwiches. Styled as a jazz joint, Cafe Viv sometimes features live music.

Coursera, n. An online course engine where lots of people around the world can attend the lectures you’re sleeping through. Hailed as the fu ture of higher education, it’s been met with mixed responses from students.

EM, abbrev. Ethical Thought and Moral Values. Distribution require ment commonly filled with Peter Singer’s “Practical Ethics,” in which one of the most prominent philoso phers of our time convinces you to stop eating meat.

page 29August 2022 The Daily Princetonian the dictionaryfirst-year /dІkə.∫ǝnə.ǝr.i /

Business Today, n. Glossy campus business affairs magazine with large alumni coffers where exFuture Business Leaders of Amer ica gather to talk Goldman. See “ibanking,” “consulting.” Butler College, n. Residential col lege with the newest buildings — prior, of course, to the construc tion of New College West and Yeh College. Located what used to be far down-campus and now is the center of campus; contains Studio 34, a mythical sandwich shop your senior friends will fantasize about while inebriated.

Committee on Discipline, n. The University body responsible for in vestigating academic integrity and other disciplinary offenses.

D Daily Princetonian, the, n. What you’re reading now. Your one true source of information on life, the universe, and everything, as well as the only daily newspaper on cam pus and one of the oldest college dailies in the country. Available for free everywhere. An absolute good. A force for justice in an unjust and cruel world. Administrators cringe before its unquestioned power. Completely independent from the University. Just watch out for the online commenters. Also known as the ‘Prince.’

Bubble, the, n. The metaphorical orange bubble that surrounds campus, keeping us in and the real world out. Also called “The Orange Bubble.” Usage: “Back in the bub ble!”, “Welcome to the bubble.” To be used sparingly.

Dillon Gymnasium, n. Recreational center in the middle of campus open to non-athletes. Contains a pool, squash courts, multipurpose rooms, a large gym, and a fitness center. Site of loud Zumba classes and dance company rehearsals.

Double Bicker, n. Initiative begun somewhat recently in which bicker clubs allowed sophomores to bicker two clubs at once. See “Bicker.”

CJL, abbrev. Center for Jewish Life. Self-explanatory building on Washington Road. Popular lunch spot regardless of religious affilia tion due to its central location.

E E-Quad, abbrev. Engineering Quad rangle. A collection of academic buildings where engineers spend all their time. Very, very far east from central campus. East Pyne, n. Pretty building upcampus near Firestone Library that houses language departments, the department of comparative litera ture, and the department of clas sics.

Campus Club, n. Defunct eating club purchased by the University to hold events. Home to Coffee Club. See “Alcohol Initiative,” “Coffee Club.” Campus fox, n. The fox that resides on campus, most often spotted up campus. Although multiple foxes have been spotted at once, campus legend says there is only one cam pus fox. Cannon Club, n. Bicker club known for its three taprooms. The club plays host to a large proportion of athletes, especially field sports. Canvas, n. Software to check your coursework. Princeton’s very late step into the modern world of col lege education.

Bomb, v. To do miserably on an exam. Translates to a range between A-minus to actually failing. See “Orgo,” “grade deflation.”

Distribution requirements, n. Princeton’s plan for a true liberal arts education. Ensures STEM stu dents take copious humanities classes, and humanities students take a few STEM classes. See “P/D/F.”

Fine Hall, n. The name of that ex tremely ugly brown building rising high above the earth down-campus behind Lewis Library. Contains the

Dinky, n. Our version of the Hog warts Express. Mini-train that takes you to Princeton Junction for connections to the real world. Flashpoint of battle between town and University.

Arch sing, n. Event where a cappella singing groups perform a few of their favorite tunes in campus archways. Good singing and great acoustics, but the novelty can wear off quickly. A large percentage of the audience is made up of group members’ significant others (or wannabe significant others) and roommates. See “jam,” “Blair Arch.” Art museum, n. Once a sophisti cated first date spot in the middle of campus. Now, a pile of construc tion materials that makes you walk three extra minutes to get to Fires tone. B Baker Rink, n. Ice rink located downcampus where the hockey teams practice. USG sometimes holds free Skate Nights where you can take dates. Band, n. The University scramble band. Football halftime shows are occasionally funny and always tasteless. Often uses unconven tional instruments, such as plastic pumpkins and stop signs. Hard to miss in their extremely plaid or ange blazers as they parade through libraries on Dean’s Date or serenade the hapless on Valentine’s Day. Beer, n. Beverage of choice on Prospect Avenue. Some clubs try to impress potential members by serving such brew-house delicacies as Killian’s or Yuengling, but eight times out of 10 it’s just watered-down Natty Light. Bicker, n. Princeton’s multi-day equivalent of fraternity or sorority rush for the seven selective eating clubs. During Bicker, club members meet sophomores and other upper class students to determine wheth er they are worthy of membership. “Worthiness” is determined in a variety of ways. As divisive as it sounds. See “sign-in club,” “double Bicker.” Blair Arch, n. That large, pretty arch across from Richardson Audito rium. Campus landmark and fre quent site of a cappella jams. Saving grace of Matheyites. See “Mathey College.” Blair Tower, n. Former home of de spised sophomores who lucked out during residential college room draw and got amazing rooms with amazing views. Now used as class rooms and housing for resident graduate students and a few faculty members in residence.

Charter Club, n. Club located ex tremely far down Prospect Avenue, near the E-Quad. Planned a com plete overhaul before COVID-19 closed eating clubs. Now remains a mysterious force on the Street. Site of Friday debauchery.

Bonfire, n. Tradition of lighting an enormous bonfire on Cannon Green to celebrate the football team’s victories over both Harvard and Yale in a season. Involves sing ing praises to Old Nassau as effigies of John Harvard and the Yale bull dog are burned in a fiery inferno. Pretty much as cultish as it sounds. Keep your fingers crossed for the next one. Boot, v. To toss one’s cookies, worship the porcelain god, barf, puke, vom it, ralph, regurgitate, spew chunks, whistle carrots, etc. Usually en gaged in as part of a “boot and rally,” with hopes of rejoining the party. Breakout Trips, n. A collection of civic engagement trips planned and led by students and funded by the Pace Center for Civic Engage ment. Participants are selected by application (and you thought your application days were over — you’re in for a rude awakening). Trips take place over fall and spring breaks. Past trips have examined arts in Philadelphia, school technology in Boston, immigration in Arizona, farming in Florida, and other social issues. Bric-a-Brac, n. Princeton’s all-class yearbook. Make sure you show up on time for picture day and get all your friends to sign HAGS at the end of a school year! Don’t. High school is over. See “Nassau Herald.” Bridges, nickname, CEE 102: En gineering in the Modern World. Counts as an HA for science kids and an SEL for humanities kids. In past years, the final has involved literally memorizing pictures of bridges. See “P/D/F.” B.S.E., abbrev. Bachelor’s of Science in Engineering. Though called “B.S.” at some other schools, there’s no b.s. in Princeton’s engineering degree.

Cluster, n. Where a whole bunch of computers congregate. Features printers which are often jammed, toner-less, or otherwise malfunc tioning; staplers that are often bro ken or empty; and people scowling at the movies they have to watch for class. Scattered throughout cam pus. Coffee Club, n. Student-run coffee shop in the taproom of Campus Club. Cheaper alternative to coffee shops on Nassau Street.

CA, abbrev. Community Action. Week-long pre-orientation activ ity built around service trips in the Princeton, Trenton and Philadel phia areas. Like Outdoor Action, but with showers.

Down-campus, adj., n. Located on the part of campus closer to the lake, down the hill. Begins roughly at Dillon, ends at the lake. Syn onyms: “South.” Usage: “It’s a little further down-campus than Ed wards."

Prospect, abbrev. 1. Prospect House. Formerly the University president’s home in the middle of campus. Now a faculty dining hall and the site of end-of-semester fancy din ners for various organizations.

