The Daily Princetonian: December 5, 2019

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Thursday December 5, 2019 vol. CXLIII no. 116

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STUDENT LIFE

U . A F FA I R S

Charter solicits redesign plans amidst dwindling enrollment

Princeton School Board passes then rescinds elements of “gag order” regulation

By Evelyn Doskoch Contributor

By Sam Kagan and Rachel Sturley Contributors

See GAG ORDER page 3

JON ORT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Charter Club.

ON CAMPUS

Levit ’20, Visser ’20 awarded 2020 Schwarzman Scholarship

By Marie-Rose Sheinerman Assistant News Editor

Nathan Levit ’20 and Caleb Visser ’20 have been awarded the Schwarzman Scholarship, which will fund their graduate study at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Levit and Visser will join a class of 145 scholars that hail from 41 countries, selected globally from a pool of 4,700 applicants. Scholars pursue a one-year master’s degree in Global Affairs with a core curriculum focused on three pillars: China, global affairs, and leadership. Courses are taught in English, according to the University’s statement.

Currently in its fifth year, the program was founded by Stephen Schwarzman, the co-founder of the Blackstone investment firm. Selected candidates were assessed not only

ON CAMPUS

U. astronomy professor awarded Kyoto Prize

By Katie Tam senior writer

This past June, James Gunn, Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy Emeritus, was awarded the Kyoto Prize honoring his breakthrough achievements in the astrophysical sciences.

The Kyoto Prize, which is presented by the Inamori Foundation of Japan, recognizes lifetime achievements in the three categories of basic science, advanced technology, and arts and philosophy. Gunn was honored primarily for his work on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), a project that aimed to produce a comprehensive, three-dimensional map of the cosmos.

“It was his brainchild,” said Michael Strauss, Chair and Professor of Astrophysical Sciences.

Data from the Survey has enabled astronomers to measure the distance to almost 4 million galaxies, characterize the distribution of objects in the universe, and improve our understanding of dark energy and matter. Nearly 10,000 scientific papers have been published

In Opinion

See CHARTER page 2

as a result of the SDSS, and the Survey laid the groundwork for ongoing research that will expand our knowledge of how the universe was formed.

In a ceremony on Nov. 10–11 in Kyoto, Gunn delivered a Commemorative Lecture entitled “Understanding the Universe and the Things That Live in It Through Astronomical Surveys,” in which he discussed his work developing the instruments to study the population of objects in space — something like an astronomical census.

Gunn conceived of and designed the SDSS, which launched around the year 2000. As stated in the award citation, the outcomes of the Survey included clarifying cosmic history, uncovering properties of celestial objects, and finding the parameters of the expanding universe.

Gunn was born in 1938 in Livingston, Texas. At an early age, he fell in love with a children’s book about astronomy and soon moved on to his father’s undergraduate textbooks.

“I never really had much doubt about what I want-

Columnist Julia Chaffers beseeches urgent expansion of gun control following the recent California shooting, and contributing columnist Kate Liu ponders the benefits of community within the newly revived Tiger Confessions++ group. PAGE 6

based on their academic records but also on their leadership potential and strength of character.

The program was “inspired by the Rhodes Scholarship” and aims to “bring together the world’s best young minds to explore and understand the economic, political and cultural factors that have contributed to China’s increasing importance as a global power,” according to the scholarship’s website.

Nathan Levit, a concentrator in the Woodrow Wilson School, hails from Tulsa, Okla. and is pursuing certificates in history and the practice of diplomacy, American studies, and journalism. Levit’s personal statement stated that he hopes to take advantage of the significant academic resources on poverty mitigation available at Tsinghua.

“I applied for it to focus on how to

ed to do. I knew what I wanted to do was study the stars,” Gunn said.

In 1965, he received a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology and worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1966–1968. He became an assistant professor at the University in 1968 before leaving for CalTech in 1970. He returned to Princeton in 1980, where he served as a Professor of Astrophysical Sciences before transferring to emeritus status in 2011.

