The Daily Princetonian: March 22, 2024

GRADUATE SCHOOL

Grad students organize for safe return of kidnapped colleague, Elizabeth Tsurkov

By

On Tuesday, March 5, a graduate student sent an email in the Free Food listserv with the subject: “not food; but please help save our colleague’s life!”

The message encouraged students to send letters to Congress to bring attention to the situation of Princeton Ph.D. candidate Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was kidnapped in Iraq by Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah in March 2023. The email is part of a larger effort by concerned graduate students who are advocating for Tsurkov’s release.

“Our main goal is just making sure that she’s not forgotten,” Narrelle Gilchrist, a third-year graduate

STUDENT LIFE

student in the Politics department who has been part of the organizing effort, shared with The Daily Princetonian.

The email shared that Tsurkov’s family has asked that the Princeton community participate in the effort to free Elizabeth by sending letters to congress.

“Her case has not gotten enough attention until now, and her life is in danger,” the email read.

The email directed students to a website made by Tsurkov’s family, which contains a template letter and the contacts of “relevant senators.”

According to Gilchrist, she is one of a group of “semi organized … mostly concerned” grad students who are looking for ways to help.

“We all do field research ourselves, so it really could happen to any of us” she shared.  “We want to make sure that we’re not leaving anything on the table that could possibly be done to try to get her home.”

Recently, Tsurkov’s case has successfully caught the attention of Congress. Per the Tsurkov family’s website, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) wrote to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in September to “urge the Administration to use our close and abiding relationship with Iraq to raise Elizabeth’s abduction and call for her release at every opportunity and level.”

In November, the House

‘There’s nothing artificial about

Fei-Fei Li on ’28

By Ethan Caldwell Staff News Writer

On Friday, Feb. 23, the University announced that this year’s Princeton Pre-read for the Class of 2028 will be “The Worlds I See” by Fei-Fei Li ’99. The Princeton Pre-read, inaugurated by President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 in 2013, “introduces incoming freshmen to Princeton’s intellectual life.” This year’s choice comes at a time of growing focus on artificial intelligence (AI) at the University and beyond.

Li is the first Sequoia Capital Professor in Computer Science at Stanford University and serves as co-director of

Pre-read

Stanford’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute (HAI). Last September, Li was included in the 2023 TIME100 list of the most influential people in the AI field.

Also in February, Li was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Award, an honor “conferred annually upon an alumnus or alumna of the undergraduate college whose achievements exemplify Woodrow Wilson’s memorable phrase ‘Princeton in the nation’s service.’”

“I have no idea why I deserve that award … Getting to Princeton as an undergrad was just such an honor for me, and especially in the context of a young immigrant who didn’t have much and didn’t

” A HEBREW ELECTIVE. “

MARCH 20, 1885

By Alex Norbrook Columnist

Princeton quietly updated the number of fossil fuel companies on their dissociation list earlier this semester. For the most part, it’s good news: the Board of Trustees has increased the list of companies that they will not have financial relationships with from 90 companies to a stunning 2,300, even if most of them had “no prior financial relationship with the University.” However, the Board also restarted relationships with eight companies that were previously on the outs, dampening the good news.

One of those companies is TotalEnergies, the sixth largest fossil fuel company in the world and one that has been accused running climate disinformation campaigns, such as greenwashing, the practice of advertising their operations more “environmentally friendly” than they are in reality. Re-association with destructive companies like TotalEnergies reveals the weakness of the Board’s dissociation policy, which ignores

how those companies may abuse their relationship with Princeton to greenwash their image, allowing themselves to appear as eager advocates of climate action while concealing their scaled back renewable investments and lobbying against climate legislation.

“Dissociation” is Princeton’s name for severing financial relationships with a company — relationships like research partnerships, gifts, and donations. In 2022, the University chose to dissociate from any company holding values that are “in strong contradiction with Princeton University’s core values.”

A year earlier, Princeton announced two potential criteria for divesting from fossil fuel companies: sufficiently large holdings in the most polluting fossil fuel sectors or engagement in corporate disinformation campaigns. They link each of these to a “core mission” of the University; egregiously See DISSOCIATION page 10

artificial intelligence’:

have the fancy resume that my classmates had,” Li told The Daily Princetonian in an interview.

“Attending reaffirmed my admiration for Princeton because my classmates, my fellow students, and my professors, every one of them was just so incredible … So to receive that undergraduate award … I feel so humbled; it’s such an honor,” she added.

A specialist in AI, machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision, Li related her experiences in her memoir as a researcher, a Princeton student, and a Chinese immigrant in America — a blend of the deeply personal and professional. “The Worlds I See,” apart from its focus on

the future of AI, articulates her experience and the difficulties Li faced.

In the press release announcing the Pre-Read, Eisgruber said that Li “writes poignantly about the challenges that she and her family faced, the opportunities they treasured, and her search for a sense of belonging in environments that sometimes made her feel like an outsider.”

Li explained that she did not set out to write a memoir — at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, she was approached by an agent to write a book about AI.

“[My] philosopher friend [John Etchemendy], who’s also the co-director of

Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute, literally called me in the middle of COVID to his backyard and he said ‘This is not good. You have to rewrite it … [because] a lot of technologists can write an AI story’” Li said. “‘But your personal journey is a voice that the young women, the immigrants, the people of all walks of life out there … can identify with.’”

Although Li noted that “it’s not my personality to write a memoir,” she said that she “feel[s] the essence of responsibility to tell the story from that perspective.”

The choice of the Pre-Read aligns with the University’s gravitation toward AI that has

This Week In History

Princeton was founded in 1746 by the Presbyterian Church, which requires an understanding of both Hebrew and ancient Greek in order to be ordained as a minister. However, the University only began offering a Hebrew elective in 1885. The Daily Princetonian took a look at the origins of the Biblical Hebrew elective and compared it to the University and Theological Seminary’s current offerings, which have come to include modern Hebrew and other ancient Semitic languages.

Bridget O’Neill Head News Editor

CALVIN GROVER / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Robertson Hall.

The choice of the Pre-read aligns with the University’s gravitation toward AI that has developed over the past year.

PRE-READ

Continued from page 1

developed over the past year.

The Princeton Language and Intelligence Initiative (PLI) was established in September 2023 to furnish resources and talent toward AI research and development under the leadership of director Sanjeev Arora.

In December 2023, Eisgruber met with Governor Phil Murphy to announce plans for the creation of an AI hub in New Jersey aimed at technological development, research, and ethical considerations. As of February 2024, the PLI has granted $798,000 to 14 different research projects centered around AI and large language models (LLMs).

Li supports the heavy emphasis placed on AI by universities. She stated that she “feel[s] a sense of crisis that [universities] are inadequately resourced to play the role.”

During the interview with the ‘Prince,’ Li phoned in from Washington, D.C., where she was attending the State of the Union address as a guest

and meeting with members of Congress to advocate for a bill under consideration in the Senate. Called the CREATE AI Act, the bill hopes to establish the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot program. The NAIRR will serve as a cloud and data commons for the public sector.

“Human civilization needs our leadership because as our technology and science change, and once in a while they change really rapidly, like what AI is doing right now, which brings inevitable social, political, and economic change,” Li said. “During this period of time of tremendous change, creating public goods is the responsibility of academia.”

“I always say there’s nothing artificial about artificial intelligence. It’s made by humans, it’s deployed by humans, it’s used by humans, and it’s governed by humans,” Li concluded.

While Li advocates for AI on the national stage, her work is inextricably tied to Princeton.

“At the very end of the day, one of the biggest impacts

on my life is what Princeton has taught me: ‘In the nation’s service and the service of

humanity.’ And that’s what this book is about. It’s seeing AI through that lens.”

Eating club leadership for 2024 set as election season comes to a close

By Justus Wilhoit Assistant Audience Editor & Senior News Writer

Six of Princeton’s 11 eating clubs, including all Bicker clubs, recently held their undergraduate officer elections. Four of the five sign-in clubs — Cloister Inn, Charter Club, Terrace Club, and Quadrangle Club — held their elections in November of last year. One of these incoming eleven presidents will soon be elected president of the Interclub Council (ICC). Colonial Club was the only sign-in club to hold elections in December. The club elected its top four officers for the upcoming year, including President Alexis Wu ’25, Vice President Andrew Ji ’25, Treasurer Adam Huang ’25, and

House Manager Yejin Bann ’25. Colonial offered spots to 120 members, an increase from 70 people last year. The surge in membership at the club may be in part due to its early sign-in program, which allowed sophomores to gain admission to the club before the beginning of Street Week.

At Tiger Inn, Teddy Bhatia ’25 was elected president. Other newly elected officers include Nina Boudet ’25 for vice president, Lina Singh ’25 for social chair, Gordon Helmers ’25 for house manager, Elena Every ’25 for treasurer, and Cole Lindemann ’25 for safety and communications czar, according to the club’s Instagram page.

Bhatia declined to provide comment to the ‘Prince.’

TI’s membership and

popularity trended upwards this year with the arrival of the Class of 2026, Princeton’s largest undergraduate class in history, to the eating club scene. For the first time since the inception of double Bicker in 2017, which allows for sophomores to have the opportunity to bicker two Bicker clubs, TI became the most selective Bicker club on the street with an acceptance rate of 25.67 percent, edging out Ivy Club’s 26.80 percent acceptance rate. For the first time since 2001, the club also became the most bickered, overtaking Cap and Gown Club.

Cap elected Isis Arevalo ’25 as president, with the club’s additional new officers being Jason Ding ’25 for vice president, Aidan Phillips ’25 for

treasurer, David Herrera ’25 for social chair, Krishna Parikh ’25 for membership chair, Shailee Desai ’25 for house manager, and Na’im Ahdieh ’25 for gear and athletics chair.

Phillips is the business manager of the ‘Prince.’

Vincent Jiang ’25 won the presidential election at Tower Club, one of ten officers elected on Feb. 6. Sujay Swain ’25, Alex Slisher ’25, and Sophie Leheny ’25 were selected as vice president, house manager, and promotional chair respectively.

The other new officers include Alexandra Roberts ’25 as treasurer, Emilie Chau ’25 as secretary, Aleha Amjad ’25 as social vice president, Okezie Eze ’25 as security chair, Ignacio Arias ’25 as membership chair, Philip Wang ’25 as activities chair, Wilbert Joseph ’25 as intramural chair, and Seth Kahn ’25 as technology chair.

In a message to the ‘Prince,’ Jiang said the new officers are “prioritizing the integration of new members into the club.”

“Tower Club anticipated the Class of 2026 being a large bicker class, and we have correspondingly welcomed a larger incoming class of bickerees in line with our commitments to inclusivity, institutional equity, and diversity,” Jiang added.

This year, Tower welcomed its largest incoming class since at least 2001, with 165 new members.

Jiang is a columnist at the ‘Prince.’

Ivy elected Jaehee Ashley ’25 for president, Fergus Nevill ’25 for vice president, Cole Presten ’25 for social chair, Farouk Umar ’25 for treasurer, and Mackenzie Wilson ’25 for

Bicker chair.

Ivy accepted 78 of its 291 bickerees this year. This smaller class size comes after the club accepted its largest class since at least 2001 last year with 87 bickerees. Cynthia Nwankwo ’25 was elected president of Cottage Club, along with Peter Anella ’25 as vice president, James Cross ’25 as social chair, Lily Bryant ’25 as Bicker chair, and Andres Colmenares ’25 as house manager.

Cottage, Ivy, Colonial, and Cap officers did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

Cannon Dial Elm Club elected Avery Shunneson ’25 as president, Mia Coene ’25 as vice president, and Jennifer Olnowich ’25, Chloe Ayres ’25, and Lauren Sablone ’25 as social chairs. Brett Feyerick ’25 was elected treasurer, Tommy Matheson ’25 as house manager, Jessica Lin ’25 as Bicker chair, Lucca Fulkerson ’25 as activities chair, and David Xie ’25 as intramurals chair.

Cannon officers did not provide comment by the time of publication.

With last year’s officers finishing their terms, new leadership will take over at the ICC soon, which meets weekly to discuss eating clubrelated matters and manages the club admissions process. ICC elections are currently scheduled for Monday, March 11. This would mark an accelerated timeline from last year, when the election took place in early April.

Justus Wilhoit is an assistant Audience editor and senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’

Ethan Caldwell is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’

JEAN SHIN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

University Spokesperson

Jennifer Morril:

“The University is focused on Elizabeth’s safety

and well-being.”

TSURKOV

Continued from page 1

Committee on Education and the Workforce referenced Tsurkov in its announcement launching an investigation into University research fellow Seyed Hossein Mousavian, amid allegations that Mousavian was using his position to advance the interests of Iran.

In a letter sent to President Eisgruber regarding the investigation, the committee wrote: “Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton doctoral student, is currently being held hostage in Iraq by Iran-backed militias. Has Princeton asked Mousavian to assist in Tsurkov’s release? Has Mousavian offered to use his contacts to try to free Tsurkov?”

Gilchrist emphasized that graduate student organizers are working to “encourage the University to be fully engaging with” U.S. government officials in Congress and the Department of State “to make sure this remains a priority issue.”

“The University is focused on Elizabeth’s safety and well-being,” University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “We have offered and provided support to Elizabeth’s family, including by making available reputable outside experts the University has retained and by advocating with U.S. government officials to use their influence to help bring Elizabeth home safely.”

In an interview with ABC News that was linked in the March 5 email, Elizabeth Tsurkov’s sister, Emma Tsurkov, said, “The only thing standing between her and freedom is a stern enough phone call from Washington, D.C. to Baghdad telling the Iraqi government, ‘you need to get her out.’”

As noted in the ABC News report, United States-Iraq tensions have heightened in recent months as some groups within the Popular

Mobilization Forces (PMF) — a coalition which the Iraqi government has labeled an “independent military formation” within its armed forces — have launched attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, in relation to the war in Gaza. The Iraqi faction of Kataib Hezbollah is part of the PMF.

News of Elizabeth Tsurkov’s kidnapping became public in July when Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that she was being held by Kataib Hezbollah. Tsurkov, who specializes in the Middle East, including Iraq, Syria, and IsraelPalestine, was conducting research which the University confirmed in October was “related to her approved Ph.D. dissertation topic.”

A video circulated online and broadcast on Iraqi television networks in November appeared to show Tsurkov for the first time since she was abducted. In the video, Tsurkov spoke Hebrew — likely under duress — for more than four minutes, asking her family and friends to work towards her release. She said that Kataib Hezbollah told her no efforts had been made for her release.

Tsurkov’s family is now asking the Princeton community to be part of the effort to free Elizabeth. The “How can you help?” tab on their website asks visitors to write letters to “Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman Senator Cardin, Ranking Member Senator Risch, and majority members Senator Booker and Senator Menendez” to “let them know that you want the United States government to call for Elizabeth’s release and work with the Iraqi government to ensure her freedom.”

“It is something simple and [takes] only a few minutes,” Gilchrist said of the call to action, “it’s helpful for Congress to be able to know that this is something that they should prioritize.”

Bridget O’Neill is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’

By Atishay Narayanan

Congressman Derek Kilmer ’96 talks impending retirement from politics, teaching at Princeton

By Charlie Roth Senior News Writer

There was a Congressman sitting in the SPIA dining room on Monday. He was not there for a conference or a lecture series, however. He was there for office hours.

Congressman Derek Kilmer (DWA) ’96, now in his second year at Princeton, teaches a School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) Junior Task Force, “Fixing the People’s House: Policy Reforms to Restore the U.S. House.”

“I think institutional stewardship is really important,” Kilmer said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian. “One of the things that drove me to teach this class was I think there are a lot of people who are interested in how to make Congress work better. And if you deputize a bunch of smart Princetonians to think about the problem, one, they can come up with really interesting solutions. And two, there’s an appetite and an audience for that by members of Congress.”

Kilmer sat down with the ‘Prince’ in the Robertson dining room after his office hours to talk about his class and his time in Congress, which is coming to an end after a dozen years in D.C. and another eight in Washington’s state legislature.

“20 years of public service felt about right,” Kilmer told the ‘Prince’ when asked about why he chose to retire from Congress. “There are people leaving Congress saying ‘to heck with this place.’ I’m not one of them. I actually have liked the work.”

