April 17, 2017

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Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Monday April 17, 2017 vol. cxli no. 44

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Writing Center sees sustained growth in appointments STUDENT LIFE

By Sam Oh staff writer

Freshmen often enter the University believing that they know how to write somewhat decently. As a result, it’s a big shock when their first paper is returned and it’s not the ‘A’ grade they’re accustomed to receiving. That’s often when freshmen frantically book an appointment at the Writing Center, part of the University Writing Program that was established in its current form in 2001 to help students learn the rigorous standards of academic writing that the University expects through freshman writing seminars and the Writing Center. Since its establishment, making an appointment – especially while enrolled in the mandatory freshmen-year writing seminars – has become a rite of passage and appointment numbers are growing each year, according to the Writing Center. But teaching students to write requires self-discovery, Writing Center fellows attest. They call it a “cooperative learning environment” with students, where the journey is about learning new ideas within a variety of disciplines, while simultaneously developing a solid thesis or well-written paper. The Center works to help writers grow in the long term, beyond the current assignment at hand, by providing budding writers with feedback and analysis. “I have learned a lot from my experience at the Writing Center,” said Katherine Tyler ’18, a head fellow at the Writing Center. “One of the best parts of working at the Writing Center is that students bring in material from all different classes

and disciplines – I have worked with first-year students in Writing Seminars and graduate students in science disciplines.” “Our main goals are to empower students to learn tactics that will help them grow as writers for the long term,” said Gen Creedon, associate director of the Writing Center. “Of course, we are also engaged in helping them in the short term on each particular assignment. We look at a wide range of papers across disciplines at any stage in the writing process, from inception through to final drafts. Our hope is to help make the writing process less of an isolated event.” Since 2001, the center has grown in terms of scheduled appointments and visits. According to Creedon, the Writing Center has jumped from 2,000 scheduled conferences at its beginning to 5,500 conferences today. These 5,500 appointments have been made by approximately 1,750 individuals. While the statistics do not contain specific data about the average individual who visits the Writing Center, the average student visited the center three times. In the past three years, however, the top 100 most frequent users have each attended between nine and 44 appointments each year, according to the Writing Center. “The Writing Center builds on drafting, so you’ll see many students come in two or three times per assignment,” Creedon said. “It really varies. If it is a semester-long project, students come in multiple times, but if it is a short essay, people often stop by once.” According to further statistics released by the Center,

GRAPHIC BY MARCIA BROWN:: DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The data shows that the vast majority of writing center users are freshmen

See WRITING page 3

STUDENT LIFE

STUDENT LIFE

USG proposes expansion USG issues report on Eating Clubs of Honor Committee transparency per referendum staff writer

The Undergraduate Student Government discussed two separate amendments for the Honor Committee Constitution and the USG Senate Constitution in their weekly meeting on April 16. Honor Committee Chair Carolyn Liziewski ‘18 presented a proposal to amend the Honor Committee Constitution by expanding the membership of the Committee from 12 to 15 students. Liziewski emphasized that this amendment was necessary to reduce the burden on Honor Committee members working on existing cases. “It has sort of become the norm now that students are working on two reports at a time, which when you add that to campus and academic commitments, is really an impossible task,” said Liziewski. The three additional members to the Committee would include two freshman representatives. Liziewski indicated that increasing first-year representation would help build institutional memory. “The earlier we can get a student on the committee at their time in Princ-

eton, the more they learn about the Committee, and the better equipped they are to become a leader of the Committee,” she explained. Liziewski added that the amendment would take into effect immediately, with one of the new candidates being appointed next weekend and the other two being appointed next fall. The Senate voted to approve the Honor Committee amendment. Class of 2019 Senator Andrew Ma ‘19 presented a separate amendment to the Senate Constitution. The amendment would raise the threshold for the confirmation of Honor Committee members to a supermajority from a simple majority of the Senate. Ma said that given the impact the Committee has on student life, the change is critical. “The Honor Code belongs to all of us, and it is important that we have a higher threshold for agreement to ensure that the members are very qualified and also in line with the student body’s opinion, which the USG represents,” said Ma. Additionally, the amendment would also have the voting session for prospecSee USG MEETING page 4

