October 10, 2018 by The Daily Princetonian

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Wednesday October 10, 2018 vol. CXLII no. 83

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ON CAMPUS

Bechdel speaks on queerness, family secrets By Claire Silberman Contributor

The namesake of the Bechdel test, a familiar feminist film metric, took the stage in McCosh 10 yesterday. In an Oct. 9 lecture, acclaimed cartoonist Alison Bechdel discussed her creative process as a queer memoirist. Bechdel is the author of “Dykes to Watch Out For,” a lesbian comic strip where the Bechdel Test originated. Her graphic novel-turned-Broadway musical “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” was the recipient of multiple Tony awards. Bechdel’s lecture was accompanied by a series of visuals documenting her evolution as an artist. She began the lecture with photographs of childhood drawings and a discussion of her obsessive compulsive disorder — two factors which motivated her to become a cartoonist. She emphasized that much of her creative material came from her lived experiences: the discovery of her sexuality and coming out, her strained relationship with her mother, and the likely suicide of her closeted father. “I think damage and gift go together. Creativity is often a symptom and a cure,” Bechdel said. “Gradually [my work] became sort-of a diary. I became a character, and it became a reflection of what was going on in my life at the time.” Bechdel said she started cartooning as a coping mechanism for her compulsions. As

CLAIRE SILBERMAN :: PRINCETONIAN CONTRIBUTOR

Bechdel is known for her comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” and her graphic memoir “Fun Home.”

a child, she had an intense fear of inadvertently lying, which inspired her to write down extensive records of her life in her diaries. “There’s some part of myself that’s missing that I’m trying to compensate for by keeping this scrupulous account of my existence,” she said. Bechdel said that her fear stemmed from a deep family secret: that her father had been having affairs with other men, including some of his high school students. In the midst of the familial secrecy and lies, Bechdel found authenticity in

ON CAMPUS

her comics. “Languages could be unreliable and appearances could be deceiving,” she said. “If you triangulate between those two courses then maybe you get a little closer to the truth than you could with one of them on their own.” Her graphic memoir “Fun Home” follows this journey from childhood to adulthood within the context of her dysfunctional family. Set in her family’s funeral home, the work explores the seemingly opposing themes of death and coming-of-age. According to

Bechdel, depicting her parents as characters helped her to understand them and her family dynamic more deeply. But Bechdel’s aims extended beyond her own personal storytelling. Her cartoon strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” took off in 1983, in the midst of the AIDS crisis and a renewed antigay movement in the United States. “For a long time, I had to find myself as a lesbian cartoonist. I think that’s really important — being a lesbian was part of my mission,” she explained. Bechdel spoke of her aspira-

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

tions for queer representation in the media. “I did not see myself reflected in the cultural mirror,” she said. “I wanted to see images of people who looked like me and my friends. So I decided I would just start making them myself.” Bechdel said she viewed her outsiderness not as a hindrance, but rather as an advantage — a path to objectivity in her work. Her cartoons took on social commentary from a unique perspective. Between 1983 and 2008, as Bechdel was writing “Dykes to Watch Out For,” she noted a shift in the public perception of queerness. “The separate subculture that I had been a part of growing up in the ’80s and ’90s was disappearing, mostly because of our own success,” she said. “It was no longer needed to have this separate world of women’s book stores and gay bars. All those things were closing and those were the things that supported me.” Throughout the cultural shifts, cartooning helped Bechdel to make sense of the world around her. While she acknowledged that one of the “pitfalls of being a memoirist” was becoming more focused on writing about life than actually living it, she argued writing allows one to step back from “the real thing” to be more present. The talk, sponsored by the Spencer Trask Lecture Series, took place at 6 p.m. in McCosh 10. ON CAMPUS

Petition to ‘Save the WWS funds Dinky’ posted at Wawa education Contributor

HANNAH HUH :: PRINCETONIAN CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Cap runs on geothermal energy, the equipment for which takes up space in the clubhouse.