L LA, abbrev. Literature and Arts, a cat egory of your distribution require ments. See “kiddie lit.” Late meal, n. Late meal, n. The only thing that makes upperclass stu dents jealous of first-years. In theo ry, an option for students who miss dining hall meal times. In practice, free noms and mixers. Will be sore ly missed this year. See “Frist.” Lawnparties, n. Afternoon drink-athon and dance-a-thon on the lawn of each eating club, held in early fall and at the end of spring Housepar ties. Known for importing great bands and creating a massive in flux of sundresses on Prospect Av enue. Traditionally, an explosion of preppy clothing.

Orange and Black Ball, n. Campuswide ball resurrected after a de cades-long absence. Lots of finger food. Similar to prom. Orgo, abbrev. CHM 301/302: Organic Chemistry. Soul-killer. Separates the kids from the doctors. P

Quadrangle Club, n. Sign-in club commonly known as “Quad.” The only eating club with a liquor li cense, meaning it’s the club with the best drinks. The eating club Jeff Bezos ’86 belonged to.

P-Rade, n. Annual procession of ri diculously spirited, multi-genera tional alumni sporting black-andorange costumes. Takes place at the end of Reunions. See “alumni,” “Reunions.”

PMC, abbrev. Princeton Medical Cen ter. The destination you absolutely don’t want to end up after a night out. Getting PMCed is a much more expensive alternative to getting McCoshed. See “McCosh,” “boot.” 2. Princeton Model Congress. Event for high schoolers, staffed by stu dents who get to stay in D.C. for free. Not to be confused with the former. Poe Field, n. Large oval field at the far southern end of campus between Butler and Yeh/NCW where club and intramural sports teams hold practices, sunbathing frequently occurs, and barbecues are some times held. See “Alexander Beach.” Power hour, n. Ritual in which a shot of beer is downed every minute for an hour. Use of hard alcohol not ad vised. See “boot.”

Princetoween, n. The night on which all of campus collectively celebrates Halloween, irrespective of the ac tual date. Typically the Thursday before Fall Break.

2. Prospect Garden. The gardens sur rounding Prospect House; popular venue for Houseparties photos. 3. Prospect Avenue, a.k.a the Street. 4. The Prospect, the ‘Prince’ section for arts, culture, and student life.

Palmer Square, n. Town square lo cated just across Nassau Street from the University. Home to preppy stores, specialty boutiques, and townies.

Pequod, n. 1. Fictional ship in Her man Melville’s “Moby Dick.” 2. Out rageously expensive photocopied packets of required reading that often resemble the whale. Promised to become free during every USG election. Don’t hold your breath. Found in the U-Store.

Patton, Susan, n. An alumna of the Class of 1977 who wrote an infa mous Letter to the Editor to this paper discussing advice she would give to her daughter, namely her belief that Princetonian women should “find a husband on campus before [they] graduate.” Draw your own conclusions.

Frosh Week, n. The week before classes, when sophomores and up perclass students reacquaint them selves with campus life and “meet” the first-years, who are kept busy by an array of University-sponsored activities. Prime time to drink co pious amounts of alcohol amid nighttime mosh pits in the eating clubs’ backyards. In recent years, actual Frosh have been banned. You can thank the Class of 2022 (and the pandemic, if you’ve heard of it). See “McCosh.” FYRE, abbrev. First-Year Residential Experience. A group of “required” assemblies and zee group meetings that begin during orientation, and end sometime during first semes ter. Cover important topics such as diversity and socioeconomic status. G Garden Theatre, Princeton, n. Com munity theater. Shows mostly artsy films as well as a few big-budget flicks. Good first date. Occasion ally offers free movies for students sponsored by USG. Graduate College, the. n. Commonly called the “Grad College.” A mythi cal castle across the golf course be hind Forbes rumored to be inhab ited by those they call “graduate students.” Undergrads like to climb its tower to take pictures of the view and eat in its dining hall on Thurs day nights, when dinner features specialty food stations with madeto-order sesame noodles, quesadil las, etc. See “D-bar.” Grade deflation, n. Former univer sity policy to limit A’s in courses to 35 percent of grades per depart ment. Although the official policy ended, its residual effects still exist on campus. Extremely controver sial and a source of many a dining hall debate and Princeton’s unoffi cial motto, “It would’ve been an A at Harvard.” Graduate student, n. An individual smart enough to translate Kierkeg aard into 14 languages but mostly isolated from campus life. Many are forced to live roughly one mile from central campus. Often character ized as “sketchy.” GSRC, abbrev. GSRC, abbrev. Gen der and Sexualiy Resource Center. Name is self-explanatory. Located in Frist. Replaced centers formerly known as the Women*s Center and LGBT Center. H HA, abbrev. Historical Analysis. Dis tribution requirement that can be fulfilled by, you guessed it, a his tory class. Head, n. Faculty member who acts as den mother or father for the firstyears and sophomores in the resi dential colleges. Hoagie Haven, n. A Princeton insti tution, best known for catering to the late night wishes of drunken eating club go-ers. Now with ear lier closing times, the small hoagie shop on Nassau Street still serves up sandwiches filled with things like french fries, chicken tenders, multiple burger patties, and buffa lo sauce, often in combination. Tied with Wawa for the most dangerous of drunk-food destinations.

Holder Howl, n. A moment of collec tive campus catharsis at midnight each Dean’s Date when students gather in Holder Courtyard in Rocky to release a primal scream of fear and frustration. See “Dean’s Date.” Honor Code, n. Institution through which University exams are po liced. Students sign pledges agree ing not to cheat on exams and to turn in those who do. Taken very seriously, as students enrolled in MAT 202: Linear Algebra with Ap plications last spring can attest to. See “Committee on Discipline.” Hookup culture, n. A semi-signif icant feature of the social scene which is the topic of more online comments and debates on the web site of the ‘Prince’ than all the politi cal issues of the day combined.

PTL, abbrev. Post-Thesis Life. The time of year after seniors have turned in their thesis, but before graduation, where they have no responsibilities in life. A time well spent but poorly remembered.

N NARP, n. Non-athletic regular per son. We are here and we are proud.

Hose, v. To render helpless. Most often done to rejected Bicker prospects, who are hosed at their doorstep. Fraternities, sororities, a cappella groups and even the ‘Prince’ hose, but don’t worry — a literal hose is typically not involved. See “Bicker.” Houseparties, n. Pseudo-bacchanal scheduled for the weekend after the end of spring semester classes. With theses complete and exams two weeks distant, eating clubs host wine-filled formal and semi formal dinners. The only ones who have it bad are juniors finishing (starting) their JPs and first-year males, who aren’t invited.

RCA, abbrev. Residential college ad viser. An upperclass student who lives in your hall and provides free food (see “study break”), condoms, and answers to questions like what

Lewis Library, n. Large, modern sci ence library located down-campus across Washington Road. Its tree house floor is an especially popular study spot featuring many win dows. List, n. Method that bicker clubs use to determine who can enter for a night out. What first-years and sophomores agonize about getting onto. Why juniors and seniors in these clubs get texts from younger students they barely know.

PAW, abbrev. Princeton Alumni Weekly. The nation’s fourth-oldest weekly magazine, published by the Alumni Association far less than weekly. P/D/F, abbrev. pass/D/fail. Grading option developed to facilitate a true liberal arts education. Designed to allow students to take a class that expands their horizons with the guarantee that their GPA won’t tank. Unless you get a D. Or fail. See “distribution requirements.”

Orange Key, n. Campus tour-guiding group. Don’t believe everything they told you on your tour.

Prospect 12, n. The ultimate drinking challenge: one beer at every eating club in one night. A favored item on senior bucket lists. Most com monly conquered on Princetoween or Dranksgiving. Although only 11 clubs are operational, the 12th is Campus Club.

IRC, abbrev. International Relations Council. Umbrella group somehow related to Whig-Clio that organizes Model UN conferences. See “Tower Club,” “SPIA.” Ivy Club, n. Bicker club with a repu tation for elitism, mahogany, and international students. Its women’s bathroom may be the most pho tographed part of Princeton, after Blair Arch. Ivy Inn, n. The one and only “bar” in Princeton. Right near Hoagie Ha ven. Definitely “end of the night” vibes.