While at CalTech in 1976, he proposed and won a competition to design a camera aboard what was then known as the Space Telescope and is now known as the Hubble Space Telescope. The camera was what is known as a charge-coupled device (CCD), which had been invented a few years earlier and detects movements of electrical charge to capture images. This technology would be central to the development of cameras on the Sloan Survey.

Gunn began planning for the SDSS in the early 1990s. Standard telescopes only imaged a tiny piece of the sky at any one time. One of the main challenges of astronomy was to use these images and deduce which objects are close, and which are far away.

create better low-income policy, and China’s an incredible place to learn about that because they’ve brought 800 million people out of extreme poverty over the past two decades,” he explained.

Levit has conducted policy research with several notable policymakers, including Jed Herrmann, vice president for state and federal policy implementation at Results for America; U.S. Representative Kendra Horn of Oklahoma; and U.S. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado.

When asked which professor or class at the University has inspired him most, Levit referenced a freshman seminar he took on Abraham Joshua Heschel and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with Class of 1943 University Professor Emeritus Cornel West. “[The class] was really about how

See SCHOLARS page 2

BRIAN WILSON / OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

James Gunn

Previous attempts, dating back to the 1950s, were not sensitive or quantitative. The standard at the time was the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS), which was purely photographic. Gunn saw the need for an electronic survey that would generate accurate data.

One way to remedy this was by introducing a new way of mapping the skies, taking advantage of something called redshift to measure distances. The universe is constantly expanding, meaning that objects in space are moving away from Earth. De-

Today on Campus 8:30 p.m.: Princeton Dance Festival The 2019 Princeton Dance Festival will feature new and repertory works by renowned guest choreographers McCarter Theater

to live a meaningful life,” said Levit.

“It’s formed the focus of a lot of my studies.”

In his time at the University, Levit was president of the Princeton Perspective Project, which aims to ease the transition of first-generation and low-income students to college life.

He also has served as an Orange Key tour guide, an undergraduate fellow of the James Madison Program, and a board member of the Center for Jewish Life and Chabad.

“He’s really bright, really sharp, exceptionally hardworking,” said former Oklahoma Representative Scott Inman of Levit, according to the University’s statement. “I think he’s the perfect fit for the scholarship.” Inman has worked with Levit since he volunteered on state cam-

pending on how far away the objects are, the wavelengths they appear to emit are slightly different — with some appearing to have a lengthened, or “redshifted,” wavelength, referring to the longer wavelength of red light.

The Sloan Survey also introduced the use of spectroscopy alongside imaging. While photographic imaging uses wide swaths of the visible spectrum, much like in normal cameras, spectroscopy captures data in much finer detail, allowing scientists to gather inSee KYOTO page 2

WEATHER

The Princeton Board of Education faced widespread backlash following the adoption of an updated communications charter, which residents perceived to limit the speech of officials. The agreement, adopted at the Board’s meeting on Oct. 29, placed restrictions on media contact and information sharing.

After opposition from board members and the larger Princeton community, the Board voted to strike contentious language from the nowrevised document.

The provisions under fire included an order that “Board members will serve as ambassadors for their district, emphasizing the positive aspects of the district,” and a requirement that “Information prepared for deliberative purposes, will not be shared. If there is any question whether information is confidential, Board members will consult with the superintendent in advance.”

The original communications agreement passed, with Board members Beth Behrend, Jessica Deutsch, Betsy Kalber Baglio, Brian McDonald, Gregory Stankiewicz, Michele Tuck-Ponder, and Peter Katz voting in favor, and board members Debbie Bron-

In response to declining membership, the Princeton Charter Club’s Board of Governors is calling for student proposals to redesign and revitalize Charter in time for Street Week.

The letter, sent to the classes of 2022, 2021, and 2020 by email, explains the low enrollment situation and offers students the chance to transform Charter in the hopes of attracting “an engaged and sizable new membership” to 79 Prospect Avenue.

“Dear Princetonians,” wrote the graduate board in an open letter. “We invite you and your friends, your teams, your organizations, and your activities to consider the opportunity to join a club that you can make your own.”

Membership has declined steadily over the past five years,

with each graduating class fielding fewer Charter members than those prior.

