The Daily Princetonian: October 15, 2019

Tuesday October 15, 2019 vol. CXLIII no. 89

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STUDENT LIFE

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ORL holds U.’s 4th annual Pumpkin Carving Event Contributor

Last Saturday, Oct. 12, marked the Office of Religious Life’s (ORL) fourth annual pumpkin-carving event for refugees and immigrants involved in organizations from across New Jersey and New York.

Immigrants, refugees, and University faculty and students gathered on Murray-Dodge’s lawn to carve and paint pumpkins, big and small. The event also featured an assortment of fall treats, such as apple cider, apple-cider donuts, and pumpkin pies.

“The purpose of the pumpkin carving event is to gather together refugee/migrant youth, Princeton students and invited community members in a fun and meaningful activity,” wrote Andie Ayala ’19, a former member of the University’s Religious Life Council, as well as the communications team of the ORL, in an email to The Daily Princetonian.

“This very inclusive American fall tradition allows all to participate, regardless of cultural background, faith tradition or

age,” she added.

This year’s pumpkin carving saw a record-high 90 non-University guests, according to Ayala.

While prior years had averaged around 30 to 40 visitors, this year the ORL worked with partners of the Religion and Resettlement Project to plan the event, resulting in a greater turnout. Last year, the ORL received a grant for the Project which, Ayala said, “increased the desire to work with different partners who work with refugees, especially as it is related to religion.”

The partnership inspired both the University and the Project to branch out to new organizations around the New Jersey and New York area. The ORL has worked with Catholic Charities in Camden and Interfaith-RISE in Highland Park in past years, but this year three more partners were added: Midtown Utica Community Center; The Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc, (LALDEF), Trenton; and Welcome Home, Jersey City.

According to Katherine

ON CAMPUS

Q&A with Lt. General Roméo Dallaire, Former Leader of UN Assistance Mission to Rwanda

By Rooya Rahin Contributor

Lt. General Roméo Dallaire was the Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

He visited the University as part of the lecture series at the Woodrow Wilson School.

The Daily Princetonian: How did you feel when you found out that your request [for international assistance] to [the United Nations] after sending the “Genocide Fax” was denied?

Lt. General Roméo Dallaire: Words can’t describe it, because we had been working, trying to garner what was happening. We knew that there were subversive elements at work and that there were extremists.

In the United Nations at the time we were not allowed to gather intelligence, because you were not allowed to do covert work. You were there because both sides wanted peace, and so if they both want peace, then you work with them transparently to bring peace. But what we were discovering was that there was one side that did not want peace, that had not even signed onto the peace agreement.

So, with this, we finally had enough material with the movement of weapons and weapons caches that this [an anti-Tutsi extermination plot] was being prepared. And what made me even madder than the answer that I got, that I could not conduct offensive operations because it was a Chapter Six mis-

In Opinion

sion and that they did not consider this to be part of my mandate, was the fact that political leadership of the mission didn’t believe it, either. And because the political leadership didn’t commit itself to that. They had a different perspective.

They influenced New York, also against my desire to be preemptive.

DP: So, it’s been 25 years now since the Rwandan Genocide. Do you believe that the international community’s stance of “Responsibility to Protect” has meaningfully evolved?

Dallaire: I have been asked that question, and my answer has been more and more deliberately that I’m holding the international community more accountable now than in the early ’90s, when we have Myanmar and things of that nature. Now we’ve got 25 years of institutions like the International Criminal Court, we’ve got [the] Responsibility to Protect doctrine. We’ve got the tools, but what we’re seeing is an ever increasing reticence of the political elites to engage in using these things. They were dominated more than even was possible in the past by self-interests, and unless there is a deliberate self-interest, they won’t engage.

And secondly, I’m holding the middle powers more accountable than the big powers for not taking actions and coalescing together to become activists in advancing the protection of people and their human rights, because they have See DALLAIRE page 3

Columnist Jae-Kyung Sim offers unique perspectives on taking a gap year, and contributing columnist Oliver Thaker portrays the singular racial conscientiousness of the 1940’s film Gentleman’s Agreement.

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ANDIE AYALA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Participants decorating and carving pumpkins at the Office of Religious Life event.

K. Clifton ’15, the coordinator of the Religion and Resettlement Project, the Project is a religious program that works to understand and respond to the role of religion in domestic refugee resettlement. Clifton dis-

cussed the consistent historical overlap between religion and refugee work.

