The Daily Princetonian - Mar. 7, 2019

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Thursday March 7, 2019 vol. cxliii no. 24

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U . A F FA I R S

IN TOWN

HANNAH WANG / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

1VYG ORGANIZERS / FOTOBUDDY PHOTOGRAPHY

The Dinky will resume full service, replacing the temporary shuttle bus running from Princeton Junction to the University.

Organizers of the 1vyG conference took over the University Instagram account on Sunday, Feb. 17.

1vyG organizers upset over Dinky to return May removed U. Instagram post 24, NJ Transit claims

By Rebecca Han contributor

Undergraduate students who helped organize the 1vyG conference, for first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students, were upset to learn that a video story they posted to the University’s Instagram feed on Sunday, Feb. 17, was later deleted. The organizers contend that the removal of their content came in response to their reference to the University’s racist past in one of the video segments.

University spokesperson Ben Chang said that the content was deleted to highlight the FGLI Consortium conference, a separate event on campus that began

on the night 1vyG ended.

In the sign-off video in question, organizers thanked the volunteers, students, and administrators who participated in the conference and called for continued action in fighting systems of ableism, sexism, racism, and more.

“In addition, we [want to] take a moment to acknowledge that this University stands on stolen land from the Lenape people, and also that the University was built by enslaved black Americans,” Anna Macknick ’21, one of the organizers, said in the video.

That clip, along with the longer video content, was removed from the University’s Instagram story the same day it was posted.

A few moments later, a photo and link to a conversation between President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 and president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, Dan Porterfield, were posted to the story.

The fifth annual 1vyG conference took place from Friday, Feb. 15, to Sunday, Feb. 17. Organizers said that they had worked with the Office of Communications to arrange a “takeover” of the University’s Instagram account and posted content from the weekend’s events, which included student discussion groups, workshops, and panels.

“Given that our conference was dedicated to uplifting hisSee 1VG page 3

By Hannah Wang senior writer

The Dinky, the train line that runs from Princeton to Princeton Junction, is set to resume service on May 24, after its initially scheduled return in January was postponed to an indefinite date in the second quarter of 2019.

The line has been “temporarily discontinued” since Oct.14.

The University’s spring exam period ends on May 25, meaning that many students may be able to use the Dinky for transportation off campus at the end of this academic year.

The date was announced to

U . A F FA I R S

the public in a Feb. 27 press release by New Jersey (NJ) Transit. Kevin Corbett, NJ Transit’s executive director, and Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, said at a forum at the Cherry Hill Municipal Building that the Princeton Branch (Dinky) and the Atlantic City Rail Line (ACRL) are confirmed to resume full service on that date.

“We understand just how much our customers depend on the service we provide on these two rail lines,” Corbett said at the forum. “The decision to temporarily suspend See DINKY page 3

ON CAMPUS

UHS urges caution after two Rutgers students diagnosed with Meningitis B

By Benjamin Ball head news editor

After two students at Rutgers University were diagnosed with bacterial meningitis this month, University Health Services (UHS) sent an email on March 4 to the entire student body sharing information about the disease and possible preventive measures.

“We want to raise awareness

In Opinion

among the whole University student body,” said Dr. Irene Daskalaki, Global and Community Health Physician for University Health Services. “It is very important to be recognized early and be treated early.”

Both the UHS email and Daskalaki reiterated that there are currently no cases of the disease on campus, but that the email was sent “out of an abun-

Contributing columnist Brigitte Harbers argues for the understated benefits of loneliness, and contributing columnist Julia Chaffers revisits the racial controversies of this past February. PAGE 4

CLAIRE SILBERMAN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Milberg Gallery, opened Wendesday, sports a variety of manuscripts and collections from across the globe.

Milberg Gallery opens, displays U. acquisitions

By Claire Silberman associate news editor

The Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery in Firestone Library opened on Wednesday, showcasing an eclectic selection of the University’s newest acquisitions from across the globe. Milberg graduated from the University in 1953.

“With the opening of the Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery in Firestone Library, we are able to share materials from our collections with a

Today on Campus

7:00 pm: ART × FASHION: Spring/Summer 2019 Student Fashion Show Princeton University Art Museum

wider audience,” said Anne Jarvis, Robert H. Taylor 1930 University Librarian.

According to Library Communications Manager Barbara Valenza, “Welcome Additions: Selected Acquisitions 2012-2018” is a retrospective of recent additions to the University Library’s special collections within the Cotsen Children’s Library, East Asian Library, Graphic Arts, Manuscripts, Marquand Library of Art and See GALLERY page 2

WEATHER

KATJA FUHLERT / PIXABAY

Outbreaks of Meningitis B were reported at Columbia University, Rutgers University, and San Diego State University.

dance of caution.”

