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Friday January 11, 2019 vol. CXLII no. 122
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U . A F FA I R S
IN TOWN
Court allows U. to move forward in Title IX case By Zack Shevin Contributor
A judge has made a decision in the John Doe v. Princeton University case involving a male student currently involved in a Title IX investigation over sexual misconduct that occurred in spring 2017. On Jan. 9, U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp denied the plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction, which would have paused the Title IX investigation. The judge granted, in part, the University’s motion to have the case dismissed, dropping one of four counts. The complaint sought to pause the University from continuing a Title IX investigation until the Department of Education’s proposed changes to Title IX regulations take effect. Shipp dismissed, in favor of the University, the first count of violation of due process rights. However, the University’s motion to dismiss the count of breach of contract, count of anticipatory breach of contract, and count of breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing was denied. “We have reviewed the judge’s decision. We will proceed with this [particular investigation] and any other Title IX investigation in accordance with established procedures,” University spokesperson Ben Chang wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian. Ronald Israel, the attorney for the plaintiff, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The plaintiff filed the suit on Nov. 28, 2018, as “John Doe” to
protect his identity. According to court documentation obtained by the ‘Prince,’ he is a resident of New York and a student at the University. The court documentation also shows that Doe began a relationship with a female student, referred to in the documentation as “Jane Roe,” for privacy reasons, in the spring of 2017. On or near Jan. 14, 2018, Doe advised the University that he felt that he was being harassed by Roe. He was not made aware of Roe’s allegations against him, for alleged sexual misconduct during the spring of 2017, or that the University had commenced a Title IX investigation into the 2017 incident until Nov. 7, 2018. The plaintiff was originally scheduled to be interviewed on Nov. 26, 2018, about the alleged misconduct. Upon learning of the proposed changes to the Title IX regulations, he requested an extension until Jan. 28, the end of the 60-day public comment period. The University granted the plaintiff two one-week extensions, but refused to delay the investigation until the implementation of the Department of Education’s suggested Title IX policies. The proposed regulations, if enacted, will “establish procedural safeguards that must be incorporated into a [university’s] grievance procedures to ensure a fair and reliable factual determination when a [university] investigates and adjudicates a sexual harassment complaint.” See TITLE IX page 5
U . A F FA I R S
COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
On Saturday, Jan. 12, a white supremacist march and counter-rallies will be held in Palmer Square.
White supremacists, counterrallies to organize in Palmer By Rebecca Han and Oliver Effron Contributors
The New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA), a white supremacist organization, plans to hold a demonstration at noon on Saturday, Jan. 12, in Palmer Square, drawing counterprotests from members of the University and the town at large. Central Jersey Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and other groups have organized counter-rallies to be held on the same day. The Princeton Police Department said that, though the NJEHA has not formally requested a permit, they
are aware of several protests and counter-protests and are planning accordingly. This is not the first time the NJEHA has planned a demonstration. On Nov. 17, 2018, six members marched in the town of Princeton holding signs reading, “It’s OK to be white.” According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), flyers promoting the group have been found around Princeton since March 2018. According to their website, the organization “can be summed up by fourteen simple words; we must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children.” DSA plans to lead a number of local community or-
U . A F FA I R S
ganizations in a non-violent counter-rally scheduled for the same date at 11:30 a.m. According to a DSA Facebook statement, the organization believes that the “best way to avoid a violent confrontation will be to overwhelm them with numbers.” “By dominating the space with sheer numbers, we believe we can show them that they are not welcome, in New Jersey or anywhere else,” the statement said. Some campus organizations also plan to attend the counter-rally, such as the Young Democratic Socialists of Princeton. Marc Schorin ’22, a member See RALLY page 5
STUDENT LIFE
Bridge Year U. classics professor renamed, the target of racist comments at conference expanded Contributor
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The University’s McCosh Health Center houses Counseling and Psychological Services
U. Receives D on mental health report, condemns report’s shortcomings By Ben Ball and Haleigh Gundy Senior writer and Contributor
Not even the pass/D/fail option could have saved the University in the Ruderman Family Foundation’s study of Ivy League mental health policies. The study report — titled “The Ruderman White Paper on Mental Health in the Ivy League” — gave the University a “D” and claimed
that the University’s policies pertaining to leave of absence were often unclear and, at worst, discriminatory. The paper focused on the leave of absence policies for each Ivy League school and argued that the language of the policies leads to discrimination against students. The highest grade awarded went to the University of PennsylSee REPORT page 2
Assistant professor of classics Dan-el Padilla Peralta ’06 became the target of racist remarks at an annual Society for Classical Studies (SCS) conference on Jan. 5, in San Diego, Calif. During the questionand-answer period of a panel discussion on “The Future of Classics,” audience member and unaffiliated scholar Mary Frances Williams directed a racist comment towards Peralta. After each panelist gave brief introductions and speeches, Williams was one of the first to approach the microphone. According to Peralta’s fellow panelist professor Joy Connolly ’91 of the City University of New York Graduate Center, Williams expressed her view that the classics ought to be the uncritical study and preservation of Western civilization. After another panelist, professor Sarah Bond of the University of Iowa, responded in defense of a more progressive vision of
the field, Williams continued the back-and-forth. There was a palpable impatience in the audience as several others waited in line to ask questions, Connolly said. Another scholar approached Williams asking her to put down the mic. “In the next minute, Williams made a comment that Professor Peralta only has his job because he’s black,” Connolly said. “There was a mix of stunned silence in the room and expressions of disbelief and anger that she would say something so hateful.” Peralta graduated from the University summa cum laude in 2006, having written two senior theses and four junior papers on his way to salutatorian. He has since earned an M.Phil in Greek and Roman History from Oxford and a Ph.D. in the Classics from Stanford, and was a member of Columbia’s Society of Fellows before returning to the University to teach. Williams did not reSee PERALTA page 4
In Opinion
Today on Campus
Contributing Columnist Anika Yardi encourages her peers to visit the Art Museum, while Editorial Assistant Sam Aftel examines the R. Kelly sexual abuse allegations.
