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Thursday april 14, 2016 vol. cxxxix no. 47
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Drug arrests surge; policies stay the same By Jessica Li News editor
The number of documented drug-related violations that occurred at the University this academic semester has doubled compared to those recorded between February and April of 2015. All such violations with the exception of one case have resulted in the arrest of the offender, a marked departure from the combination of administrative referrals and arrests observed in the past. Four incidents of drug-related violations were recorded between February and April of 2015. Three of the four violations resulted in an administrative referral issued to the offender, according to the Department of Public Safety’s crime log. Only one violation resulted in an arrest. Since Feb. 5 of this year, there have been nine documented cases of drug-related violations. According to the daily crime log, no administrative referrals were issued
for these nine violations at all, except for one case, which resulted in multiple arrests. The one case that did not result in an arrest is still under investigation, according to the crime log. The arrests took place in various dorm buildings across campus. Director of Public Safety Paul Ominsky deferred comment to University Media Relations Specialist Min Pullan. Pullan said that fluctuations in the number of drugrelated arrests are a result of an increased number of calls to DPS. There have been 10 reports made to the DPS and other parties in charge about drugrelated violations since January 2016. However, despite the apparent surge in drug-related arrests, Pullan said, there have been no recent changes to the University’s policies or procedures. Current University policies in “Rights, Rules, See DRUGS page 2
LECTURE
Activist Vargas discusses immigration, empathy By Andie Ayala staff writer
At a lecture on Wednesday, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas explored how to develop empathy and understanding in an increasingly diverse country. “I traffic in empathy,” Vargas said. Since coming out as a gay, undocumented immigrant, Vargas has written about his story in numerous news publications, including the front cover ‘We Are Americans’ issue of Time Magazine. He has also founded the media and culture organization Define American, as a means of using the power of storytelling to address the politicized issue of immigration. Vargas noted that he is “here
illegally without government authorization”. According to Vargas, his Filipino mother paid for him to travel from the Philippines to the United States when he was 12, so that he could have a better life. His grandfather, who was already living in the US, arranged for him to have a fake Filipino passport, green card, and US social security number. He shared that when he had first publicized his story has an undocumented immigrant in the New York Times, he had made sure to pay all of his credit card bills, and pack his bags to prepare for the worst. He added that what he was not expecting was silence from the government. When he called the Department of Homeland See VARGAS page 4
SPRING IS HERE
MARIACHIARA FICARELLI :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR
With the arrival of spring, the campus has flowered with blossoms of all colors. STUDENT LIFE
SPEAR leads referendum to divest from private prisons By William Liu contributor
Princeton Students for Prison Education and Reform has submitted a referendum calling for the Council of the Princeton University Community and the Princeton University Investment Company to divest from private prisons. The referendum reads that the University should “dissociate and divest from corporations that draw profit from incarceration, drug control and immigrant deBEYOND THE BUBBLE
By Marcia Brown
A butterfly is taking a rest on a green leaf on a sunny day.