Cap & Gown expands its walls, membership By Yael Marans Contributor

The front lawn of Cap & Gown currently sports a crane, a heap of dirt, and a team of construction workers surrounded by a high fence. The eating club is undergoing a historic expansion to open a new wing in time for Reunions this June. Cap’s alumni board has been working hard to raise the funds for this addition. The new wing will be named the Cox Wing after Howard Cox ’64, who made the most significant contribution. Cap alumna and architect Louisa Bartle Clayton ’93 has been guiding the plans for the renovation, while Michael Farewell, who designed the recent renovation of Cap’s dining hall, serves as the primary architect for the job. The aboveground feature of

In Opinion

the Cox Wing will be the Garden Study Room, which will serve as an additional study space for Cap members. The northern doors of the Garden Study Room will open directly to a new set of benches on Cap’s front lawn. The room can also be converted into an extra dining and event space for major club celebrations throughout the year. In the past, the club has had to rent tents to accommodate larger events like Reunions and formals. These tents have been very expensive and have harmed the grass in the backyard. When the club moved to geothermal energy sources in 2011, it was forced to devote more space to energy-related equipment. Since then, the club staff has faced a serious lack See CAP page 3

In her inaugural ‘Prince’ piece, contributing columnist Emma Treadway argues that only meaningful interventions can reduce hate speech, senior columnist Ryan Born argues for blind grading on the basis of gender.

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Unhappy with the Dinky schedule changes? You aren’t alone. Frequent Dinky train passengers disgruntled with the upcoming line shutdown have placed a “Save the Dinky” petition at Wawa. Along with pre-written letters, the web address of a Change.org petition entitled “Dinky riders ask NJ Transit to reconsider plan to shutdown Dinky” was also on Wawa’s checkout counter. Those interested were invited to attend the Princeton Council meeting on Monday, where New Jersey Transit Regional Manager Tom Clark answered questions about the shutdown. Among the main complaints against NJ Transit were the lack of communication and disproportionate inconvenience to Dinky riders. The agency is hurrying to meet a Dec. 31 federal deadline to install statewide positive train control, “a federally mandated control system for trains,” according to Clark’s presentation. While the Dinky line, a “non-mainline track,” is exempt from PTC installation, “crews are needed from the Dinky, and equipment, in order to help us meet this deadline,” he said. “Hundreds of miles of track [need to be replaced]. We have hundreds of locomotives that need to be tested. It’s a massive job,” Clark said. “It’s not a deci-

sion that we wanted to make but one that we have to make.” In the meantime, NJ Transit will offer a bus service that “mirrors the Dinky schedule,” according to Clark. The agency is “offering a 10 percent discount on rail tickets and passes for travel in November, December, and January.” Princeton Council president Jenny Crumiller expressed frustration over confusing information and costs to Princeton passengers. Originally, she wasn’t sure if the Dinky itself would be receiving PTC and had trouble getting clarification from the NJ transit website. “It was troubling, especially as elected officials, to find out that we’re not getting any benefit from this,” she said. Other meeting attendees asked about the environmental impact, accessibility of bus lines, especially to disabled passengers, schedules, and whether the three-month suspension would become a permanent shutdown. Addressing those questions, Clark said that “currently, New Jersey transit does operate clean-burning vehicles…. Unfortunately, we don’t have any facilities in this area that can operate and service and maintain those vehicles.” Clark said that the buses were ADA-compliant and that “during peak rush hours,” more than one bus will be deployed to ensure that all riders are accommodated. See DINKY page 3

Today on Campus

9 a.m.: “Wizarding 101,” a Cotsen Children’s Library exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter. Firestone Library Cotsen Children’s Library

research

By Leslie Kim Contributor

University research on education issues is about to get a new burst in funding: The Overdeck Education Innovation Fund has gifted $1 million to be distributed over the next three years by the Wilson School. The fund is open to creative, education-related project proposals from faculty and students in all disciplines, with priority given to interdisciplinary education research. It will also give preference to research that looks into one or more of four focus areas: early impact, exceptional educators, innovative schools, and inspired minds. Wilson School dean Cecilia Rouse said that she hopes the fund will draw “more faculty and student engagement in conducting cutting-edge education research.” The funds from the Overdeck Foundation will help the University cultivate a a group of education researchers who are creatively addressing the most pressing problems in education, explained Jennifer Jennings ’00, a professor of sociology and public affairs and the director of the Education Research Section. “All too often, education research has a very short life cycle,” Jennings said. She hopes that this fund will contribute to more longterm efforts to increase social opportunity through education. This is the second gift of education-related funds from the OverSee WWS page 2

