April 13, 2015

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Monday april 13, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 45

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In Opinion The Editorial Board supports the University’s position on free speech, and columnist Lavinia Liang discusses the “P-bomb.” PAGE 6

Today on Campus 4:30 p.m.: Toni Morrison will give a lecture sponsored by the Center for African American Studies. McCosh 10.

The Archives

April 13, 1983 The Undergraduate Student Government Student Course Guide, a publication of course offerings and student reviews, arrived on students’ doorsteps. Although there were no number ratings for each course, 216 students contributed to writing essays for the guide, a large increase from the previous year. The Course Guide was an official organization recognized by the University.

U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

Students rally against Chapel speech By Melissa Curtis contributor

Some students who gathered in the University Chapel on Sunday to address issues of racism and prejudice turned their backs on University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, and some walked out. The gathering followed controversy last week concerning performances by student group Urban Congo that some said mocked African people and racist posts on the anonymous social media application Yik Yak. Alison Boden, Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel, introduced each speaker. The event was intended to “take steps toward a better place,” she said. As President Eisgruber began to speak, around 20 students stood and turned their backs to Eisgruber. The audience, filling about half the chapel, was silent. The students remained standing until Eisgruber finished speaking. Eisgruber addressed what he said were “eruptions of hostile and thoughtless comments” that had taken place on Yik Yak. “Anonymous cowards find no fertile ground here for their hatred or their ignorance,” Eisgruber said.

“These hateful comments have no place at Princeton.” Eisgruber also said he recognized the discrimination minorities on campus have faced. “On our campus and in our society, members of minority groups too often find themselves hurt,” he said. “The taunts and the insults have been hurtful.” Even though it is tempting to dismiss the anonymous words of a few, the University community has a responsibility to improve the campus climate, Eisgruber added. Ruha Benjamin, assistant professor in the Center for African American Studies, said she was deeply concerned about racial insensitivity. “The year is 2015 and we are failing,” Benjamin said. “It’s not that we don’t get the joke. It’s that stubborn fact that racist and sexist jokes never just end at the punch line.” The issue isn’t the people bringing concerns to public attention but the system instead, Benjamin added. The power of empathy is the only solution to apathy, U-councilor Jacob Cannon ’17 said. Regardless of background, all students have the right to prosper and succeed, he added. See GATHERING page 3

TED HORODYNSKY :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

A student stood with his back to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 while he spoke on Sunday.

STUDENT LIFE

U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

Class of 1977 page shut down by alumnus

got a tip? Email it to: tips@dailyprincetonian.com

PRINCETON By the Numbers

500

By Melissa Curtis contributor

The approximate number of attendees of HackPrinceton.

News & Notes News of Columbia destroying admissions records released

The Columbia admissions office destroys all documents created by or with comments from Columbia admissions officers, the Columbia Spectator reported on Friday. When Frederic Enea, a junior, learned of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, he asked to see his admission record. Though he was given access to an email that his guidance counselor had sent in to the office and the application he submitted to Columbia, there were no documents with direct input by Columbia admission officers. Columbia’s Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jessica Marinaccio said that Columbia admissions officers create a “reader rating sheet,” which is a written assessment of the student’s application. She added that these sheets are destroyed before the student matriculates to give the student a clean slate before they begin college. Marinaccio said the admissions office has seen more records requests since the movement for requesting files started at Stanford, though the increase has not been huge.

NATALIA CHEN :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Students participated in the HackPrinceton software and hardware competition this weekend.

Close to 500 attend HackPrinceton

By Kristin Qian Contributor

HackPrinceton, the semiannual hackathon organized by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club, brought in around 500 participants this weekend for a 24-hour software and hardware competition. “HackPrinceton is not just an event where you make a project and it’s like, ‘Who can win this? ’ It’s

much more about the holistic process of learning and being here,” Raeva Kumar ’17, a HackPrinceton co-director, said. The software track is very well-developed and represents the majority of the hacks that take place at the hackathon, Kumar said, but the University’s electrical engineering department helps to facilitate the hardware track with the use of labs and equipment.

The Entrepreneurship Club awarded three prizes in each of the software and hardware categories. In the hardware category, Joseph Bolling ’15, Ted Brundage GS and Ankush Gola ’15 took first place for a remote-controlled car controlled by the movement of fish in a mounted fish tank. Quentin Caudron and Romain Garnier, postdoctoral research associates in the See HACK page 5

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

Philosophy professor addresses sexual morality at annual Anscombe Society event By Nahrie Chung contributor

To address issues of sexual morality, one must first recognize the purposes of the human sexual faculties, Edward Feser, associate professor of philosophy at Pasadena City College, said in a lecture on Saturday. The event was moderated

by politics professor Robert George. “The human sexual act is a seamless unity between the procreative and the unitive [ends] directed at the same time toward both biological generation and emotional communion,” Feser said, describing the unitive end as the relational and emotional strengthening between a

man and woman. These two natural ends of sex — the procreative and unitive — are inseparable from each other, Feser said, because human beings perceive reality in both a sensorial and conceptual way. The ability to conceptualize is a critical distinction between rational human beings and See LECTURE page 4