Michael Oppenheimer, professor in the Department of Geosciences and the Wilson School, filed an amicus curiae brief on early April in defense of the Clean Power Plan, to be ruled on this June. He filed this brief in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit case, along with 20 other climate scientists invested in the issue. The case, State of West Virginia, et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, challenges the federal agency’s ability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants under the Clean Power Plan. Twenty-four states, including New Jersey, are listed as plaintiffs,claiming that the EPA has overstepped its constitutional boundaries. The case could reverse Massachusetts v. EPA, a 2007 decision that upheld the EPA’s constitutionality to regulate greenhouse emissions. The Clean Power Plan is President Barack Obama’s latest leg-
In Opinion
Today on Campus
LISA GONG :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Contributing columnist Iris Samuels encourages the Jewish community to reflect on the marginalization of other students amidst a time of celebration, and Associate Opinion Editor Newby Parton proposes a new official motto to address the need for the University’s rebranding. PAGE 7
ple in prison. “While we can’t change the system right now, we can decide that it is against our university’s values to invest in a corrupt system of incentivized incarceration,” she added. According to data reported by the Department of Homeland Security, there have been rapid increases in the number of inmates held by private prisons. In 2005, 25 percent of immigrants in custody were held by private prisons, increased to 62 percent See SPEAR page 3 LECTURE
U. professor files amicus Bazelon brief in support of the discusses legal Clean Power Plan staff writer
BUTTERFLY
portation policies.” These corporations include Corrections Corporation of America, The GEO Group, G4S and financial entities that exclusively contract correctional facilities like Global Tel Link, JPay, Securus and Corizon, according to the referendum. Julie Chen ’17, co-president of SPEAR, noted via an emailed statement that when prisons are privatized, correction companies often lobby the government for higher mandatory minimums and bed quotas to keep more peo-
islative push to combat climate change. According to climatecentral.org, the plan will “cut carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired electric power plants by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030” and is central to the Paris climate agreement. In the brief co-signed by Oppenheimer, the coalition of scientists states that “evidence suggests that the continuing increase in greenhouse gas concentrations could have devastating effects around the world, including changes to the United States.” “The Clean Power Plan is the only current policy that can produce reductions in our country’s greenhouse gas emissions,” the brief read. According to Oppenheimer, whose extensive research on sea levels and migration was cited in the 2007 Supreme Court decision, the Clean Power Plan is a “landmark effort” that provides a comprehensive approach for the U.S. electricity sector to move away from coal and fossil fuels and proSee BRIEF page 5
4:30 p.m.: The Caesar Project, a photograph exhibition, will feature pictures of torture in Syria. The exhibition will be followed by a panel discussion. Robertson Hall, Dodds Auditorium
landscapes
By Kevin Agostinelli contributor
The increasingly political nature of prosecutors has transformed the country’s legal practices, journalist Emily Bazelon said in a lecture Wednesday. Bazelon is a Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer in Law and Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School and a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine. Bazelon noted how, after the general expansion of government administration capacity in the 1930s, the elected position of prosecutor began to evolve into a stepping-stone for a higher political office, citing Earl Warren, Robert F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani as examples. Bazelon said that when crime rates shot up in the 1960s and 1970s, the public backlash See BAZELON page 6
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Number of drug-related violations doubled this year, compared to 2015 DRUGS
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Responsibilities” state that the “University prohibits the unlawful manufacture, dispensation, possession, use, or distribution of a controlled substance of any kind in any amount on University property, or while in the conduct of University business away from the campus.” Penalties for drug-related offenses range from “warning to permanent separation from the University depending on the seriousness of the infraction.” The penalties also depend on the “degree to which violation of the policy adversely affects the well-being of the community or the fulfillment of the University’s educational mission.” The disciplinary measures taken are partly determined at the discretion of the officer at the scene, Pullan explained. “There still remains a combination of referrals and arrests relating to drug possession and use,” Pullan said. Pullan did not comment on
whether drug violations have become an enforcement priority for DPS. She noted that the University is required to abide by New Jersey drug laws, adding the Department of Public Safety must follow procedures established by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. Current New Jersey drug laws state that “possession of an illegal drug weighing 50 [grams] or less will have an incarceration of 6 months and a fine of $1000.” If the violation occurs within 1,000 feet from a school, depending on the amount of drug possessed by the offender, he or she faces a “penalty of an additional minimum 100 hours of community service and a fine.” The last administrative referral for drug-related violations was issued on Nov. 23, 2015, according to the crime log. Ten drug-related violations were documented between Sept. 18 and Dec. 18 of that year, four of which resulted in arrests, three in administrative referrals. Associate Chief Copy Editor Omkar Shende contributed reporting.