UHS has made similar efforts before, such as responding to nearby outbreaks of measles in December, but those emails were sent to specific students who were particularly susceptible, and not the entire student body.

Daskalaki said what makes the cases of meningitis different is that most students are already immunized to measles, but not to the meningococcal bacteria type B that caused the cases at Rutgers.

“Most of our student body is not immunized for meningitis B. It is not one of the required vaccines,” Daskalaki said.

“Even the ones who are immunized, they may have been immunized years ago, or only partially immunized.”

The email lists the symptoms as high fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion and sensitivity to light. Later in the course of the illness, a rash that looks like purple blotches or spots on the legs, arms, and torso may appear.

“It’s a good start [for students] to actually have thermometers so they can actually measure the temperature when they feel unwell,” Daskalaki said.

The email also says that there See MENINGITIS page 3

HIGH

34˚

LOW

18˚

Partly cloudy chance of rain:

0 percent

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The Daily Princetonian

Thursday March 7, 2019

New exhibit boasts sole source of Bach concerto GALLERY Continued from page 1

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Archaeology, Numismatics, Public Policy Papers, Rare Books, Scheide Library, University Archives, and Western Americana.

“The exhibition theme plays on the notion that our recent acquisitions may ref lect either long-awaited opportunities to enhance existing collections, or unexpected ways of moving beyond traditional collecting interests,” said Eric White, Curator of Rare Books.

Exhibits include one of fifteen recorded copies of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Zweyter Theil der ClavierÜbung, the sole source for Bach’s Italian Concerto and French Overture, the sixth edition of the Biblia Latina, a “grandchild” of the Gutenberg Bible, and Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa’s manuscript draft of his historical novel El sueño del Celta.

Also on display are a Sugoroku board game from Japan and a photograph of Albert Einstein at his Fuld Hall office in 1947, as well as two complete Qur’ans created under the Qing Dynasty of China, which now belong to the Manuscript Division’s collection of ten thousand

Islamic manuscripts.

The gallery also highlighted pieces of AfricanAmerican history, including Professor Emeritus Toni Morrison’s manuscript draft of “Beloved”, her 1987 novel inspired by the story of an African-American slave who escaped slavery in Kentucky.

The Princeton in Slavery Project used one of the exhibits, the Journal of Robert Sawyer, Class of 1838, which chronicled Sawyer’s final days as a University student and time as a Presbyterian missionary in Monrovia, Liberia, “to construct and understand the nature of racial relations within the college and town in the antebellum period.”

The gallery’s upcoming exhibitions will feature “Piranesi on the Page,” a 300th anniversary celebration of graphic artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi, including selections from the Vatican Library. Future topics will center around alchemy, Native Americans and the 100th anniversary of the Association of American Indian Affairs, the origins and early spread of printing in Europe, and a tribute to Lloyd E. Cotsen ’50.

Located in the lobby of Firestone Library, the gallery is free and open to the public daily from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

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Thursday March 7, 2019

UHS: Most of student body not immunized MENINGITIS Continued from page 1

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are a number of vaccines that prevent meningococcal disease.

One vaccine covers the meningococcal bacteria A, C, W, and Y, and is required by New Jersey law for all students living in dormitory-style facilities.

There are two licensed vaccines that are safe and effective for short term protection against meningococcal bacteria type B. According to the email, the University strongly recommends the meningitis B vaccine, especially for those people with certain immunocompromising conditions, as well as for adolescents and

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young adults 16 to 23 years of age.

Even after being vaccinated, Daskalaki said students should proceed with caution.

“Avoiding sharing things that come in contact with the mouth is extremely important,” Daskalaki said. “Even students who have been vaccinated can still carry the bacteria in the back of their throat and can give the bacteria to others.”

Along with the cases at Rutgers, there are currently meningococcal disease outbreaks at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, San Diego State University, and the Five College Consortium in Massachusetts, according to the UHS email.

page 3

Train to return in time for Reunions DINKY

Continued from page 1

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service on the ACRL and the Princeton Dinky was not made lightly, but we’ve remained committed to restoring service as soon as we possibly could.”

Corbett mentioned the federally mandated installations of Positive Train Control equipment, which necessitated the discontinuation of the ACRL and the Dinky in the first place, and thanked NJ Transit customers for their patience throughout the process.

When an audience member asked whether the new return date could be trusted, Gutierrez-Scaccetti replied, “We made a commitment to the

governor that [May 24] is the latest date.”