The Facebook group of the Class of 1977 was shut down on April 7 after an alumnus posted a controversial article from The Atlantic about “The Princeton Mom,” according to Robert Gilbert ’77. The article, which had been posted several times, was deleted several times by an administrator, and while the administrator responsible for the action is unclear, there is speculation by those interviewed that it was Class of 1977 president Susan Patton. Some mem-

bers of the original group have already created a new closed group. Patton did not respond to multiple requests for comment. According to an email obtained by The Daily Princetonian in February, members of the Class of 1977 had previously created an online fundraiser for the Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education program in order to express solidarity with victims of sexual assault following what they perceived as offensive remarks by Patton. See PATTON page 4

STUDENT LIFE

USG discusses low candidate turnout, staff appreciation event, Fashion Speaks By Katherine Oh staff writer

Chief elections manager Grant Golub ’17 provided an overview of the spring elections process for Ucouncilor and class government positions at the weekly Undergraduate Student Government meeting on Sunday. There are 13 candidates running for the 10 available U-councilor positions, Golub said. In each class, the positions of president, vice president and social chair each has one candidate, he said, adding that there are two candidates for Class of 2018 treasurer and for Class of 2016 secretary, while the same positions for the other two class years only have one candidate. Golub is a former staff writer and senior copy editor for The Daily Princetonian.

Golub said USG members were making a concerted effort to recruit people to run in the spring elections by personally reaching out, posting videos or sending emails to the student body. U-council chair Zhan OkudaLim ’15 said students may not run because by the spring, freshmen already know what activities they want to be involved in, and sophomores and juniors might already be involved in activities. “Perhaps in the future, we can discuss and advertise running for U-Council or class government in a way that students feel that they can make proper balance between serving on the USG senate or serving on class government and having time for academics or other commitments,” he said. U-councilor Dan Mozley ’17 See USG page 3


The Daily Princetonian

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A gathering, a protest by Sunny He :: Contributing Photographer

Monday april 13, 2015


The Daily Princetonian

Monday april 13, 2015

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Students present list of demands during gathering GATHERING Continued from page 1

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“Try and understand why those around you think differently,” he said. William Gleason, chair of the English department, also discussed the importance of empathy. “Everything that happens on this campus touches every one of us,” Gleason said. “No one can turn away and say this doesn’t involve me.” Gleason addressed the Urban Congo performance and said highly offensive humor is detrimental to campus unity and student dignity. While Gleason said he believes humor can be a useful form of satire, it can also be “a divisive and deeply humiliating gesture,” he said.

Athletics Administrator Isaac Serwanga ’13 called for action. As a student athlete, Serwanga wasted time wishing for change, he said. “For my first three years I complained,” Serwanga said. “It wasn’t until my senior year that I could be an agent of change. … Each and every individual has the opportunity to create change.” Constructive criticism, positive engagement and mindful action constitute a three-part plan for beginning to grapple with campus issues, Serwanga said. “[I’m] tremendously excited about where we can go in the future,” he said. While stereotyping is natural, it’s important not to become complacent about accepting these stereotypes at face value, Lina Saud ’15 said, adding direct action to engage with and learn from individuals

whom one stereotypes is necessary to overcome prejudice. U-Councilor Naimah Hakim ’16 then introduced four students who presented a list of demands, including dignity, accountability and change. While these students spoke, other students stood in the aisle of the Chapel with signs protesting for change. After the four students onstage finished their remarks, they and the protesters in the aisle marched out of the church, chanting, “Hate speech is not free speech.” Eisgruber then thanked students and other participants for their attendance, and invited attendees to take part in small group discussion sessions. Students expressed mixed feelings about the event. Emily de La Bruyere ’16 said the gathering reflected the University’s

lack of normal forums for addressing these types of issues. “I think there needs to be a forum of constructive conversation,” she said. Duncan Hosie ’16, who organized a petition calling for Big Sean to be removed as the Lawnparties headliner, said he felt the gathering was beneficial. “I thought the speakers were incredibly powerful, and I commend the University for creating this gathering,” Hosie said. “It was uncomfortable and challenging at points, but it was a very thoughtful and thought provoking experience.” The gathering took place at 2 p.m. In addition to the reflections, the gathering also included musical performances by the University Chapel Choir and violinist Solene Le Van ’18.

Projects Board approves $2,755 for Fashion USG

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asked if there were ways to improve student involvement, such as making deadlines more flexible or reducing the number of signatures needed to petition for a position. In line with such comments, Golub said the USG is planning an institutional reform of the elections handbook over the summer. “As we’ve been going through this period, we’ve realized how many rules are unnecessary and outdated, including for referenda,” Golub said. “The fact that we require three forms is absolutely unnecessary. It should be one form.” Golub worked with Okuda-Lim to research the referenda process of peer institutions to better understand how referenda should be carried out at the University. According to Okuda-Lim, Harvard and Yale allow pro and con statements to be prepared before any referendum is voted on, and their referenda timeline is extended so that students can come together to organize formal support

and opposition groups for a given issue. USG’s handbook has no such provision as of now. In addition, while the Senate must report to the administration the outcome of each referendum, USG does not need to take any specific action unless the question itself explicitly stated that USG would form a committee or take other action, Okuda-Lim explained. In contrast, the student governments of Harvard and Yale write a letter to the administration every time a referendum passes, letting the administration know what students want administrators to do in response, he said. U-councilor Mallory Banks ’16 suggested introducing greater transparency about which specific students or student groups on campus are behind each referendum. Banks noted that not knowing who to direct questions to could lead to uninformed voting. Communications Committee media chair Jianing Cheng ’17 said she hopes to include more University staff in USG’s effort to express student gratitude.

