April 8, 2015

Page 1

Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Wednesday april 8, 2015 vol. cxxxix no. 42

WEATHER

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } HIGH

LOW

43˚ 37˚

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

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

Using U. data, researcher finds vaccine effective

Cloudy with showers. chance of rain:

60 percent

Follow us on Twitter @princetonian

In Opinion

By Jacob Donnelly

Columnist Zeena Mubarak discusses what is wrong with Urban Congo and columnist Maxwell Grear takes a look at cultural appropriation. PAGE 5

A study designed to examine students’ immune responses to the meningitis B vaccine found evidence for the vaccine’s strength at the level normally used to license vaccines, researcher Nicole Basta said. Basta is a visiting researcher in the ecology and evolutionary biology department who led two studies on the effectiveness of the vaccine on University students last academic year. She presented her findings at a seminar discussion on Tuesday. Blood samples from 59 percent of students who received the first dose of the vaccine demonstrated an immune response using the titer 1:4 standard, compared to 21 percent for unvaccinated students, Basta explained. Sixty-six percent of students who received both doses on the recommended schedule, which meant receiving the first dose in December and the second dose in February, demonstrated an immune response using the titer 1:4 standard when the study was conducted in April. The results were also demonstrated to be statistically significant under the stricter titer 1:8 standard, she noted. The titer 1:4 standard means the sample was diluted by 50 percent two times and still showed a positive result. The 1:8 standard means the sample was diluted by 50 percent three times and still showed a positive result. The study, set up in the lounge of Carl Icahn Laboratory, aimed to recruit about 10 percent of the undergraduate student body, she said, noting it ended up recruiting 607 participants, which was on target. Participation in the voluntary study along sex, race and class year lines was representative of the student body, she added, noting a small number of graduate students volunteered as well. “[The $20 PAW Points gift card] was very popular,” Basta said. The proportion of students who received both doses of the vaccine was above 90 percent in every class, with 100 percent of the Class of 2017 receiving the first dose, Basta said. Overall, 98 percent of undergraduate students got the first dose of the vaccine and 93 percent got the second dose, she said. “One of the things we wanted to look at in our survey was why some students only got the first dose of the vaccine and why some students remained unvaccinated,” Basta said. “Among the unvaccinated students, and this was about 21 students, the most commonly cited reasons were See STUDY page 3

news editor

Today on Campus 4:30 pm: A panel organized by the Princeton Divests Coalition will discuss the University’s ethical obligations in its investing. McCosh 10.

COURTESY OF ANDREW BUSH

A view of part of Jacques Derrida’s library in his home in Ris Orangis.

The Archives

April 8, 1994 The University installed new “standard pedestrian” streetlights at University Place to correct the lack of lighting on pedestrian paths.

U. acquires library of philosopher Derrida By Jessica Li

PRINCETON By the Numbers

13,800

The number of books acquired from the personal library of Jacques Derrida.

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

News & Notes Concerns arise over divestment movement at University of Pennsylvania

A pro-Israel group at the University of Pennsylvania, the Think Peace Coalition, expressed concern over a campaign called “Penn Divest from Displacement,” a divestment movement at the Penn campus, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported on Monday. The movement proposes that Penn divest from seven companies that are involved in “human rights abuses related to the displacement of peoples.” The seven identified companies are part of the private prison, drone manufacturing and bulldozer weaponization industries. For example, the group alleged in a March 30 editorial in The Daily Pennsylvanian that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems had produced “drones that terrorize Muslim communities in South Asia and the Middle East.” The groups that announced the movement were the Penn Arab Student Society, Penn for Immigrant Rights, Penn Students for Justice in Palestine, Students Organizing for Unity and Liberation, Penn Amnesty International, Penn Non-Cis and the Student Labor Action Project. Princeton University undergraduate students will soon vote on a referendum to divest from companies that are “complicit in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and blockade of the Gaza Strip.”

staff writer

Firestone Library announced last week that it had acquired a collection of over 13,800 books from the personal library of Jacques Derrida, a 20th century French philosopher best known for developing the philosophical concept of deconstruction. The new acquisition includes an intellectually diverse range of books, with significant holdings in philosophy, literature and the social sciences, David Magier, Associate University Librarian for Collection Development, said. “These books are in French, English, Italian, German and other languages. They were published in the 20th century, and generally not rare in and of them-

selves,” Magier said. “What makes them especially important to scholars is that they are in Derrida’s personal library and that he left ‘traces’ of how he read them and integrated them into his thinking, for example, through his annotations.” Derrida’s working library meets a current interdisciplinary campus interest in “unpacking” a personal library and analyzing it to track the development of an individual’s thinking as well as the role of reading and its connection to writing, Magier explained. Derrida himself is an exciting subject from whom to have a personal collection, history professor Anthony Grafton said. “Derrida is one of the most inf luential writers after World War II with an immense impact,”

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

Bridge Year sees expansion, room for more growth By Do-Hyeong Myeong senior writer

Bridge Year has expanded steadily since its inception in 2009, and administrators are looking to continue to expand the program. The program began with 20 students equally distributed among four countries in the 2009-10 academic year. As student interest grew, the program expanded to accommodate 28 students in 2012, and then 35 students in 2013 with

Grafton said. “You can see what interested and inf luenced him, a prospect very fascinating to researchers.” Students could also find the library of use, Magier added. “Undergraduates in a seminar on literary criticism could examine books that Harold Bloom and Paul de Man sent to Derrida,” he said. “Students in a course on photography might find Derrida’s annotations in Barthes’ ‘La Chambre Claire’ as illuminating as Barthes’ own analysis, and a graduate student in religion would find ample material for research in Derrida’s often extensively annotated collections of works concerning Judaism.” Prior to its acquisition by the University, the library of Jacques See DERRIDA page 2

SPRING

the creation of a new location in Brazil, program director John Luria said. Although there are no concrete details yet, the program is also considering a domestic expansion that would establish Bridge Year-style opportunities within the U.S., he added. The number of applicants nearly doubled from 52 students in 2009 to 90 students in 2012. “Initially, the working See BRIDGE YEAR page 2

