The Daily Princetonian - May 6, 2019

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Monday May 6, 2019 vol. CXLIII no. 59

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STUDENT LIFE

Students boogie wit A Boogie at spring lawnparties

By Claire Silberman Associate News Editor

Sunday was a dark and stormy Lawnparties.

On May 5, 2019, The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) social committee hosted 11 acts at seven eating clubs. The Alcohol Initiative also sponsored the event.

At 10 a.m. students began to get wristbands at 1879 Arch and take pictures in the fountain outside of Robertson Hall.

Next, crowds left for the opening acts at the vari-

JON ORT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

HARRISON HAINES / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Quadrangle club hosted the main act for Lawnparties.

A Boogie wit da Hoodie performed at Lawnparties on May 5.

ous clubs. A Boogie wit da Hoodie headlined at Quad, with opener IV Jay and student opener Malpractice.

Roswell Carter played at Ivy and DJ Relley Rozay played at Cannon. Student DJ Matthew Collins ’21 played at Tiger Inn. Tower brought Evan Giia. Lastly, Beach Fossils, Julian Chang and Deep Green, and Floam played at Terrace. “Terrace had some really good acts this year, Beach Fossils especially. Nomad’s pizza at Campus Club was a great idea, and the rain didn’t seem to mess things

U . A F FA I R S

up as badly as people feared. caption. some students left early beOverall lawnparties was a Explaining her choice, Jen- cause it was too cold. success,� Aaron Balleisen ’21 nings wrote in a comment to “It was fine, but I enjoyed wrote in a Facebook message a Tiger Confessions post: “I my three-hour nap afterward to the ‘Prince.’ “It’s always asked people about bringing more,� said Hannah To ’22. fun seeing what random NBA Soulja Boy and people were Still, others chose to dance jerseys from 2007 people have upset. People are satisfied in the rain. at the back of their closets.� when the other eating clubs “The rainy weather may Coordinating this effort get throwbacks but I get the have kept some people away was the USG Social Commit- vibe that the main act should or caused others to leave tee and its chair, Heavyn Jen- be someone new.� early, but it also created a nings ’20.

Clouds and intermittent weird sense of camaradeThree weeks ago, the social showers put a slight damper rie amongst those who recommittee began announc- on the festivities. mained on the street,â€? Charing the headline via Vines as “It was wet, but it’s not lie Bagin ’21 said. “Especially hints. After five Vine hints, their fault,â€? Julia Ruskin ’22 by the end of the day, [it] crethey posted a picture of A said. ated a more chaotic atmoBoogie along with “It’s freakWith temperatures in the sphere.â€? ing Hoodie SZN. Get Hypeđ&#x;™Œ â€? đ&#x;™Œ as đ&#x;?ž a mid-50s throughout the day, STUDENT LIFE

ON CAMPUS

GoFundMe for Title IX New York protestor exceeds goal Tiger Trek Senior Writer

MARISSA MICHAELS / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The draft of the proposal will be presented at the meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) on May 6.

CUAFA to recommend amending conviction history question on supplemental application

By Marie-Rose Sheinerman Assistant News Editor

The Committee on Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid (CUAFA) will recommend preserving the conviction history question on the University’s supplemental application but amending it in three significant ways, according to Dean of the College Jill Dolan in an exclusive interview with The Daily Princetonian.

The draft of the proposal will be presented at the meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) on Monday, May 6, and

In Opinion

then voted on at CUAFA’s May 13 meeting. The final decision as to whether to approve or revise the committee’s recommendation will lie with President Christopher Eisgruber ’83.

Dolan said that CUAFA has been working all year on how to address the issue of the conviction history question. “The signal we’ve gotten from the administration is that it’s important to maintain this question on the application, which many colleges and universities are doing in different ways,� she said.

See CONVICTION page 3

Senior columnist Liam O’Connor analyzes the demographics of Ivy League athletes, and columnist JaeKyung Sim criticizes racism towards any group of people.

PAGE 4

Within three hours of being posted on Friday, May 3, a student-run GoFundMe campaign called “Support Survivors Fighting for Title IX Reform� had surpassed its goal of $2,723. By noon, the campaign link had spread to the inboxes and group chats of almost every group on campus.

Now, it has raised over $3,800.

