September 29, 2017

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Friday September 29, 2017 vol. CXLI no. 97

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ON CAMPUS

Disaster relief fundraising efforts on campus find success

By Sam Garfinkle managing editor

Recent natural disasters in Texas, Mexico, and Puerto Rico have inspired a tremendous wave of campus activism. Various initiatives led either fully or in part by Princeton students have already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the wake of several earthquakes and hurricanes that have torn a path of destruction through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

Recently, The Daily Princetonian reported on the Mexican Students Association’s campaign to raise funds for earthquake relief in Mexico, with funds being channeled to several Mexican NGOs. The country was recently struck by three earthquakes of magnitudes 6.1, 7.1, and 8.1 on the Richter scale, causing billions of dollars worth of damage.

A representative of PUMSA reports that the campaign has raised over $4,500 so far. Funds can be sent on Venmo to PU-Mexhelp with the title MEXDONATION. Students across the nation have also come together to support Puerto Rico, which itself sustained billions of dollars in damage from recent hurricanes and

tropical storms. Much of Puerto Rico still remains without power, and in some areas, this deficit is expected to last for months, according to a CNN article.

Yesterday, guest contributor Diego Negrón-Reichard wrote a column on behalf of Students for Puerto Rico, a trending GoFundMe campaign that has raised nearly $131,000 so far. The money will be directed to Unidos por Puerto Rico, an initiative started by First Lady Beatriz Isabel Roselló, according to the GoFundMe page.

One notable contributor to this campaign is talk-show host and comedian Jimmy Fallon, whose tonight show had already pledged $1 million to relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey. Fallon donated $20,000, enough to move the group past its initial goal.

“Wanted to get you to your goal! I’m so inspired by what you guys are doing. Love and thoughts to Puerto Rico and everyone affected by Hurricane Maria. Jimmy,” Fallon wrote along with his donation.

Students for Puerto Rico’s campaign has quickly gained national attention, including interviews with FOX News and CNN, and See RELIEF page 2

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

REBECCA NGU:: PRINCETONIAN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A panel gathered on Thursday to discuss the intersection between the media and world refugee crises.

Photojournalist Behrakis discusses journalism’s impact on refugee crisis

By Rebecca Ngu staff writer

Yannis Behrakis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, covered wars and crises for over three decades. But this time was different: a refugee crisis was now happening in his home country, Greece. “Suddenly,” he said, “this crisis came to me and this was very different.”

Behrakis had initially expressed worry over whether Greece would welcome refugees given its own internal social, economic, and political problems. “I was scared, he said. “I thought people would not be able to show humanity, but once again, I’ve always said, humanity thrives through crisis.”

Four experts, including Behrakis, gathered yesterday to

discuss the global refugee crisis and the media. The event was organized in response to President Trump’s announcement that his administration would be capping the flow of refugees into the United States at 45,000, the lowest number since Congress began setting refugee limits in 1980. Another panelist, Deborah Amos, a Ferris Professor of Journalism and NPR correspondent, noted that now is a “time when the citizen is overwhelmingly favored over the stranger.”

Behrakis spoke about struggles he had witnessed back in Greece. Previously, he noted, refugees often came to Greece via Turkey, but since Turkey has agreed to take back refugees sent to Greece in March 2016, they now mainly start from Libya, travel through the Mediterra-

nean Sea, and arrive on the coast of Italy. “The problem with new path is that it’s very, very long,” Behrakis said. “Something like 200 miles. And when you do this with a raft or dinky at maybe 3 miles per hour, it’s impossible.”

Behrakis stated that over 5,000 people have died in the last year.

After speaking, Behrakis showed a slideshow of photographs he had taken while witnessing the refugee migration crisis from 2015 to 2017. His photos showed wide-ranging aspects of refugee life: fathers with backpacks running with their children, people sardined in flimsy inflatable boats in the middle of the sea, and migrants huddled in tents and blankets.

Ferris Professor of Journalism See PANEL page 2

T O W N A F FA I R S

Unknown individual struck by train at Princeton Junction station

By Grace Rehaut managing editor

The Trump administration released a new travel ban via executive order on Sunday.