The Project grant was an initiative to bring the local community and migrants together in direct contact.

“It became clear that there

BEYOND THE BUBBLE

was an interest in looking at the role of religion and the role of resettlement,” Clifton said. “The Office of Religious Life is a wonderfully receptive space for this kind of thinking, this kind See PUMPKINS page 2

STUDENT LIFE

USG discusses new voting platform for upcoming election

By Imaan Khasru Contributor

KHARKIV INVESTMENT FORUM / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“We need to rebuild diplomacy as the first resort to advance America’s interests and the front line of America’s defense,” Marie Yovanovitch ’80 said at the conclusion of her testimony.

Yovanovitch ’80 testifies in impeachment proceedings

By Mindy Burton Contributor

Former United States ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch ’80 testified in front of House committees on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Reform on Oct. 11, denying claims that she was “disloyal to President Trump.”

She also rejected the allegation that she had told the Embassy team to disregard Trump’s orders “since he was going to be impeached.”

Her testimony lasted over nine hours as part of the impeachment inquiry against Trump and was ordered by a subpoena after Democrats suspected that the State Department and the White House directed her not to testify voluntarily.

“This is the latest example of the Administration’s efforts to conceal the facts from the American people and obstruct our lawful and constitutionally-authorized impeachment inquiry,” the

Today on Campus

Intelligence Committee wrote in an Oct. 11 statement. “Any efforts by Trump Administration officials to prevent witness cooperation with the Committees will be deemed obstruction of a coequal branch of government and an adverse inference may be drawn against the President on the underlying allegations of corruption and coverup.”

Yovanovitch described her time as ambassador to Ukraine and said she was concerned by her early recall

by Trump on May 20. Trump removed her from the position three months early, following complaints from his personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani and other allies that she was obstructing their efforts to convince the Ukranian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.

Yovanovitch also said that she has had “minimal contacts” with Giuliani and does not know his “motives

The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) discussed voting procedures concerning the upcoming election for first-year representatives during its weekly meeting on Sunday, Oct. 13.

According to USG President Zarnab Virk ’20, the current voting platform used by USG — known as Helios — is outdated. She therefore called for a switch to a platform more up-todate with today’s technological advancements. The new platform used will be Election Runner.

This upcoming election for Freshman Class Council will utilize the “Approval Voting” system, wherein voters indicate approval of any number of candidates by selecting a checkbox next to the candidates’ names. The five candidates with the most approvals will be elected.

The voting process is set to begin on Monday, Oct. 14.

Another topic covered during the meeting was the funding request for the University’s first Soccer Conference. The two-day conference will feature 43 speakers and guests including industry professionals, academics, journalists, and current and retired players.

“It will provide a platform for the future of the sport and the soccer industry to be discussed by those at its forefront,” explained core organizer Jonny Hopcroft ’20. A request for $1,200 to

See YOVANOVITCH page 2

10:00 a.m.: Tiffany Jaeyeon Shin’s solo exhibition, “Universal Skin Salvation,” explores the ceaseless movement of living processes that connects the billion dollar pharma-cosmetic industry to a history of war and scientific experiments.

Wallace Dance & Theater

See USG page 2

WEATHER

By Uchechi Ihenacho

HIGH

65˚

LOW

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Sunny chance of rain:

10 percent

The Daily Princetonian

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Tuesday October 15, 2019

USG Senate recognizes five new The event also featured an student organizations on campus Orange Key campus tour PUMPKINS Continued from page 1

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IMAAN KHASRU / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Zarnab Virk ’20 called the current voting system outdated.

USG

Continued from page 1

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fund the conference was approved unanimously by the Senate.

The conference is set to take place on Saturday, Dec. 7, and Sunday, Dec. 8.

Additionally, the Senate moved to recognize five new clubs on campus, and

announced an initiative to increase USG’s transparency and accessibility to all undergraduate students on campus. This initiative includes the implementation of “Coffee Club Hours,” where any student can meet USG representatives at the campus’ Coffee Club to discuss concerns or ask questions regarding University issues.

The Senate also discussed projects to increase interconnectedness between University students and alumni. Potential plans include University-sponsored trips to the Princeton Club in New York, and on-campus Alumni Resource Fairs.

The Senate meeting was held in Lewis Library 120 at 8 p.m.