The amount, $2,723, was based on the fine that an anonymous student received for writing “Title IX Protects Rapists� on University walkways in April. The graffiti written in thin permanent marker has since been removed, though the phrase reappeared amongst messages spray-painted around campus last week. The anonymous student also faces “50 hours of community service and 4 years of probation,� according to the campaign. “The University’s treatment of this student is egregious and unacceptable,� said Jamie O’Leary ‘19, one of the fundraiser’s organizers and a SHARE peer, a student who acts as a confidential resource for student victims of sexual misconduct. “The student spoke out against a system that is profoundly broken and has hurt so many survivors, and the University gave them an extremely severe punishment.�

University spokesperson Ben Chang said that the Uni-

versity does not comment on student disciplinary proceedings, but reaffirmed the commitment to free expression. “Let us be clear: Students are not disciplined for participating in peaceful protests or speech — students are subject to discipline if they deface and damage University property,� Chang said. “The range of penalties imposed by the University in vandalism cases may include suspension or probation, campus service, and required restitution, with the amount tied directly to the cost of repairing the damage to University property.�

But to some, the punishment appeared unfairly severe and failed to address the underlying issues of the protest. 235 donors — many of them students offering $10 or $20 — expressed their support, and others commented various forms of the message “I stand with survivors.� The campaign also caught the attention of faculty.

Professor Su Friedrich, who has taught documentary filmmaking and other courses in the University’s visual arts department for 22 years, commented about her frustrations surrounding the punishment in the GoFundMe campaign’s comment section. “This shocks me to the ground,� Friedrich wrote in her post. “I am so furious that the University admin would slam a student like this, and for what she did.�

See TITLE IX page 2

Today on Campus 7:30 p.m.: Students and faculty can engage with the recently found and restored original version of the film “The City Without Jews,� which was made in 1924 to fight antisemitism.

Princeton Garden Theater

immerses students in NYC’s tech and startup culture

By Naomi Hess Staff Writer

The New York TigerTrek program, a week-long experience exposing participants to the diverse entrepreneurial world in New York City, has inspired students by showing them that there is more than one way to be an entrepreneur. “I saw so many paths to success and so it was really comforting to know that whatever path I take, as long as I’m doing the things I’m interested in and working really hard, that I think I’ll be able to find success in the future,� 2019 participant Nicole Meister ’22 said.

The New York TigerTrek program is in its third iteration as a week-long program, previously lasting only a weekend, according to Olivia Zhang ’20, who co-directed the 2019 spring break trip with Todd Baldwin ’20. The program aims to introduce students to professionals in careers ranging from entrepreneurs to executives to venture capitalists. “The vision of TigerTrek is to See TREK page 2

WEATHER

By Julia Ilhardt

HIGH

72Ëš

LOW

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Partly Cloudy chance of rain:

20 percent

The Daily Princetonian

page 2

Monday May 6, 2019

O’Leary: I hope this sends a strong message to the administration TITLE IX

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In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Friedrich said “even if Princeton has a policy about graffiti, it seems that in this case they would’ve taken into account what the graffiti was about and not handled it in the same way as somebody just tagging a building.”

Although Friedrich could not generalize for all faculty, she was totally unaware of protests relating to Title IX before receiving a link to the fundraiser.

“I think if students have complaints against the University they should be extremely vocal and they should assume that there would be faculty who would support them,” Friedrich said.

In a brief email to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, Friedrich expressed her concern about the severity of the punishment and questioned the University’s justification. The primary interest, Friedrich explained, is the student.

“It hasn’t affected me personally but it has affected the student really profoundly,” Friedrich said. “So that’s what I care about.”

For Friedrich, the aim is not to get a response or to fundamentally change the system, but to encourage student voices and highlight injustices.

She argued that “I don’t think there’s anything quite as effective as bodies in a room yelling at the top of their lungs and embarrassing the University.”

Friedrich felt that the punishment levied against the student was prohibitive. “It doesn’t seem like just a simple matter of, you know, pay us back for what we have to spend to clean this up,” she said. “I think the punitive aspect of it is really what makes me kind of nauseated.”

Friedrich added that she doesn’t feel the University has been effective in handling

causes of sexual harassment and rape, and that the bad publicity of this punishment might incentivize the administration to make broader reforms.

This aligned with the aims of O’Leary and other campaign organizers, who wanted to provide urgently needed support to a student and to express solidarity for the protests against Title IX and the University’s handling of sexual misconduct cases.

“If the University was interested in protecting its students, it would listen and give weight to student complaints,” O’Leary said. “Instead, the Title IX process protects the University, its revenue sources, and its reputation at every turn.”

Camille Liotine ’20 has been at the forefront of these student complaints. Last month, Liotine participated in a demonstration at Firestone Library, delivering a statement about the flaws in the Title IX system. On a gray afternoon the day after the GoFundMe took off, the ‘Prince’ sat down to speak with Liotine about the protests.

“Title IX is traumatizing in itself, but when you pile on the fact that it’s a broken system and that people go in with one expectation and come out having their world turned upside down, it really just hurts so many people,” Liotine said, “in ways that won’t be undone for a very long time.”

To Liotine, the problem starts at the beginning of a student’s career at the University, when they complete an online training course about consent before arriving on campus for their first year.

This course is organized and administered by SHARE. “[The training] refuses to acknowledge that people that assault others, they don’t care about what you say,” Liotine said. “So there needs to be a concrete plan for students that are in these really bad situations, because they happen, and SHARE doesn’t have that.”