New travel ban announced with two new countries added

By Jane Sul staff writer

Earlier this week, the Trump administration announced a new executive order permanently banning citizens of seven countries — Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, and North Korea — from entering the United States. The Sept. 24 ban includes stricter entry regulations for citizens of Iraq and certain government officials from Venezuela.

The new order, created in order to “protect the security and

In Opinion

interests of the United States and its people,” most notably replaces the 90-day suspension included in Trump’s original travel ban with one that is indefinitely long.

The University condemned the Trump administration’s previous travel ban attempts. Earlier this month, the University announced that it was joining an amicus — or friend-of-the-court — brief that would oppose the travel ban. In that amicus brief, along with 30 other colleges and universities, the University See BAN page 2

Professor John Londregan and guest contributor Nicholas Sileo respond to senior columnist Ryan Born’s column on free speech, senior columnist Jacqueline Thorbjornson gives a new account on the topic, and columnist Kaveh Badrei shares a heartfelt personal account of Hurricane Harvey. PAGE 4

ISABEL HSU :: CHIEF COPYEDITOR

Passengers passing through Princeton Junction station noticed medical examiners at work on the train tracks.

bypassed the station entirely.

NJ Transit implemented a substitute bus service between Hamilton and Princeton to assist with the delays. NJ Transit also informed customers that their tickets would be crosshonored on trains run by the Amtrak and PATH services.

Another individual was struck and killed by an NJ Transit train near the Summit station

Today on Campus 7:30 p.m.: Princeton Muslim Life Program will host A Conversation with Brother Ali: Insights from an Outsider on Islam, Hip-Hop & Activism. McCormick Hall 101

in Chatham in July.

This is not the first time that NJ Transit trains have struck unsuspecting victims. Just last week, a man was caught in the path of an NJ Transit train west of the Newark Broad Street station. Another individual was struck and killed by an NJ Transit train near the Summit station in Chatham in July.

WEATHER

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

A train passing through Princeton Junction station reportedly struck an unknown individual around 3 p.m. today.

The individual allegedly died in the incident.

In a tweet about the event, the official twitter of New Jersey Transit referred to the individual who was struck by the train as a “trespasser” at the station. However, very little information is available about the identity of the individual at this time.

Passengers who arrived at the station during the immediate hours following the incident were met with the sight of several medical examiners who crouched on the train tracks, apparently investigating the scene. The examiners were surrounding what appeared to be a small bundle of white sheets, their contents obscured. Later, the examiners held up one of these sheets as a backdrop while they appeared to take photographs of the area around them.

Approximately five police officers had been dispatched on the scene as well. Officers instructed at passengers to “get down” and to “get off the platform” as they passed.

Trains passing through Princeton Junction station after the incident were subject to two-hour delays, and some

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The Daily Princetonian

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Fallon donated $20k to hurricane disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico RELIEF

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has continued to raise its fundraising goal in the hopes of providing further aid. Contributions can be made through the following link: gofundme.com/ studentswithpr. Campus representatives are listed on the GoFundMe page.

Another recent guest column by Markus Norkaitis ’20 explained the devastation on his home island of St. Thomas, one of the U.S.

Virgin Islands. This area was severely damaged by both Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria, and now faces challenges similar to Puerto Rico’s in the coming months.

Other campus groups have also started to get involved in relief efforts. The Community Service Interclub Council had originally intended to start a Hurricane Harvey fundraiser for victims of recent f looding in Texas. However, faced with a growing number of disasters, the Council re-

purposed this initiative to cover other relief efforts as well.

The group will be setting up tables at each of the eating clubs to discuss its endeavor, which consists mainly of selling “Tigers for Texas” stickers for a donation of $2 or more. The group emphasizes that the funds raised are not only for Texas, but will be distributed to various causes as the group sees fit. Donations can be made to TIGERSFORTEXAS on Venmo.

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Behrakis: Humanity thrives through crisis PANEL

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Joe Stephens, who has taken his journalism students to Greece to report on the refugee crisis multiple times, also spoke on the changes he saw in Greece.

