March 31, 2017

Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Friday March 31, 2017 vol. CXLI no.33

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } U . A F FA I R S

U. admits 6.1 percent of applicants

By Audrey Spensley staff writer

The University offered admission to 6.1 percent of applicants in 2017 in its most selective round of admissions yet, according to a University press release. Out of of 31,056 applications, 1,890 students were offered admission to join the Class of 2021, and the class size is expected to fall around 1,308 students.

“The class is extraordinary and amazing in their talents,” University Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said. “Certainly, the quality and strength of the applicant pool is as high as it’s ever been.”

According to the press release, 770 students of the 1,890 offered admission were previously offered admission in December as part of the University’s singlechoice early action process. Like regular decision applicants, early action applicants have until May 1 to accept the University’s offer of admission.

“We applied the same standards in admitting each group,” Rapelye said. According to Rapelye, over 12,000 applicants had a 4.0 GPA and over 13,000 had scores of 1400 or higher on the SAT. “We could have admitted five or six classes to Princeton from the pool,” Rapelye said, adding that the admissions committee looks at more than just grades and test scores.

“We have humanists, scientists, and students who will

be contributing on the athletic field, among other things,” Rapelye said.

This is the first year that the redesigned SAT has been considered in admissions. Rapelye noted that the new SAT has been “so far helpful,” although the admissions committee will determine how it impacts the application process over the next three years.

Rapelye also said she appreciated that the SAT retained its essay component.

“This is very valuable because of the nature of the Princeton education,” she explained. Rapelye added that the admissions team occasionally downloads applicants’ SAT or ACT essays to get a better sense of their writing abilities.

50.5 percent of admitted applicants are women and 49.5 percent are men, representing a higher percentage of admitted women than in previous years.

Additionally, 47.3 percent of the 24.1 percent of students who applied under the B.S.E program were women.

Nearly 20 percent of the students offered admission will be the first in their families to attend college, the largest number in recent memory.

Students were admitted from 49 states and 76 countries, with 12.1 percent of admitted students coming from countries besides the U.S. The most-represented states were New Jersey, California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Massachusetts, See ADMISSIONS page 3

ON CAMPUS

S T U D E N T A F FA I R S

IMAGE COURTESY OF KATHLEEN MA / PRINCETON MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE

The new Princeton Peer Nightline will run from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

New mental health hotline launches this weekend

By Jisu Jeong staff writer

Princeton Peer Nightline, an anonymous, confidential peer listening service for undergraduate students run by undergraduate students, will launch this weekend. The service will offer students a chance to talk to trained volunteer listeners who are also students, about virtually anything, via phone or online chat on Friday and Saturday evenings.

PPN was spearheaded by Julie Newman ’18, Christin Park ’18, and Shana Salomon ’18, all of whom are board members of the Princeton Mental Health Initiative. The three started working on the program at the beginning

of spring semester last year. They said they were inspired by similar programs at other schools as well as, for Newman and Salomon, personal experience volunteering with a crisis and suicide prevention hotline.

Newman said that being involved with the hotline “gave us the idea of how important that was to helping other people and that it would be really great if we had a similar resource on campus.”

The founders of PPN said they hope the program will become an additional resource that students can use, and that the unique aspects of the program will encourage hesitant students to seek help.

Salomon said she thinks one

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

benefit of PPN is that it doesn’t require users to talk to people who are familiar. “Sometimes it’s nice just to talk to someone that you don’t know ... because sometimes when you talk to someone that you know, ... it can be like a burden on the person, and you don’t want to feel that burden that you’re giving them,” she explained.

She added that she thinks it will be helpful for students to be able to talk to peers, rather than counselors, about their problems, since peers will be able to “really get what’s going on on campus.”

Newman, Park, and Salomon all said they were very excited about the launch of the program See HOTLINE page 3

NEWS AND NOTES

Icahn ’57 receives letter Park jailed, on conflict of interest arrested staff writer

IMAGE BY REBECCA NGU

The pilot café will run for ten weeks in Firestone’s DeLong Room.

Firestone patrons welcome new Tiger Tea Room

By Rebecca Ngu staff writer

Firestone Library began piloting a new café called the Tiger Tea Room on March 27, offering community members a more relaxed space to consume food and beverages and to hang out. The café, held in the renovated DeLong Room, is a response to popular demand for easily accessible food and beverages inside the library.

The pilot café will run until early June, and community feedback is encouraged in the meantime. Patrons have eagerly welcomed the cafe and expressed hope that it will be-

come a permanent feature of the library.

“We want to keep students here [in the library]. If you’re here, you’re here,” said Cristian Vasquez, director of Retail and Catering Operations. He noted that the stream of customers has been steady since the café’s Monday opening, and appeared optimistic that the café is “going to work out.” After the 10 weeks, the café planners will decide whether to convert the pilot into a full-fledged café with longer hours and a more established location.

The café has integrated itself quietly into the DeLong See TEA page 3

On March 27, several Democratic senators sent a letter to investor and business magnate Carl Icahn ’57, requesting he clarify his role as special advisor to President Donald Trump and respond to questions about conflicts of interest. This expression of concern over Icahn’s role in the administration follows an ongoing effort to establish a conflict of interest that is created by this informal advisory position.