Interactor, n. Upperclass B.S.E. stu dent who helps advise B.S.E. firstyears, especially at the beginning of the year. Periodically checks in and hosts study breaks.

K Keller Center, n. Center located near the E-quad that sponsors events, classes, and programming related to entrepreneurship and innova tion. Stop by before you drop out to work on your start-up full-time.

Lot 32, n. Parking lot located just out side of campus, far down Elm Road, where your upperclass friends’ cars are located.

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Independent, adj. n. Upperclass stu dent who joins neither an eating club nor a University dining facil ity. By graduation, they’re either a great connoisseur of Princeton’s restaurants, a great cook, or a great mooch. Many live in Spelman Hall.

Listserv, n. The reason your Gmail app continuously gives you noti fications. A main line of commu nication between campus groups and their members. Most common iterations include your res college listserv, filled with messages rang ing from dance group ticket sales to political manifestos, and the free food listserv, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Nude Olympics, n. Sophomore rite of passage banned in 1999 as part of an effort to reduce drunken rev elry. Celebrated by running naked through Holder Courtyard at mid night on the night of each year’s first snowfall.

ICC, abbrev. Interclub Council. Group made up of the 11 eating club presidents. Coordinates relations between Prospect Avenue, the mu nicipality, and the University.

Pre-med, n. A student hoping to go to medical school. Generalized anxi ety and cutthroat behavior varies per person.

LCA, abbrev. Lewis Center for the Arts. Beautiful, modern building complex that serves as Princeton’s home for the arts. Safe haven for theater kids. Lectures, n. pl. Oft-missed speeches by professors that constitute the foundation of the Princeton educa tion. Try to attend a couple so you can tell your parents that you are making the most of their tuition dollars.

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Jam, n. An event at which one or more a cappella groups sing, commonly under an arch. JP, abbrev. junior paper. Lengthy in dependent work for juniors meant to prepare them for the senior the sis. Some departments require one; most require two. Tragic reminder of impending mortality.

I-banking, nickname, investment banking. What many of your class mates will go on to do.

Kiddie lit, nickname, ENG 385: Chil dren’s Literature. Perennially overenrolled course that people think will be an easy LA. Beware — it’s quite large and grades are heavily deflated.

McCosh, abbrev. McCosh Health Center. 1. n. Located just south of Frist. You go here when you’re too drunk to go to your room but not drunk enough for the hospital. Areas of expertise: mono and ask ing women if they’re pregnant. 2. v. Sending your too-drunk friend to the infirmary, or getting sent yourself. Usage: “We had no choice but to McCosh him,” or “Frosh week was so messy, I got McCoshed.”

Physics for Future Leaders, actual name of PHY 115A. A physics course explicitly designed to introduce non-scientists to just enough sci ence to ostensibly be able to make decisions. Future leaders who are also scientists should seek an actu al education elsewhere. See “P/D/F.”

Firestone Library, n. The mother ship. Books on books on books (on shelves.) Large behemoth of a li brary containing books on every subject imaginable, as well as as bestos. Popular study spot. Deathly quiet. See “carrel.” First College, n. Centrally located residential college soon to be de molished and replaced by Hobson College (named for donor, Mellody Hobson ’91). An incoherent assort ment of buildings that are ugly both inside and out, but boast large suites of up to 11 people that are unavailable elsewhere on campus. Contains a volleyball court and a ceramics studio. FitzRandolph Gate, n. Gate in front of Nassau Hall. If you walk out the center gate while an under graduate, you will not graduate. Of course, that’s just a legend. Try it and let us know. Forbes brunch, n. The concession Princeton had to make to Forbe sians to ensure they wouldn’t drop out. In exchange for living in The Land Far Far Away, Forbesians get a chocolate fountain on Sundays. Is it a fair trade? That’s for you to decide. Forbes College, n. The res college ru mored to exist just west of the Lew is Center for the Arts and Wawa. Only visited by non-Forbesians on weekends due to its fancy brunch spreads. See “Forbes brunch.” Franzia, n. Brand of boxed (read: dirt cheap and sickeningly sweet) wine. Goes down easy, comes back up more painfully. See “boot,” “Tower Club.” Frist, n. The campus center. Home of the student government, mailbox es, and yummy quesadillas. A fun and relaxing place to socialize and study as long as you don’t take in troductory Chinese. Not to be con fused with First. See “Late meal.” Fraternities, n. pl. First-years, avert your eyes. Groups of males that gather to drink and make lots of grunting noises. First-years are not allowed to rush Greek organiza tions. Those who do face suspen sion. Not a big presence on campus, but they may be your ticket into a bicker club.

Prefrosh, n. What you are until you arrive on campus. Pregame, 1. n. Name for any gather ing held prior to a night out on the Street. Usually a source of hard li quor. Usage: “birthday pregame,” “frat pregame.” 2. v. To consume drinks at a party held on campus prior to a night out on the Street. Usage: “Let’s pregame at John’s birthday party before heading to T.I.” Princeton, n. 1. The University to which you have committed the rest of your life (including your future earnings). 2. The affluent suburban town in which your blissful Orange Bubble is located.

J Jadwin Gymnasium, n. Gym for varsity athletes and sports located far, far down-campus, informally called “Jadwin.” Site of varsity bas ketball games. Not Jadwin Hall.

Jadwin Hall, n. An academic build ing south of Fine Hall that contains the physics department. Not Jad win Gymnasium.

M Mathey College, n. Residential col lege located just south of Rocky. A collection of loosely associated buildings with no central quad. Shares a large, picturesque dining hall with Rocky McCosh Hall, n. A large, sprawling series of lecture halls up-campus in which many of your introductorylevel large lecture classes will be held. Also features smaller seminar rooms mainly used by the English and History departments. Desks are small, cramped, and wooden; bathrooms are difficult to find. Site of the infamous bat incident, where a bat caused an interruption so large that an Econ lecture ended early.

PAA, abbrev. Peer Academic Adviser. Student available to give first-years academic advice. Shows up spar ingly at zee group study breaks.

Prox, 1. n. Common name for PUID, or the Princeton University Tiger Card. 2. v. To unlock a door by hold ing your PUID close to an electronic sensor. Humping the wall in the process is optional. Usage: “Could you prox me in?” See “PUID.”

McCosh Walk, n. Walkway extend ing from University Place on the west to Washington Road on the east. If there weren’t hills, you’d be able to see clear from one end of campus to the other. Features many puddles. Stop by around 4:55 p.m. on Dean’s Date to watch your friends sprint.

McGraw, abbrev. McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning. Study service that offers one-on-one and group tutoring for many introduc tory courses. Located in Frist. Also a good study spot. Murray Dodge, n. Free cookies and tea but be prepared to hand over your prox as collateral. Also don’t forget to wash your own mugs once you’re done. Try the matcha tea cookies if you dare. This place is an extremely popular study spot, so go at off-peak times if you want to get a seat.

page 30 August 2022The Daily Princetonian math department.

OIT, abbrev. Office of Information Technology. Controls the Universi ty’s computer and Internet systems. Runs a tech clinic in Frist. Old Nassau, 1. phrase. Nickname for Princeton University, derived from Nassau Hall. 2. n. School song.

Nassau Herald, n. Princeton year book containing only the senior photos. To get all the other stuff you associate with yearbooks, you have to shell out some extra cash for the Bric-a-Brac. See “Bric-a-Brac.” Nassau Weekly, n. Also “the Nass.” A weekly tabloid co-founded in the early 80s by a dude who now runs The New Yorker. Known for its hu morous “Verbatim” section, which is filled with random overheard quotes from around campus, and for printing other random mus ings. See “WPRB,” “St.A’s.” NCW, abbrev. New College West. One of Princeton’s newest pair of resi dential colleges. Located at the farsouthern end of campus. Not yet named for a donor, the Class of 2026 will be the first class of students to grace its halls… Well, maybe. If it’s finished in time. See “Yeh College.” netID, n. The part of your email ad dress preceding “@princeton.edu” and your username for most cam pus websites. New York City, n. Just an hour-anda-half train ride away. Sometimes certain classes take you there for free.