The first time his class arrived in Greece during the spring of 2016, he noticed tens of thousands of refugees, particularly on the island of Lesbos. People squatted in buildings and slept on the street.

Stephens praised the Greek community for coming together in the face of this crisis. “Many of the big NGOs were coming, but you also had wonderful tradition in Greece of solidarity groups where community just filled the void,” noted Stephens.

He recounted trucks coming to the streets and hanging out food, sanitary pads, and toys.

“This shouldn’t have worked at all. Imagine tens of thousands of migrants just started living in Penn station. It was kind of magical to see,” he said.

During later trips, however, Stephens noticed a sizable decrease in the number of refugees in Greece, due to the deal that had taken place between Turkey and the European Union.

When he returned to Greece this past summer, he observed that everything felt much “sadder.” There were fewer refugees in public spaces, and people seemed less hopeful. “They want to work, they want to start rebuilding their lives,” he said.

The majority of refugees wanted to leave Greece and elsewhere in Europe, according to Stephens, but the shut-down borders have barred them from doing so. “If you’re living in a camp for over a year,” he said, “that’s going to wear on you.”

The international reception to refugees was a main focus of yesterday’s panel. Amos spoke on Trump’s anti-refugee actions as an attempt to “gut” the nation’s resettlement infrastructure. “It struck me this week that refugees have no lobby,” she said. She compared the difference between the media nar-

rative of DACA recipients and that of refugees. She opined that DREAMers may be relatively easy to sympathize with given that they are portrayed as “practically American citizens”: English-speaking, educated, and often holding professional jobs. “They do have a lobby, and there’s sympathy for them,”she said. “They have a narrative. We know their names and we know their stories.

In contrast, however, Amos noted that “refugees are a statistic. One refugee is a tragedy; two is a statistic,” she said. “Many of [the refugees in Europe] are middle class. They would be your friends in another context.

They’re professionals. They were forced from their homes, but they’re faceless. In some ways, Donald Trump was right when he said on the campaign trail, ‘We don’t know who these people are.’”

“Sometimes seismic events are hard to see,” Amos said. “You need the personal; you need the narrative. And that is what is missing from the refugee story.”

Amos is taking her journalism class to Canada so that her students can witness private resettlement programs, in part to help humanize refugees for them.

Despite the limits of the profession, Behrakis professed his continued belief in journalism’s ability to influence the public conscience and public policy.

He recounted an episode he experienced while taking photos in Lesbos. A Norwegian volunteer shouted at him for taking pictures instead of helping the refugees. He replied, “Well, this is the way I help.” She was furious and left. The next day, she returned in tears. “She said, ‘I want to apologize because apparently one of your pictures brought me here.’” The whole audience at the panel discussion laughed.

“People ask me why I’m so devoted. I feel like my mission is to make sure that nobody in the world can say that ‘I didn’t know,’” Behrakis said. “You have no excuse. You cannot say that you didn’t know.”

Travel ban to affect Chad, North Korea, Venezuela BAN

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voiced serious concerns about the ban’s threat to higher education.

In March, in the wake of the issuing of the administration’s first travel ban, the University also announced the provision of additional resources for students with respect to immigration-related information and advocacy.

The new travel ban also provides more specific details about the sanctions that will be leveled against the respective countries.

Notably, it also includes North Korea and Venezuela on its list of targeted countries.

Pundits have remarked that the inclusion of these two new countries is an attempt to make the travel ban seem less like a “Muslim ban.” Critics, however, are quick to point out that the addition of North Korea and Venezuela to the ban will minimally impact the total number of individuals affected.

“President Trump’s original sin of targeting Muslims cannot be cured by throwing other countries onto his enemies list,” said Anthony Romero ’87, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“The fact that Trump has added North Korea — with few visitors to the U.S. — and a few government officials from Venezuela doesn’t obfuscate the real fact that the administration’s order is still a Muslim ban,” he further explained.

As rationale for adding North Korea to the ban, the executive order mentioned that “North Korea does not cooperate with the United States Government in any respect and fails to satisfy

all information-sharing requirements,” while the Venezuelan government is “uncooperative in verifying whether its citizens pose national security or publicsafety threats.”

