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Friday April 23, 2021 vol. CXLV no. 40
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All 8 Ivy League student body presidents call for fossil fuel divestment By Katherine Dailey
Associate News Editor
The student body presidents of all eight Ivy League institutions signed a joint resolution on Thursday, calling for “full fossil fuel divestment.” The resolution, authored by the Student Sustainability Association at Penn (SSAP), calls for an end to new investments in the fossil fuel industry by Fiscal Year 2021 and complete divestment by Fiscal Year 2025. The resolution defines fossil fuel divestment as ending investments in any of the top 200 fossil fuel companies by size of reserves; in any company that explores for, extracts, processes, refines, or transmits coal, oil, and gas; and in any utilities whose primary business function is to burn fossil fuels to produce electricity, based on
definitions from climate activism group 350.org. Vyshnavi Kosigi, Co-Chair of SSAP and a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed the rationale behind these criteria in an email to The Daily Princetonian. “Following these actions would beyond any doubt constitute fossil fuel divestment and don’t leave much wiggle room to get around that,” she wrote. “The other important factor we stress is the timeline, because the endowment managers are always trying to convince us that it’s more difficult than it looks and that it has to be a multi-decade process, when in reality it simply doesn’t,” Kosigi added. The resolution cites a number of reasons to divest, opening with the statement that
climate change is “a global crisis that is a paramount threat to the lives and livelihoods of current and future generations necessitating bold, immediate action.” Christian Potter ’22, current Undergraduate Student Government (USG) president at Princeton, told the ‘Prince’ he signed based on “overwhelming support from the student body of last winter’s divestment referendum and the pressing nature of the climate crisis.” In a USG election last November, 82 percent of voters supported a referendum calling for the divestment of Princeton’s endowment from fossil fuels. Potter also referenced the ongoing work of the Council of the Princeton University See NEWS for more
CANDACE DO / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
Designed by: Isabel Kim
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RISA GELLES-WATNICK / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
Princeton Preview tents from 2018.
Virtual Princeton Preview aims to recreate campus community ‘without the big tent’ By Zoya Amir Gauhar staff writer
An entirely virtual Princeton Preview began earlier this month and will continue through part of May for students admitted to the Class of 2025. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Preview, which normally gives high school admittees two days in April to experience campus life, has been converted into a monthlong virtual platform for students to get to know the University. According to Emily Crosby, assistant dean for events and visitor management, virtual Preview was designed to give admitted students an opportunity to connect personally with campus life. “This year, we focused on offering as many opportunities for personal connection as possible, while showcasing the most unique features of Princeton,” she wrote in an email to The Daily
Princetonian. “Our goal is to re-create the sense of community that [admitted students] immediately feel when arriving at Princeton Preview – just without the big tent!” she continued. On April 7, admitted students were sent an invitation to join a digital community geared towards connecting with current University students, organizations, faculty, and fellow admitted students. Key programming includes “Tiger Talks,” during which about 50 student ambassadors, including volunteers and Orange Key tour guides, have set aside appointment slots for admitted students to schedule one-on-one talks with current students. In her email, Crosby emphasized the key role that student ambassadors are playing in this year’s Preview programming. “With more time to plan our virtual Preview this year, we were able to put together See NEWS for more
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Muslim Chaplain Sohaib Nazeer Sultan dies at 40 By Rooya Rahin & Allan Shen
Newsletter Editor & News Editor Emeritus
University Muslim Life Coordinator and Muslim Chaplain Sohaib Nazeer Sultan, who helped forge a vibrant Muslim community at the University as one of the first full-time university Muslim chaplains in the United States, died of cancer at the age of 40 on Friday, April 16. Sultan died after a year-long battle with a rare and severe case of cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer, his wife Arshe Ahmed announced through a Facebook post. A janaza, or funeral prayer, was held the next day at West Windsor Community Park and attended by hundreds of community members. It was followed by his burial at Greenwood Cemetery in Hamilton Township, N.J. A graduate of Indiana University and the Hartford
Theological Seminary, Sultan served as the first Muslim chaplain at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, before joining the Office of Religious Life at the University as its first full-time Muslim Chaplain in August 2008. He was only the second full-time Muslim chaplain supported by a university institution in the United States. Sultan and Ahmed married in 2005, after meeting through a mutual friend a year earlier. “I found endearing his sense of humor, and just his laughter and his just being down to earth,” Ahmed recalled. They moved to Princeton four years later, when Sultan took the position as Princeton’s Muslim Chaplain. In 2017, Sultan and Ahmed adopted their daughter Radiyya from Pakistan. “I saw how he would be a
MARK DODICI / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
A small memorial for Imam Sohaib Sultan in front of the University Chapel.