For example, she said, USG will man a table in Frist Campus Center during Late Meal hours for students to share messages of appreciation or personal anecdotes related to staff. USG members are also working on making several videos. “One of the things I felt was a bit lacking was person-on-person thanks. For me, the beauty of being grateful is you can talk to people about it,” U-councilor Jacob Cannon ’17 said. “I think maybe something we want to consider is a poster campaign, having posters on campus with maybe phrases like ‘staff appreciation week,’ or have punchlines about what to be thankful for, just to get students thinking about it.” Deputy Dean of the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne noted that there are a number of staff appreciation events that can feature student-created content, including banners, photos or videos. “It’s an awesome initiative, and I’m really grateful to see happen,” Dunne said, “Sometimes, we all fall in love with a card checker.

For me, in [Rockefeller College], Howard is awesome. But I think there are a lot of Howards out there that don’t get that platform. And they really believe in this place. It would be so nice for people to hear that students see them, appreciate them.” U-councilor Dallas Nan ’16 noted that a Facilities recognition event will be held in Richardson Auditorium this coming Wednesday. The staff members plan to have lunch as a group afterward. “They clean up after their own recognition lunch, which I just think is against the point of recognizing them. So I think we as USG should get together and volunteer our time to break down the tables,” Nan said. The senate approved a request for $2,755 in Projects Board funding for Service in Style’s annual charity fashion show, Fashion Speaks. Service in Style representative Margaret Spencer ’16 said she expected donations to pick up as the show approaches, and that this year the group is looking forward to raising around $15,000 to $20,000.

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Alumni discuss legality of fundraising on page PATTON Continued from page 1

that the ‘Prince’ has a Facebook page? Like our page! Procrastinate productively!

Monday april 13, 2015

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In the process, alumni used the Facebook page to help facilitate and accumulate donations to SHARE. Patton wrote on March 6 on the Facebook page that it is illegal to solicit donations through Facebook. Because of this, the page was expected to be shut down anyway, said Class of 1978 president Gwen Feder, who has been monitoring the developments with the Class of 1977. Patton posted on the page on March 6, claiming that the actions of the Class of 1977 through Facebook jeopardize the class’s tax-exempt status. Mark Nelson ’77, a leader in the fundraising project,

said he had been in contact with University officials in the office of Annual Giving, the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life and University Health Services in the process of fundraising, and that none of them had ever suggested there was anything improper about this method of fundraising. Nelson said that he personally stands by the fundraiser’s legality. “I don’t believe there’s any chance that we broke University rules in raising contributions to SHARE on Facebook,” Nelson said. The tax-exempt status of the Class of 1977 is not in jeopardy, University media relations specialist Min Pullan said. However, at Patton’s request, the University Of-

fice of General Counsel is reviewing the fundraiser’s legal behavior, Feder said. University General Counsel Ramona Romero deferred comment to Pullan. Feder said Patton’s explanation for allegedly shutting the group down is “so that the administrators can make some decisions about what should or should not appear there.” However, Feder said she believes legal adherence isn’t truly the primary force driving Patton’s claims. Feder said she thinks Patton sees the SHARE campaign of the Class of 1977 “as a threat to her role as class president and, perhaps, as ‘the Princeton Mom.’ ” Julie List ’78, who coauthored an op-ed in February in the ‘Prince’ about Patton’s media appearances, said she

believed Patton had shut down the page because of the perceived affront to her of fundraising for SHARE. “In order to deal with this humiliation, she is looking for a way to repudiate what they’d done,” List said. “The fact that members of her class virtually turned against her by creating a fundraising campaign to support SHARE is very embarrassing for her.” The class created a new Facebook group with a description stating that it is a “new venue to keep communicating while the other [group] is ‘under review.’ ” After one day, the new group, titled “We ROAR! Let’s keep talking … ” had 116 members, compared to the roughly 220 members of the original Class of 1977 group.

Feser stresses relevance of natural law to sexual ethics LECTURE Continued from page 1

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non-rational animals, he said. A dog and human being may both possess the faculty of visual perception in viewing a tree, Feser noted to illustrate his point. However, there is a conceptual element found in human perception that is notably absent in the dog’s perception, he said, noting that while the dog is able to perceive the tree, it is unable to conceptualize it as a tree to form a judgment about it as a human would. “While perception is a good for both non-human animals and human beings, that perception in our case participates in our rationality and makes of it a different and higher sort of good than that of which non-human animals are capable,” he said.

Basing his remarks off of Aristotelian metaphysical principles, he explained, human sexual faculties exist not only for the natural end of conceptual unity but in conjunction with the natural end of procreation. “[There] is no such thing as a sexual act which of its nature is merely unitive and in no way procreative, any more than there is such a thing as a human perceptual experience which of its nature is merely conceptual and in no way sensory,” he said. Feser also addressed the relevance of the natural law approach to matters of sexual ethics. He defined morality as an act which is good for the rational agent according to the act’s natural ends. “[Since] the natural ends of our sexual capacities are simultaneously procreative and unitive, what is good for human beings, vis-a-vis

those capacities, is to use them only in a way that is consistent with these ends,” he said. A faculty cannot be used or directed toward more than one natural end and an agent cannot intend to actively frustrate the realization of that end, Feser added. Therefore fornication, homosexual acts, contraception, pornography and masturbation are examples of sexual behaviors inconsistent with the natural ends for which human sex exists, he said. “It cannot possibly be good for us to use [our faculties] in a way contrary to these ends, whether or not an individual person thinks it is, any more than it could possibly be good for a diseased or damaged tree to fail to sink roots into ground,” he said. “This is true whatever the reason is for someone’s desire to act in a way contrary to nature’s

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purposes — intellectual error, habituated vice, genetic defect or whatever — and however strong that desire is.” During the moderated session, George said that critics who would claim that Feser’s argument is about not frustrating natural functions have missed Feser’s central claim. “His argument is that there is something wrong with using a faculty — not a function — in a way contrary to the end for the sake of which by nature the faculty exists,” George said. Feser addressed an audience of approximately 60 students and community members at the Anscombe Society’s annual spring lecture, titled “Natural Law and the Foundations of Sexual Ethics.” The lecture took place at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday in Guyot 10.