Icahn is the majority shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a conglomerate valued at over $6 billion that owns companies in the automotive, energy, and mining sectors. In particular, Icahn has 82 percent ownership stake in CVR Energy, an oil refiner valued at $1.6 billion. CVR has called for changes to the federal Renewable Fuel Program, which was expanded in 2007, to take the burden of blending biofuels into gasoline off of refiners and to instead place it on marketers. The regulatory change would have saved CVR $205.9 million last year.

Earlier this month, six senators wrote a letter to White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn II, expressing concern about Icahn’s role as special advisor on regulations to the

President.

“We are concerned that his substantial and widespread private-sector investments present perverse incentives for Mr. Icahn in his role as a special advisor to the President,” the senators wrote in the letter.

Quoting an ethics watchdog, the senators noted that Icahn’s involvement with the Trump administration is “the purest definition of a conflict of interest that you can get.”

Icahn has dismissed the idea of a conflict of interest, stating that his role as advisor and views on regulations are to serve the entire industry, not only his companies.

After Icahn met with Trump in February about changing the Renewable Fuel Standard, an EPA regulation that requires oil refiners to blend their oil with renewable fuels, CVR shares rose 6 percent. Icahn has called the regulation “natural stupidity.”

In a letter directly to Icahn, senators wrote that he should be classified as a “special government employee,” or SGE, which would subject him to a number of rules, including prohibiting him from participating in matters in which he has a financial interest without written authorization. An SGE can be a personal friend or unpaid See ICAHN page 2

In Opinion

Today on Campus

Contributor Emily Erdos makes the case for a journalism certificate, and the Editorial Board recommends improvements to U. grading policies. PAGE 4

4:30: The Princeton Environmental Institute presents Land Beneath our Feeat with Gregg Mitman in Bowen Hall Room 222 from 4:30-5:30.

By Claire Lee staff writer

Former President of South Korea Park Geun-hye was arrested and jailed on Friday in Korea on charges of corruption that led to her removal from office three weeks ago.

In November, a group of University students held a demonstration regarding the scandal.

The group read its “Declaration Regarding the State of Affairs in the Republic of Korea” in front of Nassau Hall, demanding the former president’s impeachment.

Park, 65, is the first leader since the country’s transition to democracy to be sent to jail, according to The New York Times.

She is also the first child of a former president to win the presidency, as well as the first female president of South Korea.

After months of widespread protests in the country, the Constitutional Court of South Korea ousted Park on March 9. Prosecutors had accused Park of forcing business into donating money to foundations under her control.

She had also been accused of allowing her longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, inappropriate influence in state affairs.

Park was found to be conspiring with Choi to collect tens of millions of dollars from businesses in South Korea, including millions in bribes from SamSee PARK page 2

WEATHER

By Sarah Hirschfield

HIGH

48˚

LOW

42˚

Rain showers chance of rain:

10 percent

page 2

The Daily Princetonian

Friday March 31, 2017

Park ousted on March 9 PARK

Continued from page 1

sung. Both Choi and Samsung’s top executive, Lee Jae-yong, have already been arrested and are currently standing trials on bribery charges.

Millions also took to the streets in South Korea in peaceful protest to demand Park’s resignation. When Park refused to step down, the National Assembly successfully impeached her through an overwhelming vote.

A judge at the Seoul Central District issued the arrest warrant early Friday morning, urging swiftness of action in the fear that Park could “destroy evidence,” according to The New York Times.

Park was taken to a jail outside Seoul, with television crews following the car and nationally televising the 10-minute ride.

She will commute from her cell to the Seoul courthouse once her trial begins.

If convicted of bribery, Park could face between 10 years and life in prison, although her successor has the power to free Park with a special presidential pardon.

Park’s arrest marks another tumultuous chapter in her family history.

Park’s father, Park Chunghee, ruled South Korea from 1961 to 1979. While he was credited with sternly opposing Communism and building the country’s world-class economy, he was also viewed as a dictator. Park’s father was eventually assassinated by his spy chief.

Five years prior to the assassination, Park’s mother, Yuk Young-soo, was fatally shot by a pro-North Korean assassin who had targeted her husband. After the deaths of her parents, Park lived in isolation, unmarried and without children.

In 2013, Park returned to the presidential Korean Blue House after winning the presidential election. Older Koreans who longed for stern leadership represented her strongest supporters, while many others warned that she may bring the country back to its authoritarian past.

In a speech last November, in the wake of her paralyzing political scandal, Park confided tearfully that she regretted ever becoming president.

A presidential election will be held on May 9 to choose a new leader. The liberal opposition leader, Moon Jae-In, is considered most likely to win the election.

Former President of South Korea Park Geun-hye was arrested and jailed on Friday in Korea on charges of corruption that led to her removal from office three weeks ago.

In November, a group of University students held a demonstration regarding the scandal.

The group read its “Declaration Regarding the State of Affairs in the Republic of Korea” in front of Nassau Hall, demanding the former president’s impeachment.

Park, 65, is the first leader since the country’s transition to democracy to be sent to jail, according to The New York Times.

She is also the first child of a former president to win the presidency, as well as the first female president of South Korea.