Of the seven Congressmen who are Princeton alumni, Kilmer is one of four who is stepping down at the end of this term. Reps. Sarbanes, Buck, and Gallager have all also announced that they are leaving Congress after the 2024 election.

Kilmer said that some of his

work is a direct result from his time at Princeton as an undergraduate.

“My senior thesis looked at challenges facing timber communities in Washington state like the one I grew up in,” Kilmer said. “Two years ago, I actually turned some of that research and some work other people have done in that space into legislation called the RECOMPETE Act.”

The RECOMPETE Act eventually passed in August 2022 as part of the Chips and Science Act. The Economic Development Administration recently chose 22 regions around the country to receive assistance from the federal government under the program — including northwestern Washington, where Kilmer grew up and now represents.

“Which feels really good, right? That’s literally coming from Princeton from a little logging town, having the work I did at Princeton form some of the legislation I’ve introduced. And I’ve seen it come full circle to help my community. That’s kind of neat.”

Kilmer’s work in Congress has also focused on making the legislative branch run better, which he says is part of the reason he ran, and why he’s teaching his class at Princeton.

“I ran because I had kids and because [Congress] was a fixer upper,” Kilmer told the ‘Prince.’ “I actually wanted to see a better future for them. But that really shaped the things I worked on in Congress, including working a lot on congressional reform. Because if we’re going to do this job, I want to make sure I’m leaving the institution better off.”

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Some of the actions he recommended on the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress — which he Chaired for four years — include implementing

a bipartisan orientation (rather than the current process, which is split by party) and a newly-opened bipartisan co-working space. The subcommittee has accomplished about a third of their goals and is working towards implementing another third, and Kilmer says that his students’ JPs “have gotten some traction in DC.”

Kilmer is stepping away during a time of national political disagreement and discourse, from Congress to college campuses. Last week, Kilmer was set to give a speech at the University of Puget Sound about the divisions in the country when it was interrupted by pro-Palestine protesters.

“We’ve got some work to do to figure out how to disagree better. And the slight irony that a speech about how we disagree better was interrupted by disagreement… like, okay,” Kilmer sighed. “But my sense is, each of us has to figure out how to walk into discussions with the recognition that we might be wrong and the other person may be right. And we have to be active and empathetic listeners and be poised for discussion, not just debate. Generally, college campuses are a really good place for that to happen.”

Still, Kilmer is leaving Congress with hope.

“I couldn’t be in this job if I weren’t a genetically hopeful person,” he told the ‘Prince.’ “My hope stems from the notion that we have agency. It’s not the pollyannaish view, ‘it’s all going to be fine, stay calm.’ It’s the notion that things get better because we work to make them better.”

Kilmer said the next “chapter” of his life is uncertain – he’s not even sure if he’ll teach at Princeton again next year — but he says he hopes to continue the progress he made in Congress in whatever he does next.

Charlie Roth is a senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’

Town Council hosts Eisgruber, Graduate Hotel construction delayed

By Christopher Bao & Annie Rupertus Assistant & Head News Editor

University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 addressed the Princeton Town Council in its meeting on Monday, Feb. 26. During the meeting, the council granted an extension on the Graduate Hotel construction project, which was supposed to end by March, until May 16.

Eisgruber’s appearance

In his opening statements, Eisgruber stressed the importance of “excellence, inclusivity, and free speech,” especially amidst a “tumultuous and demanding year for higher education and for colleges and universities.” The rhetoric echoed Eisgruber’s statements in this year’s State of the University letter, which addressed responses across college campuses nationwide to the war in Gaza and attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in higher education.

Eisgruber also discussed the continued importance of strengthening relationships between the town and the University, saying that students “feel more and more a part of this community in this town — they want to cross Nassau Street, they want to be part of the life that happens here.” He also said that the values of the town and the University align well, noting that it’s “very important to [him] to be able to continue to advocate for [goals] in a community like this one that cares so deeply.”

Various council members asked Eisgruber questions, including Councilmember David Cohen, who asked about housing for Princeton staff.

Cohen noted that “people who work in [the] dining halls, people who take care of the grounds and the buildings, and even the administrative staff, many of them can’t afford to live here,” adding, “it would be a great thing if the University could create housing for them.”

In response, Eisgruber said, “as we think about these kinds of benefits, or things that we can do for our population, we have to think of them in terms of the overall compensation framework that we provide to our faculty and staff.”

For faculty, graduate students, and some postdocs, he said that “housing in close proximity to the University and the scholarly community that they are a part of around the clock is very important,” but “for some of our other parts of our population, the trade-off there between wages or other benefits may cut differently,” noting that creating new benefits runs the risk of them being “unevenly spread.”

Councilmember Leighton Newlin asked about the possibility of “redo[ing] Clay Street,” which is the site of an apartment complex that was originally built as a housing project in the 1950’s.

According to the Municipality of Princeton’s website, “the homes are an example of Princeton’s efforts at providing low and moderate-priced rental dwellings in the [WitherspoonJackson] neighborhood.”

Newlin cited the need for more affordable housing built “with the resources and the intellect and the intelligence across Nassau Street” at the University. Affordable housing has been an ongoing topic of discussion for the Council and for graduate student and

postdoc union organizers.

Eisgruber responded that he didn’t know enough to comment on the specifics on Newlin’s proposal, but that he wanted to “work together with this council to identify what the highest priorities are for University involvement as we identify these shared projects and shared objectives.”

Councilmember Eve Niedergang asked about Eisgruber’s vision for the relationship between the town and the University going forward, to which he responded that he looks forward to “continu[ing] to collaborate with one another.”

He expressed a desire to work together with the Council to “keep more of those early career graduates and younger people in Princeton to make this … a place where they can flourish as well.” He specifically cited Princeton’s plans to establish an AI hub, which he said could be “dynamic and energizing for the town as well as the University.”

The Graduate Hotel

Pablo David, vice president for community engagement & government affairs at AJ Capital Partners — the firm that manages the Graduate Hotels chain — presented to the Council that the team needed extra time to complete their Princeton project.

“Because of certain delays that we experienced, especially on the front end of the 20 Nassau building due to structural issues,” he said, “we’re here requesting basically a two-and-a-halfmonth extension to get us through.”

The new end date for construction, therefore, would be May 16, just ten days before commencement activities begin

on Princeton’s campus. In April 2022, the hotel construction was originally planned to wrap up by March 2024.

The Graduate Hotel in Princeton is a franchise location of the Graduate Hotels — a brand of themed hotels nearby colleges and universities.

David noted that that construction has been “an inconvenience to many of the residents,” especially since the construction currently requires Chambers Street to be closed in one lane, only allowing northbound traffic.

Town Topics has previously reported on “periodic [two-way] closures” on Chambers Street “for delivery of materials and for PSE&G to install transformers in underground vaults for the hotel.”

Ryan Ward, project manager for the hotel project, noted that going forward there will only be a few two-way, full-day road closures for the project. Assistant Municipal Engineer Jim Purcell said that while the municipality tries to warn the community about closures in advance, sometimes closures can be enacted unpredictably.

Several council members were not satisfied with the delay, citing previous delays and concerns over road closures.

Fraga expressed safety concerns about the project, saying that the unexpected road closures were “not only dangerous,” but “also inconsiderate.”

David acknowledged the public safety issue, saying safety is “something that does need to be tightened up.”

Niedergang later expressed, “I feel this is the second time that you’ve come to us with a choice that is not really a choice. One was after first saying that Chamber Street could be

maintained two ways and then coming to us and saying, ‘oops, somebody made a mistake, we can’t keep it two ways, it has to be one way.’ And now after a commitment to wrapping things up and returning the street to a two-way service, you’re now coming back to us and saying ‘actually, we can’t do that, or we can’t do that without frequent closures of the street.’”

“I’m frustrated on behalf of the people who this is impacting,” she continued. “What are you offering in return to the people that are being inconvenienced?”

Council President Mia Sacks expressed understanding about the delays, stating, “I would challenge anyone listening or here to come up with one home improvement project or renovation that actually got done on time.”

“The overall benefit to all those businesses [that have been impacted], in terms of the people who will now be using, shopping, dining, walking around, and providing foot traffic as a benefit to all those businesses, I think will in a very short time make up for whatever economic adverse impact they experienced in the short term,” she said.

Mayor Mark Freda concluded the discussion, stating, “just to make this formal and have it on the record, May 16 is the date. So it means May 17, the road is open.” The motion to grant the extension passed.

Christopher Bao is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Annie Rupertus is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’

At panel, Princeton unions look forward to recognition, focus on unity and engagement

By Miriam Waldvogel & Olivia Sandchez Associate News Editors

While current union drives for graduate students and postdoctoral workers have yet to be recognized by the University, Jeff Coley, the president of Service Employees International Union-175 (SEIU-175), reminded attendees of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) Labor Unions Panel of the five unions already operating on campus.

According to Coley, these groups — SEIU, the Department of Public Safety, Firestone Library librarians, “security guards,” and employees at the cogeneration plant — frequently communicate with one another “to see if everything is going okay with them, see if they have new ideas.”

“It’s very important for all the unions here at this university to talk with our other unions, because this is how they become stronger,” he added.

The panel, held on March 5 at 5 p.m. in Robertson 001, was hosted by the Princeton Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) and featured representatives from various unions within the community. Jeff Coley represented SEIU, English Ph.D. candidate Piper Winkler represented Princeton Graduate Student Union (PGSU), Jessica Ng represented Princeton University Postdocs and Scholars (PUPS), and Becca Ziemann represented the Labyrinth Books Union.

The event was moderated by YDSA President Abby Leibowitz ’26, and focused on difficulties surrounding

the unionization process, how unions function within the Princeton community, and how to start a broader campus conversation about unionization at Princeton.

Leibowitz is a senior News writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Winker referenced the fact that Princeton is the only Ivy League university without a recognized graduate student union, saying, “At this point, we’re just catching up to what our peer institutions are already doing.”

PGSU considered seeking voluntary recognition from the University last May, a couple of months after a majority of graduate students signed union cards.

During the panel, Winkler said that the union is still in the card campaign stage.

“We want to file a supermajority of cards, so [to have] about 60 percent of grad students signing … to have an election and get our union recognized,” she said.

Under the rules of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), at least 30 percent of employees in a given workplace need to sign union cards in order to call an election.

“There have been, in various departments, anti-union meetings,” Winkler said. “At Yale and other places, anti-union campaigns have been less vehement than organizers expected them to be, but of course the University has the opportunity to drag things out as long as possible. We haven’t reached that stage, but we’re prepared to.”

In an statement to the ‘Prince,’ University Spokesperson Jennifer

Morrill wrote, “Since the initial communication from the Graduate School on Feb. 28, 2023 and throughout many town halls across the University last spring, Dean [of the Graduate School] Rodney Priestley has said that the University respects the right of students to make an informed decision about unionization without any pressure from the institution or its constituents, including students for or against unionization and faculty.”

Panelists also discussed some of the challenges and tactics around union organizing at the University and in town, with Ziemann and Ng both expressing that the short tenures of their peers made organizing difficult.

“A lot of people are here for just one year, two years, maybe three years,” Ng said of postdoctoral researchers. The postdoc union card campaign has been ongoing since December.

Multiple union representatives also expressed concern about a lack of affordable housing in the town of Princeton and how that has driven ongoing unionization efforts.

“Sometimes grads go to the Housing Office to ask for help and are told that they should just look for housing in Pennsylvania, which is not that helpful,” said Winkler.

“I have coworkers who have to live an hour away to find affordable housing,” added Ziemann.

In a statement to the ‘Prince,’ Morrill wrote that the Housing department maintains a website with general offcampus rentals, which does include housing in Pennsylvania. According to the University, 70 percent of graduate

students live on campus.

Panelists also emphasized the practical importance of contracts and negotiations. Coley referenced the snowstorm on Feb. 13 as an example of the usefulness of a contract. The University closed for non-essential personnel, but according to Coley, some employees showed up anyway and were sent home early.

In the days after, Coley recalled saying to a University official in the days after, “Let’s do an easy fix here. Everybody you sent home: pay them for the rest of the day ... [The official] said ‘I don’t want to pay everyone’ … I said, ‘It doesn’t matter. It’s right there [in the contract].’”

“They may come at me with a ridiculously written article, and we come back the following day with triple the ridiculousness,” Coley said of contract negotiations.

Coley emphasized that strikes are a last resort for SEIU. “Strikes [are] a difficult thing … if we want to strike, 740 members aren’t getting their paychecks,” he said.

Coley added that combatting racism “is something that’s huge for me,” and expressed concern about a decrease in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) trainings for University staff.

In a statement to the ‘Prince,’ Morrill said the claim that the University has decreased or canceled racial bias trainings “is not accurate. The University has in fact increased the number of learning opportunities and the reach of our professional development through our Inclusion and Development Certificate Program (the sixth cohort of this program is launching next week),

as well as workshops … [that] touch race and ethnicity in addition to many other dimensions of diversity.”

According to Morrill, the University also offers DEI-related classes through a Management Development Certificate Program, as well as other classes available on the HR website.

“The only canceled classes were due to a snow day when the University closed. The only other time we canceled (but then rescheduled) was for a department that did not share the class invitation with their employees in a timely fashion, resulting in not enough registrations,” Morrill added.

Morrill also stated that the classes are in high demand and can quickly fill. She noted that this is being addressed by focusing on centralized workshops and department-specific learning paths.

“In many cases, we schedule separate times or embed workshops into meetings the departments have scheduled, which means the workshops do not show up in our central learning system as open for all,” she wrote.

Overall, panelists agreed that unity is a crucial aspect of successful unionization campaigns.

“As all the wonderful people here have been saying, there’s so much value in building a strong community of unionized workers on campus and sharing our solidarity with one another,” emphasized Winkler.

Miriam Waldvogel is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Olivia Sanchez is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’

Li and Beidel ’24 win Pyne Prize, highest undergrad distinction

By Julian Hartman-Sigall Associate News Editor

Brian Li ’24 and Casey Beidel ’24 were both awarded the 2024 Pyne Prize last week. The award, presented at Alumni Day on Saturday, Feb. 24, is the highest general distinction given to undergraduates.

The Pyne Prize is given annually to students that have “most clearly manifested excellent scholarship, strength of character, and effective leadership.” It was first awarded in 1922 and its namesake, Moses Taylor Pyne Class of 1877, was an influential University trustee whose tenure saw the construction of Blair Hall and the Graduate College.

Previous recipients of the award include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76 and former Princeton President Robert F. Goheen ’40.

There have been a few notable trends among Pyne Prize recipients over the past twelve years. Li is the sixth Pyne Prize winner to have served on Undergraduate Student Government (USG) in the last six years. Last year, Austin Davis ’23 received the award after serving as USG Academics chair and, two years ago, both recipients had been USG members.

Li was chief elections manager for USG when the Princeton Committee on Palestine put forth the contentious Caterpillar referendum for a student vote, sparking controversy across campus. Li faced personal attacks and harassment as outside organizations became involved in the debate.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Li referred to that debate as a defining moment in his Princeton experience, saying, “there was a lot of backlash against what me and my colleagues were doing, but to have the support of the University and trying to navigate all that in an empathetic way was a very unpleasant experience at the moment, but it was also deeply educational.”

Beidel received the prestigious Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence twice, while Li received it once. Receiving the Shapiro Prize is slightly associated with receiving the Pyne Prize — a majority of Pyne Prize winners since 2014 have been recipients of the Shapiro Prize, while just over a quarter have won two.

Outside of USG, other affiliations represented in recent Pyne Prize winners have been Peer Academic Advisors (PAA), Orange Key tour guides, Phi Beta Kappa, and Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative (SINSI) Scholars. This year’s winners continue these trends. Both were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa this fall, and

Beidel is a PAA and an Orange Key tour guide.

Both of this year’s winners are members of the Cap & Gown Club. Although Cap & Gown has produced three Pyne Prize winners in the past two years, Tower Club has been dominant this decade, with seven winners in the past eight years.

In the realm of academics, the Pyne Prize has disproportionately been awarded to history majors and students in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) in the past ten years. This year’s winners continue the trend of social science and humanities awardees, although they majored in departments that have produced fewer Pyne Prize winners recently: Li is a comparative literature major, while Beidel studies sociology.