The order’s mention of Venezuela and North Korea directly reflects heightened tensions in foreign relations between Washington and the two countries. In his recent speech at the United Nations, Trump strongly condemned continued nuclear activity in North Korea, and he also expressed critical comments on Nicolás Maduro’s autocratic administration in Venezuela.

Disapprovers argue that unconstitutional values still remain in the revised version of the travel ban.

“The revised travel ban shows a xenophobic policy towards Muslims which is mutating, viruslike, into an ever more resilient strain,” said Salil Shetty, the Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Shetty also noted that “thinly disguised as a national security measured, the ban reinstates many of the most repellent elements of the original.”

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear whether the executive order was an unconstitutional ban on Muslims on Oct. 10. However, after the Trump administration’s Sunday announcement, justices removed the case and requested files on the new papers from lawyers of both sides.

The new travel ban will be effective starting on Oct. 18, when the temporary travel ban, issued in an effort to avoid legal problems pertaining to the original ban, expires.

Friday September 29, 2017

The Daily Princetonian

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October 5th - 8th COURTESY OF ABBY KOSTOLANSKY

To celebrate the opening of Princeton’s new Lewis Center for the Arts complex, join us for an exciting multi-day Festival of the Arts highlighting the breadth and uniqueness of the arts at Princeton. The Festival will include concerts, plays, readings, dance performances, art exhibitions, screenings, multidisciplinary presentations, community workshops and site-specific events presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts and the Department of Music with professional, faculty, student, and alumni artists. Events will be open to the public and most will be free.

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Opinion

Friday September 29, 2017

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Free Speech: a response to Ryan Born John Londregan

guest contributor

I am not in the habit of reading the editorial page of The Daily Princetonian, and moreover, I am normally inclined to forbear rather than publicly single out an undergraduate for criticism. Nevertheless, an ad hominem reference to me in the Sept.

26 edition came to my attention, and the circumstances in this case are special. In his column, Ryan Born takes umbrage at what he supposes is the vagueness of the term “free speech,” and he goes on to dismiss it as a rhetorical

weapon. He then incorrectly imputes sinister motives to others in their defense of freedom of speech. The lengthy screed groans on, column after column, making a series of increasingly bizarre assertions, including the particularly egregious claim that what he calls “the arguments of hate” were “laid to rest at Dachau.” A great many good people were murdered at Dachau. Does Born approve of those murders? Does he approve of the suppression of ideas or religious beliefs held by the people who were murdered at Dachau? Is he simply making a reckless allusion to

mass murder and genocide for effect? In any one of these cases, he is within his First Amendment rights to express his appalling point of view, and in each of these possible interpretations of his intent, the rest of us have a moral obligation to condemn what he has said. Shame on him!

There is a great deal else that is wrong in the Tuesday editorial. In the print edition the copy editor’s plea for reason is engulfed in a lahar of heated rhetoric. Given Born’s cynical view that free speech is “merely a pragmatic aid,” it is perhaps not a surprise that the only other ad hominem

reference in Born’s piece is an approving quotation of the ruthless killer Leon Trotsky.

Born’s most innovative attempt to impugn free speech is his own eldritch abuse of that right. But rights are rights, and Born has shamefully exercised his right to be wrong.

John Londregan is a professor of politics and international affairs at the University. He can be reached at jbl@ princeton.edu.

Speech is free: Sileo response Nicholas Sileo

guest contributor

Dear Mr. Ryan Born, As much as I would like to say that I appreciated reading your article, one of my backwards conservative beliefs passed down to me through tradition prohibits me from doing so — “I cannot tell a lie.”

Now first, I must urge — no, I must beg — you not to “safely ignore” me as I attempt to exercise my right to free speech. Because if only a “poor child,” like yourself, would just listen to me for but a moment, then perhaps, just perhaps, you would see the light.

With that out of the way, I would like to first address the claim that when conservatives appeal to “free speech,” they appeal to a “right that does not exist.”

I understand that it can be hard to see where this argument of “free speech” comes from (especially if you spend most of your time looking in Chairman Mao’s little red book).

However, if you look very closely, you might be able to find that it does, in fact, exist. After years of personal research, I was able to find some documents that might uphold this “conservative”

notion.