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Referendum sponsored by coalition of U. groups SPEAR
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today, with a total 80 percent increase in the number of people held by private prisons since 1999. However, Jonathan Burns, a spokesperson at Corrections Corporation of America, stated that his company helps keep communities safe and enrolls thousands of inmates every year in reentry programs to reduce recidivism. “It is CCA’s longstanding policy not to draft, lobby for or in any way promote policies that determine the basis or duration for an individual’s incarceration or detention,” Burns said. Chen noted that though SPEAR is the referendum’s sponsor, the divestment movement is represented by a broader coalition named Princeton Private Prison Divestment, since the privatization of prisons and detention facilities is an intersectional issue. “They consist of the DREAM Team, the Muslim Advocates for Social Justice and Individual Dignity, the Alliance for Jewish Progressives, the Black Justice League, the Princeton University Latinx Perspectives Organization and the Princeton College Democrats,” she said. The coalition is the organizer behind everything, she added. Safa Syed ’17, a member of MASJID, said in an emailed statement that private prisons violate the tenets of social justice and individual dignity that MASJID advocates for. “While some incarcerated people affected are Muslim, the fact that any people are incarcerated for profit is abhorrent to MASJID... MASJID supports the divestment campaign because we refuse to let our university be complicit,” she wrote. Kennedy O’Dell ’18, a member of the Princeton College Democrats, similarly voiced support for the referendum. “Students should be aware when human suffering and punishment are used to make a profit,” she said, “Students should ask themselves whether they are comfortable with the money they are paying in tuition being used for human punishment and containment for profit.” Money is a powerful capital that the University can use to send a message, she said. Burns, however, stated that divestment campaigns are increasingly shown to have no impact on the value of companies. “It’s unfortunate that activists would advocate against those benefits without themselves providing any solutions to the serious challenges our corrections systems face. Overcrowding and skyrocketing costs aren’t solved with politics and posturing,” he said. According to Undergraduate Student Government Chief Elections Manager Sung Won Chang ’18, should the referendum pass, a formal resolution will be drafted by the USG senate and submitted to the Princeton University Resources Committee by the USG president. This resolution would be submitted at some time between now and fall 2016. A fact sheet released by SPEAR notes that private prisons often fail to comply with detention standards upheld by government facilities. These practices often result in “difficulties in healthcare, violence against LGBTQ people, food availability, access to legal services, and sexual abuse,” according to the sheet. Additionally, the fact sheet notes that SPEAR is opposed to the intensive lobbying system that has placed so many politicians on the side of major forprofit prison corporations. In the past decade, the three largest such corporations have spent $45 million to support the passage of laws that have doubled revenue for these ventures, including mandatory sentencing minimums and bed quotas that increase the number of inmates and the duration of their sentences, the sheet reads. In July 2015, Columbia University became the first Ivy League school to divest from the private prison industry following lob-
bying by the student group Columbia Prison Divest. A total of $10 million was pulled out of the university’s estimated 220,000 shares in private correctional corporations. Following in Columbia’s stead, the University of California system divested $30 million in December 2015 from the same companies. Despite movements across college campuses, Burns stated that CCA has a greater share of investors who are thoughtful about his business. “Critics can continue to engage in ineffective tactics all they want; we’ll continue to do the hard work in our facilities of addressing the serious corrections and detention challenges America faces,” he said. So far, there is no opposition party for this referendum, according to Chang. The referendum will be voted on by the student body next Monday, April 18. In order to pass, a majority vote with a turnout of at least a third of undergraduate students is necessary.
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Vargas: Immigrant stories not yet integrated VARGAS
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Security to ask why they hadn’t deported him, DHS gave no comment. “I started thinking, that’s a metaphor for how most Americans think of us. No comment— as long as someone is mowing your lawn and baby-sitting your kids and cleaning your offices,” he said. “As a journalist, I’m aghast at how the media has covered the topic of immigration.” He explained that numerical facts and language are powerful in changing the mindsets of people. For example, he said, people don’t know that there are actually more Americans going to Mexico than Mexicans entering the United States. Moreover, 40% of immigrants didn’t cross that border; they flew here as Vargas did, under a visa. On top of that, unauthorized workers that are labeled as being in this country ‘illegally’ contribute 100 billion dollars to US social security funding. According to Vargas, figures such as these aren’t included in news outlets; the story of the immigrant has not yet been integrated into the narrative of this country. However, Vargas explained that in the fight for immigration, it is not just the undocumented people that need to come out, but also their allies— their mentors, teachers, and friends, who need to come out and support them. “When I travel around the
country, what’s fascinating to me is when people use the language ‘’Mexican’ and ‘illegal’ interchangeably,” he said. He also noted that as a journalist, he engages people first by asking people questions, and then, by listening to them. He said that he typically prefers to be interviewed by talk show hosts such as Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, and speak at Republican tea party events where “people are angry, they want someone to blame, and they think it’s me.” “Unless we humanize this issue, and personalize this issue, we’re not going to get anywhere,” he said. He said that on a college campus, generally people are more willing to be engaged, but the issue remains in the intricacies of language and how you approach the topic. As an example, Vargas noted that he couldn’t get white young people to talk about immigration unless he made the issue about white privilege first. Vargas has made a documentary entitled ‘White People,’ exploring perception of white privilege. The lecture took place in Robertson Hall at 7:30pm. It sponsored by Princeton University Latinx Perspective Organization, the Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, Campus Conversations on Identities Public Programming Series, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, LGBT Center, Princeton DREAM Team, Program in Latin American Studies, Program in Latino Studies, and the USG Projects Board.