It’s amazing!

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

of work, this kind of convening.”

Visiting students such as Saw Day and Minh Hong, high school sophomores and members of the Midtown Utica Community Center (MUCC), came to the event to meet other people and learn more about life on the University campus.

“I wanted to see what a college looked like,’’ said Saw Day. This year, the ORL and Religion and Resettlement Project made the experience more immersive by incorporating an Orange Key Tour and a lunch, held at Whitman College, for visitors.

“This year we added lunch and [a] tour specifically for middle and high school aged kids to have them see what it’s like to live on a college campus and encourage them to start thinking about applying,” said Ayala.

The Office of Religious Life worked in conjunction with the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) of the Class of 2022. Anika Khakoo ’22, Class Officer and Social Chair for USG Class of 2022, said that the annual pumpkin carving partnership has developed into a tradition between the ORL and the sophomore class each year.

The sophomore class contributed to the event by “providing funding, organizational help, manpower,” said Khakoo.

In addition to the officers and coordinators, chaperones accompanied the events with their respective organizations.

Andrew Hieden is a member of the organization Wel-

Yovanovitch had ‘minimal contact’ with Giuliani YOVANOVITCH Continued from page 1

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come Home, a newly formed non-profit located in Jersey City working to help refugees, asylees, and asylumseekers resettle in Jersey City. According to Hieden, Welcome Home arrived at the event with 32 children and 11 adults, who originally hailed from Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Hieden said that the kids on the trip were excited to come to the University, especially since for many of them, it was their first time leaving Jersey City after immigrating to the United States. He said some of the girls were excited to see the campus architecture because of how it resembled “castles” that they had seen in Disney movies.

“It’s so hard to contain them because they want to see everything, there’s so much open space,’’ he said.

For some, the University’s “castles” were not the only novelty of the event. Some of the attendees’ parents had never encountered pumpkins prior to the event.

“When we were driving down we were trying to describe what a jack-o’-lantern is, what a pumpkin is, and what the holiday [Halloween] means, they had no conception of it — this is all new to them,” Hieden said. “I brought over pieces of pie and they said, ‘what kind of pie is it,’ and I said ‘pumpkin pies,’ and they said ‘what,’ and I said ‘these things are pumpkins and they went into the pie.’ They all had to try it.”

The pumpkin carving event ended with some participants carrying their pumpkins home and others leaving them to be displayed across Murray-Dodge for onlookers to admire.

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for attacking [her].”

“Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the President, I was nevertheless incredulous that the U.S. government chose to remove an Ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives,” she said, speaking generally of her service.

In response to accusations by former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutensko of spreading a “do not prosecute” list, Yovanovitch stated, “I have never myself or through others, directly or indirectly, ever directed, suggested, or in any other way asked for any government or government official in Ukraine or elsewhere to refrain from investigating or prosecuting actual corruption.”

Yovanovitch is seen as a key player in the impeachment proceedings, and a packet distributed within the Trump administration containing misinformation about her caused concern for many Representatives. She testified against the allegations that she aided in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and denied knowing Hunter Biden.

Yovanovitch has served as a Foreign Service Officer for the past 33 years across six presidential administrations, four of which were Republican and two Democrat.

She defended her career and her commitment to the office and service to the United States.

“Throughout my career, I have stayed true to the oath

that Foreign Service Officers take and observe every day: ‘that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;’ and ‘that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same,’” she said. “Like all foreign service officers with whom I have been privileged to serve, I have understood that oath as a commitment to serve on a strictly nonpartisan basis, to advance the foreign policy determined by the incumbent President, and to work at all times to strengthen our national security and promote our national interests.”

Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Giuliani’s associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who Yovanovitch claimed were working against her, have been subpoenaed and will testify soon. Trump’s former top advisor on Russia Fiona Hall and State Department officials George Kent and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl will also testify.

Yovanovitch ended her testimony describing her fears for the future of the nation.

“Today, we see the State Department attacked and hollowed out from within,” she said. “State Department leadership, with Congress, needs to take action now to defend this great institution, and its thousands of loyal and effective employees. We need to rebuild diplomacy as the first resort to advance America’s interests and the front line of America’s defense.”

Neither Yovanovitch nor the State Department responded to requests for comment.