Pace Center, n. Civic engagement powerhouse on campus that en compasses Community House and the Student Volunteers Council. Sponsors Breakout trips during school breaks and distributes large amounts of money for service proj ects. See “Breakout trips.”

Fire inspection, n. Twice-a-semester unannounced visit to your dorm room, before which you should frantically hide illegal appliances under your blankets and un-tape your door to avoid fines.

OA, abbrev. Outdoor Action. Weeklong pre-orientation program that sends half of the incoming class into the woods to get dirty and make friends. There’s no action on Outdoor Action, but there’s always frosh week to get to know a new friend even better. ODUS, abbrev. Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students. Oversees campus organizations, under graduate student government, and various student centers. A source of funding for your student group.

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Precept, n. Discussion between a small group of students and a pre ceptor (a grad student or faculty member) to supplement lectures. A unique feature of Princeton’s education system inaugurated by Woodrow Wilson. Vary widely in quality. Never truly mandatory.

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P-Safe, abbrev. Public Safety. Univer sity cops responsible for regulating parking, ignoring room parties, and opening doors for locked-out students.

PUID, n. 1. Your University ID. Your key to admission at the library, sporting events, and eating clubs. Can be used to charge food pur chases to your student account. Eating club members sport special stickers on theirs. 2. Method sign-in clubs use to determine who can en ter during nights out. In this case, if you’re a student and have a PUID, you’re good. See “prox.”

QCR, abbrev. Quantitative and Com putational Reasoning, a distribu tion requirement

Pickups, n. pl. Nights on which Princeton’s many, many selective clubs and organizations greet new members by showering them with champagne, Silly String, etc. in their dorm rooms and then tak ing them elsewhere for revelry. See “Bicker.”

Tigerbook, n. Database containing ev ery Princeton student and informa tion such as their class year, major, and most importantly, a photo. The single-most useful tool you will en counter in your time at Princeton. Not always operational. For an al ternative, see “Residential College Facebook.” TigerHub, n. Poorly named and poorly designed software to fulfill admin istrative duties such as enrolling in courses and checking grades. Have to reload the page three times before it works.

Study break, n. Code for free food. At any given time, there is a high chance some study break is happen ing around campus. Most common benefactors of study breaks include res colleges, RCAs, and clubs.

Sororities, n. pl. Groups of women who gather together to take pictures in dresses and “network.” There are only three at this school: Kappa Kappa Gamma (“Kappa”), Pi Beta Phi (“Pi Phi”), and Kappa Alpha Theta (“Theta”). First-years are not allowed to rush Greek organizations. It may be your ticket into a bicker club, or a way for people to instantly stereo type you.

SEL, abbrev. Science and Engineering with Lab, a self-explanatory distri butional requirement. See “Bridges.” SEN, abbrev. Science and Engineer ing, Nonlaboratory, a self-explana tory distribution requirement. See “Physics for Future Leaders.” Sexile, v. To render your roommate dormless after a successful date or night out. Etiquette in case of sex ile should be discussed with your roommate ASAP. Shared meal plan, n. A system by which one can be a member of both an eating club and a residential col lege, with meals split between the two. Also known as the dream. The number of slots available vary wide ly by club. Sign-in club, n. Eating club that takes members through a lottery system rather than Bicker. Charter decided that switching to bicker was the per fect solution when they failed at this.

Studio 34, n. Late-night convenience store in the basement of Butler Col lege known for its French bread pizzas. Has yet to re-open since the pandemic closed its delicious doors.

T Terrace Club, n. Sign-in club known for artsy types, vegans and stoners. Popular end-of-night stop for all of campus. The only eating club not on Prospect Avenue.

T.I., abbrev. Tiger Inn. Bicker club known for raucous, beer-soaked parties and heavy preponderance of bros.

SPIA fountain, n. Idyllic fountain and pool located in Scudder Plaza, north of Robertson Hall. The entire stu dent body can be found taking pho tos here pre-Lawnparties. Popular wading spot in the spring, especial ly after SPIA theses are submitted. Stars for Stoners, nickname. AST 203: The Universe. Purported to actually be a somewhat difficult class involv ing actual equations. See “P/D/F.” St. A’s, n. “Secret” “literary” society with unclear purpose and unknown meaning. See “Ivy Club,” “the Nass.” Street, the, nickname. Prospect Av enue, home of the eating clubs and center of University nightlife.

Tower Club, n. Bicker club known for first-year-friendly dance floor and taproom, as well as heavy prepon derance of theater types, a cappella groups, and SPIA majors.

Wucox, n. Portmanteau for “Wu/Wil cox dining hall.” Large dining hall that serves Butler and First Colleges. Frequented by athletes and gym rats post-workout.

SPIA, abbrev. School of Public and International Affairs. Formerly se lective concentration for students interested in becoming bankers or consultants and learning the lan guage of bureaucracy, as well as those rare folk who actually do want to save the world through govern ment (but will probably end up in banking or consulting).

Residential College Facebook, n. Great Value-brand Tigerbook. It does the job in the meantime, but doesn’t hold up to Tigerbook. Residential college staff, n. Wellmeaning faculty members who work for your residential college and have varying degrees of helpful ness. Skilled at clogging your email inbox. Includes the Head of College, Dean of College, Director of Studies, and Director of Student Life. Reunions, n. Beer-saturated gathering of alumni during the weekend be fore Commencement for drinking, fellowship, and the P-Rade. Good excuse for students to delay return ing home for a week at the end of the year. Reportedly the event with the second-highest level of alcohol con sumption, after only the Indy 500. See “P-Rade.” Richardson Auditorium, n. Enor mous performance hall located upcampus across from Blair Arch. Rival, n. What Princeton lacks as the third wheel in HYP. What Penn thinks we are. Rocky College, abbrev. Rockefeller College. Northernmost residential college known for gorgeous Gothic architecture. Rocks for Jocks, nickname. GEO 103: Natural Disasters. See “P/D/F.” RoMa, nickname. Rockefeller/Mathey College dining hall. Looks like the Great Hall in Harry Potter; both were modeled after Oxford. Room draw, n. Computerized process by which students select rooms for the upcoming year. Conspiracy theories abound about the supposed randomness of the process: People with high social security numbers, third letters of their last names near the end of the alphabet, and Min nesota addresses may receive better times. Room improvement, n. Purgatory into which students with tragically late draw times are cast. Over the summer, those who are eligible for room improvement will theoreti cally be placed into better rooms. See “room draw.” Route 1, n. A large, divided road about a five-minute drive from campus along which real-world institu tions like movie theaters, malls, Walmarts, discount liquor stores, and chain restaurants can be found. Proof that you are, in fact, in New Jersey. Rush, v. To move very quickly toward something. n. 1. An aquatic plant. 2. A process you are forbidden to know anything about. Shhh. S SA, abbrev. Social Analysis. Distribu tion requirement that can be ful filled by a large variety of courses in the realm of humanities and social science. Safety school, 1. n. Yale, Harvard, Penn, etc. 2. phrase. Popular chant at basketball games regardless of op ponent.

Triangle Club, n. Undergraduate mu sical theater group that writes and stages an annual extravaganza of song, slapstick and dance. Famous for the drag kickline and alumnus Jimmy Stewart ’32. Twenty-One (21) Club, n. Secret drinking organization founded in 1881, composed of 42 male juniors and seniors who consume 21 beers in 42 minutes at an annual contest. Members are culled from bicker clubs, fraternities, and sports teams. U USG, abbrev., n. Undergraduate Stu dent Government. A group of aspir ing politicians who are responsible for the multiple free orange t-shirts shoved into the back of your dresser. Up-campus, adj., n. Located on the part of campus closer to Nassau Street, up the hill. Begins around Dillon Gym and extends through Rocky. Synonym: “north.” Usage: “From here, go up-campus to find Brown.” U-Store, n. Officially, the Princeton University Store. Located at 36 Uni versity Place, across from Blair Arch. Sells food, dorm items, and school supplies. Overpriced, but great loca tion. W Wa, The, n. Campus colloquialism for the Wawa convenience store. Located between the Dinky and Forbes. Popular late night meal spot, but prepare to wait an egregious amount of time on nights out.