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Brief requests support of the Clean Power Plan BRIEF
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gressively towards a de-carbonized, efficient society that relies on alternative energy. “These regulations are the centerpiece of U.S. policy on climate change, which is among the top decisions that our leaders deal with,” he said. He further noted that the Clean Power Plan allows the United States to “lead the way” in the global challenge to reduce pollution. In February, the Supreme Court issued a decision to stay the Clean Power Plan until this ruling is complete. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest released a statement disagreeing with the Supreme Court’s decision. “The Clean Power Plan is based on a strong legal and technical foundation, gives States the time and flexibility they need to develop tailored, cost-effective plans to reduce their emissions, and will deliver better air quality, improved public health, clean energy investment and jobs across the country, and major progress in our efforts to confront the risks posed by climate change,” he wrote in the statement sent to the ‘Prince’ by the White House Press Office. “We need to be investing in the future, not the past. Instead of subsidizing… the oil industry, we should be investing in solar and wind and battery technology — all the things that promise us we can generate enormous power without destroying the planet for our kids and grandkids,” Obama said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in February. In a different press release for the general media, the White House Press office said it believes the law will succeed in court challenges, although it could depend
on whether Judge Merrick Garland is confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. According to statements provided by Larry Hajna, a spokesperson at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, one of the case’s plaintiffs, the administration of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, an ex-officio trustee of the University, believes that several provisions of the Clean Power Act constitute “unlawful extension of authority by EPA.” The act “threatens New Jersey’s existing authority to manage and oversee its own energy future and disproportionately places an unfair burden on states that have already significantly reduced carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants and other sources,” the statement read. “New Jersey has been way out front of other states in reducing carbon emissions from power plants, going back decades and thus far even surpassing federal requirements,” said Hajna. Hajna further stated that New Jersey has to a large extent eliminated coal as a source of fuel from the power sector. Furthermore, New Jersey, despite its small size, ranks fourth in the nation in total solar capacity, Hajna added. “We are doing so smartly and in an environmentally friendly manner, utilizing landfills, brownfields and rooftops as much as possible for platforms for solar energy,” he said. Oppenheimer similarly noted that he believes it is very unlikely that the Supreme Court will completely reverse its previous ruling that upheld the EPA’s regulatory constitutionality. However, he noted that those who deny climate change and human obligations to mitigate it will be hard to sway. “Many people are skeptical for reasons that have nothing to do with the facts no matter what scientific evidence we point them to,” he said.