Beidel has served as president of Princeton’s oldest a cappella group, the Nassoons, through which he said he has “buil[t] friendships that have lasted through college and will last a lifetime.”

In addition to singing, he also acts in Princeton’s Triangle Club. His interest in the arts is not only a hobby, but also a professional interest: in 2021, he interned at the New York Foundation for the Arts.

In his coursework, Beidel has focused on studying and advocating for LGBTQ+ legal rights.

“I am queer myself and a lot of people in my family are queer,” he told the ‘Prince.’ “There’s obviously [been] an uptick recently in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policies that target LGBTQ+ people — we’re seeing legislation introduced to an unprecedented extent rather. It’s really imperative that we have people that are fighting for the LGBTQ+ community from a policy and legal perspective as well as doing whatever they can through community service and nonprofit work.”

Beidel’s senior thesis is titled “Don’t Say Gay: A Study of Gender, Sexuality and Freedoms in the Classroom.” In the work, he examines how K-12 educators in New Jersey and Pennsylvania respond to policies that attempt to limit discussion of gender and sexuality, surveying how the policies affect classroom curricula as well as teachers’ interpersonal relationships with students, according to the University’s press release.

Despite his success, Beidel said he still sometimes experiences imposter syndrome at Princeton, though he urges fellow students to fight against it.

“There are plenty of programs that I was maybe nervous about applying for because I thought I wouldn’t get them that I probably should have at least taken a shot at, and I was maybe intimidated by certain courses or departments when I feel like I

probably could have done fine,” he said.

“I still have trouble shaking the [imposter syndrome]. Even in class today, people were talking about economic concepts that I had no idea about, and I felt completely out of the loop.”

Asked about his advice to new and future students, he said, “try new things rather than [letting them] intimidate you.”

In contrast to his social science counterpart, Li is majoring in comparative literature while pursuing a certificate in global health and health policy. His interests lie at the intersection of literature, science, and the history of medicine. After graduation, he plans to pursue a master’s degree in the history of science and medicine and later enter a combined M.D./Ph.D. program.

Marina Brownlee, the Robert Schirmer Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Comparative Literature, said Li excels as a scholar in the field of medical humanities.

She said that she quickly recognized “how special his intellect, analytical skills, and drive are.”

Li is one of two chairs of the Peer Representatives, a group that provides peer representation to students being investigated by the Honor Committee and the Committee on Discipline. He is also vice president of Princeton’s curling team, which earned a silver medal in the

national college championship in 2023.

In an interview with the ‘Prince,’ Li said he was “lost for words” upon learning he had received the Pyne Prize and “was stumbling over [his] words when talking to Dean [Jill] Dolan about it.” He said the honor “came as a tremendous surprise.”

“I’m the son of new Americans who came to this country just under 40 years ago to further their education,” Li said in the University press release, noting his family’s roots in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tianjin. “I am ever grateful to the many wonderful teachers that I’ve had over the years who have helped me define and refine my path to and through Princeton.”

Li said that he took his first course in the history of science — the topic that would later become his academic focus — simply to fulfill the Historical Analysis distribution requirement. Based on that experience, he advises that current and future students try as many new things as possible while at Princeton.

“There’s so much here,” he said. “It’s like drinking from a firehose, you can’t possibly take it all in, but take as much as you can and let yourself be persuaded to try new things.”

Julian Hartman-Sigall is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’

University convenes task force to address hazing

By Elisabeth Stewart Assistant News Editor

In a message to the University community sent Friday, Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun announced the creation of a university Hazing Prevention and Response Task Force, which will work alongside the national StopHazing Hazing Prevention Consortium.

According to the email, the StopHazing consortium is a “multi-year initiative to support colleges and universities in campus-wide hazing prevention.”

Along with Princeton, 10 other institutions — including Harvard College and William & Mary — are partnering with the consortium from 2023 to 2026 to “assess campus climate for hazing and build capacity for planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating data-informed hazing prevention strategies.”

Additionally, Calhoun wrote that StopHazing researchers “will

be present on campus to hear from students and staff in confidential focus groups,” and that student feedback will “inform campuswide hazing prevention efforts over the coming years.”

“The safety and well-being of the Princeton community is a shared responsibility, and hazing prevention depends on all of us,” Calhoun wrote.

This announcement comes one month after the University’s biannual hazing report announced that there were “no adjudicated violations of the University’s policy prohibiting hazing” and no violations of “federal or state laws relating to hazing reported to the University” from Aug. 1, 2023 to Feb. 1, 2024.

In an email to The Daily Princetonian on Feb. 23, University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill responded to the decreased reports of hazing, and wrote, “the University has continued its ongoing training programs to combat hazing.”

The report only covers a sixmonth period, which Morrill noted was “a relatively short time frame to identify significant trends,” and that “cases where there was no substantiation of hazing allegations are not listed.”

The Federal Report and Educate About Campus Hazing (REACH) Act requires universities to disclose hazing incidents. In 2021, New Jersey passed a law requiring increasing penalties for hazing and requiring biennial disclosure of hazing incidents from universities.

According to the University policy, “hazing encompasses a broad range of behaviors that a) may place another person in danger of bodily injury, or b) that demonstrates indifference or disregard for another person’s dignity or well-being.”

From March 2017 to February 2024, the University reported multiple resolved hazing investigations. The report released last March announced

that the University had suspended 16 students for violating the hazing policy during a fraternity initiation, with suspension lengths ranging from one semester to two years.

The same report wrote that dozens of other students received various non-suspension punishments including disciplinary probation, Dean’s warning, and, for students who already graduated, withholding degrees. The report added that many students received more significant punishments due to being “dishonest during the University investigation.”

The other violation mentioned in the report was related to a student organization, where four students who organized an initiation event were found responsible for participating in hazing as members.

The vast majority of reported hazing punishments were given to students in a sorority or fraternity, which the University

does not recognize. The students mentioned in the March report who were part of the recognized student organization received either reprimand or disciplinary probation.

In cases of hazing allegations, the University speaks to involved parties and obtains any relevant documents or communications, according to Morrill. If evidence indicates a violation of the hazing policy, a disciplinary committee will review the matter and the University will notify the student of a pending case and of all information that the committee uses to assess the violation. Students have the opportunity to submit additional documentation for committee consideration. Those found responsible receive a letter including the committee’s “finding of responsibility” and the associated penalty.

Elisabeth Stewart is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’

COURTESY OF BRIAN LI ’24

Brian Li ’24.

COURTESY OF CASEY BEIDEL ’24

Casey Beidel ’24.

Breaking down Princeton’s 2023 daily crime logs

By Mary Ma & Erin Yoo Staff Data Reporters

In 2023, criminal activity on campus was at its highest during midterms in both semesters, and peaked around 3 p.m. The highest number of on-campus crimes occurred in Frist Campus Center.

The Daily Princetonian analyzed 365 days of Public Safety (PSAFE) daily crime records from 2023.

2023 crimes reported to PSAFE follow trends consistent with the crime patterns analyzed in 2022. Significant changes from the 2022 report include the time of day with the most frequently reported crimes: over the past seven years, 12 a.m. had the most reported criminal activity, compared to 3 p.m. in 2023. Additionally, 2023 crime reports peaked in March and October, whereas the reports peaked in May from 2016–2022 on average.

Compared to the 2023 Annual Security and Fire Safety report, the PSAFE daily crime logs — published in accordance with the Clery Act — include a wider range of offenses. The daily crime logs provide a more specific view of criminal incidents, including information about whether an incident ended with an arrest or left open. Additionally, PSAFE daily crime logs focus on crime that occurs on campus, while the Annual Security and Fire Safety report includes crime that occurs off campus, including at the eating clubs.

For nine out of the 12 months in 2023, theft was the largest crime classification reported in the month. Criminal activity tended to peak in March and October around midterms season. In 2023, criminal mischief peaked in May.

“Every offense reported to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) undergoes an individual assessment, considering its unique circumstances to determine the correct classification across these reporting frameworks,”

University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’

“It’s not uncommon for an incident to be initially categorized as one type of offense or event, only to be reclassified after further investigation.”

Under the disposition category in the daily log, arrests and closed cases are denoted as different categories.

“On the daily log, ‘open investigation’ refers to offenses currently under investigation,” Morrill explained. “An offense is marked as ‘closed’ when it leads to an arrest or is cleared by exceptional means, as defined in the UCR [(Uniform Crime Reporting)] program. ‘Unfounded’ indicates that the complaint was found to be false or baseless upon investigation, meaning no evidence supported the initial allegation.”

The highest number of crimes were reported around 3 p.m. and most were reported in the afternoon. Each hour between 12 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the morning, there were consistently 20 or fewer reported crimes.

In the locations with the highest number of reported crimes, the most reported crime in Frist Campus Center, Lawrence Apartments, Dillon Gym, Lewis Library, Firestone Library, and Holder Hall was theft. The largest category of crime at Princeton Stadium was criminal mischief, and the most prominent category at Lakeside Apartments and Nassau Hall was harassment.

Tied with Frist Campus Center, “Main Campus” was the location with the most crimes reported.

“‘Main Campus’ is used when the complainant does not provide sufficient geographical information to accurately identify a specific location, yet the incident is reasonably believed to have occurred on the university campus,” University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’

The most reported crime at Frist Campus Center was theft and harassment, including bias-related harassment. The most frequently reported crime at Dillon

Gym was theft, and the same was true for Firestone Library along with criminal mischief.

Of the residential colleges, Mathey had the most crimes in 2023. At the U-Store, there were 15 crimes reported, all of which were shoplifting or theft.

In March 2023, the U-Store installed security cameras at the University Place location by the self-checkout machines to discourage shoplifting. An additional theft was reported at 36 University Place, the address of the U-Store.

“DPS has jurisdiction in the town of Princeton as well as in the surrounding municipalities and does respond to incidents on Nassau Street,” Hotchkiss wrote. “However, in most off-campus cases, these locations are not our primary

jurisdiction. On the daily crime log, ‘University Store’ generally refers to the campus location at 36 University Place.”

With 191 cases, theft is the leading type of crime reported in 2023, with criminal mischief next with 87 cases recorded. Over the previous seven years, theft was also the most reported crime, but harassment was second most, with criminal mischief behind.

There were 32 cases of fraud in 2023.

According to Morrill, fraud encompasses various methods of theft achieved through deceit.

In 2023, harassment was the third most common type of crime reported in 2023. This category includes offenses listed as “harassment” and “harassment (bias).”

“An offense listed as ‘harassment’ becomes ‘harassment (bias)’ when the investigation reveals sufficient objective facts indicating that the offense was motivated, entirely or partly, by the offender’s bias,” Morrill wrote. “This bias can be against the victim’s race/ethnicity/ ancestry, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. It requires a reasonable and prudent person to conclude that the offender’s actions were influenced by such biases.”

Mary Ma is the Creative director and a staff Data reporter for the ‘Prince.’

Erin Yoo is a staff Data reporter for the ‘Prince.’

“M ascot M ayhe M ”

By Sarah Gemmell & Jaeda Woodruff Senior Constructors

1 No lie

6 Carded

10 Bug that's usually lightheaded?

14 Big name in arcade games

15 Spare on the back of a Jeep

16 ___ Gobi (Indian dish)

17 One without roots

18 Sand, silt, clay, or loam

19 “Voilà!”

20 Figurative (and literal) backbone

21 *Westie from Greenland?

23 Clothes line

25 Response to “Open wide!”

26 *Forbesian with no teeth?

31 Lightning McQueen’s best friend

35 Like a pair of loose laces

36 Goes bad

38 62, for Eisgruber

39 Thin cut

40 Words before an expiration date

42 What a Watt is

43 Talk acronym

44 Object under a magnifying glass, maybe

45 Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls

47 Place to spot a spotlight

49 *Whitmanite in low spirits?

51 Like some seniors

53 Make a cake

54 *Butlerite on a dating app?

59 Yells “Heads up!” at

63 Name dropping notation?

64 Surname for Violet, Dash, or Jack-Jack

65 Prove helpful

66 Ca$h Cab, for one

67 Award for off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theater

68 Recurring role for Stallone

69 Tibia, by a more common name

70 Put on a peg

71 Like a minor star, maybe DOWN

1 Sports lovers and computer coolers

2 Perched on 3 Spaghetti strap tank 4 Send 5 Bombastic glare

6 “___, Mario!” 7 Stylish Christian

8 Prince from “The Little Mermaid”

9 Letter between gamma and epsilon

10 Essential ingredient in a Junbi drink

11 Count ___, villain in Lemony Snicket books

12 List heading 13 April 1st news story, maybe 22 Food brand with a paw print logo

24 Former “American Idol” judge Paula

Storm winds

Not yet rented

Peak on which Zeus was hidden as an infant, for short

Spinning

Apt name for a shoplifter

Country singer Tucker

Emo Gen Z-er

Fix a pair of loose laces

Stereotypical

The Minis

By Atishay Narayanan Contributing Constructor

Green ___ (“Spider-Man” villain)

Got a lift (but not a Lyft)

Puts money (on)

Home of the Sundance Film

___-pads (hygiene product)

Malek of “Mr. Robot”

What do academics have to do with mental health anyway?

Abigail Rabieh Public Editor

In an interview with President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 in fall 2022, the Daily Princetonian asked whether he “saw there being a tension between the rigor and productivity demanded of Princeton students and student mental health.”

Eisgruber’s response, in which he said that “high academic standards and the desire to achieve and be excellent is [nothing] but consistent with strong mental health,” caused many to raise eyebrows across campus, and aroused lively debate within the Opinion section of the ‘Prince.’

However, the News section’s subsequent imposition of an argument created in its own coverage — that there is an undisputed connection between the quality of student mental health and their academic commitments — is an irresponsible example of journalistic interference in contentious debates.

Last week, the ‘Prince’ split its coverage of the most recent Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting into two articles: one highlighting questioning of the University’s strategies to protect student mental health, and the other

discussing actions by Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest (PIAD) at the meeting as well as at previous events the week before. By dividing these focus areas — calls for divestment from companies associated with Israel and calls for improvement to the campus community’s mental wellbeing — in relation to the CPUC meeting, the ‘Prince’ confines both to University oversight. The framing of this coverage suggests that Nassau Hall controls the mental health of its students in the same way it controls the endowment.

Furthermore, the coverage of the mental health discussion at the CPUC meeting fell into tired and lazy characterization of the issue that does not convey the heart of the debate and the true meaning of its discussants. The beginning of the piece states that “council members and members of the audience raised concerns about the intersection of academics and mental health.” However, the quote to which this summary refers, from CPUC Council member Judah Guggenheim ’25, states that he asked whether the University would “invest financially in mental health resources” alongside adding time and flexibility to the academic calendar. What Guggenheim said does not suggest that he believes in an intersection between mental health and academics, but rather that he wonders how the University can include grace and adaptability in the

expectations it sets for its students, which could in turn improve the conditions of their mental health.

When discussing how mental health can be looked after at an academic institution, the ‘Prince’ often posits a vague relationship that, by lacking specificity, indicates a meaningless debate. The broad term academics simply refers to a range of intellectual subjects which can be pursued through study. When posited as intersecting with mental health, a reciprocal relationship is implied: good or bad mental health can impact studies, and good or bad studies can impact mental health. The problem is, there’s no such thing as this latter relationship. Academics cannot be good or bad, well or unwell as mental health is. There must be a referent attached: what sphere of academics are we talking about, exactly?

Throughout the CPUC article, the ‘Prince’ failed to consistently introduce a specific facet of academic life that could be related to the community’s mental health. In response to the earlier quote from Guggenheim, the ‘Prince’ noted that Eisgruber challenged his “implication that academic rigor negatively affects student mental health.”

Yet later in the article, the ‘Prince’ abandoned “rigor” in its own writing, saying that Eisgruber denied a “correlation between academics and mental health” and taking for granted that there is such a thing. Indeed, ever

since Eisgruber mentioned, at the prodding of the ‘Prince,’ academics and mental health in the same sentence, the combination of the two has become the new gotcha for any critique of the University, for the phrase is broad enough to include almost any facet of student life.