By Jason Fu staff writer

In a report issued to the student body on April 12, the Undergraduate Student Government Referendum Response Team made five recommendations intended to promote eating club transparency, inclusivity, and diversity. The Referendum Response Team consists of U-Councillor Olivia Grah ’19, Senator Andrew Ma ’19, Senator Eli Schechner ’18, and Public Relations Chair Maya Wesby ’18. Wesby is a former chief copy editor and senior news writer for The Daily Princetonian. The report was prepared in response to a referendum held in winter 2016, in which Leila Clark ’18 collected petition signatures to call for the collection and publication of demographic information including race, gender, and major from eating club members as well as those applying to selective Bicker clubs. The referendum was voted upon by the student body and passed with 68.9 percent of voters supporting and 31.1 percent of voters opposed. Since its creation, the referendum has met resistance from several eating club officers as well as the Interclub

Council, an organization comprised of the 11 eating club presidents which oversees eating club policies. President of the ICC and former Colonial Club president Christopher Yu ’17 previously said that the eating clubs historically had not collected demographics and did not intend to in the future. Among the report’s recommendations is the creation of a permanent Subcommittee for Eating Club Transparency and Inclusivity on the USG University Student Life Committee. According to the report, the subcommittee would be tasked with identifying and addressing opportunities for collaboration between the USG and the ICC in order to achieve its goals of increasing eating club transparency, inclusivity, and diversity. The recommendation stipulated that the subcommittee would consist of members of the ICC, the USG Senate, and the sophomore, junior, and senior class governments. Additionally, at least 10 percent of the subcommittee members would not be affiliated with any eating club. Ma said that the subcommittee would be creating initiatives similar to last year’s

In Opinion

Today on Campus

Columnist Bhaskar Roberts defends a white artist’s right to paint Emmett Till, and the Editorial Board recommends a series of improvements to the major declaration process and the A.B. departmental experience in general. PAGE 6

5-6 p.m.: Wilson College Signature Lecture Series presents “How to Sustain an Activist Life,” McCosh 50.

Taste of Prospect, an event hosted by the ICC that allowed freshmen to visit and familiarize themselves with the clubs. He emphasized that one of the primary goals of the subcommittee would be to increase students’ exposure to eating clubs prior to sophomore year. “I do think that part of the reason people voted in favor of this referendum is because they want more information for their decision-making process,” Ma said. Grah added that the subcommittee would also focus on strengthening the relationships between the eating clubs and diversity centers on campus. “The benefit of having USG now involved in the process is that the subcommittee would be focused on [that] and would have USG resources, because while the ICC is looking to make clubs welcoming to all people on campus, it also has so many other things under its purview. So here’s USG, able to provide a helping hand in pursuit of this goal,” Grah said. Another recommendation by the report states that the subcommittee will continue to pursue demographic See REFERENDUM page 7

WEATHER

By Jason Fu

HIGH

72˚

LOW

43˚

Partly Cloudy chance of rain:

10 percent


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The Daily Princetonian

Monday April 17, 2017

U . A F FA I R S

U. opens new AccessAbility Center for all students By Rebecca Ngu staff writer

REBECCA NGU :: THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The new AccessAbility Center held an open house to allow students to engage in the space and develop understanding for the expanded facility.