After months of widespread protests in the country, the Constitutional Court of South Korea ousted Park on March 9. Prosecutors had accused Park of forcing business into donating money to foundations under her control.

She had also been accused of allowing her longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, inappropriate influence in state affairs.

Park was found to be conspiring with Choi to collect tens of millions of dollars from businesses in South Korea, including millions in bribes from Samsung. Both Choi and Samsung’s top executive, Lee Jae-yong, have already been arrested and are currently standing trials on bribery charges.

Millions also took to the streets in South Korea in peaceful protest to demand Park’s resignation. When Park refused to step down, the National Assembly successfully impeached her through an overwhelming vote.

A judge at the Seoul Central District issued the arrest warrant early Friday morning, urging swiftness of action in the fear that Park could “destroy evidence,” according to The New York Times.

Park was taken to a jail outside Seoul, with television crews following the car and nationally televising the 10-minute ride.

She will commute from her cell to the Seoul courthouse once her trial begins.

If convicted of bribery, Park could face between 10 years and life in prison, although her successor has the power to free Park with a special presidential pardon.

Park’s arrest marks another tumultuous chapter in her family history.

Park’s father, Park Chunghee, ruled South Korea from 1961 to 1979. While he was credited with sternly opposing Communism and building the country’s world-class economy, he was also viewed as a dictator. Park’s father was eventually assassinated by his spy chief.

Five years prior to the assassination, Park’s mother, Yuk Young-soo, was fatally shot by a pro-North Korean assassin who had targeted her husband. After the deaths of her parents, Park lived in isolation, unmarried and without children.

In 2013, Park returned to the presidential Korean Blue House after winning the presidential election. Older Koreans who longed for stern leadership represented her strongest supporters, while many others warned that she may bring the country back to its authoritarian past.

In a speech last November, in the wake of her paralyzing political scandal, Park confided tearfully that she regretted ever becoming president.

A presidential election will be held on May 9 to choose a new leader. The liberal opposition leader, Moon Jae-In, is considered most likely to win the election.

Letter-writers express concern about Icahn’s role ICAHN

Continued from page 1

............. advisor who “departs from his usual role as an informal advisor” and “assumes considerable responsibility for coordinating the Administration’s activities in particular ways,” the letter stated.

Icahn has not yet responded to request for comment.

The March 27 letter was signed by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).

“You cannot have it both ways,” they wrote, “if your involvement with the Administration is not significant enough to require you to play by the con-

flict of interest rules required of other advisors to the President, it cannot also be significant enough to require you to advise your company’s shareholders of the materiality of your White House position.”

On Monday, Icahn was brought into an insider trading trial involving sports gambler William Walters, who is charged with using nonpublic information while trading shares of a dairy processing company, Dean Foods. Prosecutors believe Walters was involved with another case of insider trading in shares of Clorox, alleging that Icahn shared information with Walters in 2011. However, an insider trading violation would only have occurred if Icahn breached a fiduciary duty while giving the tip, which remains unknown.

Friday March 31, 2017

The Daily Princetonian

page 3

1,890 students admitted Pilot café could become full capacity ADMISSIONS after evaluation in June Continued from page 1

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

and Georgia, in order. The only state not represented is Louisiana. Students were also admitted from Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands.

Of the admitted students, 63.8 percent attended public schools.

The University press release also noted that over half of admitted applicants self-identify as “people of color, including biracial and multiracial students.”

Additionally, nearly 11 percent of admitted students are children of University alumni.

Increased accessibility may have contributed to the increase in applicants, Rapelye noted.

The virtual tour offered on the University’s web page has been translated into four languages, for example.

“This is helpful for both students and families, especially parents and grandparents,” Rapelye said.

Rapelye also highlights the University’s financial aid program in attracting applicants.

The University offers grant-only financial aid packages, meaning students don’t have to pay back the aid they receive. The average grant for the class of 2020 was $48,000. Financial information on the Class of 2021 has not yet been determined.

“It is an extraordinary privilege to do this work and know that we can admit students without regard to their financial standing,” Rapelye said.

Internally, the admissions staff moved to a new reading platform called Slate, which Rapelye said has been helpful in reading the record number of applications. Since the beginning of January, admissions staff have been working six to seven days a week and eight to 10 hours a day

Students will offer support to peers HOTLINE Continued from page 1

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

and seeing it come together after a year of hard work.

“Someone on Mental Health Initiative back in 2014 actually had this idea, so it’s really exciting for both the people on campus and the alumni who were involved as well,” said Park.

For now, the PPN is available from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, but Salomon said the program would “absolutely” expand if the community reaction warranted this.

“For now, we’re starting on a smaller scale to see the response of the Princeton community,” Salamon noted.

To celebrate the launch of PPN, the three founders offered handouts and phone wallets and answered questions at a table in Frist Campus Center on Wednesday and Thursday. They will do so again Friday evening.

PPN is sponsored by the Princeton Mental Health Initiative and the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life, and is supported by Counseling and Psychological Services. The program’s website for online chat is princetonpeernightline.com, and the phone numbers are 609258-0279 and 609-258-0615.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The Daily Princetonian is published daily except Saturday and Sunday from September through May and three times a week during January and May by The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc., 48 University Place, Princeton, N.J. 08540. Mailing address: P.O. Box 469, Princeton, N.J. 08542. Subscription rates: Mailed in the United States $175.00 per year, $90.00 per semester.