Y Yeh College, n., One of Princeton’s newest pair of residential colleges. Located on the far-southern end of campus. Named for Jaimie and James Yeh ’87, the Class of 2026 will be the first class of students to grace its halls… Well, maybe. If it’s finished in time. See “New College West.”

Z Zee group, abbrev. Group of advisees. The 20 or so first-years frequently found under the wing of a residen tial college adviser. May or may not become close friends over the course of the year. Statistically, at least one permutation within the group will hook up.

Squirrel, n. A furry friend and foe. Cute when scurrying around cam pus. Pesky when scavenging in your dorm room. Scary when rabid. Not scared of people. Comes in brown, gray, and black varieties.

Tiger, n. 1. Princeton student or ath lete. 2. Mascot dressed in tiger-skin suit who capers and cavorts at foot ball games while trying to avoid attacks by the opponent’s band. 3. Campus humor magazine of erratic quality and publication schedule. 4. Striped predatory jungle cat. Tiger Confessions, n. Facebook page run by an anonymous student where students can submit any thoughts, questions, ideas, etc. they have. Keeps getting shut down, but keeps returning in slightly different iterations. Like a cat, it seems to have nine lives.

The Daily Princetonian Dean’s Date happens at the end. Recal.io, n. Website students use to plan their courses for each semester. Has all possible courses and pre cepts so students can optimize their classes. Real talk princeton, n. Tumblr page run by anonymous students who answer basically any question about Princeton. When you have a ques tion nobody knows the answer to, or you don’t feel comfortable asking your friends, this is the place to go. Residential college, n. Your home at Princeton for at least your first two years of college. There are six resi dential colleges on campus: Rocky, Mathey, Butler, First, Whitman, and Forbes. Each college varies greatly in amenities, types of rooms, and loca tion, but they all provide a sense of community, and more importantly, a source of free gear.

Thesis, n. The T word. Major senior pastime, required of every A.B. stu dent and some B.S.E. students. Most are close to 100 pages. Often replaces socialization, exercise, happiness, etc. in the spring.

Whitman College, n. Residential college that bears a striking resem blance to the castle in Shrek. As the newest college, built in 2007, it has air conditioning and very nice rooms. WPRB, n. Student-run, communitysupported independent radio sta tion located in the basement of Bloomberg Hall. See “Terrace Club.” Writing Center, n. Singlehandedly re sponsible for helping first-years sur vive writing sem. Offers individual appointments to help at any point in the writing process.

Zoom, n. The death of your eyeballs, your computer battery, and your tra ditional college experience. Hope fully entirely phased out with the Class of 2026.

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page 32 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

- Audrey

‘25, Associate Audience Editor FROM THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN STAFF ADVICE FOR THE CLASS OF 2026

Starting college can be both stressful and exciting. staff have some advice to share that will hopefully help you with navigating campus life!

“Do

- Meryl

“Even if it’s just creating the Word Document for an essay or writing your name and assigned problems on a problem set, always try to get started on an assignment the day it’s been assigned to ‘break the ice’ with a task that might feel overwhelming. underestimate the power of procrastination as it catches up to you very quickly.” Liu

Our

José Pablo Fernández García ’23, Head Prospect

Editor

page 33August 2022 The Daily Princetonian

Don’t

“Explore a lot! There are so many wonderful people, events, clubs, and classes at Princeton, so actively seek out experiences that bring you joy. At the same time, be mindful to take care of yourself as well — staying healthy is super important and helps you enjoy everything more.” Zhang ‘25, Cartoonist and The Prospect Writer things because they excite you, not to pack a resume. Do less so that you can enjoy more free time. Care for each other.”

you

and

pique your interest, and then see what sticks. Princeton has a

page 34 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

you can no

Just be

even

for having incredibly selective

Good luck!” - Anika Asthana ’25, Staff Cartoonist “Surround yourself with people you feel comfortable, unfiltered, and appreciated with. These may not be the your first friends, or the friends of your friends. Be intentional.” - Ian Fridman ’25, Staff Photographer “Princeton is very, very lucky to have you. Don’t forget it, and never lose the courage to try hard things.” - Rohit Narayanan ’24, Community Opinion Editor FOR THE ADVCLA“College isn’t easy, but know that you aren’t alone in going through the hard parts and there are so many people who are there to help you get past it.” - Katherine Dailey ’24, Head News Editor “Doing something because it’s fun and enjoyable is good enough as a reason; it doesn’t always have to look good for a resume or job application. Keep up the hard work!” - Hope Perry ’24, Head Podcast Editor FOR THE CLA “You’re

commit. Ultimately, always do

for YOU, and keep in

but I recommend applying/auditioning for everything. People are excited to meet you, and you’ll likely have more success

but remember

want to try a

real.” - Elizabeth Medina ’24, Staff Cartoonist

“Try all clubs that remotely reputation clubs, than anticipate. gonna lot of things. That’s good, that it’s okay to back out of something if it gets to too much. upfront about it tell the relevant person that longer fully what’s best mind that duck syndrome is

be

everything! Sign up for

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page 35August 2022 The Daily Princetonian SS OF 2024SSICEOF 2026 “In the words of the 145th Editorial Board, “ask for the damn extension.” - Caitlin Limestahl ’23, Managing Editor “Change up your study spots often. Late meal saves lives.” - Michelle Liu ’25, Staff Puzzle Constructor “Princeton is a great place to spend your next 4 years at, so make the most of it - you get to decide who and what will be a part of that experience! Never lose sight of your values and always ask for support.” - Audrey Chau ’25, Assistant Opinion Editor “Try the pistachio matcha at Coffee Club.” - Sophia Colmenares ’24, Contributing Cartoonist “1.) Talk to your professors. Not only will they appreciate your effort, but this is the best way to make the most of your Princeton 2.)education.Always keep a notebook on hand. Write down interesting things your peers and professors say. Write down questions that spark your intellectual curiosity. Write down experiences you want to remember. Your future self will thank you. 3.) Have a plan for what class, major, and activities path you want to choose, but be open to that plan changing. Be prepared for it to 4.)change.Understand the importance of good sleep. It can be tempting to get swept up in the excitement of new social and academic opportunities but realize your college life will be more enjoyable with rest. ” - Kalena Blake ’24, Associate News Editor “Take the time to find what you love doing, both inside and outside the classroom. It’s okay to change your mind, and it’s okay to not have all the answers. Seek them.” - Anika Buch ’24, Associate News Editor

page 36 August 2022The Daily Princetonian

The Princeton crowd was beginning to get excited as the Tigers closed in on their second-ever win in March Mad ness. A final missed three-pointer from Howard and a last rebound from Cun ningham capped out the game, with a final score of 69–62 in favor of the eleventh-seeded Tigers. As the buzzer sounded, the team sprinted to center court, jumping and cheering as Princeton fans celebrated their now victorious squad. Despite logging 19 turnovers, six more than their season average, the Tigers never let up on either end of the court. Princ eton out-rebounded Kentucky 37–30, and shot 49.1 percent from the field. The historic upset sends Princeton to the Round of 32 for just the second time in program history, joining the barrage of upsets to descend upon this year’s women’s March Madness tour nament. They have also extended their season winning streak to an incredible 18 games.TheTigers will face No. 3 seed In diana (23–8, 13–2 Big 10) on Monday and attempt to continue their NCAA success. Princeton coach Carla Berube spoke to the press on Sunday about what the disjointed but ultimately successful performance says about the road ahead for the Tigers. “We’ll be ready. We’ll know them [Indiana],” she said. “You can say we’re doing X, Y, Z, but once you’re out there, clearly, some of last night did not go according to plan.” She paused, before adding, “we made more plays than Kentucky did, and that’s how you win the game.”