First, there is this obscure old text called the Bill of Rights that includes something along the lines of “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Of course, that only applies to Congress (plus, it was written before 1847, so you likely see little value in it), but I have a hunch that those “rights” might be considered important to society as a whole for some reason or another.

With that in mind, as much as it pained me, I began to search for a modern source that might link the idea to the present day. After an incredibly exhaustive search (and a short trip down to my mailbox in Frist Campus Center), I found the 2017 edition Princeton University’s “Rights, Rules, Responsibilities.” As if through an act of Providence, the wind blew it open to Section 1.1.3: Statement on Freedom of Expression: “Because the University is committed to free and open inquiry in all matters, it guarantees all members of the University community the broadest possible atti-

tude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn.” What great luck on my part!

Moving on. I am glad that you acknowledged that conservatives are ready and open to debate their opinions. I am also glad to hear that “conservative ideas are still valuable in moderation.” I wish that I could return the compliments.

Yet when you said that you are “arguing against [conservatives’] right to be heard and accepted,” well, as Hillary Clinton put it, “that hurts my feelings.”

You claim to champion the pluralistic world of dialogue and discussion of ideas, while neglecting the very fact that free speech is one of the key vehicles in achieving that ideal. You can protest as much as you would like (I even have a red towel made in China that you could borrow), but when you so easily and generally denounce conservatism on campus, calling for disinviting speakers and ignoring arguments completely, the only thing that rings true is the echo chamber.

Maybe to your point there is an exception to be made when dealing with those “ultra-conservative factions” on campus, like the Princeton United Black Shirts and the National Socialist Princeton Workers Party. Although

Precept

Grace Koh ’19 ..................................................

they have not been all that active this semester, now that I think about it.

If Princeton Open Campus Coalition, a coalition of members from across the political spectrum, the Cliosophic Society, and College Republicans are your ideas of reactionary groups, then I would encourage you to further evaluate and reshape your argument.

To cap it off, I will try to empathize with some of your own logic. If your argument were strong, it would be convincing, and if it were convincing, I would not be in political opposition to it, and if I were not in political opposition, I would not be writing this response. Yet here we are.

Signed, Your classmate, Nicholas G. Sileo ’20

Nicholas Sileo is a sophomore from Annapolis, MD. He can be reached at nsileo@ princeton.edu.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 Kathleen Crown William R. Elfers ’71 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 John Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Kathleen Kiely ’77 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Randall Rothenberg ’78 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73

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Harvey came and Harvey went Kaveh Badrei columnist

The current cycle of news from Washington and from the curry of most primetime news shows will lead you to believe that our country is at a point of irreversible and ultimate divide.

And while this point is true in some ways, it can lead us to forget that in other ways, we are all, more or less, the same; we all struggle and feel and experience life in the same way.

On Friday, August 25 , Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas as the first Category 4 hurricane to hit the United States in over ten years. It covered an area of 20,000 square miles in the first 72 hours of its lifetime, and it would continue to force over 3o,000 Houston residents out of their homes because of the mass flooding and effects of the storm. It was, by all accounts, an extremely unprecedented hurricane and phenomenon with its surges and rainfall striking Houston, large parts of southern Texas, and the gulf coastal land from Corpus Christi to Louisiana. A once-in-a-thousand year rainfall event, Harvey dumped over 40 inches of water on Houston and other parts of Texas and Louisiana over the course of four days.

To see the city where I’ve lived

in my entire life for eighteen years ravaged by Harvey was unbelievable; to be there in the heart of Houston as it faced one of the worst—if not, the worst— disasters in its history was surreal.

Harvey hit every part of Houston. It didn’t discriminate based on race or class or political affiliation. And in this way, this natural disaster eliminated these elements of our society that so often play a role in discussion and in our discourse. It equalized people and brought us all on the same level, taking away semblances of difference and division. Everyone was hurt, and everyone was hurting.