Office hours: Sunday through Friday, 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Telephones: Business: 609-375-8553; News and Editorial: 609-258-3632. For tips, email news@dailyprincetonian.com.

Reproduction of any material in this newspaper without expressed permission of The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc., is strictly prohibited. Copyright 2014, The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Princetonian, P.O. Box 469, Princeton, N.J. 08542.

to get through the applications.

“It’s been a very good change,” Rapelye said. “It allows the reader far greater flexibility in moving through an application.”

Although the University’s redesigned website didn’t debut until January, after applications were due, Rapelye said that the website will help students to be able to envision life at the University more clearly.

Rapelye added that the University’s plans to expand the class size in the future had no effect on this year’s decisions because the University is waiting until the seventh residential college is built to begin expanding class size.

Admitted students will have the opportunity to explore Princeton’s campus and live with current students at two Princeton Previews in April.

In addition, 1,168 candidates for admission were offered positions on the Princeton waitlist.

According to the press release, the University’s applicant pool has more than doubled in the past 14 years.

TEA

Continued from page 1

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

Room. On the right side of the entrance lies a makeshift café counter offering hot coffee and tea, pre-packed goods, and fresh fruit. Natural light from the back windows, which overlook Nassau Street, fills the room. Subtle changes mark the room: tables, chairs, and shelves have been rearranged to allow for more open space and seating. Metal standing tables now stand at the center, providing convenient spots for a quick bite. Patrons, many of them students, lounge around working on their laptops, reading, chatting among themselves, and enjoying the view outside. People continually peek in to look at the newly renovated room.

Reactions from community members have been overwhelmingly positive, affirm-

ing that the café fulfills a longstanding need on campus.

“I definitely really like it right now,” Maria Perales ’18 said. “It’s so accessible and convenient to have food inside. Just a place for more chill conversation and to take a break from hard-core studying.” Perales noted that she had avoided coming to Firestone or had sometimes snuck food in because she was unable to eat in the library.

“Coffee near working areas is a must-have,” Sina Wachenfeld, the spouse of a postdoctoral student, said. “I hope this turns into a regular thing.” Beforehand, Wachenfeld would often go to Starbucks or Small World for coffee, but the coffee there was more expensive and would be cold by the time she returned to Firestone. Patrons can buy a small coffee for $2.15 and a cappuccino or latte for $3.50 at the Tiger Tea Room.

“Sometimes you work up-

stairs and want a break, but not leave your study place to go all the way to Frist or somewhere.

So it’s really good to have [the café] nearby,” she said.

Post-It notes on the wall boards overflowed with positive and energetic feedback.

“Finally!” “Much needed!”

“Why wasn’t this here before?”

Many commenters asked for the café hours to be extended to earlier in the morning and later at night. These suggestions, including requests for more comfortable and spacious seating, will likely be satisfied if the pilot café turns into an established, full capacity café after June.

“If this works out, the plan is probably to extend the hours,” Vasquez said. “We will have our baked products and more beverage variety.”

Friday March 31. 2017

Opinion

page 4

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } EDITORIAL

T

Make grading policies more transparent

he grading process for midterm and final exams requires careful coordination between students, professors, and the Office of the Registrar. Currently, some aspects of these processes unfairly disadvantage some students or deprive students of information necessary to make course decisions. To remedy this issue, the Board urges professors to be more forthcoming in their regrading policies and encourages the Registrar to work with professors to schedule final exams with regrading in mind. To further increase transparency and allow students to make informed choices during the pass/D/fail election period, professors should release some type of midterm grade prior to the deadline to drop or P/D/F a class.

We recommend that professors announce their regrade policy, if any, well in advance of any exam, ideally on the syllabus. For both midterms and finals, some classes allow students to resubmit their exams within a certain window to appeal potential mistakes in grading.

This process, known as regrading, ensures that students’ grades do not suffer as a result of errors in grading or of a particular grader. Reasonably

enough, professors usually require students to request a regrade within a short period of time after the exam is initially returned. But it is common for professors to only announce such regrading policies after the exam has been taken or only shortly before. Given that exams often happen before breaks, this raises issues for students who have already made travel plans to leave campus immediately after an exam. For instance, a student might leave campus after their last spring final, only to receive an email that exams are available to be picked up and must be returned within a day to receive a regrade.

Through no fault of their own, these students are deprived of an opportunity, available to other classmates, to ensure accurate grading of their exams. By informing their classes of opportunities to request regrades long before the exam, professors ensure that all students can potentially benefit from the regrade.

Further, the Board recommends that the Registrar take regrade policies into account when making the final exam schedule. Regrades increase the chance that students receive the grades they deserve, but the timing of exams can prevent professors from offering regrades.

Currently, the Office of the Registrar says that the schedule does not take regrades into account because it is created far in advance. The Registrar should require professors to submit regrade information, if relevant, so that the final exam schedule can be created with this in mind. Such a change is desirable because a class that has an exam on the last few days of the exam period simply does not have the time to allow regrades.