7:30 p.m.: Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe; Students in MUS214: Opera Workshop present a fully-staged version of W.A. Mozart’s early opera.
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Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall
By Karolen Eid Contributor
The University has renamed and added more students to its Bridge Year Program. According to a University statement released Wednesday, Jan. 9, after receiving a generous endowment from Michael Novogratz ’87 and Sukey Cáceres Novogratz ’89, the program will now accept 42 students each year instead of the previous 35. It will now be known as the Novogratz Bridge Year Program. Bridge Year is a tuitionfree, international program which sends incoming students to one of five international locations. For nine months, the students engage in service programs with partner organizations in Bolivia, China, India, Indonesia, and Senegal. The program began in 2009, with only twenty students. In the statement, President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 thanked the Novogratzes for their contribution. “Their extraordinary gift will enable generations of See BRIDGE YEAR page 4
WEATHER
By Marie-Rose Sheineman
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UHS takes preventative measures after Ocean County measles outbreak
Friday January 11, 2019
Report criticizes ambiguity in Ivy mental health policies REPORT
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COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
The measles vaccine is by far the most effective preventive measure that can be taken, said Pletcher.
By Marie-Rose Sheineman Contributor
After a nearby outbreak of measles in Ocean County, N.J., was confirmed by the New Jersey Department of Health, University Health Services (UHS) has been identifying students they believe are particularly susceptible to the measles virus in order to provide them with information on preventive measures via email. As of Dec. 21, 33 confirmed cases of measles have been identified in association with the outbreak. Thirty of these cases are in Ocean County, and three are in the same household in Passaic. According to UHS Global and Community Health Physician Dr. Irini Daskalaki, there have been no cases of measles on or near campus. “We reach out to the people who benefit more from this information,” Daskalaki said. “The goal is to send [...] targeted messages to people who can benefit from knowing what’s happening in our area.” Specifically, according to Daskalaki, UHS is seeking out students whose medi-
cal history shows they are immunocompromised or whose records show they may not be immune to the virus. According to Dr. Jonathan Pletcher, UHS Director of Medical Services, UHS has reached out to dozens of students so far. Because there are no cases on campus, UHS cannot send out an email to the entire student body, and instead only targets specific students, Daskalaki said. In the emails to those particular students, Daskalaki shared information on how to identify symptoms of measles and on how to avoid the disease altogether. According to Daskalaki’s email, the measles virus is transmitted through respiratory droplets in the air. Following exposure, approximately 90 percent of susceptible persons will develop measles. The incubation period for measles ranges from seven to 21 days. Individuals are contagious four days before through four days after the onset of the measles rash. “With a fever, cough, or any kind of rash, it’s always best to get it checked out,” Pletcher said. “If it were to
come on campus we’d want to know as soon as possible.” Pletcher also emphasized that the risk of measles is not just an issue for students, but is also an issue everyone in the University community should be on the lookout for. “The Orange Bubble encompasses undergraduates, graduates, families; it involves faculty, it involves all the staff,” Pletcher said. “Our effort is towards the community.” According to the New Jersey Department of Health, the measles outbreak in Ocean County is still ongoing. “New Jersey’s measles outbreak will be declared over once two full incubation periods (a total of 42 days) have passed from the last day the last known case would have been infectious,” the New Jersey Department of Health wrote. UHS Executive Director John Kolligian deferred comment to the Office of Communications and to UHS Director of Medical Services Jon Pletcher. The Office of Communications deferred to UHS.