Last year, Charter had the lowest membership of any club with 52 members, and continues to be the smallest club with only 38 total members of the classes of 2020 and 2021. Just four years ago, there were twice that many in Charter’s Class of 2015 alone, and in 2011, 95 sophomores signed in, filling Charter to capacity.

“Over the past several years, our section sizes have been lower than we’d like them to be,” Charter President Justin Hamilton ’20 said. “Historically, sign-in clubs oscillate in size a lot; there have been other clubs in recent years who got really really small and then got really large. It happens to all of the sign-in clubs for a variety of different reasons.”

The graduate board states that

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Survey maps dark energy, dark matter KYOTO

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formation about how fast objects are moving, their distances from Earth, and the chemical composition of objects.

The 700-lb camera for the SDSS telescope was constructed by Gunn and his team over 6 years in the basement of Peyton Hall. It is now mounted on the telescope at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico.

Although the Sloan Survey was initially motivated by an understanding of the distribution of objects in galaxies, it also unearthed more unexpected findings.

For example, the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation phenomenon, which is related to the sound waves emitted by the tiny bump of our galaxy in the very early universe. Or the thousands of asteroids, which could now be sorted not only into orbital groups, but by chemical composition. Or the discovery of “brown dwarves,” which are of too low a mass to ignite the nuclear reactions that make our sun and other stars shine.

The data from the survey were shared publicly, with no restrictions on use or collaboration. This openness was unusual at the time, especially for astronomers who were not used to such widescale cooperation. This also made it unnecessary for astronomers to work for years on smaller telescopes to study the galaxies they were interested in. For many scientific projects, the data were already there.

Jenny Greene, Professor of Astrophysical Sciences, did her graduate thesis on the size of black holes using data from the Sloan

Survey.

“I experienced firsthand what it meant for data like this to be made public and user-friendly to the entire astronomy community,” Greene said. “It was truly revolutionary and changed the way we think about astronomical data.”

The discoveries of the SDSS have been essential to improving our understanding of something that scientists still don’t fully understand: dark matter. Current estimates state that around four percent of density in the universe is standard matter, while six times that is dark matter, Gunn explained.

Looking at how physical matter behaves can tell us about what dark matter does. However, much about dark matter and energy remain unknown.

“The data from the survey have given us some of the best constraints on just how much dark energy and dark matter there is in our universe,” said Strauss.

“It’s a little discouraging, to live in a universe in which the stuff you know about is only 4 percent of the total,” Gunn said. “But that’s the way it is.”

The SDSS has laid the groundwork for a current project, the Subaru Telescope, a sort-of nextgeneration version that is much larger — with a primary mirror diameter of 8.2 meters as opposed to 2.5 — and aims to understand the universe in cosmological history. The Subaru Telescope is run by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

The Subaru Telescope will “explore some of the same questions and ask questions about how the universe evolves and changes over time,” Straus said. It will do what Sloan

did for a time in the universe when the stars first formed, Greene explained.

Currently, the Subaru Telescope is capturing images with the Hyper Suprime-Cam, with photographic data collection nearly halfway completed.

Since the end of the Sloan Survey in 2012, Gunn has been playing a key role in the construction of the Prime Focus Spectrograph, which will capture the spectroscopic data. It is to be mounted on the Subaru Telescope in 2021, with data collection to begin in 2022.

Astronomers often divide themselves into three groups: theorists, observers, and instrumentalists — the last of which are those who build the telescopes and equipment that enable observers to view the skies and theorists to formulate models.

“Jim is a superstar in all three,” Strauss said. “In the world of astronomers, he is sort of well-known as a triple-threat, as someone who has done incredibly important work in all three of those major areas.”

“But I think instrumentation is his first love,” Strauss added.

Gunn is a bit more modest. He dabbled in all three, he said: theory when he was younger, observation later on, and mainly instrumentation since the start of the Sloan Survey.

About Sloan, Gunn said, “I was the father of it.”

But he also sees himself as a sort of father for the young scientists who were working on the project.

“And I’m very proud of that,” he said. “What I did to make this thing happen really enabled an enormous amount of very, very good science by really very hardworking and excellent young scientists.”

