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Monday January 7, 2019 vol. CXLII no. 120
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STUDENT LIFE
STUDENT LIFE
‘Ty Ger’ discusses Tiger Confessions Facebook page By Paige Allen Contributor
Ty Ger, the sole administrator of the Tiger Confessions Facebook page, started the page on Oct. 30 because they wanted to compliment someone anonymously. Since then, the culture of the page has changed significantly. Anonymous compliments about fellow Princetonians morphed into more serious confessions on topics such as eating disorders, mental health, and family problems. Confessions are submitted through an anonymous Google form. From there, Ty Ger numbers and posts confessions to the page. Ty Ger, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Daily Princetonian that daily submissions have increased from about 10 to about 70 since the start of winter break. The page currently has over 2,500 members. Last Thursday, Ty Ger spoke with the ‘Prince’ about how the page’s current culture has changed dramatically from its original purpose. The Daily Princetonian: In your words, what is Tiger Confessions? Ty Ger: It’s a forum where students who have something on their mind can get something off their mind. Something that they’ve been thinking about, that they either don’t feel comfortable talking about in person or that they just want other opinions on. DP: Who started the page and when? TG: I started it earlier this semester very, very impulsively because I actually had
this desire to compliment someone anonymously. I was looking for the previous Tiger Admirers page, and that one wasn’t active anymore. I was frustrated that the admin of that page just left without doing anything, so I wanted to take matters into my own hands and create a new page. DP: What was the intended purpose of Tiger Confessions? TG: It initially started out as just an admirers page, so it was specifically for people to compliment people on campus. DP: Do you think the page is still fulfilling that purpose? TG: It’s really evolved from that. I think it has been shifting toward what people want to talk about. But it really wasn’t something that I was expecting, so it’s definitely interesting how that kind of happened naturally without any prompting. DP: Many of the confessions recently have touched on particularly serious issues, such as issues of racism, sexual abuse, and mental health. Do you feel like Tiger Confessions is the right place for students to voice those experiences? TG: That’s something that I’ve had to be much more careful of recently. Sometimes, I think there are a few confessions that voice a very deep hopelessness. Some of them are very detailed, and I’m not sure if I should post them. But I also feel like I have an obligation to post them. Because, the last thing you want for See CONFESSIONS page 5
COURTESY OF JUSTIN RIPLEY
Members of the Princeton Citizen Scientists after meeting with members of the National Academy of Sciences during their annual D.C. science advocacy and professional development trip.
Citizen Scientists president Justin Ripley on D.C. trip By Rebecca Han Contributor
On Dec. 5 and 6, 18 graduate students and members of the Princeton Citizen Scientists, a student organization formed in 2016 seeking to promote scientific engagement and affect scientific policy, traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for issues relating to climate change, science education, and healthcare. On Saturday, the Citizen Scientists’ president, Justin Ripley, spoke with the Daily Princetonian about the trip and the other work of the Citizen Scientists. The Daily Princetonian: What was the goal of the Princeton Citizen Scientists’ trip to Washington, D.C, and what specific impacts do you wish to see? Justin Ripley: We’re partly funded by the Office of
STUDENT LIFE
Career Services, so one of the goals was to take graduate students and undergraduate students in the sciences and expose them to the workings of U.S. government by taking them to various government agencies and having a talk with their lawmakers about the issues they care about. The other goal was to actually successfully advocate for science issues that we cared about, so, for example, climate change, science funding, science education, nuclear weapons, and disarmament. DP: How long has PCS been traveling to D.C. to meet with policymakers? How were these trips first organized? JR: The trips have been going on since 2016, and since the group’s founding, I think we’ve gone on a few trips now, about one a year. They were first organized by just a small group of graduate students who thought that people in the sciences should be more aware of how the government works and that we should learn how to advocate for issues we care about. DP: How was the trip structured, and who were among the representatives
and organizations that you met with? How did the representatives you met with receive the proposals? JR: First, it was a two-day trip in the middle of the week near the end of the semester, at the beginning of December. I think it was Dec. 5 and 6, a Wednesday and Thursday. We met with four different organizations. First, we met with some program managers at the National Academy of Sciences.Then, we met with the president of the Federation of American Scientists, Ali Nouri, who, incidentally enough, is a Princeton alum. He got a Ph.D. here, and he talked to us about how to effectively advocate for science issues. On the next day, we met with our local reps. We did this by asking everyone who went on the trip to email or call their local staff, representative, or senator from the state they were from and schedule a meeting for that day. We met with staffers and some representatives and senators on Thursday morning, and on Thursday afternoon, we met with some staff members from the Library of Congress, and they talked to us about how they interact with See RIPLEY page 2
ON CAMPUS
Sprinkler leak affects hundreds of books in Firestone Library Contributor
BRAD SPICHER :: PRINCETONIAN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Zarnab Virk ‘20 will be the fifth female USG president in an iteration of five to serve the class of 2019.
Virk ’20 wins USG presidency after 30 percent voter turnout By Zack Shevin Contributor
After only 30 percent of undergraduates participated in last week’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) runoff elections, Zarnab Virk ’20 was elected USG president, and Heavyn Jennings ’20 was elected USG social
In Opinion
chairperson. Virk continues a trend of female USG presidents, and will represent the fifth female president in as many years. She will serve the Class of 2019. Virk received 64.3 percent of the vote in the presidential election, with 1023 votes, whereas Nate Lambert ’20 re-
ceived 568. In the first-round election, Virk received only four more votes than Lambert. In an email to the The Daily Princetonian, Virk wrote that she learned a lot from her campaign experience and plans to continue working hard to execute her platform
Associate Editor Jon Ort criticizes the University’s decision to open a joint AI lab with Google, Editorial Assistant Sam Aftel argues for a more honor-based Honor Code, Contributing Columnist Makailyn Jones advocates that students exercise, and Senior columnist Rachel Kennedy reflects on the meaning and possible motivation of rejection. PAGE 6
See VIRK page 3
Several hundred books on Firestone Library’s basement A f loor suffered a watery fate on Monday, December 17, after a sprinkler f looded the library’s ground level Trustee Reading Room. Some books will require conservation work because of the damage. Water accumulated in the Trustee Reading Room and f looded sections of A f loor, according to Library Communications Manager Barbara Valenza. Richard Anderson GS ’18 filmed a video of the leakage from the A f loor. According to the video, Firestone’s small trash and
Today on Campus
7:00 p.m.: In a concert curated by Gustavo Dudamel, Mozart’s music will be placed side-by-side with that of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt Richardson Auditorium
recycling cans were placed in most aisles to catch water that was pouring from the ceiling. But the tactic wasn’t adequate and large pools of water accumulated. Anderson said he was writing on the A f loor while this incident occurred. A part-time employee at Firestone himself, Anderson said he was struck by the speed with which other University employees responded to the accident. “In my time at Princeton I saw several emergencies of varying degrees of severity, and it always strikes me how many employees put in hard work to make sure that the campus can See SPRINKLER page 3
WEATHER
By Hannah Baynesan
HIGH
37˚
LOW
30˚
Partly Cloudy chance of rain:
0 percent