The Daily Princetonian: November 21, 2019

Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Thursday November 21, 2019 vol. CXLIII no. 109

Twitter: @princetonian Facebook: The Daily Princetonian YouTube: The Daily Princetonian Instagram: @dailyprincetonian

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

F E AT U R E S

Sitting down with Sean Ryder, police sergeant and pool god

By Patrycja Pajdak Contributor

Though many students may know Community Relations Sergeant Sean Ryder by his trademark cape and sparkly pants, he sat down with The Daily Princetonian in full police uniform. Famous for his

orientation skits, Sergeant Ryder has spent 13 years at the University’s Department of Public Safety (PSAFE).

When did Sergeant Ryder first dream of becoming a police officer?

Growing up in the United Kingdom, Ryder’s interest was piqued by some of his

COURTESY OF SEAN RYDER

Sergeant Sean Ryder in his youth.

F E AT U R E S

school friends who joined the police force. Good cop drama shows didn’t hurt either. Ryder joined the police force in England in the early 1990s, experiencing everything from inner city to rural police work. After his wife’s career obliged his family to relocate to Princeton, N.J., Ryder never thought he’d put on a uniform again.

“I’d had a great ride in the U.K., and frankly I wasn’t looking to replicate that — I never could,” he explained.

But in the early 2000s, when his new neighbor in Princeton encouraged him to apply for Princeton University’s police force, he thought, why not? He recalled no campus police departments existing in the U.K. The role intrigued him.

Initially, Ryder was looking to connect with a group of people who shared similar experiences. He saw PSAFE as a social outlet, and he was willing to volunteer for it. By coincidence, the department was hiring and asked him to apply. Thirteen years later, he has become integral to the University community.

On a typical day, Ryder comes in at around 6:30 a.m., catches up with the overnight supervisor, gets a sense of the day ahead, and briefs the other officers, placing them across campus for effective coverage. Officers typically work eight or 12 hour rotations, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They report for duty on Christmas and New Year. “[The] University doesn’t suddenly disappear when the students leave,” Ryder said.

Ryder described Princeton’s campus as a mini-city — whatever can happen in a city can also happen within the Orange Bubble.

PSAFE officers respond to anything on campus, ranging from reports of crime (such as theft, harassment, domestic violence, and assault), motor vehicle accidents, first aid and medical emergencies, transport for community members, and so on.

But Ryder far exceeds just these responsibilities.

He makes continuous efforts to break down barriers between PSAFE officesr and the student body.

“We have to be very

conscious that we’re dealing with a lot of different cultures on this campus.

Big international student body. The police in different countries are interpreted differently, so I’m very much aware of that as well,” he noted.

Whether through meals or study breaks, Ryder interacts with students as much as possible.

Looking for a better get to know him? Try challenging Ryder to a game of pool. He claimed to be “open to the challenge if any readers want to lay down the gauntlet.”

At the start of his time on campus, during one of his night rotations, Ryder hoped to break the ice with students at a Forbes latenight study session. He offered to play a game of pool as a study break. It led to long-lasting bonds; today, students eagerly invite him to catch up over meals and coffee.

Now, Ryder is a prominent figure on campus through his involvement in the first-year orientation program. Nine years ago, Paul Ominsky, AsSee RYDER page 2

ON CAMPUS

Art in the bubble: ‘Abraham and Isaac’ Contributor

Tucked behind the University Chapel, George Segal’s perennially misunderstood “Abraham and Isaac” depicts a bearded man brandishing a knife, preparing to slay a collegeaged youth bound and on his knees. The piece’s poignancy and structural ambiguity invite double-takes and photographs. Among students and campus visitors, it has gained an unfortunate reputation.

To some, it’s simply that statue.

“Oh, that statue? Yeah, I know it,” said Benjy Jude ’23.

Others take a more critical angle.

“It does not look good from this direction,” commented a passerby.

And others were less tactful.

“Wait,” said Nate Moore ’22. “Are you talking about the blowjob statue?”

Despite these colorful interpretations, Segal’s work is firmly rooted in historical context. The piece was originally intended for Kent State University as a memorial for the infamous Kent State shooting, which occurred there on May 4, 1970. Segal chose the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac to express, in his words, “the eternal conf lict between adherence to an abstract set of principles versus the love of your own child.”

“The dynamic of what’s happening between the two figures in the ‘Abraham and Isaac’ is not always obvious,” said James Steward, Director of the Princeton University Art Museum. “I’ve heard a number of interpretations

In Opinion

posited, especially viewed from certain angles, which again is why I think in that case in particular it is important to note the context of what the backstory of the narrative happens to be to sort of discredit some of these superficial interpretations.”

In Segal’s own time, his work wasn’t without controversy. Kent State rejected the sculpture, questioning both its apparently violent imagery and questionable subject matter.

The work was then donated to the University, where Segal taught sculpture from 1968-69. It now stands beneath the University Chapel, where it was first installed in 1974, along with a weathered label and the text of Genesis 22, which relays Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son at God’s command.