Currently, SHARE acts as an advocacy and support service for students that have survived sexual misconduct, offering advice, referrals, and counseling. SHARE can direct students to the University’s Title IX office, but Liotine and other protesters feel that criminal issues such as rape should not be handled by the University.

“SHARE basically contributes to the self-contained nature of these incidents that the University is trying to propagate,” Liotine said. “The University really doesn’t want people to go to the police, they want people to go to Title IX because there’s a greater chance that there will be less bad publicity, in my opinion.”

O’Leary said that “there are dozens and dozens of survivors who have had horrible and unacceptable experiences with Title IX.” Both Liotine and O’Leary have found it difficult to make their grievances about Title IX heard.

“So far, much of the reaction I’ve gotten from the administration is that ‘you’re just a very upset person. You need to seek counseling, you need to

they want to go into more corporate or more stable jobs,” he added.

During the trip, students met with a diverse group of 26 professionals, which included Alan Patricof, founder of the private equity firm Greycroft; Joshua Builder, Chief Technology Officer at Rent the Runway; Nat Turner, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the healthcare technology company Flatiron Health; and Claire Coder, founder of the low-cost menstrual product distributor Aunt Flow.

“We try to do our best of showing a very fair mix of all those different industries that uniquely fit in New York culture, as well as choosing a diverse set of founders and people to speak to on the trip. We want to show that entrepreneurship is accessible from anyone from any background,” Baldwin said.

The Q&A sessions with entrepreneurs allowed participants to interact with successful people and ask them about their career path.

“We are able to ask the founders and speakers about various questions that we have, whether about their background or specifically about technology in their field,” said one participant Jay Li ’19.

“It’s a really phenomenal experience to be able to see successful people in the field and interact with them and be able to ask them any question that you’ve ever been thinking of,” agreed Ron Miasnik ’22, who also attended the trip.

The New York TigerTrek caused many participants to reflect on their career aspirations and how best to succeed in the entrepreneurial world.

“It’s a really special opportunity just to have a week solely dedicated to thinking about your career trajectory and what you want to do with your life and talking about important

questions, not just about where you want to work but also what you want to do with your time, what kind of person you want to be,” Zhang said.

For example, Tiger Gao ’21, an economics major, was one of the only participants not studying computer science or engineering. However, the TigerTrek expanded his perception of what entrepreneurship entails.

“It allowed me to recognize how there’s a new world out there of VC, of creatively investing in things. It was sort of a career path I had never considered before. It definitely made me look at things like entrepreneurship in a new lens,” Gao explained.

Li similarly realized her interests could blend to create an ideal career path.

“I’m a computer science major, but a lot of my interests stem from the start-up world or

seek help,’” Liotine said. “First we have to acknowledge there’s a problem, which still no one at this school has done.”

Liotine explained that a group of students had attempted to bring concerns to Eisgruber, who directed them to the Title IX office, which declined to speak with them.

O’Leary expressed similar frustration, saying that “we have yet to hear any response from the administration other than meaningless platitudes about free speech.”

For the student that the GoFundMe is working to support, campaign organizers view the punishment as an attempt to silence and dismiss student protests.

“I think the issue that the GoFundMe is bringing up, which this is the important part, is that this person admitted to what they did — they were honest about it. And because they were honest, they got this really really harsh punishment,” Liotine said.

“Their assaulter, apparently, got no punishment at all.”

“Numerous survivors have shared that their assailants were either not found guilty

at all or were found guilty and were only given disciplinary probation,” O’Leary added.

The GoFundMe campaign has been effective in rapidly fostering student awareness for damaging Title IX experiences. The campaign summary argues that the Title IX process is opaque and self-perpetuating, that it advantages the wealthy, and that it leaves some victims traumatized.

“I hope this sends a strong message to the Princeton administration that we reject their actions against this student and their resistance to change, we stand behind survivors, and we demand that Title IX be reformed,” O’Leary said.

The extra money from the campaign will go to support Womanspace, a non-University group that offers resources and counsel to assault survivors.

Liotine added that this campaign is only one step in pushing the movement forward, and that there are plans for another protest in the near future.

“From what I hear,” Liotine said, “there will be a lot of people.”

LINH NGUYEN / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The amount, $2,723, was based on the fine that an anonymous student received for writing “Title IX Protects Rapists” on University walkways in April.

New York TigerTrek immerses students in NYC’s startup scene TREK

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connect top students who are interested in entrepreneurship and engineering and creating things in general to the top minds in New York’s tech and startup scene and really try to find a way to give them that exposure and level of intimacy because the trip is designed around one-hour closed-door, off-the-record conversations,” Zhang explained.

The New York TigerTrek is not the only TigerTrek program at the University. For instance, a Silicon Valley TigerTrek currently exists, and the first Israel TigerTrek will occur next year.