Such vague phrasing on this issue is typical of the ‘Prince.’ In an article on the debate between candidates for Undergraduate Student Government vice president last fall, the ‘Prince’ included the sub-head “Once again, academics takes precedence in mental health discussion.” Yet the candidates discussed the various stressors of University life that can impact mental health and questioned if changing the academic standards of the University would improve student mental health. Neither of these conversations demonstrates a “precedence” for academics, they simply fail to align with the truth as determined by the ‘Prince’: that there is an inverse relationship between the two, i.e. that good mental health equals reduced academics.

This debate is not, in fact, about academics at large — it’s about the stressors that arise in a University setting, which though primarily academic, is certainly not entirely that. In an op-ed following his now-infamous ‘Prince’ interview, Eisgruber discussed the imprecise definition of “academic rigor,” which he takes to mean “high standards of

scholarly quality and achievement.”

The ‘Prince’ has gotten used to poorly phrasing a debate that began in its pages, in which the word academics was never used. When it continues to shape news around this debate, it must be precise with what exact problems those upon whom it reports are interacting with: the stressful pace of the academic calendar for example, or the high-expectations environment encouraged within Princeton at large.

Specificity in reporting is crucial: it ensures that journalism remains within the wheelhouse of the truth. To speak in broad language risks implying causality where no such proof exists. When the ‘Prince’ discusses the multifaceted debate around promoting mental health, it must remain neutral in its reporting, always taking direction from what is actually being argued over, not the debate with which it wants the community to engage.

Abigail Rabieh is a junior in the history department from Cambridge, Mass. She is the public editor at the ‘Prince,’ and writes to address issues of journalistic quality and ethics.

If you have questions or concerns regarding the paper’s coverage and standards or would like to see her cover a particular issue, please contact publiceditor@dailyprincetonian.com.

Princeton’s discourse on Palestine and Israel should be rooted in historical reality

Zeke DouglasRosenthal & Lake Liao Guest Contributors

The following is a guest submission and reflects the authors’ views alone.

In spite of widespread international outrage over the past four months — including South Africa’s well-publicized charge of genocide — Israel has remained unwavering in its violence in Gaza, showing few signs of backing down on its assault of Rafah, endangering over half a million children.

Pro-Israel students are demonizing pro-Palestinian students and activists by conflating criticism of the Israeli government with support for Hamas. This sentiment was reflected on Nov. 8, when a starkly divided scene played out on the field behind Frist Campus Center: a rally for a ceasefire and Palestinian rights on one side, large signs condemning Hamas and Israeli flags on the other. This demonizing rhetoric is nonsensical because the belief that the Palestinian people who are being murdered in the tens of thousands deserve to live is not the same as supporting Hamas. Bombing universities and evacuation paths and killing over ten thousand children are indisputably war crimes.

Campus discourse of the relationship between Israel and Palestine should be grounded in the reality of this conflict’s history. Below, we refute three common arguments proponents of Israel’s actions make on campus.

Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.

This is a commonly heard assertion made to discredit opposition to Israel. It conveniently ignores notable national Jewish activist groups with hundreds of thousands of members like Jewish Voices for Peace and If Not Now, who have been at the forefront of the fight for a ceasefire, from the streets to Capitol Hill. Here at Princeton, the Alliance for Jewish Progressives has notably been a vocal participant in calls for the divestment from Israel.

The narrative that all Jewish people have a self interest in the Zionist project and preservation of Israel ignores the political reality. When criticism of Israel is misconstrued as discrimination against Jews, it trivializes real antisemitism. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has publicly used racist, genocidal rhetoric towards Palestinian people and described this conflict as a “struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle” in a now deleted tweet. When we criticize Israel, this is what we are criticizing. Identity politics has impeded meaningful discourse by equating criticism of Israel to prejudice against Jewish people. No country should automatically only represent the interests of a single group, simply because they are the majority of the population.

“From the river to the sea” is a call for genocide and the destruction of Israel.

This misconstrued interpretation is a strawman of the phrase’s intent. Policing the semantics of Palestinian students and organizers ignores the pain that many feel from witnessing

over 30,000 Palestinians murdered by the Israeli military and how this violence has deepened desires for liberation and peace.

Critics of this phrase on campus have claimed that it calls for violence and genocide. But as Congressional Representative Rashida Tlaib said in response to accusations of antisemitism, “From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate.” In our view, pro-Palestinian students are not advocating for the genocide of Israelis nor the destruction of the Israeli state. Any mention of this interpretation is simply fear mongering that takes away from our collective understanding of the underlying power imbalance in the past four months of violence.

“Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism.”

At Princeton, pro-Palestinian rallies have been accused of being a “reminder of the terrorism” directed at Israel by Hamas. But in 2021, thousands of Palestinians peacefully protested Israel’s occupation of the West Bank through the “Great March of Return”, only to be met with an open fire by the IDF that killed hundreds of protestors. This is only a recent act of resistance by Palestinian people, who have been forcefully displaced from their homes in the hundreds of thousands by Israel, never allowed to return. Is the slaughter of innocent civilians engaging in non-violent protest not also terrorism?

This appeal to “combatting terrorism” to justify pro-Israel sentiment inherently benefits those

in power. Obviously, the actions of Hamas on Oct. 7 were horrific acts of violence against civilians, but is the withholding of resources to the point of starvation from Gazan citizens not also a form of violence?

Before Oct. 7, the structures of control and power instituted by Israel over Gaza were more insidious than they are currently, but they were violent nonetheless. Under conditions of food insecurity, a system of legal apartheid, and the IDF’s brutality, Palestinians lived in an open air prison.

As Princeton students — the world’s future leaders and scholars — we should hold ourselves to a higher standard of accurately learning

geopolitical history. Rather than rely on condemnations and moral platitudes, we call on Princeton students to center campus discourse on the actual geopolitics and current events of Israel and Palestine, beginning with the fact that over one percent of Gaza’s population has been murdered.

Ezekiel DouglasRosenthal is a firstyear student from Lakeville, Conn. He is a member of the Princeton Alliance for Jewish Progressives. He can be reached at zd8993@princeton.edu. Lake Liao is a first-year from Troy, Mich. He can be reached by email at lakeliao@princeton. edu.

Taking the Trustees on their own terms, it’s clear that they have not lived up to their initial dissociation promise.

destructive extraction violates the University’s commitment to sustainability, and the spread of climate disinformation violates its “truth-seeking mission.” Combined, these two criteria would have made Princeton’s dissociation standard one of the strongest in the country.

Yet when the the Board announced their first round of divestment and dissociation in 2022, they pushed aside their previous climate disinformation criterion and only dissociated from companies which failed their standards for “clean” fossil fuel extraction. In doing so, the Board shirked their responsibility to take a stand on disinformation and rejected the consensus of scientists, lawmakers and lawyers, researchers, and its own faculty panel on how to respond to climate disinformation. But if they are not willing to do that, the Trustees could still take a huge step forward by following both of their proposed criteria and consider dissociation from companies like TotalEnergies that engage in climate disinformation.

Because the Trustees avoided acknowledging corporate climate disinformation campaigns as one of the legitimate criteria for dissociation, they are able to welcome back companies that might have otherwise remained on the outs because of their disinformation campaigns.

NThe Trustees’ justifications for disregarding the disinformation clause in cases like Total’s are shaky. First, they note that “the bar for dissociation on the basis of disinformation is exceedingly high,” and that they lack “quantitative standards” to evaluate that bar.

This justification flies in the face of findings by a panel of faculty experts that the Board expressly convened to set that bar.

In their report, this faculty panel meticulously defined standards for how to evaluate disinformation and provided a clear “semi-quantitative” scorecard rubric to help the Board decide if a company’s public communications meet the standard of disinformation that they lay out.

For example, on the scorecard, allegations of greenwashing would have at least triggered an automatic review from Princeton of the companies practices. Further, the panel notes that, ”the burden of proof” then lies on the accused company to show it has not participated in spreading disinformation

Unlike the Trustees, the panel’s findings raised no concerns that this bar might be too high, or that dissociation because of disinformation would be inappropriate. Indeed, the report even cited a specific example of what corporate greenwashing looks like. Not only did the panel consider it reasonable that fossil fuel companies might meet that criteria, it even suggested that the Board of Trustees

could start this dissociation process by evaluating a couple of fossil fuel companies according to their rubric and posting their evaluation publicly.

The Board didn’t even take that first step. Instead, they have given no indication that they ever started to evaluate using the disinformation criteria at all. Indeed, the Board seems to have dismissed the criteria outright, claiming they were not “quantitative” enough. It’s one matter to refuse to dissociate from a company because it doesn’t meet the high bar. It’s quite a different matter to invoke the high bar as an excuse to avoid even considering if a company has waged a disinformation campaign. And yet Princeton’s Board has done exactly that.

Let’s take a look at the Board’s second excuse. The Trustees claim that by dissociating on the basis of disinformation, they would in effect force a consensus on an issue that supposedly still has a “vigorous exchange of ideas.” In other words, they claim that because there is active debate over whether or not fossil fuel companies have engaged in disinformation, they do not want Princeton to effectively “end” the debate by making a decision. Eisgruber clarified this in a later CPUC meeting, saying that if there’s a “contest” about whether or not a company has engaged in disinformation, “the Board of the University shouldn’t be in the position of arbitrators.”

By refusing to evaluate if

companies involved at Princeton have spread climate disinformation, the University in effect tolerates those companies, even despite their potential disinformation. This unquestioned tolerance undermines the University’s core mission to seek truth, and therefore challenges the strength of the Board’s second justification.

Taking the Trustees on their own terms, it’s clear that they have not lived up to their initial dissociation promise. As a result, TotalEnergies can return, without any worry that its greenwashing tactics will jeopardize its place at our University. In fact, until Princeton changes its policy, any company, no matter how

deceitful, can continue to exploit its relationship with Princeton. The dissociation fight is not over. No matter how many excuses they make, as long as the Board’s members allow fossil fuel money to pour into University research and as long as their endowment is still partially invested in fossil fuels, they have chosen Big Oil over the future of their students and the future of our planet. It’s up to us to make them reconsider.

Princeton is getting it wrong on the SAT

time Princeton follows the lead of its peer institutions and reinstates a standardized testing requirement.

obody likes the SAT. It’s long, it’s tedious, and it’s stressful. Millions of high schoolers were surely relieved when, in the 2020–2021 admission cycle, the majority of fouryear colleges decided not to require SAT or ACT scores — Princeton among them. At the time, Princeton and others announced “test-optional” policies as a temporary policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Years after the pandemic, however, Princeton has kept the policy in place.

When the Class of 2027 applied to college, 80 percent of schools were still test-optional, both as a holdover of COVID-19 and as a response to years of mounting skepticism and concerns about standardized testing. But the tide is turning. MIT and Georgetown were once the lone exceptions among the “Ivy-plus” schools, reinstating testing requirements after the worst stages of the pandemic had passed. This month, Dartmouth and Yale announced that they will require standardized testing of some kind going forward as well. Just this Tuesday, Brown University reinstated the requirement. These schools found that test-optional policies both made it harder for them to identify the best applicants and harmed, rather than enhanced, diversity efforts. It’s

Two main criticisms have crystallized from the standardized testing debate in recent years. The first is that a three-hour standardized test isn’t an accurate measure of ability. This is an attractive argument for those of us who believe in a more holistic definition of intelligence beyond test-taking ability. The problem is that it’s not quite true: test results are not only good predictors of academic success in college, but “the single greatest predictor of a student’s future Yale grade,” and “highly predictive of academic performance at Dartmouth.” Dartmouth and Brown researchers found that high SAT and ACT scores were much more predictive of high college GPAs than high high school GPAs. The predictive power of scores holds across income and racial categories.

Why are standardized tests the best predictor of student success? It is not because the SAT and ACT are flawless — rather, it stems from high school grade inflation. From 1998 to 2016, the average high school GPA has increased by 0.11 points, while the average SAT score has decreased by 24 points.

Forty-seven percent of high schoolers now graduate with grades in the A range. Admission departments at the most elite colleges are receiving tens of thousands of applicants with perfect or near-perfect high school GPAs, and they have little way to distinguish who will struggle and who will thrive in a tough academic environment. Simply put, A grades don’t mean what

they used to, and they are no longer sufficient proof of academic ability.

Other critics argue that the SAT and ACT favor higher-income and nonminority students, fueling fears that standardized testing is the enemy of diversity efforts. It’s true that there is a strong statistical relationship between family income level and race with SAT and ACT performance. White and Asian students from privileged backgrounds consistently outperform Black and Brown students from disadvantaged backgrounds on these exams. The disparity in scores across race and income groups is irrefutable — however, the real implications for equity look quite different.

It’s first worth noting that standardized testing is not actually to blame. Common sense would suggest that wealthier students perform better because they have access to outside preparation. To test this theory, consider the National Assessment of Educational Process (or NAEP).

The NAEP is a mandated test taken by most of the nation’s students that involves no preparation. The results reveal that the racial and economic disparities in performance on the NAEP are remarkably similar to those in the SAT and ACT.

This suggests that outside preparation is not a main factor in the disparities present on the SAT and ACT — while SAT preparation may have a marginal impact, the real cause for disadvantaged students performing worse on standardized tests is plainly that they are disadvantaged systematically: they often attend schools with less

resources, grow up in less educated households, and don’t have the same academic opportunities as their more privileged peers. While standardized tests can be cost prohibitive, both the SAT and ACT programs offer fee waivers to students from low-income backgrounds. In other words, the test isn’t itself artificially biased; its results reflect real inequities in American society.

The more important and counterintuitive fact is that test-optional policies can actually put less-privileged applicants at a disadvantage. With test optional policies in place, MIT, Yale, and Dartmouth found that some disadvantaged students with lowerrange scores were not submitting scores, when in reality a disadvantaged student with a comparatively lower score was more likely to be accepted than their privileged counterpart with the exact same score. According to Dartmouth’s dean of admissions, “there are hundreds of lessadvantaged applicants … who should be submitting scores to identify themselves to admissions, but do not. Some were rejected because the admissions office could not be confident about their academic qualifications.”

Without standardized testing, greater consideration is paid to components of the application where wealth helps even more. Wealthier students can often take up timeconsuming extracurriculars or expensive hobbies, work summer internships, or attend schools that offer lots of AP courses and more personalized recommendation

letters. Similarly, given inconsistent standards and widespread grade inflation, admissions officers may show a preference for schools they are familiar with since they can make sense of the transcript. These schools are often private or publicmagnet schools that send multiple applicants to Ivies every year. For these reasons, without the added metric of test scores, the value placed on other components of an application actually disadvantages students from underprivileged backgrounds.

As schools have reinstated SAT scores, we haven’t seen worse diversity outcomes: in the two cycles since reinstating testing requirements, MIT has still seen increases in the racial and socioeconomic diversity of its student body, and Yale and Dartmouth’s announcements expressed confidence that they will be able to do the same even after the prohibition of raceconscious admissions. Additionally, these schools feel better equipped to make the right decisions about who will be best prepared to handle the academics and make the most of their experience once enrolled. As President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 has argued, academic excellence can and must walk hand in hand with diversity. It’s Princeton’s time to reinstate test requirements, taking a step towards both goals.

Leighton McCamy-Miller is a first-year from Mill Valley, Calif. He is a prospective politics major. He can be reached at lm1879@princeton.edu.

Columnist Alex Norbrook (he/him) is a sophomore from Baltimore, Md., and co-coordinator of Sunrise Princeton. He can be reached at alexnorbrook@ princeton.edu.