YASH HUIGOL :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

Psychologist discusses avenues to combat sexual assault on campuses By Christina Vosbikian staff writer

There are ways to confront the problem of sexual assault, clinical psychologist Dr. David Lisak said in a lecture on Tuesday. “The real question isn’t, ‘Do you have a problem? ’ ” Lisak said. “It’s, ‘Are you confronting the problem?’ ” Sexual assault is by no means a uniquely American problem, Lisak said, noting that the United States stands

out from other countries in that it has been relatively aggressive in combating the issue of sexual assault. “The reality is that sexual assault has been pervasive on this planet and in all societies,” Lisak said. Parents of college-aged children have realized sexual assault happens everywhere and have moved away from questioning if sexual assaults exist on prospective campuses to asking what universities are doing about

it, he said. How a university deals with sexual assault is what differentiates one university from another, he said. “How do you take a system that’s put in place to handle plagiarism and put that same system in place to handle sexual assault?” Lisak said, noting the difficulty in addressing sexual assault on college campuses. The civilian criminal justice system has also proved incompetent at handling

sexual assault cases, he said. Student activists, however, have quickly altered the landscape of sexual assault prevention and response by using social media, he said. “One of the problems with sexual violence is, if you’re raped, you don’t want anyone else to know about it and be involved. You want to curl up in a ball in a room somewhere,” Lisak said. Social media and other new technology can allow student activists’ messages

to reach a wide audience of otherwise isolated victims, he explained. Despite rhetoric about intoxicated offenders, a series of premeditated actions much more commonly leads to sexual assault, Lisak said, noting the prevalence of repeat offenders. In a 2002 study, Lisak concluded that 91 percent of all rapes are committed by serial rapists. “We think we know someSee LECTURE page 4


The Daily Princetonian

page 2

Wednesday april 8, 2015

Director hopes to establish Bridge Year opportunities within U.S. BRIDGE YEAR Continued from page 1

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

Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you ... Imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time! - Kanye West

Buy an ad. Say what you want. For more information, contact ‘Prince’ business. Call (609)258-8110 or

Email business@dailyprincetonian.com

group that established the program envisioned a program that could accommodate up to 100 students per year,” Luria said. “I think that’s still a viable goal, but the growth will depend a lot on student interest and alumni giving and our ability to fund the expansion.” The program is funded by alumni donations without depending on any general University funds, he added. The program currently provides opportunities for 35 students to take a year off and engage in a nine-month long service and cultural activities in developing countries before their freshman year. There are five program locations in India, Peru, Senegal, Brazil and China. Alongside an increase in the number of participants and applicants, Bridge Year’s program locations have changed. The initial locations in Serbia and Ghana were substituted with China and Senegal in 2012, and the site in Peru will switch to Bolivia starting in the 2015-16 program year. Location changes were inf luenced by student feedback, he said. Comparative literature professor Sandra Bermann, who led the working group to establish the program in 2008, said the program is the first of its kind among U.S. universities, and that the committee had to do a significant amount of outreach and research in order to create the program. “Though it was a challenge, it was something that could, in fact, be done, and that we hoped would be done,” Bermann said. Bermann explained that when establishing the program, the group expected the program would provide students with opportunities to immerse themselves in foreign cultures, reflect on themselves and think about the meaning of service. “I’d say we’ve been very pleased by what we’ve seen,”

Bermann said. “Students are returning in a way we hoped they would and sometimes beyond what we might have imagined.” Luria also said he has been satisfied with how the program has been working so far. “Personally I believe that it’s a program that has a great impact not only in the participants, but on the organizations and local communities the students collaborate with,” he said. Katherine Clifton ’15, who participated in the 2010 program in Serbia, said her Bridge Year experience helped her to find a greater definition for service. “Before going into Bridge Year my idea of service was fairly narrow, and now it’s much wider,” she said. “I [now] continue to think of service as just doing good in the world, in our personal relationships and with a grander focus.” Kyle Berlin ’18, who participated in the 2013 program in Peru, said the program changed many of his values. “Beforehand, I think I was a lot more competitive, and I didn’t think much about the way I existed in the world. I wasn’t as conscientious,” Berlin said. “[The bridge year] made me more aware — aware of myself, aware of the world, aware of the others, aware of what actually matters and figuring out what that means to me.” Brett Diehl ’15, who participated in the 2010 program in Peru, said the program provided him with the opportunity to explore himself and the environment he was in at a relaxed pace. “One thing that I really wanted going in was the chance to step away from the rush of American high school, and that’s what I certainly found in Peru,” he said. The program helped Diehl to discover his interest in Latin American history, he added, since his location was close to many historical sites. The program also affected the career plans of some participants. Clifton said that she

plans to go back to Serbia after her graduation to write a documentary play about Roma-Serbian hostility. “[The program] definitely shaped that, because I wouldn’t be going back if it weren’t for the Bridge Year,” Clifton said. For Diehl, a Sachs scholar, the connection is more indirect, since he will be studying in a university with no Latin American history program, he said. “[The program] gave me a level of insight in academics and passion for the subject through lived experiences that I think would have been very hard to acquire if not for having done the Bridge Year program,” Diehl said. Luria said that at the end of each Bridge Year, he and his colleagues meet and discuss ways to move the program forward. “There are definitely a lot of opportunities out there. There’s around 190 countries in the world and we’re in five, so there’s a lot of potential out there for future growth,” Luria said. “If you look at where we are at regionally and linguistically, I think it would be interesting to open a program some day in the Arabic-speaking world.” The program’s next goal is to increase visibility for both the program itself and the value of the service it embodies, Bermann said. Students interviewed said they recommend that the Bridge Year program be broadened, in terms of both the number of students involved and the definition of a bridge year itself. “I hope the program continues to expand, and if it continues to expand, [it should do so] in a way that diversifies the number of experiences that can happen instead of just increasing the number of people,” Diehl said. The University should also try to make discourses on service and self-ref lection a more central part of the campus experience for a wider Princeton community, Bermann said.