“I was also a student here, so I used to walk by it all the time,” said Moulie Vidas GS ’09, a professor of Judaic studies. “It’s very evocative.”

Even to those on whom the piece’s historical associations are lost, the sculpture serves as an enigmatic landmark. Many alumni, faculty, and students find the piece provocative for thought, conducive to new interpretations — and, yes, a great spot for photos.

Across campus, the subject matter of art installations varies in intelligibility. Take the stern John Witherspoon, who scolds passersby from an alcove high on East Pyne Hall.

The Witherspoon statue yields itself more easily to interpretation than the abstract “Oval With Points,” See ART page 3

Contributing Columnist Kate Lee advocates for an in-person replacement to Tiger Confessions, while columnist Jae-Kyung Sim encourages students to practice journaling.

PAGE 4

JON ORT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Professor Eddie Glaude (left) and Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” in conversation.

Yusef Salaam of Central Park 5 talks wrongful imprisonment and faith

By Uchechi Ihenacho Contributor

Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” was only 15 years old when he was falsely accused and convicted for the assault and rape of jogger Trisha Meili, who was found nearly dead in Central Park on April 20, 1989. Salaam spent more than six years incarcerated.

On Wednesday night, more than 20 years after his release, Salaam sat before a packed audience in McCosh 10, as he recounted his story of survival and perseverance. Salaam was joined by Eddie Glaude GS ’97, Chair of the Department of African American Studies and current president of the American Academy of Religion.

The two discussed how Salaam’s faith in Islam guided him through his racially unjust incarceration and empowered him to work towards change after his liberation.

In recent months, the 2019 Netflix series “When They See Us,” which has garnered over 23 million viewers worldwide and became the United States’ most-watched series after its release, has renewed interest in the unjust trial and incarceration of the Central Park Five, who were demonized as predators ravenous for their white victim.

Short on seats for the overflow-

ing crowd, attendees squeezed into aisles, sat on the stairs leading to the balcony, and stood on any available floor space for the chance to hear Salaam speak. The audience ranged widely in age, from University students to staff and faculty members, as well as many older visitors who had lived through the sensational media coverage of the case.

Salaam began by addressing the many faces staring up at him. He said, “I’ve never been in a place that has been filled to capacity in this particular way,” which the audience answered with hearty laughter and applause.

Glaude dove into the discussion by addressing Salaam’s enduring faith in Islam during his time behind bars, asking him what he thought God was doing with him.

“Muslims are only servants to God,” Salaam said. “There is a truth and a power to that, because when you are not looking to serve anything but the Creator, you’re free. What I couldn’t reconcile with while I was on trial was what caused them to look at me with such anger and hatred in their eyes ... I couldn’t understand what they were looking at.”

On the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, Salaam spoke about how the loophole clause al-

Today on Campus 12:00 p.m.: After Noon Concert Series Princeton Chapel

lowing slavery and servitude as a punishment for convicted crimes gave rise to a prison industrial complex that disproportionately targets people of color, acknowledging the “slave labor that is continuing to be allowed to be a part of the criminal system of injustice.”

“This was a part of a process, a systemic issue which has been a part of the founding fiber of our country — it’s right in the 13th Amendment …

They can take you and turn you back into a slave,” Salaam said.

At one point, Salaam pulled out a copy of the 1989 full-page ad that U.S. President Donald Trump, then a business tycoon, ran in all four of New York City’s leading newspapers. In the personally signed letter, Trump called for New York to reinstate the death penalty, specifically in response to Meili’s rape.

In reference to Trump, Salaam said, “for every story to be truly great, you’ve got to have good villain.”

Salaam also recalled former White House aide Pat Buchanan’s statement suggesting that Korey Wise, the eldest of the accused, should be hung from a tree.

Salaam noted the ways in which racial prejudice influenced his case, identifying the notion “when you see See SALAAM page 2

WEATHER

By Daniel Burgess

HIGH

52˚

LOW

36˚

Mostly Sunny chance of rain:

10 percent

page 2

Ryder served for nearly a decade in the English police force RYDER

Continued from page 1

.............

sistant Vice President of Public Safety, approached Ryder to enlist his help on how to make the PSAFE presentation more engaging.

“He rose to the challenge by enlisting Triangle Club, the Princeton Ballet, and other University student groups to deliver important safety messages in a fun and more realistic way.

I think just about every student knows Sean from these programs, with his f lashy orange-spangled uniform pants and his cape,” said Ominsky.

Vice President of Triangle Club Michele Montas spoke highly of working

with Ryder, calling the experience a “highlight at Princeton.”

“He never fails to make it an incredibly fun and engaging time for the freshmen in the audience, Triangle, and the other public safety officers. After directing the show, I am so privileged to call him a true friend of mine.”

Ryder hopes to make himself accessible, so that students going through rough patches know they may contact him if they need someone to go to.