Tuesday October 15, 2019

The Daily Princetonian

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Dallaire: I believe, in the next couple of centuries, we will resolve our differences without reverting to conflict DALLAIRE Continued from page 1

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sort of fallen just behind the big powers. So, they are letting the big powers call the shots, versus initiating middle power coalitions to actually reinforce regional capabilities to meet the challenges of the future.

DP: What would you consider those middle powers to be?

Dallaire: The Germanys, the Brazils, the Canadas, the Scandinavian countries, the Indias, a number of other European powers. I also think that the regional powers could be brought to bear, like the European Union could be brought to bear, the African Union, or the Organization of American States.

These are regional capabilities that could take on more of a deliberate role.

DP: There are many people in the international stage [who] consider the violence against the Rohingya people in Myanmar to be genocidal violence. Do you agree, and do you believe that the international response to that violence has been sufficient?

Dallaire: I totally agree with it, and I’ve articulated that publicly, in writing, near the start of the whole damn thing. And their response has been no response — which is a response, right? Not making a decision is a decision, and that’s what we’ve seen. Why? Selfinterest. People just didn’t see a value in it. And what I think could have maybe avoided the escalation … was getting in there to prevent a recruitment of child soldiers, which sustained the conf lict. It’s created a mass atrocities philosophy, because if you’re willing to recruit children to commit exactions like that, then that is, in my opinion, an early warning sign to mass atrocities and genocide. There’s only one step to go beyond local and conduct massive abuses of human rights.

DP: So, I know you retired from the Canadian Senate in 2014, mostly to focus on your Child Soldiers Initiative. Where do you believe the greatest inroads have been made in eradicating the presence of child soldiers, and which countries still have a long way to go?

Dallaire: The greatest inroads are being made in Africa, where there was a significant use of child soldiers. They’re being made by major African contributing countries. We’re seeing the Ghanas, we’re seeing the Rwandas, we’re seeing Sierra Leone, now we’re going to start seeing Nigeria, cause we’re starting to work in Nigeria internally. But they also have significant challenges. We’ve been in Somali with the Al-Shabaab, trying to get rid of them.

Somalia has been working hard to do that. In Nigeria,

we’re working with them to stop the Boko Haram, and the ISIS problem is evolving.

But essentially, we’re seeing Rwanda, Ghana as dominant countries in peacekeeping.

Senegal is in there; it’s part of the ongoing exercise.

Some are falling right behind it, like the Ugandas and so on, and others simply continue to just self-destruct themselves. We’re working extensively in South Sudan, where all sides are using child soldiers. So there’s a willingness, but they don’t seem to be able to bring it about. And so we hope the peace process now, we hope to inf luence it by getting them to agree to stop recruiting children. If we do that, we take away their mobilization base. If we ultimately get them around the table talking about kids, then might ultimately lead to something more.

DP: You’ve been very outspoken about your mental health issues and about PTSD after leading [and] serving in Rwanda. Do you have a hope or vision for military mental health awareness in the future?

Dallaire: I have [an] enormous amount of optimism on that side … In 1997, I was a two-star General, and I went public with my injury.

And that broke a lot of the log jams, in the stigma and in the interpretation that the troops have in regard to those who were injured mentally because military forces, security forces, in uniform, they’re very Darwinian and very intolerant to what they don’t see. There was a real problem in them accepting the fact that that injury was honorable. So, the great move forward was to recognize that being shot in the leg, losing an arm, and also having a lot of your grey cells completely rearranged and some destroyed was also as honorable. They’re also on the same plane, need the same sense of urgency to take care.

So, first was that, and that has gone a long way in getting the troops to what was available. The second thing is that 9 years ago, now going on just 10 years ago, we created a research requirement. We said, we can’t simply go into these conflicts and pick up the pieces and [think] hopefully we’ve got some solutions. We’ve got to research how to reduce the impact of ethical/moral trauma and dilemma on the troops that create many of these problems in these very complex and ambiguous missions that we find ourselves in.

So, we’ve got to see how we prepare them better to handle particularly the depth of moral trauma. One of the solutions being spirituality — not religion, but spirituality — and giving you more resilience. The second thing is that we needed research on how to handle the

JON ORT / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Lt. General Roméo Dallaire spoke with students in Robertson Hall.

problem better in the field.

You know, you’ve got the MASH [mobile army surgical hospital] units that will take care of a person if he’s physically injured. Where’s the MASH unit to take care of the guys and the girls that are psychologically injured?