“We would never give you a date that we didn’t think we could meet,” she continued.

“We understand that providing this timeline is so important to our customers’ ability to get their lives back to normal,” Gutierrez-Scaccetti added. “We know that customers were inconvenienced by the service disruptions to the ACRL and the Dinky, and I’m pleased that these disruptions will be ending soon.”

The buses that have been shuttling between the University campus and Princeton Junction, as a substitute for the Dinky, have occasionally stirred up discontent. Common complaints voiced by the student body included discomfort and delays, both

stemming directly from their reduced carrying capacity as compared to the train.

If NJ Transit successfully restores service to the Dinky

by May 24, it will have done so right at one of the most active periods of traffic to Princeton Junction, when students are moving out of dorms for the summer.

“I am pleased to see that the Princeton Dinky, which is so important to thousands of commuters, and the Atlantic City Rail Line, which is a key part of the life blood of the Jersey Shore, will be operating in time for Memorial Day weekend and the kickoff to the summer tourism season,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said, also while in attendance at the Cherry Hill forum.

Organizers: disappointed, not surprised by U. removal of story 1VG

Continued from page 1

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torically marginalized communities such as that of FLI students, we found it necessary to respect and acknowledge those who had stood in this space before us,” the organizers said in a collective email statement.

“We were disappointed, but not surprised, that the University removed our posts from their story,” they wrote in an email statement to the ‘Prince.’

“This perpetuates the fact that the University only cares about our voices when we are helping them maintain a pristine public image.”

The 1vyG organizers said that the University told them their content was deleted in order to share the livestream from the FGLI Consortium, which took place from Feb. 17-19. FGLI Consortium is a national organization that provides leadership and resources to administrators who work with FGLI students.

They said they find the Uni-

versity’s reasoning “unjustifiable,” because it is possible to both post livestreams and keep stories on Instagram.

On Sunday night, the University wanted to place focus on the keynote conversation between President Eisgruber and Dan Porterfield, the president of the Aspen Institute.

“This is not uncommon, where we, with new content that we want to promote and the first content that an audience person would interact with on Instagram, that we take down

the old story,” Chang said. He said the University had content on its Instagram story that it deleted to make room for the 1vyG takeover, and that it was not something out of the ordinary for account administrators to do.

Chang said that the University was “very proud and happy to be able to support 1vyG” and helped created a video preview of the conference that was posted on the University’s website and social media channels.

He added that the University

has discussed and continues to grapple with its own past participation in and legacy of slavery.

“We welcome a discussion of the topics that they raised throughout the conference and throughout their Instagram posts,” he said. “We certainly acknowledge the University’s history with slavery and think we need to continue to discuss those issues.”

An 1vyG highlight reel remains on the University’s Instagram page, but it includes no content from Sunday.

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Opinion

Thursday March 7, 2019

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Conquering the fear of loneliness through independence Brigitte Harbers

Contributing Columnist

Loneliness is an inevitable feeling. No matter how many people you may surround yourself with, you’re going to feel lonely at some point. It may sneak up on you during a quiet moment in the day walking between classes, or when you’re pulling an all-nighter and find yourself alone in a group study space. While it may not be fun to be lonely, it’s incredibly important.

Following Bicker, the Tiger Confessions Facebook page was full of posts from individuals expressing the fear of losing their friends to eating clubs and having to go through the rest of their college experience eating alone. I can relate to the fear of being stuck as your own best friend: as a firstyear I entered Princeton worried I wouldn’t be able to make friends or that I would just be acquaintances with a variety of people.

However, I think this loneliness should be embraced rather than pushed aside. Instead of finding ways to avoid it, take the opportunities of loneliness to work on your independence.

Being confident in your independence is both in-

credibly important and incredibly difficult. For the first 18 or so years of your life, you are dependent on your parents, your teachers, and other adults and mentors. College requires a new level of maturity, and you must learn to take responsibility for yourself and — accordingly — become f luent in the language of independence.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to rely on having friends around. We not only attend classes with them, but we also live, eat, party, and room with them. Friends become your lifeline that allow you to feel some sense of community as you face sleep deprivation, stress, and anxiety. When you aren’t studying — or when you’re looking for ways to avoid studying — friends become the source of your distractions and impromptu therapy sessions.

In the end, we become dependent on our friends to help us ignore and escape our many pressing responsibilities. While it can feel strange to be alone with your own thoughts in the dining hall, those moments that you are alone give you precious time to practice independence. More specifically, you have a chance to take a moment to reevaluate

yourself, how you are feeling, and what your priorities are, or could be.