“I have a daughter who is in her final year of college,” Ryder explained. “I would like to think there is someone there for her, if she needed a shoulder to lean on while away from home.”

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday November 21, 2019

McCosh 10 overflowed with audience members SALAAM

Continued from page 1

.............

a black person, you should be afraid” as a critical factor in the Central Park Five’s unjust conviction. He also cited the country’s disparate responses to the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980s and the opioid epidemic of today. Whereas the national response to the opioid epidemic, which largely impacts white people, has centered around treatment, many Americans supported criminalizing cocaine use, particularly as it concerned African Americans and other minority groups.

In addition, Salaam discussed growing Islamophobia. He posed the hypothetical example of someone rushing onto an airplane and shouting “God is the greatest,” which would garner praise and approval, as “folks take out the cameras on their phones saying, ‘do that again.’” If that person had said the same thing in Arabic, Salaam contended, he would “probably not be allowed to stay on that plane.”

Salaam’s assessment of America reflected the complexities that many African Americans encounter living in the United States, with many sys-

tematic factors that work critically against them, long after the dark history of slavery.

“We have not been afforded the same opportunities and citizenship that we should, despite [the fact] that we were born here,” he stated.

“In the moment that they asked me if I had anything to say before they sentenced me, I stood up and said the beginning of what I’ll say here — I said, ‘I’m not gonna sit here at your table and watch you eat and call myself dinner.’”

Salaam emphasized that participating in government affairs remains vital on the part of African Americans. “Once we figure out how we can become a part of a franchise,” he said, “game over.” He encouraged people of color to use their ability to vote to influence the current and future state of affairs.

On Ava DuVernay’s widely acclaimed Netflix series, Salaam expressed appreciation for the global platform that “When They See Us” has afford him to distribute his message of endurance.

“As I go out around the country and world, I can only thank God for allowing me to grow and go through this in a way I can affect people’s

lives,” he said.

Salaam told the story of a woman who approached him during a recent trip to Mexico and, to his surprise, told him that suicide was the leading cause of death in the town where he was speaking. “You don’t know what you do [to] the people that were listening to you. You gave them hope,” he relayed.

Ultimately, Salaam credits his relationship with God for how he became the person he is today and for the influence and inspiration he now provides to others.

“What’s beautiful about what happened to me is that I recognize that God gave me life on purpose. God gave us life on purpose. This stuff is so simple and profound at the same time … It blows our minds.”

Hosted by the Muslim Life Program and co-hosted by the Carl A. Fields Center, Campus Conversations on Identities Public Lecture Series, Students for Prison Education and Reform (SPEAR), and the Department of African American Studies, “An Evening with Dr. Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated ‘Central Park Five’” was held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 20 in McCosh Hall 10. The event was also streamed on Facebook Live.

Thursday November 21, 2019

The Daily Princetonian

page 3

The scuplture was initially meant to be displayed on the campus of Kent State University; however they have yet to accept it ART

Continued from page 1

.............

a favored photo-stop for tourists outside of Morrison Hall. “Abraham and Isaac” falls somewhere between them.

To some, it raises modern questions about intergenerational divides. Isaac, at the mercy of Abraham’s hands, may prove a particularly apt image in the age of “ok boomer.”

“I think some of the contemporary questions that it raises are about obedience versus resistance to authority, which is something we have to think about these days,” Vidas said. “You can take it to the place of the climate conflict, which is in some sense an intergenerational conflict. ‘Are we sacrificing our Isaacs for industry and capitalism?’”

Others see a story of forgiveness and compassion expressed in the bronze sculpture, which may assert universal claims about human behavior.

“Th[e] story [of Abraham and Isaac], of course, is classically one of forgiveness and compassion,” Steward said. “So I think it would be fair to suspect perhaps that that was part of the artist’s messaging.”

Others emphasize themes of obedience versus resistance, posing Abraham as the reluctant state punishing his rebellious son, while others are trou-

bled by the work’s religious resonance.

As the Kent State tragedy’s 50th anniversary approaches this May, the question of where the sculpture resides has become more pressing. “[‘Abraham and Isaac’] stands today, as it has for some 40 years, in exile on the campus of Princeton University,” wrote Werner Lange, a professor at Kent State from 1975-94, in a column for a Cleveland news site in 2018. “As we approach the 50th anniversary of this watershed moment in modern U.S. history, it is high time that this thought-provoking work of art be brought home from its foolishly imposed exile.”

While the homecoming of “Abraham and Isaac” remains uncertain, it is the statue’s mysterious aura that serves as its greatest appeal. Provocative both then and now, “Abraham and Isaac” elicits stronger reactions, ranging from shock to curiosity to discomfort, than many other pieces of campus art. “[Campus art] is meant to interrupt the way that any one of us occupies and moves through space,” said Mitra Abbaspour, the Haskell Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University Art Museum. “It can have many diverse intentions or ambitions after that to offer a space of contemplation, to

provoke thought, to dwarf us as physical bodies, to cause us to feel our own mortality or fragility, to make us feel monumental, to give us a sense of, in fact, strength.”