WEATHER

By Rebecca Han

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Partly cloudy chance of rain:

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Wednesday October 10, 2018

Fund will draw more community engagement

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1) During lecture you are... a) asking the professor questions. b) doodling all over your notes. c) correcting grammar mistakes. d) watching videos on youtube.com e) calculating the opportunity cost of sitting in lecture. 2) Your favorite hidden pasttime is... a) getting the scoop on your roommate’s relationships. b) stalking people’s Facebook pictures. c) finding dangling modifiers in your readings. d) managing your blog. e) lurking outside 48 University Place. 3) The first thing that you noticed was... a) the word “survey.” b) the logo set in the background. c) the extra “t” in “pasttime.” d) the o’s and i’s that look like binary code from far away. e) the fact that this is a super-cool ad for The Daily Princetonian. If you answered mostly “a,” you are a reporter in the making! If you answered mostly “b,” you are a design connoisseur, with unlimited photography talents! If you answered mostly “c,” you are anal enough to be a copy editor! If you answered mostly “d,” you are a multimedia and web designing whiz! And if you answered mostly “e,” you are obsessed with the ‘Prince’ and should come join the Editorial Board and Business staff! Contact join@dailyprincetonian.com!

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This is the second gift of education-related funds from the Overdeck Foundation.

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deck Foundation, the first $1 million donated in 2016. This round has welcomed more program-focused proposals that can be implemented and tested in classrooms, in hopes of increasing direct applicability. Laura Overdeck ’91 established the Overdeck Foundation in 2011 with her husband, John Overdeck, a co-founder of the hedge fund Two Sigma Investments. The organization describes itself as funding innovative education programs that produce quantifiable results and help children fill their untapped potential. Its goal, ultimately, is to reimagine school in such a way that all children receive the support to excel in their abilities. Overdeck, who serves on the Wilson School Advisory Council and the University’s Board of Trustees, spoke to The Daily Princetonian about her motivations behind the grant to the University. She highlighted some recent work in early childhood education, noting the impact that family income has been shown to have on student academic ability, and how neuroscience has been able to track the rapid brain development of children ages zero to five. “We keep learning more, but

then it just makes you realize how much more we have to learn,” Overdeck said. She added that she hopes this fund will help bridge the gaps in unexplored avenues of research, whether by identifying and offering solutions to problems in existing school structures or by finding unexpected connections in education research. All interviewees emphasized the importance of new research in helping address disparities in educational opportunities throughout the United States and the world. “Particularly at this moment in time, schools and public schools are serving as key social institutions that bring people together across disparate social backgrounds and try to level the playing field,” Jennings said. Overdeck expressed her concern that children from more privileged backgrounds generally have access not only to better schools, but also better academic opportunities outside of school, amounting to a “double whammy” of lost opportunity. Grant proposals for projects requesting $5,000 to $20,000 are due by Nov. 12, with results decided by faculty committee on Dec. 17. Grant proposals for projects requesting under $5,000 have no due date.

T HE DA ILY

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Wednesday October 10, 2018

New wing to be named Cox Wing after Cox ’64

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HANNAH HUH :: PRINCETONIAN CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Seniors will miss the opportunity to benefit from the renovation.

CAP

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of storage space. As a result, the Princeton fire marshal has announced several code violations, mandating that Cap rethink its use of space. According to RJ Hernandez ’19, Cap’s undergraduate president, the underground aspect of the renovation will enhance the work environment of the club staff. It will provide a staff lounge, in addition to “some added storage space that they sorely need,” Hernandez said. As a senior, Hernandez will largely miss the opportunity to benefit from the renovation, but he remains enthusiastic about the new possibilities. He is most excited about the Garden Study Room, with its doors leading to the outside. “I think it’s going to provide a very unique experience and environment for people in Cap, which will be cool,” he explained. Alumni leaders are excited to expand the building and the space it provides for members. “The clubs play an important role at Princeton, especially in fostering friendships that may

last a lifetime,” Cox said. He added that the clubs also provide a supportive study space. “Hopefully the new wing will provide additional space that will further members’ academic careers,” he added. Lisa Shmucki ’74, Cap alumni relations coordinator, also hopes to foster the sense of community she experienced as an undergraduate. Shmucki specifically recalls her experience as one of the first female members of the club. “I am happy I can serve on the board and continue to help make all students feel welcome at Cap,” Shmucki wrote in an email. She added that she was grateful for the welcoming environment she had found at Cap. Hernandez also added that the new space will “allow Cap to expand the membership a little bit in terms of numbers.” He said that he recognizes that there are limits to this kind of expansion, since Cap will retain its bicker process and will still have limited student capacity. Nonetheless, Hernandez said that he believes that Cap will expand membership “little by little, as much as we can,” perhaps by accepting just a few more members every year.