And in this same way, the response to Harvey by the citizens of Houston itself was allencompassing, far-reaching, and universal. People with boats or any type of watercraft came out in masses to go into severely flooded neighborhoods all over the city and rescue those trapped in houses or on roofs or in floodwaters; residents from all neighborhoods brought food, clothes, and supplies to local churches, schools, shelters, and makeshift rallying points. Houstonians, like my own family, volunteered at the mass shelters set up by the city and local non-profits in the days after Harvey in order to staff the mass efforts of relief re-

sponse. These were Houstonians and Texans from all over, all hurting and all helping. These were humans helping humans out of empathy for mutual pain and devastation.

In this way, Harvey pointed out this simple truth that people, people of all backgrounds have good in their hearts and the natural, pure touch of hope and community to help their fellow man in times of struggle. People have the good to change things on their own by doing the simplest, most basic acts towards one another.

This summer was especially turbulent for our country in terms of the divide felt and experienced by many. The stark juxtaposition of the events at Charlottesville that occurred only less than a month before Harvey stands loud and bold. The nation saw the racism and evil wickedness of white supremacy and white nationalism alongside images of neighbors helping neighbor, of man helping man irrespective of any sort of difference. From this contrast we should all realize that this sort of racism, this sort of wicked contempt for the other is learned and fueled by the society and the people around us. It isn’t natural, and it isn’t inherent to us.

When we face extreme hardship, social barriers are broken

down, and we are left as people with no resource other than each other. The massive chaos of Harvey equalized its victims in a way that no other event could, and forced us to realize that we are humans of the same struggle and the same sorts of circumstances in the end. In the simplest of ways, we are all humans, connected by that simple fact.

Harvey came and passed in a hurricane season that seems to be far from over, with the series of strong systems that continue to appear and gain steam, and our political climate has reverted back to the voices pointing out our vast differences as a nation. While we do have differences and we do have monumental problems to overcome, let’s not forget that in the most chaotic times, we all worry in the same way, and we all have to face the same sorts of issues that affect how we act and how we cooperate with one another. When our entire city is underwater, we all have the same fears, the same struggles to immediately live.

Let’s not forget that we are all humans, connected even in the slightest by our shared lives.

Kaveh Badrei is a sophomore from Houston, Texas. He can be reached at kbadrei@princeton. edu.

What you don’t want to hear Jacquelyn Thorbjornson Columnist

In a recent article in the Prince, author Brandon Hunter offered conservative Princetonians a disingenuous, criticismladen, pseudo-invitation to upcoming Latinx Heritage Month events. I find Hunter’s invitation to be insincere for a variety of reasons, but here I would like to focus instead on our point of agreement: that we should all be open to hearing from those who differ from ourselves. Situated in the context of an intense national debate surrounding the origins, limits, and consequences of free speech, Hunter’s call for us to listen before we speak is, frankly, refreshing. I must ask myself, though, whether he means for this to be a two-way conversation?

If, when Hunter says we all need to listen to one another, he means this in the most inclusive way possible, then I agree.

Such a pluralistic approach would stand out in the current debate about speech, which has been dominated by a few positions. Much recent dialogue advises readers on the value of prioritizing empathy and respect over unrestricted liberty to say and do as we please. Some individuals articulate that, while the First Amendment’s promises may protect one from punitive consequences at the hand of a state actor, no such security protects individuals from the social and economic conse-

quences of choosing to participate in harmful, but otherwise Constitutionally legitimate, speech.

All of this is good and well, but it seems to me that many are missing the point that Hunter touched upon in his article: we should listen to even those ideas with which we know we disagree. The famous political philosopher John Stuart Mill expressed similar hopes for the free exchange of ideas in society, though certainly more eloquently than I can. To Mill, the greatest threat to the freedom of speech came not from the government, but from the coercive forces of society that would proscribe certain notions and prescribe others through social pressures, thus restricting individuals’ capacities to think and speak for themselves.

However, before I delve into my defense of Mill’s concern and its relevance to the current crusade on speech, I must answer the question I can hear my would-be critics asking: why is it inherently bad for society to impose pressures and expectations of conformity with regards to the way in which citizens interact with one another?

Put another way, what’s wrong with societal pressures quieting the racists, the fascists, the extremists? To answer this question, one must employ a moral cost-benefit analysis.