On a college campus, pieces such as “Abraham and Isaac” possess the ability to spark engaging conversations about everything, ranging from resistance and forgiveness to the politics of fellatio and the climate crisis, and to serve as a means of stirring thought within the community. “ ... Perhaps [public art] can become, again, fodder for conversation,” Steward said. “Presumably, we are here as part of an academic community because we want to have those conversations, and because we are absolutely happy to invite the public into that conversation too.”

The art museum plans to update the interpretative resources that accompany all campus art, including by providing more context and information about pieces such as “Abraham and Isaac.” Until then, visitors will be left to intuit the piece’s meaning for themselves.

“Abraham and Isaac” continues to stand in solitude, adjacent to the corner of William and Washington, inviting pedestrians to stop and ponder on their way up the steps to Firestone Plaza.

COURTESY OF KENT STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

George Segal’s “Abraham and Isaac.”

Did you know... that the ‘Prince’ has a Facebook page?

Like our page!

Procrastinate productively!

News.

Opinions.

Sports.

Every day.

Opinion

Thursday November 21, 2019

page 4

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

The complexity of confession Kate Lee

Contributing Columnist

About a month ago, the popular Facebook group Tiger Confessions shut down.

Its moderator, who went by the alias Ty Ger, did not offer any public announcement; most of the group’s 5,000+ members just woke up to see a blank page when they tried to scroll through the group, as many did on a daily basis. A lot of students expressed sadness at the group’s closure, almost a year after its creation.

Tiger Confessions brought a lot of the campus together, and students have been quick to rebuild a similar community. On the new Facebook group Tiger Confessions++, members have largely shared the same content. But if we are to engage in important dialogue about how to help one another and what needs to change in our community, massive Facebook groups aren’t the right platforms.

We should be looking for new spaces to discuss and address issues on campus — spaces built on conversation, not confession.

It’s understandable why so many students felt the pull to Tiger Confessions.

It was a space that offered an enormous array of ideas and opportunities. Stu-

dents could anonymously compliment others, ask questions about academic and social processes on campus, and speak honestly about their emotional experiences at Princeton.

Being anonymous, the group seemed to be one of the only completely safe spaces to express one’s thoughts on campus. Posts were liked or commented on by fellow students, creating a sense of community and collective content that brought together different groups at Princeton.

The confessions, however, were not always a positive force, a compelling reason to close down Tiger Confessions. The nature of anonymous confession itself is very complex. For many people, anonymity seems like a shield. Their identity is kept secret, and thoughts that we normally wouldn’t share with strangers tumble out easily.

The irony, however, is that we never actually know the writer behind the Tiger Confession. The intimacy, then, is superficial — there is a lack of personal interest or connection to the person who is joking, complaining, or suffering. No matter how much an honest confession may affect another student and motivate them to

reach out, it cannot have the same effect as opening up in an in-person conversation with each other.

As important as it is to acknowledge issues and challenges on campus, it is equally crucial that we find the right spaces for the right conversations.

Anonymous, one-sided posts that collectively criticized and complained about Princeton only made the school culture feel more toxic and quick to tear down those with different experiences.

For a group that originated as Tiger Compliments, a platform for anonymous appreciation, it is understandable why shutting it down seemed like the best option.

Tiger Confessions could never successfully create a genuine support group or sustain crucial conversations about personal beliefs, politics, and mental health. The growing number of posts per day that dealt with feelings of alienation, stress, and depression on campus, as well as those that called others out for differing beliefs, made the space feel very critical and negative, with little ability to have meaningful conversation.

As a feed that was updated dozens of times a day, it was all too easy to as-

sume that the confessions together represented some sort of collective, largely negative distillation of the “Princeton experience.” In fact, when a few members tried to publish posts appreciating or praising aspects of Princeton, they were torn apart in the comments for being naive and unrealistic.

The shutting down of Tiger Confessions is an opportunity for us to find different platforms for different concerns on campus. A lot of it begins with promoting and rethinking existing resources on campus, such as Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) or Princeton Peer Nightline (PPN).

It may also mean creating new spaces online, where conversations can be held about significant issues, rather than a oneway “dialogue.” The community that Tiger Confessions brought together may continue through new groups such as Tiger Confessions++. We need to be more aware, however, of when confessions become the only space in which we may speak.

Kate Lee is a first-year from Austin, Texas. She can be reached at k.lee@princeton. edu.

On journaling Jae-Kyung Sim Columnist

Many of us here may not make the time to journal. As hardworking students who “got into Princeton,” the idea of leaving time and effort to write down a journal entry every night might sound absurd. When there is a paper due at 8 a.m. the next morning, being told to reflect upon your deepest fears is just not going to have much appeal. But after the past few months of keeping a journal, I’ve learned that those 20 minutes of writing can teach you more about yourself than any assignment ever could.