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vania, which received a D+. Brown and Columbia also received Ds, Cornell and Harvard were both awarded D-, while Yale and Dartmouth both received Fs. According to an email to The Daily Princetonian from University spokesperson Ben Chang, the University disputes many of the findings in the paper, stating that the report mischaracterizes the University’s policies. Senior Program Officer of the Ruderman Foundation Miriam Heyman, who authored the report, said that the paper’s purpose was to catalyze change within the Ivy League. She hopes that the eight universities can be models of mental health policy for colleges across the country. “There’s a real opportunity for leadership,” Heyman said. “Some of the changes I recommend I understand are complex for institutions as large as Princeton to make, but I also think that some of them are relatively straightforward and yet would go a long way in communicating Princeton’s commitment to supporting [...] students with mental health disabilities.” The Ruderman Family Foundation is an organization “guided by Jewish values,” describing itself on its website as a “non-partisan strategic catalyst in cooperation with government, private sectors, civil society, and philanthropies.” The organization’s goals include advocating for the inclusion of people with disabilities and strengthening the relationship between the American and Israeli Jewish communities. The report used a series of 15 criteria assessing different universities’ leave of absence policies. Each criterion received a score from one to three points, with three points being most favorable. After each of the 15 indicators was scored, the University received a total score of 29 out of 45 possible points, giving the University a 64/100, equivalent to a D grade. Evidence cited by the 2018 Spring report from the American College Health Association found that 41.90 percent of undergraduate students have “felt so depressed within the past twelve months that it was difficult to function,” and that 12.1 percent of students have “seriously considered suicide” during the same time period. At least two undergraduates from the University have committed suicide over the last three years. Even though mental health disabilities on college campuses are widespread, the Ruderman report argues that support from colleges is “woefully inadequate.” However, University spokesperson Ben Chang wrote that the article “misstates our policies, mischaracterizes how they are applied, and ignores the holistic approach the University takes to assist our students in these situations.” Chang noted multiple times that the University’s policies had been reviewed and approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. Heyman said she believes the University can improve its leave of absence policy by creating a liason for the student taking a leave of absence. The liaison’s job would be to keep the student connected to the school while the student would be away. “This is sort of an easy thing for a school to stick in there. There aren’t … any legal concerns that would prevent the school from putting that into their policy,” Heyman said. “Providing a name of a contact person is communicating that [the] student, even though they’re at home for the semester, is still a student of the school and entitled to schoolbased support.” However, in his email to the ‘Prince,’ Chang pointed out that University policy does specify a person to speak to for leaves of absence, contrary to the paper’s claim that “the leave of absence policies do not specify a liason or contact person.” The website for the Office of
the Dean of the College confirms that “any student wishing to take a leave of absence should consult with his or her residential college dean.” Heyman defended her paper’s assertion by countering that the language on the website was still ambiguous as to whether or not the residential college dean could continue to be consulted throughout the duration of a student’s leave. Chang also disputed the paper’s inference that the University’s policy states a maximum number of leaves a student is allowed to take. The paper gave that particular criterion a score of one, citing a section of University policy which states, “A student who has taken three leaves from the University, including any academic required withdrawal or mandatory leave of absence, or who has taken a leave of absence in excess of three years, may no longer be eligible for the regular reinstatement process.” Chang disputed the implication that the language of the policy sets a strict maximum. “Contrary to the report’s suggestion, Princeton’s policy does not state a maximum duration or maximum number of leaves,” Chang wrote in an email statement to the ‘Prince.’ “Rather, it states that after three leaves or a leave in excess of three years, the student should petition the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing for readmission.” The next sentence after the excerpt cited by Heyman says, “A student in these circumstances who wishes to return to Princeton should petition for readmission by the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing.” The University also criticized the paper for not reaching out to the University prior to its publication. Heyman claims she intentionally did not reach out, saying that the perspectives of University administrators, students, and how policies play out in practice were “beyond the scope of this paper.” “The data for this paper are the policies themselves, what is written on the school’s website,” Heyman said. Undergraduate Student Government President Rachel Yee ’19 immediately notified Dean Fowler and Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Calvin Chin when she saw the Cornell Sun’s article on the report. The report was sent to her by a fellow student. “My initial reaction to the report was confusion, because from what I’ve seen from my experiences with the Ivy League mental health conference I wouldn’t have given Princeton a D,” Yee said. “Relative to the other Ivies, I thought Princeton would have scored a bit higher.” Yee has made mental health advocacy a key part of her platform and tenure as president. Yee said the report belies the effort taken by the administration over the last few years to improve leave of absence policy. “[The University] has tried to make it as seamless and as easy of a process as possible,” Yee said. “I come down pretty harshly on the administration sometimes, but in this particular regard, what I have seen is the University works very hard that this is a process that is not traumatic for any student.” Yee called Heyman’s choice not to contact any of the schools she wrote about “irresponsible” and said she should have widened the scope of her research before coming to such a definitive conclusion. “It’s a damning report to put out without having other perspectives other than just what is written down,” Yee said. To further accommodate students who seek to take time away from the University, the administration launched a website guiding students through the process of taking a gap year, taking a year off from the University, and what logistics and support are available. “There are actual efforts to make this process a lot more transparent,” Yee said.
Friday January 11, 2019
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IN TOWN
Google, U. partner to create AI lab at Palmer Square
COURTESY OF PROFESSOR ELAN HAZAN
Names from left to right: Yoram Singer, Cyril Zhang, Karan Singh, Naman Agarwal, Xinyi Chen, Jeff Dean, Elad Hazan, Yi Zhang, Brian Bullins.