The Daily Princetonian

Monday april 13, 2015

HackPrinceton an opportunity to repair problems in industry, says Kumar ’17 HACK

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Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, won third place for a mousetrap that could capture a specific type of mouse, an invention with applications in scientific experiments. Bolling, Brundage, Gola, Caudron and Garnier did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The second-place winners were from Yale. In the software category, the first-place winner came from Western University, second place winners were from Brown, Boston University and SUNY Polytechnic Institute Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, and the third-place recipient was from the University of Oklahoma. In addition to the competition, HackPrinceton presented workshops and speakers, most prominently Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt ’76 who delivered a keynote address Saturday afternoon, as well as Edward Felten, professor of computer science and public affairs and director of the Center for Information Technology Policy, who spoke at the closing ceremonies on Sunday. HackPrinceton is notable among hackathons for its

mentorship system, Kumar said. “It really comes down to this passion for just building something — just being able to create some project … that you find interesting, something that you’ll learn from or something that’ll hopefully make an impact,” Liu said. Kumar said that she views HackPrinceton as an opportunity to repair the problems present in the tech industry, since the small scale of HackPrinceton allows for experimentation. “We always try to get people excited about the possibilities there are in using tech to achieve something that they haven’t done before,” Jerry Liu ’17, a HackPrinceton co-director, said. In the future, HackPrinceton hopes to engage more students and bring in people from different backgrounds, Kumar said. “We are in service to Princeton University,” she said. “One of our biggest concerns is getting Princeton University students to hack. We think that learning theory is very important and what we do in the classroom is invaluable, but in order to supplement that, we think that the work that is done here at HackPrinceton is essential.” HackPrinceton also seeks to encourage more women

to hack. At this hackathon, roughly 30 to 40 percent of participants were women, which is very rare in hackathons, Kumar said, adding that the numbers would ideally be closer to 50-50. Stephanie He ’15, president of the Entrepreneurship Club and former codirector of HackPrinceton, said she hopes that more people with non-technical skills will come in the future to participate in learning about technology. “There’s this really big hackathon culture happening, where people are encouraging everyone else to build and to work on projects in their free time,” she said, adding that HackPrinceton’s popularity ref lects how college students, at the University or otherwise, are excited to work on hacks. HackPrinceton should show that hacking is accessible not just to computer science majors, but also to students studying other areas, she said, adding that it fosters an open culture and has a large focus on mentorship and accessibility. There is now a lot more focus on coming to the hackathon for the sake of learning rather than winning prizes, she said. “Encouragement is really embedded in the HackPrinceton culture,” she said.

GOOGLE

NATALIA CHEN :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Eric Schmidt ‘76, Executive Chairman of Google, spoke on Saturday about artificial intelligence, computer science and the future of technology during the HackPrinceton software and hardware competition.

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Opinion

Monday april 13, 2015

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{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Dropping the P-bomb Lavinia Liang

