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Thursday May 3, 2018 vol. CXLII no. 56
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U . A F FA I R S
U . A F FA I R S
Committee recommends against U. selects pair of prison divestment, PPPD reacts architects for Lake
Campus expansion By Ben Ball Staff Writer
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The report noted that a lack of consensus within the committee shows a “shared view that we could not move forward with a divestment recommendation.”
By Ivy Truong Assistant News Editor
The Resources Committee of the University recommended against prison divestment in a report released on Friday, April 20. The report emphasized that more research on mass incarceration has to be done at the University in light of the “complexity of the issue.”
According to the report, Students for Prison Education and Reform initially raised the issue of potential University divestment from private prisons. Then, in fall 2016, a student coalition — Princeton Private Prison Divest — first brought their concerns to the committee and presented a proposal to divest from private prisons.
See DIVESTMENT page 3
ON CAMPUS
Science writer Rosen discusses his craft, space
U.’s Baby Lab studies early development
ELLE STARKMAN :: PPPL OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Science writer Raphael Rosen perusing his book, Math Geek.
By Katie Tam Contributor
Raphael Rosen, science communications writer at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, is tasked with delivering the discoveries of one of the nation’s most advanced physics laboratory to the public. Rosen first became interested in science writing in 2002, when he worked at the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco. There, he met a science writer and discovered that the field was something he could pursue.
In Opinion
“I’ve always liked science. I’ve always liked writing. And I’ve always liked to explain things. It married the things that I liked,” Rosen said. While working as a public information specialist at the Exploratorium, Rosen got in touch with a friend who recently left a job at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He reached out and began working as a writer with the Spitzer Space Telescope mission, interviewing astronauts and parsing their dense findings into articles for a lay audience. See ROSEN page 5
Contributing columnist Morgan Lucey challenges our lamentation of an unproductive weekend, senior columnist Thomas Clark compares carnivory to sex, and columnist Rachel Kennedy expresses appreciation for her adviser. PAGE 6
JONATHAN LAM :: CONTRIBUTOR
The Princeton Baby Lab studies children from their first days of life to eight years of age
By Jonathan Lam Contributor
The Princeton Baby Lab, a research group at the University, aims to understand how young children learn and how their learning supports their development. “Development asks
how our life history impacts our current cognitive abilities, how our brain is structured, and even our outcomes in life. That is essentially the thrust of everything at the Baby Lab,” said Lauren Emberson, a codirector of the lab. Emberson, along with
Today on Campus 4:30 p.m.: Rogers Brubaker, University of California, Los Angeles, will speak on “Why Populism?’” as part of the Culture and Politics of Resentment public seminar series” Louis A. Simpson International Building A71
co-director Casey LewWilliams, studies children’s early experiences and how they shape developmental trajectories. “We have studies ranging from babies in the first couple days of their life to 8 years of age,” Emberson said. Some babies are followed over time while others are studied in small, separate snapshots that can be pieced together. Emberson added that the characteristics of each study vary depending on the research question, though most studies involve infants from 6 to 18 months of age. “One of the reasons why we’re doing this neonatal work is because we want to understand what capabilities babies have from the get-go, when they first get their really rich experiences after they were born,” Emberson said. Children around 8 years old would be studied to observe changes in those capabilities. Emberson added that research is being done on babies raised multilingually and their language environments. See BABY LAB page 4
WEATHER
SCIENCE
SPEAR and PPPD have repeatedly called for the University to divest from private prisons, submitting a petition to the University Board of Trustees in June 2017 with over 3,000 signatures. Earlier last year, PPPD held a walkout and rally during a Council of the Princeton University Community meeting.
The University has selected two award-winning design firms to collaborate on the development of a master plan for the proposed Lake Campus expansion. The two firms selected are Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; and James Corner Field Operations. The master plan for the Lake Campus will not be the first time the two firms have worked together. “SOM and Field Operations have extensive planning experience,” wrote the Office of Communications. “The firms worked together on the Cornell Tech Campus, with SOM leading master planning for the new applied science campus in New York City, and Field Operations designing the landscape architecture and open spaces.” SOM focuses on architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban planning, and has completed more than 10,000 projects in over 50 countries. SOM has previous experience with other universities, including Harvard University, Bowdoin College, and the
University of Connecticut, among others. James Corner Field Operations, meanwhile, has worked on projects ranging from the Manhattan West Master Plan in New York City to the Seamarq Hotel in Gangneung, South Korea. Plans for the Lake Campus currently include academic partnerships and innovation initiatives; administrative offices; athletic and recreational facilities; graduate student housing; retail and amenity space; and a parking area and transit hub. The Lake Campus was featured as part of the recent Campus Plan, published in December 2017. Other priorities for the plan include enabling the expansion of the student body, and continuing to renew and steward central campus. “Princeton’s Lake Campus Master Plan will focus on developing the area over the next 10 years, and also will provide a f lexible framework for the next 30 years,” wrote the Office of Communications. “The University expects to complete the Lake Campus Master Plan in 2019.”