Thursday December 5, 2019

Charter considers introducing Bicker, other reforms CHARTER Continued from page 1

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though Charter has the financial means to operate at smaller membership levels “indefinitely,” it would prefer for the club to return to capacity.

“We’re at the point where, financially, we’ve been very very well-managed, and we can last pretty much indefinitely with a smaller membership number, but we do want more people to be able to experience our clubhouse and our product,” Hamilton said.

He explained that instead of waiting for the club’s numbers to naturally recover over a period of several years, the graduate board and undergraduate officers hoped to expedite the process.

The letter goes on to state that groups of between 6–100 students can submit a proposal for a new direction for Charter, including potential changes to club leadership, club size, dining options, social events, physical features, educational opportunities, and/ or financial aid.

“We left it intentionally very open-ended, aiming this at a very very wide variety of people to come in and, if they have a large enough group, really make the club their own,” Hamilton said.

“We currently have a small and really wonderful community where everyone really knows each other, and I think that’s a pretty unique aspect of our club compared to other clubs.”

“It’s hard not to know everyone at this point,” he added.

The letter also cites the membership selection process as a potential area for change, suggesting that Bicker could make a reappearance at Charter after its 42-year tenure as a sign-in club. “[Bicker] is one thing that my grad board was willing to at least put as an example,” Hamilton said. “If a group comes in with a strong group of people, a good group of people, and they have

some good ideas that they want to bring to the club, our grad board is willing to consider any proposals.”

If Charter does adopt Bicker, some have suggested that there is potential for upheaval in this year’s Street Week, as the ratio of Bicker to sign-in clubs would move from 6:5 to 7:4.

“Clearly there’s a good relationship currently with Bicker and sign-in clubs,” said Meghan Slattery ’20, President of Cloister Inn and the Interclub Council (ICC). “[Bicker at Charter] would just be a little bit of a different, new, and exciting change.”

Still, Hamilton emphasized the holistic nature of the process and stated that negotiations may take place to evaluate the feasibility of whichever proposal is chosen.

“We’re really looking forward to hearing from more people, from groups that hopefully have some good ideas, and what they can bring to Charter, what we can do for them,” Hamilton said.

Additionally, if such changes take place, the effects will likely extend beyond Charter’s borders, with implications for other clubs as well as for students who do not currently frequent Prospect Avenue.

“This is a new recruitment strategy that I haven’t seen before,” said Slattery, “and I think it’s a really cool way to potentially bring people to the Street who haven’t been part of the Street before.”

To date, Charter officers have received inquiries from “a few small- to medium-size groups” and will be offering tours of the premises and guest meals to interested parties in the coming weeks. Authors of the strongest proposals will, according to the letter, be asked to meet with a “committee of Governors” in Manhattan to formally pitch their ideas.

Student proposals are due Dec. 31, 2019.

Recipients to study in China SCHOLARS Continued from page 1

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paigns in high school.

Caleb Visser of Williamsburg, Va., is a senior in the politics department, focusing on international relations and pursuing certificates in African studies and Latin American studies.

Visser said he is especially looking forward to the residential community learning experience the program provides.

“I feel very honored by the opportunity to learn from a cohort of international scholars, people who are committed to exceptional issues across a variety of fields,” he said. “I want to be a good advocate, [an] ambassador of everything that people have invested in me here” at the University.

Visser is a cadet company commander of Princeton’s Army ROTC and a distinguished military graduate, according to the University’s statement. He will commission as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army and hopes to foster solutions that serve and understand development as national security.

“Beijing becomes the perfect learning environment to explore these geopolitical issues, as China continues to expand its economic influence in the developing world,” he wrote in his personal statement.

At the University, Visser has been a residential college adviser at Wilson College, a student coordinator for the University’s Vote100 campaign, chair of the campus and

community affairs committee of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), and a research fellow for the Wilson School’s Innovations for Successful Societies program.

When asked what mentors have most inspired and supported him, Visser wanted to specially thank Thomas Dunne, the deputy dean of undergraduate students.

“Dean Dunne and the entire ODUS staff are so invested in students here and in helping students cultivate the sorts of actions and change they want to see,” he said.