Women’s basketball ousts Kentucky for second March Madness win in program history

By Isabel Rodrigues Contributor

MARCH 2022

thy stunt: after attempting to get to the basket, she was cut off by Kentucky’s Hunt, but changed course on the spot, instead pulling up for a fall-away cor nerAsjumper.theTigers continued to hold the lead throughout the quarter, shooting troubles abounded for both teams, un til a foul on Howard sent her to the free throw line where she converted for two points. The free throws finally brought Kentucky within striking dis tance at 38–36. Not to be outdone, Chen used a turnover on the next Kentucky possession to sink a bank shot for two more Princeton points. The Princeton offense worked like a well-oiled ma chine, as Nweke found a wide-open Cunningham for three, and the Tigers went on another scoring run. Not a single player hesitated to take it to the basket, or kick out the ball to an open shooter on the perimeter. On the defensive end, the Tigers kept the Wild cats at bay from three while simultane ously keeping the paint well-protected. By the end of the third quarter, the score sat at 48–44, the Tigers just able to keep a battling Kentucky team at bay. Chen started the final quarter for the Tigers with a bang, finding a hole in Kentucky’s defense and landing a clean jumper to put the Orange and Black up by six. Meanwhile, for Kentucky, the turnovers and missed shots continued, as a Princeton double-team caused Ed wards to travel under the basket. Stone turned the turnover into points for the Tigers on a heroic and-one layup under the basket on the ensuing possession, pushing the lead ahead to 53–44 as the contingent of Princeton fans roared behindAnotherher. masterful basket from Howard soon quelled Kentucky’s shooting woes, but Meyers was quick to respond with a bank shot to stop the momentum in its tracks. Chen fol lowed up Meyers’ efforts with another tough layup, and, not to be outdone, Meyers attacked on the next possession with an acrobatic reverse layup right over Kentucky guard Jazmine Massen gill. The Tigers charged ahead, 59–52. Shortly afterwards, Edwards was quick to catch a bad pass from Meyers and turn it into a jumper. She mim icked the feat on the next possession, converting a missed layup from Stone into a neat pass to Benton for three, bringing the Wildcats within five. Unfortunately for Kentucky, Ed wards’ spectacular back-to-back plays would be the only points the Wildcats could find for the next four minutes, as shots continued to rattle out and the clock started to wind down. The Tigers were also struggling to get shots to fall until Mitchell secured her third steal and slung the ball to Chen. Chen, for ever calm under the pressure, caused Massengill to foul, putting Princeton in the bonus and getting herself two free throws to boost the Tigers’ lead to 64–57 with 37 seconds remaining.

Princeton’s swarming defense stopped the Wildcats in their tracks through the final few possessions of the half. Howard’s scoring prowess shone through, however, as she sank a confident deep three-pointer, her first made basket of the night, to bring the score to 32–26 with seconds remain ing before the break. After the game, Kentucky Coach Kyra Elzy spoke about Howard’s impact on basketball at Ken tucky in her final season.

“Her ability to score on all three levels; her basketball game speaks for itself,” Ezry said. “She has left her legacy at Kentucky and for women’s basketball.”Howard’s return to form gave Ken tucky some much-needed momentum, too, as she forced her way to the bas ket for a layup in the first seconds of the third quarter. Not long after, Chen pulled off yet another highlight-wor

COURTESY OF @PRINCETONWBB/TWITTER

The eleventh-seed Tigers bested the sixth-seed Kentucky Wildcats in the first round of March Madness play.

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For Ivy League women’s basketball teams, advancing past the first round of NCAA tournament play has meant defying the odds. Only two teams from the Ancient Eight had ever won a tournament game before this year: Harvard in 1998 with a classic upset over Stanford from the 16-seed, and Princeton, who beat Green Bay in front of President Barack Obama in 2015.OnSaturday, March 19, at Indiana University’s historic Assembly Hall, the Princeton Tigers (25–4 overall, 14–0 Ivy League) battled through 40 min utes of cutthroat basketball against one of the hottest teams in the coun try. They came out victorious, defeat ing the Kentucky Wildcats (19–12, 8–8 Southeastern) by a final score of 69–62. Senior guard Abby Meyers led scoring for both teams, registering a careerhigh 29 points on 43 percent shooting. Kentucky entered the tournament confident and ready to continue the success they had had in this year’s contentious Southeastern Conference (SEC) tournament. In the conference championships, the Wildcats stunned the nation, as they came from be hind to beat No. 1 South Carolina in the final round thanks to a late-game three-pointer from forward Dre’una Edwards. The win gave the Wildcats their first conference title since 1982. Meanwhile, the Tigers were hav ing a successful season of their own, having finished Ivy League schedule undefeated in conference play for the second consecutive season and bring ing home their third-straight Ivy Tour nament title. The Tigers also broke into the AP top 25 rankings towards the end of the season and solidified their dominance on the defensive end as one of the top-five scoring defenses in the nation. Because of the cancellation of the 2020–21 Ivy League basketball season season, this would be the first opportunity in two years for the Tigers to play in an NCAA tournament game. After the win over Kentucky, Meyers spoke about having the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament again. “We all grow up dreaming about playing on this stage in Division I bas ketball, in the NCAA Tournament,” she said. “To finally be here after a year and half, two years, some of us for the first time, it’s a special moment.” The last time the Tigers were in the NCAA tournament, they faced the same opponent. In 2019, the two teams, sitting at the exact same seeds, played an aggressive back-and-forth game. Junior guards Julia Cunningham and Grace Stone were the only two cur rent Tigers to have played in the prior matchup, which ended in an 82–77 Wildcats victory. But history didn’t repeat itself this time.As a wave of Kentucky fans entered the stadium to enjoy the rematch, a small contingency of Princeton alums, friends, and family made their way to a pocket of seats just behind the media bench. They were quickly joined by a decently-sized group of Indiana fans who, having just finished watching their home team trounce Charlotte, were excited to cheer against Kentucky, their rivals at the state’s southern bor der.The atmosphere in Assembly Hall was filled with excitement as the starting lineups for both teams were announced, with colorful lights and enthusiastic cheerleading squads making the college arena feel like a pro fessional stadium at Princeton’s most anticipated game of the year. With a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on the line, the matchup was destined to be unforgettable. The game opened with full court pressure from the Kentucky defense. Princeton sophomore guard Kaitlyn Chen, fresh off of a 30-point perfor mance against Columbia in the Ivy League Tournament final, scored the first points of the game, just beating the shot clock under the basket off a beeline pass from Meyers. Sophomore forward Ellie Mitchell continued her rebounding prowess, ripping the ball from the outstretched fingers of Kentucky forward Treasure Hunt for her first of the game. With a new possession ahead of them, the Tigers looked to push the ball quickly down the floor, but Meyers stumbled and Kentucky guard Jada Walker was quick to take the ball down the floor for an easy layup, tying the game at two apiece. Two more costly turnovers for the Tigers in transition were convert ed to quick coast-to-coast layups for the Wildcats as the Princeton defense struggled to keep up with Kentucky’s nimble offense and quick decision making from Walker.

A third Tiger turnover created yet another possession for Kentucky, but this time the Princeton defense was able to get set in time to force a turn over of their own. An outlet pass from Chen got the ball to Meyers in transi tion for a trademark mid-range jumper to bring Princeton back within two. Us ing the newfound momentum, Stone impressed the Bloomington crowd with a strong short jumper right in front of the basket to tie the game 6–6. A hefty block from Cunningham on Kentucky forward Emma King made it Princeton ball once again, and they were quick to take advantage of the defensive stop. A savvy spin move from Meyers followed by a swift corner jump shot from Chen put the Tigers up 10–6 as Kentucky worked through a bout of turnovers and difficulty on the de fensive end. Mitchell’s rebounding on defense kept Kentucky from getting second chances on missed shots, and her keen attention to the passing lanes made it tough for the Wildcats to get into the Despitepaint.aclutch three-pointer from Walker with only 13 seconds remain ing in the first quarter, which put the Tigers down by one, Chen drained a buzzer-beating jump shot to keep the lead in Princeton’s favor, 12–11. After the game, Chen spoke to the press about her in-game decision making. “[Kentucky players] are really fast, talented players, so at times it was dif ficult,” she said. “My coach and team mates will back me on any decision I make, I know they will be there if I ever get in Turnoverstrouble.” continued to plague the Tiger offense as they headed into the second quarter, but their quick switching on defense and defensive rebounding kept Kentucky on their heels. Mitchell and sophomore guard Chet Nweke got their first points by taking advantage of a porous Ken tucky defense that left the paint wide open for quick layups. On the defen sive end, Cunningham was glued to Kentucky guard Rhyne Howard, one of Kentucky’s strongest scorers and a projected top pick in the upcoming WNBA draft, forcing Howard to take tough shots and making each rebound a battle for the ball. With five minutes left in the half, Walker made a steal on an off-target pass from Meyers and expertly dished to Kentucky guard Robin Benton, who took it in for a quick layup, pulling Kentucky within four. Taking advan tage of the Tigers’ struggles with pass ing turnovers, Walker made yet an other steal, and Kentucky guard Nyah Leveretter finished the layup to put the score at Despite21–17.this being her first season on the court with the Tigers, Chen led the Princeton offense with the savvy of a player who’s been to the NCAA tour nament a dozen times before. With Kentucky finally finding their rhythm, Chen found herself with the ball, just steps away from the basket. Instead of forcing a layup against a much taller Kentucky defender, she dished the ball to Mitchell behind her, who put it up for an easy two points to extend the Princeton lead to 26–19.