While this does not pose the same problem of unequal opportunity, it still deprives an entire class of an opportunity to ensure it receives the correct grade, which the professor is willing to grant them. Thus, the Registrar should schedule exams for classes with regrades to occur early in the exam period.

Students benefit from transparency not only in regrading policy, but also in timely releasing of midterm grades. The Board urges classes with midterms to report grades in a timely fashion before the deadline to select the P/D/F option, which is a full three weeks after both fall and spring breaks. In the weeks after midterms, many students are faced with the decision of whether to take a class P/D/F, or, in some cases, whether to drop it. The P/D/F policy allows

students the flexibility to take classes in areas they wish to explore, or to adjust if a class is not going as expected. However, for this commendable policy to be effective, students must have an idea of their grades before the deadline to consider this option. Additionally, even in classes with no major midterm assessment or paper, professors should make an effort to give students a sense of their performance up to that point.

Ensuring fair and accurate exam grading and allowing students to make informed choices in deciding whether or not to take a class P/D/F should be important priorities for the University and professors. Increased transparency in regards to regrading policies and timely grading of midterms are straightforward ways to achieve these goals.

The Editorial Board is an independent body and decides its opinions separately from the regular staff and editors of The Daily Princetonian. The Board answers only to its Co-Chairs, the Opinion Editor, and the Editor-in-Chief. It can be reached at editorialboard@dailyprincetonian. com.

Emily Erdos

W

e live in an age where “alternative facts” is a euphemism for lies. More than ever, we need people committed to truth. We need journalists.

At Princeton, fortunately, students can study journalism. But the path is limited. The Journalism program is not a concentration, a certificate, or even a department.

It is housed under the Council of the Humanities, with only one designated administrator to speak of.

Journalism classes are top-notch and underrated: Tangible and relevant subject material is taught by industry veterans. Robert Smith, from NPR’s Planet Money, teaches students the art of audio journalism. Elaine Sciolino, the former Paris bureau chief for The New York Times, passes her knowledge on to students in her local reporting class, which travels to Paris to report over spring break. Another class ventures overseas during the summer with decorated investigative journalist from The Washington Post, Joe Stephens, to report on the Grecian refugee crisis. These classes challenge us to be writers, investigators, storytellers, public

truth-tellers, and witnesses on the frontlines of history.

But Princeton students who take journalism classes all four years receive no recognition on their diploma.

Make no mistake: journalism classes are rewarding unto themselves. But without a certificate designation, incentive is reduced.

Students opt for courses that count toward certificate credit, because credit, as it turns out, is more attractive than no credit.

I learned the hard way that Princeton does not recognize a deep study of journalism. Princeton boasts an independent concentration program, advertising it for “students with academic interests that cannot be pursued adequately within an existing departmental concentration, certificate or interdisciplinary program.”

I tried this. I applied to be an independent major in journalism. I spoke with professors, an administrator, and a dean — all unsuccessfully. Repeatedly, I was told that journalism is a vocation, not an art, and that other concentrations could prepare me equally as well for the field.

So I examined other concentrations. English is the only department that even mentions journal-

ism, with a single sentence on its webpage claiming that it prepares students for journalism careers.

Besides this sentence, the English department does not overlap with journalism: no subsections, no cross-listed courses, no specific journalism advisors.

The English department doesn’t teach the skills of tenacious interviewing, objective reporting, factscrutiny, or rapid accuracy. Journalism teaches these skills and supplements the work of existing concentration. That’s what certificates are for.

Certificates for skills are proliferating. There are now six different engineering certificates, an applied mathematics certificate, and a computing certificate. And recently, the Keller Center announced a certificate program in entrepreneurship for the 2016-2017 year, stating, “Entrepreneurship is driving enormous social and economic changes that are shaping our collective future.”

Journalists shape the future by uncovering the past and narrating the present. They report on Aleppo, Zika, natural disasters, Brexit, private emails, Flint, and Donald Trump. Journalists don’t just drive social and economic change, they catalyze it.

Sarah Sakha ’18

editor-in-chief

Matthew McKinlay ’18 business manager

141ST MANAGING BOARD managing editors Samuel Garfinkle ’19 Grace Rehaut ’18 Christina Vosbikian ’18 Head news editor Marcia Brown ’19 news editors Abhiram Karuppur ’19 opinion editor Newby Parton ‘18 sports editor David Xin ‘19 street editor Jianing Zhao ‘20 photography editor Rachel Spady ‘18 web editor David Liu ‘18 chief copy editors Isabel Hsu ‘19 Omkar Shende ‘18 Chief design editor Quinn Donohue ‘20 Senior design editor Abigail Kostolansky ‘20 Rachel Brill ’19

Princeton needs a journalism certificate. Here’s why. contributing columnist

vol. cxli

Journalism is not a glamorous life. The hours are long and sporadic, information gathering is challenging, interviewees can be rude and unhelpful, and the pay is low.

But journalists persist because they are committed to accuracy.

They know that knowledge is power, but also that knowledge controls power. They render public service of the highest form, to the benefit of all citizens, by sieving through falsities and providing reliable facts.

Princeton values service, and journalism is certainly service, now more than ever.