In a statement to the University, Dean Dunne described Visser as someone always “willing to shoulder the logistical and sometimes mundane burdens to create opportunities for others to use their voice.”

“I am so excited to see how his leadership continues to evolve, both in the Army and the career in public service that will undoubtedly follow,” Dunne added.

Visser is a recipient of the Paul E. Sigmund Scholar Award, Superior Cadet Award, and the Robert L. McLean ’52 Award for Leadership and Citizenship. He has also previously interned for U.S. Africa Command, worked as a research assistant at the Global Research Institute of the College of William and Mary, and also served as a legislative research intern for Veterans Campaign during the 2018 congressional midterm elections.

“I am very aware that I am where I am only because I’ve strived to stand on giants who have come before me and who have lifted me up along the way,” Visser said.

COURTESY OF SCHWARZMAN SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Caleb Visser and Nathan Levit

Thursday December 5, 2019

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Board of Ed affirms members’ right to freedom of speech GAG ORDER Continued from page 1

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feld, Daniel Dart, and Bill Hare voting in opposition.

Others voiced frustration with the perceived inability of board members to speak openly with the press. The guideline states that “The Superintendent will serve as the spokesperson for the district with the media,” and that “The Board President will serve as the spokesperson for the board with the media.”

At the Oct. 29 meeting, school board attorney Stephen Fogarty noted that board members are permitted to speak to the press, so long as individuals indicate that they are not speaking in an official capacity as a member. By Fogarty’s explanation, board members are permitted to speak openly as taxpayers.

Board member Tuck-Ponder defended the resolution in agreement with Fogarty. “You can certainly exercise your right to speak. You just have to clarify that you’re not speaking for the Board as a whole … so when you’re speaking, you’re speaking as an individual who just happens to be a

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member of the board.”

Conversely, board member Dart voiced dissent. “I want to reference our Board Goals, where we say we’re going to try to communicate in an open and transparent manner, and this seems to pull us away from it,” Dart said during the meeting. “This looks like it’s trying to reduce communications by individual board members.”

According to The Princeton Packet, this policy shift brought Princeton into alignment with rules in the neighboring Montgomery, Lawrence, and Hopewell Valley school districts. The three jurisdictions follow identical regulations.

In a letter to the editor published on Nov. 20 in Town Topics of Princeton, residents indicated their ire with the communications agreement.

The piece explained that “The Princeton Board of Education (BoE) has just mandated that its members may not publicly question School Board actions and policies,” and that “[School Board members] are elected to provide oversight for the community.

How much oversight can be exercised if all communica-

tions must pass through the superintendent?”

On Nov. 25, Board President Behrend issued a statement to the press regarding the newly adopted statute.

“It is important to understand that these are voluntary guidelines, not a mandate, which simply summarize our existing policies and procedures,” Behrend wrote. “They are based on a NJ School Boards Association ‘best practice’ template that restates the legal and ethical obligations of school board members under New Jersey law.”

Behrend continued, emphasizing the intention of the Board to enable members to speak without restriction.

“The … template included a line stating that Board members ‘serve as ambassadors for their district, emphasizing the positive aspects of the district.’ We initially understood this language as encouraging members to share with the community the many good things happening in our schools. In no way did we intend to limit the speech of our Board members ….”

In front of an 11 person audience, the Board presented and approved a revised version of

JON ORT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

the communications agreement at a special meeting held on Dec. 3. The body largely discussed the sentence, “Board members will serve as ambassadors for their district, emphasizing the positive aspects of the district.”

“It’s when you start adding in language that describes how you’re allowed to phrase stuff, what you’re allowed to say, that’s when it becomes a problem to me,” Hare said at the special meeting.

“That [sentence] had unintentionally made things confusing and introduced unintended consequences,” Deutsch said. “[It] was per-

Princeton Board of Ed.

ceived that we would be somehow surrendering our independent thought or freedom of speech, and I for one never imagined that was on the table.”

Though the Board ultimately motioned for the removal of the single controversial sentence in light of the aforementioned concerns, and approved the revised document, all other clauses in the agreement remained unchanged.