contributing columnist

M

y brother and I were on the airplane, the two of us next to each other in a three-person row. We were sad because we were leaving Beijing. Leaving Beijing meant leaving Yeye and Nainai and their Alzheimer’s disease and their colon cancer, and it meant leaving heritage and old roots only just rediscovered. We were annoyed because the child behind us had already started crying. I needed to finish a column for a newspaper. The old man on my other side was very nice. At least we thought he was an old man — we talked to him later, as the plane started to descend to Newark. He was only a dad. His oldest daughter had just gotten into Columbia for engineering. “Are you guys in high school?” he asked. “No, I’m in college.” “Where do you go?” I paused for a couple of seconds. “Princeton.” He paused for a couple of seconds with his head cocked at me before he belted out, “That’s amazing!” I shrunk a little into my seat, especially under the sudden glances of other passengers (many sleepy-eyed). He immediately asked me what I had done in high school and what I was doing at Princeton now and what did I want to major in? And also, what do I want to do in life? We had good conversation; eventually he asked me for my email — for his younger daughter, who was still in high school. We talked until the plane landed and I wondered if being associated with the name of Princeton had taught me anything. Fast forward to my first time experiencing hibachi — Japanese barbecue — in a distant state. We all sat at a large table; six of us, three of them. “Them” was a middle-aged mother who was still very blonde, her 12-year-old daughter and her daughter’s friend. She asked us if we were on vacation. Yes, we were. She asked if we were college students. Yes, we were. Where did we go to school? Princeton. “Oh, my God!” she cried, eyes opening wider than I would have thought possible – “Oh my God, you go to Princeton!” She clasped her chest and turned. “Girls, we are with some very smart young ladies here!” They laughed nervously. We laughed, too. As I laughed, I thought about how being associated with Princeton — being the possible participant or subject of these sorts of conversations — has taught me to notice and understand, well, differences. Allow me to elaborate. These two encounters are not unique. But they highlight the range of ways people react to “the P-bomb”, as well as the way I’ve reacted to their responses. It has shown me that the phrase “I go/went to Princeton” is many things. It can be things which have been done before and perhaps even overdone. Privileged. Pretentious. Prideful. It can also be awe-inspiring or intimidating or reverential. It could be, in other ways, endearing. We all know that it creates some sort of effect. I have certainly not experienced the full range of situations and emotions which comes with bearing the blessing — or perhaps the burden — of an Ivy League name. What have encounters like these — in my one year or so of being associated with Princeton — shown me? What effects have they already had? The topic of Princeton stereotypes and the way students are viewed by others has been discussed before. It has been discussed in this very section, with a friend of mine illuminating the socioeconomic connotations which come along with saying, “I’m a Princeton student,” and another columnist addressing the apparent inaccessibility of Ivy League institutions and students. Although the subject of these articles, elegantly called “Ivy league elitism,” is not what I am talking about here, I find it respectful and enlightening to refer back to what they have said. I find that what they have said is true, at least through my eyes. I find that being associated with Princeton has shown me how wide small differences can sometimes be. In the different walks of life I am now more able to detect subtleties and nuances; several thousand dollars can make an ocean of difference. Majoring in, say, the Wilson School, as opposed to politics, can lead to very divergent roads. Speaking a Level Two as opposed to a Level One of English can be make a difference even in Trenton. What effects have these encounters had on me? They have begun to open my mind, yes, but they have also spoken to me of the things I have to learn down this journey I’ve only just begun. Lavinia Liang is a freshman from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She can be reached at lavinial@princeton. edu.

EDITORIAL

A

Guaranteeing academic freedom

university is a stage for the clash of ideas through reasoned discourse between those of diverse points of view. Princetonians are diverse in many ways. We differ academically, politically and culturally. Diversity of thought inevitably yields disagreement. But despite our differences and deep personal investment in various debates, we pride ourselves on the ability to engage with one another and develop ideas and values through healthy participation in the University’s intellectual community. We therefore commend the University faculty and President Eisgruber’s administration for passing a motion to include a more comprehensive statement protecting freedom of expression in the University “Rights, Rules, Responsibilities,” and we strongly encourage our peer institutions to follow suit. The new statement “guarantee[s] all members of the University community the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn.” The recently passed motion admirably incorporates unequivocal language from a recent report from the University of Chicago. We suggest the University go one step further and wholly replace the existing free speech code in the guidebook with the new statement. The current code bears a “red light” designation from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, due to policies that “both clearly and substantially restrict freedom of speech.” The present language allows for University sanctions against an individual whose verbal behavior “demeans” or “intimidates” another. Though respect for others’ viewpoints is ab-

solutely necessary for constructive campus dialogue, such language is too vague. The new statement still prohibits the most harmful forms of speech that violate the law and threaten others; however, it cuts down on the potentially abusable discretion that the University currently possesses. As recent examples at other colleges demonstrate, attention to freedom of expression is as necessary now as ever. Last year, Stanford University’s Graduate Student Council first denied funding for an Anscombe Society conference on traditional sexual values and then levied an unprecedented $5,600 “security fee” in an egregious attempt to obstruct freedom academic expression (though the fee was waived after protests). Just last month, a California State Polytechnic University student was apprehended by university police after handing out flyers for animal rights outside of a designated “free speech zone.” Controversial debates, whether about police brutality, same-sex marriage or other topics, enliven our campus. It is unreasonable and intellectually dishonest to presuppose a consensus on these issues or to expect that no one’s sensitivities will be offended in the course of discussion. Reasonable, goodwilled people can and often do disagree. Rather than illiberally empowering University authorities to define which subjects are open for discussion, thinkers of absolutely any opinion should be given the latitude required to make reasoned arguments with due civility. In protecting the unhindered operation of the marketplace of ideas, the University need not fear that it will cater to hateful or outra-

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geous speech. Such expression will quickly be rebuffed by clear and respectful argumentation from those who see it for what it is and the adopted language gives the University the ability impose time, space, and manner restrictions when appropriate. Flagrantly unlawful speech is controlled under narrow exceptions to the policy that cover threats, defamation, and breaches of privacy. At the same time, Princeton students must accept that not all campus discourse will be comfortable to hear. Broad protection of academic freedom does not favor any one viewpoint in favor of promoting ever more rigorous explorations of truth and meaning. The University only stands to gain by shoring up its defense of free speech, which will help foster the intellectual growth of all Princetonians and present a strong example to other institutions. In a November 2013 editorial, we called on our community to “recommit itself to upholding the principles of free speech in accordance with the University’s broader educational mission.” We believe that the faculty’s recent vote to affirm the “University’s fundamental commitment … to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be suppressed” is an excellent step in this direction, and we applaud this important decision. Jill Wilkowski ’15 abstained from this editorial.