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Thursday May 3, 2018
Thursday May 3, 2018
Herskind ’19: It’s near impossible to really achieve divestment DIVESTMENT Continued from page 1
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The report noted that half of the committee was in favor of divesting from private prisons. Micah Herskind ’19, an organizer with PPPD and co-president of SPEAR, talked about his disappointment with the committee’s decision, noting weaknesses in the argument. “I think the arguments against divestment are, unfortunately, pretty weak, and I think that they reveal a greater unwillingness to use divestment as a strategy as opposed to real engagement with the material,” Herskind said. Both the report and Herskind noted that the Board of Trustees have set a “high bar” for divestment. “You’re going to be fighting an uphill battle,” Herskind said. “That hill is so steep that it’s near impossible to really achieve divestment.” According to the report, the Trustees ask the Resources Committee, on any issue about investment, to assess if the issue has attracted “considerable, thoughtful, and sustained” campus interest, if a “central University value is clearly at stake,” and if the issue has generated “adequate campus interest over an extended period of time.” The report noted that the lack of consensus within the committee shows a “shared view that we could not move forward with a divestment recommendation.”
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The report also wrote that the committee has not be able to determine that “there is broad consensus within the Princeton community that divestment is the best strategy for addressing concerns about private persons or about the criminal justice system.” Herskind, however, emphasized that PPPD has continually shown that there is high support across constituencies on campus for divestment. He added that, even though he is disappointed with the committee’s decision, he commends this year’s committee leadership for being more open to engage the issue of divestment. “I do appreciate how some members of the committee did their own research and engaged with our arguments,” Herskind said. Miranda Bolef ’19, copresident of SPEAR, deferred comment to Herskind. A statement announcing the report highlighted that the University has not directly or indirectly invested “in the 11 detention corporations, private prisons or affiliated contractors from which the student coalition recommended divestiture.” Herskind noted that PPPD will converse about their next steps moving forward but pointed out that they are optimistic “It’s encouraging to see that half of the committee was in favor of divestment, and I hope that the Board of Trustees will take this into account as they receive the report,” Herskind said.
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Thursday May 3, 2018
Emberson: Most children are raised in multilingual environments ing his freshman and sophomore years in the Department of Psychology. Emberson introduced him to fNIRS, or functional near infrared spectroscopy, which is an infant-friendly brain imaging method to allow researchers to study what happens in the baby’s brain as new information is being learned. Treves found fNIRS and Emberson’s expertise very exciting, and both have been integral to his senior thesis research. “I am working towards a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Right now I’m thinking hard about which subfield I want to go into, and I definitely will apply to some developmental labs, with an emphasis on brain imaging in infants for the purposes of clinical knowledge,” Treves said. Treves added that he is
very proud of the work the Baby Lab does. Emberson said one of her proudest moments at the lab was when she encountered a little girl at Palmer Square wearing a Princeton Baby Lab shirt because this was the first time she had seen evidence of their research reach beyond the borders of the lab. The experience reminded her of the importance of the connection the lab has with the community, since it relies on families to bring in children for research. “It’s not just about contributing to journals and all of the academics in the world; it’s about bringing the importance and the mystery of development to our local community and the community of Princeton at large,” explained Emberson.
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Some babies are followed over time while others are studied in small, seperate snapshots.
BABY LAB Continued from page 1
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“This is how most children are raised, in multilingual environments,” she noted, “and traditionally, developmental psychology has not considered that. They’ve considered one specific slice of the world which is predominantly white, predominantly monolingual, predominantly high socioeconomic status babies.” Babies about to turn two years old are part of ongoing research about “the word explosion” and how the capabilities of babies at the time assist in language development. Emberson explained
that “the emphasis of the lab is to broaden this out into a much bigger view.” Emberson made development her research focus after exposure to the topic in graduate school. Now, many graduate students work alongside her and Lew-Williams at the Baby Lab. Felicia Zhang GS was initially unsure of which aspect of psychology she wanted to pursue in her graduate work. “One day, I thought about my sister, who’s eight years younger than I am. I remembered watching her as a baby and wanting to know what she was thinking or why she behaved in certain ways. I became excited at the possibility of finally being able to
answer these questions and that’s how I ended up here!” Zhang said. Zhang has been working with eye-trackers to measure where infants look on a computer screen showing different objects and for how long. According to Zhang, the motivating question behind this research is to better connect an understanding of how babies learn and what babies use to learn. Twenty-seven undergraduates also work with the Princeton Baby Lab, including six seniors conducting thesis research in the lab. One senior thesis student, Isaac Treves ’18, said he began working in the lab after collaborating with Emberson dur-
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Rosen: I like the nuts and bolts of writing, grammar, science ROSEN
Continued from page 1
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“It was fun just to figure things and find out what to ask, what not to ask,” Rosen said. After leaving the Exploratorium in San Francisco in 2010, he went on to an internship with Sky & Telescope magazine, writing astronomy features and editing articles. He then attended a master’s program at the University of Southern California for specialized journalism before working as a freelance writer in New York City. There, he contributed to websites like Space. com and newspapers like The
Wall Street Journal. One of Rosen’s biggest accomplishments, he noted, has been writing a book about finding mathematics in everyday life. “It was a full-time job. It was mainly research-driven, and the research was the bulk of my time. But I loved the process, it was fun,” Rosen said of the book project. He applied for a position at the PPPL in 2014, and has been working there since February 2015. Rosen’s day-to-day tasks include searching for papers, taking notes, speaking to scientists, and writing drafts. He begins by finding research pa-
pers written by laboratory scientists that are “in some way noteworthy.” He conducts interviews and follow-up interviews with the researchers. Rosen then writes drafts, which are reviewed by the scientists, editors, and the U.S. Department of Energy before publication. On average, Rosen said, he writes eight to 10 drafts for a given story. The entire process from idea to publication takes about three weeks. “Making my way through a very dense paper with very hard-to-understand sentences and a lot of equations can be difficult,” said Rosen. “It takes time to absorb all the new material and the jargon.”
