April 14, 2015

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Tuesday april 14, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 46

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In Opinion Columnist Newby Parton warns against sidestepping dialogue and shaming others into conformity, and columnist Matthew Taitano discusses his sense of “homelessness” on campus. PAGE 3

By Cassidy Tucker contributor

Stop Animal Exploitation Now, an activist group that monitors U.S. research laboratories, filed a complaint last week against the University with the Department of Agriculture for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Negligence at a University laboratory in March 2014 resulted in the injury of two marmoset monkeys, SAEN alleged in its complaint.

Two marmosets, one male and one female, escaped from their cages, according to Dean for Research Pablo Debenedetti’s report of the incident that was obtained by The Daily Princetonian. The female marmoset was recaptured and sustained no injuries. The male marmoset, however, fought with a male from another cage.

Debenedetti did not respond

Today on Campus 12 p.m.: Women’s Meditation will be open to female students, faculty and staff. The topic is family relationships.

Lunch will be served.

Murray-Dodge East Room.

The Archives

April 14, 1998 The Sam’s Club of West Windsor closed to exterminate mice that had been chewing on products. The closure was expected to affect the Brown and Lockhart coops, which shopped there.

PRINCETON By the Numbers

137

The number of students who have followed through with viewing their admission files after submitting a FERPA request.

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News & Notes

Penn students protest closing of Africa Center

Students at the University of Pennsylvania protested the closing of the school’s Africa Center in front of prospective undergraduates, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported on Monday.

The students also protested the merger of the school’s African studies department and Center for Africana Studies.

The protest was led by students majoring in African studies, as well as members of the Penn African Students Association and of Students Organizing for Unity and Liberation.

Students said the merger doesn’t make sense because Africana studies concerns itself with the African diaspora, while African studies focus on the African continent.

Penn, in an email to students, said the changes were precipitated by a number of eliminations in federal funding.

Some students, however, questioned the school’s motives, since the Africa Center employed only three staff members and Penn is in the process of opening a new center in Beijing.

to requests for comment.

The incident was reported as required to the federal government and will be reviewed by a Department of Agriculture veterinary medical officer during the next inspection, media relations specialist Min Pullan said. The last routine inspection in September 2014 found no violations, she added.

The Department of Agriculture did not respond to requests for comment.

As a result, SAEN filed a complaint with the Department of Agriculture, alleging unqualified personnel and improper enclosures at the University’s laboratory. SAEN is seeking that the University pay the maximum penalty of $10,000 per infraction per animal.

“The documentation which we have obtained relevant to Princeton indicates that there See MONKEYS page 3

STUDENT LIFE NATALIA CHEN :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Admitted students peruse different campus organizations as part of Princeton Preview on Monday.

{ Feature }

Requests to view admission files surge since January

By Ruby Shao associate news editor

Over 300 students have filed requests to view their admission files under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act since Jan. 15, according to Senior Associate Dean of the College Claire Fowler.

FERPA became a federal law in 1974 to guarantee students a right of access to their educational records and to protect those records from disclosure to third parties.

The flood of requests began after an anonymous satirical newsletter at Stanford University called the Fountain Hopper publicized a process for requesting admission files under FERPA. Members of the Fountain Hopper did not respond to requests for comment.

The number of students who followed through with viewing their files as of April 13 was 137, according to a WASS calendar maintained by the Of-

fice of the Dean of the College called “FERPA File Review.” In March, when the first appointments began, 97 students did so.

Students have one hour to view their files at West College.

The file includes an introductory statement entitled “The Admissions Process,” a packet called “Joint Statement for Candidates on Common Ivy League Admission Procedure,” emails related to the student’s FERPA request, the reader scorecard, the alumni interviewer’s report, test score summary sheets, a copy of the high school transcript and recommendations that the student did not waive his rights to.

Interviewed students said they heard about the phenomenon from online articles and friends, and requested their files to gain insight into an opaque admission process and to learn why they were accepted to the University.

Emily Tu ’16 and Jacob Scheer ’15 said they wanted to revisit their high school trajectories by reviewing copies of their applications as well.

Anna Leader ’18, who lives in Luxembourg, said she hoped to help her sister, a junior at a school that rarely sends graduates to American colleges.

“I wanted to go find out if there was anything I could find out from records which would tell me what helped me get in so that I could tell her, since she’s starting to panic about applications,” she said.

The admission process begins with a randomly selected first reader who summarizes everything he or she sees in the file, Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye explained. The file then passes on to a second reader, the regional admission officer, who takes a broader perspective of how the student appears in the context of their educational backgrounds.

The most promising files go See FERPA page 4

USG launches ‘As I Am’ body campaign

By Katherine Oh staff writer

The Undergraduate Student Government’s Undergraduate Student Life Committee launched its “As I Am” campaign for eating disorder awareness on campus on Saturday.

Students can participate in the program in a variety of ways, including registering at a “Wellness Walkthrough” to learn about ways to eat nutritiously in the University’s dining halls, consulting with campus nutritionist and eating disorders specialist Victoria Rosenfeld or having their photos taken in the USG office.

Rosenfeld did not respond to a request for comment.

“In the beginning, I don’t think we really envisioned it as a campaign,” USLC chair Kathy Chow ’17 said.

“We were like, ‘How can we help?’ because it’s a problem on campus, especially since Princeton has such a perfectionist culture, and we often socialize over food.”

Ashley Hatcher ’15, a USLC member working on

the campaign with Chow, said she has realized eating and body issues are bigger problems than she previously thought.

“I think it’s important to raise awareness so that other students realize that this is a problem that a lot of students have encountered, and for people to realize how they might be contributing to the problem, or how they could solve that problem,” Hatcher said.