The Princeton Board of Education is scheduled to meet again in public session on Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m. The Board meets at 25 Valley Road, Princeton, NJ 08544.

Opinion

Thursday December 5, 2019

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Enough is enough Julia Chaffers Columnist

“Hundreds turn out for gun control protest at Frist.”

You would be hard-pressed to identify when that headline came from. That goes to show just how routine gun violence has become in this country, a frequency that not only demonstrates the severity of the problem but also presents a significant barrier to a solution.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. On the subject of gun violence, our country is insane, both in the government’s inaction on gun control and in the public’s response to shootings.

A couple of weeks ago, we went through the chillingly routine process again: reports come out about another school shooting, this time in Santa Clarita, Calif., where a 14- and a 16-year-old student were killed.

A community mourns. Politicians feign disbelief that it could be happening again, and public figures tweet out their thoughts and prayers.

Stories honor the people who were injured and killed. Horrifying testimonials convey the fear that children felt as they heard the pops of gunfire outside their classrooms.

But eventually the dust settles and we accept that this is the

new normal. Every few weeks, mass violence will happen, and we’ll run through the formula again. But nothing changes. Somehow the personal anguish never translates into political change.

In the time between my first draft of this column and this final draft, the space of about a week, another mass shooting occurred, this time in Fresno, Calif., where what police believe to be a targeted attack killed four Hmong men and injured six others as they watched football in their backyard.

That headline about the Frist protest was from 2018, after the Parkland shooting.

That was before I arrived at Princeton, and I have seen little similar activism in my time here, even as an engaged member of political groups on campus. I did not notice any response to the most recent shootings, showing just how numb we have become to the gun violence that surrounds us. The unrelenting wave of shootings makes it hard to consistently muster the force we need to change the status quo. I cannot remember a time when gun violence was not a constant facet of life.

I remember where I was when Sandy Hook, the first mass shooting I can recall, happened. I was in sixth grade, driving home with my sister and our babysitter, when the report came on the radio. I was one year out of elementary school and one state over from Connecticut.

The proximity of the violence

filled me with fear. It was not totally displaced, either.

Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, more than 236,000 students have experienced gun violence in their schools, with little policy change over that time after an assault weapons ban expired in 2004.

Children of our generation have grown up in a culture defined by mass violence.

Rather than passing legislation that limits access to firearms, we do everything we can to react to it. Ninetyfive percent of schools now hold active shooter drills, which often cause more trauma than they actually help prepare kids. Parents are even buying bulletproof backpacks to protect their children from gun violence. As a country, we accept that students go to school in fear.

Gun violence is not limited to schools either. Last spring, after the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand, I wrote a column about how we should learn from their swift and decisive action. We have not. In just this summer, 126 people lost their lives in 26 American mass shootings. None were at schools.

But since Congress has come back into session, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans have shown no interest in gun control legislation, even basic legislation, like universal background checks, that the overwhelming majority of Americans support.

Instead, private companies like Walmart — the site of a mass shooting this summer — and Dick’s Sporting Goods

vol. cxliii

are taking their own action.

We have seen that we cannot rely on those with power to act substantively to limit gun violence. So long as the government continues to drag its feet, we need to act ourselves. That means seeing the frequency of violence as a reason to redouble our efforts, not a reason for futility. It means challenging ourselves to see the urgency in every shooting, and to switch from a reactive to proactive posture in our engagement with gun reform.

If you have ever wondered what politics has to do with you, there is no clearer issue than gun violence; unfortunately, this is especially true for young people. This is why voting matters, why engagement with your representatives matters, why activism matters. Politicians have proven that they will not move until their positions become untenable. Sandy Hook did not make them move, nor did Parkland. This will only happen with an upsurge of public pressure we have not seen before. And that takes everybody.

America is unlike any other country on the planet in terms of amount of firearms and frequency of gun violence. Continuing to do nothing enforces this pattern, and the cycle will continue. Now more than ever, we have to stand up.

Julia Chaffers is a sophomore from Wellesley, Massachusetts.

She can be reached at chaffers@ princeton.edu.