Tilghman Way Tashi Treadway ‘19 ..................................................
However, Rosen loves the task of deciphering scientific language into something accessible for the lay audience. “My favorite thing is the act of translating jargon into everyday prose. I find it very, very satisfying. It’s like working on a puzzle. Which words do you use to transmit the information in a way that is accurate but is readable?” said Rosen. “I also like the nuts and bolts of writing. I love grammar, I love thinking about sentence structure. The finely grained stuff.” Rosen believes that science journalism is important because the public needs to “understand what the popular issues are in society.”
“What are the issues involved in GMOs or cloning or climate change? What are the actual facts? Those facts drive policy, laws, what you do every day,” said Rosen. “Learning science helps you navigate the world and make your own decisions.” For a budding science journalist, Rosen suggests writing, writing, and writing. “Just write as much as you can to have something to show. Whether it’s for an actual newspaper or magazine or website or your own blog, or whatever it is. Just have something to show,” said Rosen. “It helps you to practice translating and making science understandable.”
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Opinion
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The strong do what they should Kaveh Badrei
Senior Columnist
G
enuine surprise is one of the rarest reactions to today’s current news cycle, but it was the only way to describe my response when I heard about the newly agreed-upon peace talks between North and South Korea late last month. As the first inter-Korean summit in 11 years, this groundbreaking meeting of the President Moon Jae-in and Supreme Leader Kim Jongun offered a glimpse of hope and an idealistic, albeit precarious, vision of international relations. Rather than tend toward force and violence as solutions to the world’s most glaring conflicts, we must move to embrace a new mode of thinking with regards to the world — one that upholds communication, discourse, and shared humanity between opposing sides in the quest for peace. Both countries agreed to the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and decided to officially bring an end to the Korean War, 65 years since the end of fighting. They produced the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula, which outlined their comprehensive steps toward cooperation and coexistence through denuclearization, the reuniting of families separated by the partition, an end to propaganda broadcasts by both sides, and regular communications between North and South. In the most symbolic moment of the summit, Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un planted a tree together on the Korean border. Such an achievement came not through threats of nucle-
ar annihilation, preventative war, or forceful intervention, but rather as a result of a genuine dedicated communication and diplomacy between adversaries. Problems were solved at the negotiating table, rather than on the battlefield, and this monumental achievement should serve as a shining example for the rest of the world. We — as a collective global community — must resist the urges toward forceful intervention and violence as means of solving international problems. The United States should rethink foreign policy in a way that prioritizes discourse with other countries rather than shows of force and violent threats. As we have seen in recent times within our own country, the reliance on force and violent rhetoric has become an all too familiar aspect of our outlook on the world. When presented with the same international dilemma against North Korea, President Donald Trump turns toward the “fire and fury” and continuous references to the nuclear strength of the United States over North Korea in order to attempt to solve the situation. It is through this rhetoric of aggression and implied violence that Trump carries out U.S. foreign policy. With regard to China and the mounting tensions surrounding our economic and trade relationship, Trump does not turn to negotiation or peaceful communication of ideas. Instead, the author of “The Art of the Deal” tries immediately to force the hand and get his way unilaterally. He makes threats of a trade war carried out by the United States against China. And even with the United States’s increasingly tenuous relationship with Iran given the unstable future of the 2015 JCPA nuclear deal, Trump deals explicitly in the way of forceful
rhetoric, strong-arming, and interpreted to have a double editor-in-chief rejection of all means of more meaning. Through a more Marcia Brown ’19 peaceful, more diplomatic secular, universal interprecommunications. tation, the “age of the word” business manager Trump is not the root of stands as one in which ideas Ryan Gizzie ’19 this problem but rather an ex- and discourse have the ultitreme symbol of the way that mate power to influence and BOARD OF TRUSTEES the United States views foreign inspire change on the grand president policy and intervention. Force scale. Wałę sa’s Solidarity moveThomas E. Weber ’89 is held above discourse. Shows ment — the people’s labor vice president of strength on the world stage union in Poland that eventuCraig Bloom ’88 and against those countries ally led to the democratization with whom we conflict stand of Poland against the grasp of secretary as the primary and ultimate the U.S.S.R. in 1989 — shines Betsy L. Minkin ’77 tools of conflict resolution in as a testament to this simple our U.S. worldview. notion. treasurer Rather than humanize the It is through this underDouglas J. Widmann ’90 opposing side and attempt standing of humanity that we some form of empathy to un- must move toward a new way Kathleen Crown derstand and rationalize their of thinking about internationWilliam R. Elfers ’71 perspective, we tend to hold al relations in this country. InStephen Fuzesi ’00 them at an unworkable dis- stead of conceptualizing force Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 tance — a separation that re- and military action as the John Horan ’74 jects entirely the possibility of most effective means of solvJoshua Katz talking and exchanging ideas ing a problem, we must give Kathleen Kiely ’77 in the way of solution rather credence to the power of the Rick Klein ’98 than fighting or shouting over idea, the word, and the fundaJames T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani the other side. Those in