Dinky crews necessary to meet federal deadline

REBECCA HAN :: PRINCETONIAN CONTRIBUTOR

Buses will replace trains during the line shutdown.

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Andrew Erlichson, an advisor at the Keller Center and a trustee at the Princeton Public Library, uses the Dinky to get to work. He said his initial understanding was that the Dinky was being shut down to install PTC. “But, my understanding is that the Dinky line is exempted from the requirements … and that they are discontinuing the service for that period of time because they want to use the cars elsewhere in the system,” Erlichson said. “It seems that it’s not very fair. It inconveniences and favors other customers of the system over Princeton customers.” Princeton resident Karen Blu uses the Dinky for transit to New York. She said that the train’s accessibility and reliability made it a far better trav-

el option than bus or car. “The fear is that if they take it off for three months, they might not take it back,” she said. Stephanie Tubiolo, assistant director of choirs at the University, directs a youth choir in New Haven, Conn., and has family on Long Island. “I’m back and forth through the city a lot, whether I’m going to Connecticut or not,” she said. Tubiolo first found out about the shutdown from a Facebook post. Using an Uber to get to Princeton Junction, she said, would be very cost-ineffective. “If it [the bus] mirrored the schedule exactly, I mean I would take it,” she said. However, she also echoed concerns about the bus being subject to conditions like traffic and weather “in a way that the train won’t [be], especially as the shutdown’s during the winter.”

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Opinion

Wednesday October 10, 2018

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Hate speech deserves a second look

vol. cxlii

editor-in-chief

Marcia Brown ’19 business manager

Ryan Gizzie ’19

BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 trustees Kathleen Crown Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 John Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 Lisa Belkin ‘82 Francesca Barber David Baumgarten ’06 Gabriel Debenedetti ’12 Michael Grabell ’03 Kavita Saini ’09 Abigail Williams ’14 trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73 William R. Elfers ’71 Kathleen Kiely ’77

142ND MANAGING BOARD managing editors Isabel Hsu ’19 Sam Parsons ’19

COURTESY OF VICTOR GUAN

Emma Treadway

Contributing Columnist

s a Princeton freshman, the

Pre-read “Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech” was one of the first campus-wide memes I encountered — the smirks of students when someone asked if they had actually read the book, the (redacted) ominous message that all non-freshmen would be receiving a copy placed on their bed, and finally, a viral picture of the Pre-read functioning as an effective door stopper. Despite the brevity with which the subject was discussed during orientation, author Keith Whittington illuminates myriad vital questions concerning free speech and how it should be upheld or restricted in the best version of society. He also underscores the ambiguity of the “line” which has yet to be established between upholding the First Amendment and keeping hate speech at bay. The argumentative style ad hominem intrinsically plagues the human identity and is used during events like the Jewish exile in the sixth century B.C.E. to current police brutality against African Americans. Hate speech continues to be a scourge to the world community. Today, even though we publicize and lay out aspirational ideals, groups like the KKK and the Westboro Baptist Church make us question our stalwart allegiance to First Amendment rights. We think that these organizations and individuals, as propagators

of hate speech, are either squashed or ignored — yet, they persist. One route remains untried: to listen honestly and unbiasedly. To be clear, this column in no way intends to further the ideals of hate groups or to suggest their ideological equality in society, but, nevertheless, the more in-depth exploration of the psychology and environmental factors governing these groups is worth considering in an attempt to discover the root of the problem. As individuals, we are shaped by our environment. Our religious preferences, socioeconomic statuses, and other components that constitute our outlook on the world are often a sequence of casualties, stemming from a plethora of environmental factors. Our parentage (or lack thereof) for example, gives us preconceived notions about the world from infancy. Aristotle in his famed book “Poetics” notes the idea of imitation, or “mimesis,” and the pleasure we receive from it. We love to imitate, and it is also how we learn best. What we perceive from childhood sets the mold for our adult persona, and it is often extraordinarily difficult to extricate ourselves from this mindset. Hate speech is similarly learned. Although such a credo is not solely the fault of environment, it is important to recognize the significant role environment has in crafting individuals who habitually discriminate. For example, a child whose parents used racial slurs might develop the notion that this mode of speech is acceptable, or even val-