By Katie Tam Senior writer
After years-long collaboration between the University and Google, a new Google AI lab is set to open next week at 1 Palmer Square in the town of Princeton. The lab, headed by computer science professors Elad Hazan and Yoram Singer, will continue research on the optimization of machine learning techniques for speed and accuracy. The professors’ theoretical work has diverse applications, from self-driving cars to facial recognition technology. “It’s an exciting day and age that we are achieving learning on a large scale for some very important problems,” Hazan said. The Google AI lab began with a startup co-founded by Hazan and Jacob Abernethy, a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech. Called In8 (pronounced “innate”), the startup was concerned with applications in robotics — how to control machinery like self-driving cars, drones, and robotic arms. The group gathered significant interest from companies such as Amazon and Google. This past summer, In8 was acquired by Google, paving the way for the creation of the
Google AI lab. The lab will be a new hub for the small yet diverse group of graduate students, undergraduates, and fulltime Google employees currently split between Hazan’s lab in Palmer Square and Google’s offices in New York. This collaboration merges theoretical and applied research, where fundamental work in computer science and mathematics can translate to practical uses and technologies. “Google provides an excellent opportunity to apply the theory, develop it further, and be exposed to real-world problems,” Hazan said. Furthermore, the lab offers unique resources and computing power to run largescale experiments. “With Google’s resources, we have access to more interesting problems. We hear about what people need in deep learning, what problems they have, what kind of trade-offs they want. With these new problems in mind, we can come up with more impactful work,” Xinyi Chen ’17 said. Chen, who was advised by Hazan while an undergraduate, is now a software engineer employed at Google. “One big challenge in machine learning is defining a
proper problem,” Chen said of her daily work in the lab. “It’s a lot of meetings and discussions. We explore different potential solutions.” While some on the team, such as Chen, are employed full-time, others work parttime as research interns. Karan Singh GS said he believes that the team will learn from working with those who put theoretical models into practice. “Working in conjunction with people who actually practice machine learning brings out interesting theoretical challenges,” Singh said. “They make you question your models.” Singh, along with Cyril Zhang GS and Brian Bullins GS, are part-time student researchers at Google while they complete their graduate work under Hazan. While the focus of the Google AI lab will be the theoretical basis of reinforcement learning and large-scale optimization problems, the field is flexible and continues to grow, Zhang said. The resources available at Google give the group access to more applied problems, such as natural language processing. By learning from streams of text, this technology can predict and suggest responses to emails, text
messages, and more. “The mission of machine learning is to design agents that are able to act intelligently in changing environments” in which there is noisy or incomplete information, Zhang said. “We’re trying to tackle the most fundamental mathematical abstractions of decision-making.” For Bullins, the partnership with Google allows him to transfer theoretical models developed on a smallerscale. “It’s this blending of interesting theoretical foundations with real-world, incredibly large-scale applications,” accessible only at Google, Bullins said, that enriches his current work. Still other members of the team are undergraduates already participating in cutting-edge research. For instance, while most of the group focuses on the theoretical side of machine learning, Abby Van Soest ’19 works on experimentation, implementing efficient algorithms for exploration in different environments. This exploration has applications for robotics, such as how to get a robot to visit every area in a room if it is put in the center without any information. Van Soest, although not currently employed with
Google, co-authored a paper with the team last year. “I hoped that my skills as a programmer or a more applied researcher would be useful to them,” Van Soest said. She said she appreciated collaborating with theorists because “you learn a lot from them. It’s amazing what can be done.” Although concerns have been raised about potential conflicts of interest, Hazan believes that partnership between universities and industries is essential for scientific progress. “This is very positive, and encouraged” by parties in academia, industry, and government, Hazan said, emphasizing that the current initiative is neither unique nor new to Google AI. As they transition to their new offices, the members of the Google AI team hope to continue their transformative work in machine learning optimization. “Our goal is both scientific — to contribute to the understanding of some of the most intriguing questions ever asked about the nature of learning and intelligence — as well as applicative — to develop new methods that will positively impact society,” Hazan said. “It is a passion for us.”
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Friday January 11, 2019
Bridge Year reforms will increase Colleagues emphasize yearly acceptance to 42 students importance of diversity
COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS
Racist remarks were directed toward Classics professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta.
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COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
The Bridge Year Program will be renamed as the Novogratz Bridge Year Program after a generous endowment from Michael Novogratz and Sukey Cáceres Novogratz.
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Princetonians to embark on a path of global citizenship as Bridge Year scholars,” he said. Michael Novogratz is currently the CEO of Galaxy Digital. He is the former president of the Fortress Investment Group and a former partner at Goldman Sachs. He received his A.B. in economics from the University. Sukey Novogratz is the vice chair of the Joyful Heart Foundation, which seeks to change societal perceptions of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. She graduated from the University with an A.B. in an-
thropology. Three of the Novogratzes’ four children also attended the University. “I believe that Bridge Year gives students an incredible opportunity to prepare for their role as leaders of an increasingly interconnected world,” Michael Novogratz said in the statement. “At the same time, it offers abundant opportunities for introspection and personal growth.” Sukey Novogratz also commented on the positive influence that the Bridge Year Program had on scholars. “The positive impact the program has had on their lives — and on the lives of the people in the communi-
ties they have served — is extraordinary,” she said in the statement. “We’re very happy to help make that possible.” Nina Onyemeziem ’22 participated in the program in Bolivia before her first year and said the expansion will be beneficial for the University. “The expansion is great because Bridge Year offers an insightful experience that, personally, I think many students on this campus need,” she wrote in an email to the The Daily Princetonian. “There is no student [who] is exempt from checking their privilege and working to lessen their ignorance regarding many issues; so, the more people there are doing Bridge Year, the better.”