My journey to journaling was an unconventional one. Despite my English-major mother’s persistent attempts to raise a romantic son, my reading interests have always been geared towards The New York Times over The New Yorker, TechCrunch over Poetry. And indeed, TechCrunch was where I read about a jour-

naling app called Stoic.

I decided to try it out, admittedly, to feel more “hip.” I started out by writing down surfacelevel thoughts about myself, simply following my stream of consciousness. But as a surprise to myself, it progressed to a sense of deeper introspection — and regardless of the format in which I wrote, the whole process has been incredibly positive for me.

Journaling is cathartic. We all face the struggles of academic workload and social pressure, which build up on top of our own personal battles.

We confront everything from fears of what’s to come to pressing financial concerns. In everyday social contexts, we inevitably repress these feelings; sometimes we can’t communicate all of these thoughts even to our closest friends.

But in your journal, you can fully express yourself — whether it be socially taboo, grammatically incoherent, or just

“too much,” it doesn’t matter. You can just be you.

In addition to being a good way to release yourself, journaling helps to organize chaotic chains of thoughts. When I feel overwhelmed, I list the seemingly endless list of concerns in my journal. Just seeing that list helps me feel much more in control of my own life — it also helps me notice any common factors or root causes of the fears that I face.

This visualization approach helps me think of tangible changes I can make to resolve my personal issues. Recently, that common thread has been my tendency to be overly risk-averse in my own life. I am now working to become more adventurous and try out new things without fear of failure.

The best part about journaling, though, is that there really is no one to judge you. You won’t be carrying your journal out in public, and people

vol. cxliii

editor-in-chief

Chris Murphy ’20 business manager

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

143RD MANAGING BOARD

won’t and shouldn’t ask to read your most personal pieces of writing.

There’s no format for a “good journal entry,” and it really doesn’t “take a certain kind of person” to keep a journal.

You can just be honest about everything you feel, think, or have opinions on — whether that be your struggles, your happiness, your sadness, your identity, whatever.

Plus, it’s just entertaining to later read and reflect back on what you were thinking of two or three months ago.

So, give journaling a try. It really doesn’t matter what medium it’s in — some people prefer physical writing, whereas I type on my “hip” journaling app. What matters is that you be fully honest with yourself.

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

managing editors Samuel Aftel ’20 Ariel Chen ’20 Jon Ort ’21 head news editors Benjamin Ball ’21 Ivy Truong ’21 associate news editors Linh Nguyen ’21 Claire Silberman ’22 Katja Stroke-Adolphe ’20 head opinion editor Cy Watsky ’21 associate opinion editors Rachel Kennedy ’21 Ethan Li ’22 head sports editor Jack Graham ’20 associate sports editors Tom Salotti ’21 Alissa Selover ’21 features editors Samantha Shapiro ’21 Jo de la Bruyere ’22 head prospect editor Dora Zhao ’21 associate prospect editor Noa Wollstein ’21 chief copy editors Lydia Choi ’21 Elizabeth Parker ’21 associate copy editors Anna McGee ’22 Sydney Peng ’22 head design editor Charlotte Adamo ’21 associate design editor Harsimran Makkad ’22 head video editor Sarah Warman Hirschfield ’20 associate video editor Mark Dodici ’22 digital operations manager Sarah Bowen ’20

NIGHT STAFF

Like sports? Write for the sports section!

Email: join@dailyprincetonian.com

copy Allison Chou ’23 Marissa Michaels ’22 Isabel Rodrigues ’23 Catherine Yu ’21 design Imaan Khasru ’23 Juliana Wojtenko ’23

Thursday November 21, 2019

Sports

page 5

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

Football players eat ~4,500 calories per day MONSTERS Continued from page 6

.............

incoming Princeton football players find themselves thrust into a new challenge upon arriving on campus. Between balancing the new social scene and coursework and making the transition from high school to Division I football, they gain pounds upon pounds of lean muscle to compete with 250-pound rivals.

The football players change their diets to match these different periods of weight gain.

“My nutrition plan is constantly changing to suit my needs,” said Ndukwe. “For example, last year, when I was gaining, I would eat five or six meals a day, not including snacks, but now I can eat less and focus on maintaining my size.”

To be clear, eating less for Ndukwe and others in the weight maintenance phase is typically four to five meals a day with snacks — the football version of snacks, that is.

Yet despite their hard work throughout the year, over the course of their years here, football players have to compete against a vicious enemy, which threatens all of their gains: the off-season.

Adomitis pins the best time of weight gain as the winter training period of February through March. Griffin agrees. The coaching staff “pairs the weight gain time of the year with the time that we are working the hardest,” he said, “ because you kind of feel like you need a lot of the food that you

are intaking.”

For most football players, the change in diet between their time in-season and off-season involves modifying how often they eat or what they eat — an increased focus on protein, for example.

Summer weight gain proves more difficult.

In summers, 50 to 60 football players stay on campus, train hard, and sweat buckets — all without a meal plan. Over the course of the break, players who carefully achieved their ideal weights often watch as their hard-earned pounds slip away.