power mental principle of commuMarcelo Rochabrun ’15 in Washington largely reject nication. We must remember Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 institutions and established the common humanity that Lisa Belkin ‘82 means of acting, such as the exists within all members of Francesca Barber United Nations. the world, a sense of humanity trustees emeriti The inter-Korean Summit that should steer us away from Gregory L. Diskant ’70 is the most recent example of the outbreak of violence or war Jerry Raymond ’73 a means of international rela- and inspire us to universal diMichael E. Seger ’71 tions that must become more plomacy and discourse as soluAnnalyn Swan ’73 universal on the world stage. tions to global conflict. Through simply participating In Thucydides’s Melian Diain a day-long summit together logue of “The History of the 142ND MANAGING BOARD and seeing, talking, and real- Peloponnesian War,” one of managing editors izing the other side as equally the greatest books ever writIsabel Hsu ’19 human and respectable, North ten about international relaClaire Lee ’19 and South Korea achieved tions, the Athenians respond head news editors tangible progress. While the to the plea of the weaker MeClaire Thornton ’19 agreed-upon peace is precari- lians with the fateful adage, Jeff Zymeri ’20 ous and can only be confirmed “the strong do what they can associate news editors by time and compliance, it is and the weak suffer what Allie Spensley ’20 the potential seed of peace and they must.” In today’s world, Audrey Spensley ’20 cooperation that stands as a we must reject Thucydides’s Ariel Chen ’20 historic testament of human- fifth-century B.C.E. account of associate news and film editor ity. power. We must emphatically Sarah Warman Hirschfield ’20 In his recent visit to cam- embrace a world where — out head opinion editor pus, Nobel Peace Prize winner of desires for peace and coopEmily Erdos ’19 associate opinion editors and former Polish president eration — the strong do what Samuel Parsons ’19 Lech Wałę sa characterized this they should. Jon Ort ’21 time in human history as the “age of the Word.” Although Kaveh Badrei is a sophomore head sports editors Wałę sa’s reference is overtly from Houston, Tex. He can be David Xin ’19 Christian, in line with his de- reached at kbadrei@princeton. Chris Murphy ’20 vout Catholic faith, it can be edu. associate sports editors Miranda Hasty ’19 Jack Graham ’20
The problem with COS Jess Nyquist
Senior Colmnist
F
or a program that hosts some of the biggest global leaders of the field, the computer science department suffers from profound student dissatisfaction. Students are drawn in by the rewarding challenges of 126 and 226, both well taught and well organized. These introductory courses, both prerequisites for the COS major, are taken by a large portion of undergraduates inside and outside the department, with over 300 students enrolled in COS 126 most semesters. But as students move into upperlevel classes, their academic lifestyle is too often defined by frustration. As a junior in the computer science department, I have a love/hate relationship with the major — a sentiment shared by many of my peers. I come away from most of my courses having learned a lot, having enjoyed lectures and other highlights, and having developed as a programmer, but having lost countless hours of sleep and having phoned home countless times in an anxious frenzy. It’s a major that requires pulling all-nighters — much like many others on campus — but also one where students often feel helpless, unable to get assistance when needed. This experience was especially prominent in Information Security (COS 432) last semester. The class had over 150 students, four TAs, and no
precept. The course reviews on the registrar’s website sum up the experience shared by many students. Most of them start with a variation of “Professor Felten is an amazing lecturer, but...” Students agree that our professor, Edward Felten, was an impressive professor as well as an engaging lecturer, a good representation of the type of faculty in the department. However, students go on to explain that the “course was ridiculously understaffed,” that “TA help is sporadic,” that “your best recourse is usually StackOverflow” (a programming version of Yahoo Answers), and that “not only is the teaching staff unorganized, they seem extremely unmotivated to improve the course.” To sum it up, one reviewer asserted: “This course is an embodiment of what is wrong with Princeton’s COS department. Do better.” This course was responsible for 90 percent of my Princeton all-nighters to date as students struggled together to finish assignments with few outlets for help. We would regularly reach out to TAs who were unable or unwilling to meet with us. The course undoubtedly fostered comradery, but students echoed a general sense of disappointment, mostly because they expected more from Princeton. COS is different from many other departments in that the professors are constantly switching the classes they teach, so there is no consistency and little experience guiding a particular course. For the past two-and-a-half years, COS 226, a prerequisite for the major, has changed different lead
vol. cxlii
professors almost every semester. COS 432 has had four different professors in the last six semesters. In contrast, according to Princeton’s course offerings page, Professor Macedo has taught the core WWS 370: Ethics and Public Policy for the last three semesters it has been offered. Professor Centeno has taught SOC 250: Western Ways of War, for the last three semesters it has been offered and will be teaching it next fall. Professor Nunokawa has taught ENG 345: 19th-Century Fiction for the last four semesters it has been offered and is teaching it in the fall as well. Peter Singer’s perennial presence defines his course, Practical Ethics, just like HIS 361 is known to be Professor Zelizer’s class. My experience taking all these courses mentioned was directly impacted by the professor’s connection with the course. It was obvious sitting in lecture that these instructors were discussing their passions and that they had built the course around these interests. In the COS department, in many classes I have felt a disconnect between the professor’s interests and the lectures, assignments, and coursework, especially evident in Information Security. The COS department has grown unlike any other department at Princeton. According to the registrar’s website, the 2013 graduating class had 72 majors while the 2017 class had 129 — a 75 percent increase. Many other majors have seen increases during this time: ELE has grown from 19 to 33, ORF from 38 to 72, and WWS from 74 to 107. However, these departments have seen fluctua-