Collection to become available soon at Rare Books department of Firestone DERRIDA Continued from page 1

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

Derrida belonged to his widow Marguerite, who had kept his study and his vast collection intact since his death in 2004, Magier said. Magier declined to comment on the cost of the acquisition. “A number of scholars eager to preserve this collection and make it broadly accessible for academic research approached us in the library and urged us to explore the possibility of acquiring the collection,” Magier said. A University librarian,

accompanied by a faculty member, visited Derrida’s house outside of Paris to examine the collection, he explained. “All serious research libraries would be interested in this collection, so acquiring it was a coup for Princeton,” he said. “While there were many logistical complexities, the outcome for scholars everywhere is definitely worth it.” The reaction among other scholars outside the University has been overwhelming, Magier added. “I’ve seen word of [our acquisition] f lying around the world in scholarly blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other

social media, and all of that is before we’ve even finished bringing all the books out of their international shipping crates,” he said. Students can request access to Derrida’s collection at the Rare Books and Special Collections Department at Firestone Library after the items have been processed, cataloged and preserved. This will be an incremental process, but the books should start to become available in the next few months, Magier said. The University is also considering the possibility of making digital images of Derrida’s annotations for online research, he added.


The Daily Princetonian

Wednesday april 8, 2015

Researcher commends U. awareness campaign of risks of meningitis B STUDY

Continued from page 1

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

they were not personally concerned with meningococcal B or that they were concerned about the side effects of the vaccine or they chose ‘other.’ ” Some of these other reasons included allergies or previous adverse reactions to vaccines, she added. Students who got the first dose but failed to complete the series cited reasons including time pressures and perceived side effects after the first dose, she said. The Bexsero vaccine is unique in that most other bacterial vaccines had been based on detecting the outer surface of harmful cells, Basta said, but since meningitis B bacteria’s polysaccharide shells are similar to those of normal cells in the human body, the genome of the bacteria was sequenced and run through a computer to search for possible antigens in a process called reverse vaccinology. Meningitis B is a significant public health concern because without treatment, only 50 percent of those infected will survive, and even with treatment, 90 percent will survive, she said. However, meningitis cases in general, not just serogroup

B cases, have decreased since 2005, she added. After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared an outbreak of meningitis B at the University in May 2013, the University and researchers were initially hopeful that summer break would disrupt the transmission of the disease, Basta explained, noting a fifth case that was diagnosed in a student in June was disappointing. A patient who presented to University Health Services with meningitis B in October 2013 indicated to researchers that the strain of meningitis B at the University was demonstrating remarkably sustained transmission over time, which prompted UHS to heighten its awareness toward fever cases and increase public awareness about precautions, she noted. The campaign to make students aware of the danger of meningitis B and precautions they could take was particularly innovative in its messaging, Basta added. Another setback was the death of a Drexel University student in March 2014 after contact with a University student, in part because the mood on campus until then had been celebratory at the apparent end of the danger of meningitis B, she

page 3

LECTURE

added. After the discussion, a student who was a residential college adviser last year asked Basta about the messaging RCAs received about the effectiveness of the vaccine. The student said it seemed to her that the message was that it was safe to interact with unvaccinated individuals again, but this appeared to be untrue since a Drexel student died after contact with a University student. “At that time, no studies had been done on Bexsero and carriage,” Basta said, adding that since then, one study has been published in the U.K. that potentially shows that on a longer time scale, Bexsero may have an effect on transmission from vaccinated to unvaccinated individuals, but there is not enough evidence that this effect exists on a shorter time scale. “That was just not known at the time,” she said. The seminar, titled “The Princeton University MenB Outbreak: Impact of Vaccination on Students’ Immune Response,” was held at 12:15 p.m. in Robertson Hall Bowl 2. It was co-sponsored by the Global Health Initiative and the Wilson School’s Center for Health and Wellbeing.

Take it like a polaroid picture. Join the ‘Prince’ photo department.

RAYE KESSLER :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Laurence Steinberg explains why the adolescent years are so developmentally crucial in a lecture.


The Daily Princetonian

page 4

Wednesday april 8, 2015

Oop s, sorly, Dos theeS butherr u?

Join the ‘Prince’ copy department. Email join@dailyprincetonian.com

SEWHEAT HAILE :: ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Dr. David Lisak discusses the motivations and characteristsics of sexual assault on college campuses at a lecture on campus on Tuesday evening.

Lisak suggests changes in bystander attitudes LECTURE Continued from page 1

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

body, and the person we know can’t be a terrorist, a bomber, he’s just a friend,” Lisak said. “Most of the time we’re right. Very few people do bad things like this, but the thing is we can easily be tricked like this and we routinely are.” Studies have estimated that around five percent of college men admit to committing one or more rapes, and three percent of college men are serial offenders, he said. “To everybody who’s done this research, and there are dozens of us, it’s very clear

that these men don’t see this as rape,” Lisak said, noting this behavior typically begins in adolescence and continues at college. “They don’t think they’re confessing to something momentous.” Lisak showed the audience a video of a reenactment of a college rape account that he was told during an interview he conducted at Duke University. In the video, an actor portraying a male student relayed how he and his fraternity brother would target freshman girls at parties, get them drunk on strong punch and then have sex with them. “When you have a culture where the objectification of other human beings is per-

mitted, you’re going to have a small set of individuals who will take that objectification to the extreme,” Lisak said. “Fundamentally, it’s the culture that has to be addressed.” Being part of the corrective action through education and training is important, Lisak added. Lisak asked the audience if they thought they had a right to do what they could to stop a guy from driving drunk and if people thought they had responsibility to do so. Many raised their hands. Two decades or so ago, Lisak said, nobody would have raised their hands. “We’ve changed in literally

a generation,” he said. Lisak said he hoped that people’s attitudes about intervening in sexual assault and sexual violence cases would change like it had for drunk driving cases. It is the individual’s responsibility to protect his or her community and each other, he said. Bystander training programs can help inculcate that sense of responsibility to the community, Lisak added. The event took place at 8 p.m. in Taylor Auditorium in the Frick Chemistry Laboratory. It was sponsored by Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education.