The AccessAbility Center, a new student center affiliated with the Office of Disability Services, was publicly unveiled on Thursday, April 13, to a large crowd of students. Liz Erickson, the director of the ODS, explained that while the ODS already existed and provided resources for students with disabilities, it was not connected to members of the University community and therefore could be better support for students who were struggling with disabilities. The new center, located on the second floor of Frist Campus Center alongside the Women*s Center and LGBT Center, is housed in former office space and is designed to be a readily accessible place in which students can facilitate greater engagement and understanding of disability and difference on campus. The walls of the center are painted a bright soothing blue with the words “Ability Attitude: ‘I define me’” in large black letters. The colorful room features paintings, photos, couches, standing tables, Play-Doh, stress balls, and more, creating a welcoming atmosphere. Erickson also noted that students who did not have experiences with disability had no place to learn more about the issues, leading to greater ignorance and affirming negative stereotypes about individuals with disabilities. “One of the big assumptions that historically has been made, probably here in Princeton, but broadly, too, is that you can’t be intelligent and have a learning disability,” Erickson said. “But there’s no correlation between someone’s disability and someone’s intelligence. And if you don’t understand that, you may judge someone and ask, ‘Why are you here?’” Erickson said conversations around building a new student center began several years ago, but designing and planning the center began just last summer. The name “AccessAbility” was selected after a long process of brainstorming, collecting suggestions, voting, hearing feedback, and deliberating over the student center’s mission. “We chose the name AccessAbility because it embodies two core philosophies,” Erickson noted. She said the first one is accessibility.

“Our goal was really to create a space that is comfortable for everyone, minimizing the need for accommodations or alterations,” she said. “We value access for all.” The center features couches for sitting and lying down as well as tables where students can work while standing up. “We wanted someone with a back injury to be able to come and raise the desk and be able to stand, or sit, or do both,” Erickson said. “That feature is also just good health care for anyone.” She added that the “accessibility” part of the name emphasizes how individuals could choose to perceive ability and disability. “Disability is just one attribute. Everyone has different abilities. Someone can’t do math, someone can’t write to save their life,” she said. “A disability is a difference, and everyone has differences. We want to focus on your abilities. How do you define yourself? Is it your disability? Maybe it is and that could be important. But maybe it’s not.” Erickson envisioned the center as not just fostering conversations to help people understand disability, but going beyond this and promoting the idea that individuals with disabilities can enrich the lives of other students on campus. “We have a student who’s deaf and who has brought American Sign Language to the campus. Everyone who has learned [ASL] is going to take that with them when they leave campus,” she said. The grand opening featured speeches and a toast to the new center. The event was intentionally designed to be highly accessible. The speeches were translated into American Sign Language and typed on a stenograph, which was connected to a TV screen. The food was positioned so that someone in a wheelchair could access all the food, according to Erickson. “I thought everything went really well,” said Marisa De Silva ’20, an event volunteer. “It was a very big turnout in the beginning and the speeches were really well done.” Thinking about the future, De Silva expressed interest in continuing to volunteer for the center. “It seems like somewhere that I’d want to come back to,” she said.


The Daily Princetonian

Monday April 17, 2017

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Center frequented by mostly freshmen, fails to serve upperclassmen WRITING Continued from page 1

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students from all classes of the Princeton community have used the resources of the center. Over the past five years, 55 percent of conferences have been freshmen, 13 percent have been sophomores, 11 percent have been juniors, 12 percent have been seniors, eight percent have been graduate students, and one percent have been either postdocs or alumni. Although the number of juniors and seniors using the Writing Center increased dramatically in 2014, the trend during the past five years shows continued disparity between upperclassmen and underclassmen use. Creedon explained that the Writing Center offers “support for students writing medical school personal statements and other graduate school statements,” for postdocs and alumnus. Creedon noted that in regards to staffing, the Writing Center hires around 80 fellows, with roughly equal distribution across all classes from sophomores to graduate students. As previously reported by the ‘Prince,’ the number of fellows has stayed consistent since 2014 at close to 80. This is up from the 15 fellows who were in place 17 years ago. “It fluctuates per year,” Creedon said about the number of fellows. “Currently, we have a rising senior class of 35 fellows, about a third of the staff. A majority of the staff stay for

their entire career at Princeton. The majority are hired as sophomores and stay on.” The complexity of writing a strong and coherent argument requires well-trained fellows. “We don’t typically hire many rising seniors, in part because not too many apply, and in part because the time invested in training is just more efficient to hire students earlier on,” Creedon said. “So right now, we have a relatively small sophomore cohort. But I believe it will balance out as the rising senior class graduates.” Writing fellow candidates experience a rigorous screening process to qualify as fellows for the program. “People will submit a cover letter that gives us a sense of why they are interested, what their background is, and how they might approach talking to students about writing.” Creedon commented. “We look at their writing samples, we look at their sample feedback – four people will look at each application and then invite people to the interview. The interview process itself is sort of a beginning training moment.” The Writing Center, Creedon noted, was looking for people who were insightful of diagnosing students’ work while also being accessible, friendly, and constructive. “The Writing Center is aimed at providing a thoughtful, caring, and insightful reader who can point out where things don’t make sense, where an argument isn’t so convincing, or where things are confusing,”