tions in numbers while COS has steadily increased in size since 2011. It feels, from my student perspective, like the department has grown too fast for the infrastructure to keep up. The main complaints I’ve heard are about the disorganization of courses and the lack of access to faculty (TAs, office hours, etc.) because of the large quantities of students enrolled in courses designed for smaller groups. Students joke that upper-level classes are most effective at teaching you how to Google issues with assignments since there are few opportunities to get help. The department has the intellectual manpower, but it needs to improve on consistency in courses across semesters so that professors figure out kinks and can best create a productive learning environment for students. The problem with COS does not seem to be a lack of faculty interest, expertise, or passion. Nor is it a lack of student engagement, curiosity, or academic commitment. Instead, the department’s courses suffer from a severe lack of organization. This problem is a logistical one. That does not mean that it is easy or straightforward to solve, but it is one that I believe the COS administration can tackle. The administration could address the feeling of helplessness among students by ensuring that if classes grow, an adequate number of TAs are hired to accommodate the new size. Additionally, COS classes that are assignment based would benefit from a precept, even if it is optional, to provide a scheduled outlet for help. Lastly, the depart-
head street editors Danielle Hoffman ’20 Lyric Perot ’20 digital operations manager Sarah Bowen ’20 associate chief copy editors Marina Latif ’19 Arthur Mateos ’19 head design editor Rachel Brill ’19 cartoons editor Tashi Treadway ’19 head photo editor Risa Gelles-Watnick ’21
NIGHT STAFF assistant chief copy editor Catherine Benedict ’20 copy Ava Jiang ’21 Elizabeth Parker ’21 design Dante Sudilovsky ’21
ment could make an effort to have the same professors teach the same courses across semesters so that organizational problems could be taken care of year to year, preventing new problems from arising in an essentially new course. We have some of the best faculty in the world. Our professors are on the cutting edge with their research and are leaders in the field. Many, like Professor Felten, have even served the government as leading experts and advisors. We should exit every course feeling excited about the subject and grateful for the challenge, not happy to be alive and eager to sleep for a week. Jessica Nyquist is a junior in computer science from Houston, Texas. She can be reached at jnyquist@princeton.edu.
Thursday May 3, 2018
Opinion
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Redefining productivity Morgan Lucey
Contributing Columnist
T
he feeling that nothing has been accomplished over the weekend haunts much of Princeton’s campus each Sunday night. There are endless declarations of “I didn’t do anything this weekend” or “I was so unproductive.” But if you ask almost any of the people making these declarations what they did that weekend, they will describe a weekend that is actually far from unproductive. Most people spend their down time attending talks, dance and theatre performances, or sports games. These events, though a distraction from schoolwork, add many important experiences to students’ time at Princeton, and allow students to form connections that cannot be found inside in a lecture hall. Perhaps it’s time for us to recognize that time spent building friendships and building community is just as productive as time spent working on schoolwork. This past Saturday, I began the day determined to spend several hours working, after a
week that I considered to be far too unproductive. This plan was quickly derailed when I ran into several friends at brunch, and spent an hour chatting over omelettes and coffee. We settled into the Lewis Center for the Arts afterwards, determined to check several items off of our to-do lists. In the middle of trying to accomplish this, we were surprised to find that the Forum was actually the center of a senior thesis dance performance choreographed by Natalie Plonk ’18. Only a few hours later, I was convinced to attend a men’s volleyball game with a friend who had never seen competitive volleyball in person before. Thus, my plan to work for at least eight hours quickly turned into (a generous) four. But the day was productive in a way that goes beyond schoolwork. Brunch represented time with friends, something that is hard to coordinate given everyone’s busy schedules. It was certainly hard to get work done with 10 dancers moving throughout the tables of the Lewis atrium, but we gained something far more valuable than a few pages of reading during that time: We saw a performance into which several close friends had clearly been putting a large amount of time and work, something we may
not have otherwise attended, in favor of trying to be more efficient. Even though both of us are in student organizations with members of the men’s volleyball team, we had never gone out of our way to support them during their matches. If I had stuck to my plan of working all day, without compromise, than I would have missed out on all of these experiences. This leads me to wonder what other events and connections students miss out on because they are too concerned with being productive. Every week, there is an endless supply of panels, talks, performances, and sports games. We could effectively fill our schedules with these events, but there is a certain amount of guilt that follows after attending. Rather, it is considered more valuable to fill our time with hours working in Firestone Library, or worse, alone in our rooms. Of course, there will be times where this is necessary; midterm, thesis, and finals periods are certainly worth spending in a library. But obtaining a few extra points on a problem set seems less important when one considers what the other events have to offer. Dance and theatre performances represent hours of hard work put in by both performers and the people backstage; their