Zhang and Baldwin began planning the itinerary for the 2019 program, which occurred over spring break in March, last summer.

“The first steps were defining the vision of the trip, what we wanted to accomplish on the trip, and how that would reflect all the way from our choice of speakers to our choice of applicants,” Zhang explained.

Baldwin and Zhang chose 20 participants from a wide pool of academic interests and class years in order to create a community during the trip. The application involved a written component as well as interviews with faculty and previous student participants.

“I feel like a major value-add in organizing these speakers and the trip is really bringing together like-minded people who are very talented and have the potential to work together in the future to do outstanding things,” Baldwin said.

“We target people who are at a stage in their early careers where they still have the ability to choose whether they want to go into entrepreneurship or

the policy side. What was very interesting about this trip was that before I wasn’t sure how I could combine these interests, but after talking to some investors or some of the founders, I realized that there are many things you can do to bridge the gap,” Li explained.

Miasnik explained that going on the New York TigerTrek inspired him to remember his goals while studying at the University.

“When you’re at Princeton and you’re in the day-to-day grind doing problem sets and assignments and writing essays, it kinda seems like the light at the end of the tunnel is really far away. But going out on TigerTrek allows you to see the rewards for that and what you’re actually working towards and how exciting that world is,” he said.

In addition to getting exposure to the entrepreneurial

world, participants also gained a group of friends that will last long beyond the six-day trip.

“I think it’s just a new community I’ve found that’s one of the best communities I could ever ask for. It’s just such a refreshing experience to be immersed into 100 percent intellectual conversations 100 percent of the time,” Gao explained.

Baldwin explained that one of his goals in co-directing the TigerTrek was to foster this community among the participants.

“Princeton is tough, and I feel like finding people who are like you and can act as a support system for you is incredibly important, and I hope that’s what they found on the trip. It’s a starting point for a lot of lifelong friendships,” he said.

“Oh, and I hope they start a company!” he added with a laugh.

OLIVIA ZHANG FOR THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The New York Tiger Trek participants met with 26 professionals in New York City’s tech and startup scene over spring break.

Monday May 6, 2019

The Daily Princetonian

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Dolan: We’re asking for a personal narrative about how it affected them CONVICTION Continued from page 1

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Dolan said the CUAFA proposal will include changing “the language of the question, which has been very legalistic and potentially off-putting,” in order to clarify that admissions encourage people to fill it out because “it’s important for people to be honest about their past,” but that the information will not be discriminatory in terms of the review of their application.

If CUAFA’s recommendation is accepted, the supplement will include the “yes or no” question, “Have you ever been convicted?” If the applicant checks “yes,” they will be faced with the following instructions: “Please tell us what you were convicted of and describe in as much detail as you’d like the ways in which this experience has had an impact on your life,” according to an advance copy of the committee’s CPUC presentation obtained by the ‘Prince.’

“We’re asking, in a way, for a personal narrative about how it affected them, how hopefully they grew from it, what they understand about the world on the basis of it,” said Dolan. “It’s an opportunity for a kind of thinking that will help them demonstrate to us what the incident means to them and how they’ll carry it into their experiences at Princeton.”

Dolan added that in some ways this question is analogous to other essays that the application asks people to write, which are “an index to a person’s character, what they’re interested in, and their social commitments.”

According to Dolan, the new, “more human” phrasing acknowledges that conviction histories can be very complicated and gives people “as many words as they need to tell their story” and provide context.

“We’re trying to signal very clearly that this is about wanting to start a dialogue, as opposed to ending a dialogue, on the basis of answering that question,” she said.

CUAFA’s second recommendation will be to separate the misdemeanor question from the felony question, since, as Dolan noted, “obviously, there is a huge difference” between the two. Applicants will still have to report convictions of both types of offenses, with the “narrative box” options available for each.

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The third and final recommendation CUAFA plans to put forth has to do with the admissions evaluation process, not the application itself.

Under the new process, in the first readings of the application, the answer to the conviction history question will be suppressed such that the first reader cannot see it.

When the file moves forward to subsequent readings — “once they’re a serious applicant” — the question would be uncovered so the information can be a part of the holistic review.

When asked to speak to why the University sees the criminal history question as crucial to its holistic review, Dolan echoed Eisgruber’s past statements at CPUC meetings on the importance of safety.

“It’s about having the information that we need to make sure that our community is safe with one another, that we can build the kind of community among one another that we all value and respect,” she said. “Knowing about these things is an important part of doing that.”

Dolan concluded by noting this is only the first year that the University can devise its own language for the criminal history question since the Common App dropped the question in August 2018.

“We are able to revise it again if we find that it’s not getting the results that we want,” she continued. “In other words, now that this is under our institutional individual purview we can continue to tweak as necessary, which I think is a good thing. This is something that we can keep an eye on as we continue to form our student communities going forward.”