T HE DA ILY

Someone take your ‘Prince’? Get your fix online.

www.dailyprincetonian.com :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Daily Princetonian is published daily except Saturday and Sunday from September through May and three times a week during January and May by The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc., 48 University Place, Princeton, N.J. 08540. Mailing address: P.O. Box 469, Princeton, N.J. 08542. Subscription rates: Mailed in the United States $175.00 per year, $90.00 per semester. Office hours: Sunday through Friday, 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Telephones: Business: 609-375-8553; News and Editorial: 609-258-3632. For tips, email news@dailyprincetonian.com. Reproduction of any material in this newspaper without expressed permission of The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc., is strictly prohibited. Copyright 2015, The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Princetonian, P.O. Box 469, Princeton, N.J. 08542.

Follow us on Twitter! #BeAwesome

@Princetonian


Ending the heart of darkness

Why USG needs to host debates before referendums

contributing columnist

T

Nicholas Wu is a freshman from Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich. He can be reached at nmwu@princeton.edu.

page 5

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Nicolas Wu

he Urban Congo group is offensive, distasteful and morally reprehensible. Kudos goes to Achille Tenkiang ’17, who was able to preserve the video of its performance on YouTube before the group hastily removed it. It is clear that the group members were attempting to be funny, but the truth is that they were anything but that. A large Princeton logo looms in the background of the stage as they go through their act. This is unacceptable for an institution like ours. Their performance continues the long history of cultural reduction of that region of Africa that even extends into Western literature. In his critique of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” Chinua Achebe, the esteemed author of “Things Fall Apart,” declared that Conrad rendered Africa “a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognisable humanity, into which the wandering European enters at his peril.” The Urban Congo performance falls into that category of depictions of Africa. On the contrary to some of the discourse, however, this is not a case of “cultural appropriation” insomuch as it is the repugnant depiction of ugly stereotypes dating back to the colonial era like those of “Heart of Darkness” or “Tintin in the Congo.” The online Oxford Reference defines cultural appropriation as “a term used to describe the taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural group from another.” No artistic form was taken over in this instance — the Urban Congo group simply performed its ignorant version of a stereotypical “African” dance. Depictions like this only further reinforce the stereotype of the Congo as a dehumanized land of bongo drums and elephants. In addition to its insensitivity towards Africans, the routine conflates Africans with citydwellers with its usage of the word “urban” to mean “black,” as if America’s urban centers are “wild,” “uncivilized” places because of their non-white residents. Given that seven out of the 15 most populous American cities have majority-minority populations, this is a highly problematic characterization, especially since the cast of the show was all white. Having grown up in the Detroit area and bearing witness to all of its racial inflammations, I’ve seen firsthand how this kind of racially motivated urban-suburban split can tear a region apart — I often heard my classmates in my suburban high school talk about a fear of “urban” influences as a euphemism for their fears of black people. My own home suburb of Grosse Pointe, which is majority white, erected a farmers’ market in the summer of 2014 across one of the main roads linking Grosse Pointe to the majority black city of Detroit, effectively walling off that section of Grosse Pointe from Detroit. The wall of sheds was only removed in the fall of 2014 after a firestorm of criticism, although the barricades across smaller roads remain. Despite Urban Congo’s insistence that its intentions were not harmful, the optics were certainly bad enough to merit a stronger apology than the milquetoast one delivered by the head of the group, Michael Hauss ’16, who emphasized the way in which the performance can help spark a dialogue on campus. The opportunity for dialogue is there, but it should not deflect criticism from those responsible. The first step toward preventing more incidents like this one is tightening the requirements for funding and recognition from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS). The Daily Princetonian reports that the group was “recognized and sponsored” by ODUS, which never should have happened in the first place had there been a more stringent review of the group’s intended activities. The name alone should have been a dead giveaway for its offensive potential, and I am not sure why those who approved the group did not give pause when the group’s name slid across their desk. What should have happened is an inquiry into the group’s intended actions. This stringency of review need not be a constraint on free speech — a balance can be struck between legitimate cultural expression and bigotry. A group can say or express what it wants so long as it does not provoke harm to others as per its First Amendment rights, but that doesn’t mean that it has to receive ODUS recognition and sponsorship, or be free of criticism, for that matter. In her April 6 column, Daily Princetonian columnist Zeena Mubarak wrote that we should consider the ramifications of our actions, given the backlash against this show. I agree with her completely. Much of the press about these kinds of offensive incidents tends to center around depictions of black people, but the same logic applies to all groups, be they black, Asian, or otherwise. It’s not even simply a matter of cultural sensitivity — it’s just a matter of basic decency towards your fellow students. There are legitimate grievances about the offensiveness of these incidents, and reductionist, inflammatory statements like many of those on social media have done nothing to help the discourse about such weighty issues. This campus only has 5,300-odd undergraduate students living together inside the Orange Bubble. Let’s get along, shall we?

Opinion

Wednesday april 8, 2015

Colton Smith

contributing columnist

T

he results of the “Hose Bicker” referendum are in, with the hosers (no offense to our neighbors in the north) losing 1120 to 868. Adding these numbers, we can see that only 1988 students out of 5391 undergraduates voted. Thus an overwhelming 63% of undergraduate students decided that the 45 seconds required to log on to Helios and click a few buttons was simply too high a cost for the right to make their voices heard. I can’t help but hypothesize that a general lack of attention to these kinds of campus issues is at least partially to blame. However, another important factor is students’ lack of information about the arguments. This both discourages undergraduates from voting because they lack enough information to make an informed decision and may lead to votes that are cast without full consideration of both sides. With the “Divest Princeton” petition having gotten the requisite number of signatures, it seems that we are poised to have another referendum, this one even more technical and fact-based than the last. Nonetheless, there has been no great drive on campus by students to research all the facts so that we all know exactly what we’re voting on. Though these issues get debated between friends in dining halls or over late meal, such discussions offer only limited views. What we need is to expose the entire university to intelligent, wellthought-out, bipartisan discourse over such issues. That is why I am hereby calling on the University Student Government to institute a policy of hosting a public debate on any issue prior to having a referendum on it.