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Bazelon: More diversity needed among US prosecutors BAZELON Continued from page 1
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towards what she called a “very lenient” criminal justice system transformed the role of the prosecutor into one who is expected to be tough on crime. This new political expectation of the prosecutor, Bazelon said, set the stage for the increasing incarceration rates that have now become a major source of debate in this year’s election. 20 years ago, Bazelon said, prosecutors brought felony charges against one out of three people who were arrested. By 2008, that figure rose to two out of every three people arrested. “This is a huge jump and it accounts in the last 10 to 15 years for most of the rise in mass incarceration,” Bazelon said. “It’s not
actually that people are spending more time in prison; it’s that more people are going to prison in the first place.” Bazelon also said that the sharp decrease in trials in the past half-century can be attributed to the unmitigated growth in power of prosecutors. Citing a report, she noted a report that while one in twelve people facing felony charges went to trial in the 1970s, that rate has shrunk to just one in forty today. More than 95 percent of criminal cases are now resolved outside the courtroom through plea bargains, Bazelon said. Commenting on these largescale transformations, Bazelon voiced concerns about prosecutors’ power. Bazelon shared the story of Joseph Buffey as a real-life example behind another statistic: that 10
“If we live in a society in which we want prosecutors to solve crimes, in which we care about things like our conviction rates, in which we elect them based on the promises they make to be tough on crime, then the incentive to win is going to be really high.” emily bazelon journalist
percent of the roughly 1,800 exonerations that have occurred since 1989 have involved innocent people who had falsely plead guilty to a felony. In 2001, Buffey falsely pleaded guilty to the rape and robbery of an elderly woman after heeding the advice of his lawyer — who had assumed he was guilty — that bringing the case to trial would result in an even harsher sentence. According to Bazelon, the DNA testing actually identified a different criminal than Buffey prior to his sentencing, but the prosecution prevented that information from reaching the side of the defense. After that DNA testing was revealed 14 years later, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that Buffey’s constitutional rights were violated by the state’s failure to turn over favorable DNA
evidence and has since allowed him to withdraw his guilty plea. Although the 1963 United States Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland declared that the prosecution’s withholding of evidence violated due process of law, Bazelon said the case of Joseph Buffey demonstrated several holes in the Supreme Court ruling. “Brady is an honor system in which essentially the prosecutors have all the cards,” Bazelon said. While acknowledging that most prosecutors are very honorable and turn over as much information as possible to the defense, Bazelon said that this system still provides an incentive for prosecutors to cheat. “If we live in a society in which we want prosecutors to solve crimes, in which we care about things like our conviction rates, in which we elect them based on the promises they make to be tough on crime, then the incentive to win is going to be really high,” Bazelon added. She said that voters play a very important role in electing these prosecutors. Referring to recent shifts in Chicago, with Kim Foxx beating Anita Alvarez out for the state attorney position in March, Bazelon pushed for voters to judge prosecutors not on how “tough on crime” they are but on how their track record appears. Bazelon finished her lecture with a comment on the disproportionate demographics of United States prosecutors, of which 79 percent are white men, 16 percent are white women, four percent are men of color and just one percent are women of color. “If we don’t have progressive people as prosecutors then we’re really not going to change all that much in our criminal justice standard,” Bazelon said. The lecture, titled “Criminal Justice Reform and the (Almost) Absolute Power of the American Prosecutor,” was sponsored by the University Program in Law and Public Affairs and took place in Robertson Hall at 4:30 p.m.
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Officium: The case for a new official motto vol. cxl
Newby Parton
associate opinion editor
P
Do-Hyeong Myeong ’17