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Community and the new Tiger Confessions group Kate Liu

Contributing Columnist

“I’m having such a hard time finding friends on this campus I’m considering switching to a different school.”

“It’s 6am as I write this.

I have gotten no sleep. I swear, COS 217 will actually be the death of me.”

These are two examples from the hundreds of anonymous posts on Tiger Confessions++, a Facebook group created last month, which has since gained almost 2,000 followers. It was created only one day after Tiger Confessions, Princeton’s original anonymous Facebook confessions page, deleted all of its contents.

As the original Tiger Confessions group gained 5,000 followers and nearly 12,000 posts, Ty Ger, the administrator, decided that the “possible negative impacts of the group” necessitated a complete shutdown. The student

responses quoted in a recent Daily Princetonian article covering this shut down reflected concerns about what the page had become; one stated that Tiger Confessions promoted “an already prevalent Princeton mindset of complaining because something is mildly difficult, and instead of working through it, drowning in self-pity and the self-pity of people who are encouraged by your complaints,” noted one student.

And yet, with Tiger Confessions++’s gaining popularity, the rampant complaints are back. From academics and extracurriculars to eating clubs and the social scene, many of the anonymous posts have reemerged as outlets to vent and express the student body’s ever-present stress and frustrations on campus.

Why is it, then, that despite our best efforts to eliminate complaints, they keep reemerging? And what can we

do about it?

Perhaps the answer lies not in eliminating complaints, but instead in embracing them. Try as we might to erase them, they’ll keep coming back. Delete one forum, and another will undoubtedly replace it. Thus, taking a step back from constantly condemning this negative attitude and instead constructively assessing the culture of complaint here on campus might reveal the merits of complaining in bringing a community together.

Complaining helps us find a community; when we complain, there’s a part of us that wants to find others like us. We complain about our lack of sleep, hoping to find others who feel the same way. We complain about our problem sets, hoping to find others who struggle similarly. We complain about the social scene, hoping that we’re not alone in this. Through every com-

plaint, every frustration, we’re looking for a community.

And on Tiger Confessions++, even if it’s not your traditional community, there’s still a community of sorts.

“OP, soon you and everyone else will be finished with that class [...] The *only* thing I gained in that class is the genuine awareness of the transience of all things.”

“Likewise, OP. I stayed up until 3 am.”

For almost every post, people can respond, tag their friends, and react. It is seemingly insignificant, but it represents a shift in how we define our communities. On Tiger Confessions ++, for every post, there’s a group of people with shared experiences. Whether it’s getting your jacket stolen from an eating club or taking a frustrating class, we feel a sense of belonging. We feel a sense of connection.

And perhaps, that’s what it’s all about: finding our own little communities.

Of course, there’s a point where complaints become toxic, burdensome, and triggering. And to that end, I hope that the resources on campus — CPS, SHARE, etc.

— can serve as safe spaces for these students. I hope that they feel comfortable talking to the counselors and sharing their experiences.

But what forums like Tiger Confessions++ offer us is uniquely different. The culture of complaining they foster is important for this campus. Sometimes what we need most is to know — rather than simply hope — that we’re not alone.

Kate Liu is a first-year from Princeton, N.J. She can be reached at kateliu@princeton. edu.

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Sports

Thursday December 5, 2019

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Women’s volleyball to face Penn State in first round of NCAA tournament

By Nancy Tran Staff Writer

Around this time last year, the Princeton women’s volleyball team watched Yale take the bid to the NCAA tournament after winning the Ivy League Champion title. In the opening round of the tournament, the Bulldogs fell to Syracuse University.

This time around, it’s the Tigers’ turn to go dancing. Princeton (17–7, 10–2 Ivy) tied with Yale (15–8, 10–2) in the regular conference. After a playoff match to declare the champion, the Tigers took home the title and the bid to the NCAA tournament.

Not only was the win against the Bulldogs a momentous occasion, but the team as a whole put their best foot forward for the important playoff match, which ended up ref lecting the outcome the Tigers had sought for the past year.