The announcement of the proposal comes after two years of campaigning by the campus group Students for Prison Education and Reform (SPEAR) for the University to eliminate the criminal history question from admissions applications.

At the CPUC meeting on Monday — where the proposal will be presented — SPEAR is planning a walk-out and teachin, which they have advertised with flyers across campus and emails to residential college listservs that called students to engage in “direct action” by occupying and then walking out of the CPUC meeting.

“Show the administration that we are NOT backing down -- the question about conviction history on our application relies on a racist, classist system and further silences the voices of one of the most marginalized communities by deterring them from apply-

ing to our institution,” read an email sent by SPEAR president Amanda Eisenhour ’21.

This protest will serve as the book-end to a year of tension at CPUC meetings. In this academic year alone, “Ban the Box” has been raised at four CPUC meetings, as well as in multiple opinions columns published in the ‘Prince.’

At the previous CPUC meeting on March 25, the most contentious moment came when Micah Herskind ’19, a former president of SPEAR, pressed Eisgruber to state point-blank that “the criminal justice system is racist,” a statement Eisgruber declined to explicitly make.

When asked whether the University has changed the way in which they would approach that question since the last meeting, Dolan pointed to a difference between expressing personal views and expressing views on behalf of the University.

“While I understand Micah’s and other students’ desire for this to be answered clearly one way or the other, on some level, how any of us would answer that question as individuals, as faculty, I think would be different than what we feel our obligations are to an institutional community,” Dolan said.

Nevertheless, Dolan ac-

knowledged that SPEAR student activism has been instrumental to developing her committee’s proposed changes and expressed her hopes of continuing dialogue with the campus group as her committee’s recommendation moves forward.

“SPEAR folks are some of the most passionate, articulate, committed students I’ve met on campus and I really admire not just their advocacy, but their analysis, which I find astute and research-based and very important,” she said.

Throughout the past two years, Dolan explained, CUAFA has had students from SPEAR come in and make presentations to the faculty and students on the committee. Dolan said that “student advocacy around these issues is taken very seriously at the administration level and at the level of my committee,” and these presentations have been incredibly meaningful to the committee’s evolving understanding of the issue.

“I hope that we continue to have those conversations with SPEAR,” she said. “I hope that they continue to present at the various committees that I chair and I hope -- I know -- that they will continue to raise this dialogue across the campus.”

Opinion

Monday May 6, 2019

page 4

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Prep schools hit a homerun in athletics Liam O’Connor

Senior Columnist

T

housands of high school seniors logged onto the admissions website over the last few months to see if they had earned a spot at Princeton. Over 90 percent were rejected. Until the moment they signed in, no one knew whether they had been admitted — except for select groups of students.

Athletes are one of those groups. They submit the same applications as everyone else.

But their road to Old Nassau is paved with yellow bricks.

Marked by coaches’ lists, “Likely Letters,” and meetings with University scouts, it’s a process foreign to everyone else. By the end of it, athletes may know if they were admitted weeks before the official decision date.

An investigation that I conducted on the Department of Athletics over the past three months shows that Princeton’s athletes generally come from wealthy backgrounds, meaning that recruitment acts as a form of affirmative action for the rich. They predominantly attended private schools and largely eschew the sciences from their studies.

To determine students’ concentrations, I paired team rosters from Princeton’s athletics website with statistics from Tigerbook and the internet. The data does not differentiate between recruits and walk-ons or include quitters. But given that relatively few people successfully walk on to most Princeton teams, the majority were presumably recruited.

Fifty-four percent of all athletes attended private schools, compared with 40 percent of the Class of 2022. The schools’ median annual cost is $29,275.

Athletes account for 22 percent of all private school students at Princeton, while compprising only 17 percent of the undergraduate body.

Private school students are the majority on almost half of all teams. One quarter of athletes attended schools costing more than $45,000 per year.

Male and female players have similar rates of private school attendance, but the women’s private education was, on average, $8,549 higher. Ten of the men’s teams include majorityprivate school students, versus eight of the women’s. The entire men’s squash team graduated from private schools.

Mater Dei — a Catholic high school in Santa Ana, Calif. — is most represented in Princeton’s athletes with eight players, followed by Harvard-Westlake School (seven), Episcopal Academy (five), and Deerfield Academy (five). The Delbarton School, Agnes Irwin School, Belmont Hill School, St. Mark’s School of Texas, McDonogh School, and Menlo School each had four.

Other elite prep schools — including Eton College, Roxbury Latin School, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Choate Rosemary Hall — also had multiple athletes.

The four public high schools that contributed the most players to Princeton’s teams are Corona del Mar (seven), Millburn (four), Princeton (three), and Hinsdale Central (three). The median household incomes of the neighborhoods in which each of them is located exceeds $115,000.

Of the junior and senior athletes, 38 percent study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Registrar’s enrollment statistics indicate that 50 percent of all upperclassmen concentrate in STEM subjects. Athletes study engineering at rates 25 percent less than the general student body.