rinceton University has a branding problem. Our undergraduate education is reputed to be the best in the country, but the world does not know it. Harvard University, for example, has a world reputation three times as great as our own, according to a 2015 survey of scholars by Times Higher Education. That’s okay, partly. Harvard and Princeton are playing different games. The former has sprawling graduate and professional schools, while we direct most of our attention and resources to undergraduates. It’s better for us this way. True, it leaves us fewer opportunities to shine in the world’s spotlight, but we get a uniquely strong education out of the deal, and many would call that a victory. Still, reputation is important because it affects our job prospects and ability to shape the world. We should, therefore, do what we can to strengthen our brand and reputation, provided we do not compromise our commitment to undergraduate education. When considering our brand, the University’s motto should immediately present itself for consideration. A motto, after all, is an opportunity for us to brand ourselves, and we are using this opportunity poorly. What is our motto, anyway? I can tell you that the Harvard motto is “Veritas.” It means truth. I can tell you that the Yale motto is “Lux et Veritas” — light and truth. But I cannot tell you the motto of my own university without looking to Wikipedia. Our
motto, it turns out, is “Dei Sub Numine Viget” — under the protection of God she f lourishes. We have let this motto fade from our collective consciousness, and for good reason. Unlike the mottos of our peers, our own motto says nothing about our values. It is boring and generic, and our unofficial motto — recently changed to “Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of humanity” — is far better, ref lecting what we value as an institution and community. In fact, we have an unofficial motto only because our official motto is wanting. It indicates the shortcoming of our official motto. Let us finally correct the failure and adopt a new brand. I propose “Officium,” Latin for service. It has the same beauty of simplicity as Harvard’s “Veritas,” and it presents our core value clearly. We could, alternatively, translate the unofficial motto into Latin. But the result — something like “cum patriae tum generis humani adiutor” — is clunky and unmemorable. Further, crafting a motto few can understand is an indulgence in elitism, and elitism is antithetical to the value of service. “Officium,” I think, avoids this problem because its cognate, “office,” makes its meaning transparent and accessible. A third alternative is to make our unofficial motto official, keeping it in English. But that would put us out of line with the peers in the Ivy league, all but one of whom have their mottos in Latin. And that lan-
guage, at least, has the advantage of not exalting English above the other tongues in the world. To be sure, changing our motto would not have a large effect on our reputation. It is only a small part of an effort that should include extensive advertising and outreach. But defining what we stand for clearly and officially is important for us, if not also for our brand. It reminds people what we stand for. There are, of course, other reasons to change the motto. Now that the University is a religiously diverse institution, the reference to God in the formal motto does not represent our Hindu students, who believe in many gods, our Buddhist students, who may believe in no god or our students who have no religion at all. This argument does not persuade me personally, as I do not believe a 270-yearold reference to God can harm any reasonable person. But there are others who believe in broad inclusivity, and a motto change would be pleasing to this crowd. Taken together, these needs — the need for memorable branding, the need for clear values in our consciousness and the need, perhaps, for inclusivity — provide compelling reason to change our official motto. It is time we adopt “Officium” officially. Newby Parton is a Wilson School major from McMinnville, TN. He can be reached at newby@princeton.edu.
not the student princeton desrves rita fang ’17 ..................................................
editor-in-chief
Daniel Kim ’17
business manager
140TH MANAGING BOARD managing editor Caroline Congdon ’17 news editors Jessica Li ’18 Shriya Sekhsaria ’18 Christina Vosbikian ’18 Annie Yang ’18 opinion editor Jason Choe ’17 sports editor David Liu ’18 street editor Harrison Blackman ’17 photography editor Rachel Spady ’18 video editor Elaine Romano ’19 web editor Clement Lee ’17 chief copy editors Grace Rehaut ’18 Maya Wesby ’18 design editor Crystal Wang ’18 associate opinion editors Newby Parton ’18 Sarah Sakha ’18 associate sports editors Nolan Liu ’19 David Xin ’19 associate street editor Danielle Taylor ’18 associate photography editors Ahmed Akhtar ’17 Atakan Baltaci ’19 Mariachiara Ficarelli ’19 associate chief copy editors Megan Laubach ’18 Omkar Shende ’18 associate design editor Jessica Zhou ’19 editorial board chair Cydney Kim ’17 cartoons editor Rita Fang ’17
NIGHT STAFF 4.13.16 staff copy editors Morgan Bell ‘19 Samatha Zalewska ‘19
100 years of Jewish life: now what? Iris Samuels
contributing columnist
T