creativity is often astounding. Sports games are similar, in that it is truly incredible how many hours are put into a few seconds on the clock. Just a few more people in the stands and audiences makes a huge difference in the sense of support and admiration for the people on stage or on the field. Attending the events led by your peers creates a sense of community on this campus, one built around mutual support. On a smaller scale, the long dining hall meals or time spent chatting with friends can make a huge difference in making this campus feel like home. All of these events offer many benefits for those who attend. Considering some of the amazing speakers that have come to campus in recent years, it is easy to see what one gains from attending one of the many talks and panels that occur each week. An hour spent learning something new — recently, there have been lectures ranging from cryptocurrency to yoga for battling eating disorders — is always valuable, even if it is not directly related to the work required for students’ classes. These events are just as productive as an hour spent in Firestone, as they often offer knowledge that either expands on what we learn in the classroom, or that cannot
be found in the classroom at all. If the student body stopped feeling guilty for spending time in ways that are traditionally “unproductive,” this campus would foster a stronger community with a more holistic sense of what defines learning. Though what we learn in our lectures and seminars is valuable, there is value in the experiences found in other aspects of campus. If this value was more widely recognized, attendance at the many talks, performances, and athletic endeavors would soar. Perhaps we could stop comparing how much time we spent in libraries and start discussing the what was said by a groundbreaking speaker, or how one of our many sports teams played in recent events. Thus, I am calling for an end to the feeling of having been “unproductive” when time was spent engaging with other aspects of Princeton’s campus outside of the classroom or library. Let’s recognize that building friendships and learning even the most irrelevant information is productive in a different way, one that is equally as valuable. Morgan Lucey is a junior studying neuroscience from Scottsdale, Ariz. She can be reached at mslucey@princeton.edu.
A thank you: Advising at Princeton Rachel Kennedy Columnist
I
’ve been lucky to have an adviser who not only responds to my emails but also sets aside WASE appointments for his advisees and has made an effort to learn what I want out of my academic career. Most first-years cannot say that they feel they even know a faculty member, never mind have one that knows their name, hopes, wants, and dreams. Yes, Princeton prides itself on the focus on undergraduates, but I was not expecting that promise to be so fulfilled. I thought of anything I heard on a college tour as a campaign promise. But Princeton has put productive measures in place to ensure that promise is fulfilled. First-years are required to meet with their advisers prior to
registering for classes, which gives them three mandatory check-ins with a faculty member throughout the year. For practical reasons, these meetings ensure that course selections are thoughtful and that requirements are fulfilled, but more importantly, they establish a culture of taking control of one’s education by asking for help. An adviser should be seen as a facilitator, either a person an advisee feels will have an answer to a question or a person to point them towards the resources that do. No, they are not here to vent about the woes of the social transition, and no, they won’t tell you exactly what to do, but they prompt students to make a plan and start asking questions within the first week of school. Their presence forces students to engage in their education in a way that many did or could not during high school. These adviser meetings help ease students into navigating the academic side of Princeton but also provide crucial skills
in interacting with professors and TAs. Comfort with one’s professors and with faculty members in general often relates to one’s upbringing and the size and type of their previous school. Different students come to Princeton with different degrees of exposure to the close relationships to faculty encouraged here, and the adviser connection serves as an introduction for those who may not have previously interacted with their educators. Coming from a small private school, I arrived on campus accustomed to developing close relationships with faculty members. But through discussing those experiences with the random assortment of students within my ’zee group, I realized this was an entirely new kind of relationship to some. This is an often-overlooked difficulty, and the adviser system prepares students for these interactions from their first moments here. I look forward to meeting with my adviser, but another resource that some students
prefer to utilize is their residential college’s director of studies. While I did not understand this position when I arrived on campus, I now know through many friends that this position has created another accessible, nonintimidating faculty resource that is greatly appreciated and utilized. “You haven’t met with Cecily yet? Wow, work on that,” a fellow Mathey student said to me while talking about advisers at lunch last week. “It always surprises me and makes my day that Justine Levine knows every kid in Rocky by name,” I heard a Rockyite say about their director of studies while in line for dinner. While I have been impressed with the academic advising options, I do acknowledge that some students feel they have not had the experience I have. Some advisers may not respond to their advisees’ emails or be easily accessible. And those experiences are to be taken seriously, especially if those students feel their academic journey here has been impaired
as a result. I also know students, however, who do not view academic advising as an important aspect of their experience. In order to ensure the quality of advising, a survey could be administered through TigerHub that follows one’s first year and assesses the impact advising has had on student performance and comfort. Such a step would enable the school to have a greater sense of the range of advising experiences and would also serve as a gauge for how many students prioritize academic advising. This information could point students who feel they have not received the counseling they desire towards the necessary resources, as well as provide students an active role in assessing and shaping guidelines to advisers and how advising is approached here at Princeton. Rachel Kennedy is a first-year from Dedham, Mass. She can be reached at rk19@princeton.edu.