We need to remember that while we are in the midst of studying and socializing, we are also learning how to be functioning adults. We are required to understand how to live with ourselves and be comfortable with the idea of getting things done on our own.

To be confident in your independence is to understand that your existence and success is not dependent on other people. Instead, you can learn to have faith in yourself, your abilities, and who you are becoming. Although I have found a group of reliable friends, I realize that being able to be happy — or at least content — when I’m alone can better help me study, create a healthy daily routine, and focus on what I need to do to thrive and not just survive at Princeton.

I am able to make decisions about activities I do, passions I pursue, and tasks I engage in without feeling like I’m missing out or that nobody cares about me. By enjoying my independence, I don’t have to sacrifice academic opportunities or put myself in positions where my health and/or my grades suffer.

Accomplishment Pulkit Singh ’20 ..................................................

In a way, to be comfortable with independence is to conquer the fear of loneliness. In fact, it’s recognizing that you’re not lonely, but instead, you’re alone.

Take the time to get to know yourself better, and enjoy the fact that for the time being, you have nothing else to worry about but how you are doing and what is happening in your life. Redefine what it means to be alone.

Rather than feeling as if you have no support, approach each time you are alone as a chance to reset.

Adding constant socialization on top of a heavy workload can create a lot of stress. Treat alone time as a reward for dealing with so much daily stimulus. In fact, as inspired by a Tiger Confessions post, if you have a roommate, maybe even ask for the room one evening. Not for the purpose of sharing it with another — though that’s perfectly fine — but purely just to enjoy time on your own.

Snuggle up, watch some trashy TV, and be thankful that you have a chance to be alone.

Brigitte Harbers is a firstyear from New York, N.Y. She can be reached at bharbers@ princeton.edu.

vol. cxliii

editor-in-chief

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Taylor Jean-Jacques’20 BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 trustees Francesca Barber David Baumgarten ’06 Kathleen Crown Gabriel Debenedetti ’12 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Michael Grabell ’03 John Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Kavita Saini ’09 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 Abigail Williams ’14 trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 William R. Elfers ’71 Kathleen Kiely ’77 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73 trustees ex officio Chris Murphy ’20 Taylor Jean-Jacques’20

143RD MANAGING BOARD managing editors Samuel Aftel ’20 Ariel Chen ’20 Jon Ort ’21 head news editors Benjamin Ball ’21 Ivy Truong ’21 associate news editors Linh Nguyen ’21 Claire Silberman ’22 Katja Stroke-Adolphe ’20 head opinion editor Cy Watsky ’21 associate opinion editors Rachel Kennedy ’21 Ethan Li ’22 head sports editor Jack Graham ’20 associate sports editors Tom Salotti ’21 Alissa Selover ’21 features editor Samantha Shapiro ’21 head prospect editor Dora Zhao ’21 associate prospect editor Noa Wollstein ’21 chief copy editors Lydia Choi ’21 Elizabeth Parker ’21 associate copy editors Jade Olurin ’21 Christian Flores ’21 head design editor Charlotte Adamo ’21 associate design editor Harsimran Makkad ’22 cartoon editors Zaza Asatiani ’21 Jonathan Zhi ’21 head video editor Sarah Warman Hirschfield ’20 associate video editor Mark Dodici ’22 digital operations manager Sarah Bowen ’20

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Lessons from a Black History Month for the ages Julia Chaffers

Contributing Columnist

This past February, it seemed like every day some new story of racism appeared in my news feed. Blackface controversies spread from the leadership of Virginia’s state government to the fashion industry. At the same time, oversight of persistent racial discrimination in favor of feel-good stories about a post-racial society influenced both Howard Schultz’s claim “I don’t see color” and the triumph of “Green Book” at the Academy Awards. And that’s just to name a few incidents.

All throughout this Black History Month, we watched person after person, brand after brand, politician after politician, translate ignorance into offensive actions, then drag us into litigation of their inner heart — their true character. If we take one thing from this disaster of a Black History Month, it should be a deeper understanding of racism and a stronger commitment to pointing it out, regardless of the inanity of the reaction.

Last month was a mess, but we can learn from it and work towards a better future.

Just as February came to a

close, another debate about the meaning of racism flared up, this time in Congress during Michael Cohen’s testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

The episode serves as a microcosm of what went wrong last month, and what lessons we can take from it.

After Cohen called President Trump “a racist,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, called Lynne Patton, a black woman who is an official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, into the chamber. He then said that she had told him that “there is no way that she would work for an individual who was racist.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (DMich.) called out Meadows for using Patton “as a prop” to prove the President wasn’t racist, calling the stunt “racist in itself.” Meadows responded with a particularly problematic meltdown, invoking his friendship with Oversight Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), who is black, and his niece and nephew of color, to prove he isn’t racist. In fact, he said Tlaib’s comments were racist.