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spond to multiple requests for comment by The Daily Princetonian. In an email to “Inside Higher Ed,” Williams denied the controversial nature of her statement and asserted it is important to “stand up for classics as a discipline and promote it as the political, literary, historical, philosophical, rhetorical, and artistic foundation of Western civilization and the basis of European history, tradition, culture, and religion.” The incident came not long after two other classicists of color, who were present to receive an award, were stopped and asked for identification by security at the conference site, an occurrence which Peralta spoke about during the panel. The SCS released a statement the following day condemning these acts of racism. “There is no place for racism on the part of members, attendees, vendors, and contractors at the meeting,” the organization wrote. When asked whether the incident felt entirely anecdotal to him, Peralta explained that, regrettably, it came from “the field of the ordinary.” He and many fellow scholars of color have experienced such sentiments, in both veiled and more blatant forms. “In my memoir, I describe how when I was first admitted to Princeton as an undergrad, one of my classmates explicitly indexed my racial identity to the fact that I was accepted,” he said. He called for his colleagues to engage in “critical introspection.” “Folks in classics specifically and in the academy at large need to do a better job of valuing the contributions of folks of color,” he said. University classics department chair professor
Andrew Feldherr was in the audience and expressed that, although he had never witnessed anything quite like the specific incident, the underrepresentation of minorities in the field is unmistakable. “It is extremely important that, as a well-respected department in the field, we stand up for diversity,” Feldherr said. Nicolette D’Angelo ’19, Rhodes Scholar and classics concentrator, called the incident “appalling but not surprising.” “There are a lot of people who are labelling it a freak incident perpetrated by someone outside the field, given that the person who made the comment is an independent researcher, but I would say that this is a symptom of a historically pervasive problem,” she said. D’Angelo described classics as the “last hold-out of the humanities disciplines when it comes to social issues.” “I look at the other humanistic disciplines like English and history, especially at Princeton they seem to already have incorporated critical pedagogy when it comes to race, and I’m wondering when classics will finally do the same,” she continued. Connolly agreed that classicists needs to work both individually and collectively to address the problem. “We, as in white scholars, need to listen to the experiences of scholars of color in the field and work together to eradicate any practices that may perpetuate these [racist] thoughts,” she said. Nevertheless, Peralta said he remains hopeful for the future of the field, asserting the potential for a “transformative moment.” “For folks of color thinking of entering the discipline, we have the opportunity to begin the slow work of remaking it in our own image,” he said. “If this field is to change, it will change because of us.”
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Friday January 11, 2019
The Daily Princetonian
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College Democrats: Hate Shipp: Doe has failed to establish is not what we stand for that he will suffer irreparable harm RALLY
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of the club, was distraught by the planned demonstration, which he believes is representative of the global rise of fascism in general, enabled “on the part of the centrist and even liberal establishment.” “A stand like this is both a protest against Nazism and a positive affirmation of our community’s commitment to anti-racism in general,” he said. Similarly, the Center for Jewish Life (CJL) is working with students, University partners, and the Department of Public Safety as events unfold. “We want to ensure our regular Shabbat activities, services and meals, continue uninterrupted and that the community is safe,” wrote Rabbi Julie Roth, executive director of the CJL, in an email to the The Daily Princetonian. Will Crawford ’20, president of the College Republicans said that the group seems to be “representing a pretty reprehensible ideology.” “I don’t really know what they’re seeking to achieve by doing this. I hope people don’t support that. I certainly don’t support it,” Crawford said. Sullivan Hughes ’21 and Shafaq Khan ’21, co-presidents of the College Democrats, said in an email to the ‘Prince’ that it wasn’t surprising the group chose to disturb the town of Princeton considering its large liberal population. “As students, it is our duty to uphold values of inclusion, peace, and love,” Hughes and Khan said in a joint email. “Hate is not what we stand for. It is our responsibility to counter the growing radical, right-wing populist movement in this country, and
Saturday is the perfect time to do so. We must make it clear that these racist ideologues are not welcome at Princeton.” They encouraged students to attend the counter-protests and remain peaceful and nonviolent. “Reacting violently would only give credence to this demonstration of hate,” Hughes and Khan said. Justin Wittekind ’21 and Lena Hu ’20, outgoing copresidents of the American Whig-Cliosophic Society, said they were concerned for the safety of students and want to see action taken to prevent events such as the one planned for Saturday. “I just think it’s constructive if people simply talk about it [...] to know actual and definitive action,” Hu said. “This is an embodiment of a legacy in America of the denigration of people of color,” said Wittekind. “It will continue to fester and continue to be part of the problem if we just treat it as permissible or if we look at it as an isolated problem.” Invoking the University’s motto — “In the nation’s service and the service of humanity” — Wittekind called for students and the University to continue the work of campus diversity groups and academics to advance a better understanding of the legacy of white supremacy and racism. “Obviously, I don’t agree with their ideas and a lot of people don’t, but if they are an organization and it’s a public space, I guess they’re allowed to do what they want,” Ian Kim ’22 said. Bojan Lazarevic ’20 said that he did not see the point of such demonstrations and believed their purpose to be to provoke students. “I don’t think they get anything out of what they’re doing,” he said.
IVY TRUONG :: PRINCETONIAN ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp granted the U.’s motion to dismiss in part, dismissing one out of four counts.