id, if not otherwise corrected. In my experience, I grew up in a religious household that considered acts like drinking to be morally wrong. Because of this, regardless of how I feel toward alcohol, my conscience is more likely to tell me it is immoral while my classmates drink freely. Thus, early environment affects our mindset and shapes many of our beliefs. Furthermore, this sort of speech and perpetuation of racial, sexual, or socioeconomic hate can easily lead to more violent expression later on. In order to target hate speech effectively, we must understand its origins and why it continues to exist. What other underlying assumptions may be leading a person to actively hurl hatred at a transgender person? What sort of climate engenders a belief in the inherent inferiority of women or other closeminded thinking? Is it parentage, religious ideals, subliminal messages, indoctrination, or even fear of the unknown? Any number of these factors could contribute to a dangerous outlook. We continue to target hate speech by shutting it down on the surface level, snipping the branches from the tree by shunning or retaliating against hate speech. As Whittington mentions in “Speak Freely,” one of the many examples of student responses to perceived hate speech on campus includes University professor Peter Singer, whose views on subjects like animal rights and abortion have riled myriad advocacy groups. Students and other activists have not

only refused to listen to or consider Singer’s talks; they have also obstructed his events and threatened his safety. Although Singer’s work should not be regarded as extreme hate speech, this situation does illuminate the inefficiency of such audience response. Smothering speech on the surface both calls more attention to the subject matter and does little to put the propagator down. The roots of malicious speech will instead continue to thrive. Thus, the problem must be addressed at the source. If we can alter the environment that allows for such ideology to grow and thrive, perhaps we can eliminate, or at least ameliorate, the tendency toward hate speech. The goal is not to empathize with different viewpoints but instead to listen honestly, to ask questions, and to identify the environmentally inf luenced assumptions upon which the argument revolves. Perhaps we should initiate uncomfortable discussions by delving into the reasoning behind racial slurs or radical beliefs. Or, we could place a greater emphasis on teaching children from a young age precisely why this speech is harmful, rather than simply labeling it as wrong and never explaining further. Only when these measures are taken can we begin to shut down the pervasive hatred that runs rampant through our world community. Emma Treadway is a firstyear from Amelia, Ohio. She can be reached at emmalt@ princeton.edu.

head news editor Claire Thornton ’19 associate news editors Allie Spensley ’20 Audrey Spensley ’20 Ariel Chen ’20 Ivy Truong ’21 associate news and film editor Sarah Warman Hirschfield ’20 head opinion editor Emily Erdos ’19 associate opinion editors Jon Ort ’21 Cy Watsky ’21 head sports editors David Xin ’19 Chris Murphy ’20 associate sports editors Miranda Hasty ’19 Jack Graham ’20 associate street editors Danielle Hoffman ’20 Lyric Perot ’20 digital operations manager Sarah Bowen ’20 chief copy editors Marina Latif ’19 Arthur Mateos ’19 Catherine Benedict ’20 head design editor Rachel Brill ’19 associate design editor Charlotte Adamo ’21 cartoons editor Tashi Treadway ’19 head photo editor Risa Gelles-Watnick ’21

NIGHT STAFF copy Kaitlyn Bolin ’21 Seoyoung Hong ’22 Fatima Sanogo ’22 Catherine Yu ’21 Sumanth Maddirala ’22 design Quinn Donohue ’20 Ava Jiang ’21

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Opinion

Wednesday October 10, 2018

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Born, again

The ‘She Roars’ case for blind grading

COURTESY OF TASHI TREADWAY

etween the recent “She Roars” conference and senior columnist Leora Eisenberg’s recent column on women’s treatment in precepts, we should be more aware of how biases (implicit, explicit, unintentional, and intentional) work in the classroom — especially relating to women and other groups that are stigmatized. While I cannot offer a solution to solve gross inequalities and biases, I can offer a solution to solve inequalities of grading that result from gross inequalities and bias — blind grading. The

administration, students, and professors should mandate, advocate, and adopt blind grading as a general “best practices” solution to help deal with bias in the classroom.