Three videos then surfaced of Meadows fanning the flames

of birtherism. In one, for example, he said, “2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is.” When asked about the videos, Meadows asserted that he doesn’t have “a racial bone in [his] body.”

Tlaib made it repeatedly clear that she was not calling Meadows himself a racist, but was instead saying his act was. She focused on the racism Meadows exemplified by calling Patton in and speaking on her behalf without letting her speak for herself, saying that since Trump hired a black woman there’s no way the president can be racist.

But Meadows, as many white men do when charged with racism, took it as a personal attack. And in defending himself, he did the same thing he was just called out for: he used his personal relationships with people of color to argue that his affinity for those people made it impossible that he could do something racist.

It is a classic defense, the “I have black friends” line, and it is seriously misguided. Meadows and Cummings may be great friends; I’m sure Meadows loves his niece and nephew. However, that does not somehow immunize him

from committing racist acts, like telling the sitting U.S. President to go back to Africa. The personalization of the charge of racism, the appeal of not being racist in one’s heart is a common move, used to bait people into indicting your character.

But that is not what Tlaib sought to do, nor is it relevant to whether Meadows’ actions were racist. What matters is an evaluation of the actions themselves. The racist ideas motivating birtherism are undeniable. Advancing that myth was and is racist.

Meadows’ hurt feelings do not erase that fact, and his personal offense at his actions being called out does not change the fact that they were racist.

Meadow’s insistence that he doesn’t have “a racial bone in [his] body” is easy to laugh off as nonsensical — what is a racial bone? But it reflects the lack of facility Americans have in discussing race and racism. We should ask of all people a basic understanding of how racism manifests itself, not in people’s bones but in their attitudes, their biases, their words, their actions.

Moreover, Meadows engages in a form of gaslighting, reframing the question so that it is about his inner character

instead his outward actions, clogging the conversation and preventing any opportunity for learning.

Each of the controversies of this Black History Month reflects a persistent and fundamental misunderstanding of racial politics and the definition of racism. From not understanding the painful legacy of symbols to reflexive defensiveness about charges of racism, preventing any meaningful consideration of one’s actions, these episodes reveal just how much farther we have to go.

Taking these instances together with everything that happened last month reveals a pattern of how a lack of understanding, or at times willful ignorance, of the reality of race plagues American society from politics to pop culture.

If we want to break out of this cycle of controversy, we must all commit to continuing to challenge and hold people accountable for racism when we see it, and work towards a more honest understanding about race in this country.

Julia Chaffers is a first-year from Wellesley Hills, M.A. She can be reached at chaffers@ princeton.edu.

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{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } TANVI KISHORE FOR THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Noah Arjim sweats during a match in practice.

Glory: everyone’s doing it together WRESTLING Continued from page 8

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sion he ever made was telling my brother that he couldn’t cut weight.”

That is not to say weight is a non-issue for Princeton’s wrestlers. Each of them still hovers five to ten pounds above his competition standard, methodically shedding pounds as each in-season week progresses. The amount each wrestler forces himself to lose, however, is significantly less than it would have been a decade ago.

Ayres’ friendly philosophy of ‘comfortable weight’ includes one caveat. “If there’s a hole in our lineup,” he explained, “they’ll have to sacrifice something.”

Princeton’s roster found itself with one of those holes this season. In the absence of a standout heavyweight wrestler, Ayres asked sophomore Kendall Elfstrum to step up to the plate — fork and knife in hand.

His senior year of high school, Elfstrum won the 195-pound New York State title. He entered his freshman season at Princeton competing in the 184-pound weight class. He now wrestles as a heavyweight — a division that accommodates competitors between 197 and 285 pounds.

“He came in expecting to wrestle 184 again this year,” explained Stefanik. “Now he’s hovering around 210.”

“You Can’t Be Eating Cheesesteaks:” The Process of ‘Weight Management’ At its core, weight maintenance is a personal endeavor.

Each wrestler employs his own finely honed strategy: when to start, what foods to cut, how to keep his metabolism running fast.

Patrick Brucki stands at six feet even. He wrestles at 197 pounds: in the offseason, he sits at 215. 5’5” first-year Patrick Glory wrestles at 125 pounds, the NCAA’s lightest weight class. Both of them lose 2% — the NCAA’s maximum-allowed amount — of their body weight a week during the season.

Brucki starts his drop two or three days before competition. “I cut out big meals in my diet,” he said.