beautiful father, he had these attributes, there was this part of him that I think wasn’t fully tapped, but I knew it was there,” Ahmed explained. She noted Radiyya’s closeness to her father, stating “if I would be too strict with her, she would run to her abba and he would embrace her … and teach her with love and also joke around with her.” Known to the campus community as “Imam Sohaib,” Sultan could often be seen around Murray-Dodge Hall in a kurta, a sign of his emphasis on male modesty, in addition to female modesty, in Islam. He built a vibrant community for Muslims and nonMuslims alike and extended the reach of the community to those from beyond the University’s gates. Through the Muslim Life Program, Sultan organized weekly Jummahs (group prayers) on Fridays, served as a counsel and mentor to students, and nourished interfaith understanding throughout the University campus. Muslim Student Association (MSA) Co-President Fawaz Ahmad ’22, who regularly coordinated with Sultan through his role within MSA, thought of Sultan as a mentor and reflected on his experience of being welcomed into the campus Muslim community by Sultan. “I remember being just absolutely obnoxious meeting Imam Sohaib for the first time [during Princeton Preview]. Everyone else is trying to meet people and get a sense of Princeton, and I’m asking all these obnoxious quesSee NEWS for more
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WOMEN*S CENTER WEBSITE
New center for gender and sexuality will expand programming of Women*s and LGBT Center By Marissa Michaels
Associate News Editor
Inspired by a desire to better address the needs of current students, the University will launch a new center for gender and sexuality this fall. Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life LaTanya Buck said that the new center will help “carry out our mission to eliminate discrimination and injustice at Princeton based on sex, gender and sexual identity,” according to the University’s press release. The Women*s Center and LGBT Center will continue to operate separately, but the new center for gender and sexuality will help bridge their staff and services while acknowledging the intersections of gender and sexuality. The Women*s Center first opened in 1971 and the first official LGBT Center opened in 2005. Some of their features will remain in place under the new
center, such as affinity graduation ceremonies, individual and group-based support for students, and peer education, but some programming might look different. “This new model will allow us to be more inclusive and expansive in our programs, practices, and services to students from all identities along the spectrums of gender and sexuality,” wrote Buck in a statement to The Daily Princetonian. Buck expressed hope that the center’s programming will be more intersectional than current programming and that the curricula will be more targeted to student feedback. Ideas for the center came from a yearlong review process that engaged several members of the University community. In order to gather more ideas for the new center — including its name — faculty and staff are holding small group listening sessions with current students. Mollika Singh ’24, an LGSee NEWS for more
In Opinion Jim Matteo, Vice President for Finance and Treasurer of the University and member of the CPUC Resources Committee, provides updates on the Committe’s status in reviewing the current divestment proposal.
Guest Contributor Daniel Te highlights how USG officeholders have historically won the 1901 Medal and 1903 Prize, and encourages seniors to disrupt this trend by nominating “everyday heroes” instead.
Citing the toll this semester has taken on student mental health, Guest Contributor Josiah Gouker calls on the University to cancel next week’s classes and extend the Dean’s Date deadline.