It can be uncomfortable to admit that perceived gender disparities and biases still infiltrate and matter in the classroom, especially when it comes to professors who believe they arbitrate grading fairly, rationally, and benevolently. Unfortunately, we know that our implicit biases are by definition subconscious

— and we know that they have a negative effect on women in the classroom in particular. Take this study of Israeli schoolchildren, in which women’s math scores were seen to decrease if the teachers knew their gender. Blind grading, therefore, enforces an even playing field between students. More than that, we ought to isolate the precept from the paper. Papers should be graded as independent works, not graded based on a student’s behavior in

precept. Indeed, if we consider that women often get to speak less in precept and are taken less seriously when they do speak in precept, and that precept performance has some effect on how teachers perceive a paper, then we could easily imagine that women would be then “double penalized” on their papers relative to male peers. The first penalty is a subconscious critical eye towards women, and the second penalty is a critical eye towards precept performance — hin-

dered, of course, by gender identity. The solution, naturally, is blind grading. By merely having students leave names off their papers (using their University ID numbers, or putting their names only at the back where the Honor Code is), the precept and the paper are neatly isolated. Indeed, one struggles to imagine how this could be in any way difficult to implement University-wide. To be sure, seminars or classes with handwriting could be somewhat more difficult for people to stay “blind,” but it also strikes me that most professors have better things to do then try and figure out who wrote a particular paper, or whose handwriting is most “boyish.” In sum, as Princeton attempts to make strides towards a more equal campus culture, a great deal of effort must be spent on the reparations towards the past and foresightedness into the future. But in the midst of painful self-discovery and great, powerful works to deal with Princeton’s past biases, the solution to present ones may be — at least in part — blind grading. Ryan Born ’19 is a senior columnist at The Daily Princetonian and a philosophy concentrator from Washington Township, Mich. He can be reached at rcborn@princeton.edu. This is part of a recurring weekly column on politics and pedagogy at Princeton and abroad.

You can flip an election all by yourself Daniel Miller

Guest Contributor

oung people don’t vote. At least, they

vote in much lower numbers compared to other age groups. According to a recent poll, only 28 percent of 18–29 year olds are “absolutely certain” to vote in November compared to 74 percent of those over 65. I can understand this. I never voted while in college — I’m Princeton Class of 2005 — and overall my voting history is spotty, at best, because even into my early 30s, I could not conceptualize a rationale for voting. Deep down, I wondered if my one vote actually mattered. So the question is: How do you convince young people that their vote matters? How do I convince you all, my fellow Princetonians, that your vote matters? Maybe the best way to answer this question is to ask another one. How would I have convinced my younger self, especially in college, about the importance of voting? Well, personally, I would have appreciated the truth and actual data rather than trite lectures on civic duty. So that’s what I’ll try with you. Now, it’s true that when elections for federal office are concerned, the margin for victory is usually significant, i.e. in the thousands. But once in a while Congressional elections are very close. The closest race

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in recent history was in 1994, when Samuel Gejdenson beat Edward Munster in Connecticut’s second Congressional district by 21 votes. 21 votes! Imagine a scenario in which the control of Congress hinges on 21 votes. Do you really want to not vote under those circumstances? The more cynical among you might point out that a 21-vote margin is 21 times the number of votes that each of you have. This is certainly an argument I would have made. Well, you’re right on one level, but you’re wrong on a much more important one. Because even though

a single vote might not make the difference (but do you really want to risk that with so much at stake?), a single voice could matter a lot. If you sit around complaining about how little an individual vote matters, you could encourage apathy in your friend group and beyond and could ironically end up mattering quite a bit by discouraging others from voting. Conversely, if you really wanted to matter in a positive way, you could take the opposite approach and actively convince your friends to vote. To be sure, I understand that a lot of you may not reside in a

competitive Congressional district. But you should know that Princeton is very near a competitive district where convincing others to vote could make a difference. You all are no more than an hour’s drive from volunteering in the NJ-07, a race that is a toss-up according to Cook Political Report. Still, at first glance, 21 votes does seem like a lot of votes, and I’m not just mimicking myself as college student. How long would it take to convince 21 people to vote for a given candidate? Recently, I drove 30 minutes from my home in the Democrat stronghold of Philadelphia and