ANGEL KUO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Divest Princeton stand-in at CPUC.

editor-in-chief

Eden Teshome ’25

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

Kathleen Crown

Ryan Konarska ’25

Naisha Sylvestre ’25

director of outreach

Lia Opperman ’25

Accessibility

Christopher Bao ’27

business manager Aidan Phillips ’25

Suzanne Dance ’96

Gabriel Debenedetti ’12

Stephen Fuzesi ’00

Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05

Michael Grabell ’03

Danielle Ivory ’05

Rick Klein ’98

James T. MacGregor ’66

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd Abigail Williams ’14

Tyler Woulfe ’07

trustees ex officio

Eden Teshome ’25 Aidan Phillips ’25

148TH MANAGING BOARD

Tess Weinreich ’25

Lucia Wetherill ’25

creative director Mary Ma ’26 upper management vol. cxlviii

Financial Stipend Elaine Huang ’25 strategic

Education Charlie Roth ’25

Sections listed in alphabetical order. public editor Abigail Rabieh ’25

head archives editor

Raphaela Gold ’26 Kaylee Kasper ’26

Associate Archives editor Elizabeth Clarke ’27

head audience editor Paige Walworth ’26

associate audience editors Zach Lee ’26

Amparo Sanchez ’27

head copy editors

Nathan Beck ’25

Bryan Zhang ’26

associate head copy editors

Lindsay Padaguan ’26

Elizabeth Polubinski ’25

head data editors Andrew Bosworth ’26

Suthi Navaratnam-Tomayko ’26

head features editors

Sejal Goud ’25

Molly Taylor ’25

associate features editor

Raphaela Gold ’26

head graphics editors

Luiza Chevres ’26

Noreen Hosny ’25

head humor editors

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associate humor editors

Sam McComb ’25

Mya Koffie ’27

head news editors

Bridget O’Neill ’26

Annie Rupertus ’25

associate news editors

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Olivia Sanchez ’26

Miriam Waldvogel ’26 (Investigations)

head newsletter editor

Kia Ghods ’27

assistant business manager

associate newsletter editors Victoria Davies ’27 Sunney Gao ’27

head opinion editor Eleanor Clemans-Cope ’26

community opinion editor Christofer Robles ’25

associate opinion editors Thomas Buckley ’26 Wynne Conger ’27

head photo editors Louisa Gheorghita ’26 Jean Shin ’26

associate photo editor Calvin Grover ’27

head podcast editor Vitus Larrieu ’26

associate podcast editors Senna Aldoubosh ’25

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head print design editors Avi Chesler ’25

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head prospect editor Isabella Dail ’26

associate prospect editors Russell Fan ’26

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head puzzles editors Sabrina Effron ’26

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associate puzzles editors Wade Bednar ’26

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head sports editors Cole Keller ’26

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associate sports editors Tate Hutchins ’27

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head web design and development editors Yacoub Kahkajian ’26

Vasila Mirshamsova ’26

148TH BUSINESS BOARD

Jessica Funk ’26

business directors

Gabriel Gullett ’25

Andrew He ’26

Tejas Iyer ’26

Jordan Manela ’26

chief technology officer

Roma Bhattacharjee ’25 lead software engineer Sanh Nguyen ’26 software engineers

Anika Agarwal

Robert Mohan ’26 Kok Wei Pua ’25 My Ky Tran ’26 project managers

Ding ’25 Kaustuv Mukherjee ’26

Reevaluate the community’s role in Princeton’s mental health crisis

Frances Brogan Assistant Opinion Editor

Content Warning: The following article includes mention of suicide.

University Counseling services are available at 609-258-3141, and the Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 988 or +1 (800) 273-TALK (8255). A Crisis Text Line is also available in the United States; text HOME to 741741. Students can contact residential college staff and the Office of Religious Life for other support and resources.

We have a mental health crisis on this campus. Only two months after the tragic death of a first-year student, we are mourning the loss of another. Princeton’s mental health problem is complex and must be addressed holistically. As others have argued recently, the University can and must do better at providing clinical care and implementing suicide prevention. But we also must reevaluate Princeton’s insidious stigmatization of struggle — and we need to reevaluate how we treat each other. We as a community can do more to promote kindness and create robust support systems for each other.

No one gets through Princeton without struggling. From our overwhelming workloads to the anxiety-inducing nature of bicker to the race for prestigious summer internships, life at Princeton is full of academic, social, and professional stressors. These conditions can be detrimental to student mental health. The Daily Princetonian’s class of 2023 senior survey reported that 78.5% of graduating seniors who responded to the survey considered seeking mental health treatment during their four years at Princeton. If struggle is nearly ubiquitous at Princeton, why is it so stigmatized? As high-achievers, we tend to tie our self-esteem to how often and how effectively we work. This dynamic implies that struggle is derived from personal failure — so we try to make our striving look easy. That’s not healthy, and it’s not the way that things have to be.

Some have labeled this mindset internalized capitalism, the belief that we remain inadequate no matter how hard we work. Internalized capitalism is rampant on campus. It treats feelings as liabilities that inhibit productivity. But neglecting our own emotions and those of others does our whole community a disservice.

Instead of eschewing conversations about our feelings and attempting to obscure our struggles, we should cultivate the courage to openly discuss them. We should strive to normalize expressing our vulnerabilities, because in doing so, we validate those of others. Research shows that perceived stigma often discourages individuals from seeking mental health support that they desperately need. By divulging our uncomfortable, painful emotions within our own social groups, we can begin to expose the widespread nature of struggle at Princeton, and thus combat the pervasive stigma that surrounds mental health challenges on our campus.

Beyond legitimizing struggle, we can always intentionally endeavor to be kinder, including to those we don’t know. It sounds trite, but simple kindness has powerful reverberations — just reaching out to check in can make a big difference to those suffering from suicidal ideation. Not only is kindness instrumental to alleviating our mental health crisis, incorporating more mundane acts of kindness into our everyday experience could help eradicate elements of toxic individualism from our campus culture — helping demonstrate to those dealing with social isolation or ostracization that they have a community to rely upon.

As we develop a nuanced approach to the mental health crisis, it’s worth considering how we can better care for first-year students in particular and model a more balanced culture for future classes. Older students have more established friendships and support networks and may have caught onto the essential lie of internalized capitalism. But first-years may not have developed such support mechanisms and perspectives.

For first-years, Princeton’s specific difficulties are exacerbated by the universal difficulty of adjusting to college. “Elite” students are not immune from this phenomenon: One 2021 study of UCLA students revealed that nearly half of students surveyed found it difficult to acclimate to college academic standards and over 60 percent experienced difficulties developing close friendships with their peers, reflecting the drastic transition that the beginning of college brings.

We also need to further institutionalize community, both for all students, but especially for first-years who may not have found their social groups yet. This can include residential college advisors (RCAs), peer academic advisors (PAAs), and other upperclassmen in leadership roles prioritizing checking in on first-year students more consistently and frequently. We can also promote new avenues for mentorship — such as introducing a formalized, campuswide iteration of the “big-little” programs that many clubs already have, in which first-years seeking extra support would be paired with compassionate upperclassmen. These community obligations in no way absolve the University administration. Our leadership’s failure to vigorously and proactively confront this catastrophe is an unjustifiable disgrace, and our quest for solutions is admirable. In order to mitigate our mental health crisis, the University must reform gratuitous academic expectations and implement a comprehensive plan for suicide prevention, like the one Eleanor Clemans-Cope, head Opinion editor for the ‘Prince,’ recently outlined.

But we can all help facilitate the creation of a campus culture in which struggle is not considered shameful and unwavering kindness abounds. The administration must do better — and so must the community.

Frances Brogan is an assistant Opinion editor and prospective politics major from Lancaster, Pa. She can be reached at frances.brogan@princeton. edu.

’26

CALVIN GROVER / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Whig Hall and Clio Hall overlook Cannon Green.

Princeton, follow your own dissociation rules

Lizbeth Reyes, Davis Hobley, Anais Mobarak, Siyeon Lee, Frances Brogan & Thomas Buckley

Contributing Columnist, Columnists, Assistant Opinion Editors, Associate Opinion Editor

The University releases data about many different aspects of the University from student demographics to progress towards its sustainability goals. We asked our columnists what other data the University should release for easy public access.

If Princeton is serious about climate change, it should release full emissions data

Thomas Buckley, Associate Opinion Editor Princeton pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2046. But what does that actually mean? According to the sustainability action plan, the University’s goal is to reduce emissions from “both direct emissions from on-site energy production and fleet fuel use, and indirect emissions from purchased electricity — by 2046.” Absent from these emissions sources, however, are emissions created by University policies: “scope 3 emissions.” These encompass emissions from upstream sources that are not included in Princeton’s calculations, such as from food purchased for the dining halls, transportation to and from campus for employees and visitors, and pollution created by companies held in PRINCO’s portfolio. Princeton must include this data in their emissions sources.

Having this emissions data gives us better scope on the University’s progress towards its climate goals. The climate impact of these indirect sources can be substantial at Princeton. Just one week of meals at the Rocky-Mathey Dining Hall used 500 pounds of beef, equivalent to burning 56,000 pounds of coal. The 25,000 alumni who travel to reunions every year produce emissions comparable to eight percent of the University’s campus emissions. Taking into account all these sources of emission over time is essential to understanding Princeton’s true carbon impact.

Despite promising to “track and reduce” scope 3 indirect emissions, the University has not made public accounting of the emissions from these upstream sources. The University has pledged to track their scope 3 emissions by ”2026 and beyond.” Doing so would demonstrate a firm commitment to transparency and help keep Princeton accountable to its climate responsibilities, and they should release the data as soon as it’s available.

Thomas Buckley is an associate Opinion editor from Colchester, Vt., majoring in SPIA. He can be reached at thomas.buckley@princeton.edu.

Princeton Administration should begin releasing grade distribution data for individual courses

Davis Hobley, Columnist

Semester after semester, Princeton students enroll in countless courses where they are told that their grades will be “curved,” but are often given little to no indication of what that will mean for them. To remedy this problem, Princeton should release grade distribution data for each course on the course offering site so that students can have a sense of approximately what proportion of students receive each grade and of how they are actually performing in a course during the duration of their enrollment.

At best, certain courses, such as MAT 103, provide a rough distribution of what final grades could look like on the syllabus. For the vast majority of courses, however, course distributions are not available for students to access. When courses are run in this manner, students in courses that are curved don’t know how they are actually performing in a course. This issue is especially troubling when students aren’t aware of what grade they are on track to get until after the pass/D/fail and/or course drop deadline.

Releasing grade distribution data would allow students to enter each course with a

more accurate view of what they should expect during the semester. All grades could remain anonymous, and the data could be easily acquired through the registrar’s office.

The Princeton administration releasing these data would vastly reduce the mystery that surrounds grading at Princeton — a change which permits students to approach each of their courses with a clearer understanding of their expectations.

Davis Hobley is a member of the Class of 2027 and intends to major in Neuroscience. He hails from Rochester, Mich. and can be reached through his email (dh2172@princeton.edu) and personal Instagram (@ davis_20.23).

Princeton should release the income distribution of accepted students

Frances Brogan, Assistant Opinion Editor

Princeton should release data on the percentage of accepted students — and the percentage of applicants — who correspond to each income bracket. The University has publicized that 25 percent of the student body pays nothing to attend, a group that constitutes students from families making up to $100,000 a year. But even as Princeton expands accessibility for low and middle-income students, we still don’t know how many students from a middleclass background are represented in each class.

According to The Daily Princetonian’s 2023 senior survey, respondents with household incomes between $80,000 and $125,000 a year were tied with those from families that make below $40,000 a year as the least represented economic group. This indicates that middle income students still face barriers to obtaining a Princeton education. By not releasing this data, the University obscures how overwhelmingly wealthy Princeton remains.

It’s not enough to accommodate low and middle-income students once they get to Princeton if too few of these students are accepted in the first place. It’s also essential to provide and compare the data on accepted students to the general applicant pool. This would further clarify the correlation between income and chances of acceptance.

Frances Brogan is a first-year prospective Politics major from Lancaster, Pa. She is an assistant Opinion editor and can be reached at frances.brogan@ princeton.edu.

International students are not a monolith. Make admissions data reflect that fact.

Siyeon Lee, Assistant Opinion Editor

Fourteen percent of the incoming students of the Class of 2027 are international students.

These students hail from over 64 countries and represent a plethora of diverse racial and demographic groups. The most recent iteration of Princeton’s first-year admissions statistics for the Class of 2027, however, has failed to reflect this heterogeneity of the international student body. For its next release of first-year admissions statistics, Princeton must better articulate international admissions data.

Under its “Diversity” category, which describes the racial composition of the incoming class, the statistics sheet groups U.S. citizens into various racial categories — Asian American or Black, for example — whereas international students are treated as a demographic monolith, all falling under one category of “International Citizens.” In addition, domestic students are able to see a visual mapping of the 50 states with the number of students that have been admitted from each, but international students merely receive a list of the countries that are represented amongst the first-years.

There is much to glean from treating different groups of international students as distinct demographic bodies — from a statistical, cultural, and admissions standpoint. Statistics allows international students to make empirically-informed decisions about the schools they apply to, gauge a university’s community atmosphere, and keeps institutional diversity in check. International students are not a monolith, and we must ensure that Princeton’s admissions statistics recognize this reality.

Siyeon Lee is a first-year from Seoul, South Korea intending to major in History. She is an assistant Opinion editor on the ‘Prince.’ She can be reached at siyeonlee@princeton.edu or @siyeonish on Instagram.

Princeton should release test-optional statistics for admitted students

Liz Reyes, Contributing Columnist

In light of recent changes by other Ivy League institutions on their test optional policy, it is crucial for Princeton to reevaluate and clarify admissions data that it makes available for its potential applicants. Princeton should release data on the percentage of applicants who have been admitted test-optional versus the percentage admitted with test scores. Doing so would allow prospective students to see how testoptional policies are actually enforced, and whether or not applying test optional really makes a difference in Princeton admissions.

Higher test scores are associated with higher income — colleges are aware of this. Knowing

the unique financial makeup of our student population, it is important that Princeton releases the number of admitted students who did and did not submit standardized testing scores. Discussions referring to test optional policies in college admissions also refer to the idea that submitting test scores to test optional schools gives students an advantage in admissions. To combat this, Princeton should release more complete data on test-optional admissions. Although the common data set — a yearly release of enrollment and admissions data from U.S. colleges — already releases test-optional data on already admitted students, it lacks information on how admission rates differ from test-optional versus non-test-optional applicants.

By categorizing and releasing admissions data based on test-optional status, Princeton can provide much-needed transparency on the admissions process in light of abrupt test policy changes across the nation.

Liz Reyes is a first-year contributing columnist from Cherry Hill, N.J. intending to major in SPIA. She can be reached at lizbeth.reyes@princeton.edu.

Princeton should be transparent about legacy admissions

Anais Mobarak, Columnist Legacy admissions are typically thought to yield “more generous donors” because alumni parents are often in better financial positions to make contributions. Some have even questioned “Would America have such a powerful donation culture in the absence of legacy admissions?” Just as Princeton celebrates and provides data on its fundraising efforts, it should do the same for legacy admissions to clarify this potential fundraising interrelationship. This data should include the average ACT/SAT scores and GPA for students who receive a boost in admissions for being a legacy student, or for whom legacy status is a “tie-breaker,” as President Eisgruber put it.

Releasing data on the fundraising effects of legacy admissions would help the University make this practice transparent. If Princeton believes that legacy admissions are a worthwhile tradeoff given their fundraising benefits, it should own the fact that it continues to use a non-merit-based factor in admissions to meet its financial objectives.

Anais Mobarak is a junior from Newton, Mass. studying chemistry. She can be reached at am7880@princeton.edu.

Mia González Guerrero serves coffee and kindness

By Maya Chu Staff Features Writer

As Mia González Guerrero sees it, she has two jobs. The first is what Campus Dining pays her to do — serve coffee and pastries at Frist Campus Center. And the second? To “give love.”

González Guerrero was born in La Vacama, a village in the Dominican Republic. She has also lived in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Spain, and Chicago, where she completed a master’s degree and worked in marketing and communications for more than 10 years. She was working at a company  in the restaurant industry when the pandemic hit, forcing her to switch gears and contemplate her next steps.

Following her intuition, González Guerrero moved to Trenton, New Jersey soon after. From there, it was a childhood memory of watching television in her grandmother’s house that led her to Princeton.

“For some reason, something caught my attention: a student ... with a jacket that said ‘Princeton University.’ I promise — I was nine years old,” González Guerrero said. “That came not only into my eyes, but it went into my heart.”

After visiting Princeton from her home in Trenton, González Guerrero immediately knew the Orange Bubble was where she belonged. After attending a job fair and sending in an application to work for Campus Dining, she received an offer. González Guerrero started out behind the counter at Firestone Library’s Tiger Tea Room in 2021. This semester, she has moved to Witherspoon Cafe in Frist Campus Center.

She says that it didn’t take long for her to find her role at the University. Through day-to-day interactions with students, she observed three common challenges: loneliness, lack of encouragement, and feelings of unworthiness.

“Based on these three needs that I found here, I realized that I am able to provide,” González Guerrero said. “All of them are based on love. At the end of the day, they just need love.”