The kind of debate I am proposing is a formal, moderated one between two teams who have spent significant time researching facts and preparing arguments. Essentially, it should be quite similar to the debates Whig-Clio holds all the time. The differences will be in the relevancy of the topic, the timeliness (these debates should occur around a week or two before the referendum) and hopefully greater attendance. For example, Whig-Clio previously hosted a divestment debate. However, the event occurred four months ago and, according to former Whig-Clio president Adam Tcharni ’15, only 30 to 35 people attended. To encourage higher attendance I think several steps should be taken. The debates should be held in a larger and more central area on campus, such as the Frist MPRs, to allow large-scale student access. Ideally the debates should be livestreamed as well to allow for an online audience. Finally, the debates should be well advertised on a broad range of forums at least a week prior to the event to further increase awareness. Hosting such a debate has a number of substantial advantages. First, it helps to inform the student body about the issue. Few students are willing to put in the time to thoroughly research topics such as these. Hosting a debate between two well-informed parties would help to give students the information they need to make up their minds in a well-reasoned way. Second, seeing a debate on this issue would encourage students to have more and better debates about this issue among themselves, both by simply putting the topic into students’ minds (along with arguments for both sides) and by taking the stigma out of debating it. Many issues, such as divestment, can be highly controversial, and as a result many students will only discuss them with people they already know agree with them. By seeing

vol. cxxxix

people debate the issue, people will feel more comfortable debating it themselves, and thus one debate creates many more. Finally, this debate would itself act as advertisement for the referendum, encouraging a higher voter turnout. In short, a debate will give us more and better voters. In thinking about this proposition, it is important to ask who would debate for each side. Naturally, those proposing the referendum should, if not themselves debating, be in charge of creating and organizing a team to argue for the referendum. Creating a team for the opposition is trickier, but students could be nominated by other students to be on the opposition. All students who get above a requisite number of nominations will come together to create and organize the opposition team. In such a short column, I can only offer suggestions and I would gladly welcome improvement, but the issue of debaters would have to be addressed. I’m not going to pretend that what I’m proposing is free. Organizing an event like this takes time and effort and we all have a lot on our plates. However, these referendums have campus-wide, and in a few cases, global effects. It’s not enough to simply wing them. I love debate and have always felt that it is the cornerstone of good representative government. The Athenians knew that when they started this whole mess we call democracy. Somehow along the many years, however, we seem to have largely forgotten that piece of wisdom. Let’s bring it back. The more we debate, the smarter our people become about the issues of the day, and the better decisions we end up making about the direction we want our university to go in. USG, give us a debate. Colter Smith is a sophomore from Bronxville, NY. He can be reached at crsmith@princeton. edu.

Self-Esteem Troubles Ryan Budnick ’16 ..................................................

Anna Mazarakis ’16 editor-in-chief

Matteo Kruijssen ’16 business manager

BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 vice presidents John G. Horan ’74 Thomas E. Weber ’89 secretary Kathleen Kiely ’77 treasurer Michael E. Seger ’71 Craig Bloom ’88 Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Richard P. Dzina, Jr. ’85 William R. Elfers ’71 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 John G. Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Betsy J. Minkin ’77 Alexia Quadrani Jerry Raymond ’73 Annalyn Swan ’73 Douglas Widmann ’90

139TH BUSINESS BOARD Head of Outreach Justine Mauro ’17 Head of Client Management Vineeta Reddy ’18 Head of Operations Daniel Kim ’17 Comptroller Nicholas Yang ’18 Director of Circulation Kevin Liu ’18

NIGHT STAFF 4.6.15 staff copy editors Megan Laubach ’18 Maya Wesby ’18 news Shriya Sekhsaria ’17

A journalistic failure Marni Morse columnist

I

f “Jackie” wasn’t actually raped initially, she certainly has been victimized now — this time by Rolling Stone, her three friends, the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and the University of Virginia and its administrators. Calling more attention to rape on college campuses and beyond is extremely important; however, it should not be built on the basis of lies. This past November, Rolling Stone failed the most basic journalistic tenet of telling the truth when they failed to fact-check their article on an alleged gang rape at a fraternity at UVA and the University’s response. When other newspapers started to follow up on the original article, the narrative quickly unraveled. The whole thing did a disservice to sexual assault victims and activists, to journalism as a whole and to the named fraternity and UVA. After it became apparent that there were numerous inaccuracies in the story and Rolling Stone retracted the article, Rolling Stone asked the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism to investigate and write a report about what went wrong. The 12,000-word scathing report came out this past Sunday. In light of this, rather than implement firings and policy changes, Rolling Stone incredibly has double downed and blamed the alleged victim “Jackie,”

shifting the blame on her rather than owning up to its own laziness and utter lack of fact-checking. Rolling Stone’s original article and its response to the recent report on the entire scandal ironically mirror what is wrong with our current sexual assault policies on many college campuses. Rolling Stone blamed the survivor and did little to investigate to determine the actual facts. When in the wake of the Rolling Stone article, the police and the Columbia School of Journalism interviewed Jackie’s friends, who she confided in after the incident, they couldn’t corroborate the gang rape. The friends did believe, however, that Jackie had been through some type of trauma. A quick check with these friends would have gotten the fact that Jackie’s story wasn’t quite right but that something had happened to her — and that something that actually happened is important. Now it will probably never be dealt with. Rather than get to the heart of what did happen to Jackie, Rolling Stone was all too eager to print the sensational story and bask in the national spotlight. It is clear now that the story Jackie told was not correct, but it was Rolling Stone’s responsibility to fact-check and get this story right, not Jackie’s. Rolling Stone’s lack of acknowledging its active part in this scandal is only perpetuating the initial problems from the original article. The fact that this article was published with so many errors shows