volunteered for Andy Kim, a Democrat running for Congress in the NJ-3 in a very close race. When I walked into his campaign office, I saw a sign stating that knocking on 15 doors translated to 1 vote. Over the next three hours, I knocked on 45 doors, so my canvassing roughly translated to 3 votes, or about one per hour. (A more conservative estimate is about one vote per two hours.) I can’t even vote in that district, but it’s as if I’ve now voted three times! To get to the magic number of 21, I’d need to canvass for a total of 21 hours. That might seem like a lot, and I understand if you all have things to do on the weekend and can’t spare some or all of them between now and Nov. 6. (I certainly wouldn’t have. I studied a lot at Princeton. I also had a lot of fun.) So convince two of your friends to go with you and do a full day shift of canvassing. That’s the equivalent of 21 votes in a district you don’t even live in! I understand that we all want to make a difference. And when we don’t think we are making one, it’s easy to disengage. But there is a way to make a difference. I’ve just showed you how. So, fellow Princetonians, go vote. And volunteer.

Daniel Miller is an ’05 astrophysics concentrator from Chevy Chase, Md. He can be reached at daniemiller@gmail.com.

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Wednesday October 10, 2018

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Team 8 likely break more Ivy League records FOOTBALL Continued from page 8

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this season, an NFL team would need to play four extra games to match the scoring margin the Tigers would have. On offense, the Tigers would break the mark set by Yale’s 2014 team by almost 70 yards per game. Finally, in the rushing category, the Tigers would break the mark set way back in 1967 by Yale (299 rush yards per game) with almost 30 yards to spare. It is clear the Tigers are not just good; they are historic.

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Right now, the Tigers are playing elite football with a record-setting offense and a defense that isn’t far behind. Is playing at this level sustainable for the Tigers? We’ll see as the year goes on, as many people didn’t think scoring 66 points was attainable until they saw it this weekend. If the team does continue at this pace, not only will the Ivy League be rewriting the record books come season’s end, but Princeton may just be celebrating a season with a bonfire and a new banner to hang.

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Wednesday October 10, 2018

Sports

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{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } FIELD HOCKEY

No. 5 field hockey defeats Columbia, dominates No. 3 UConn in upset win By Molly Milligan Staff Writer

This past weekend was a big one for Princeton field hockey. On Friday night, the Tigers (10–3 overall, 3–0 Ivy) traveled to New York City to take on Columbia (6–4 overall, 2–1 Ivy) under the lights. At halftime, Princeton led by only one goal, but in the second period, the team added three more tallies. The commanding 4–0 win was sophomore striker Clara Roth’s sixth career multigoal game. For sophomore goalkeeper Grace Brightbill, the game was her collegiate debut, as she stepped into the net to replace junior Grace Baylis for the final 3:54. Princeton is now 21–1 all time against the Lions. The main attraction would be the Tigers’ Sunday afternoon meeting with the third-ranked UConn Huskies. Princeton last beat UConn (11–2 overall, 4–0 conference) during the 2012 National Championship season, but their most recent victory playing on the Huskies’ turf in Storrs, Connecticut, came in 2002. UConn came into the game having suffered just one loss this season, a two-goal defeat at the hands of No. 2 Maryland. The Tigers provided the only spark in an otherwise quiet first half of play, with

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Sarah Holland moved to No. 3 in the National Coaches’ Poll after their upset win over UConn .

Roth scoring her only goal of the match from the right end line. Freshman midfielder Hannah Davey added her second goal of the season just five minutes into the second half, but UConn countered quickly, scoring on the very next posses-

sion. Minutes later, junior fullback Maddie Bacskai, a first team All-American last season, pushed another ball into the net after a corner to give Princeton a two-goal lead. The next two goals would come in quick succession,

with UConn adding a second tally to bring the scoring margin to one. From that point on, the game was dominated by freshman striker Ali McCarthy. She netted two goals in less than two minutes to give the Tigers a three-point ad-