Fortunately, the coaches are aware of the difficulties that summer training presents to their players. Surace said he personally ensures that players are adequately refueling their bodies after long, hot practices.

“Very often when practice ends,” he said, “if I know this is going to be a really hard practice, they’re getting smoothies at the end of practice.”

The coaches’ gastronomic support and the players’ careful meal planning both offset the ability of hot summer training to tamper with athletes’ ideal weights. The summer training period, however, still poses a threat. So too do injuries and illnesses, where prolonged inactivity can strip away most, if not all, of the players’ pounds of muscle gain.

“I SLEEP BETTER”: DEFENSE AND DRAWBACKS OF WEIGHT GAIN A comprehensive March 2019

Harvard University study revealed chilling truths about the longterm implications of weight gain.

Every 10 pounds of weight gained between high school and college football, said the researchers, raises the risk of sleep apnea by 15 percent, heart disease by 14 percent, neurocognitive impairment by 13 percent, and cardiometabolic conditions by 11 percent.

Do the Princeton football players worry about sleep, heart health, joint health, or brain health?

No. As Strain said, “I go to bed full so I don’t wake up starving.”

If anything, players worry more about their performance on the field than their middle-age quality of life.

Ndukwe said that upon his weight gain, he “definitely felt slower and lost some inches from my vertical. It definitely helps with weight lifting, tackling, and beating offensive linemen, but I am definitely not as quick as I would be if I was 40 pounds lighter.”

Griffin noted that while weight gain helps with power, it affects speed, particularly with “running and cutting” and other agility skills. Strain also cited decreases in speed, particularly if players are trying to gain too much weight too quickly.

Optimizing both speed and power can prove difficult for these players as they bulk up. Because this process is so based on performance, many players have to make adjustments to their weight based on how they are balancing all factors of their game. Ndukwe, Griffin and many other players

The Tigers will face a fleet of top ranked teams headlined by No. 2 Iowa WRESTLING Continued from page 6

.............

D’Angelo. The team’s third, returning captain is junior 197-pound Brucki.

D’Angelo currently sits at a No. 12 in national ranking; Brucki is second in the country. The Tigers also have two other wrestlers in the national rankings: No. 5 125-pounder Glory, and No. 9 157-pounder Quincy Monday.

Returning NCAA qualifiers include sophomore Travis Stefanik and junior Kevin Parker, who have spent the beginning of this season battling it out for the 184-pound roster spot.

And even Princeton’s non-starters have spent the past weeks racking up national accolades.

With this week came serendipitous news: three of Princeton’s wrestlers had earned accolades from the prestigious Barstool Sports 2019-2020 All-Ear Team.

have all hit peak weights over the course of their time at Princeton that are higher than where they sit now. Finding balance is more important than just being the biggest guy on the field.

And it seems that with every year and technological innovation, finding that balance gets easier. Although Coach Tufo already takes body weights four times a week, year-round, he plans to begin body composition analysis this off-season for the players. This will hopefully help them hit the body composition goals specific to their position and their roles on the team.

And in the end, most players’ period of intense weight gain lasts only four years.

“You’ll see actually a lot of guys,” said Adomitis, “when they’re done with football, they’ll drop weight as quick as possible because they’re tired of carrying it around.” This could mean a sudden weight drop of 40 pounds or more.

University Health Services did not respond to requests for comment.

IN CONCLUSION: “BUILDING MONSTERS” In a sports world that often considers weight in the context of weight-limiting sports, such as wrestling and men’s and women’s lightweight crew, it can seem insensitive to draw attention to the challenges that football players face in eating so much. The players are acutely aware of this. When interviewed, they took measures to tread the thin line between discussing their struggles and offending people who don’t share their diets.

The players typically take one of

two approaches: humor or placation.

Most tended to opt for the humor route and were quick to make fun of themselves.

Strain joked that he is used to being so full that, after “two or three classes in a row … you’re starving and feel like you haven’t eaten in three days.”

Griffin continued the trend, saying, “I make fun of some of the guys on my team for how much they eat just because when you sit down at dinner and you have four plates of food and you have to eat there for an hour, it can be kind of funny to watch.”

Adomitis neatly demonstrated the placating angle.

“Not that I want any sympathy for it or anything,” he said, “but from the outside people might think, ‘That’s so nice to be able to just eat a ton of food and whatever you want.’ But in reality, it is actually kind of a job and very challenging for many guys.”

Although it might seem “lucky” to eat so much, these players have to make the same healthy choices as other athletes, just on a larger scale. It takes a huge amount of time and thought to both plan and eat as many meals as they do.

Moreover, they have to deal with the discomfort that comes from carrying around excess weight for peak performance on the football field.

Discipline, humor, and hunger — for food and for wins — all play key roles in their ultimate goal.

Coach Tufo summarized it best: “Our goal is to build monsters and pack on muscle mass to produce the most dominant force the Ivy league has ever seen!”