TITLE IX
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Specifically, the proposed regulations would require a live hearing and cross-examination of Jane Roe and may heighten the burden of proof required to find an alleged perpetrator guilty under Title IX. In an interview with the ‘Prince’ in Dec. 2018, University Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity Michele Minter said that the University was “working to understand what’s in the proposed regulations and think with our counterparts at other schools about what kind of questions or comments we might want to make.” “The University is still reviewing the proposed regulations and has not made a decision on how it will respond,” Minter wrote in a Jan. 10 email to the ‘Prince.’ Current Title IX policy requires the “preponderance of evidence standard” in sexual misconduct cases, which “requires a determination of guilt if the incident was more likely than not to have occurred.” The proposed rules, however, would allow institutions to choose between the preponderance standard or the “clear and convincing” standard in sexual misconduct cases. They may only impose the preponderance standard if the
violations do not involve sexual harassment, but carry the same disciplinary consequences, and if that same standard is also applied to complaints against employees and faculty. The plaintiff believed that if the University proceeded in its investigations before these proposed rules take effect, then he would be “be irreparably harmed.” Because of this, Doe requested a preliminary injunction to pause the Title IX investigation. Shipp denied this request, writing that Doe “has failed to establish that he will suffer immediate irreparable harm in the absence of the Court providing relief.” Doe also claimed that the University violated his due process rights by failing to postpone his interview until after the 60-day period. In the Jan. 9 ruling, this count of violation of due process rights was been dismissed by the judge. “Plaintiff’s due process claim fails on its face,” Shipp wrote in his opinion. According to Shipp, the proposed changes to Title IX regulation “are merely proposals and do not have the force of law,” and the plaintiff failed to prove that the present applications of the University’s Rights, Rules, Responsibilities (RRR) violates his due process rights. The suit had claimed that the University breached its contract
with Doe, citing a section of the RRR which states, “There may be circumstances that require the extension of time frames for good cause . . . Time frames may be extended to ensure the integrity and completeness of the investigation, comply with a request by external law enforcement, accommodate the availability of a witness, or accommodate delays by the parties; or for other legitimate reasons.” From the plaintiff’s standpoint, the new DOE proposal constitutes a “good cause” for an extension. The suit claims that, by not permitting the extension in spite of good cause, the University violated its own policies and its agreement with Doe. By this same reasoning, the suit claimed that the University violated “the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing” that is existent in every contract. The plaintiff also accused the University of an “anticipatory breach of contract,” alleging that the University has indicated, by failing to adjourn the Title IX investigation, that it will not perform contractual obligations provided in the RRR. According to Shipp, Doe has “plausibly alleged the existence of a contract” between him and the University and “has also plausibly alleged that Princeton has breached that contract by denying Plaintiff’s extension of time for ‘good cause.’”
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Friday January 11, 2019
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We should all go to art museums Anika Yardi
Contributing Columnist
Museums are more relevant now than ever. In a country that is so increasingly divided, where we have a president who uses fearmongering tactics and hateful rhetoric to divide us even more, it is so important to go forth and seek out knowledge for yourself. Lack of knowledge about other cultures and other people breeds hostility, anger, and fear. Earlier this year, I was talking to a senior friend when I mentioned that I couldn’t meet that weekend, as I was giving a tour at the University Art Museum. “Oh,” she remarked sheepishly. “Can you believe, in four years being here, that I’ve never even stepped foot inside there?” This seems to be a simi-
lar sentiment among other people I have asked. When I asked my friend about why she hadn’t been there, she said that she had never gotten the time to go and that she had never found art to be the most interesting thing. In my time as a guide at the museum, which has, admittedly, only been a year, a common perception of art and museums is that of inaccessibility. Attendance at museums has gone down, with fewer and fewer people flocking to see the latest exhibit or attend special events. The reasons for this cannot be stated with certainty, but in 2012, only 21% of the U.S adult population reported visiting a museum or art gallery in the previous year. Museums offer a way to experience the rich and varied histories of other countries at a fraction of the cost of traveling to those places. Understanding our histories and the stories of other nations is the first step to bridge the gap between us and “the
other.” When we can look someone in the eyes, see their history, and recognize them as a fellow human being, it becomes so much harder to harbor hate for them. What art really boils down to, after a few steps, is the millions of stories told throughout history — each work acts as a pinpoint in time, telling us about the place it came from, the person that made it, and the life they might have led. The experience of a museum, specifically, is so different from a library or classroom. In the words of the former Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas Campbell, “Nothing replaces the authenticity of the object presented with passionate scholarship. Bringing people face-to-face with our objects is a way of bringing them face-to-face with people across time, across space, whose lives may have been different from our own but who, like us, had hopes and dreams, frustrations and achievements in their lives.”
Authenticity is the key. Museums offer a way to bring the history and culture we learn in our classrooms to life, painting a picture of something that seems so far away and remote on the pages of textbooks. The University Art Museum, in particular, is a fantastic and lovely corner of campus. So often, it is easy to forget where you are as you go around in your day-to-day life. This campus has a large amount of history hiding in every corner that can be forgotten as you rush to classes or stress over exams. Take a chance and step into the art museum — let the full force of that history hit you like a ton of bricks. Understanding art means understanding more about yourself and the world around you. And I think that’s worth taking a look at. Anika Yardi is a sophomore from Gaithersburg, Md. She can be reached at ayardi@princeton. edu.