Spreading love is González Guerrero’s specialty. At any given moment, she can be seen striking up a conversation with a new student or catching up with regular customers. Acceptance, she says, is at the core of her mission.

“I can see the results. I can see how many students feel open to share what they’re going through because I don’t judge them,” González Guerrero said. “They share with me their sadness, their happiness. I just accept them the way they are, and I just love them.”

Noura Shoukfeh ’25 met González Guerrero in the fall of 2023 while ordering at the Tiger Tea Room and began seeing her frequently due to Shoukfeh’s job at the information desk. González Guerrero’s bright red lipstick, warm smile, and sing-songy greetings made her seem approachable, and Shoukfeh decided to strike up a conversation. From there, their relationship blossomed.

“We talked about things outside of school,” Shoukfeh said. “She’d ask me about my dreams after school, I’d ask her about her passions outside of work.”

Shoukfeh describes González Guerrero as having an incredibly “bright energy,” drawing people in with her openness and enthusiasm.

“We get caught up in the day-to-day of life and we don’t really take a minute to stop, think, and talk with others,” Shoukfeh said. “But with her, it’s almost like you’re compelled to do it.”

When Shoukfeh was waiting at a bus stop in Princeton last summer, she ran into González Guerrero and they struck up a conversation. Shoukfeh expressed her worries about living and cooking independently during her internship, and González Guerrero shared a few of her own recipes. Then, the conversation turned to Shoukfeh’s career planning.

“We talked about my anxieties for the future and what kind of work I want to do. I really liked that she honed in on the fact that I didn’t have to know exactly what I was doing,” Shoukfeh said. “She’s like, ‘You need to explore your passions and your interests and you don’t have to have everything figured out.’”

“She inspires me to go after what I want and put that faith in myself,” Shoukfeh continued. “And I feel like she’s the best role model to do that because she’s not just preaching it, she’s actually emulating it.”

Shoukfeh currently runs Hidden Chaplains, a program developed by the Office of Religious Life meant to provide a space for students to notice and honor the everyday kindness of University staff members. The program was featured in the New Yorker last year, shortly after González Guerrero received nominations from eight students and was

invited to the reception at Murray-Dodge Hall.

“I was notified that students nominated me for this, and it was an honor, something that encouraged me to keep going,” González Guerrero said. “This is part of how life gives you back what you give. I just come to work everyday and focus on my mission, it’s something personal. You guys are part of my life.”

Hidden Chaplains isn’t the only recognition González Guerrero has received recently. A few days ago, on Mar. 1, she was the featured guest on AllNighter, Princeton’s student-run late-night talk show.

Gabby Veciana ’24 is a music director for AllNighter and had the idea to host González Guerrero on the show after meeting her at a dinner during Hispanic Heritage Month.

“I just thought she was such a light and so insanely kind, and every time I got to see her while she was working was just like the highlight of my day,” Veciana said. “So I just thought it’d be nice to highlight her and the work that she does.”

Thomas Hughes ’24, this year’s host, recalls when her name was suggested as a potential guest during a meeting on Frist’s third floor.

“Somebody said, ‘What about Mia, who works downstairs?’ and the room erupted,” Hughes said.

In preparing for the show, Hughes and González Guerrero had planned out a fun bit: they would switch seats, making González Guerrero the host for a night. But before the planned bit, during the show, González Guerrero addressed the audience with a speech about generosity and seizing opportunities.

“You have in your hands what is needed to change this world. You have intelligence, you have love,” she told students. “Remind yourself to make this world a better place.”

“She gave that incredible speech and got a standing ovation, and it was like ‘There’s no point in transitioning into comedy,’” Hughes said. “It very much transcended any silly comedy that we could do.”

The show’s success speaks for itself. According to Hughes, they sold out for the first time in the history of All-Nighter. Tickets were gone 24 hours in advance, with over 300 guests coming out to watch.

“It’s not just that people came out to see her, it’s that the people who came out to see her are subjects of her love on campus and the warmth that she brings,” Hughes said. “It was the warmest, loveliest crowd we’ve ever had because they were there to see her.”

The love and learning on campus, González Guerrero asserts, goes both ways.

“I see all of you and you are just kind,” she said, addressing Princeton students. “I learned from you to keep myself fresh,” she added. “The best way to keep yourself fresh is to be kind. Be kind. Be kind. Be kind. Be kind!”

Maya Chu is a staff Features writer for the ‘Prince.’

RODOLFO ARZAGA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Mia González Guerrero works at Witherspoon’s in Frist Campus Center.

Small World Coffee: A ‘vehicle for bringing people together’

By Mira Eashwaran Staff Features Writer

On any given morning, Witherspoon Street’s Small World Coffee is packed with students studying between classes, professionals grabbing a quick cup to go, and old friends chatting over a warm beverage. The line almost always stretches out the door.

The shop’s air is thick with the scent of coffee beans and morning blends. Bags line the shelves across the aisle from the register, each small parcel bearing unique titles, like “Crispy Hippie,” “Morning Glory,” and “Love Blend.”

The baristas, or “Worldlings,” working behind the bar, click portafilters into espresso machines, occasionally yelling out the names of drinks (“Joe to go! Mocha with whipped cream! Iced Americano?”). A witty sign that reads “How have you bean?” hangs over the tip jar.

Small World celebrated its 30th anniversary in December 2023. Before owners and creators Jessica Durrie, also known as JD, and Brant Cosaboom brought their business idea to town, Princeton was lacking in coffee shops. Today, Small World operates two locations: one on Witherspoon St. and second on Nassau St., which opened in 2006.

The Daily Princetonian spoke with Durrie and employees at Small World Coffee to look at the origins and significance behind this community establishment, 30 years in the making.

The beginnings: ‘It felt obvious to me that this was the town’

Spending her childhood as an expat overseas, Durrie felt like a “fish out of water” as a student at the University of Michigan. After a year and a half, she dropped out and began “soul searching,” moving out to California.

Although she began working in restaurants to “pay the bills,” she soon “fell in love with the industry, and with hospitality and food and wine.”

She later got her undergraduate degree from Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration, after two and a half years of work experience. But, on a trip to Vienna to visit her brother, Durrie found her attention drawn to the coffee shops.

“I started visiting all the old world cafes there,” Durrie said. “And that’s when I decided I wasn’t going to open a restaurant, I wanted to open a coffee shop.”

After college, Durrie went straight to Michigan, rejecting other job offers to instead work at a coffee shop in Ann Arbor. “I wanted to learn the business from the bottom up,”

she said. “And that’s where I met Brant, at the coffee shop that we both worked at.”

The coffee shop was initially Durrie’s idea, and after some work in California, Cosaboom and Durrie both decided to pursue opening their own coffee shop.

“It was very strategic,” Durrie emphasized. “It wasn’t this pie-in-the-sky idea, it was strategy and research… coupled with our practical experience and my degree from Cornell.”

After nine months “off and on” the road looking for the perfect location for their coffee shop, Durrie and Cosaboom landed in Princeton in 1993. They had originally “written [it] off,” because they thought the town was too small.

However, their minds were quickly changed.

“When we drove into the downtown, it was immediate,” Durrie said. “We saw the foot traffic, we saw the walkability, the retail mix, it was all there. It felt obvious to me that this was the town.”

Durrie and Cosaboom immediately moved to town and started “pounding the pavement trying to get a landlord to rent to a 25-yearold and a 27-year-old.”

The name “Small World Coffee” was conceptualized during one of their 1993 road trips, and immediately resonated with both of them due to their shared experience as expats.

“When you grow up that way,” Durrie explained, “you start to see the commonality of all people, despite their cultural differences.”

For Durrie, her experience consistently having to find a sense of belonging has informed the ethos of Small World Coffee. Now, she reflects, “creating a sense of belonging [has] been sort of the backbone of the work that I’ve always done.”

Fostering community ‘from the inside out’

Durrie believes that this belonging and community is created “from the inside out,” and noted that creating a sense of belonging for employees is integral for creating the same feeling for customers.

She added, “I think that we get the most out of people, the most out of humanity, when we all feel a sense of belonging, and then from there, we can do all sorts of amazing things.”

Durrie also noted the relationships Small World Coffee has cultivated within the community.

“The depth of relationships that have occurred behind that counter is insane,” Durrie said. “That web of relationships is a beautiful thing.”

Vincent Jule, the General Manager of Small World Coffee, oversees both the Nassau and Witherspoon locations. Jule, who has been

with Small World for 23 years, described his experience working with the other Small World employees.

“One of the things that keeps [the Worldlings] around are the people that they work with, and the people that they meet,” Jule said. He added that Durrie and Cosaboom help to instill a “solid work ethic and sense of pride [and] integrity in what we do.”

When he was a new employee, Jule was impressed by the availability and involvement of Small World’s ownership, even seeing the owners washing dishes every now and then. “It always feels like a very collective experience.”

In 1997, Small World Roasters was created. “It’s an integral part of the brand…having control over the quality of our coffee beans,” Durrie said. The roastery provides the blends offered for purchase in the shop, from “Colombian” to “Grumpy Monkey.”

The roastery has also allowed Small World to broaden their customer base to spaces like Witherspoon’s Café in Frist Campus Center, as well as farther away through mail orders. The roastery has over 60 wholesale customers, including The Bent Spoon, several eating clubs, many Whole Foods stores, and the Institute for Advanced Study.

Small World is also home to local artistry, displaying new art exhibits every month on the walls of the shop.

The Witherspoon location hosts free public concerts on Saturday nights, featuring local bands who play their original songs. Jule said he tries to shed light on local musicians who don’t usually have the same amount of opportunities as cover bands.

Behind the register: the ‘Worldlings’

Grace Phillips has been a Worldling at Small World Coffee for two years. Phillips grew up in West Windsor, and visited Small World

and Princeton when she was younger.

After working in advertising copywriting for a decade, Phillips quit her job during the pandemic and applied to work at Small World Coffee. She wanted to do something that made her “feel like [she] accomplished something very specific at the end of the day.”

Small World gave her that opportunity.

A typical day as a Worldling starts half an hour before opening. Rush times include the morning before people go to work, in between classes, or during coffee breaks. Worldlings spend an hour at each station during their shifts: the register, the espresso machine, bus station, and cleaning. Because the job can be very fast-paced, the rotation system prevents the Worldlings from burning out.

Jule estimates that Small World Coffee serves around 1,000 customers a day.

As a Worldling, Phillips has the opportunity to see the impact Small World has on its customers, residents, tourists, and students alike. She remarked on the interactions she has with tourists visiting the coffee shop, and she often directs them to fellow Princeton establishments in the area.

Phillips reflects on the “camaraderie” between Princeton shops, noting that employees from these establishments come to Small World as well.

“Princeton’s very busy. It’s small, but heavily trafficked,” Phillips said. “Even if we don’t know each other by name, necessarily, we all have each other’s back[s].”

Phillips also reflected on how common the Pay with Points program has become since it was launched. She noted that there are some days and hours in which almost “every other transaction is a [Pay with Points] one.”

Phillips noted that the Worldlings at Small World aren’t unionized. “We are treated very well,” she explained. “There are very few service jobs that pay as well as this one, there are very few service jobs that have benefits, retirement, vacation, anything like that.”

Phillips also noted the ease with which she feels she can interact with the owners of Small World and raise complaints if necessary. Durrie also commented on the treatment of Small World employees, citing fair compensation as the reason for the coffee shop’s “excellent employee retention.”

A Princetonian staple: Just ‘really Princeton’ Small World Coffee is familiar to many Princeton students and residents. Siyeon Lee ‘27 studies at Small World almost every day, taking advantage of the Pay with Points partnership between the coffee shop and the University. Her go-to drink? “A light iced matcha to-go,” she said, without hesitation.

Lee is an assistant Opinion editor for the ‘Prince.’

For Lee, Small World is “really Princeton.” The coffee shop is a place where she sees “familiar faces,” and finds a unique community space for students off-campus. She visited Small World for the first time on move-in day. “It felt like a movie when I walked in,” Lee said. “Kind of ‘Gilmore Girls’ vibes.”

She also notes that the continuous crowd and smaller space at Small World “fosters a communal vibe.”

To Jule, this sense of community is Small World’s mission, with coffee being a “vehicle for bringing people together.”

Mira Eashwaran is a staff Features writer for the ‘Prince.’

the PROSPECT. ARTS & CULTURE

Midterms Sweet Treat Round Up

By Lulu Pettit | Prospect Contributor

With midterms, papers, problem sets, and a full week of classes, it can be easy to get lost in the chaos and forget to take a break. But this is the exact time we should be taking breaks — we need to rest and recover between assignments and celebrate our continued work!

Like many of my fellow Princetonians, one of my favorite study breaks is picking up a sweet treat from any of the numerous bakeries and coffee shops available to us. Here’s a list of places where you should go to satiate your sweet treat desires:

Best for Late-Night Studying: Murray Dodge

We’ve all been there: it’s 10pm, you still have work to do, and suddenly the craving for something sweet hits. Luckily, Princeton has a solution for you: Murray Dodge Cafe.

As most students know, the cookies offered each day are constantly changing, with consistent availability of vegan and gluten-free options. When I went for a midweek pick-me-up, three types of cookies awaited me: vegan oatmeal raisin with strawberry, vegan oreo chocolate chip, and banana chocolate chip. I tried all three. The banana chocolate chip was my favorite — it was the chewiest and had the richest flavor. The vegan cookies tasted just like regular cookies, free from the cakey texture that can sometimes plague egg-free desserts. The chocolate chips were melty in both cookies that featured them, and the strawberries added the right amount of fruity sweetness to the oatmeal raisin. Each cookie was warm and complemented the mug of hot cocoa I made at the beverage station. Cookies in hand, I felt re-energized and ready to continue my late-night studying.

Best for When You’re Feeling Fancy: Chez Alice

With its charming decor, tasty drinks, and beautifully-crafted desserts, Chez Alice is perfect for a refined snack. Seating is limited, but if

you manage to snag a table, you’ll get to watch countless Princetonians and tourists visit to enjoy the pastries.

On my visit, I tried their single-serving cassis cake, which consists of vanilla cake, chocolate mousse, and blackcurrant mousse, topped with fresh berries and a dark chocolate square. The tartness of the blackcurrant balanced the sweet vanilla and the rich chocolate. The cake was slightly dry from sitting in the display case, but eaten with the double mousse, I barely noticed. In the picturesque cafe, I felt as though I could properly reward myself for a long day of work.

Best for a Study Snack: Olives

While Olives is traditionally thought of as the place to go for a quick breakfast or lunch, they also have a wide variety of desserts. Although I was tempted by their self-proclaimed “famous baklava,” I instead opted for the rice pudding, which had a decent portion size and a healthy dusting of cinnamon on top.

Sweet and creamy, the rice pudding was a perfect snack while I studied for an upcoming exam. It had a very light vanilla flavor, and the rice granules added depth to the milky texture. With the recent spring weather, I was even able to sit outside their storefront and enjoy the bustle of Witherspoon Street.

Best for a Fun Experience: Fruity Yogurt

Whenever I want my sweet treat to be the highlight of a trip to Nassau Street, I get frozen yogurt (froyo). Unlike other frozen desserts, everyone gets to prepare their own froyo cup themselves, offering ultimate customization. When I visited, I filled my cup with a combination of plain tart and peach. For toppings, I was in the mood for something reminiscent of a smoothie bowl, so I went with slivered almonds, housemade granola with pepitas, blueberries, mango, toasted coconut, and a drizzle of honey. I enjoyed the combination of flavors I tried, although I would

probably recommend fewer toppings, since they competed with each other. The plain tart yogurt was smooth and creamy — a perfect base for anyone looking for something a little less sugary than vanilla. The peach flavor, one of the weekly specials, was a little icier, almost like a cross between froyo and Italian ice, and was quite a bit sweeter than I expected. However, when it comes to their fruity flavors, I prefer the strawberry froyo, which has a unique tartness.

In addition to chocolate and vanilla soft serve and a handful of mainstay froyo flavors, Fruity Yogurt rotates in three new flavors each week, so you’re always able to try something new. for boba fans, Fruity Yogurt offers a wide variety of bubble tea options.