clear problems in its reporting and editing process. The Washington Post first uncovered these inconsistencies only days later. Even after an extensive fourmonth investigation, the Charlottesville police could not find any substantial evidence that the assaults mentioned in the article had ever occurred. These mistakes certainly should have been caught before being published. Unfortunately the writer, Sabrina Erdely, cannot be fired, as she is a freelance magazine journalist. However, the blame is much more systemic. The editor and factcheckers also have a responsibility for due diligence to ensure that each story they edit and publish is accurate. While there is no perfect solution, there are many things Rolling Stone could do. For instance, Rolling Stone could state that it will not publish another article by Erdely and those editors and fact-checkers involved with the story could be fired or suspended. But instead they are doing nothing. Rolling Stone is failing to treat this as a journalistic scandal. They’ve damaged the reputations of real people and institutions and potentially created further distrust of sexual assault victims, already a major problem in our society. In fact, the fraternity is now suing Rolling Stone, only bolstering the false narrative of girls crying rape. Rolling Stone’s indifference to the truth is journalistic malpractice and its gravity should be understood as such. The fact that no one has

been or is going to be fired or even disciplined, according to CNN, demonstrates that the Rolling Stone leadership is not taking this incident seriously. As the Columbia report mentions, the managing editor acknowledged that “the story’s breakdown reflected both an ‘individual failure’ and ‘procedural failure, an institutional failure.’ ” Erdely let personal feelings toward the issue override good journalistic judgment. Moreover, though apparently a factchecker is assigned to every article, the recommendations they suggested in edits were never followed up on, nor did they cover the extent of the problems in the piece that they probably should have. The need for sensitivity toward victims does not outweigh a journalist’s responsibility to corroborate and factcheck. While perhaps issues should be phrased carefully, the failure to uphold these journalistic standards ultimately injures everyone more. As the Columbia report summarized perfectly, “the responsibilities that universities have in preventing campus sexual assault — and the standards of performance they should be held to — are important matters of public interest. Rolling Stone was right to take them on. The pattern of its failure draws a map of how to do better.” Marni Morse is a sophomore from Washington, D.C. She can be reached at mlmorse@princeton.edu.


The Daily Princetonian

page 6

Wednesday april 8, 2015

Both men’s and women’s team easily outpaced opponents in their events TRACK

Continued from page 8

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

second meet in a row and freshman Josh Freeman finished in fourth. In the relays, Seaton, Albertson, freshman Maxwell Schwegman and junior Jake Scinto won the 4x100 in 42.93, while Leeper, Freeman, sophomore Bryant Switzer and sophomore Ray Mennin won the 4x400 in 3:18.82. Freshman Colin Reilley won the high jump and broke his personal best, clearing 2.00 on his second attempt in his first outdoor completion. On the long jump, senior Tumi Akinlawon, Leeper and Scinto took the top three spots, respectively, with Akinlawon winning with a jump of 7.12m. The trio of jumpers have been performing exceptionally well this year, particularly in long jump, and finished in the top three spots in the event at indoor Heps. Princeton performed incredibly well in the shot put as well, with sophomore Christopher Cook and freshman Mitchel Charles taking the top two spots, respectively, and Cook winning with a throw of 16.82m before going on to finish third in the discus. Senior Stephen Soerens was the top Tiger finisher in the javelin throw, coming in fourth in the event. The women’s track and

field team had strong finishes of their own in the meet, winning six individual events and both relays. The first day saw sophomore Lizzie Bird win the steeplechase and become the NCAA leader with a time of 10:08.62, breaking her own previous personal record by more than four seconds and finishing more than ten seconds ahead of the next fastest runner. Junior Julia Ratcliffe, who won NCAAs in the hammer throw last year, won her event, throwing a seasonbest 64.38m and leaving her ranked third in the nation. Hammer throwers junior Brielle Rowe and freshman Kennedy O’Dell also performed well, breaking personal records. In the 5000, Tigers took the top three finishes among collegians. Junior Kathryn Fluehr finished second overall at 16:46.84, behind an unattached runner, while junior Kathryn Little finished third and senior Erika Fluehr finished fifth. Junior Lindsay Eysenbach finished second in the 10k at 35:15.50, the fastest collegiate time. In the 1500, sophomore Zoe Sims finished seventh, while sophomore Elisa Steele finished ninth in the 800. The second day saw the Tigers take four individual events and the relays, opening with junior Jasmine Blocker, senior Joanna Anyanwu, junior Sara Ronde and senior Emily Easton winning

0101110110100010010100101001001010 0100101110001010100101110110100010 0101001010010010100100101110001010 1001011101101000100101001010010010 1001001011100010101001011101101000 1001010010100100101001001011100010 for (;;) 1010010111011010001001010010100100 { 1010010010111000101010010111011010 System.out.print(“Join ”); 0010010100101001001010010010111000 System.out.println(“Web!”); 1010100101110110100010010100101001 } 0010100100101110001010100101110110 1000100101001010010010100100101110 0010101001011101101000100101001010 0100101001001011100010101001011101 1010001001010010100100101001001011 Dream in code? 1000101010010111011010001001010010 1001001010010010111000101010010111 Join the ‘Prince’ web staff 0110100010010100101001001010010010 1110001010100101110110100010010100 1010010010100100101110001010100101 1101101000100101001010010010100100 1011100010101001011101101000100101 0010111011010001001010010100100101 0010010111000101010010111011010001 join@dailyprincetonian.com 0010100101001001010010010111000101 0100101110110100010010100101001001 0100100101110001010100101110110100 0100101001010010010100100101110001 0101001011101101000100101001010010 01010 01001011100010101001011101