Fifty-one percent concentrate

in the Woodrow Wilson School, History, Economics, or Politics (WHEP), accounting for about a third of the students in those majors. University-wide, 30 percent of upperclassmen study WHEP. A 2018 memo from the Dean of the College showed that humanities and social science courses awarded the highest average GPAs. These statistics fall in line with revelations about athletics around the Big Three. The Harvard Crimson’s annual survey showed that 46.3 percent of first-year athletes came from families making above $250,000. Several years ago, the Yale Daily News found academic clustering in athletes’ studies. Thirty percent majored in political science, while the major claims 13.8 percent of all upperclassmen.

Forward March to Equality Ivy League athletics is a peculiar institution. Top universities put on a meritocratic façade and claim to value diversity. Yet they create special pipelines and lower academic standards to recruit high school students who excel in physical activities. At Harvard, for example, an athlete who ranked four out of six on its admissions scale is nearly a thousand times more likely to be admitted than a non-athlete.

The Ivy League claims to value diversity. But its athletes are mostly white and wealthy.

The admissions advantages that they receive are even greater than those that affirmative action gives to racial minorities, according to analysis conducted by late University President William Bowen GS ’58.

In school, they become semiprofessionals for sports that few classmates watch. They stay cloistered in tight social circles with their teammates, despite claiming to hate the isolation that athletics forces upon them.

One need look no farther than Princeton’s eating clubs for proof.

It’s about time we realize that Ivy League athletics is drenched in hypocrisy. The 1954 Ivy Agreement formed the conference so “athletes shall be admitted as students.” But that policy has backfired. “Athlete” all too often comes first in the phrase “student-athlete.”

Recruitment processes for extracurricular activities will always favor affluent applicants. Reaching the highest echelons of anything requires significant investment in time, energy, and money. When we preference athletics over a more complete assessment, based primarily in academics, the wealth gap will always shine through.

That’s why most of Princeton’s athletes attended expensive private or wealthy upper middle-class public schools.

Only well-to-do schools have the resources to support strong athletics programs, especially for niche sports like squash and rowing.

It’s no wonder that life here is socioeconomically segregated.

Bringing in such a large cohort of students — almost a fifth of each class — from such wealthy backgrounds inevitably creates cliques. Those who come from lower income families will find it hard to fit in.

Princeton’s administration has struggled to create an inclusive environment on a campus with a historically stuffy atmosphere. But these challenges are partly of their own creation. The benefits that the school gives to some students in admissions — from athletic recruitment to legacy status to development applicants — perpetuate social hierarchies. Until we are willing to acknowledge and change that aspect of our community, we’ll never escape our Fitzgeraldian past.

Liam O’Connor is a junior geosciences major from Wyoming, Del. He can be reached at lpo@princeton.edu.

vol. cxliii

editor-in-chief

Chris Murphy ’20 business manager

Taylor Jean-Jacques’20 BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 trustees Francesca Barber David Baumgarten ’06 Kathleen Crown Gabriel Debenedetti ’12 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 Michael Grabell ’03 John Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Kavita Saini ’09 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 Abigail Williams ’14 trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 William R. Elfers ’71 Kathleen Kiely ’77 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73 trustees ex officio Chris Murphy ’20 Taylor Jean-Jacques’20

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Opinion

Monday May 6, 2019

page 5

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A few thoughts on ‘racism’ towards white people Jae-Kyung Sim Columnist

A

columnist at the Harvard Crimson recently wrote a column titled “Who Can Be ‘Racist’?” The columnist explores the question of whether minorities in the United States may make comments such as “I hate white people” — and whether such comments may be labeled as racist.

This debate has recently surfaced at our own University.

In response to a recent Tiger Confessions post, which argued that racism towards white people does indeed exist, commenters shared varied reactions, ranging from support for the anonymous submitter to claims that only “prejudice,” not racism, can ever exist against white people.

Yet, distinctions between “prejudice” and “racism” towards white people are often irrelevant, at least on an individual level. Such labels do not change the content of what

we say — and the content of “prejudiced” comments, such as “I hate white people,” is something we should still try to avoid.

Before delving into the technical distinctions between what constitutes “prejudice” and “racism,” we must first ask ourselves whether these “prejudiced” orientations are politically conscious. If, by making such comments, we gain some kind of political benefit, such as obtaining more rights for minority groups, perhaps one could argue that offending white people is “worth it.” But this is not the case — more frequently, we say such comments out of frustration, and they rarely advance productive political purposes.

As someone who is interested in social movements and hears anti-white rhetoric frequently, I believe that such comments significantly harm, rather than benefit, social justice movements. They unnecessarily drive many white people, especially those who could have

been potential allies, away from the movement. Logically, people would not be willing to join a movement that perceptually shuns them, and that is exactly what we are doing. We cannot expect those in power to wholeheartedly support a movement that hurls personal attacks at them — it’s simply unrealistic.