Best for a Unique Frozen Treat:

Bent Spoon

One of the great sweet treat debates of Princeton is whether you go to Bent Spoon or Thomas Sweet, and for me, the winner has to be Bent Spoon for one reason: banana whip. A frozen banana blended to the texture of soft serve, banana whip is as creamy and delicious as ice cream while being light on your stomach, and with freshly-made whipped cream and inhouse M&M’s? Perfection.

Along with my beloved banana whip, I also taste-tested the “peanut butter, peanut butter cookie” flavor, which I’d never seen available before. It was amazing — with peanut butter cookie crumbs throughout and a nutty ice cream base, the flavor truly did taste like peanut butter through and through. I really enjoyed the slight crunch of the cookie bits breaking up the texture. If I were to get a cup of it, I would probably add magic shell (almost like an ice cream Reese’s cup!) or their homemade hot fudge sauce to

add a little more richness and layers to the dessert. For this semester’s midterms week, remember to take care of yourself and reward yourself for all of the hard work you have been doing this semester. Princeton has endless options for sweet treats that go far beyond this list: Maman, Thomas Sweet, Small World, and even the dining halls! With the versatility and quality of Princeton’s dessert shops, patisseries, and other sweet snack spots, you really can’t go wrong.

Lulu Pettit is a contributing writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince’ who enjoys writing about food, movies, and

Olivier Tarpaga’s ‘Be Kūnū’ premieres at the Princeton University Orchestra Concert

The Princeton University Orchestra (PUO), the African Music Ensemble, and the Dafra Kura band presented the world premiere of “Be Kūnū” during the PUO’s “Concerto Concert” in Richardson Auditorium on March 1 and 2.

Three soloists — Wesley Sanders ’26, Kaivalya Kulkarni ’26, and Daniel Lee ’27 each had impressive performances during the first half of the concert. Sanders played Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Tuba Concerto, while Kulkarni played Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A minor. After a short intermission, Lee performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

The stage was then set up for the orchestra, the African Music Ensemble, and Dafra Kura to perform “Be Kūnū,” a piece in four parts composed and directed by Olivier Tarpaga. The project was born from a conversation between Tarpaga and Michael Pratt, the PUO’s conductor. Tarpaga and Pratt sought to foster unity and cultural diversity by bringing together ancient African music and western classical music. “Be Kūnū” is written in the Bambara language of West Africa and translates to, in Tarpaga’s words, “the Present Past.”

“The project is all about the past happening today,” Tarpaga said. His composition mixes

the traditional and modern — the orchestra’s strings and winds place a contemporary spin on the traditional sounds of ancient Mandingo strings from the 13th century. The band Tarpaga directs, Dafra Kura, hails from Burkina Faso and consists of Boubacar Djiga on the djeli n’goni, an ancient Mandingo guitar, Seydou Koïta on the electric guitar, Issouf Dembélé on the balafon, a gourdresonated xylophone, and Wassa Kouyaté, who sings and plays the kora, a 21-stringed harp.

Tarpaga refers to his band members as griots: West African guardians of the oral tradition, an ancient method of music-making.

Tarpaga’s own musical process centers around the oral tradition. He chooses to create and pass down music orally because it “bring[s] the musician to connect to the humanity of the music and be more into the feel than into the rules of the music.” Though Tarpaga teaches his compositions to Dafra Kura and the African Music Ensemble through vocal communication, Beth Meyers arranged his compositions into sheet music for the orchestra, a process that involved Tarpaga singing and explaining the parts of each instrument in the piece for Meyers to transcribe onto the page. Tarpaga relies on his memory instead of using sheet music, as evidenced by the lack of a music stand in front

of him during the concert. Dafra Kura and the African Music Ensemble also had nothing in front of them during the performance.

Tarpaga’s process was displayed throughout the performance. Since the piece did not rely on sheet music, musical direction became uniquely reflected in Tarpaga’s method of conducting. He used energetic visual cues and dramatically different gestures for different sounds — punches for drum beats, flicks for light pizzicato on the strings, and chops for crisp plucks on the kora. Tarpaga would sway and dance to the music, both creating and reciprocating the infectious energy produced by the ensembles.

The first song “Miniamba (to Windega),” is dedicated to Tarpaga’s daughter. The song began with a melody played by Kouyaté on the kora, which was enveloped into a beautiful layering of unique timbres as the drums, orchestra, piano, and Kouyaté’s voice joined in. The percussion of the African Music Ensemble drove the energy of the song. The second song, “Kulanjan,” was light and playful, its complex rhythms and overlapping melodies providing a delightfully engaging experience for the audience. This lively character continued into “Kongoba,” in which traditional African instruments and western instruments of the

orchestra found a playful and unexpected harmony as contrasting instruments took turns darting in and out of focus. Finally, “Mali Sadio” opened with an impressive piano solo that had a strong contemporary jazz presence.

The melody was handed off to Kouyaté’s voice at the end of the song. As the rest of the stage joined in the singing, Tarpaga turned to the audience and gestured at us to snap our fingers with the performers in unity.

Most impressive was Tarpaga’s ability to blend the contrasting timbres of instruments from distinct cultures and multiple time periods while simultaneously preserving the unique character of each instrument.

“We’re not sure that this has been done in the U.S. yet. So, for us, we’re almost walking somewhere on the edge of history,” Tarpaga said in reference to the collaboration between the symphony orchestra and ancient Mandingo strings.

”And guess what, it’s going to be done by students at Princeton. That means the whole world to me as a faculty member.”

Sophie Zhang is a contributing writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’

By Sophie Zhang | Prospect Contributor

MALIA GAVIOLA / DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The Prospect 11 Weekly Event Roundup

By Connor Odom & Annie Wang, Assistant Prospect Editors

1

Theater & … city council meetings: Revelations from assisting on Aaron Landsman’s City Council Meeting project

by Bethany Villaruz ’24

March 25 at 8 p.m.

Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex

Bethany Villaruz ’24 reflects on her involvement in the City Council Meeting project. The City Council Meeting project is a participatory theater experience created by Lecturer in Theater Aaron Landsman, drawing on real council meetings in Princeton.

2

3

4

El ritmo que nos libre

conceived and created by Carrington Johnson ’24, directed by Layla Williams ’25

Performances: March 29 at 7 p.m., March 30 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Exhibition: March 25–29, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

CoLab, Lewis Arts complex

El ritmo que nos libre: Das almas assassinadas aos espíritos vivos (The Rhythm that Frees Us: From Murdered Souls to Living Spirits) is a “new immersive theatrical installation” showcasing art as a means of resistance among Afro-Latinx communities.

I Hear Machines Underwater: Exhibition

by Lauren Olson ’24

Gallery Open: March 18–29, 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Opening Reception: March 21, 6 p.m.

The Hurley Gallery, Lewis Arts complex

Lauren Olson ’24 explores the literal and metaphorical implications of hearing construction underwater during morning swims. The exhibition is free to the public; no tickets are required. The gallery is open daily to the public from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Reading by Khaled Mattawa and Hiroko Oyamada with translator David Boyd

March 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Donald G. Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex

Khaled Mattawa (Fugitive Atlas) and Hiroko Oyamada (The Hole) read from their catalog of works as part of the 2023–24 Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading Series with translator David Boyd, hosted by the Program in Creative Writing. The exhibition is free for the public; tickets are required through University Ticketing.

5

eXpressions: Continuum

March 22 at 9 p.m., March 23 6

p.m. and 9 p.m.

Frist Theatre

Watch Princeton’s first student-run Dance Company perform their spring 2024 show, Continuum. Tickets are required and cost $10 for the general public and $7 for students.

6

2024 Thomas Edison Film Festival Screening

March 28 at 7:30 p.m.

James Stewart Film Theater, 185 Nassau St.

This year, the Thomas Edison Film Festival (TEFF) will show 10 short films, from narrative works to animated films and documentaries. The works are made by filmmakers all around the world, two current students, and one Princeton alum: Madeline McDonald ’26, Luke Shannon ’24, and Dawn Luong ’23. The screening is free and no tickets nor prior registration is necessary.

7

All-Nighter: Season 12, Episode 4

March 22 at 10:45 p.m.

Frist Theatre

Live from Frist Theatre, come watch Princeton’s first and only late-night talk show, featuring Thomas Hughes and Louis Pang. Tickets are required.

8

Jersey Art Meetup (JAM)

March 27, 7 p.m.–9 p.m.

Arts Council of Princeton

Open to the public, artists can come to create their own artwork and receive feedback from peers. It is encouraged to bring your own materials, however, basic materials will be provided. The event is free and open to the public.

Arts Council of Princeton BYOB (Bind Your Own

Books)

March 28, 6:30 p.m.–9 p.m.

Arts Council of Princeton

This is an opportunity to learn how to bind books with your own work. Participants may also bring alcoholic beverages to consume at the event. The cost of the event is $35. Participants must be 21+ to register.

9

Performing the Peace: Film Screening and Performance

Screening: March 22 at 5 p.m.

Performance: March 23 at 2 p.m.

Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex

“Performing the Peace” documents the collaboration among Memphis-based theater company Playback Memphis, the Memphis Police Department, and Lifeline to Success, a non-profit that helps people reestablish their lives after release from incarceration. A Q&A will follow the screening with the filmmakers. The live performance is a spectacle of professionally trained artists, whose themes co-create and catalyze community well-being, social healing, and flourishing culture. Both events are free and open to the public.

11

Joyce Carol Oates & Maria

DiBattista Letters to a Biographer and

Short Stories

March 28, 6 p.m.

Labyrinth Books

Discover a rich new compilation of Joyce Carol Oates’s letters across four decades sent to her biographer and friend Greg Johnson. Oates will discuss her writing life with feminist critic and scholar Maria di Battista. Additionally, they will also discuss a recent anthology of crime and horror written by women, which Oates edited. No tickets required and the event is free.

SPONSORED CONTENT

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

SHUT UP AND DANCE: Women’s basketball roars past Columbia for fifth-straight Ivy title

By Max Hines Staff Sports Writer

NEW YORK, NY — After a season of buildup between the two Ivy League superpowers, the final battle arrived.

When the Tigers last traveled up to Manhattan three weeks ago, the women’s basketball team left a sold-out Levien Gymnasium with their first conference loss of the season, falling 67–65 to the Columbia Lions. Today, when an opportunity arose to avenge that defeat and return to the NCAA Tournament yet again, the ladies delivered.

“It’s one of the goals we’re working for every year. It’s really special,” senior Ellie Mitchell said after the game. “You’ll carry it with you for the rest of your life.”

In a decisive beatdown, Princeton (25—4 overall, 13—1 Ivy League) steamrolled Columbia (23—6, 13—1) 75–58 in the Ivy Madness championship game, punching a March Madness ticket for the fifth-straight year and leaving no doubt which of these two big cats reigns supreme in the Ivy League jungle.

In front of a hostile pride of Lions fans, Princeton took the lead from the get-go and never looked back, overcoming their shaky semifinal performance yesterday to put together potentially their most complete game of the season when the lights shone brighter than ever.

“We knew the scout, we knew the game plan, and they executed it really well,” Head Coach Carla Berube said after the game. “I think today, the difference maker was just the poise, the patience that we had to get the best shot that we could.”

Senior forward Ellie Mitchell won the opening tip for the Tigers, setting the tone immediately in front of the hostile crowd. Mitchell passed to sophomore guard Madison St. Rose, who made a quick jumper and another for the Tigers to quickly go up 4–0. Princeton kept the ball rolling in the opening minutes, forcing four turnovers to prevent Columbia from gathering any offensive momentum.

Helped by Princeton’s famously strong defense and shots on the inside from Mitchell and fellow senior guard Chet Nweke, the Tigers rolled into the media timeout up 11–5, clearly unfazed by Columbia’s home court fans.

Out of the timeout, the Tigers kept the defensive momentum going with renewed energy from the bench. First-year guard Ashley Chea and sophomore forward Tabitha Amanze made their presence known, as Chea collected a layup, a key block, and assisted an Amanze layup. Amanze and her 6-foot-4-inch frame helped power the defensive onslaught, as the Tigers forced seven Columbia turnovers in the first quarter to power a 19–14 lead.

“Our bench is awesome,” Chen said after the game. “They bring the energy every night, and we

couldn’t be here without them.”

Key to the defensive success was containing star Columbia guard Abbey Hsu, who scored her first points of the game with just seconds to go in the quarter. Hsu — the Ivy League Player of the Year — controlled Harvard to the tune of 22 points and 14 rebounds last night and is the engine that powers the Lions’ attack.

While she was contained in the first, Hsu began to wake up in the second. Starting things off with a deep three, Hsu had eight in the quarter before the first timeout.

Heading into the media timeout with three and a half minutes to go, Mitchell’s and Hsu’s efforts nearly canceled each other out, as Princeton maintained a 29–25 lead. While Mitchell honed her craft in the paint, all of Abbey Hsu’s shots thus far came from beyond the arc, where she sunk three out of seven.

Not to be counted out, Princeton’s star power had answers. Senior guard and captain Kaitlyn Chen began to heat up after a relatively quiet first 15 minutes by draining two free throws and scoring on an easy layup on a play set up down low by Mitchell.

Led by Mitchell and Nweke, Princeton outrebounded Columbia by four and outscored them in the paint 26–6, but Columbia outscored Princeton 18–3 from long distance on nine more attempts. A clear battle of styles was developing, and the second half was set to determine who would emerge victorious after Princeton led 34–27 at the break.

“Whether it was getting into the post or it was on drives, I think

it was really important for us to get paint touches that can open up things on the outside,” Berube said. “You’re always looking to score from inside.”

St. Rose started the scoring out of halftime with a quick jumper. Guard Cecilia Collins took the reins of the Columbia offense, dropping five points in the first five minutes, including a deep three that awakened the crowd.

Heading into the media timeout, St. Rose answered, ending the Tigers’ one-of-nine three-point shooting drought with a jumper from long range.

The third quarter has been the Tigers’ all year, and they continued that trend today. Chea came to life from long distance, draining two corner threes and adding a jumper. Finishing the quarter on a layup from junior forward Parker Hill with seconds to go, Princeton went into the fourth with a 55–39 lead.

Notably, Hsu scored zero points on zero attempts in the quarter. While Princeton’s 21 points in the quarter are the flashiest number from the frame, Hsu’s 0–0 proved to be a major setback in the Lions’ attempt to claw back the lead.

“Abbey has the ability to get up some quick shots and get them right back in the game,” Mitchell said. “It wasn’t going to be the one person that was on her, so I think that’s what we did [to stop her.] We had each other’s back, trust[ed] their help, and just communicated well.”

While Hsu tried to bring the Lions back into the game with a quick three to start the fourth, Princeton kept their momentum going. Four Tigers scored in the

first six minutes, contributing to Princeton’s 10–9 advantage in the beginning of the quarter. Heading into the media timeout, St. Rose dropped the hammer, sinking her second three of the game to bring Princeton up 65–48 with just under four minutes to go.

If Columbia wanted a glimmer of hope, their odds were longer than Princeton men’s basketball’s near-successful Hail Mary attempt earlier today. In the final minutes, the Tigers pushed their lead towards 20 as the narrow window Columbia had to secure a comeback fell out of reach. When the final buzzer sounded, Princeton emerged victorious, winning in dominant fashion with a score of 75–58.

St. Rose led the scoring for the Tigers with 18 points followed closely by Chen, who was named Ivy League Tournament MVP for the third-consecutive year, with 17.

“When you have Kaitlyn Chen on your team, you’re going to be okay,” Berube said. “You have someone that is the floor general; she’s poised, and she said it herself, she was a bit more poised tonight.”

Ellie Mitchell had yet another double-double, with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Mitchell is already the leading rebounder in Princeton history, and Saturday night’s success only added to her impressive time on the Tiger squad.

“Ellie sets a standard, like that’s what we are all striving to be,” Chen added.

The Tigers head into the Big Dance looking for their thirdconsecutive first-round victory after a win over Kentucky in 2022

and a dramatic triumph against NC State last year. After seasonending second-round losses to Indiana and Utah the last two years, the Tigers will look to accomplish a feat the program has never reached before — the Sweet 16.

Experts predict them to be a nine-seed, which would be the Tigers’ highest seed since the storied 2014–2015 team, who entered the tournament with a 30–0 record as an eight-seed. The Tigers, if given a nine-seed, would have a first-round matchup with an eight-seed before a potential showdown with a first seed. Tiger fans can find out the Tigers fate tomorrow night when ESPN airs Selection Sunday, March 17 at 8 p.m.