101000100101001010010010100100

the 4x100 in 48.67. Anyanwu finished second in both the 100 and 200, shaving one onehundreth of a second off of each of her PRs. Sophomore Allison Harris and junior Taylor Morgan qualified for the 100 hurdle final, with Harris finishing fourth and Morgan finishing eighth. Morgan’s prelim time also set a PR. Junior Meghan McMullin finished third in the 400 hurdles before senior Kim Mackay and Steele took the top two finishes in the 400, with Mackay winning with a time of 55.83. Freshman Melinda Renuart won the 3K in 9:52.80 in the long only distance event held Saturday afternoon. In the 4x400, junior Cecilia Barowski, freshman Ashley Forte, Mackay and McMullin took the victory at 3:53.55. Junior Inka Busack won the high jump after clearing 1.70 on the second attempt. Ronde went on to win her second event of the day in the long jump with a jump of 5.58 on her second try, while Morgan finished second and Harris finished fifth. Freshman Kennedy O’Dell set a new personal record in the shot put and finished third, while junior Brielle Rowe finished fifth in the discus. Senior Waskewitz closed out the day with a third place finish in the javelin. The Tigers will compete next on Saturday, April 11, again in Weaver Stadium.

CARLY JACKSON :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The women’s track and field team won six individual events and both relays wih record-breaking times

Banghart wins most prestigious coaching award W. B-BALL Continued from page 8

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

and the Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year awards. When reached for comment, Banghart described the difference between winning the USBWA’s award and the Naismith award. “[It’s about] the prestige of the Naismith, it’s the premier coaching award out there,” Banghart said. “It’s the Super Bowl [of coaching].” Banghart also described the overwhelming joy she naturally felt when receiving the prestigious honor. “To be able to be amongst my peers, and have people so genuinely happy for me what my team of players did, it was the perfect time to get this award,” Banghart explained. True to form, she continued to put her team first when accepting it, saying, “I accepted it on behalf of my fifteen players.” Banghart received the award in Tampa, Fla., where the final game in the tournament is taking place. She said it was one thing to win the award — it was another

to win the award while surrounded by so many other prominent figures in coaching. “I was somewhere where people understand the value of the award,” Banghart said. “It [was] great to see.” Banghart’s legacy at Princeton With this award, Banghart makes a strong case as one of the best coaches Princeton has seen. She is the first Tigers coach to receive the Naismith award. Moreover, Banghart expressed the immense pride she felt by being able to connect Princeton to such a prestigious honor. “[It’s great] to have Princeton’s name forever attached to the Naismith legacy,” Banghart said. “I’m proud to have been someone who can have Princeton notarized like that.” She explained how it’s an honor to bring the legacy of Princeton Athletics together with the legacy and gravitas the Naismith carries in college athletics. She spoke about having gotten emotional upon hearing her name called. “The Naismith carries with it such a legacy. I don’t get emotional very often. When I found out, I teared up,” Banghart said. “I know what the legacy stands for,

how much of a difference these coaches have made in their teams and universities.” The difference Banghart has made in Princeton women’s basketball has been nothing short of eyepopping. She boasts a 169-67 record overall and a 92-17 record against Ivy League opponents, and she now has the most wins of any Princeton women’s basketball coach in history. She had her team at the end of the regular season ranked 13th in the country (per the AP poll) — the highest ever ranking for an Ivy League team. Ask those who work with her on a daily basis, and you will hear accounts of a focused coach hungry for more success. Sophomore guard Vanessa Smith spoke to the kind of presence and influence her coach has with the team. “She’s the perfect embodiment of what a driven, group-oriented leader can do,” Smith said. “At the core of all [the success] is our incredible coach who’s devoted first to her players and then to our goals.” Banghart driven for another run next season Assistant Coach Milena Flores, who like Banghart joined the team in 2007, expressed how inspiring it is to see Banghart’s competitive-

ness and desire to succeed up close. “Being an assistant for her, it’s really special to see her competitive drive [and] unending enthusiasm,” Flores said. “[She’s] always wanting to be better.” Despite a season filled with high after high, Banghart continues to focus on the ultimate prize — an NCAA championship. Her gift of coaching appears to be matched by her gift of self-improvement. “She’s someone who always wants to learn. [She’s] incredibly willing to adapt,” Flores said. When asked what in particular about Banghart’s comportment this season impressed her, Flores added, “Her main improvement was game management. She knows her players really well, [and] just has a really good feel for what to do in games.” Banghart herself noted that as she grows, she must be aware of the new team she’s coaching. “Every year, you’re coaching that team, that particular team. We start on the court this year with next year’s team,” Banghart explained. “I have to be the best version of me for next year’s team. You have to evolve. I have to be prepared and ready to bring this team where it needs to go.”


The Daily Princetonian

Wednesday april 8, 2015

page 7

Don’t be mad. Don’t be sad. Be glad, and BUY AN AD! (it’s the hottest fad.) For more information, contact ‘Prince’ business. Call (609)258-8110 or Email business@dailyprincetonian.com BEN KOGER :: SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sophomore Hana Ku placed second at the Pirate Invitational, shooting an even par for the event.

PHOTOS!

Both teams preparing for Ivy League Championships at the end of month GOLF

Continued from page 8

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

Columbia, Penn and Yale placing third, fourth and seventh, respectively. With this performance, it bodes well for the team in the Ivy League Championship that will be held in three weeks at Saucon Valley Country Club. The Tigers finished with 31 shots over par, eight shots behind eventual winners

Georgia, who carded a +23. The Tigers beat Columbia by six shots. Leading the team was sophomore Hana Ku, who came in tied second place at even par, and she was beaten by two shots by Columbia’s Camilla Vik, who carded a -2. Freshman Caroline Araskog finished in 8th place with a score of +8, while sophomore Jordan Lippetz finished in 10th place with a score of +9. Junior Alexandra Wong recorded a +14 to finish in

23rd place, while junior Sydney Kersten finished in 50th place with a score of +21 to round out the field. Both teams return to action this weekend, with the men’s golf team hosting the Princeton Invitational at Springdale Golf Club over Saturday and Sunday, while the women’s golf team will travel to Providence, R.I., to compete at the Brown Invitational at Metacomet Country Club over Sunday and Monday.