R. Kelly’s predation, the enduring violence against black women, and Princeton’s de facto complicity Sam Aftel
Editorial Assistant
Malcolm X once said, “The most unprotected person in America is the black woman.” With Lifetime’s recent airing of “Surviving R. Kelly,” a docuseries that examines the cornucopia of sexual-violence accusations against the prominent R&B singer, America keeps proving Malcolm X right. Kelly (who has, for the most part, denied any wrongdoing) is an alleged serial rapist and abuser; it seems most, if not all, of Kelly’s victims are black women and girls. If the accusations are true, Kelly appears to be a sexual predator at the level of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Ariel Castro, Larry Nassar, and Jerry Sandusky. The allegations against Kelly, outlined recently by The New York Times, range from pedophilic rape to quasi-sexual slavery. What makes these blood-curdling accusations even more sickening is the long-term complicity of the music industry in helping Kelly avoid accountability. The industry, as well as its fans (basically all of us), have looked the other way upon reports of Kelly’s abuse of young, sometimes underage, black women. Interestingly, amid the ongoing #MuteRKelly movement led by black women looking to bring the musician to justice, Kelly has tried to complicate the racial narrative of the allegations: his camp has claimed that #MuteRKelly is an “attempted public lynching of a black man who has made ex-
traordinary contributions to our culture.” Of course, Kelly is not, in any way, experiencing the type of systemic white-supremacist terrorism that took the lives of Emmett Till, Martin Luther King Jr., Trayvon Martin, and countless other black men. If anything, Kelly’s selfvictimization is just an attempt to confound the fact that black women have credibly accused him of sexual violence for decades. Kelly’s disingenuous self-victimization not only reinforces American society’s disregard of black women’s trauma and suffering but also trivializes actual structural violence against black men. Throughout American history, to this very day, black men have been collectively and falsely painted as sexual predators — and themselves victimized by white-supremacist sexual assault. (In fact, R. Kelly himself has said he was sexually abused as a child.) In the postbellum South, for example, many white women coerced black men into sex, threatening, ironically, to falsely accuse them of rape — which was culturally punishable by lynching — if they resisted the women’s advances. And this atrocity correlated with the broader crisis of black men — throughout American history — being falsely accused of sexual predation, which thereby enabled a racist criminal justice system to sanction their incarceration or execution — sometimes extralegally, by a lynch mob — for crimes they didn’t commit. Tragically, it seems that black men continue to be wrongfully convicted of rape and other violent crimes at disproportionately higher rates than their white counterparts. Given the very real, unjust sex-
ual criminalization of many black men in America, it’s a shame that someone like Kelly would exploit and distort this fact to serve his own interests and delegitimize, intimidate, and silence the black women he has harmed. Unlike countless other black men, Kelly is not being publicly scorned because of his black-male sexuality but rather because he has used his fame and fortune to allegedly abuse black women for decades. What’s more, the way in which Princeton students — and the University — addresses sexual misconduct seems to ignore the type of nuanced, often disregarded considerations embodied by the Kelly allegations. Outside of Sexual Harassment/ Assault Advising, Resources and Education (SHARE) events and educational programming, which are increasingly taking a more intersectional approach, discussions of sexual abuse at Princeton tend to be decontextualized from the racial realities of American life. (Full disclosure: I serve as a SHARE peer.) The fact that women of color are more likely to be sexually assaulted goes nearly undiscussed in most social and intellectual spaces at Princeton. Of course, all survivors of sexual assault, no matter their identity, deserve equal access to emotional, social, institutional, mental health, and legal resources, as well as empathy from fellow community members, to heal and find peace. But it’s also important to address why women of color and queer people are overwhelmingly more likely to be violated than any other demographics — and to create more visible, accessible resources and social spaces on campus specifically for, survivors from marginalized
backgrounds. Likewise, we should not be afraid to address the bigoted sexual hypercriminalization of black men in American culture, a culture that, of course, extends to college campuses. Such discussions would provide spaces for men who feel dually marginalized by white supremacy as well as a white-centric feminism — which tends to disregard the experiences of sexually alienated men — to share their experiences. (Importantly, compared to whitecentric feminism, intersectional black feminism does a much better job at addressing the complex relationship between race, gender, and sexuality.) Adjacently, the Kelly accusations — and the broader erasure of the experiences of people of color, especially black women, who have been sexually harmed — reveal yet another ugly truth about white America’s hypocritical, amoral treatment of black people. Needless to say, the white power structure in this country has often been profoundly eager to criminalize and incarcerate black men — except, curiously, when black men have been credibly accused of harming black women. Such white moral indifference is partly why Kelly has escaped scrutiny for his misconduct for so long. Nonetheless, black women, despite enduring a wicked synthesis of racism, misogyny, and dehumanization from all corners of American life, continue to stand against a broad-based culture of sexual cruelty. We should all, finally, stand with them. Samuel Aftel is a junior from East Northport, N.Y. He can be reached at saftel@princeton.edu.
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WRESTLING
Kolodzik, Brucki, and Glory pose with their coaches after placing at the Midlands Championship.
Wrestling records historic weekend at Midlands Championships By Jo de La Bruyere Sports contributor
Princeton wrestling had never produced a champion at the Chicago-based Ken Kraft Midlands Championships. They left this year’s tournament with two. The Princeton squad powered through Midlands’ stiff competition to finish in a program-best fifth place. It trailed No. 10 Wisconsin by only five points. Throughout the tournament and the season, three clear leaders emerged: the nationally-ranked trio of junior Matthew Kolodzik (No. 1 at 149 pounds), sophomore Patrick Brucki (No. 3 at 197), and first-year Patrick Glory (No. 10 at 125). Kolodzik ended the weekend an individual champion, set to continue on his path towards a national ti-
tle. But along the way, he encountered a bump: his thirdround opponent. A redshirt freshman at Arizona State, Jacori Teemer led Kolodzik with only 40 seconds left in the match. In Kolodzik’s words, Teemer was “phenomenal,“ but at no point did the Princetonian panic. “I just felt the pressure build,” he explained. “I knew I needed to score.” As the clock wound down, he did just that, forcing the match into overtime. At that point, said head coach Christopher Ayres, “the match was over.” A late takedown from Kolodzik cemented a win, and he never looked back. With three more commanding victories under his belt, he claimed Princeton’s first Midlands individual title and retained his top national seed. For now, his throne is safe.