It’s amazing!

Freshman Sean Pierson and junior Dale Tiongson earned an honorable mention; sophomore Forest Belli was named to the illustrious All-Name team.

“I’m extremely proud,“ said Belli. “I feel like I’ve been working my whole life for this.”

“Sometimes I wonder what all my hard work and sacrifice is for,“ said Tiongson. “Then moments like these make it all worthwhile.”

But Princeton’s starstudded athletes won’t rest on their laurels. No matter his rank or the size of his trophy shelf, every wrestler is battling at once for a starting spot and a goal bigger than himself. The Tigers have duals to win, rankings to climb, a long-deferred Ivy League title and National Championship to earn.

They have ships to burn.

“We’re all in,” Ayres said. “We put everything in. We succeed or fail, but there’s no exit plan. Burn the ships.”

The amount of news that happens every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.

Write for ‘Prince’ News.

Email join@dailyprincetonian.com

Like what you see? Join the ‘Prince’!

Tweet of the Day

“We have promoted TE Jesper Horsted from the practice squad to the active roster” Chicago Bears(@ ChicagoBears)

Stat of the Day

Follow us

3

Check us out on Twitter @princesports for live news and reports, and on Instagram @princetoniansports for photos!

Email: join@dailyprincetonian.com Three players from Princeton men’s soccer were named to the All-Ivy firstteam on Wednesday

Sports

Thursday November 21, 2019

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } FOOTBALL

“Building Monsters”: Football, food, and fitness at Princeton

By Alex Gjaja Contributor

It isn’t hard to find the biggest eaters on campus. Whether it’s at a dining hall or in an eating club, they show up in droves — and they bring their appetites. As they thread their way to empty tables, they balance multiple plates piled high with food, ready to sit down for an hour and feast away.

Yet, none of those telltale signs are what most obviously distinguishes them from the crowd.

Emblazoned on their sweatshirts and sweatpants, backpacks and hats — the list of gear goes on — are two words: “Princeton Football.”

GAME OF INCHES, GAME OF POUNDS In 1999, Al Pacino made famous the expression that football is a game of inches. Twenty years later, reckoning with the end of Princeton football’s 17-game win streak, Bob Surace ’90, the Charles W. Caldwell Jr. ’25 Head Coach of Football, said the same thing. Apt though the adage may be, football is as much a game of inches as it is a game of something else: pounds.

Though the stereotypical football player calls to mind a thicknecked, burly defensive lineman, a quick scan of any football roster tells a different story. The cornerback must be slight enough for explosive speed on the field. The running backs need agility and strength to dart through holes and fight the defense for extra yardage. The defensive tackle must be formidable enough to stop the opponent’s running game.

There is room for every body type — and every size of neck — on a football team. But still, for each player, one metric reigns supreme. Every pound means the difference between a failed tackle and a successful one, a win or a loss, a healthy or an injuryplagued season.

In short: pounds allow for inches.

Incoming football first-years are evidently expected to commit themselves to the team’s grueling practice and game schedule. And fresh off the heels of their adolescent growth spurts, they are also expected to change their bodies for the good of the game.

When it comes to new players, the coaching staff encourages an immediate, steady loss of body fat and a steady accumulation of poundage. “Gaining half a pound a week, that’s 26 pounds a year,” Surace said.

With that goal in mind, Princeton’s football players require vast quantities of food to fuel themselves, even for a day. That caloric phenomenon is universally recognized. Less understood is the particular process these players use to gain mass in muscle, not fat.

Uchenna “Uche” Ndukwe, a 260-pound sophomore defensive lineman sums it up best: “I just assume people think we’re fatter than we are.”

Football players and staff at Princeton are quick to note the difference between gaining weight through fat and building genuine muscle.

Take it from Surace: “Our guys are in really good shape.”

Football strength and conditioning coach Mike Tufo echoed Surace’s point in an email.

“Speed, conditioning, and efficiency all decline when athletes store extra fat,” he wrote. “Thankfully, the Princeton football team does not have this problem.”

How, then, do Princeton’s football players manage to pack on the pounds without sacrificing the fitness and dexterity that allowed them to play at the University in the first place?

A SNACK BY ANY OTHER NAME: EATING, EATING, AND EATING Biweekly nutritional presentations and weekly tips from a dietician inform Princeton football players’ standards of healthy eating. But Surace is aware that di-

JACK GRAHAM / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

The Princeton football team retains their impressive fitness while packing on muscle.

ets such as the Tom Brady Diet — an organic, local, and plantbased meal plan with no highly processed food — are unrealistic for an adolescent, college-campusbound boy. Princeton’s players enjoy a good deal of flexibility when it comes to what makes it into their diets.

If there existed a general rule for the “Princeton Football Dining Plan,” it would be this: take what a health-conscious person would eat. Then double, triple, and quadruple it. If you are prone to stomach aches, skip this section.