Creedon said about the goal of the center and its fellows. Writing Center fellows are drawn from a variety of fields, and hail evenly from a variety of disciplines. About one third are STEM concentrators, one third are social science concentrators, and one third are humanities concentrators. “The makeup of the graduate staff changes from year to year;” the center explained in an email. “We have a stronger representation from humanities and social science disciplines, but we do also have biology and/or chemistry fellows on staff each year.” Fellows are expected to quickly read papers and swiftly return feedback. “Working at the Writing Center is challenging and rewarding,” Tyler said, explaining that she has only about 10 minutes to decide a paper’s strengths and weaknesses before beginning to advise the student. “I feel like I have learned a lot about problem solving and communication from this position,” Tyler said. “The best part of my job is when I feel like I’ve empowered a student to convey his or her ideas in a clearer, more convincing manner.” “Reading different papers and working with student on different problems related to making arguments and writing has also strengthened my own writing in the process,” Tyler concluded. Undergraduate students overwhelmingly agree that the Writing Center has benefited both the quality of their writ-

ing and their future writing abilities. “I went to the Writing Center feeling pretty worried about my paper, but talking it out with my Writing Fellow really forced me to clearly articulate my point and map out my argument.” Carolyn Guan ’20 said. David Kim ’18 agreed, and added that the Writing Center’s programming was a cooperative process that required action and enthusiasm from both fellows and students. “They are really helpful in helping to organize and think critically about your ideas.” Kim said. “But you need to make sure you are clear in the info you present to them first. They can only help you as well as they understand where you stand and what your topic is.” Even after nearly 16 years of development and growth, both fellows and staff of the Writing Center acknowledge that there is room for improvement and expansion. Specifically, Creedon speculated about possible ways to get students to visit the Writing Center at many stages of paper writing, rather than at the very end of revision. “Something we would like to see is probably a more consistent use from sophomores, juniors, and seniors. How do we communicate better with students, how do we get those students to draft ahead of time and use us multiple times?” Creedon said. He further listed future initiatives to increase cooperation between other tutoring and

academic departments. “The University has seen a proliferation of many support services for students such as McGraw, the Scholars Institute Fellows Program, we have a wide variety of people working to serve students academically,” Creedon said. “My hope is that we will reach more students and maybe think of more formats for doing so. Increasing our collaboration with other departments is a horizon we are striving towards.” Both Creedon and Tyler noted that as the Writing Center continues to evolve with the student body and University, the basic tenets of the institution remain unchanged. “The Writing Center is not only a place students in writing seminar or who are struggling with writing,” Tyler noted. “Students can come here with anything writing-related – even oral presentations and lab reports. It’s also a great resource to help propel students who are already confident in their writing abilities to meet their full potential. Even though I’m a head fellow now, I went to an appointment on Monday to work on my Junior Paper.” “And as the University continues to grow, we will also continue to grow. History has shown we tend to grow along with the student body as well.” Creedon added, explaining that she didn’t think radical changes were needed in the Writing Center’s programming because its pedagogy is ultimately strong.

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USG to better publicize detailed budget to promote transparancy USG MEETING Continued from page 1

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tive Honor Committee members occur in an executive session. Only the overall voting tally, rather than each Senate member’s vote, would be made public. Ma indicated that this change would allow voting members to speak and vote freely without fear of retribution. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Senate constitutional amendment next week. Student Groups Recognition Committee Co-Chairs Emily Chen ‘18 and Aaron Sobel ‘19 presented new student groups for Senate approval. Among the groups were Arch and Arrow, which aims to provide a space for poets to share and receive feedback for their work, and the Hecate Society, a student comprised support group for those experiencing grief. The Senate voted to approve all student groups.