But next year, Ayres said with a chuckle, “Teemer’s going to be trouble.” Brucki saw none of Kolodzik’s drama. He won by technical fall twice, major decision thrice, and decision once. In short, he dominated the 197-pound division, steamrolling his opponents. “He’s just so tough,” said Kolodzik. “Always resilient, always determined.” For Glory, who finished third in the 125-pound division, Midlands offered a shot at redemption. Earlier in the season, Iowa’s Spencer Lee, ranked No. 2 nationally, had bested him with a technical fall. In the Midlands semifinals, the two faced off again. This time, Glory held his ground. He finished with six points to Lee’s twelve, losing the match but demonstrating his considerable growth.
To their teammates and coaches, two other wrestlers, first-year Quincy Monday and junior Kevin Parker, also stood out on the mat. Though neither of them placed, they proved essential to Princeton’s fifth-place finish. It was a weekend of historic triumphs. But for Princeton’s fiercely determined team, it wasn’t enough. “We had a lot of success, saw a lot of growth, especially from our young guys,” said Brucki. “That being said, we should have placed higher.” Kolodzik agreed. “It was a fine performance. Everybody wrestled pretty well; nobody wrestled his best.” But dissatisfaction aside, the Midlands performance has provided Princeton’s squad with renewed confidence for the season ahead.
“We proved that we can compete with the best teams in the country,” said firstyear Travis Stefanik. “We learned a huge amount from the weekend,” Coach Ayres elaborated. “We know we have three really great guys, guys who potentially can put themselves in a position to win a national title. And we learned we have a whole host of guys who, with just a little jump, can become really great too — and turn our team from good to incredible.” This coming weekend, Princeton will have two opportunities to prove its greatness. On Friday night, it will face No. 15 North Carolina; on Saturday afternoon, No. 3 Oklahoma. Both will be highly contested match-ups, and both will hopefully reaffirm the team’s hopes and dreams for March.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Women’s hockey faces tough road tests
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Sarah Fillier earned ECAC Rookie of the Week and Player of the Week honors for her winter break play.
By Owen Tedford Sports staff writer
This weekend, the No. 5 women’s hockey team (12–2–4 overall, 10–0–2 ECAC) will look to take its sixteen-game unbeaten streak, the longest in program history and longest active in the nation, on the road to No. 4 Cornell (8–1–4, 6–1–1) on Friday at 3:00 p.m. and No. 9 Colgate (11–6–3, 5–2–1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. Cornell currently
sits second behind Princeton in the ECAC Hockey Standings with Colgate in fourth. Friday evening’s game against Cornell will have big implications for the national standings, the winner of the Ivy League title, and the winner of the ECAC title. Over winter break, Princeton hosted Merrimack in a two game series on December 30 and 31 before traveling to Harvard and Dartmouth. Princeton
Tweet of the Day “Amazing piece on how Hurricane Katrina eventually led both Clark ’19 and Grace ’21 Doyle to Princeton squash... and to an even closer bond together. Check out the latest #BeyondTheStripes” Princeton Tigers (@ PUTigers)
went 3–0–1 in these four games, tying Merrimack once in its first game 1–1 with a key save by sophomore goalie Rachel McQuigge on a penalty shot 35 seconds into the overtime period. To get to the overtime period, first-year Sarah Fillier scored with just over three minutes left in the third period before Merrimack was able to tie the game with just over a minute left. In their other three
games, the Tigers had a combined scoring margin of 14–6, scoring at least 4 goals in each game and never allowing more than three. Two first-years, forward Maggie Connors and Fillier, led the Tigers in scoring over these three games, each with five goals. Other goal scorers included senior defender Stephanie Sucharda who had two, junior forward Carly Bullock, and sophomore forward Shannon Griffin, who each had one. Fillier was awarded the ECAC Rookie of the Week and Player of the Week honors for her performances over these games, her second Rookie of the Week honors. She was also named Rookie of the Month for December. Connors had won Rookie of the Week the previous time it was awarded on December 10. A key characteristic of the Tigers this season has been their depth, which has been on display on offense by its number of goal scorers. Another aspect of that depth displayed over this three-game stretch was that each game was won by a different goalie. Junior Stephanie Neatby
Stat of the Day
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Three Division I football programs finished the 2018 season undefeated (Princeton, Clemson, and North Dakota State
won the game against Merrimack, McQuigge against Harvard, and freshman Cassie Reale against Dartmouth. Last time Princeton met Cornell and Colgate, they beat Colgate 6–0 in the #BlackOutBaker game and then tied 2–2 against Cornell. Against the Big Red, the Tigers got up 2–0 in the first period before Cornell came back to tie the game. McQuigge won the Goalie of the Week award after her performance that weekend, which included five saves in the last five minutes of the Cornell game. For those who are unable to make the trips up to Ithaca and Hamilton on Friday and Saturday respectively, the games will be streamed domestically and internationally through links on the Princeton Athletics’ website. Live updates will also be available on the women’s hockey Twitter account @PWIH. After these two games, the Tigers will have a break for finals before playing three home games in five days against Penn State on January 29, St. Lawrence on February 1, and Clarkson on February 2.
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