Hatcher added that, as long as issues like eating disorders are stigmatized, people will be discouraged from actively seeking help when they need it. Hatcher likened “As I Am” to Mental Health Week in that both initiatives show problems to be more common than people think, as well as encourage open discussion of issues among students.

After identifying concerns with eating and body image on campus as a problem, USLC reached out to University Health Services and the Women’s Center to discuss ways to effectively address the issue.

See USG page 3

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

Muslim comedian talks anti-Arab sentiment

By Jacob Donnelly news editor

Only 21 percent of Americans view Muslims favorably, and the media narrative needs to begin reflecting Muslims’ positive contributions to society, Muslim comedian Dean Obeidallah said at a lecture on Monday.

“Before 9/11, I was a white guy,” Obeidallah said. “I used to get comments, sometimes nice, sometimes not, but never the same as before 9/11. Before 9/11, if I said I was Arab, people were like, ‘Whatever.’ Now it’s like, ‘Oh you’re Arab, I love hummus.’ It’s like, ‘Oh you’re Arab, you look normal.’ ” Much of the worsened attitude toward Muslim Americans has been due to the media fo-

cus on al-Qaeda, ISIS and Boko Haram, Obeidallah said, noting that only .02 percent of all Muslims have any affiliation with ISIS. Most prejudice against Muslim Americans isn’t the product of historical racism, he added. “[My hometown, Lodi, N.J.,] was a very Italian town,” Obeidallah, who is half-Sicilian and half-Palestinian, said. “My mom’s Catholic, my dad’s Muslim; we were raised with both faiths. It was never an issue there, ever.”

Politicians, however, continue to capitalize on 9/11, which explains why anti-Muslim bias shows up most in polls around elections, Obeidallah said.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal See LECTURE page 2

CHRISTOPHER FERRI :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Muslim comedian Dean Obeidallah talked about religious prejudice and media sensationalism on Monday.

The Daily Princetonian

page 2

Tuesday april 14, 2015

Prejudice against Muslims not a product of historical racism, says Obeidallah LECTURE Continued from page 1

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in particular has continued to repeat claims about the existence of ‘no-go zones’ in Europe, where Muslims supposedly rule using sharia law, he added, noting that Fox News has apologized four times for making the claims.

Obeidallah said that, because he has a Caucasian appearance, people biased against Muslims have told him things they would normally only mention to likeminded people, including remarks about the desire to kill Arab people.

While a small proportion of people happen to be both Muslim and bad, nearly all of the media’s attention is directed toward this group, he said. Even this coverage tends to ignore the fact that ISIS’ violence is overwhelmingly

directed against other Muslims and that Muslim terrorists tend to be motivated by the message that Muslims are being killed by various forces rather than the literal text of the Qu’ran.

The Qu’ran does not advocate for violence, and in cases in which violence is depicted by the prophet Muhammad, this should not be read literally to encourage violence, he added. The Qu’ran has been subject to non-literal interpretation throughout its history and this is the proper mode for reading it, he explained.

Also concerning is the existence of “professional anti-Muslim bigots” who have recently paid over $100,000 to purchase anti-Muslim ads in major American cities, he said. Jesus’ Arabic background is also frequently ignored, he added.

“I’m going to be honest, it’s not Democrats, it’s Republicans,”

he said. “How many of you have heard about sharia law … which Republicans think we want to impose in America? How are we going to overpower the rest of you and impose sharia? … To them, Jesus was born in Iowa and wrapped in an American flag and was taken home in a pickup truck listening to Toby Keith.”

Sharia law varies widely from country to country and says more about the cultures of the countries that choose to impose it than Muslim people themselves, who are found all over the world and have a variety of ethnic backgrounds, he said.

Obeidallah said that when he talked to President Barack Obama, he told him that Democrats need to stop remaining silent on the issue of Muslim rights and that the radical rhetoric surrounding Islam in the United States would continue

to contribute to violence against Muslims. Six days later, he said, three Muslims were “executed point blank” in North Carolina, an attack he attributed to antiMuslim bias.

Mostly, however, the United States continues to be mired in ignorance about Muslim people and Islam, he said.

Last summer, a poll came out showing that only 32 percent of Americans had at least one Muslim friend, a number which has somewhat inexplicably dropped to 24 percent recently, he said.

Most people are getting their view of Muslims and Islam from television, he explained. “[In the wake of the attacks in Canada,] CNN used this term saying, ‘We think [the attacker] suffered from sudden jihad syndrome,’ ” Obeidallah said. “I’m not making this up … Suddenly, you become a jihadist. You don’t

even know what happened.”

Obeidallah expressed his belief that someone should start an “adopt a Muslim” program so Americans have more contact with Muslim people. In contrast, people in the Arab world enjoy American chains and entertainment and show an immense interest in American culture, he said.

Muslims in America should continue to make a mockery of bigots, which is one of the most effective ways to reduce antiMuslim prejudice along with Muslims contributing more to the media and entertainment industries, he said.

Obeidallah also recalled some humorous interactions about his Muslim background and time traveling in the Arab world. “ ‘Insha’Allah’ means anything that happens in the future — even things God doesn’t care about — is God willing,” he said.

“I was at a restaurant in Jordan one summer, and I asked the waiter, ‘Where’s the bathroom?’ and he goes, ‘It’s over there.’ I said, ‘I’ll be right back.’ He said, ‘Insha’Allah.’ ” He also joked about so-called “Insha’Allah time.”

“You have Princeton time, which is 10 minutes late,” he said. “We have Insha’Allah time … Muslim event starting at 7 o’clock, it’s like 9:30, ‘I think we’re going to give it a shot.’ ” He also recalled being in Jordan and seeing ashtrays next to treadmills and advertisements from Jordan’s medical association telling smokers “not to be quitters.”

The event took place at Whig Hall at 7 p.m. and was sponsored by the American Whig-Cliosophic Society, the Muslim Life Program and the Council of the Humanities.