Tufo’s meal recommendation for his players is simple: “protein for muscle repair and growth, carbohydrates for energy and brain function, fruits and veggies for vitamins and antioxidants to build the body up from the inside out.”

That doesn’t seem like a dramatic departure from the average American’s recommended meal plan. But wait.

Tufo again: “Two of these plates every time they go to the dining hall are essential for success.”

That’s right, two.

Jake Strain, a 270-pound senior captain and defensive lineman, eats anywhere from four to five full meals a day. He supplements

them with plenty of what he calls “snacks.” Ndukwe reported the same.

But in the world of Princeton football, “snack” takes on a different meaning. Here’s Strain’s definition: two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, three packs of trail mix, and four chocolate milks.

Graham Adomitis, a 255-pound senior captain and tight end, aims to intake somewhere between 4,000 and 4,500 calories in a day.

For a 19-to-25-year-old active man, the United States Department of Health recommends no more than 3,000 calories a day.

Adomitis measures his food intake in grams of protein — 20 grams every two hours — and whole-grain carbs. He requires so many calories a day that he can’t eat them all. He relies instead on the consistent aid of liquid calories, such as skim milk and protein shakes.

But the players don’t operate in a constant state of fueling. They largely break their Princeton careers into two sections: an early focus on weight gain and a later period of weight maintenance.

And they try to coordinate their gains to coincide with two periods of the year: the winter and sum-

mer off-seasons.

FOUR-YEAR PLAN: WEIGHT GAIN, WEIGHT MAINTENANCE, AND THE OFFSEASON Every player on the football roster weighs significantly more now than when he graduated high school. Ndukwe jumped from 220 pounds to 260. Senior wide receiver Andrew Griffin shot from 190 pounds to 205. The list goes on.

Most of these guys can pin their weight gain to their first few years on the Princeton campus.

Ndukwe is a sophomore and has put on 40 pounds since getting to campus. Though Griffin only put on around 15 pounds, his weight gain revolved around the periods before his freshman and sophomore years.

Strain explained that most young players set target weights for themselves for the year.

Weight gain is “almost like picking a school,” he said. “Here are my top-choice schools where it would be great if I ended up there, but realistically, I might end up somewhere around ‘here.’”

Having navigated college admissions and athletic recruiting, See MONSTERS page 5

WRESTLING

Burn the ships: wrestling looks ahead to 2019-2020 season

By Josephine de La Bruyere Assistant Sports Editor

Last year, No. 11 Princeton wrestling pulled off what head coach Christopher Ayres called “the greatest turnaround college athletics has ever seen.” The team had spent the year urging its fans to #GetIn: to buy

into its program, to hop on board before the bandwagon did.

The Tigers closed out their season with a 15thplace national finish.

They left the NCAA tournament with a programhigh two semifinalists and three All-Americans.

Current sophomore Patrick Glory became Princ-

eton’s highest-placing first-year ever. Junior Patrick Brucki became the University’s first athlete to claim the trifecta of All-American, Midlands champion, and Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) champion. Junior Matthew Kolodzik became its first three-time

COURTESY OF BEVERLY SCHAEFER / GOPRINCETONTIGERS.COM

Patrick Brucki and Princeton wrestling will look to build off last year’s success.

Tweet of the Day “We have promoted TE Jesper Horsted from the practice squad to the active roster” Chicago Bears(@ ChicagoBears)

All-American.

Now Princeton wrestling is back, and the Tigers aren’t satisfied. Getting in isn’t enough. They want to “Burn the Ships.”

“You can’t just be a blip on the screen,” Ayres said.

“We want — we need — to keep this growth and this success going.”

Over the next three months, wrestling will do its best to reassert its national dominance. It will do that in part through a grueling schedule of dual-meets; in a three-week span, the Tigers will face No. 7 Lehigh University, No. 7 Oklahoma State University, No. 2 Iowa University, and No. 20 Rider University.

“Contrary to popular belief,” Ayres said, “I do not hate my team. It wasn’t my ideal situation, but I’m going to spin it into something positive: This will prepare them for NCAAs and for tough situations.”

The most dramatic of

those meets will likely be this Saturday’s faceoff against Lehigh. Last year, Princeton sent shockwaves through the wrestling community with a 21–19 victory over Lehigh.

It was the Tigers’ first victory over the Mountain Hawks since 1968.

Take it from Ayres: “Lehigh will be out for blood. It’ll be real tough, but that’s the way we like it.”

Wrestling’s roster has seen one significant change from last season. Kolodzik, one of last year’s All-Americans and a figurehead for the Tigers, is taking a year away from his studies at the University to focus exclusively on training.

No one’s panicking. In his absence, two Tigers have stepped up, fresh off years-off of their own: junior 133-pound captain Ty Agaisse and senior 149-pound captain Mike See WRESTLING page 5

Stat of the Day

Follow us

3

Check us out on Twitter @princesports for live news and reports, and on Instagram @princetoniansports for photos!

Three players from Princeton men’s soccer were named to the All-Ivy firstteam on Wednesday