his weekend, hundreds of Jewish alumni will gather on campus to celebrate 100 years of Jewish life at Princeton, with panels on topics ranging from Philosophy of Religion and Modern Jewish Thought to Israeli-American Relations. This is a time of festivity and reminiscing on triumphs and progress. Indeed, there is much to celebrate. Today, the Jewish community on campus boasts many student groups, countless events and important scholarly work. From the first moment I stepped foot on Princeton’s campus, my Jewish identity felt like a blessing. When I visited campus last year as a prefrosh, I was welcomed into the home of the Chabad family on campus. I had lunch at the Center for Jewish Life and was given a tour of campus by a Jewish student. Even before I had committed, being Jewish made me feel like I was part of the Princeton community. However, this was not the case in 1958, the year of “dirty bicker.” In a year when all eating club bickerees were allegedly guaranteed a spot in one of the clubs, 23 students were excluded, 15 of them Jews. Dirty bicker made national headlines at the time, fortifying Princeton’s dubious reputation as anti-Semitic, a place where Jews, while able to attend the University, were deemed unclubbable — essentially social outcasts. Most would rather not bring up the era of dirty bicker in a time of festivities: it is an uncomfortable topic that demands us to confront an uncomfortable history. While there is much to celebrate
with regards to Princeton’s Jewish thought, alumni and, of course, the venerable tradition of the LatkeHamantaschen Debate, we should also remember the less honorable moments in Princeton’s past. We must recall that out of the ashes of dirty bicker rose Wilson Lodge, an inclusive home for students on campus that would be the foundation of the residential college system. Thus, while Princeton’s past is stained, it can take pride in its ability to learn and grow. The University has become a place where Jewish students can not only join eating clubs but also practice their religion with pride and dignity and become student leaders without fear of slander or discrimination (with some outlying exceptions). However, Wilson Lodge, while a direct, positive response to the Dirty Bicker, is named after a man who believed in systematic segregation. Thanks to the brave work of the Black Justice League last year, the University has begun to reconsider Wilson’s legacy. While none of the institutions on campus named after Wilson have been renamed, the Princeton community can no longer hide or shy away from his questionable past. This is an important step, but not one that brings full satisfaction to those hurt by Wilson’s degrading words. Much has changed for Jewish students at Princeton in the past 100 years, but much still demands change in the next century for Black students and other marginalized communities on campus. Our celebration cannot be wholehearted until all those at Princeton are fully
welcomed. No student should expect anything less than the kind of hospitality and kindness I received, simply for being Jewish, in the first moments of realizing my identity as a Princetonian. Princeton is still a place where inequality and elitism exist in socioeconomic, racial or religious contexts. Looking forward, the Princeton Jewish community should, and must, remember its roots as an unwanted people and use this collective memory to fuel actions taken with and on behalf of those on campus who feel marginalized — those who do not have an entire building for their use, like the charming CJL villa on Washington Road, or those who feel like their background or appearance excludes them in some way from the Princeton community. In 1965, prominent Rabbi Abraham Heschel marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., from Selma to Montgomery, representing Jewish solidarity with the Civil Rights Movement. 50 years have passed since this moment in history and much has changed for the better. Still, there is so much more to achieve before all students — all Americans, in fact — can enjoy the same level of inclusion as Jews, in Princeton and beyond the FitzRandolph Gate. If we have learned anything from the 100-year journey of Jews at Princeton, it is that we must always strive for the better. Iris Samuels is a freshman from Zichron Yakov, Israel. She can be reached at isamuels@princeton.edu.
Thursday april 14, 2016
Sports
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Lacrosse continues to impress by Tiffany Richardson :: Staff Photographer Following a 13-6 routing of Lehigh University on Tuesday, Matt Madalon can claim his first win as head coach of men’s lacrosse. Home field advantage has proven friendly for the Tigers, who have demonstrated formidable skill since the removal of former head coach Chris Bates. Prior to the game against Lehigh, the men’s team kept pace with a difficult Stony Brook team, falling just 10-13. On the women’s side, the No. 11 Tigers have steamrolled through the season, defeating Yale 16-5 this past Saturday. Unfortunately, Princeton suffered a setback Wednesday night when the Tigers fell 6-15 to No. 1 University of Maryland. The Orange and Black will attempt to rebound against Cornell this weekend.
Tweet of the Day “Tears streaming down my face, it’s hitting me real hard right now. Love you Kobe, thanks for it all <3 <3 ball out Mamba” Annie Tarakchian (@ annabellyy5), Senior Forward, Women’s Basketball
Stat of the Day
33 goals Junior midfielder Olivia Hompe leads the women’s lacrosse team this season with 33 goals.
Follow us Check us out on Twitter at @princesports for live news and reports, and on Instagram at @ princetoniansports for photos!