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The Daily Princetonian

Tuesday april 14, 2015

60 to 70 students visit UHS every year for body image issues, says Boudette USG

Continued from page 1

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USLC member Carly Jackson ’16 said that working with UHS helped the committee determine what kinds of projects would be plausible.

“We feel comfortable going to [UHS] if we have questions about what might be triggering, or what might be helpful or unhelpful,” Jackson said.

UHS Eating Disorders Treatment Team Coordinator Robin Boudette said that she hopes to promote a widespread body acceptance, and ultimately, self-acceptance on campus. Boudette added that body dissatisfaction can lead to dieting, and dieting is the universal precursor to eating disorders.

“What we see here on campus is that problems of negative body image and bad body talk really drains students of emotional resources. They have a negative impact on performance and relationships, and really takes away from quality of life,” Boudette explained.

“We’re hoping to broaden what’s acceptable in terms of body size, and even celebrate body size diversity in the same way that other forms of diversity are welcomed.”

Approximately 60 to 70 students visit UHS each year to talk about eating disorders, food, weight or body image, Boudette said. While not all of these students have been diagnosed with eating disorders, each person requires a different level of help, from nutritional counseling to working with medical professionals.

“Over the course of four years, students get well, they recover,” Boudette

said. “They use resources on campus and off campus. The majority of our students actually do quite well. So it’s encouraging that they can be free of these issues and problems if they have proper attention and care and support.”

As part of the campaign, USLC has organized guided tours through the dining halls to let students know ways to eat a healthy, balanced diet on campus.

Rosenfeld is also offering

“What we see here on campus is that problems of negative body image and bad body talk really drains students of emotional resources.”

Robin Boudette,

UHS Eating Disorders Treatment Team Coordinator

walk-in office hours for students to stop by and share their concerns or seek advice.

During the week, posters around campus will display anonymous student quotes about their experiences related to eating and/or body image.

In addition, USLC is sharing photos of students holding up signs with their personal answer to the question, “What do you feel about your body and why?”

Deana Davoudiasl ’16, who participated in the photo shoot, said that it is important to show support for students who are dealing with insecurities even

if one doesn’t know how to eliminate their pain.

“I feel like body image is something that affects everyone,” Davoudiasl said. “I think it’s really rare that you don’t think about your body at all. I would hope that more students would participate to show solidarity with others who are struggling with serious eating concerns.”

Hatcher said student participation in the campaign has exceeded her expectations so far.

“As it is with any other event, it’s very hard the first time around, to gain support until it’s a recognized event,” Hatcher said. “We received a lot of really incredible stories. People wrote a lot. They didn’t just write little sentences — it was people really sharing their experiences.”

Chow noted that because USLC is a small group, it has been able to finish projects very quickly. While working with UHS or the Women’s Center went smoothly, Chow said that the one difficulty was trying to get the men on campus involved, since eating or body image problems are not just limited to students who identify as female.

Boudette noted that peers have an important role to play in addressing issues related to eating or body image. First of all, students should understand that bad body talk can be destructive, and be careful not to engage in such conversations or to challenge them when the matter does get discussed.

Secondly, Boudette added, friends can help their friends who are struggling with eating or body image problems by pointing them to the right resources, such as Directors of Student Life or UHS.

U. asked to pay $10,000 per animal MONKEYS Continued from page 1

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is a serious level of negligence there,” Michael Budkie, SAEN’s executive director, said. “If laboratories like Princeton can’t accomplish very basic requirements like keeping animals in the cages, then why should we believe they can do science?”

The caged male marmoset received superficial wounds and bruising, according to the University’s documentation, and the escaped male marmoset sustained injuries that required veterinary care. Both animals received treatment and healed without complications.

An outside firm retained by the University launched an investigation to determine how the animals escaped from the caging, the University’s report said. Multiple individuals had reportedly been in and out of the room the day before the incident. However, an exact

cause for the escape could not be determined.

While the University’s report did not name the experimenter involved, Alka Chandna, a PETA senior laboratory oversight specialist who has helped to file other ethical complaints against the University over its treatment of marmoset monkeys, alleged that the incident took place in the lab of psychology professor Asif Ghazanfar.

Ghazanfar declined to comment.

“This is not the first time and not the second time this has happened,” Chandna said.

“To our knowledge, this is the third and maybe fourth time that his laboratory has been called to question for problems and abuse of animals. … I think he really should be called to account for what is going on.”

Students interviewed said the University should deal with the allegations over its treatment of animals.

“I personally think that

Princeton should make an explanation for why this happened,” Ogulcan Bayol ’18 said.

Alexandra Eakes ’17 said she is in support of scientific research using animals, but she said she does not support a careless lab.

“There is incompetence and negligence at Princeton laboratories, and PETA has called on them to relocate the marmosets,” Chandna said. “There have been 23 animal welfare violations at Princeton University since 2009.”

Chandna said the University was to blame for not taking decisive enough action to resolve the allegations against it.

“The administration at Princeton seems to be more interested in sweeping problems under the rug,” she said.

Budkie, however, said the animal research system in general was at fault as well.

“The bottom line is that the animal research system is essentially broken beyond repair,” he said.

page 3

ACTIVITIES FAIR

NATALIA CHEN :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

An admitted student browses the various booths at the Activities Fair during Princeton Preview. There were approximately 180 student groups present at the event for prospective students in the Class of 2019.

page 4

The Daily Princetonian

Tuesday april 14, 2015

Students surprised by few quantitative metrics in disclosed admission records

PREVIEW

FERPA

Continued from page 1

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YICHENG SUN :: PHOTO EDITOR

Admitted students mingle in the Wilson College courtyard as part of Princeton Preview on Monday.

to committee for discussion and voting, Rapelye said.