Visit our website to view photos and purchase copies!

photo.dailyprincetonian.com


Sports

Wednesday april 8, 2015

page 8

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Banghart wins Naismith college coaching award By Miles Hinson sports editor

It seems Courtney Banghart has reached the top of the college basketball coaching world. On Tuesday, Banghart was named the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year. She led the Princeton Tigers to a perfect record during the regular season, as the team won all 30 of their games. She took her program to its first NCAA win, defeating the University of Wisconsin — Green Bay. It appears that a perfect regular season was a prerequisite for winning the award this year. The winner of the Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year, the University of Kentucky’s John Calipari, also failed to drop a game during the regular season. Also, just like the Tigers, the Kentucky Wildcats would fall to a no. 1 seed, losing to the University of Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday. The Naismith Coach of the Year award is arguably the most prestigious award given out to a college coach. As Banghart receives this honor, she will be adding

her name to a list of legendary coaches. Previous winners of the award include the University of Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma and the University of Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, both of whom have been named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Indeed, Auriemma was named along with Banghart as one of the finalists for this year’s Naismith award. Auriemma’s Huskies are currently in the finals for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship tournament. The fact that Banghart was selected despite the Tigers’ falling in the Round of 32 speaks volumes to the respect she has garnered as a coach and a leader. Of course, Banghart has earned the attention of the college basketball world through her many seasons of success, but the number of awards she has received in the last few weeks alone defy belief. She was already named Ivy League Coach of the Year back in March. In the past two days she received both the US Basketball Writers Association Women’s Coach of the Year See W. B-BALL page 6

TIFFANY RICHARDSON :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

After winning a Coach of the Year award yesterday, Coach Banghart added the most prestigious coaching award for college coaches. GOLF

Mixed results for men’s, women’s golf last weekend By Tom Pham associate sports editor

After a disappointing 24th place finish in The Goodwin at Stanford Golf Course, the men’s golf team could not best that lastplace finish this past weekend, while the women’s golf team went strength to strength and continued its great form this season. The men’s golf team traveled to Bryan, Texas to compete in the Aggie Invitational at the Traditions Golf Club, while the women’s golf team stayed in New Jersey and competed at the Pirate Invitational at the Trump National Golf Club. Against a fiercely competitive field, the men’s golf team could not beat higher ranked opponents and had to accept a 13th-place finish out of 13 teams. Of the

13 teams competing at the Invitational, seven teams were ranked in the top 50. Oklahoma, ranked no. 9 in the country, claimed first place in the event, three shots ahead of second place and no. 11-ranked Texas Tech. Other ranked teams included no. 7-ranked LSU and no. 22-ranked California. The Tigers finished with 112 shots over par, which were some 37 shots behind 12th-placed Bowling Green State. The top golfer of the event was KK Limbhasut from California, who finished two under par, two shots ahead of Arkansas’ Kolton Crawford. The Tigers performed commendably on the day, but the highest finisher on the team was sophomore Quinn Prchal, who placed in 38th place with a score of +15, while

freshman Michael Davis placed 55th with a score of +21. Freshman Marc Hedrick came in 64th with a score of +25, sophomore Alex Dombrowski came in 75th with a score of +51 and Eric Mitchell came in 76th with a score of +59. Hedrick himself recorded a rare eagle on the event, only one of seven eagles during the tournament. While the men’s team did not have much success against much tougher opponents, the women’s golf team had a much better weekend, as team placed second out of 12 teams at the Seton Hall Pirate Invitational. The Tigers also managed to get a better look at their Ivy League opponents, as three other teams competed this past weekend, with See GOLF page 7

TRACK AND FIELD

Track and field continue season on high note as they dominate rivals By Sydney Mandelbaum associate sports editor

Men’s track and field had a successful weekend at the Sam Howell Invitational, held over the course of two days at the Tigers’ own Weaver Stadium. Friday, the first day of the meet, saw junior Adam Bragg win the pole

vault as six other Tigers broke their personal records. Bragg won after clearing 5.15 meters on his first try, while sophomore Ben Gaylord set a personal record of 5.00 meters, clearing on his first attempt. Then, due to poor weather, the event continued indoors in Jadwin Gymnasium. All three hammer throwers set

their own personal records, with sophomore Vic Youn throwing for 57.41m on his third try, with all five of his attempts passing his previous best of 50.07m. Senior Jake Taylor threw 56.19m and freshman Gabe Arcaro threw 56.02m, an impressive feat for his second time throwing on a collegiate level.

Turning to the runners, junior Sam Berger saw success of his own in the 1500, finishing seventh overall and third among collegians, breaking a personal record with 3:55.49, while freshman Jared Lee broke his own personal record in the 800 and had the fastest time of any Tiger, recording 1:55.87.

The second day saw even more events won and personal records broken. Junior Greg Caldwell won the 110 hurdles in 14.52, followed by freshman James Burns, who finished seventh, while sophomore Greg Leeper and junior Jordan Myers went third and fourth, respectively, in the 400 hurdles.

Sophomore Brent Alebertson won the 100, finishing in just 10.89, with freshman Michael Seaton and junior Dré Nelson tying for fifth place. Albertson also finished in fifth place in the 200. Freshman Brennan O’Connor won the 400 in 49.79 while breaking his personal record for the See TRACK page 6

Tweet of the day

Inside

Follow us

‘Princeton forever connected to the Naismith legacy. A humbling thank you to my 15 players who played with such competitiveness and class.’

Read about the men’s and women’s track and field weekend and their successes. SPORTS PAGE 6

‘Prince’ Sports is on Twitter! Follow us at

Courtney Banghart, women’s basketball head coach and naismith award winner

www.twitter.com/princesports

for live news and reports!


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.