When a true, but unpopular opinion is silenced, society moves farther away from the

truth. Now, if this opinion contains some truth, but also some falsehood, society must weigh whether the benefit that would be gained from discerning the two is worth the risk that the two are not discernible and thus the falsehood is accepted as truth. The outcome of this evaluation is certainly not obvious, but I am inclined to believe that such ideas should be at the very least permitted to enter the discussion, as I store faith in the intellectual capabilities of the masses to, eventually, discern the truth from the falsehood.

What is less obvious and more controversial, I think, is what occurs when the opinion is wrong. Without listening to and critically thinking about opinions – even when we know them to be fully, utterly wrong – we lose any reason to reexamine and reevaluate our own opinions. Without contemplation, we become complacent in our established beliefs, and eventually we simply accept them as truth. On the surface, this may seem unproblematic; what purpose could reevaluation serve when we are sure the views we hold are correct? However, once such dogmatic groupthink seeps in, we sacrifice the invaluable intellectual benefit of reflection.

Instead, when we reflect on the moral principles underlying positions we hold to be true, we are reminded of the values we hold which allowed us to reach these truths in the first

Pumpkin Spice Punk Rachel Brill ’19

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place, and we may emphasize once again their importance.

Upon reflection and through discussion, we may find that the same moral principles, in their most rudimentary states, can be applied in novel ways, in other places in our lives. This process of reflection, revision, and reapplication is rendered impossible when we prevent or pervert the sharing of ideas.

Certainly critics will respond with something like, “are there not some ideas that are so egregiously wrong, like rape or slavery or the murder of an innocent child, that should be accepted as falsehoods and need no contemplation or revaluation?”

My answer is this: teach a child that rape, slavery and murder are wrong, but more than this, teach them why. We cannot do the latter without first understanding ourselves why we still hold these beliefs as truths, and we cannot understand without reflection, without facing up against those who still hold those beliefs.

I recently read a quote from Sheldon Sanford Wolin which read: “one reads past theories not because they are familiar and therefore confirmative, but because they are strange and therefore provocative.” Perhaps we should heed Wolin’s words.

Jacquelyn Thorbjornson is a politics major from South Thomaston, Maine. She can be reached at jot@princeton.edu.

Sports

Friday September 29, 2017

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } FOOTBALL

Weekend preview: Princeton goes for 7 straight against Columbia

By Mathew Fulle r staff writer

Princeton football (2–0 overall) will take on its first Ivy League opponent this year, facing Columbia (2–0) on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium this Saturday, Sept.

30, with kickoff at 12:30 p.m.

When these teams faced each other last year, the Tigers won handily in a 48–13 rout of the opponent, making it six straight wins against the Lions. In last year’s victory, senior quarterback Chad Kanoff threw three touchdown passes and threw for 230 yards on 21 of 25 (84 percent) passing.

Senior John Lovett was also instrumental in the contest, adding four more scores. In a period between the second and third quarters of that game, Princeton dominated by scoring touchdowns on seven straight possessions.

After starting this season with wins against both Wagner and Georgetown, Columbia hopes to continue improving from its 0–2 start at this time. Last week against Georgetown, the Lions avenged a 2015 loss by winning 35–14 over the Hoyas. Quarterback Anders Hill passed for four touchdowns, including three in the first half, to put Columbia up 21–0.

The Lions have been built on a balanced offensive attack this year, averaging just under 180 yards in both passing and rushing in their first two games. Much of their success has come at the hands of Hill, who has thrown for 357 yards and five touchdowns this year. Hill has dominated on the ground as well, rushing for 106 yards

overall on 4.1 yards per carry.

Princeton, which has held opponents to 63.5 rush yards per game so far this year, hopes to continue its strong defense and contain a mobile quarterback like Hill, making the Columbia offense more one-dimensional.

Meanwhile, the Lions will look to put pressure on the Tigers’ secondary, which has given up 321 yards passing per game. Freshman cornerback CJ Wall, who already has two interceptions this season, will be instrumental in stopping Hill’s aerial attack.