“The question we’re always asking is, ‘Has this student taken advantage of everything in his or her setting?’ ” Rapelye said.

Based on interviews and a file review conducted by The Daily Princetonian, the first reader recommends an action for the second reader on a scale of four or five options, including “Unlikely,” “Only if Room,” “Strong Interest” and “High Priority.”

The second reader may disagree with the first reader.

Leigh Anne Schriever ’16 noted that her first reader had circled one option and that the second reader drew an arrow bumping her up to “admit.”

Evan Kratzer ’16 said his first reader looked more at his extracurriculars, while his second reader focused on his alumni interview and potential for creating projects on campus.

Several students expressed surprise at the low number of quantitative metrics.

“I thought it was notable that your SAT scores don’t come up at all on the two-page sheet that’s your summary of who you are, effectively,” Kratzer said.

On the other hand, Leader said her readers briefly mentioned her test scores as flawless.

“It just seemed like it was a requirement you have to clear before they look at other stuff, so if you hit a certain bar, then they’re just like, ‘Oh, her test scores are good enough, let’s think about other things that she does,’ and I’d like to know where that bar lies,” she said.

Leader said the readers were much nicer than she anticipated.

“I was expecting them to be really critical, because they get a lot of amazing applicants, so I didn’t think my application was particularly standout, but they seemed really positive,” she said.

Roger Van Peski ’18 said his readers predicted he would be a good math major who could branch out into other activities due to his well-roundedness. “ ‘An interesting candidate, I’m sure Roger would be welcomed over in Fine Hall,’ ” he said his first reader wrote.

He said the second wrote, “ ‘While his ECAs [extracurriculars] are largely academic (and we don’t see any for 9th, before he enrolled at MSSM [his high school]), he has gotten involved in badminton, key club and student government.

Roger has a lot of promise and seems like one to consider.’ ” Tu said she was impressed by the solid grasp of her personality that the readers demonstrated in their summaries and said all of the comments were generous.

But for Scheer and Schriever, the files included some unfavorable remarks.

“Confident, self-assured and dedicated young man. His path from insecure 9th grader to mature warrior … his commitments to all that he does and his potential contributions to the [Center for Jewish Life] are clear. But are they enough in the end?” Scheer said, paraphrasing his first reader’s comments.

The comments pointed out that, while he was a strong B.S.E. candidate, he was a B/ B+ student in English and history.

Scheer paraphrased his second reader as having written, “Dale Carnegie-esque isn’t my cup of tea, but does seem like a young man who’s going places.”

Schriever said her interviewer had asked her to describe one of her greatest challenges to overcome. According to Schriever, her first reader wrote, “ ‘Self-described shy and quiet, star fourth paragraph,’ ” referencing the fourth paragraph of a report in which the interviewer expressed concern about Schriever’s answer.

Schriever said she felt the reader’s comment implied a negative judgment.

The interview reports apparently played a significant role

for several students, including Nathan Suek ’17, Kratzer and Scheer.

“I had a suspicion that it was my interview that pushed me over the edge because I didn’t get into other universities of similar caliber,” Scheer said. “And my hunch actually turned out to be correct, that my interviewer wrote a raving description of me and said that she would highly recommend

“There’s no harm in reading it. Just don’t go in with high expectations.”

Nathan Suek ’17 me to be a student here.”

Schriever said her readers focused on her underrepresented geographic origin and her very strong teacher recommendations.

“The second reader’s comment was, ‘Neat and ambitious young lady from a county from which we admit few, who seems to be yearning for a chance to be pushed harder.

Not much more we could ask of her in context,’ ” she said.

The readers underlined parts of Schriever’s application that they found most interesting, such as her residence in rural New Jersey, her co-presidency in debate club and the low percentage of students from her high school that attend fouryear colleges, she added.

Kratzer, who said he was curious about how his status as half-Asian and a legacy might factor into the admission process, noted he found no evidence of either issue influencing the decision.

Yuan said he thought during the application process that, as an Asian applicant, he needed to distance himself from stereotypes of being Asian.

“I didn’t really see them evaluate me in the context of me being Asian at all, so I’m still convinced that that happens, but I don’t know how,” he said.

When asked how the Office of Admission accepts similar percentages of students from certain demographics every year, Rapelye said readers apply institutional priorities, which are set by the president, the Board of Trustees and the faculty.

“A difference of five to 10 students in any one of our categories is actually a very big difference for us,” Rapelye said.

“Ten more female engineers makes a big difference in our pool. It seems like a small number to you, but it’s not a small number for us. And that’s true of any of the institutional priorities we have.”

Fowler added that the Office of Admission uses guiding principles rather than compar-

“The bottom line is we value all of you on this campus for what you are doing now, and when we admitted you we saw potential and promise for a strong performance.”

Janet Rapelye,

dean of admission

ative practices.

“The students who apply here are so interesting and so well-rounded and so multifaceted that they cross so many different categories that the Office of Admission looks at every student as an individual, not as representing any particular category,” she said.

Suek said he was waitlisted after his first reader strongly recommended him, even though one of his friends was accepted regular decision after being marked as “Only if Room,” an inconsistency that confused him and made him wonder who gets the final say

in admission decisions.

Suek, Schriever and Van Peski expressed interest in seeing transcriptions of the discussions about their applications.

However, committee conversations are not recorded and no written admission records exist aside from those provided through FERPA, Rapelye said.

If students waived their rights to see recommendations, the Office of Admission hired people to remove anything written about the letters, Rapelye noted. Any comments about other students were redacted, such as in an email from a guidance counselor updating the University about multiple applicants from one school, she added.

At an undetermined future date, the FERPA files will be destroyed. The University once had a longstanding policy of giving students’ essays, college application and transcript to the residential colleges for advising purposes, Rapelye explained. The Office of Admission would then destroy the reader workcards and everything else in the file at the end of every year, since the information would have been unnecessary and expensive to store.