Through its indefatigable commitment to truth, Journalism has more than earned its worthiness to be a certificate.

Laudably, Princeton believes that the training for journalists should start in high school. Its Summer Journalism Program offers low-income high school students an opportunity to learn skills that will make them valuable in the nation’s newsrooms.

This is remarkable outreach. But the University can’t pat itself on the back until it offers the same opportunity to its undergraduates.

Princeton: take up your own mantle and establish a certificate program for undergraduates. We

associate opinion editors Samuel Parsons ’19 Nicholas Wu ’18 associate sports editors Miranda Hasty ’19 Claire Coughlin ’19 associate street editor Andie Ayala ‘19 Catherine Wang ’19 associate chief copy editors Caroline Lippman ’19 Megan Laubach ’18 editorial board co-chairs Ashley Reed ‘18 Connor Pfeiffer ’18 cartoons editor

NIGHT STAFF 3.30.17 copy Minh Hoang ’19

interested students have the motivation, inspiration, and tools to do this job well. Give us the incentive and recognition for this service so that we may pursue this vocation. The world needs intelligent, well-trained, liberal arts educated, credible journalists now more than ever. This, Princeton, is your opportunity to make a difference.

Emily Erdos is a sophomore from Harvard, Mass. She can be reached at eerdos@princeton.edu.

The price of being educated Lou Chen

contributing columnist

“

It is totally over. If Trump wins more than 240 electoral votes, I will eat a bug.”

These words, tweeted out on Oct, 18, 2016, and later reiterated on CNN, came from none other than our very own Sam Wang, professor of neuroscience and a founder of the Princeton Election Consortium. At the time, it was music to my ears — I remember texting one of my friends the CNN video clip along with the caption, “okay I feel much better now.” Of course, when a month later Trump won 304 electoral votes (and my hairline receded about the same number of inches), it was time for Wang to eat crow and cricket on live TV. But then I began wondering: Why did I take such solace in his tweet in the first place? I had heard similarly hyperbolic claims from my friends but had not taken them nearly as seriously. And then I realized that this tweet had come from a Caltech- and Stanford-educated Princeton professor. If he was willing to swallow a bitter bug should his quantitative research be proven wrong, well, he must be right.

This is proof of the reality we

live in: We are more likely to believe people who have impressive academic credentials than believe those who do not. Not for nothing does CNN contributor Kayleigh McEnany describe herself on her profile as “a graduate of Harvard Law School [who] studied politics at Oxford University,” which roughly translates into, “My deft defense of our president’s indefensible indiscretions is legit because I went to these shiny schools!”

Indeed, many of us are attending Princeton because we seek that same credibility. We long for the day when our words will carry the full weight of our considerable education, whether we end up at the front of a classroom, in an operating room, on the floor of the Senate, or in a squabble with Jeffrey Lord on Anderson Cooper 360°. We suppress our insurgent egos and listen to others because we hope that someday, others will listen to us.

But this imminent privilege comes with a price.

If our claims are issued under the assumption of credibility, they must be deserving of that credibility. The educated have a responsibility, more so than anyone else, to resist the temptation to traffic

in sensationalism. Take Wang, for example. His whole live-TV bug shtick could have been avoided had he simply made a similarly confident claim that nonetheless stuck to the statistics and percentages on which he had built his reputation as a polls-savvy election expert. Sure, these predictions ended up being wrong, but at least he was able to convincingly and scientifically explain his miscalculations. Perhaps dazzled by fame, he instead chose to make a sensationalist promise to strengthen the short-term clout of his message — the end result being a televised moment of selfinflicted humiliation and a slight reduction of his credibility.

And the educated have a responsibility to stick to objective truths.

When faced with a wide and eager audience, our statements can have far-reaching consequences. And if we spout untruths, the consequences can be troubling.

For example, a few weeks ago at the enormously successful Day of Action, Professor Doug Massey, during a lecture on Trump’s border wall, referred to a recent incident in which a Sikh man in Washington had been shot and killed in his driveway by a man who had told him to “go back to your country.”

But there was one small problem.

The victim hadn’t been killed — he had merely been shot in the arm and was on the way to a full recovery. Yet when Massey made that claim, I could see the shock and sadness in the faces of his trusting audience, to whom this brutal killing was news. And despite knowing the facts of the story, I found myself briefly wondering if the victim’s arm wound had become fatally infected.

This last part is crucial, and more than a little unsettling. Despite knowing the facts, I was willing to manipulate them to fit an alternative narrative proposed by a hugely respected academic. It was only because of some hurried factchecking on my phone that I was able to find the truth. Yet, the majority of the audience probably did not bother doing the same. What of those who went home and repeated this falsehood?

I do not at all believe that Massey purposely disseminated this untruth. It was an honest mistake — conflating the meanings of “shot” and “killed” — that many people, including myself, might have made. But this only highlights the need for us to be more careful in reading the news and assessing our

surroundings. This means spending more time poring over details and visiting fact-checking sites like Snopes.com. We might as well get started now because in just a few years we will be the Sam Wangs and Doug Masseys of the world, possessing their concomitant impact and credibility. And a falsehood is not rendered any less false because it is the result of a mistake and not malice.