Moreover, regardless of the pragmatic benefits of abandoning the practice, distinguishing “prejudice” from racism, at least on an individual level, is merely rhetorical play. Many who disagree with this notion often claim that only white people can be “racist,” because only they have the institutional power to tangibly impact other racial groups. I partially endorse this view; on an institutional level, American society is heavily tainted by white supremacy, and we must criticize it.

But what difference does that make in everyday interactions?

Just because you believe that someone can only be “prejudiced” against white people

does not mean that you can use this justification to attack white individuals in everyday contexts. There is no identifiable link between that fact that white people are institutionally in power and attempts to interpersonally justify generalized comments against white people.

Perhaps there is a distinction.

Perhaps white people’s “racism” can later translate into them being in a position of power and implementing racist policies, whereas my “prejudice” cannot in any significant way impact white people’s lives. But independent of the differing levels of impacts of our orientations — which are, arguably, still difficult to articulate — it does not change the fact that we are still attributing hateful, arbitrary stereotypes to an entire group of people. Whether I have the institutional power to impact white people is irrelevant to this reality, and the prejudiceracism distinction cannot justify these biases.

Simply put, it is hurtful to

make these overgeneralizing comments. Many minorities — admittedly, myself included — often hide under guises of phrases such as “white fragility” to defend ourselves in making comments such as, “I seriously despise white people.” But on a fundamental level, we are hurting others, and regardless of their race, we are still denying their abilities to socially define themselves independent of the labels placed on their skin color.

We can all condemn racism.

But more broadly, we also know that stereotyping groups of people and identifying individuals with those stereotypes is also a bad thing. There is no reason for us to abandon that principle when it comes to white people — especially when there are more compelling reasons for us to stop doing so.

Jae-Kyung Sim is a first-year from Sejong City, South Korea. He can be reached at j.sim@princeton. edu.

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Sports

Monday May 6, 2019

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Men’s volleyball falls to Pepperdine 3–2

By Alissa Selover Associate Sports Editor

The No. 13 men’s volleyball team’s (18–13, 13–1 EIVA) historic season came to an end on April 30 as the team was defeated by No. 3 Pepperdine 3–2 (23–7, 9–3 MPSF) in Long Beach for the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The match was a five-set thriller (23–25, 25–19, 16–25, 25–22, 8–15) before the Waves took the win. The first set started strong for the Tigers; they were up 10–7 before a quick run by Pepperdine made it 10 for all. The Waves took their first lead, with the score sitting at 13–14. Princeton eventually made the score an even 15-all before a quick three points by Pepperdine forced a Tiger timeout. After trailing by five, the Tigers were able to come back to a 21–23 score, with the Waves eventually taking the 25–23 victory.

Set number two was less of a victory for the Waves, as Princeton broke Pepperdine’s 18 consecutive set win streak. After some backand-forth play, the set was tied at 5–5. Princeton rallied five points to gain a 10–6 lead. The Tigers kept their lead, extending it to 16–11 as the Waves rallied back, but Princeton kept them within three points as they took the 25–19 win.

The Tigers started strong in the third set, taking a quick 6–3 advantage before the Waves came back to put the score at 7-all before taking the 8–7 lead. After this point, the Tigers wouldn’t come within

two points of the Waves for the rest of the set. After a Tiger timeout with Pepperdine leading 17–12, the Tigers never came within four points until the Waves took the 25–16 victory.

Set four was the thrilling set that encapsulated the match and the two teams perfectly. The lead was constantly changing, with neither team taking a lead of more than two points until they were tied at 12–12. After a timeout, the Tigers secured a 16–13 lead. Senior Kendall Ratter had back-to-back kills to add to his 24 total for the night, giving the Tigers a 19–15 advantage before the Waves came back and making the score 19–18.

The score was point-for-point the rest of the set until a service ace from sophomore Joe Kelly and a kill from junior Parker Dixon gave the Tigers the 25–22 win to send the match into the fifth set.

Pepperdine went on a 4–1 run to start off the fifth set before a kill from junior George Huhmann stopped the momentum that built for the Waves, though it was shortlived. The Waves eventually took a 8–2 lead. The Tigers couldn’t get closer than five points to the Waves for the rest of the set, eventually giving Pepperdine a 15–8 victory and advancing them to the NCAA semifinals.

“Although it would’ve been nice to beat Pepperdine in that match, it was an absolutely incredible season, and I think our team is extremely proud of the product we put on the floor this season,”

senior Corry Short said of his feelings about the way the season ended.

Princeton was supported by a large fan base in Long Beach during their match, which helped them stay positive and keep fighting.

“Seeing the alumni and fans in the stands was an amazing sight.

PrincetonVolley fans came out by the masses, traveling from all over the country to be there,” Short said.