The Daily Princetonian

U-Councilor Pritika Mehra ‘18 presented an update on the Coffee and Tea USG project. The event will occur on Tuesday, April 27 between 9 and 10:30 pm at Frist Campus Center, and will feature a table staffed by USG representatives and a whiteboard on which students can provide feedback on various USG projects. Students who provide feedback will receive a free bubble tea. USG Treasurer Alison Shim ‘19 presented an update on Treasury projects, in which she stated that the Treasury Committee was hoping to make their budget more transparent. According to Shim, this would involve releasing a more detailed breakdown of the USG’s budget allocation, including spending on Senate projects, the Social Committee budget, and the USG office. Additionally, the USG Senate voted to confirm Traci Mathieu ‘20 as the new Executive Secretary.

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Monday April 17, 2017

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Opinion

Monday April 17, 2017

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EDITORIAL BOARD

Editorial: Improving the Departmental Experience

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

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his week, sophomores in the A.B. program will declare their majors. As students enter their new academic departments, it is important to reflect on the process of choosing a major and consider the experiences students will have within their new departments. To improve the pre-declaration process, the Board recommends that departments improve materials provided to freshmen and sophomores and their faculty advisors and that they host departmental open houses in the fall, rather than the spring. The Board also recommends that all departments appoint student representatives or ambassadors to advise students currently or prospectively concentrating in a given department and introduce departmental listservs that can be accessed by concentrators. Finally, the Board encourages departments to increase consistency in both their prerequisite and core departmental courses to create a fairer and more uniform experience. Choosing a major and selecting the necessary prerequisite courses for a prospective department can be confusing, especially for those deciding between several majors. In order to improve

student access to the information necessary to make this important decision, the Board recommends that each department produce a one-page summary sheet that includes departmental prerequisites, core courses, and other departmental requirements. This summary page would be available to students through both departmental web pages and faculty advisors. It is particularly important that advisors have access to these, as many freshman and sophomore advisors are assigned to students considering concentrations outside their home departments and are thus are unfamiliar with the requirements. Though departments may feel hesitant to do this because their requirements could change, this would actually make such frequently-updated summary pages even more important, as they would reduce confusion regarding current requirements. This could even reduce work for departments and their representatives, as they would have fewer students contacting them directly for requirement clarifications. Departmental open houses, with presentations regarding what declaring a major in a given department entails and reviewing prerequisite requirements, serve as similarly helpful resources to students in the major selection process. However, these are often held during sophomore spring in the weeks leading up to major declaration. Though these presentations discuss a great deal of useful information, students do not have enough time between open houses held in the spring

and the major declaration period for these events to meaningfully aid decision-making. Additionally, if students learn they have not fulfilled departmental prerequisites, they currently do not have time to rectify this. Accordingly, the Board recommends that departments move their open houses to sophomore fall to give students more time to consider and use the presented information. The need for departmental guidance does not end once students have declared their majors. Accordingly, the Board proposes that each department appoint student ambassadors. These students would be points of contact in the department for both current and prospective concentrators and have listed on the department’s website their area of interest within the department, completed departmental courses, and contact information. This would be helpful both to students considering concentrating in a department, and to students already in a department trying to determine which classes to take or how to schedule their courses around independent work. Some departments, such as the politics department, already have undergraduate committees to represent student interests in department meetings, which could be expanded to include the kind of ambassadors we are suggesting. Similarly, the Board proposes that each department create a listserv on which students can communicate with their fellow concentrators for matters such as getting advice prior to enrolling in a previously taught

course. This would give students additional resources for their academic planning and could help foster a greater sense of interdepartmental community. Additionally, students’ experience within their departments can be improved through changes to procedures used when planning departmental prerequisite and core courses. The Board urges departments to increase consistency in these courses through greater collaboration between professors across semesters regarding presentations, material presented, textbook selection, and weights assigned to assignments and exams. This would create a more uniform experience for all students in a department and could help improve course quality by allowing professors to refine a given curriculum across semesters, rather than building a fresh one each time. The Board recognizes and commends the many resources already available to students during the major declaration process. However, we believe both the process of choosing a major and students’ experiences within their departments can be further improved in the form of creating departmental summary sheets, hosting open houses earlier, appointing student ambassadors, forming departmental listservs, and increasing uniformity in department courses. These improvements will provide more resources to simplify the process of choosing a major and increase available resources and quality of department experience for students after they declare.