Princeton is off to a hot start with wins against San Diego and Lafayette. Kanoff, for his part, has averaged 304 yards passing in the first two games, with a total of six touchdowns. His most popular targets include junior wide receivers Jesper Horsted and Stephen Carlson, who have combined for over 300 yards this season, with five touchdowns. Princeton’s offense also received a boost with the return of junior running back Charlie Volker, who missed the season opener due to a tear in his eye. Volker displayed no sign of weakness last week against Lafayette, his healed vision guiding him for 111 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.

The Tigers have a 70–15–1 winning record versus Columbia all time, including the last six meetings.

If you cannot attend this weekend’s game, you can stream it on the Ivy League Network or listen to it on the radio on the Princeton IMG Sports Network on TuneIn Radio or on 103.3 FM.

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Junior Joe Percival will look to contain the Columbia dual threat offense in the Tigers’ game against the Lions this Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

Tigers anticipating strong performance at Paul Short race

By Samantha Shapiro staff writer

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Junior Brighie Leach placed third in cross country’s Harvard-YalePrinceton 4k event.

Tweet of the Day “Actively rooting against team USA in the #PresidentsCup. First time for everything I guess.”

Alexandra Wong (@ YouAreWong), Golf

Women’s cross-country anticipates a strong showing at tomorrow’s annual Paul Short race. The team is off to a solid start, with fast performances at its early season meets. The team took the gold in last weekend’s annual Harvard-YalePrinceton (HYP) meet, with its 5 scoring runners all finishing within the top ten.

Particularly exciting is the close spread of the times between team members, showcasing the team’s outstanding depth and potential.

Hosted by Lehigh, this weekend’s Paul Short race offers a moderately hilly course with variable terrain. The Tigers will compete later this year on this same course in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet, providing a beneficial preview for the team’s five racing freshman. However, one freshman who will not be racing this weekend is Clare Martin, who is currently out with an injury sustained earlier this season.

The meet features four separate races for collegiate women: the Open, Gold, White, and Brown divisions. In 2016, Princeton had an impressive showing in the Gold division, taking first place with a score of 44. Last year, however, the team did not compete in the Open division, due to the attendance of other Ivy League teams who compet-

ed in that division instead.

With Brad Hunt as a new coach and a large Class of 2020 group, the team had wanted to evaluate its own abilities without the sight of familiar runners.

The 2016 meet was a marked success and a huge turning point in the team’s season. Senior captain Melissa “Mel” Reed recalls last year’s Paul Short race as a crucial moment when the team began to successfully run in packs.

“Last year, Paul Short really pulled our team together, in the sense that we didn’t really know who we were before. Since we didn’t really know our identity and how fast each other is, running in pacts is something we really want to work on. At Paul Short last year, that’s when we perfected that… it was literally magic how it happened. It brought us a lot of success in that race, and we are trying to find that again,” said Reed.

This year, the team will race its top 7 runners in the Open division, and twelve runners will compete in the Gold division. “This year, we feel a lot more confident in our ability to compete with the rest of the league,” noted Reed.

The Class of 2021 will also play a key role in the team’s performance; in particular, freshmen Sophie Cantine and Melia Chittenden, who have previously showcased impressive times and finished second and third, re-

Stat of the Day

70-15-1 The Tigers go into the 87th overall meeting against Columbia dominating the all time series against the Lions.

spectively, at the HYP meet, should be strong performers.

“The freshman have incorporated in the team really well and have been a really positive impact, both in their attitudes and in how fast they are. I’ve been so impressed with how the freshman have been taking everything in stride: hot days, hard workouts, starting classes. They’ve kept calm and collected through it all, so I think that will be really important in ensuring the upperclassmen are doing the same. On the senior side, we graduated a huge class and there’s a smaller group of seniors currently, so we’ve really had a lot of the younger girls, including the junior girls, step up to be leaders on the team,” commented Reed.

This past week, the team has been challenged with some brutal workouts and long runs in Princeton’s sudden September heat wave.

The team is not tapering off its mileage in anticipation for this race. Reed referred to the race as a “building block” in the season – while the meet may not feature individuals racing personal records, it will be crucial in “fostering good teamwork.”

“I think we’re all excited – maybe a little too excited – for the season!” said Reed, with a laugh.

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