Right?

So, it’s an injury that requires urgency in the field and what are the tools to do that. And ultimately, how do you handle them when they come back more effectively? And their families, and their families, because of communications nearly living in the trenches with the guys now, guys and girls. So how do you do that?

The research is now in its tenth year. We never had research on this before. And as an example, in Canada, there [are] 31 universities involved virtually in this research, and what we have discovered is that the civilian world, the border guards, prison guards, they’re all hurting too. Even the park rangers are hurting. And so, first responders, the police force and so on, are starting to build a greater capability based on the research the military [has] launched.

So, I’ve got a fair amount of optimism that we’re going to be moving, because the money and the interest is there. They’re realizing that these casualties afterwards can be terminal, because we’re losing still a lot to suicide … they’re also losing them as being experienced people [who] you spent a lot of money training [who] are now gone, because you can’t employ them anymore.

DP: Have you been back to Rwanda since serving there?

How did that feel to go back?

Dallaire: Several times.

First, I was very — it was like walking around with a teleprompter. So, I could see something, but I really saw what had happened.

And so, it was like going through hell again, a second time. Since then, there’s always sensitive components to it, because of very sen-

sitive events or things, but the nature of that country being so progressive and doing so much and moving the yard sticks to peace, it’s the second troop country to peacekeeping [in terms of contributing troops to UN peacekeeping operations].

They are very progressive in their employment of women, of technology and so on.

I am very encouraged when I go back.

DP: What are your thoughts on the Trump Administration’s foreign policy stance, especially with their actions with the Kurds and Turkey in Syria?

Dallaire: There is no limit to my disdain for that person. It is beyond me how a great nation with all this intellectual power and capability was able to ultimately able to find as its leader a person like that. I think that the policies that are being produced by that administration are policies that, as we used to say, we written on the back of a cigarette pack.

I consider the United States as a nation that has lost its moral reference in the world and has got to get its shit together before it continues to make things that much more complex and difficult for the rest of us.

DP: Do you believe the world is headed in some sort of linear direction, both politically and militarily? Are we on some sort of path?

Dallaire: I am of the school that believes that in the next couple of centuries, we will ultimately resolve the frictions of our differences without reverting to conflict, without having to destroy each other. I believe that because of international institutions but also because fundamentally, human rights are being recognized more and more as a fundamental premise of humanity, and not a creation by the West.

The more and more we continue to thrive to advance human rights and base our decisions on that and not purely on self-in-

terests, that we will achieve that. The greatest power behind that are those under 25 [years old] right now, the generation without borders, who are already global, because of the revolution with communications, what they carry in their hand. They can Skype anyone in the world pretty soon. To them, it’s just a small little place, and there are no borders.

DP: Do you believe that there are measures that the world can take today to prevent what happened in Rwanda from occurring again? Is there reform needed on the international stage?

Dallaire: Yes, and we can spend an hour on that. I think what is critical is that the countries realize that whenever there is conflict in the world, it will affect us, so take a different perspective of what self-interest is. The world is not isolated, so the rage of the developing world, the 80% of humanity still living in poverty, is now transportable worldwide, through electronic means and the ability to move and travel around countries at a reasonable price and the like.

With that being said, I think that there is an absolute need for us to be able to prevent conflicts in order to prevent massive refugee camps in which you have pandemics that spread and will come and haunt us at home. That you will stop these massive movements of populations that create rage and disparities, lead to extremism and ultimately terrorism. That conflicts in different parts of the world are affecting the diasporas that now exist in many of the developed countries.

That creates internal frictions.

And so, you must look at every conflict as having an impact on you. It is in your self-interest to prevent these conflicts because it prevents these dimensions from going well beyond the borders of that conflict.

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Opinion

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Do you want to be woke? Look to 1940s cinema Oliver Thaker

Contributing Columnist

A

fter discovering not too long ago a

soft spot in my heart for old cinema, I found myself equipped with a free library card and an idle summer itinerary, of which I took full advantage. This July I watched dozens of films: comedy, drama, Technicolor, black-and-white, musical, Western, and more.

Most Golden Age films I watched remained relatively far from modern reality in terms of screenplay, plot, and dialect, yet I appreciated the escape (albeit not the sexism).

