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Wednesday October 9, 2019 vol. CXLIII no. 85
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BEYOND THE BUBBLE
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
Q&A with Fatima Gross Graves
Peebles GS ‘62 wins Nobel Prize
By Naomi Hess Staff Writer
By Rooya Rahin Contributor
On Tuesday, Oct. 8, University Albert Einstein Professor Emeritus of Science James Peebles GS ’62 was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology.” Peebles shares the 2019 prize with two other physicists, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Peebles has been awarded half of the prize, while Mayor and Queloz will share the other half. Peebles joins a number of University faculty and alumni who have been awarded the Nobel Prize. He has also published a number of books considered “classics” in his field, according to the Office of Communications. His upcoming book, “Cosmology’s Century, An Inside History of Our Modern Understanding of the Universe,” will come out in June 2020 from Princeton University Press. Peebles was born in Manitoba, Canada, in 1935 and received his B.S. from University of Manitoba in 1958. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in physics from the University in 1962, where he quickly became an instructor, and would continue to teach at the University for his entire career. He transferred to emeritus status in 2000. In the afternoon of Oct. 8, the University held a press conference and reception to celebrate Professor Peebles and his achievements. Professor Peebles was joined on stage See NOBEL PRIZE page 2
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LICHENSTEIN INSTITUTE ON SELF-DETERMINATION
Graves is the president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.
The Daily Princetonian spoke with Fatima Goss Graves, the President and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center. She cofounded the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund and serves as an adviser on the American Law Institute Project on Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct on Campus. She previously served as the Senior Vice President for Program and Vice President for Education and Employment at the National Women’s Law Center. She visited the Wilson School on Oct. 7–8 through the Leadership through Mentorship program. Below is a lightly edited and condensed tran-
script of the conversation. What made you decide to devote your career to advancing women’s rights? I grew up in a social-justice family. I learned about the power of the law as a source for change really through the stories of my family. My father and his siblings were the lead plaintiffs in a case to desegregate Knoxville, Tennessee, public schools. For me, I always really understood that my work could be social- justice work, and that I could use the law. I am not sure that I knew across the course of my life that I would absolutely devote my career to gender-justice questions. But when I look back on my See GRAVES page 3
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
Yovanovitch ‘80 dismissal tied to impeachment inquiry By Mindy Burton Contributor
On Oct. 4, the United States Department of State’s Inspector General revealed an attempt to bring down former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch ’80, who Democrats see as a key player in the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, to congressional aides. The whistleblower complaint that initiated the proceedings alleged that Yovanovitch’s ousting as ambassador was one of several actions that amounted to Trump’s abuse of presidential power. The complaint disclosed
that a packet of documents containing misinformation about Yovanovitch had been sent to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and circulated internally within the Trump administration. Many members of Congress expressed concern of the packet being used as part of a wider plot by Trump to damage political opponents ahead of the 2020 presidential election. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (D), a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, explained his fears of Trump’s harmful and unprovoked attacks on Yovanovitch in a statement, writing, “These documents
provide further evidence of a concerted, external effort to conduct a disinformation campaign against a career U.S ambassador, who has been the subject of baseless attacks, including by the president himself.” Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin (D) voiced his concerns about the precedent the packet may have set. “The existence of this packet and its curious history raises profoundly troubling questions,” he told reporters. “Why was Secretary of State Pompeo in possession of this packet of disinformation? Why did he distribute and circulate it? To whom else did he distribute and circu-
late it?” Personally recalled by Trump two months early from her diplomatic role in Ukraine, Yovanovitch is now scheduled to provide a deposition to investigators from the House committees on intelligence, foreign affairs, and oversight on Oct. 9. Trump’s personal lawyer and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, as well as other external allies of the president, have repeatedly scrutinized and criticized Yovanovitch. They claim that her personal Democratic leanings and anti-corruption work had undermined Trump and obstructed his efforts to See YOVANOVITCH page 2
ON CAMPUS
Juliana Ochs Dweck named chief curator of University Art Museum By James Anderson Contributor
See page 6 STUDENT LIFE
Literary scholar Jeffrey Miller ‘06 named 2019 MacArthur Fellow By Zoya Guahar Contributor
Literary scholar and University alum Jeffrey Miller ’06 was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, informally known as a “Genius Grant,“ on Sept. 25 for his analyses of the writing process during the Reformation and the Renaissance. Alongside the honor, Miller will be receiving a grant for $625,000, given over five years,
In Opinion
on behalf of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Miller graduated from the University in 2006, with an A.B. from the Department of English. He went on to receive a MSt in 2007 and DPhil in 2012 from the University of Oxford. Dr. Miller currently holds the title of Associate Professor in the Department of English at Montclair State University. He joined the faculty at Montclair,
Senior Columnist Liam O’Connor argues that based on his extensive, months-long investigation into the geography of the University’s student body, students from rich places are highly overrepresented. PAGE 6
located in New Jersey, in 2012. “It still doesn’t quite feel real that I’ve been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, and I’m sure it doesn’t yet (or likely ever will) feel justified!” Miller wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian. “But I’m obviously extremely honored, and one of the best aspects of it is the way it brings powerfully to mind all the people who have inspired and helped me over the years.” See MACARTHUR page 4
Juliana Ochs Dweck has been appointed to the newly created role of chief curator at the Princeton University Art Museum. Dweck has worked in the museum as Andrew W. Mellon curator of academic engagement since 2010. Her appointment comes just before a three-year transition beginning in 2020 as the current museum building is replaced by an updated facility to be designed by architect Sir David Adjaye of Adjaye Associates. In her new role, Dweck will direct the museum’s educational programs and oversee nine of the museum’s 11 curators, of a total museum staff of about 115. “She rose to the top very much because she made the very strong argument for the kind of intellectual leadership that we needed in that role,” Museum Director James Steward said. Each curator catalogs and interprets the collection in his or her area of expertise, but Steward said that the aim of creating the new position was to “ensure that cross-departmental, crossdisciplinary, cross-cultural conversations are happening rather than allowing curators to operate in a more siloed model.” Dweck earned a B.A. and M.A.
Today on Campus 4:30 p.m.: “Superheroes on the Couch” features presentations on the way in which superhero films serve as mirrors of our time and culture. Lasley Brahaney Architecture Betts Auditorium
at Yale University and a Ph.D. in social anthropology at the University of Cambridge. She has previously worked at the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of American Jewish History, the National September 11 Museum, Yeshiva University Museum, and the Jewish Museum of Maryland. She served as Program Chair for the 2018 Council of American Jewish Museums and wrote “Security and Suspicion: An Ethnography of Everyday Life in Israel” in 2011, in which she criticized Israeli security practices. She has curated roughly 50 exhibits since joining the University, including “Miracles on the Border: Retablos of Mexican Migrants to the United States” (2019), “Time Capsule 1970: Rauschenberg’s Currents” (2019), “Picturing Protest” (2018), and “Surfaces Seen and Unseen: African Art at Princeton” (2016). Dweck said the design of the museum is developing, but she hopes to expand the exhibits on African and Latin American art. In an email to The Daily Princetonian, Dweck wrote that much of her work has been creating interpretive panels for each exhibit to “mediate the relationship between the object See ART page 3
WEATHER
In Opinion: Geography is destiny at Princeton
HIGH
56˚
LOW
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Rain chance of rain:
80 percent