Anna Mazarakis ’16 editor-in-chief

Matteo Kruijssen ’16 business manager

EDITORIAL BOARD chair Jeffrey Leibenhaut ’16 Allison Berger ’18 Elly Brown ’18 Thomas Clark ’18 Paul Draper ’18 Daniel Elkind ’17 Theodore Furchgott ’18 James Haynes ’18 Zach Horton ’15 Mitchell Johnston ’15 Wynne Kerridge ’16 Cydney Kim ’17 Daphna Le Gall ’15 Sergio Leos ’17 Carolyn Liziewski ’18 Sam Mathews ’17 Lily Offit ’15 Connor Pfeiffer ’18 Ashley Reed ’18 Aditya Trivedi ’16 Andrew Tsukamoto ’15 Jillian Wilkowski ’15 Kevin Wong ’17

NIGHT STAFF 4.11.15 senior copy editors Kathleen Mulligan ’17 staff copy editors Omkar Shende ’18

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 Chair, the Opinion Editor and the Editor-In-Chief.

news Shriya Sekhsaria ’18 Kristin Qian ’18

Sick Day

Rita Fang ’17

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Interdisciplinary at the individual course level Erica Choi

contributing columnist

T

wo weeks ago, upperclassmen participated in the draw for housing in Spelman. Spelman apartments — which each have four singles, a common room, a bathroom and a kitchen — are one of the most popular housing options for upperclassmen who have decided to go Independent, as it gives them much-needed access to a place to privately prepare food. This year, I enrolled in the Humanities Sequence, a year-long class that seeks to examine canonical Western literature — from Homer to Virginia Woolf — in an interdisciplinary manner. The course is taught by multiple professors who each possess different areas of expertise and interests; this setting allows students to study the same work in sometimes a historical, sometimes a philosophical, and sometimes a literary manner. The Humanities Sequence has made me realize the importance of diverse perspectives. I am mindful of this as I browse the course offerings for next fall. Let me first give credit where credit is due. I do believe that the University is incredibly dedicated to providing an interdisciplinary education. Our distribution requirements attest to this. Currently, besides courses

that are specifically designed to be interdisciplinary such as the Humanities Sequence and the Integrated Science Curriculum, Princeton offers many cross-designated courses that allow students to explore. We also have interdisciplinary concentrations. For example, the very popular Wilson School concentration includes aspects of economics, psychology, statistics and sociology. However, I believe that there is even more that the University can do at the level of individual classes. Courses are cross-designated because they can be considered to meet more than one disciplinary need, not because they are designed to be interdisciplinary. For example, I am currently enrolled in HIS 210: The World of Late Antiquity, which is cross-listed between the history, classics, and Hellenic studies departments. It is an incredibly enjoyable class, and I have learned a lot from it so far. However, it is not an interdisciplinary class the way the Humanities Sequence is. Rather, it’s a history class that happens to be about the Classical era in the Hellenic world. Further, while the Wilson School itself is an interdisciplinary concentration, each course under it tends to conform to one discipline. I propose that we have more individual classes that are designed to be interdisciplinary. For example, the University of Penn-

sylvania and Oxford University offer PPE (philosophy, politics and economics) as a major; Yale offers a similar major called EPE (ethics, politics, and economics). I believe that Princeton can offer something like this as a class. There are a lot of possibilities for a course like this. It could examine works of Herodotus, Plato, Machiavelli, Rousseau, Smith and so many more great canonical works. These great works give us plenty to think theoretically about in terms of man’s initial state and the origin of each government, which are philosophical questions, the best possible form, which is a political one, and the way market relates to state, which is an economic one. Philosophy, politics and economics affect one another. Ethics and normative judgment are always big questions to answer in politics and economics, and macroeconomics and politics are also linked. When I asked my friends for ideas on courses like this, they were able to give me multiple ideas in a short amount of time. The existing East Asian Humanities Sequence could be vamped up so that it receives the amount of University attention and funding that the Humanities Sequence does. Furthermore, a similar course can be constructed for Middle Eastern literature and Eastern European literature. Courses like this could, besides exposing student to rich literary

traditions of different cultures, provide a worldlier and less Eurocentric education. There are limitless possibilities. There can be courses that think about psychology with sociology, or even neuroscience. Perhaps a course can examine mathematics in philosophy. University of Oxford offers Philosophy and Mathematics as a major because “the parallel study of these related disciplines can significantly enhance your understanding of each.” Socrates emphasizes the importance of mathematical education in “The Republic.” Some of the greatest philosophers, such as Descartes and Leibniz, were also mathematicians; in fact, the latter developed calculus independent of Newton. Philosophical thinking is deeply inf luenced by the development of Newtonian mechanics. This itself can be constructed into a class. I view my education here as a struggle to maintain the right balance between obtaining a focused area of expertise and the interdisciplinary knowledge to place my area of expertise in relation to other fields. Individual, interdisciplinary classes offer a low-stress, low-commitment way of thinking with multiple perspectives and would enrich our education. Erica Choi is a freshman from Bronxville, N.Y. She can be reached at gc6@princeton.edu.


The Daily Princetonian

Monday april 13, 2015

page 7

Women’s lightweight to travel, open team at home ROWING Continued from page 8

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DANIELA COSIO :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

One of the Tigers’ strengths has been their ability to look to many different players for offensive production.