Modern ascetism Thomas Clark
Senior Columnist
W
hat do vehement vegetarians and chastity champions have in common? Surprisingly, many people I know on campus belong to one or both of the aforementioned categories. Life at Princeton sometimes feels bloated, buoyed by an eleven-figure endowment, rife with waste and unnecessary things, overwhelmed by opportunities to pursue success and wealth. Yet I think most people don’t want to live in a world where all there is to life is ambition, self-promotion, and gratification of desires. In various forms, I have seen people embrace practices of asceticism like vegetarianism and celibacy to testify to higher values and ideals. In a history class on late antiquity, I learned about fourth century ascetics who renounced all sexual activity, ate nothing but bread and water, and performed other feats of self-denial like living in caves or on top of pillars
for decades. Indeed, throughout much of the Christian tradition, it was commonplace to refrain from eating all meat during the 40 days of Lent (which commemorate Jesus fasting for 40 days in the desert), as well as for even married couples to abstain from sex. In many other religious traditions, vegetarianism and celibacy were seen as two facets of the jewel of asceticism. When I stayed at the Zen Buddhist temple of Eihei-ji in Japan, I saw strong similarities between the celibate, vegetarian, contemplative lifestyle of the Zen monks and the lives of St. Anthony of Egypt or Benedict of Nursia from history class. The practices of vegetarianism and celibacy may seem unrelated except in their shared restriction of freedom and autonomy. Yet the historical motivation for both was actually to liberate the soul from enslavement to sensory pleasures. If one gets into the habit of compulsively satisfying every sexual desire and hunger craving, the logic goes, one will quickly find oneself constrained by these desires, unable to focus on more abstract or transcendent motivations, such as service to
others, contemplation, or religious mysticism. Through this understanding that sensory pleasures are illusory and transient, these practices of self-discipline take on a spiritual value as an antidote to excess, greed, and selfishness. The counterargument is often that eating meat and having sex are, from a biological and evolutionary perspective, two extremely natural activities. For millennia humans used their enhanced brainpower to outsmart and hunt other animals; everything from our teeth to our forward facing eyes to our gut bacteria is optimized to acquire and digest an omnivorous diet. As for sex, I don’t think I need to provide any evidence that sex is a part of human evolutionary history. So how did people as distant in space and time as Princeton students, Japanese monks, and Syrian hermits converge on such seemingly unnatural practices? While the vegetarians I know avoid meat for diverse reasons like health, environment, religion, and animal cruelty, the common thread in all of these is an active choice to forsake something that is in many ways “natural”
and to give moral significance to the choice of what we put into our bodies. Few people fault a lion for eating a zebra — it is just doing what lions do. Yet vegetarians have an implicit understanding that we are set apart from lions and other carnivores; we differ in that we are capable of reflecting on our actions and making choices. Avoiding meat points to a transcendent reality, a higher plane of ethical consideration in which we are not simply biologically programmed machines that are forever destined to live out genetic proclivities. The pleasures of eating meat are widely and cheaply accessible, yet some people are willing to forget the taste of animal flesh — or never experience it — out of commitment to their ethical beliefs. The process of feeding oneself is no longer a mindless pit stop at a fuel pump — it requires awareness of where the food came from and how it was prepared. Many vegetarians and vegans choose to prepare their own food so they can do it with intentionality. In a similar way, the people I know who choose not to be sexually active bear witness to a reality
beyond what we can perceive with just the five senses. The pleasures of this world hold little value for them in comparison to the moral considerations surrounding sexuality. And while some people are saving sex for marriage, some forswear it entirely to seek a fulfillment that can’t be found in physical intimacy. If vegetarianism changes the way you see food, celibacy changes the way you see people. Interacting with people when you know sex is off the table potentially allows greater detachment and serenity — the ability to treat people objectively and impartially, to worry less about impressing people and more about saying things that matter. The practices of vegetarianism and celibacy are just examples; they’re not necessarily right for everyone. But I believe that some form of self-denial is necessary for everyone who wishes to see beyond the immediate and apparent. What you have doesn’t speak as much to your character as what you’ve given up. Thomas Hikaru Clark is a senior studying computer science. He can be reached at thclark@princeton.edu.