“I’ll snack more consistently – smaller meals, but

more of them. I keep my caloric intake high. You can’t be eating sweets or cookies or greasy food. You want to fuel your body.”

Early each week, Glory sits at 130 pounds. He aims to shed “a pound in the beginning of the week, a pound as the week goes on.” But he doesn’t stress too much.

“It’s not bad if you’re within striking distance,” he said. “I can get off four pounds easy in a practice.”

As for Glory’s diet, he slims down with “mostly salads – a lot of water. Maybe some chicken or vegetables here and there.” He laughed. “You can’t be eating cheesesteaks.”

Despite the wrestlers’ matter-of-fact descriptions, weight maintenance is by no means an easy task. If anything, the athletes enjoy the challenge. “Is it hard?”

Asked Brucki. “Yeah. It’s not supposed to be easy. But it makes you better because of that.”

Self-discipline plays a primary role, but the coaching staff remain heavily involved in the process. “If guys are having trouble getting down to weight,” said Ayres, “I’ll have them take pictures of what they’re eating and send them to me.”

That might seem a domineering approach to some.

But not to the wrestlers.

Kolodzik, for one, often asks Ayres to check his weight throughout the week during practice.

“I know if I don’t have a goal, I’ll slack,” he said. “It’s one thing when you’re letting yourself down. It’s another when you’re letting down your coaches.”

Team members work as a group to avoid those disappointments. “Everyone’s doing it together, going to the dining hall and eating together, drinking together,” said Glory. “Having a process like that makes your body feel good, instead of feeling fat for the four days before the weigh-in and then sucking everything out.”

Evidently, “fat” means something different for Princeton’s wrestlers than it does for the rest of the world.

Princeton’s wrestlers enjoy resources beyond the expertise of their coaches. All varsity athletes share access to a clinical and sports dietician, Alexa McDonald, who is employed through University Health Services.

McDonald deferred ques-

tions about UHS’ athletic protocols to director of medical services Dr. Jonathan Pletcher. Pletcher declined to speak with a reporter. In an email, however, he wrote, “the scope and specificity [of weight-loss protocols] would be impossible to convey in an interview.”

In the rare occasion that a wrestler is truly struggling to make weight, Ayres will send him in for a consultation with McDonald. Athletes like Glory, who have met with McDonald, have found her guidance helpful. But most of the time, the wrestlers trust their team and their coaches’ advice when it comes to weight maintenance.

“I prescribe to the belief that if you’re never done it, you don’t know how to do it well,” said Ayres. “A nutritionist can sometimes be a huge help. But we know a lot about making weight on our own.”

“It’s Actually Really Healthy:” Wrestlers and Professionals Weigh In Making weight “is hard,” said Glory. But he insisted that the priorities it promotes — drinking water, paying careful attention to what you consume, and exercising — will “actually make you healthier.”

Glory’s assertion is undeniably bold. But it does align with the professional consensus, provided that weight is managed responsibly.

An authoritative 2009 paper — co-authored by Aimee Gibbs of the Virginia Department of Health and Joel Pickerman and Jon Sekiya of the University of Michigan’s Athletic Medicine department — outlined the safest practices associated with wrestlers’ weight-management.

The guidelines included not losing more than 1.5% body fat per week, avoiding large fluctuations in weight during the offseason, and maintenance of adequate hydration and calorie consumption.

A bodybuilding competitor and coach, New Jersey registered dietician Sarah Currie has worked with and trained many former wrestlers. She cited long-term effects of weight fluctuation like metabolic damage and chronic kidney failure. Her recommendations for best

practices were nearly identical to Gibbs, Pickerman, and Sekiya’s.

Princeton’s weight-loss practices fall in line with those professional recommendations. Athletes are adamant that they never lose more than 2% of their body weight — the NCAA standard — per week. They eat small, well-timed meals and are careful to remain hydrated throughout the day.

That is not to say that all is smooth sailing for the athletes.

“Every wrestler has probably had a bad weight cut,” said Brucki. But he insists that “it’s the wrestler’s fault, not the sport’s fault. It’s the wrestler’s fault for losing discipline in his preparation and training. I take full responsibility for any issue I’ve ever had.”

To the researchers, even responsible weight management can pose a psychological threat: namely, the development of a “distorted weight loss mindset.”

“Any sport that you need to stay lean for has high risks of body image dysphoria,” Currie said. “There are hundreds of athletes on the disordered eating spectrum.”

For men, sports that require weight management — notably wrestling, rowing and horseracing — are associated with the highest rates of eating disorders and disordered eating.