Perhaps the most unexpected consequence of my silver screen spree, however, was a counterexample to this pattern: my discovery of one particular film whose nuanced treatment of ethnic discrimination still rung true today.

Hint: it’s not the movie your English teacher probably forced you, glassy-eyed and on the verge of slumber, to watch at some point in your formative years. This film saw Gregory Peck star as a single father struggling to grapple with racial disparities and their effect on his relationships with family.

“Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947), directed by Elia Kazan, predated “To Kill a Mockingbird” by some 15 years, yet, provides a more comprehensive introduction to the concept of systemic racism than any other film — contemporary or otherwise — that I have seen. To describe Gregory Peck’s character as “woke” would be quite apt, to say the least.

The protagonist, Phil Green (portrayed by Peck,) is a magazine reporter who pretends

to be Jewish and documents his experiences in a series.

Matters become more complicated when, by experiencing discrimination firsthand, Phil garners a deeper understanding of anti-Semitism, contrary to that of his fiancée, Kathy (Dorothy McGuire).

The scenes in “Gentleman’s Agreement” clarify my own understanding as to why racial discrimination pervades so many different aspects of my own life.

As a half-Asian person, my race is not recognizable. When they first see me, some people assume I am white, while others assume I am Asian. Thus, I lie in an awkward position — alongside many other multiracial people — in which I am unaware what a given person knows about my race.

The film devotes some attention to this personal topic.

Professor Lieberman, a character in “Gentleman’s Agreement” bearing an uncanny resemblance to a certain iconic frowzy-haired Princetonian, finds himself in a similar position with regards to his religious identity to mine with my racial identity.

An important consequence of ambiguity — racial or religious — is the ability to decide one’s identity in official settings, such as in applications to jobs or colleges. Professor Lieberman entertained pretending he was Christian, so as to permanently escape anti-Semitism, but found that his pride in his Jewish identity overpowered any inclination to mitigate discrimination.

I, likewise, find my Chinese heritage so inseparable to my identity that I am unable to identify myself as simply white in any written survey.

In fact, I experienced an instance of this dilemma apply-

ing to Princeton. Although I had no reason to believe Princeton systematically discriminated against Asian-American applicants, some harrowing admissions statistics, as well as the now overturned district ruling on Harvard’s discrimination lawsuit, loomed over each step of my college process. While circling “white” on my application may have increased my chances of acceptance, it also would have erased my ever-important ancestry. I opted for “Asian” instead, prioritizing my cultural pride over my future chances, just as Professor Lieberman did in “Gentleman’s Agreement.” Fortunately for me, I got my cake and ate it too, at least that time.

Application denials based on identity can, however, affect lives most notably in housing. The film articulated this clearly by portraying Dave, a Jewish character who receives a high-paying job offer in New York City, unable to find a place to live in New York or in Connecticut due to the titular gentleman’s agreements that restricted renting homes to Jewish tenants. Anti-Semitism here literally restricts Dave’s freedom to live.

I live near Baltimore, where so many particularly AfricanAmerican families find themselves stuck in neighborhoods lacking adequate schools, hospitals, grocery stores, and wages. A history of hundreds of years of housing discrimination still renders moving difficult, especially for racial minorities. Where we live, though, affects all aspects of our lives: our jobs, our education, our medical care, etc.

In sum, modern notions of identity that affect me on a personal basis, such as the nuanced decision-making conse-

quence of passing societally as white and the city-shaping legacies of race-based housing discrimination, are not modern at all; rather, they have been well-documented. at least since 1947.

“Gentleman’s Agreement” covers many other avatars of racial discrimination, such as micro-aggressions, subconscious bias, privilege, and the visceral discomfort so many of us face about race. The film did not go unnoticed either, obtaining the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Despite the apparent futility of fighting the omnipotent machine of racial discrimination inhabiting practically all aspects of modern society, “Gentleman’s Agreement” preaches hope. Because inaction abets discrimination, any direct confrontation of intentional or — as so much bias is — subconscious racial discrimination helps our society.

“I’ve come to see that lots of nice people who aren’t [antiSemites], people who despise it and detest it and deplore it and protest their own innocence help it [anti-Semitism] along and then wonder why it grows,” Phil states.

Such monologue, with Peck’s captivating oration, exemplifies the appeal of “Gentleman’s Agreement” — the film explicates concepts in their full complexity, while still remaining exciting to watch. From “Gentleman’s Agreement,” we receive two great benefits: a lesson in pressing societal issues and a brilliant exhibit of cinematic art.