Sports
Thursday May 3, 2018
page 8
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WOMEN’S LACROSSE
Women’s lacrosse to face Columbia in Ivy League tournament semifinals By David Xin and Miranda Hasty
Head Sports Editor and Associate Sports Editor
In a repeat of the final game of conference play, the women’s lacrosse team will face Columbia (6–9 overall, 3–4 Ivy) in the first game of the Ivy League tournament. The Tigers (10–5, 6–1) beat the Lions this past Saturday to secure their fifth consecutive Ivy title and 14th title overall. Now the two teams will fight for a coveted spot in the NCAA tournament. The Princeton side will look for a repeat of its 22–16 victory as it hosts its Ivy League rivals on Sherrerd Field. With their win over Columbia last weekend, the Tigers clinched hosting rights for the Ivy League tournament. Despite the loss, however, the Lions also secured their No. 4 position after a Cornell (7–8, 2–5) loss to Harvard (6–9, 2–5). The two teams will get a rematch in the second semifinal game. The first semifinal game will take place between Penn (12–3, 6–1) and Dartmouth (11–4, 5–2), who claimed the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively. After a slow 4–4 start to the season, the Tigers flipped the switch when it mattered most. One game behind Penn, the Ivy League leaders at the time, Princeton put on a dominating performance to defeat the Quakers 21–8. The win put the Tigers
at the top of the league, tied with Penn and Dartmouth. Princeton then took care of business with a victory on the road at Columbia to secure the title. Now, the Tigers will look to build on their momentum as they host the Lions for their second matchup. The Tigers are unbeaten in their all-time series against Columbia. Princeton’s perfect 20–0 record against the Lions will be on the line as they face off in the postseason. Last year, the Tigers defeated Columbia 18–11. Princeton boasts an impressive roster heading into the match. Nine Tigers were named to the All-Ivy League team this season. Four players were named to the All-Ivy first team. This includes first-year attack Kyla Sears, junior attack Elizabeth George, senior midfielder Ellie McNulty, and junior defender Alex Argo. Sears has had a remarkable season, leading the team with 69 points and becoming the all-time highest firstyear scorer in program history. George is also coming off a noteworthy season with 38 goals and six assists. Twenty-one of these points came in conference play, including 19 times in just seven games. She has netted three game-winning goals and six hat tricks over the course of the season. One of these came in the match against Columbia, as George recorded seven goals and one assist to help put the
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The women’s lacrosse team is in search of its fourth Ivy League Tournament title since the tournament first started in 2010.
Lions away. Despite the scoreline of the last match, the Lions managed to hang with the Tigers for most of the game. While a late fivegoal run by Princeton pulled the Tigers beyond reach, Columbia had previously cut the deficit to one. Furthermore, the Lions had also managed to build a three-goal advantage early on. Columbia also boasts two firstteam All-Ivy players including
midfielder of the year Lindsey Ewertsen. “Our entire team was overjoyed to capture the regular season Ivy League title especially now that we have the home field advantage going into this weekends tournament. However this week we have set out to be as focused as possible realizing the weekend’s competition will be as difficult if not more difficult than we have previously seen,”
said Sears. “As a team we could not be more proud of the work ethic we have maintained and the upward strides we are making to peak at the right time.” With a shot at winning their fourth tournament title this weekend, the Tigers will need to bring their best if they want to secure another trip to the NCAA tournament. Princeton will start the tournament Friday, May 4, at home.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Women’s tennis advances to NCAA regionals after 7–0 finish in Ivy League By Jack Graham
Associate Sports Editor
After a perfect 7–0 run through Ivy League play, women’s tennis will head south for the NCAA regionals beginning May 11. They will travel to
Lubbock, Texas, where they will begin play facing nationally ranked No. 19 Illinois. Also in the group, competing for a spot in the NCAA championships, are West Point and host Texas Tech. The Tigers will be led
by recently named AllIvy senior Katrine Steffensen, who was unanimously voted to the first team. Despite facing several highly-ranked opponents, Steffensen went 14–4 this season as Princeton’s first single
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Tigers head to NCAA regionals after a perfect 7–0 run through the Ivy League.
Tweet of the Day Princeton Athletics is proud to host the 2018 @ IvyLeague Women’s Lacrosse Tournament! Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS)
and was instrumental to their success in the conference, winning five of her seven matches in Ivy League play. Firstyear Stephanie Schrage, who also went 5–2 in Ivy League play, was named to the All-Ivy second team and will be equally critical to the team’s success at regionals. Princeton earned its spot in the NCAA regional by dominating its Ivy League opponents, winning all seven of their conference matches. In the final weekend of the season, the team faced Harvard in a de facto Ivy League championship match, as both teams entered undefeated. Princeton earned a narrow 4–3 win, with Steffensen clinching the victory by taking down nationallyranked Erica Oosterhout, 7–5, 6–3. The Tigers put the finishing touches on the undefeated Ivy season by beating Dartmouth 5–2 the next day, winning five out of the six singles matches. Despite its strong play throughout the season, the team will need to continue to improve its performance if they wish to compete with the higher ranked power conference teams. Illinois fell in the semifinals of the Big Ten
Stat of the Day
9 All-Ivy Nine players on the women’s lacrosse team were named to the All-Ivy League team.
conference tournament to Michigan, but the Illini boast a 21–5 record on the season and a 9–3 record in Big Ten play. They are led by Mia Rabinowitz, who is ranked No. 114 in the most recent ITA rankings and went 20–4 on the season in singles matches, and Jaclyn Switkes, who is ranked No. 91 and went 13–6, both of whom will be formidable opponents for the Tigers. If they can advance past the semifinal stage, the Tigers would likely face an even tougher opponent in Texas Tech, currently ranked No. 14 in the ITA rankings. Texas Tech finished second in the Big 12, losing to Texas in the conference championship, and boasts five players in the top 125 of the ITA rankings, including No. 21 Gabriela Talaba. This year’s regionals qualification continues a remarkable stretch of success for the team. They have qualified for four of the past five NCAA regionals, most recently losing to Georgia Tech in the first round in 2016. They will look to put that experience to use next weekend to pull of a series of upsets and keep their successful season alive.
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