However, eight years ago, the Office for Civil Rights began a compliance review, investigating the University after a student claimed that his admission process had been unfair. Rapelye said her office has kept its records throughout this timeline, but will return to the original policy barring any other resolution.

Stanford and Yale Law School have begun destroying their files since the Fountain Hopper launched the FERPA phenomenon.

All of the interviewed students said they would recommend that curious classmates request their files.

“For a lot of people who wind up here, they don’t know why they’re here or feel that they don’t belong, and I think it’s a good affirmation for most people that they do belong here, and somebody had faith in them when they read these essays,” Schriever said.

Leader said reading the file can empower and reinvigorate students by reminding them they did great things in high school and that they will continue to do so. If students discover discouraging comments, they can just prove the admission officers’ expectations wrong by excelling on campus, she said. “[My readers] both said, ‘Sounds like a great admit to the Class of 2018,’ which felt very nice. I left there feeling that I was supposed to be here,” Leader said.

On the other hand, several said that they found the contents underwhelming.

“There’s no harm in reading it. Just don’t go in with high expectations. I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to change my perspective on admissions decisions,’ and it really doesn’t,” Suek said, adding that he still finds the admission process very mysterious.

However, Rapelye and Fowler noted that the timing of the requests was particularly difficult.

“A lot of the requests have hit when admissions is at its height. It has been very hard for us. I wish I had been able to dedicate that time to other responsibilities,” Fowler said, adding that the admissions files are no longer valuable or relevant.

The files have occupied both of her assistants’ time, she noted. A number of full-time employees have been hired to help manage the FERPA requests, Rapelye added.

Contrary to what students might believe, there is no secret to the admission process, Rapelye said.

“I realize you all may be somewhat interested, but the bottom line is we value all of you on this campus for what you are doing now, and when we admitted you we saw potential and promise for a strong performance,” she said. “What we care about is what you’re doing now.”

Why the ‘As I Am Campaign’ is important Kelly Hatfield columnist

T

here is perhaps no way to accurately convey the experience of living with an eating disorder, but over the course of the past seven years the best way I have discovered to (concisely) convey the point has been to describe a pernicious “voice” that is simultaneously mine and not mine that whispers self-loathing offers of faux control into my consciousness. Eating disorders are even difficult to describe scientifically as a grouping, for they are a strange breed of disease with three distinct subsets — anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder — that manifest differently. One thing that they share, however, is the capacity to ruin lives and to generate a range of related mental and physical illnesses; anorexia specifically has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. They are borne from a whole host of factors working together, ranging from the micro level of possible genetic variations on individual chromosomes to the macro level of enormous societal pressures to achieve bodily “perfection.”

Recently, USG announced the imminent launch of the As I Am Campaign, intended to “start a discussion about these topics [of nutrition, body image and eating disorders] on campus, as well as to publicize campus resources available to help.”

Students were allowed to anonymously submit stories of their own online and were also invited to take part in a photo campaign intended to promote a larger dialogue. The bulk of the project has yet to be publicized, but I am hopeful for its impact for a number of reasons.

For one, As I Am does not put forth lofty but unreasonable goals of eliminating the existence of eating disorders on campus altogether, however ideal that would be. By allowing information from registered dieticians in McCosh to be dissipated, however, this goal of a conversation and education can be achieved in a way that does not rely on the often-damaging reaches of the Internet and that gives support to friends and families of those suffering. Many such individuals, although well-intentioned, may take actions that might prove to be counterproductive — for instance, they might ask “Why don’t you just eat more/ less?” or “Why don’t you just stop purging?” instead of simply letting their loved one know that they see them suffering and that they will support and listen to them.

By generating a series of questions and answers, a more productive and supportive dialogue can commence between those suffering directly from the eating disorder and their friends, families and peers.

More salient, I think, is the fact that the component from McCosh adds a counterbalance to the mainstream portrayal of eating disorders that occurs most drastically on pro-eating disorder websites and in the wider media. Some of the literature I’ve read from survivors and some of my own work that I have written during and after my own battles tend to construct a dramatic narrative that neglects the clinical precision and monotony of it all. This dramatic narrative exists, yes, because the experience is one fraught with turbulence in everyday minutiae, but I think the f lip side is just as important to convey. By offering “soundbites” of experiences, alongside more objective advice from professionals, a certain balance can perhaps be struck by the As I Am campaign. This duality of emotional expressiveness and objective reality could help to further elucidate the experiences of fellow students and engender a greater understanding of what it means to be suffering from an eating disorder. Such a degree of empathy cannot be understated, because that can be the key in prompting someone to reach out and seek help. The As I Am campaign cannot solve everything, nor can it create a universal understanding. But it’s a step in the right direction, and it’s about time this step is being taken.

For anyone who is suffering from an eating disorder, I encourage you to reach out to someone. Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) can be reached to make an appointment at (609) 258-3285 from 8:45 to 4:45 Monday through Friday, and After-Hours Care is offered through the Infirmary 24/7. It can be reached at (609) 258-3139.

The National Eating Disorder Association also has a helpline that runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays. Its number is 1-800-931-2237. Its website also has links for those trying to seek outside help.

Both resources are also available for those seeking to help a loved one.

Kelly Hatfield is a sophomore from Medford, Mass. She can be reached at kellych@princeton. edu.

Opinion

Tuesday april 14, 2015

page 5

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Home

Matthew Choi Taitano

contributing columnist

W

hat is home? According to the famous American poet Maya Angelou, it is, “the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

As the semester comes to a close and many students have begun to solidify their summer plans, I have repeatedly asked myself this question. Although I have already been offered an internship back at home, I find myself continuously looking at other internship programs to replace it. And talking to my friends, it appears that I am not alone.