Thesis Life & Death

vol. cxli

Sarah Sakha ’18

editor-in-chief

Matthew McKinlay ’18 business manager

BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 Gregory L. Diskant ’70 William R. Elfers ’71 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Joshua Katz Kathleen Kiely ’77 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Randall Rothenberg ’78 Annalyn Swan ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73

141ST MANAGING BOARD managing editors Samuel Garfinkle ’19 Grace Rehaut ’18 Christina Vosbikian ’18 Head news editor Marcia Brown ’19 news editors Abhiram Karuppur ’19 Claire Lee ’19 opinion editor Newby Parton ’18 sports editor David Xin ’19 street editor Jianing Zhao ’20 photography editor Rachel Spady ’18 web editor David Liu ’18

rita fang ’17

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chief copy editors Isabel Hsu ’19 Omkar Shende ’18 chief design editor Quinn Donohue ’20 associate opinion editors Samuel Parsons ’19 Nicholas Wu ’18 associate sports editors Miranda Hasty ’19 Claire Coughlin ’19 associate street editor Andie Ayala ’19 Catherine Wang ’19 associate chief copy editors Caroline Lippman ’19 Megan Laubach ’18 editorial board co-chairs Ashley Reed ’18 Connor Pfeiffer ’18 cartoons editor

NIGHT STAFF 4.16.17

Don’t Condemn White Artists for Addressing Race Bhaskar Roberts

Contributing columnist

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his year, the Whitney Biennial exhibition displayed a painting of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old black boy whose murder helped launch the Civil Rights Movement. The painting depicts Till’s open casket and evokes the horror of his murder. But in an open letter to the exhibition, Hanna Black, a black artist and writer, criticized the painting for being racially insensitive. Her problem: the painter, Dana Schutz, is white. Black argues that it’s disrespectful for white people to use black people’s suffering as inspiration for their art because the subject of black suffering does not belong to them. Black

raises valid concerns in her letter, and Shutz must be careful to be respectful of black people’s pain. But her race does not disqualify her from respectfully exploring black suffering in her art. Maybe my perspective as a non-black person makes me unable to understand why this painting is inappropriate. But Black and the other protestors have not articulated a compelling reason to condemn Schutz’s work. Black writes that it is disrespectful for white people to use black suffering as inspiration because white people have oppressed black people or allowed the oppression of black people to continue. This shows that they do not truly understand how black people have suffered. She writes, “the evidence of [white people’s] collective

lack of understanding is that Black people go on dying at the hands of white supremacists, that Black communities go on living in desperate poverty not far from the museum where this valuable painting hangs.” It is, of course, important for white people to not make light of black suffering. There is a particular risk for white artists like Schutz to be unintentionally disrespectful when exploring the experiences of black people in their art. But it is not inherently disrespectful for a white artist to draw inspiration from black suffering. There is nothing disrespectful or disingenuous about Schutz’s painting. Her empathy for Till is genuine. She writes, “I don’t know what it is like to be black in America, but I do know what it is like to be a mother … The thought of any-

thing happening to your child is beyond comprehension.” Moreover, Schutz has said the painting is not for sale, so she stands to make no financial gain. Her motives are artistic and empathetic. The painting does not make a spectacle out of Till’s death, as protesters claim. There are several artistic endeavors by black artists underway that deal with Till’s death in ways that are no less dramatic than Schutz’s painting. Will Smith and Jay Z are producing an HBO series about Till, and a play about Till, written by his mother, is being adapted into a movie. These projects have attracted no protesters at all. So what has Schutz done wrong? Like Smith, Jay-Z, and Till’s mother, Schutz’s work does not harm black people or disrespect their suffering.