Oliver Thakar is a first-year from Owings Mills, Maryland. He can be reached at othakar@princeton. edu.

Take a gap year Jae-Kyung Sim Columnist

A

s a sophomore, it is a daily occur-

rence for me to hear my friends utter phrases such as “maybe I’ll take a gap year,” “I need a break,” or — best yet — “I think I’ll drop out.” There are a lot of stress factors here at Princeton — academically and socially — and sophomore year seems to be around the time when people start to feel the effects of an approaching burnout.

But the fact of the matter is, not many of these people will actually follow through with such utterances. Sure, work is hard and everything, but the vast majority of students are afraid of the uncertainties of taking a gap year, whether they be changing graduation year, recruiting, friendship dynamics, etc. As people, and especially as Ivy League students, we all tend to be quite risk-averse. At the moment, taking a gap year may feel like a significant risk.

To those people, I say, take a gap year. More likely than not, you won’t regret it.

As for myself, I am an international and a Korean cit-

izen — which means that I am obligated to take not one, but two gap years to serve in the military, and I will most likely be leaving after this year to do my service. While my thoughts, initially, were similar to how most other people reacted when I told them that I’d be gone after sophomore year — a mix of denial, apathy, and sympathy — I do now think it may be a necessary break from the high-pressure environment of the University.

An academic break could do wonders for your mental health, as well as for your future. I see a lot of students at this University — including myself — often relentlessly chasing short-term goals, such as a problem set, grades, or the next big recruiting event without really taking the time to think about the big picture. As former Yale professor William Deresiewicz puts it in his book, elite students can easily become “excellent sheep” — professionals who chase vague notions of success and status, but never really have a deeper sense of motivation for why they do what they do.

A gap year gives us time for more introspective eval-

uation and some thinking about what we want to do and, more importantly, why we want to do it. In such a fast-paced, high-pressure environment like Princeton’s, this kind of “thinking to oneself” is incredibly difficult. When you finish one problem set, the next one is due by, say, next Tuesday.

We end up pushing off the idea of “introspection” until we completely run out of time. Before we know it, we graduate.

At some point, this cycle needs a break. This is not a criticism of the University’s education or the environment; I strongly believe that the curriculum offered by this University is the best that any institution could offer. But there does exist a firm distinction between mindlessly taking classes versus engaging with the curriculum with a greater sense of purpose — a better idea of and satisfaction with how we could take advantage of the broad opportunities offered here.

A gap year is precisely the opportunity to gain a greater sense of purpose and to get to know yourself better. It’s not just introspection you could be doing with a whole year.

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You could perhaps travel to other locations, spend time with family, or complete a couple internships in areas of work that you were interested in but never dared to explore during the summers — summers that were generally reserved for more prestigious tech/finance/consulting internships. One year of break will not only prepare you better for Princeton but also broadly for your career path and life.

People do not know what they’re missing from within the Orange Bubble. We frequently worry about being left behind, things changing on campus, etc. But really, the University will always be here — and in fact, will be more willing than not to support your gap year endeavors.

So if you are burnt out, or feel as if you are slowly losing motivation, perhaps you need a vacation. And not just over the summer, but for a year. During college could really be the last time you could take a good break — and you should take full advantage of it.

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

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

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{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Princeton women’s volleyball earns key Ivy victories over Brown, Yale

By Nancy Tran Staff Writer

After its first loss in Ivy play against Cornell last week, the Women’s Volleyball team (8–6, 4–1 Ivy) faced Brown (9–6, 1–3) and Yale (9–5, 4–1) this past Saturday and Sunday. The Tigers won both games, beating Brown in four sets and Yale in three.

In a narrow first set against the Bears, the Tigers won by four points. Brown took the lead in the first few points, leaving Princeton trailing 5–0. It wasn’t until the two teams were tied 17–17 that Princeton started winning rallies and forced Brown to make several hitting errors, which solidified the set win.

In the second set, both Princeton and Brown started off strong, siding out every other point. Then, several ball handling errors by the Bears gave the Tigers a comfortable cushion, which they used to their advantage, winning the set 25–15. The Tigers lost the third set, but they were able to finish the game in four. Leading the Tigers in their offensive game was senior outside hitter Natasha Skov, with 20 kills. Senior setter Jessie Harris had 36 assists, and sophomore libero Cameron Dames finished the game with 19 digs.