vantage. McCarthy’s first score came on a one-on-one with the UConn goalie, as she corralled a loose ball and slipped it by. She lined her second shot into the cage off a rebound for her first career multi-goal game. Princeton’s five goals in the 5–2 win were the most that UConn has allowed since October 25, 2013. The Tigers dominated the match, coming away with a 17–8 advantage in shots and a 10–5 lead in corners. It was a superb performance for the Princeton defense, allowing just two scores by the Huskies, who lead the NCAA with an average of 4.73 goals per game. Princeton also quieted UConn star Cecile Pieper, who is fourth in the nation with 3.09 points per game, holding her to no goals and just one shot. At press time, Princeton still sits at No. 5 in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches’ Poll behind North Carolina, Maryland, UConn, and Duke, but Sunday’s win will likely cause a shakeup in the rankings. The Tigers have lost to UNC and Maryland, but now have wins over both UConn and Duke. Princeton will face Brown at home on Friday. The Bears sit at 4–7 (0–3 Ivy), having beat Sacred Heart by a score of 3–2 on Sunday.

BEYOND THE NUMBERS

A look at football’s historic offense stats By Chris Murphy

Head Sports Editor

Anyone who has paid attention to the start of the football season has noticed one major trend: Princeton’s offense has been good. For the first few weeks, many of us chalked it up to Princeton playing in a scheme it knew well, going up against a slew of teams that were struggling to find defensive identities. However, now four weeks in, it doesn’t look like the offensive production is a fluke. After dropping 66 points on Lehigh this past weekend — more points than the basketball team scored in 12 of their games last season — it is becoming more and more clear that this offense is the real deal. Beyond that, through the first third of the season, the Princeton offense is not just great, it is also trending in a historic direction. As it stands right now, the Tigers — ranked 21st in the latest NCAA FCS poll — have the top offense in the FCS in terms of points and yards per game. Furthermore, the Tigers are fifth in third-down conversion rate, tied for ninth in fourth-down conversion rate, fourth in total rushing offense, and tied for seventh in turnover margin. Perhaps the most striking thing to note is that the Tigers still lead (or are ranked highly) in all of these categories, yet have played only four games

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Princeton’s 53 points per game put it second in the nation behind only Alabama (at 56).

compared to the five or six that most other teams have played to date. How does Princeton stack up compared to the rest of the Ivy League? On offense, the team leads the next closest Ivy League opponent, Dartmouth, by an astounding 15 points per game. Princeton is scoring two touchdowns more than even the next best offense in the Ivy League. Compared to the less efficient offenses in the league? The bottom two

Tweet of the Day “Did you enjoy Saturday? We think you had to Lovett. ” Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS)

offenses in the league combined, Brown (16.8 PPG) and Cornell (26.3 PPG), would still have almost 10 points less per game than the Tigers (53 PPG). In total offense, Princeton’s 607 yards per game is almost double that of the Ivy’s worst offensive team (Brown sits at 306.7) and over 160 yards better than the second best offense in the Ivy League (Yale with 440.8). Breaking down individual categories, Princeton leads the next

closest team in rushing by over 80 yards per game (327.8 vs. Dartmouth’s 245.8) and has the edge in passing yards per game over Yale by just a hair (273.3 vs. 273.0). Unsurprisingly, Princeton also has the most first downs per game out of the Ivy League teams, and the best third-down conversion rate. In almost all of the major offensive categories, the Tigers have a lead and more often than not, it is a commanding one.

While they are certainly not playing the same teams, for fun, let’s just take a moment to consider how Princeton’s offense stacks up against the FBS teams. For scoring, its 53 points per game would put it second in the nation, behind only the Alabama Crimson Tide (56 points per game). Its offense would lead the total yards category, surpassing the high-f lying Texas Tech offense by almost 16 yards more per game. Even though the Tigers are in a different subdivision, the fact that their offense not only equals, but surpasses, those that we watch in awe on TV each weekend shows just how good this offense has been to date. And if they keep it up, they will not just be good, but also record-setting. Head coach Bob Surace ’90 already has a few Ivy League records with regards to total offense, but if this team keeps up the pace, he’ll be blowing them out of the water. As it stands, the Tigers are on pace for 530 points by the end of the season, excluding any possible playoff games. If that trend continues (of course, that is a big “if”), the Tigers would beat their 2013 brethren for highest scoring offense in league history by almost 100 points. To put that in perspective, with the average NFL team scoring 24 points per game See FOOTBALL page 7

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Field hockey’s ranking in the latest iteration of the National Coaches’ Poll