copy Michael Li ‘20 Marina Latif ‘19 Arthur Matheos ‘19

It expresses Schutz’s empathy for their pain. To say that white people should not create art about black suffering is to say that they shouldn’t have an emotional response to it. It is not wrong for white people to grieve Till’s death, and it is not wrong for them to express their grief through art. That’s the problem with Hanna Black’s message. She seems to say that white people should fight against the oppression of black people, but that they shouldn’t express their empathy for black suffering through art. Schutz’s art expresses this empathy, and her race does not make her art offensive. Bhaskar Roberts is sophomore electrical engineering major from Buffalo, N.Y. He can be reached at bhaskarr@princeton.edu.


Monday April 17, 2017

Yu: ICC still committed to promoting inclusion REFERENDUM Continued from page 1

information for each eating club. However, Yu reaffirmed that various issues including privacy, representation, and a service agreement with the University preventing the public release of demographic information led to the ICC’s continued opposition to the referendum. As previously reported by the ‘Prince,’ the ICC and all of the affiliated eating clubs do not report to the USG. Thus, any demographic information released by the clubs as part of the subcommittee’s efforts would come on a voluntary basis. “I believe that the demographic point is not feasible from a logistical standpoint, and even if it was possible, I think a broader discussion needs to happen first,” said Yu. Yu emphasized that the ICC is still committed to working with the USG to promote diversity and inclusion. He also cited several ICC initiatives intended to promote these goals, including a partnership with the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding and an upcoming series of speeches titled Redefining Masculinity on the Street. “We are trying to change the discussion on the culture of Street in a positive manner through these efforts ... A lot of these efforts are underway. But I think that’s where the partnership with USG can help,” Yu said. Yu added that eating clubs also face problematic popular perceptions. He named a 2013 ‘Prince’ article as an example of an incident that exacerbated club stereotyping, and said he hoped that the subcommittee will work to address that problem. “The Prince’s article only perpetuates stereotypes that are wrong in many of the clubs,” Yu said. “To say that all the clubs are the exact same as they were five years ago, even one year ago, is very incorrect. The subcommittee could work on those efforts too. It’s not exclusively on what the eating clubs

The Daily Princetonian

are doing. It’s also about how student organizations form this perception of the eating clubs.” The remainder of the report provides background information on the current position of eating clubs in the University and the history of the referendum as well as a summary of arguments in favor and against the referendum. Clark, the original creator and sponsor of the eating club referendum, indicated that the report’s recommendations matched the referendum’s original intent. “I think the committee that put together the report did a good job in considering all the arguments and in putting forward their suggestions of how USG should act on the will of the students that was expressed in the referendum,” she said. Specifically, Clark felt optimistic about the recommendations pertaining to the creation of the USLC subcommittee and continued pursuit of eating club demographic information. “I’m excited about the formation of a permanent USG USLC Subcommittee for Eating Club Transparency and Inclusivity and I’m glad to see that the reports [suggest] that the committee will have a mandate to collect demographics in its charter,” Clark said. “I hope that USG is able to act on this report swiftly, so that we get the demographics that we as a student body voted on as soon as possible.” The report’s recommendations were approved by the USG Senate on April 2, at which point the committee was not yet ready to make its recommendations public. Grah said that the next steps would involve the drafting of a charter for the new USLC subcommittee. The USG is currently conducting a survey to collect student feedback on the recommendations outlined in the report. Wesby indicated that students looking to contribute more feedback can find the survey in the weekly email sent by USG President Myesha Jemison ’18 as well, as on the USG Facebook page.