Women’s lacrosse now focuses on taking down league rival Penn W. LAX

Continued from page 8

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as critical for pulling out that come-from-behind win. “Knowing how important that game was really sparked that comeback at the beginning of the second half,” McMunn said enthusiastically. “I was so proud of the way we responded.” Ultimately, McMunn pointed out, it came down to how the Tigers performed in the minutiae, and how badly they really wanted to win that game. “We knew we weren’t playing well on the draws, so we got really pumped to scrap on the draws.” McMunn explained “I know the biggest thing for us was [that] we started winning the draw control. That gave us the energy, that gave us the possessions, that gave us everything we needed.” Slifer would highlight the same thing as key to the Tigers’ future success as well: “[It’s about] draws … if you

win the draws, you win the game.” With Cornell behind them, Princeton prepares for rival Penn The Tigers’ win in Ithaca certainly carried some gravitas. By defeating the Big Red, they remain atop the Ivy League standings, along with nearby rival, the University of Pennsylvania. These teams are certainly no strangers — Penn defeated Princeton 9-6 in last year’s Ivy League championship tournament. The opportunity for revenge has finally come. This Wednesday will be the first time these two teams have met since their championship matchup. This match shouldn’t be lacking for points; as with Princeton and Cornell, Penn relies heavily on their offensive play, scoring 10.83 goals per game, the third-most in the league, and puts up the second-best shotson-goal percentage. Both McMunn and Slifer stated that the team was totally aware of the significance

this game had for the Tigers. “Penn is the biggest game of the year,” Slifer stated, “We’re going into this week and focus[ing] on beating Penn and winning the league.” McMunn points out that the pressure in the game against Cornell was a perfect setup for dealing with a powerhouse like Penn. “In terms of preparation for the Penn, [the Cornell comeback] was the best spot we could have been in this weekend,” McMunn stated. “The team is just so excited. We’ve been thinking about this game all season, all Ivy season, all year. We’re just so excited for the chance to get back out there.” With the regular season wrapping up, McMunn hopes that the intensity that the team exhibited against Cornell and that they exude now as they prepare for Penn will last through the postseason. “Regardless of what happens, we have to bring the same focus and respect to every single team,” McMunn said.

mettle at its last meet in San Diego, the team went out and showed its skills in the same way at home. Traveling to nearby West Windsor, N.J., the women’s lightweight team placed second in a field of five different universities. Moreover, it would push national powerhouse Radcliffe (part of Harvard) to the limit. The ladies from Cambridge finished with a time of 6:49.14 — the Tigers would come right behind with a time of 6:50.69. Moreover, the Tigers proved themselves a level above most of the competition. After the Boston A team, which finished .9 seconds behind Princeton, the next closest team was behind by nearly seven full seconds. With a strong showing on their home turf behind them, Princeton will travel to Cambridge, Mass., to take on Radcliffe once more in the Class of 1999 Cup.

Women’s open Following a victory over Columbia last weekend at Lake Carnegie, the Princeton women’s open team would top its Ivy League rivals once more in the same location. Coming second in a field of four, it would outpace visiting Radcliffe (who are a part of Harvard) and Cornell, while coming behind the University of Virginia. Besides last place Cornell, the remaining three teams exhibited a tightly contested race. Princeton finished 2.3 seconds behind Virginia and Radcliffe a mere .7 seconds behind Princeton. With this win, Princeton finds itself 3-1 in league competition, having lost only to Brown in the season opener. The women’s open team will have more chances to improve on its already strong league record, as it has its first race on the road next weekend. The team looks to defeat the Yale Bulldogs, who themselves have had strong results in Ivy League competition, having beaten Columbia and Penn on March 28.

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MacDonald, Orban shine in Tigers’ rout Follow us over lowly Dartmouth on Twitter! M. LAX

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Rotatori, and sophomore attack Sean Connors all scored as well in the period, with Orban putting in two. The rest of the game was more of the same. Princeton outscored Dartmouth 4-1 in the fourth, as Orban scored one last goal to bring his final tally up to four. In addition to the Tigers’ excellent performance on offensive, they did the work on

the defensive end to take down Dartmouth. The Tigers forced 21 turnovers on the game. After this dominating victory, the Tigers now reside in first place, tied with Cornell (9-3, 3-1) as the Ivy League’s top dogs. They will get a chance to battle Cornell in Ithaca on April 25, the final game of the regular season. However, one last game at the Class of 1952 Stadium awaits them. Princeton will take on Harvard (6-6, 1-3), who are tied with Dartmouth for the league’s lowest position.

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Sports

Monday april 13, 2015

page 8

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Women’s lacrosse gets come-from-behind win against Cornell By Miles Hinson sports editor

The Princeton women’s lacrosse team continues to storm through Ivy League play. This Saturday, it defeated the Cornell Big Red on the road to remain perfect in league play. The Tigers (9-3 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) have had an offense that has been firing on all cylinders as of late. They put up 11.33 goals per game, good for second in the Ivy League. This would be particularly important as they faced a Cornell team sporting perhaps the league’s best offense. The Big Red (8-4, 3-2) stands at the top of the league in goals per game with 14.5. It also boasts one of the league’s best shots on goal percentages, at 78.0 percent. The first half of the game was a tightly contested affair. Though Princeton held a one-goal lead early on, neither team was able to break away for the first 20 minutes. Princeton threatened to distance itself by going up 5-3 after a goal by senior Erin Slifer, but the home team managed to storm back. Cornell would end the half on a 3-0 run to go

up 6-5 by the half. The tide was firmly in Cornell’s favor. The Big Red would score the first two goals of the second half, and at this point was poised to make the game its own. A win against the Tigers would push the Big Red into second place in the conference, nipping at the heels of Penn, which is first in the Ivy League. The Tigers, however, felt the intensity of the game and the need to pull out this victory. “Everybody felt that [intensity] and we were fueled by it and pumped for it,” senior attack Erin McMunn said in an interview. “We’ve focused, for every game this Ivy season, on treating every single game as a championship game.” The Tigers looked in championship form as they responded to those early Cornell goals. They scored five straight goals after that to put themselves on top of Cornell, 10-8. Perhaps just as impressive as the run itself is the distribution of scoring Princeton had. Four different Tigers — freshman midfielder Abby Finkelstein, senior midfielder Erin Slifer, junior attack