Despite a lot of talk in recent days about keeping the media sensible and honest, not as much has been said about holding our nation’s intelligentsia to the same standard. And yet they wield just as much, if not more influence among certain audiences.

Need further proof? Two weeks ago, a Princeton alumnus made an uncorroborated, outrageous claim on a major news channel that, although debunked and disregarded by most sane people, was believed by one key person.

The alum’s name is Andrew Napolitano. The channel is Fox News.

And the guy who believed him is our President. The rest, as they say, is current events.

Lou Chen is a sophomore from San Bernardino, Calif. He can be reached at lychen@princeton.edu.

Friday March 31, 2017

The Daily Princetonian

page 5

Van Brunnen has earned All-Ivy League honors four times FENCING Continued from page 6

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

eton in a winner-take-all final match. Van Brummen had a similarly strong showing, going 17-1 and becoming the first Princeton woman to earn AllIvy League honors four times.

On the first day of the NCAA Championships, Holmes and Van Brummen had a 25-5 record combined. In their headto-head clash, Van Brummen beat Holmes 4-3. They then oc-

cupied the two top spots in the épée competition heading into the second day’s final two rounds.

Another strong performer on Saturday was freshman Maia Chamberlain, who went 13-2 on the first day in the saber competition to earn the second place in the standings.

The team was ranked No. 4 after the first day, trailing Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Columbia.

On the second day of competition, the Tigers came

out strong, especially in the épée competition. Van Brummen became Princeton’s first NCAA women’s épée champion after defeating Holmes 15-13 in the final. This one-two finish was instrumental in continuing Princeton’s streak of being a top-four finisher, bringing it to its fourth-place finish this year. The Tigers ultimately finished behind Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Columbia; Chamberlain also made the semifinal on Sunday in the saber competition.

Heading into the knockout stages, Holmes was the No. 1 seed after going 20-3, while Van Brummen was the No. 3 seed having gone 17-6. Holmes won her semifinal 9-8 in an extra period over Ohio State’s Eugenia Falqui, whereas Van Brummen won 15-10 over Notre Dame’s Amanda Sirico.

For head coach Zoltan Dudas, the final was impossible to watch. “When teammates are fencing, I’m not even going close.”

Van Brummen’s title saw

Cut out and give a senior!

(Or anyone who needs it!)

Emily Fockler ’17 ..................................................

her join two other Tigers, saber Eliza Stone ’13 and foil Eva Petschnigg ’03, as Princeton’s only NCAA individual women’s fencing champions.

All five of Princeton’s qualifiers for the NCAA competition — Holmes, Van Brummen, Chamberlain, senior Ashley Tsue, and sophomore Sage Palmedo — earned AllAmerican honors.

Congratulations to Anna Van Brummen and the women’s fencing team on a strong finish to a great year!

Sports

Friday March 31, 2017

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WRESTLING

Princeton wrestling caps historic season with third-place finish in EIWA Championships, Top 25 finish in NCAA Tournament Michael Gao Staff Writer

Ivy and EIWA Coach of the Year Chris Ayres wanted to bring the Princeton wrestling program into national prominence. Speaking about the gradual, often painstaking rise of the Tigers as serious national contenders, Ayres noted, “Our program has come a long, long way in the past 10 years, with a lot of people sacrificing to elevate it to this point.”

Now, the Tigers emerge from their postseason as one of the

most successful wrestling squads in the history of Princeton wrestling. They’ve achieved a third-place finish in the EIWA tournament. A historic high of seven qualifiers to the NCAA tournament. And, at long last, a top-25 finish in the NCAA tournament and the second Princeton All-American in a row.

The season wasn’t always smooth sailing for the Tigers, who faced perhaps one of the most challenging schedules in all of Division 1 collegiate wrestling. Oftentimes, Princeton found itself on the opposite

side of the mat from the sport’s cream of the crop: Nebraska, Virginia Tech, and Stanford.

Add that to competing in one of the most rigorous conferences in college wrestling, the EIWA, and the challenges that the Tigers faced become immediately apparent.

But through both discouragement and success, the Tigers remained hungry and humble, relying both on a corps of talented veterans, spearheaded by seniors Jordan Laster and AllAmerican Brett Harner, and a bright crop of underclassmen,

C urtesy O

of the daily princetonian The Tigers are looking to continue and expand their legacy in the years to come.

WOMEN’S FENCING

led by perhaps the most talented wrestler to walk the halls of Jadwin in recent years, freshman Matthew Kolodzik. The team’s progress became immediately apparent over the course of the season, as they easily dismantled Ivy League rivals Columbia, Penn, Brown, and Harvard by a combined score of 125-23 before falling in a tough struggle against a top-10 Cornell team.

The Tigers then turned their attention to the EIWA championships. Last year, Princeton attained its best finish in almost four decades, finishing fifth. It took one year to beat that record, with Ayres’s squad clawing to a third-place conference finish in one of the sport’s most challenging and competitive conferences, only falling narrowly to a Lehigh squad that had handed Princeton a decisive defeat less than two months before. Two Tigers, Laster and Kolodzik, stood on top of the podium at the end of the tournament, and a record seven Tigers found themselves with tickets to St. Louis, where they would compete on the national stage in the NCAA Championships.