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Monday April 17, 2017

Sports

page 8

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Tigers split weekend against Harvard and Sacred Heart, clinch EIVA playoff berth

COURTESY OF PRINCETON ATHLETI CS COMMUNICATIONS

By David Xin Sports Editor

The men’s volleyball team entered the weekend with one main goal: secure a position in the EIVA playoffs. They did exactly that. The Tigers swept Harvard to earn their fifth EIVA postseason spot in the last six years. The Tigers, currently fourth in the EIVA, will play first seed Penn State in the semifinals. With their postseason hopes on the line, the Tigers came out ready to defend home court against the Crimson. Striking the first blow, the Princ-

The men’s volleyball team earned fourth in the EIVA and will face Penn State in the semifinals.

eton team earned the first set by a comfortable margin, 25-20. The Crimson would rally in the second, but the Tigers had just enough to hold off the Crimson, narrowly winning 27-25. Powered by one of their most efficient performances this season, the Princeton team would cruise through the third set to not only complete a season sweep of Harvard, but also, more importantly, to secure a playoff position. In their final home game of the season, the Tigers faced Sacred

Heart. The Pioneers had shown themselves to be dangerous opponents early in the season by sweeping Penn State. Prior to the game, the Tigers honored their two graduating seniors, Jonah May and Kurt Thiemann. The pair have played a crucial role in the Tigers’ 8-6 EIVA record and return to the postseason. Sacred Heart desperately needed the win to clinch a playoff position, and their effort translated into results on the court. Despite an impressive

performance the previous evening, the Tigers never found their rhythm against the Pioneers, hitting at a percentage of .062 of shots compared to Sacred Heart’s .431 hitting percentage. While the Tigers had some runs, they were too far and in between to secure the win. The Pioneers would sweep the Tigers 3-0 and earn the third spot in the EIVA ahead of the Tigers on head-toheads. The Tigers will have to put the loss behind them as they prepare to face nationally ranked Penn

State. While the Princeton squad has yet to beat the Lions in their two EIVA match-ups this season both games proved to be five-set thrillers. Although Penn State managed to edge out the Tigers both times, the young team has shown their growth this season and their potential for upsetting tough opponents. Perhaps the third time will be the charm for this Tigers squad as they head into the EIVA semifinals this coming Thursday, April 20.

Princeton rallies to win over Dartmouth By Claire Coughlin Associate Sports Editor

COURTESY OF PRINCETON ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS

The Tigers will continue the season with a home game against the Crimson.

Tweet of the Day “I hope the Kevin Durant in your life leaves you so you can be the Russell Westbrook you deserve to be ” J. Hughes (@ J_Hughes26), Retweet

The Princeton men’s lacrosse team (8-4, 3-1 Ivy) traveled up to Hanover, N.H., to play in their second-to-last Ivy League game against Dartmouth (2-9, 0-4). Although Big Green men’s lacrosse led for the majority of the first two quarters, they fell to No. 13 Princeton, 16-6, at ScullyFahey Field on Saturday after a strong second half by the Orange and Black. In just the first quarter, the Tigers started their momentum with a goal from sophomore midfielder Charlie Durbin less than a minute in. Despite the strong start though, the first half was not a sturdy showing for Princeton. The team is the nation’s leader in team shooting percentage, but shot just 3 for 25 in the first half as a result of a combination of strong goalie play by George Christopher on Dartmouth and some bad luck for the Tigers. The team ended the first half with a losing score of 5-3, but began the third quarter

Stat of the Day

46.8 percent The Tigers hit 46.8 percent in their win over Harvard--notching 41 kills with only five errors.

with the same momentum they started. Instead of letting the deficit get to them, senior midfielder Zach Currier swiped the ball away from Big Green and scooped up the ground ball in stride, finding record-breaking freshman attackman Michael Sowers for a goal just seconds into the half. This play marked the team’s turnaround for success in the second half of the game. Not only was this a huge win for the Tigers, but an important milestone for Sowers’ collegiate career, as it marked his record-breaking tally of 65 points in a season. With 31 goals and 34 assists, he is now the third player in program history, along with Mike MacDonald ‘15 in 2015 and David Tickner ‘77 in 1976, with at least 30 goals and at least 30 assists in the same season. Coming up, the team has a home game against Harvard next Saturday and a trip to Cornell on April 29 to end the regular season. Both games will be available to watch on the Ivy League Digital Network.

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


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