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‘Fifth is great, but we’re not satisfied’: Men’s track and field earns eight All-American honors at NCAA Indoor Championships

MARCH 2022

The men’s track and field team have outdone them selves.The Tigers earned their way to fifth place in the nation on the weekend of March 11th at the Nation al Collegiate Athletic As sociation (NCAA) Indoor Track Championships. The team sent eight athletes to Birmingham, Alabama for the championships. As if sending these Tigers to the biggest meet of the season wasn’t impressive enough, all eight Tigers earned AllAmerican“Leadinghonors.upto the in door season, we all believed that we were one of the best teams in the nation, but now, we know for a fact that we are,” first-year distance runner Sam Rodman told the Daily Princetonian. “And on top of that, other teams [know] as well.” “We knew we were at this level,” junior pole vaulter Sondre Guttormsen added. “I guess it [was] a valida tion of our team and how good we are.” Day Guttormsen1 had one goal in mind entering the meet: to win — and win he did. He secured the champion ship title in the pole vault with 5.75m and was award ed with the Mid-Atlantic Region NCAA field athlete of the year. His title is the first NCAA indoor title for Princeton since 2002. His brother, junior pole vaulter Simen Guttormsen, placed fourth in the event. Togeth er, the duo secured crucial points for the team, setting them up for success going into day two of the meet. The first day also saw a fourth-place finish by the distance medley relay (DMR) team. First-year Har rison Witt ran the 1200m to launch the relay, followed by senior Michael Phillip py in the 400m, Rodman in the 800m, and senior Sam Ellis as the anchor in the 1600m. With a time of 9:26.01, the Tigers not only earned themselves AllAmerican honors, but also secured the second best time in school history. Despite a successful fin ish, the moments leading up to the relay were filled with uncertainty. Witt traveled to the meet as an alternate for junior middistance runner Ethan Reese. After sustaining an injury at Heptagonals, it was unclear whether or not Reese would be able to compete.“Iknew that I was run ning the 1200 leg in place of Ethan about 20 to 30 min utes before the gun went off,” Witt explained. Even with a last minute change, Coach Fred Samara was as confident as ever. “Harrison is one tough runner. [The coaches] knew he would stick himself right in the pack and never give an inch to the more ex perienced runners,” Coach Samara told the ‘Prince.’ “I kept reminding him to re member how good he is.” Still, Witt felt the nerves creep up on him. “My stomach dropped a little bit as flickers of the most important perfor mance of my life flashed before my eyes,” he said. But he knew he had his coaches and team on his side. “Sam [Ellis] reminded me of the confidence my teammates have in me, and I quickly refocused and loosened up.” For Rodman, his nerves mainly stemmed from the pressure of compet ing against so many wellversed athletes, especially as a first-year. “I was very [nervous] the week of the race, but once I started warming up, I knew that I belonged there and was just focused on doing my part,” he said. However, Rodman felt the support of the team just as much as Witt did. “I had a lot of trust in my team mates and my coach, which helped with the nerves.” While earning All-Amer ican honors was a triumph for the Tigers, some of their favorite moments at the meet were watching their teammates dominate in their respective events. “It was special to see ev eryone come together to ac complish an amazing feat,“ Witt reflected. “I remember smiling a big goofy grin and soaking it all in as the footsteps pounded by.” Day 2 For both junior heptath lete Andrei Iosivas and senior thrower CJ Licata, competing on the second day was a lot harder than theIosivas’first. heptathlon events were split between the two days: 60m, long jump, shot put, and high jump on the first day, fol lowed by the 60m hurdles, pole vault, and 1000m on the second. In the 60m, he set an impressive NCAA in door championships meet record of 6.71 seconds. “I didn’t expect to run that fast,” he laughed. “It’s kind of cool, but I mean the heptathlon is seven events, so I couldn’t really be stuck onIosivasit.” emphasized the physical and mental tough ness required for success. “The first day is pretty easy because everyone has all the adrenaline,” he said. “but the second day, your body hurts, your mind hurts, and you’re just like ‘damn, we’re still going.’” For Iosivas, he explained that focus was the key to his success. Going into the second day, Iosivas kept his eye on the prize, and with 6,069 points, he placed fourth, breaking his own personal and Ivy League re cord of 6,036 set at Heptag onals in February. En route to his top-five finish, he also earned a personal best in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.82 and in the 1000m with 2:46.93. Licata, on the other hand, spent the first day cheering on his teammates as his shot-put event was one of the last of the entire meet.“Iwas watching all the events on Friday. It’s excit ing, but you’re like ‘crap, like I’m doing this tomor row,’” he said. “I just felt like the tension could [be] cut with a knife, but that’s what makes it fun.” Even surrounded by tal ented athletes and future Olympians, Licata did not let the nerves deter him. In fact, he used them to his ad vantage, transforming his nervous energy into adren aline. His mark of 19.75 placed eighth at the meet and secured fifth place for the team, tied with Texas A&M at 26 points. Looking ahead to the outdoor season While the Tigers defi nitely made a statement at indoor championships, their goal since the begin ning of the year has been to show the nation what they’re capable of in the outdoor season. With a topfive finish last weekend, the team feels even more momentum going into the spring season. “I think fifth place really blew a lot of our expecta tions off, especially be cause the indoor meet is so rigorous to [qualify for],” Licata commented. “We’re all motivated and locked in. To say that we can fin ish fifth indoors with le gitimately eight guys that competed, we … can do something very special outdoors.”“Fifthis great, but we’re not satisfied. Outdoor is where we really shine, and we’re headed straight to the top this outdoor season,” Phillippy added. With a season opener at Penn this Saturday, March 19, the team is ready to not only dominate their League foes once again but also po dium at NCAAs. As Ellis put it, “The team goals are to destroy the other Ivy teams at Heps, get top 3 at NCAAs, [and] have a lot of fun doing it.” A shout out to Coach Sa maraEvery successful team needs a leader, and for the Tigers, that leader is Sa mara.Following Heps, Sama ra was named Ivy League Coach of the Year. Samara has been selected for this award nine out of the 11 times it has been award ed. As a former decathlon track athlete and Olympian himself, his knowledge of the sport is unmatched. The award was well-de served: Samara has led the Tigers to 49 Ivy Champion ship titles — 24 indoor, 20 outdoor, and five in cross country. This season’s title was the seventh consecu tive indoor title for Princ eton.While the statistics are an accurate representa tion of Samara’s talent, his coaching expertise goes beyond the titles. In inter views with the ‘Prince,’ the All-American Tigers were asked how Samara has in fluenced them. Here’s what some of them had to say: “Coach Samara is a Princeton track legend at this point. He’s impacted many lives over the years with his passion and love for the team. I’ve never met someone that is both so competitively fierce and sincerely compassionate as Fred Samara. He inspires winners and people want to compete their hardest for him.” — Sam Ellis ’22 “I owe a lot of my suc cess just from his techni cal coaching experience. I don’t think anybody really coaches like him, but he also demands a lot from you, which I think is re ally good because it keeps you on your toes. He de serves the award, clearly; that’s why he has so many of them. But it’s … just the fact that he elevates you physically as an ath lete, but also just mentally. That’s the big thing that he strives for.”