The repeated trend I hear is: “I just can’t be home the entire summer.”

Why do we feel the need to replace our homes, the places where we’ve grown up for most, if not all, of our entire lives? For some students, staying home may simply be boring compared to a thrilling internship in a far off country or in the heart of a bustling metropolis like New York. However, for many, the problem stems from something deeper.

After all, doesn’t home offer us a place to escape the constant questioning and competition that we are sometimes inclined to feel at a competitive school like Princeton?

It appears that even outside of FitzRandolph gate, Princeton students are

vol. cxxxix

not able to evade this judgment. Students are afraid of the stigma that comes with being home for the entire summer.

While Princeton’s employment rate is higher than most other schools, with 86.6 percent of the Class of 2013 achieving their post graduation plans six months after graduating, there are still a significant 13.4 percent of Princeton graduates who are unsatisfied with how things turn out.

With this in mind, it is no wonder that many students fear looking unproductive compared to their peers who are participating in intense jobs or research over the summer. As Princeton students, we might feel that we cannot afford to waste any of our time, even if we’re on breaks.

This fear becomes exacerbated for low-income first generation students.

To these students, they might fear that going home would be a symbol of failure to their family. A full ride to an Ivy League school is a golden ticket, a way to escape and achieve the desired socioeconomic mobility encapsulated in the American Dream. To go back home for the summer while our peers are out in the world doing great things is to admit defeat.

Furthermore, for these students, home may not be the “safe place” that Angelou was thinking of. To some, home might be a place filled with the memories of struggles and tribulations.

When I went back home for winter re-

cess, it was bittersweet. Although I was happy to see my family and friends again, I was also saddened to revisit the poor conditions to which my family has been subjected for my entire life. I couldn’t imagine having to be in a place like that again for almost four months.

After being at Princeton, a place with a myriad of resources, I have become confused as to where my true home is. Is it back at my run-down house in Guam?

Or my little dorm room in Wilson?

College is a strange time in our lives, when we have to move from our nests and are forced to discover the world for ourselves. However, I sometimes wonder if I will ever be able to call Princeton my home. With recent events on campus involving students of color making claiming, “Princeton was never made for students like me,” I wonder where home will be throughout the rest of my years here.

No matter whether I’m in Princeton, Guam or somewhere else, I feel that I cannot escape the expectations placed upon me. It’s as if I’m in this limbo state of homelessness, unable to truly feel comfortable wherever I am, and I don’t know how to feel about that. I guess all I can do is to continue my Princeton career with the hopes that I’ll be able to figure it out along the way.

Matthew Choi Taitano is a freshman from Yigo, Guam. He can be reached at mtaitano@ princeton.edu.

new heights

Grayson Shepperd ’16 ..................................................

Anna Mazarakis ’16 editor-in-chief

Matteo Kruijssen ’16 business manager

139th managing board news editor Jacob Donnelly ’17 opinion editor Benjamin Dinovelli ’16 sports editor Miles Hinson’17 street editor Lin King ’16 photography editor Yicheng Sun ’16 video editor Leora Haber ’16 web editor Clement Lee ’17 chief copy editors Caroline Congdon ’17 Joyce Lee ’17 design editors Austin Lee’16 Julia Johnstone’16 prox editor Rebekah Shoemake ’17 intersections editor Jarron McAllister ’16 associate news editors Ruby Shao ’17 Jasmine Wang ’17 associate opinion editors Jason Choe ’17 Shruthi Deivasigmani’16 associate sports editors Sydney Mandelbaum ’17 Tom Pham ’17 associate street editors Harrison Blackman ’17 Jennifer Shyue ’17 associate photography editors Tiffany Chen ’16 Christopher Ferri ’18 Sewheat Haile ’17 associate chief copy editors Chamsi Hssaine ’16 Alexander Schindele-Murayama ’16 editorial board chair Jeffrey Leibenhaut ’16 Cartoons Editor Terry O’Shea ’16

NIGHT STAFF 4.13.15 senior copy editor Summer Ramsay-Burrough ’17

Newby Parton columnist

T

he Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, rates universities on their commitment to free speech. Green is good, yellow is cause for concern, and Princeton earns a “Code Red.” It is the lowest score that FIRE gives.

I have never actually seen the University encroach on free speech.

I do not expect it will ever need to, because students are censoring speech better than the University could. Take Urban Congo. On Saturday, April 4, the group put on a performance that some people did not like. Those people shouted on social media and on these very pages of the Daily Princetonian. By Monday, April 7, the group had disbanded.

I want us to take pause at its demise. The percussion group eschewed traditional instruments for objects like “wet floor” signs — that is, the kind of objects you would see in an urban environment. They juxtaposed their urban edge with the loincloths they wore, a dress far removed from the modern city.

Shout loud for censorship The resulting display was pleasantly anachronistic and, to some, intolerably offensive.

It was not quite clear just who was supposed to be offended by the performance. A ‘Prince’ column published the next day reported that the group was “deemed inappropriate by many, citing disrespect for multiple African and Native American cultures.” If these vastly different cultures can both find offense, then Urban Congo’s performances did not target any one group in particular.

Yes, “Congo” is the name of a river in Africa, but no, naming your group after a river does not constitute racism. Anthropologists say that all humans lived in Africa 60,000 years ago, so I thought that the name, like the loincloths, was a nod to a lineage we all share. This is what my ancestors would have done with a “wet floor” sign, I imagined.

Maybe I was wrong about the name — as frequent readers know, I am wrong a lot. Maybe the group’s fiercest critics are correct and the “Congo” in “Urban Congo” refers to one of two African countries. If true, the percussion group borrowed from a particular culture, which has

stirred up talk of “cultural appropriation.” It is a negative term whose usage spiked in 1985. Before that, the mixing of cultures in America was called the melting pot, and it was a good thing.