It’s a waiting game for Columbia, who likely remain on the outside looking in despite ranking 57th in the NET and making it to the Women’s NIT final after being snubbed yet again last year.

“Columbia should be in the NCAA tournament,” Berube stated, echoing Columbia’s Head Coach Megan Griffith. “They are a really, really good team.”

While Berube’s defensive machine may seem like an arduous undertaking to manage, she still sees every game as a riveting experience and challenge — and looks forward to fighting to advance in the NCAA tournament.

“It’s exciting, it’s fun, and we’re going in there, whoever we play, looking to win games.”

Max Hines is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’

PHOTO COURTESY OF @PUTIGERS/X.

2023-24 women’s basketball poses with Ivy League trophy at Levien Gymnasium.

March Madness hopes smashed after Brown defeats Princeton in historic upset

By Tate Hutchins Associate Sports Writer

NEW YORK, NY — One year ago today, under the bright lights of the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., the Princeton Tigers had achieved the impossible by taking down Arizona in a massive upset that began their Cinderella run to the Sweet 16. The Princeton community — and the country — took notice. Princeton basketball became a national name.

One trip around the sun later, with all eyes on the Tigers, the Princeton faithful quietly filed out of Levien Gymnasium at Columbia University. The narrative had flipped. This year’s No. 1 seeded Princeton Tigers (24–4 overall, 12–3 Ivy League) found themselves at the wrong end of a historic, season-ending upset against the No. 4 seeded Brown Bears (13–17, 9–6).

Despite being heavily favored with an 89.6 percent win probability, according to ESPN Analytics pregame, the Princeton Tigers travel back to the Garden State empty-handed. For a team that began its season with a 9–0 run — their best start in over two decades — the loss serves as a somber conclusion for this year’s Tiger squad. The loss proved to be nothing short of historic. For the first time in Ivy League tournament history, a No. 4 seed has taken down a No. 1 seed. In a 90–81 loss characterized by a Brown rampage in the first 30 minutes, the disappearance of Princeton’s star sophomores, and an attempt at a comeback led by firstyear guard Dalen Davis, the Princeton Tigers’ hopes for back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances — which would be their first since 1998 — have been dashed.

The Tigers started hot off the tipoff, with junior guard Blake Peters immediately hitting a fading three. Brown tightened up defensively and took the lead off of a pair of free throws and a mid-range jumper, but sophomore guard Xaivian Lee retook the lead with a deep logo three.

Senior guard Matt Allocco and senior forward Zach Martini kept the hot shooting going with threes of their own, but Brown kept up offensively by making five of their first eight shots as they retook a 14–12 lead on a dunk from forward Nana Owusu-Anane.

“We knew that we kind of had a size advantage on them,” Owusu-Anane said postgame. “So, we wanted to just serve ourselves on the inside.”

Martini would break the 7–0 run that followed with an open layup, and after each side finished strong drives, Brown headed into a timeout at the 7-minute mark with a 28–23 lead.

Princeton’s defense then started to melt down and had no answer for Brown’s aggressive play, allowing them to open up a substantial lead that they never lost. They allowed guard Kino Lilly Jr. and Owusu-Anane to score on seven straight possessions while going cold offensively and called yet another timeout down 41–27.

While Brown’s run stretched their lead into double digits, Princeton continued to struggle to find their footing in the paint, forcing shots from three in an attempt to close the gap. Beyond the arc, the Tigers’ threepoint-focused strategy failed to pay off, as they shot just 31.6 percent from

three in the first half compared to Brown’s 45.5 percent.

Princeton burned through most of their timeouts before the break in attempts to regroup, leaving them just one for the second half. Though Pierce scored twice at the rim in the final moments of the first half, the Tigers entered the locker room facing a 13-point deficit at 44-31.

“All we want to do is come out, make the first punch, and keep going from there,” Brown head coach Mike Martin said postgame. The defensive meltdown, and the Brown rampage it enabled, were ultimately the Tigers’ downfall, as they failed to close the massive gap until it was too late.

Brown’s run was fueled by hot shooting — starting 55 percent from the field in the first half — finding open shot after open shot against Princeton’s defense.

Pre-game, head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 said, “It is important that we take care of the ball, and I trust that we will.” But at the half, Princeton had six turnovers to Brown’s three, a surprising turn of events since Brown had nearly double Princeton’s count during the regular season.

“We were number one in the country in not turning the ball over. And we turned the ball over a lot and it made things really hard,” Henderson noted in a postgame presser.

Princeton has been a secondhalf team this season and has made multiple comebacks after the break, but the lead Brown amassed proved too tall a hill to climb.

“I thought we could gather ourselves in the second half and then they got to 18 quickly and then it was 22,” Henderson said. “We have not been down like that.”

Straight out of the half, the Tigers’ defense continued to struggle and gave up three straight layups while

only getting one back to go down by 17, forcing Henderson into yet another timeout.

The timeout failed to help defensively as the Tigers gave up another Lilly Jr. three and an open layup right after. Switching into a 1-31 zone defense helped the Tigers get some stops and Lee finally found his way to the rim again for a layup, but Brown hadstretched its lead to over 20 points, with the scoreline standing at 55–35 by the first media timeout.

Lee was nowhere to be found throughout the game, finishing with just six points on 25 percent shooting. This made for his lowest-scoring game in 2024 and his worst performance in any Ivy matchup this season.

Pierce, who was awarded Ivy League Player of the Year this week, also struggled to shine, dropping 19 points across the game but committing seven costly turnovers that led to Brown fast-break points.

The ball pressure of the 1-3-1 zone started to slow down Brown, but Princeton could not get into any sort of offensive rhythm and missed contested three after contested three. The Tigers notched just two points from 16.5 minutes to 12.5 minutes remaining.

In the final ten minutes of the second half, the Tigers began to chip away at Brown’s lead, with a pair of drives from Allocco and Davis finding the basket. Davis continued to step up for Princeton, scoring a driving layup with a foul to cut the lead to 16, converting on a drive, and making another and-one shot to narrow the game to 13 with 6:19 remaining.

The Bears started to live at the freethrow line as any contact against Princeton was called, but Davis scored one of two free throws on their next possession. A rare Lilly Jr. miss led to the first-year making another floater

to cut the Brown lead to nine. Davis fed Pierce an open layup after another Brown turnover to bring it to just seven with 4:28 remaining, the closest since the first half.

“He saved us and put us on his back,” Henderson said on Davis after the game. “As a freshman, he looked like a senior.”

Davis would finish the game with a team-high 21 points and a +9 plus/ minus (point differential while on the court), an extremely high mark for a nine-point loss. Davis’s performance on the court elevated him past his position as the Tigers’ sixth man, outplaying the starters and keeping the Tigers’ hopes alive in the second half.

As the clock continued to tick down, Princeton amped up the aggressiveness once again with a full-court press. At times it allowed Brown to get out in transition for easy layups, but it also created the Brown turnovers that kept them in the game. Brown exploited it for six more points, but Allocco and Pierce hit big threes to keep it close.

At 83–74, Pierce muscled his way for another layup followed by a steal, feeding Peters a layup to bring it to five. After a Brown free throw on the other end, Allocco drilled a clutch pull-up three to bring the score to 84–81 and the Princeton faithful to their feet.

“Matt Allocco is one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever coached against,” added Martin after the game. The senior would finish with 20 points, but it wouldn’t be enough.

With 44 seconds on the clock, one defensive stop and a three could have given them the opportunity to tie the game. However, Princeton continued their hard press rather than getting back and trying to get a stop, with sophomore guard Jack Scott almost

immediately committing a foul that let Lilly Jr. hit two free throws. The Tigers took the ball for one final chance down five with 38 seconds remaining. As Pierce drove to the basket and looked to bring it back within one possession, he lost his handle and turned it over. Brown guard, AJ Lesburt Jr., then took it back the other way for a layup to ice it. Fittingly, Lilly Jr. closed the game with a pair of free throws to give Brown the 90–81 upset win.

Princeton’s downfall was fueled by failing to stay true to what had brought them so much success — making shots. A team that prides itself on good shooting and shot selection shot only 9 for 35 from three and often took desperate, contested jumpers against the Brown defense.

They also failed on two key factors to slow the Bears: containing star guard Kino Lilly Jr. and taking care of the ball. Lilly Jr. finished with 27 points and 10 assists, while typicallyrare Princeton turnovers came in bunches and let Brown build their significant lead in the first half.

Projected to be just outside the range of at-large bids before the game and favored to win the Ivy tournament, a win would have kept Princeton’s tournament dream alive, but a loss to a Brown team that sits all the way back at No. 193 in the NET rankings almost certainly pushes the Tigers out of NCAA tournament consideration. The Bears will move on to the Ivy championship tomorrow against Yale.

“We went down. We had a hell of a team. So I hope this doesn’t take away from them,” Henderson concluded.

Tate Hutchins is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’

After Ivy Madness, Princeton Basketball shifts focus to postseason

By Hayk Yengibaryan & Cole Keller Associate & Head Sports Editors

After a weekend where the women’s basketball team toppled Columbia en route to their fifth consecutive Ivy Madness title, and the men’s team fell in disappointing fashion to Brown, the Princeton Basketball program learned their postseason fates Sunday evening.

The women will be headed to Iowa City, Iowa where they will take on West Virginia University (WVU) in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The men’s team will stay in New Jersey, where they will take on University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

The Daily Princetonian previews the two games.

Familiar territory: Five consecutive tournament appearances for Berube and the Tigers Announced on ESPN’s Selection Sunday, the Tigers are seeded ninth, the highest seed Princeton has had since the 2015 season, when the team was seeded eighth and beat University of Wisconsin–Green Bay in the first round.

Their opponent: the eighthseeded West Virginia Mountaineers (24–7 overall, 12–6 Big 12 Conference). Led by first-year coach Mark Kellogg, WVU is ranked No. 21 in the NET rankings, and was as high as No. 22 in the AP Top 25 Poll this season. For WVU, their only win over a currently ranked opponent came over No. 18 Oklahoma, and the Mountaineers finished 2–6 against the top five teams in the Big 12. After starting the season with a sweltering 22–3 record, the Mountaineers stuttered to the finish line, ending the regular season with three losses in five games.

Guard JJ Quinerly leads the way for WVU, averaging 19.6 points per

game while holding a reputation as one of the strongest defensive guards in the country. Quinerly was awarded Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in recent weeks and named a semifinalist for Naismith Woman’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Even with Princeton’s strong nonconference record and No. 34 NET ranking, the Mountaineers have their eyes set on a potential secondround matchup with the one-seed Iowa Hawkeyes. “Let’s win one and send Caitlin Clark packing,” Kellogg quipped about his team’s chances this weekend.

Perhaps that’s just the nature of being in the same region as the Hawkeyes, especially as superstar guard Caitlin Clark continues to rake in attention in her quest for a national title. If Princeton were to advance past WVU, the Tigers would have to contend with the talents of Clark, who’s averaged 31.9 points per game — and the already sold-out Iowa crowd.

Having coached Caitlin Clark on the 2017 Under-16 US National Team, Princeton Head Coach Carla Berube is certainly acquainted with Clark and her game, and vice versa.

“I’m very familiar with her and how she coaches, and she’s done a great job,” Clark told The Athletic about Berube on Sunday.

Whatever happens with the Tigers, Princeton won’t be the only Ivy League team in the Big Dance, as Columbia earned an at-large bid as a 12-seed. The Lions will play Vanderbilt in the First-Four, with the winner advancing to play fifthseeded Baylor. For the first time in the expanded era, the Ivy League is a two-bid conference.

Men’s basketball heads to NIT: The annual “Not Invited Tournament”

The NIT is a postseason tournament that generally features teams who did not make the NCAA tournament, but were on the bubble.

‘Eminently

By Jacqueline Zhou Contributing Archivist

Theology has long been ingrained in Princeton’s history, ever since the University’s founding by the Presbyterian Church in 1746. Later, in 1812, the Presbyterian Church separately founded the Princeton Theological Seminary, which allowed for more specialized training in theology.

Although the study of Hebrew has always held both theological and cultural importance, the University only added a Hebrew elective in 1885. The University has continued to teach Hebrew since then, but now through courses in the Near Eastern Studies Department.

Being ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church requires a thorough understanding of both

The tournament features 32 teams, with 16 of those teams being seeded 1–4. The four number one seeds are Villanova, Indiana State, Seton Hall, and Wake Forest.

Princeton (24–4 overall, 12–2 Ivy League) will play University of Nevada, Las Vegas (19–12, 12–6 Mountain West) in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday at 8 p.m. inside Jadwin Gymnasium, where the Tigers are an impressive 12–0. The Tigers are a second seed and a potential second-round matchup would pit the Tigers against Providence College or Boston College at Jadwin once more.

UNLV played in one of the best conferences this season. The Mountain West sent an impressive six teams to the NCAA tournament. During the season, the Rebels had impressive wins against Creighton, New Mexico, Boise State, Colorado State, and San Diego State. All five

of those teams made the NCAA tournament and were seeded 10 or better.

UNLV is ranked 76th in the latest NCAA NET rankings. The biggest drawback of the Rebel’s resume was their Quad four record, where they had three losses. Guard Dedan Thomas Jr. leads the Rebels in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game. This will be the Tiger’s fifth matchup against the Rebels in history — the last time the two sides met was in 1999. However, they also played each other during the first round of the 1998 NCAA tournament. The Tigers were a No. 5 seed and beat the Rebels 69–57 in a game that featured current head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 and current Cornell head coach Brian Earl ’99. The two Ivy coaches combined for 40 points and played all 40 minutes in the contest.

For the Tigers, this is their eighth time playing in the NIT and third under Henderson. Princeton notably won the NIT in 1975 after an 11-point win against Providence at the iconic Madison Square Garden.

With speculation that Henderson’s tenure at Princeton may be coming to an end with interest from Stanford, this is a game to watch. The women’s team will square off against the West Virginia Mountaineers at 5:30 p.m. EST at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which is Caitlin Clark’s home court. Tipoff for the men will be at Jadwin Gymnasium at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’

Cole Keller is a head Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’

The Origins of the Hebrew

Hebrew and ancient Greek languages. An 1885 article in the ‘Prince’ explained that the new elective would be especially useful for “men who have the Christian ministry in view,” adding that, “The addition of an elective in Hebrew could not fail to be of advantage to such.”

The ‘Prince’ expressed concerns that if the University could not appropriately staff the new elective in 1885, “an arrangement doubtless could be effected with one of the professors at the Theological Seminary which would meet the want.”

This close relationship between the University and the Princeton Theological Seminary continues today. Professor F.W. “Chip” DobbsAllsopp, MDiv ’87, an expert in biblical and ancient Near Eastern literature, noted that in addition to the one professor who teaches the Hebrew

Bible at the University, there are six who do so in the Seminary, including himself.

Dobbs-Allsopp said, “Biblical Hebrew in this country is taught pretty much like Latin: as a dead language.” Students typically learn how to read and translate dead languages, but not to speak them.

“I think it’s a mistake,” DobbsAllsopp explained, adding “If you think about it, when you’re learning a language, you may use your ears and your mouth and your feelings.”

Although the Hebrew elective at Princeton began with a theological and historical focus, the University has since expanded its offerings to include courses in modern, spoken Hebrew. Since the 1880s, Hebrew has been revived as a modern language, spoken in Israel and communities around the world.

Dobbs-Allsop noted the importance of studying Hebrew in the context of its history in Israel and Palestine, especially when traveling with classes to the Middle East. He explained, “You can’t go to that part of the world without also addressing and engaging in issues that surround contemporary culture, history, politics, religion.”

Now, the University and the Seminary both offer Hebrew-learning resources. The Seminary also currently offers other ancient Semitic languages, such as Ugartic, Aramaic, and Akkadian, to provide scholars of the Hebrew Bible with a more holistic understanding of the text. DobbsAllsopp explained, “Language is the entryway into the world of the Bible.”

Jacqueline Zhou is a contributing archivist for the ‘Prince.’

PHOTO COURTESY OF @PRINCETONWBB/X. Women’s basketball wins Ivy Madness 2024.