The Tigers finished their historic season with 18 wins, the secondmost to come from the program.

In the final match, Ratter had 24 kills, with Dixon adding 11 and Huhmann also contributing 11.

Kelly had 44 assists and 7 digs with junior Greg Luck adding 14 digs to his eight kills and two blocks.

Seniors Ratter, Short, and Billy Andrew played their final match as Princeton volleyball players on Tuesday, but their appreciation for the game and the program lives on.

When asked what advice he has for current and future Princeton volleyball players, Short said, “I would tell them to never get complacent. There is always room for improvement in all facets of one’s game, so come into the gym with a growth-minded mentality and buy into the process.”

Being growth-minded is exactly what allowed the Tigers to finish this season by making Princeton history.

VIRGINIA PHAM / GOPRINCETONTIGERS

Men’s volleyball was defeated by No. 3 Pepperdine 3-2 this weekend in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, ending the team’s historic season.

Weekend Review

Players of the Week

Women’s Lacrosse vs. Cornell, Penn @ Ivy League Tournament: W 11–6, W 13–9 For the second consecutive year, Princeton’s women’s lacrosse is the Ivy League tournament champion. The Tigers rolled by Cornell and Penn in the semifinals and finals, respectively, to earn the title, as well as the Ivy League’s automatic NCAA tournament bid.

Against Cornell, Princeton dominated from the start, scoring the game’s first six goals.

Cornell narrowed the margin to 9–6 in the second half, but Princeton put the game away with two more goals of their own. Princeton and Penn were tied after one half in the final, but Princeton outscored the Quakers by four in the second to secure the 13–9 win. Senior Elizabeth George led the way against Penn, notching five goals and an assist. Princeton earned the No. 7 overall seed in the NCAA tournament and will face either Fairfield or Wagner at home on Friday.

Baseball @ St. John’s: W 3–1, L 4–2 Princeton baseball took a break from Ivy play this weekend with a Saturday doubleheader against St. John’s in New York City. The teams split the games, with Princeton winning the opener 3–1 and St. John’s taking the second leg 4–2. Senior Ryan Smith started the first game, allowing just one run in 8.1 innings. Junior Conor Nolan got the final two outs for his fifth save of the season. Junior Chris Davis singled in a run in the seventh to give Princeton a 1–0 lead, and the Tigers added two more insurance runs in the eighth. In the second game, St. John’s took a 4–0 lead in the fourth inning, and Princeton couldn’t recover. Junior Andrew Gnazzo held St. John’s scoreless in the last four innings, but Princeton fell 4–2.

Elizabeth George, Women’s lacrosse George had seven goals in Princeton’s Ivy League tournament win this weekend, including five in the championship victory against Penn. The senior leads the team in goal this season at 54.

Softball @ Dartmouth: L 8–6, L 12–4, L 1–0 Softball traveled to Hanover, N.H., this weekend for its last series of the year and a final, admittedly long shot at an Ivy League title. If the Tigers won each of their three games and Harvard and Columbia both lost theirs, the regular season would end in a four-way tie for first place. It was not to be. Princeton led Dartmouth for the first six and a half innings of the first game; hits from sophomore Mackenzie Meyer, junior Megan Donahey, junior Allison Harvey, and senior Keeley Walsh gave the team a 4–1 lead. But seven runs from the Big Green at the bottom of the sixth whittled the Tigers’ advantage down to an 8–4 deficit.

Dartmouth went on to earn two more victories, 12–4 victory and 1–0.

Women’s Tennis vs. Northwestern, Washington @ NCAA Regionals: W 4–1, L 0–4 Women’s tennis earned their second-ever NCAA tournament win on Saturday, defeating Northwestern University 4–1. The doubles point was captured by wins from first-year Brianna Shvets, sophomores Stephanie Schrage and Nathalie Rodilosso, and senior captain Nicole Kalhorn. First-year Grace Joyce, junior Clare McKee, and Kalhorn won singles matches to advance the Tigers to the next round in the tournament. The next day, though, the University of Washington ended the Tigers’ 10-game win streak. The Huskies took the doubles point and beat every single Princeton player in singles, winning the match 4–0.

The Tigers had an impressive season: Ivy League champions with a repeat 7–0 conference record, their fifth NCAA appearance in six years, and the second most wins in program history.

Tweet of the Day “Princeton wins the 2019 Ivy League Tournament Championship!”

Princeton WLAX (@princetonwlax), lacrosse

Nicole Kalhorn, Women’s tennis Kalhorn played her final sets for Princeton this weekend at the NCAA tournament. The senior captain won her doubles match and singles match against Northwestern on Saturday.

She helped lead the team to a repeat 7–0 Ivy League victory and fifth NCAA appearance in six years.

Stat of the Day

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Princeton women’s lacrosse has won five Ivy League tournaments in the tournament’s 10 years of existence