Leading the Tigers was sophomore outside hitter Elena Montgomery with 19 kills. Senior outside hitter Natasha Skov added 16 kills and junior middle blocker Clare Lenihan added

another 13 kills. Then, senior setter Jessie Harris managed 57 assists, pushing her past a thousand assists for the season. Sophomore libero Cameron Dames also defended the Tigers with 23 digs.

Taking home the trophy, the Tigers are set to play No. 11 Pennsylvania State this Friday at Penn State’s Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions (24–5, 17–3) are tied for second in the Big Ten conference and are entering the NCAA tournament for the 39th straight season. Since the conception of the tournament, Penn State has earned a spot every year. As of now, the Nittany Lions have secured seven NCAA Championship titles, and they’re looking to make this year their eighth.

In previous years, Princeton and Penn State have played a total of nine times, with Princeton securing only two wins. With their work cut out for them and riding on the high of winning the Ivy League, the Tigers will be hungry to make it past the first round of the NCAA tournament.

A win against the

Nittany Lions will put the Princeton Tigers up against the winner of Towson University (28–2, 16–0) and American University (24–7, 15–1). Those two teams

are set to play on Dec. 6 at 5 p.m., also in Rec Hall. Princeton will then play Penn State at 7:30 p.m. The winners of those two games are scheduled for Dec. 7 at

6:30 p.m., and again, it will be hosted on Penn State’s home court.

The opening round matches will be streamed on the Big Ten Network.

JACK GRAHAM / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Princeton women’s volleyball will face off with Penn State in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday.

WOMEN’S SQUASH

No. 3 women’s squash prepares to face St. Lawrence, looks to stay undefeated

By Sophie Cantine Contributor

The Princeton women’s squash team will face St. Lawrence at home this weekend in their last match before the new year. The Tigers are currently undefeated with

a record of 4–0. According to the College Squash Association’s College Squash Rankings, Princeton women’s squash is presently ranked third in the country behind No. 2 Trinity College and No. 1 Harvard University.

The Tigers opened their

season against George Washington on Nov. 17.

The women decisively won the match 8–1. Five days later, the they competed against three different schools across three consecutive days: the University of Virginia, Stanford, and Drexel. The

BEVERLY SCHAEFER / GOPRINCETONTIGERS.COM

Madison Soukup and Princeton will take on St. Lawrence this weekend.

Tweet of the Day “The Tigers’ 2020 season is right around the corner!”

Princeton Water Polo (@ PWaterPolo)

Tigers continued to dominate the courts, defeating Virginia 9–0, Stanford 6–3, and Drexel 7–2.

These three schools are all top teams in the nation, which makes Princeton’s winning streak all the more impressive.

“The team had a tough weekend playing three of the top ten ranked teams in the country before Thanksgiving,” said head coach Gail Ramsay. “Our win over Stanford was a good result, since we lost a 4–5 match to them at the end of last season”.

The team also has substantial momentum in practice, as well.

“The training has been excellent,” said Ramsay.

“The women have been working very hard and developing parts of their games that need some work. I think a few put in some good summer training too, which helps tremendously.”

This weekend, the Tigers will once again have the opportunity to show their hard work in training against the No. 27 St. Lawrence women’s squash squad. The last time the Tigers faced St. Lawrence was in 2015, in which each Princeton woman defeated her opponent, allowing them to win the match 9–0.

When asked about the specific goal for this weekend, Ramsay said, “This season we are focused on ‘the Process,’ which is executing our game plans and playing our best squash every time we are on the court — not only during match play, but in practice and challenge matches as well. It is about having confidence in what you do every day at practice, which will allow them to relax and play their best squash.”

After facing St. Lawrence this weekend, Princeton will have a competitive season ahead. On Jan. 11, the Tigers will play their first match of 2020 in New Hampshire against Dartmouth. They will compete against each Ivy League school, including No. 1 Harvard, throughout January and early February before playing No.2 Trinity on Feb. 15. Championship season begins on Feb. 21 at the start of the CSA Team Championships.

“We are building our confidence level nicely, and the plan is to keep it going in that direction,” said Ramsay. “We will continue to work hard and improve, and I am confident the team will return from winter break ready to play.”

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