I am not saying that Urban Congo was good. But neither was it “the heart of darkness,” as Nicolas Wu ’18 accuses in his April 7 column. He calls on the University to examine clubs more stringently before approving them, in order to suppress anything considered objectionable.

The Merriam-Webster definition of “censoring,” by the way, is “to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable.”

I do not know when it became trendy to beg for censorship, but this rhetoric should stop. We must not sacrifice our own First Amendment rights to avoid offense, because folks, no one has the right not to be offended.

This doesn’t mean we should be jerks. I argued in a Jan. 4 column that we should make a conscious effort to understand how others feel. I still believe that, but loving your neighbor is a personal responsibility. Silencing offensive speech, on the other

hand, solves nothing that can’t be solved by growing thicker skin.

I hope I am not irking the people who feel victimized by Urban Congo. I may not understand why you took offense, but I understand that you did, and I recognize that those feelings are valid. I have offered my perception of the group not to denounce you, but to show that other valid feelings exist also. Ideally, we would have resolved our different feelings with constructive dialogue.

What is cultural appropriation, and why is it bad? What is art, and when is it good to blend cultures and caricatures? We did not determine the answer to these questions, and if our calls for censorship are heard, we will never be able to do so.

The faculty recently updated “Rights, Rules, Responsibilities” to affirm students’ right to free speech.

Now we should affirm this right for ourselves. If students sidestep dialogue and shame others into conformity, then our ability to speak freely is little more than a paper promise.

Newby Parton is a freshman from McMinnville, Tenn. He can be reached at newby@princeton.edu.

page 6

The Daily Princetonian

Tuesday april 14, 2015

ROTC-in-Training

by Karen Ku :: Senior Photographer This weekend, cadets from the University’s Tiger Battalion joined cadets from Rutgers Battalion and Seton Hall Battalion to conduct ROTC’s annual spring training exercises known as JFTX. The four-day event took place at Fort Dix, NJ. Cadets completed various technical, physical, mental and leadership challenges, including an elaborate training exercise that required them to infiltrate a hypothetical hostile area in order to support a friendly local government against rebel forces. The infiltration exercise itself was broken up into smaller missions that ranged from raids to ambushes to key leader engagements. Cadets used real weapons firing blanks and carried full ruck sacks to mirror field conditions.

The Daily Princetonian

Tuesday april 14, 2015

Tigers hope to overcome low ranking to win it all M. GOLF

Continued from page 8

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

looking to them coming towards the end of the season and making a run at Ivies and hopefully nationals.”

But with the Princeton Invitational complete, the Ivy League Championship and potentially the NCAA National Championship are the only events left on the schedule. Princeton will enter the Championship ranked

fifth in the Ivy League behind Dartmouth, Columbia, Harvard and Yale. Pulling out the victory will require a strong performance from the whole team as the Tigers’ team scoring average is a full 10 strokes higher than Yale’s, who will

enter the tournament hot off their Princeton Invitational victory.

But don’t count them out.

As Hedrick says, “The goal here is to win the Ivy League Championship every year.”

And this year is no exception.

Tigers prep for road trip to face Harvard, Brown WATER POLO Continued from page 8

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

slide heading into Sunday’s match. Facing Princeton, the odds were not in Notre Dame’s favor. Accordingly, the Tigers

opened on a deadly 5-0 run and dominated throughout the game to finish with 10-2 victory.

Sunday’s victory epitomized a team effort as seven players on the team netted goals, with sophomore center Morgan Hallock leading with three.

While the weekend may have been more optimal had the Tigers defeated Indiana, Princeton once again demonstrated strong teamwork, resilience and execution. To close out this highly successful regular season, the Tigers will face rivals Harvard

and Brown next weekend in Providence, R.I. Princeton has defeated both teams this season.

For the ultimate prize, however, Princeton will host the CWPA championships in two weeks, with hopes of putting the capstone victory on this season.

Columbia, Cornell to be last matches in the regular season TENNIS

Continued from page 8

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

DANIELA COSIO :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

With their weekend trip complete, the women’s tennis team has won five straight matches.

victory clinched a share of the Ivy League title for the women’s team.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will complete their Ivy League fixtures this weekend as the men’s host Columbia on Friday before travelling to Ithaca, New York, to face Cornell on Sunday whilst the women’s team play the opposite schedule, travelling to Columbia and hosting Cornell. Both teams will hope to close out their Ivy League matches with important victories.

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Sports

Tuesday april 14, 2015

page 8

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } TENNIS

Opposing results for men’s and women’s tennis over weekend

By Tom Pham

associate sports editor

YASH HUILGOL :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Men’s tennis couldn’t defend its home court against Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend.

Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams started their Ivy League season with three strong victories on the trot against Penn, Brown and Yale. However, their fortunes diverted this past weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard.

The men’s team (18-6 overall, 3-2 Ivy League) hosted their archrivals Dartmouth (11-10, 2-2) and Harvard (17-6, 3-1) at the Lenz Tennis Center this past weekend. The Tigers were favored for both matchups, ranking 30th in the nation compared to 54th for Dartmouth and 35th for Harvard.

However, their superior ranking did not show in two lackluster performances.

The Tigers lost 5-2 against Dartmouth, and coached Billy Pate was disappointed, saying: “We haven’t had many letdowns this year, but today wasn’t our best performance.”

Although the Tigers won the doubles point, they lost five singles games in a row and their only victory was via senior Dan Richardson’s 6-1, 7-6 (3) win over Max Schmidt.

The Harvard match was the third chapter of an evergrowing rivalry. The Tigers and the Crimson split their first two matchups, with Harvard winning in the ECAC Championship in February and Princeton winning in San Diego in March.