Ayres dismissed those concerns. “At the highest level,” he said, “I’ve never seen that happen.” Kolodzik adamantly denied that disordered eating or body image was an issue for his team.

“I Appreciate Food:” Inside the Weight-Loss Mentality Wrestler after wrestler argued that years of weightmanagement had actually benefited his psychological well-being.

“Once college is over, who are you going to be?” Asked Glory. “What are you going to eat? What’s your lifestyle going to be? I think that having this discipline is really going to be something that’s going to benefit me long-term. ” Brucki echoed that sentiment.

“It’s a blessing that I’ve had the luxury of being able to make weight and be held accountable for my diet. It’s just one area of discipline and ac-

countability that you cannot hide from. That kind of honest living is a reason why I’m grateful for the sport.”

Especially in light of improved regulation changes, wrestlers resent the intense criticism their sport faces for what they view as a wholly beneficial practice. Kolodzik bemoaned having to “poorly explain the phenomenon” over and over again to judgmental outsiders.

“It cracks me up that people come up to us and say weight cutting isn’t good,” said Ayres. “In the country, there’s this huge obesity rate.

People should be talking about that. They should be talking about football players gaining weight. Wrestlers have a healthy relationship with food. That’s really it.”

Ayres insisted as well that the vast majority of competitive wrestlers maintain their levels of health and fitness after their collegiate careers end.

Brucki highlighted that stark national contrast as well. “If you look at the direction of today’s society, and the overall stereotypes of America, people just see Americans as lazy. It’s incredible we get held to a disciplined standard that not a lot of people are.”

Weight classes ensure fair competition in a sport where a slight physical advantage means an enormous leg-up.

No matter the controversy they may spark, weight classes are here to stay. Wrestlers have had enough of this conversation. They are ready to step out of the spotlight.

In response to an initial request for an interview, Kolodzik demurred. “I don’t want the sport to get a worse reputation than it already has,” he said.

But when urged to open up, wrestlers prove eager to divulge the values, inaccessible to most, that their sport has instilled in them. Reality is straightforward: wrestlers approach their food and their bodies in a wildly different way than the rest of us.

“The number one benefit to wrestling and making weight? Gratitude and appreciation,” said Ayres. “Sure, I don’t eat a lot. But I appreciate food. The bagel you eat after a weigh-in is the best bagel you’ve ever eaten. You’re not just stuffing your face.

You’re thinking ‘I waited for this, I sacrificed for this.’”

Thursday March 7, 2019

Sports

page 8

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WRESTLING

TANVI KISHORE FOR THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Dale Tiongson basks in victory after a match win.

Necessary, difficult, fair: an investigation of wrestling and weight at Princeton

By Josephine de La Bruyere and Samantha Shapiro Assistant Sports Editor, Features Editor

When it comes to their weight, Princeton’s wrestlers have heard it all — and most of it is not flattering.

“When I tell people I’m a Division I wrestler,” said first-year Travis Stefanik, “the first thing they assume is that I’m starving myself.”

Princeton’s athletes want to set the record straight.

While none denied the challenges of shedding weight, wrestlers questioned the scrutiny that surrounds the practice and defended the discipline it requires.

“It’s an absolute myth that wrestlers starve themselves or haven’t eaten or drank water in days,” said sophomore captain Patrick Brucki.

Making weight is as central to wrestling as takedowns themselves. Athletes compete in one of ten weight classes: 125, 133, 141, 149, 157, 165, 174, 184, 197 pounds, or heavyweight, which accommodates wrestlers up to 285 pounds.

In an attempt to attain the greatest possible strengthto-mass ratio, athletes typically sit significantly above their competition weight.

They drop down to their designated class as their matches near. If a wrestler measures above his standard, he does not compete.

Making weight is a “necessary and difficult part of ensuring fair competition,” said junior captain Matthew Kolodzik. “We’ve come a long way in making it much healthier than it was 30 years ago, and the sport is much better for it.”

An in-depth examination of the history of making weight and its practice on the University’s campus coun-

ters the popular narrative of starvation, dehydration, and self-inflicted torture.

It reveals a coaching staff committed to the health of its athletes, and a team culture that — while admittedly alien to the outsider — is dedicated to managing weight rather than cutting it.

“Swimming In A Pool of Gatorade:” Wrestling’s Tainted History Collegiate wrestling is rich in weight-loss horror stories: competitors abusing laxatives, forcing themselves to sweat in rubber suits, and shedding dozens of pounds in as few hours.

Princeton’s head wrestling coach, Christopher Ayres, has tales of his own to share from his time at Lehigh University in the 1990s. He once lost 14 pounds in 38 hours, a feat that involved “four twohour workout sessions, lots of stationary biking and trips to the sauna, and minimal eating and drinking.” The endeavor was accompanied by serious consequences.