Confronted once again with the best competition in the sport, no one would blame the Tigers for feeling intimidated during the championship tournament. Instead, the Tigers bit back viciously, showing spunk and spark in every bout on the mat, win or loss. Kolodzik swallowed a devastating quarterfi-

nal loss to emerge with 30 season victories, a seventh-place finish, and an All-American title. Captains Laster and Harner and senior heavyweight Ray O’Donnell, though not advancing as far as Kolodzik, fought the last matches of their career with heart and spunk. Key upset wins such as sophomore Pat D’Arcy’s first-round triumph over Iowa State’s Earl Hall helped propel the Tigers to a coveted top-25 finish in the tournament, yet another milestone achieved in a season of historic highs for Princeton.

It would be a season enough to leave any coach and team complacent, but Princeton wrestling isn’t ready to fade out of the spotlight any time soon. While the team suffers graduation losses from Harner, O’Donnell, and Laster, perhaps they will be more than made up for by a talented — and now experienced — group of underclassman wrestlers. Who will be the difference-maker next season for the Tigers? A sophomore Kolodzik, seeking to better his freshman All-American campaign? A calm, collected senior leader in Jonathan Schleifer?

Rising juniors D’Arcy and Mike D’Angelo, both of whom beat tough odds to reach the first NCAA tournaments of their careers? The possibilities are truly exciting.

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Women’s fencing takes Men’s and women’s lacrosse looking fourth in NCAA tourto dominate in weekend matches nament, Van Brummen wins épée title Grace Baylis

Staff Writer

Owen Tedford Staff Writer

The Princeton women’s fencing team entered the 2017 NCAA Championship last weekend with the best track record of any of the competitors over the last six championships, having finished in the top four in each one.

Coming off of the recent Ivy

League Championship, the Tigers were in good shape to repeat this positive trend. They were led by seniors Katharine Holmes, a summer 2016 Olympian, and Anna Van Brummen. Holmes went 18-0 in the round-robin at the Ivy League Championship, winning her final bout against Columbia to clinch the title for PrincSee FENCING page 5

The women’s lacrosse team will be heading into this weekend’s game against Delaware off of a big win against Syracuse on Wednesday evening. The Tigers led throughout the game and managed to seal the win with a final score of 16-11. Beating the notoriously efficient No. 10 Syracuse will give Princeton confidence for its Sunday game against the Blue Hens.

The Tigers will look to go 8-1 overall at this point in the season, having only lost once, to Penn State during spring break.

The Wednesday night display saw career highs for both senior captain Olivia Hompe, scoring seven goals, and senior goalkeeper Ellie DeGarmo, making 18 saves. The seven-goal tally takes Hompe up to 31 goals this season, followed by freshman Tess D’Orsi at 23.

The two teams have met before; their matchup last season

saw Princeton just edge past Delaware, winning 7-6. Late in the first half and in the second half, the Blue Hens bridged a five-goal deficit to draw level with the Tigers. But Hompe ultimately snatched the win, scoring with five minutes remaining in the game.

This will be the second game of a three-game home series for the Tigers. The game starts at 1 p.m. on Sunday in the Class of 1952 Stadium.

The men’s lacrosse team has faced a more turbulent season so far, and is currently 5-3 overall.

The Tigers recently fell to Yale, losing 16-13, which gave them a 1-1 conference standing. On Saturday at 1 p.m. Princeton will face Brown in an attempt to end its three-game win streak. This will prove no easy task for the Tigers. Despite holding an overall 31-24 advantage in their 55 meets against Brown, they have been beaten by the Bears in their last three meetings.

However, the recent rankings

put the Princeton men’s lacrosse team at No. 15 in the national USILA coaches poll, while Brown was left out of the top 20. Princeton also leads Division I in shooting percentage, at 0.389.

The Tigers will undoubtedly be looking for assistance from junior goalkeeper Tyler Blaisdell this weekend. Blaisdell leads the Ivy League in save percentage, saves per game and goals-against average. Other players to watch for this weekend include senior attacker Gavin McBride, who reached 100 career points last weekend, and senior midfielder Zach Currier, who will be looking to join McBride on 100 career points against Brown. Currier currently sits on 95 points.

Despite the statistics being mixed in favor of both teams, this game will be a hard-fought Ivy League battle, with Princeton seeking redemption for the last three years’ losses and Brown aiming to go 2-0 in conference play. Game time is Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Class of 1952 Stadium.

COURTESY OF GOPRINCETONTIGERS.COM

Women’s fencing reached a climatic end to their season with a fourth-place finish in the NCAA Championships and an individual championship title.

Men’s lacrosse hope to regain their footing after a tough loss to Yale last Friday.

Tweet of the Day

Stat of the Day

“Tigers get into the heart of @CWPAWaterPolo play this weekend at Bucknell #GoTigers #TigerUp #pwwp17” Princeton Water Polo (@Pwaterpolo)

COURTESY OF THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

41 goals Junior Haley Wan leads the women’s water polo team with 41 goals as they prepare for a three-game weekend series.

Follow us Check us out on Twitter @princesports for live news and reports, and on Instagram @princetoniansports for photos!