However, the victory once again went Harvard’s way in Sunday’s matchup, as the Crimson ran out 4-3 winners. The Tigers once again snatched the doubles point, but lost four of the six singles matches to disappointingly drop to 3-2 in the Ivy League. Impressive on the day were senior Zack McCourt and sophomore Tom Colautti, who beat the 10th ranked pairing of Denis Nguyen and Brian Yeung.

Colautti himself won his singles match, but McCourt was unable to beat 37th ranked Nguyen in their singles match, dropping the match 6-4, 6-3.

The 53rd ranked women’s team (11-7, 5-0) had much greater success, beating 37th ranked Dartmouth (15-5, 2-2) and 63rd ranked Harvard (7-9, 0-4) in their matchups. These victories put the Tigers firmly in the driver’s seat for the Ivy

League title, as they have mathematically guaranteed a shared-victory. Another victory next weekend will give the Tigers an automatic spot in the NCAA Championships.

After winning the Ivy League title last season on the back of a 7-0 season, the Tigers continue their fine form by dispatching favorites Dartmouth 4-3. The Tigers won the doubles point with victories by the pairings of senior and captain Lindsay Graff with sophomore Alanna Wolff and junior Amanda Muliawan with sophomore Dorothy Tang. Muliawan and Tang would go on to win their singles matchups as well, before senior Katie Goepel completed the 4-3 victory with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 victory on court six.

Against Harvard, the Tigers won five of their six singles games via Goepel, Tang, Wolff, Graff and freshman Katrine Steffensen after dropping the doubles point despite Muliawan and Tang winning another doubles matchup, to make it five unbeaten matches in a row for the pairing. This See TENNIS page 7

W O M E N ’ S W AT E R P O L O

Water polo goes 2-1 over weekend, still leads division

By David Liu contributor

With just two more games remaining in the regular season, No. 10 ranked Princeton (24-3 overall, 7-1 Collegiate Water Polo Association) hosted three days of water polo competition at DeNunzio Pool this past weekend. At the end of all the exhausting action, Princeton suffered an anguishing double overtime loss to Indiana University while earning victories over University of Michigan and Notre Dame College. Despite the loss to No. 16 Indiana, a conference rival, Princeton narrowly maintained its No. 1 record in the CWPA. Princeton entered this weekend well rested following a twoweek intermission from play.

The Tigers were also the clear team-to-beat, maintaining the No. 1 rank, a six-game win streak and home pool advantage. In fact, this weekend marked the

first home games for the Tigers since late February.

Friday’s matchup against Indiana generated the greatest hype over the weekend. The fierce rivalry erupted last year when the Hoosiers managed to deal Princeton a stinging 11-10 loss in the CWPA championships. In a rematch earlier this year, Indiana once again narrowly escaped with a 9-8 victory.

As promised, the matchup between the Hoosiers and the Tigers proved to be tight from the beginning. By the end of regulation, neither team had managed to pull away with a victory, with the game tied at 10-10, causing the game to enter overtime. In the first overtime, the Tigers scored first, thanks to senior utility Camille Hooks.

Indiana eventually evened out the score, but freshman utility Emily Smith scored a clutch goal to give the Tigers the lead with just 47 seconds remaining.

Unfortunately, the Hoosiers scored two devastating goals with 17 seconds remaining in second overtime before another late, late goal with 16 seconds left in sudden death to capture the game.

Despite Friday’s marathon, the weekend had just begun for the Tigers. On Saturday, Princeton faced another conference stronghold: No. 15 Michigan.

In a game of tight defense, the Tigers got back on track and defeated the Wolverines by a score of 9-7. Neither team obtained dominant leads throughout the match, revealing the close competition, but Princeton was able to finish strong. Junior goalie Ashleigh Johnson recorded an impressive 18 saves while senior utility Jessie Holechek scored three goals.

To round off the weekend, Princeton faced unranked Notre Dame. The struggling Falcons were in the midst of a five game See WATER POLO page 7

KIRA IVARSSON :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The only loss the water polo team faced was to Indiana, the same team that ended its season last year.

MEN’S GOLF

Men’s golf comes in 5th at Princeton Invitational, eyes league championships

By Gordon Moore contributor

The Princeton Invitational came to a close on Sunday with the Tigers moving up five spots to fifth place in the 13-team field. Princeton was +24 following Saturday’s round at Aronimink Golf Club but on Sunday at Merion Golf Club turned in the sec-

ond best team score of the day at +9, only behind Yale who won the tournament with an impressive +11 total. Also finishing ahead of Princeton were Seton Hall and Temple both at +26 and Rutgers at +30. The Tigers finished with a score of +33.

Individually, Princeton had two top-10 finishes, with sophomore Quinn Prchal

and freshman Marc Hedrick finishing eighth and ninth with two day scores of +3 and +4, respectively. The underclassmen have gotten off to a quick start this spring with Prchal, Hedrick and fellow freshman Michael Davis consistently leading the charge.

Commenting on the matter last week, Hedrick said, “I’d say that coming off the

offseason and this winter, Mike (Davis) and I are playing well because we have been able to get our games almost back to where they were in the fall quicker than most of the other guys on the team. A lot of golf is just who is playing better on a given day. I would expect to see some of the other guys on the team start playing a little better as

everyone shakes off the rust a little more.”

It appears as though the upperclassmen are still shaking off the rust, though, as sophomore Alex Dombrowski and Davis were Princeton’s only other top-50 finishers, finishing T-27 and T-41 respectively. But Hedrick thinks it’s premature to say that the underclassmen have

taken the reigns.

“I don’t think we have quite taken the reigns. Golf scores are so volatile and having just come off our offseason we are still working to get back into shape. Right now we may be scoring a little better but the older guys on the team are really close to jumping right back down there and we are See STORY page 7

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