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Thursday April 29, 2021 vol. CXLV no. 44
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NEWS
Designed by: Srija Patcha
Thursday vaccine clinic now open to all eligible students, with limited doses By Evelyn Doskoch Head News Editor
JON ORT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
Jadwin Gymnasium.
All undergraduate and graduate students eligible under state guidelines are now eligible to receive the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at Thursday’s vaccine clinic. The clinic will take place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Jadwin Gymnasium. As of April 19, all individuals ages 16 years or older who live, work, or study in New Jersey are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Spots were originally offered to international students, with approximately 250 doses allocated by the Princeton Health Department in partnership with University Health Services. Additional students were contacted on Wednesday morning, including those who met the “CDC and NJ DOH eligibility criteria for receiving a COVID-19 vaccine before the general public,” according to the email they received.
“We’ve reached out several times to international students anticipated to leave campus soon and to those with certain medical conditions who have been eligible for several weeks,” Deputy University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss told The Daily Princetonian. “Given that, we have now opened the clinic to all undergraduate and graduate students eligible under state guidelines,” he added. “We want to ensure that all the doses available to students at this clinic through the Princeton Health Department are used.” Undergraduate and graduate students were informed of their eligibility through a TigerAlert sent at 3:43 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. Use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was briefly put on pause by federal health agencies after reports emerged of a rare blood clotting disorder in six American women who received See NEWS for more
SPORTS
Six Princetonians to compete in Tokyo Olympics By Wilson Conn Contributor
Keep an eye out for Tigers when watching this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. So far, five Princeton alumni and one current student have qualified to represent their home countries in the games. This includes four members of Team USA, one athlete representing Egypt, and one athlete representing New Zealand. Eliza Stone ’13, who was a political theory concentrator at Princeton, qualified for the Olympics in saber fencing thanks to her performance at the Sabre World Cup in Budapest, Hungary this March. She reached the podium at the NCAA Championships three times from 2011–2013, winning the gold medal in 2013 for individual sabre. Princeton also
won the team gold that year. Stone is joined by Kat Holmes ’17, a neuroscience concentrator who qualified in epee fencing after delivering a standout performance at the Epee World Cup in Kazan, Russia, just one week after Stone qualified. Holmes represented the USA at the Rio Olympics in 2016, coming in 25th overall in the epee event. Team USA finished 5th overall. At the same event in Kazan, Holmes’ classmate Anna Van Brummen ’17, who concentrated in geoscience, qualified as a replacement athlete in epee fencing. Van Brummen defeated Holmes in the 2017 NCAA Championship to win the gold medal in epee. She also won bronze in epee at the NCAA Championships in 2015. The Tigers have qualified a male fencer, too; Mohamed
Hamza ’23, who is concentrating in mechanical and aerospace engineering, will represent Egypt this summer in foil fencing. Hamza was an All-American in the 2018–19 season and finished sixth at the NCAA Championships. He also competed for Egypt at Rio 2016. Hamza is excited to return to the Olympics, noting that his experience in Rio will serve him well: “It’s nice to have already experienced the Olympic atmosphere and the unique pressures that come along with it,” he said, “I feel very much ready and have been working hard to hopefully achieve something great and prove that us young athletes are just as great as our older opponents, of which there are plenty in fencing.” So far, two non-fencing athSee SPORTS for more
NEWS
NJ Transit considers potential alternatives for Dinky By Amy Ciceu Staff Writer
JOSÉ PABLO FERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
Departing for elsewhere on the Dinky.
The “Princeton Dinky,” the oldest scheduled commuter rail line in the nation, might have its days numbered. NJ Transit recently commenced a year-long study of the Princeton transit system, with an emphasis on the Princeton Branch transit corridor that unites Princeton with the Princeton Junction. The study’s ultimate objective is to examine potential alternatives for the weathered Dinky in accordance with the transit system’s future population demand and certain planned developments, including the expansion of the University’s campus. In addition to these considerations, emergent modes of transportation are constantly reimagining the way many people travel. According to NJ Transit, the avenues for alternative transportation currently under consideration include “a roadway with embedded rail that can
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Julia Ratcliffe ’17 will represent New Zealand in the hammer throw at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
support rail and rubber-tired transit vehicles; a stand-alone rail corridor with a parallel roadway for bus or rubber-tired tram service;” and “a roadway with a guardway that could support a rubber-tied tram and buses.” Another option, also outlined in the NJ Transit study’s plans, extends the possibility of the Dinky ultimately remaining a fixture of Princeton transit: “A no-build option that would continue the current service.” However, this latter possibility seems unlikely to some involved in the decision because of the desire to implement transit technology that is more accessible and of higher quality than the current Dinky. Chair of the Princeton Transit Advisory Committee Nat Bottigheimer is optimistic about NJ Transit’s push toward updating the mode of transport along the Princeton Branch. “NJ Transit has made clear that the current Dinky rail cars need to be replaced by another type of railcar or transit service. Even if changes are only to the equipment, it can not help but be more contemporary in technology, since the Dinky railcars date back to 1978,” he wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian. Regardless of the study’s outcome, the alternative will seek to enhance the quality and
frequency of transit along the Princeton Branch. “Any future service that is more frequent; has more stops; is more accessible by walk and bike; is integrated with university and community transit systems; and better connects to downtown Princeton will be novel and an improvement, whether future transit vehicles have rubber tires, steel wheels, magnetic cushions, or something else,” wrote Bottigheimer. Moreover, Bottigheimer notes that the University will play a crucial role in determining how successfully transit will function along the Princeton Branch and that its assets render it uniquely equipped to “not only meet its own sustainability objectives, but to support the sustainable transportation strategies of its neighbors.” “If the University organizes future growth along the transitway, a high-frequency transit service that stops at key points will be a critical asset in helping Princeton University meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals; creating a walkable, bikeable, and sustainable island in the center of an car-oriented sea; and creating the kind of environment where strategic partnerships with private sector partners can flourish, because employees may want to live there,” wrote Bottigheimer. See NEWS for more