“My body didn’t work right,” he said. “I remember moments in the match where I literally just could not react.”

In a January 16th tweet, Ayres recalled the psychological challenges of making weight: “When I was cutting weight hard I would have dreams of swimming in a pool of Gatorade with my mouth open.”

For decades, Ayres’ experience was universal among collegiate wrestlers.

Throughout most of his competitive career, the NCAA Wrestling Committee’s restrictions on cutting weight were few and far between.

Wrestlers could shed pounds nearly any way they saw fit — which oftentimes meant prioritizing efficacy over

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health.

One NCAA standard proved particularly troublesome: the 24-hour weigh-in.

Wrestlers checked into their weight classes the day before a match. In theory, that gave them a significant chunk of time to recover from the strain of cutting pounds. Reality proved more bleak.

With a full 24 hours to recuperate, wrestlers could afford to be reckless in their weight-loss strategies, pushing themselves to critical states without worrying about undermining their performances. A comprehensive 1994 study found that on average, collegiate wrestlers cut a drastic 7.8% of their body mass in the single day before weigh-ins. That left them in compromised condition to compete.

“The days of the 24-hour weigh-in were scary,” Ayres said.

The 1995 postseason saw two wrestlers hospitalized for severe dehydration, but the sport’s governing body made no move to modify regulations. “Although the weight-loss subcommittee recognizes that there are incidents of wrestlers using improper weight-loss methods,” read a memo drafted by the NCAA Wrestling Committee, “the group raised the question as to why and how this necessarily constitutes a problem for the sport of college wrestling.”

Two years later, that question was answered. Within a 35-day period over the winter of 1997, three collegiate wrestlers died from last-minute attempts to shed pounds before weigh-in. NCAA Wrestling faced renewed scrutiny from state prosecutors, the Food and Drug Administration, and the American public. The organization swiftly rethought its weight regula-

tions.

In one sweeping move, the Committee outlawed most traditional weight-loss methods. Wrestlers were prohibited from using diuretics, laxatives, self-induced vomiting or saunas to shed pounds. They could no longer train in rubber or plastic suits. Training rooms could not exceed 80 degrees. (This limit has since been reduced to 75 degrees.)

The NCAA also scrapped the 24-hour weigh-in. Instead, wrestlers weighed in a maximum of two hours before the start of their matches. Collapsing the time between weigh-in and competition meant wrestlers could no longer slash weight at the expense of their health.

Additionally, the Committee obligated each affiliated program to set a minimum weight at the beginning of the season for each of its wrestlers using two factors: his lowest allowable body fat percentage (5%), and a projected metric of his greatest possible ‘healthy weight loss’ over the course of the year (1.5% of his body weight per week of the season).

In 2017, the NCAA yet again updated its policies, approving a ‘weight-allowance’ rule. In both dual meets and tournaments, wrestlers were permitted a one-pound surplus for each extra day of competition, an allowance that continues to this day.

Additionally, the Committee imposed stiffer penalties for violations of weight-associated protocol.

And finally, NCAA Wrestling took it upon itself to rename the practice that had caused it so much trouble.

Gone were the days of “weight loss.” Here were the days of “weight management.”

“We Don’t Cut Weight

Here:” A Controversial Practice on Princeton’s Campus “Weight management” is the phrase that Ayres and his athletes, all quick to distance themselves from the negative stereotypes of their sport, employ.

“At Princeton, you can’t possibly be a weight-cutter and do school and deal with the stresses you feel,” Ayres said. “As a team, our basic philosophy is that we want guys to wrestle the weight they’re comfortable at.”

Ayres wants his wrestlers conditioned, not depleted.

There exists a fine line between the two, and at a university as academically rigorous as Princeton, that line gets finer.

Ayres’ approach seems unconventional, even to some of his own wrestlers. During the program’s turnaround six years ago, Ayres brought in his most highly touted recruiting class to date. In practice, the first-years surpassed all expectations.

Come competition, they disappointed. Ayres was beside himself. After two months, he made an unexpected decision.

“I got the five kids in a room and told them they were all moving up a weight class,” he said. “They were surprised — but it ended up the best dual season we’d ever had.”

Kolodzik, the junior captain, recalls watching his brother, Daniel Kolodzik ’12, undergo a similar experience, and benefit from it.

“My brother was the one telling my coach that he wanted to cut weight. But when he stopped, he started wrestling better and was way happier,” he said. “To this day, Coach Ayres says that the best deciSee WRESTLING page 7

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