By Julia Nguyen Head Sports Editor

— CJ Licata ’22 “Coach Samara is just so passionate. He loves the sport with all his heart … After someone makes a big throw or a big jump, he’ll literally cry because he’s so happy. He has so much love, both for the sport and the team. On top of that, because of the excellence he wants you to be at … the team kind of holds every one else accountable to be excellent.”

— Andrei Iosi vas“I’23remember leaving for a meet earlier in the season where our relay team was going to try to qualify for NCAAs. I ran into Coach Samara before leaving, [and he] told me ‘Just re member, you belong here.’ It meant so much for him to say that, especially being a freshman and especially coming from such an ac complished person in the track and field world. He is always very supportive and has believed we were one of the best teams in the nation since we first met in August.” Sam Rod man ’25

Women’s golf wins Ivy League title, finishes sixth in Stanford Regional at NCAAs

By Wilson Conn Head Sports Editor

If you keep up with Princeton athletics at all, the names Abby Meyers and Marge Donovan are anything but new to you. You may know senior guard Meyers for her unstoppable scoring on the basketball court or her selection as Ivy League Player of the Year. More recently, you have likely seen senior defender Donovan’s lock down defense and All-American caliber play for women’s lacrosse. Their tale began with a show down in the seventh grade — the Ravens against the Lady Bulldogs — in Maryland’s Rising Stars bas ketball championship. Despite Meyers’ 30 points for the Lady Bulldogs, Donovan and the Ra vens took home the champion ship trophy. The two did not know each other at the time, but almost 10 years later, they joined the Princeton community. It seemed as though fate had a plan for the two athletes, who eventually be gan dating in college. As a senior in high school, Don ovan opened up about her sexu ality to her family and friends. Although she struggled with her identity, she recognized that she had her family as part of her sup port“Itsystem.wasvery new to everybody at first, but I, at this point, could not ask for a more supportive family,” she told The Daily Princetonian. Donovan’s family, which Mey ers jokingly described as “a whole [other] level of competitive,” also nudged Donovan into the world of sports. Athletics acted as an other important form of support for the budding young athlete. In her conversation with the ‘Prince’, Donovan noted the welcoming nature of her sports teams grow ing“Whileup.

Donovan (left) and Meyers (right) have known each other since middle school.

Recognizing this, the two trailblazers, along with Meyers’ teammate junior forward guard Lexi Weger and senior diver Col ten Young, started Princeton’s Queer Student-Athlete Collective. The group offers a safe space for Princeton athletes who identify as LGBTQ+ to convene, share sto ries, and join a welcoming com munity of similarly identifying peers. The group aims to quell the anxiety that comes with the pressure and isolation of being a queer athlete by creating an en vironment where people can feel comfortable and supported.

“There’s sports where certain stereotypes can kind of block or overshadow a person and make them scared to be who they are, so QSAC is a safe space — a con fidential space — for people who don’t feel comfortable in those spaces to enter into this one,” MeyersMeyerssaid.and Donovan’s desire to leave a lasting impact on the Princeton community is inspired by their LGBTQ+ role models in professional sports. Lacrosse player Michelle Tumolo, as well as U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team star Meghan Rapinoe and her wife, WNBA legend Sue Bird, have all used their platforms to spread awareness about the LG BTQ+ community in athletics. Donovan and Meyers have repli cated the efforts of Bird and Rapi noe here at Princeton by proudly representing their community on the field and the court while also fostering a safe space through QSAC.Regarding her goal of making a positive social impact like her role models, Meyers told the ‘Prince,’ “I think if one kid reads this or goes to a game on Pride Night and real izes how awesome the environ ment is, it could really add a new meaning to how they see pride.” “To me, that’s the true mean ing behind sports,” Donovan added. “What you do within your own team, but then also what you do with your platform.”

“Just having people on your team that you know have your back just makes life so much easier,” she said. “That could be your best friends, it could be your dance group, or whoever, but for me that’s my sports team.”

Power couple Abby Meyers and Marge Donovan on using their platforms as queer student-athletes

The Ivy League champion ships just keep rolling in for Princeton athletics. In late April, the women’s golf team notched its third Ivy title in the last four seasons, defeating runners-up Colum bia by three strokes. The Tigers also edged out Columbia in the individual competition, as first-year Victoria Liu won by a comfortable five strokes. “Going into the Ivy Champi onship, I had the utmost confi dence in our team that we were going to perform our best no matter the conditions or pres sure, and we did just that,” said junior team member Tiffany Kong.Liu was joined by two other Tigers in the top 10, as sopho more Yu Kyung Kim finished in seventh, and first-year Kyung Eun Lee tied for 10th. “We had come off a tourna ment a week before that wasn’t our best performance, which I think shocked us a little bit es pecially after coming off such an amazing fall season,” said sophomore team member Ca ris Kim in a message to The Daily Princetonian. “At Ivies, we stuck to our game plan, hit our team goals, and stayed con nected as a team which is what I think ultimately led us to be successful.”Thechampionship earned the Tigers a spot in the NCAA Tournament. They were as signed to the Stanford region al, where they competed this Monday.“Going into NCAA Regionals is super exciting, and nothing is going [to] change — we are going to continue to strive to reach our team goals but more than anything enjoy the oppor tunity to be able to compete post-COVID,” Caris Kim said prior to the tournament. “There’s a lot of strong com petitors out here at the region als,” Kong added, “but we know that we are just as strong and competitive as any other team.” Unfortunately for the Tigers, they were unable to progress past the regionals, finishing in sixth place out of 12 teams at the Stanford regional with a score of +21. Only the top four finishers in the regional advanced. Despite falling just short of progressing to the next stage though, the Tigers held their heads high. “The team did amazingly well this week against some top teams in the nation,” Kong said. “This week is also a preview of what is yet to come. Next year could be a history-making year for Princeton Women[’s] Golf, and a huge step for Ivy League Golf.”

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I was struggling with my identity, the best thing about sports was that nobody cared. In a good team culture and competi tive environment, it doesn’t mat ter what you look like or how you identify, you’re just playing,” she said. “And I think that I was su per lucky to be in an environment where that was the mentality.” Meyers echoed the sentiment of openness in her sports teams through her journey as a high school basketball player. “A lot of my teammates were part of the LGBTQ+ community and were not afraid of talking about their lives outside of bas ketball, so it was a very welcom ing space,” she noted. For Meyers, the Princeton bas ketball team has also exemplified an open community, especially for LGBTQ+ people. In her first year, head coach Courtney Bang hart, as well as most of the entire coaching staff, were members of the LGBTQ+ community. Having people to relate to and connect with, it was easy for Meyers to feel welcome and included on the team. Current women’s basketball coach Carla Berube is also a proud member of the LGBTQ+ commu nity, with a wife and three chil dren. According to Meyers, she fosters a caring and welcoming environment.Donovan,on the other hand, is the only openly gay member of the women’s lacrosse team. Still, she still knows that her team mates love her for who she is and support her in any situation.

Being part of an inclusive and welcoming community, no mat ter the context, is an extremely powerful part of sports for both Donovan and Meyers. Events like Pride Night games here at Princ eton have helped the two feel at home on their teams and within themselves as LGBTQ+ athletes. On top of providing a healthy en vironment, Princeton sports in troduced Meyers and Donovan to their best forms of support: each other.While both women have found a community that welcomes them, they recognize that not all LGBTQ+ athletes may share such positive experiences. They note that, unfortunately, many LGBTQ+ athletes do not feel the compassion and acceptance that they have personally experienced through sports, even within Princeton’s community. “I was going into a program that really had a safe space around it for people of any type to go in there and play for them,” Meyers said, “but not everyone is fortu nate enough to be in a space like that.”

By Eric Fenno Sports Contributor COURTESY OF ABBY MEYERS

APRIL 2022 MAY 2022

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