Ending the game against Brown 3–1 in the Ivy League, the Tigers continued against the Yale Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon. Yale, the reigning Ivy League champions, came into the game on an eightmatch win streak, with no

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Natasha Skov had 20 kills against Brown on Friday.

losses in the Ivy League. The Tigers had fallen to Cornell last week, so they needed this game to end the first round of Ivy play strong. In the first set, the Tigers remained in the lead the whole time, never letting the Bulldogs flip the score. Senior right side hitter Maggie O’Connell, started off the game with a kill and ended off the first set with a total of six to help the Tigers battle against the Bulldogs, winning 25–19.

The second set started off tight, with Yale closely trailing Princeton until one of O’Connell’s hits was blocked, leaving the score tied 10–10.

Then, a kill by senior outside hitter Devon Peterkin gave the Tigers back their lead, which they didn’t lose for the rest of the set, and won 25–14.

The third set didn’t start off as close as the second one.

A combination of kills by Yale and hitting errors made

by Princeton put the Bulldogs 4–0 in the first couple

of minutes. Later in the set, both teams were equally matched, tying the score five times. Then, the Tigers were able to break away and rack up several kills to put them ahead, ending the set 25–17, and the match 3–0.

Harris contributed 38 assists and 11 digs to secure the win over Yale, followed by 11 kills from junior middle blocker Clare Lenihan, 11 kills from O’Connell, and 10 kills from Peterkin.

The win against the Bull-

dogs puts the Tigers in second place in the Ivy League, trailing only Cornell.

Princeton’s next competitors will be the Harvard Crimson, which Cornell beat 3—1 on Saturday. Last year, the Tigers fell to the Crimson in the first round of Ivy play in a three set shutout, but won 3–0 in the second round.

Princeton vs. Harvard will take place on Friday at 7 p.m. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the game will be streamed on ESPNU.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Princeton women’s soccer falls 1–0 as Brown remains unbeaten in Ivy play

By Isaac Goldston Contributor

After being the beneficiary of an overtime goal last weekend, Princeton (4–5–2, 1–2 Ivy) was defeated 1–0 by Brown (9–1–1, 3–0 Ivy) in Providence on Saturday thanks to a late goal by Brown’s freshman forward Ava Seelenfreund in its third match in Ivy League play .

This was a game in which Princeton struggled to create much in the way of chances, mustering only one shot on goal in 90 minutes. While the Tigers kept Brown at bay until the late goal by Seelenfreund, the warning signs came early with Brown junior striker Star White flashing a shot wide just thirteen minutes into the action.

Brown went close again just minutes later as a strike by sophomore defender Lauren Hinton forced a good stop from Princeton’s record holding goalkeeper, senior Natalie Grossi. A mere 30 seconds later a chance fell to senior midfielder Abby

BEVERLY SCHAEFER / GOPRINCETONTIGERS.COM

Abby Givens generated Princeton’s only shot on goal against Brown.

Carchio which forced a last-ditched block from the Princeton defense. Brown was knocking on the door.

However right before half-time, a chance fell to Princeton freshman de-

fender Madison Curry that required a block from the Brown defense to avert the danger.

The second half started in a similar fashion as the first.

Ten minutes into the period

Brown’s freshman forward Brittany Raphino forced Grossi into a good stop with a shot from inside the box.

Eight minutes later, Raphino came close again, drawing an excellent save from

Grossi at point-blank range after a defensive miscommunication. But minutes later came the Tigers’ best chance of the game, with a header from senior forward Abby Givens drawing a strong stop from the Brown goalkeeper. Princeton’s inability to make use of the limited chances it had came back to hurt them as Seelenfreund rose to head an excellent cross from Brown defender Maesyn G’bye into the far corner for the game’s only goal.

Saturday’s loss leaves the Tigers third from bottom in the Ivy league standings.

Brown’s third win in Ivy League play puts them at the top of the standings, tied on points with Harvard.

Princeton plays Lehigh at home Tuesday, Oct. 15 before returning to Ivy League play to take on Columbia on Saturday, Oct. 19. After that, Princeton will have only Ivy League games remaining, as the team looks to bounce back from two early conference losses to climb the Ivy standings.

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14 games

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Princeton football has won 14 consecutive games.