Stephanie Paloscio and junior midfielder Anya Gersoff — can take credit for those goals. When reached for comment, Slifer emphasized how important this variety of scoring was to the Tigers’ play as they entered the most crucial part of the season: “[We focus on] executing oneon-one offensively, working together as a unit and using all of our offensive threats.” McMunn reiterated those same points: “Game in, game out, we’re having six, seven different kids scoring, not just one goal, but two or three goals. That’s been huge for us.” While Cornell would halt the run and bring the score to 10-9, Princeton would close out the game by relying on both Slifer and sophomore midfielder Anna Doherty to, between them, score Princeton’s last three goals. “We were down against a really good opponent, a really strong Ivy opponent, and it was an important game where we had to respond,” McMunn said. “And we did.” McMunn again pointed to the team’s sense of urgency See W. LAX page 7

ROWING

DANIELA COSIO :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Princeton women’s lacrosse team held on against Cornell and maintained its status as the league’s best. MEN’S LACROSSE

Men’s lacrosse halts losing streak, trounces Dartmouth Big Green By Miles Hinson sports editor

COURTESY OF PRINCETON CREW

Men’s heavyweight crew has looked strong throughout the entire season, winning all of its races so far.

All crew teams post strong showings over weekend By Miles Hinson sports editor

Heavyweight With the season almost halfway over, the Princeton heavyweight rowing team appears to be in top form as it completed its third race this weekend. Having defeated Georgetown in its season opener and Navy last weekend, it managed to earn the same result this past Saturday. Competing in the Childs’ Cup, the first varsity topped nearby Ivy League rivals Penn and Columbia, finishing with a time of 6:03.8. The gap between the teams was not a small one — Penn had a second place time of 6:10.5, and Columbia brought up the rear with the a time of 6:16.2. Prior to visiting Lake Carnegie, the Lions and the Quakers had both seen their own fair shares of success. In the past two weeks, Columbia had defeated Princeton’s neighbor Rutgers

and placed second in a field of four at the Alumni Cup in Boston, Mass. Penn, for its part, has already shown its mettle in its performances this spring. Their team had defeated George Washington and Northeastern on March 21st and April 4th, respectively. With their victory over these teams behind them, the Tigers can now focus on next week’s battle at home, where they will take on MIT and Harvard. Men’s lightweight Following their second-place performance in its race against Navy and Columbia, the Princeton men’s lightweight rowing team would travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to do battle against another Ivy League foe: the Cornell Big Red. Prior to its match against Princeton, Cornell had only one race in the spring, where it topped Penn and Harvard at a race in Philadelphia in the previous week.

The first varsity would be unable to break Cornell’s unbeaten streak against Ivy League foes. The Big Red would finish in six minutes flat, while the Tigers came in with a 6:03.2 time. The loss continues a long-standing streak for Princeton, who have been unable to defeat Cornell’s men’s lightweight team in the regular season since the spring of 2011. Following this loss, the Tigers will make a short hop to Philadelphia to continue their weekends against Ivy League opponents. They will face both Georgetown and Penn next Saturday, hoping to grab their first win since defeating Georgetown on March 28. Women’s lightweight After a weekend of rest, the women’s lightweight team returned to take place in the Knecht Cup. Having shown its See ROWING page 7

The Princeton men’s lacrosse team managed to break itself out of their funk. Heading into this weekend on a three-game losing streak, the Tigers (7-4 overall, 3-1 Ivy League) put themselves back atop the Ivy League. They traveled to Hanover, N.H., to defeat the Dartmouth Big Green 16-5. The margin of victory is the Tigers’ highest of the season, eclipsing the difference of 10 goals in their 14-4 defeat of Manhattan College to open the season. The lopsided score, however, does not totally reflect the tightness of the game. Unlike the Manhattan College game, where the Tigers immediately began eviscerating the Jaspers, the Big Green (3-6, 1-3) made the game a struggle through the first two periods. Princeton led only 4-2 after the first period, and just 5-3 after the second. Dartmouth’s strong resistance through the first two periods must come as a sign of hope for a long-beleaguered program. They have not hit the .500 mark since the 2007-08 season, and have lurked near the bottom of the Ivy League standings for a long while. To go toe-to-toe with Princeton, a perennial league powerhouse, for any amount of time is encouraging. Early on in the game, the stars for Princeton were sophomore attack Gavin McBride and senior attack Mike MacDonald, each scoring two before the half. Senior midfielder Kip Orban would also add one.

For Dartmouth, the hero was attack Adam Fishman, who scored all three goals for the Big Green before the half. Fishman currently leads Dartmouth in goals scored on the season with 14. Despite the closely contested early part of the game, the Ti-

gers showed their superiority in the third quarter, putting on a dominant offensive showing. They outscored Dartmouth 7-1 in the third, as MacDonald continued his onslaught, scoring three in just the third period. Orban, senior midfielder Will See M. LAX page 7

YICHENG SUN :: PHOTO EDITOR

As the postseason looms, the men’s lacrosse team got back on track.

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