At closed meeting, faculty postpone vote on controversial proposals to April
Following procedural debate, faculty voted with a razor-thin margin to postpone voting on controversial proposals and to form an ad-hoc committee to research faculty-wide statements at the highly-anticipated Oct. 21 faculty meeting. The motion passed 166-156-7, a number corroborated by professors present.
The meeting’s events were largely dictated by a group of six elected tenure-track faculty, the Faculty Advisory Committee on Policy (FACP). At the start of the meeting, they proposed a motion to postpone all agen-
da items until the meeting scheduled for April 28, 2025, and also unanimously voted to close the meeting to the public, including the press.
According to a report attached to the meeting agenda obtained by The Daily Princetonian, this was done to encourage faculty to speak freely and to simplify procedures “so that more time can be devoted to debate motions, if necessary.” According to the faculty in the room, little debate took place, and the meeting lasted just an hour.
Two opposing camps of professors planned to push through votes on their respective agenda items. One faculty coalition hoped to advocate
for pro-Palestine causes, while the other sought to impose neutrality from the faculty on political statements.
“The faculty neutrality people were opposed to postponement,” Math professor Peter Ozsváth GS ’94 — who identified as a part of the group — told the ‘Prince.’
According to Ozsváth, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 shared that he was in favor of postponing the meeting, along with other administrators.
“There was a lot of administrative support for postponement,” he added. “And I think the activists
The PROSPECT
A broke college student goes undercover: Inside the new Hermès store
By Amanda Hugas | Contributing Prospect Writer
Tucked in a corner on Palmer Square, a new addition to the fashion scene of Nassau’s collection of boutiques, thrifts, and mainstream stores has a unique unveiling to Princetonians. A once ominous store corner waiting to reveal its secrets has finally opened its elite doors in a colorful display of luxury goods ranging from furniture to clothes; and yes, I said furniture. Regarded as the king of high luxury, Hermès is known for their incredible handmade craftsmanship with their bags such as the Kelly and Birkin bags. While I wasn’t expecting a Birkin offer anytime soon, that didn’t stop me from exploring the seemingly hidden products behind the door.
Entering the store, I was promptly greeted by a guard. Making quick eye contact and quicker small talk, I could tell my entire being was judged from head to toe. Though I attempted to blend in with the ideal customer, hiding my true intentions behind well-layered clothes and decorated gold accessories, something in his gaze could tell I wasn’t all I claimed to be. Given a curt nod and encour-
Dean’s Date, as you know it, is over
By Luke Grippo News Contributor
Dean’s Date will no longer be the universal deadline for final papers, projects, and problem sets beginning in Spring 2025, when written assignments will begin to be staggered across the final exam period. The decision comes as a response to student concerns regarding assignment pile-up and arranging suitable travel arrangements around the holidays and breaks.
Dean’s Date is the final date all written coursework “including term papers, homework assignments, lab reports, and projects” can be submitted. The date is set by the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing and marks the last day of reading period.
In a statement to the The Daily
Princetonian, Associate Dean of Academic Advising Cecily Swanson and Senior Associate Dean of the College Anne Caswell wrote that, “The goals of the reformed schedule are to decompress final deadlines and to aid end-of-term planning by releasing final assessment dates for all courses at an earlier date that was possible before. It will eliminate the pile-up of multiple papers due on Dean’s Date that many students currently experience, and will allow students and faculty to make travel plans much further in advance.”
Dean’s Date will remain the final day of reading period and the final deadline for all work due during the instructional period.
Last academic year, a committee consisting of the Office of the Dean Of the College (ODOC)
100-LEVEL CLOSED AFTER SUSPICIOUS SUBSTANCE DISCOVERED NEAR COMPUTER
Deans, the University registrar, and administrators from the McGraw Center for Learning, was formed to address these concerns. The Faculty approved the committee’s proposed new schedule at the September meeting.
According to Srista Tripathi ’25, former chair of the USG Academics Committee, ODOC reached out to the student Academics Committee to gain student perspective on Dean’s Date. The USG Academics Committee, in collaboration with ODOC, sent out Google Forms to the student body to collect feedback on how students felt about their preparation time and coursework during finals week. Tripathi shared that during the Academics Committee’s discussions, student members noted how international stu-
dents and out-of-state students face difficulties booking travel around the date, particularly around the holidays of the fall term.
The committee also discussed the issue of equity, noting a larger percentage of Dean’s Date assignments were concentrated in the humanities, while STEM departments had staggered finals. Ultimately, the change in Dean’s Date will lead to a more “equitable schedule,” Tripathi said.
This change comes as the University has made efforts to alleviate the burden of travel during reading and finals period. The University announced in February that for the Spring 2024 term, the number of exams students are allowed to take would increase from one to two per day, giving students more options regarding travel.
agement to voice any concerns as I wandered the store, I kept my distance from the suspicious guard. As I took in the layout of the store, I was struck by how much it stuck out from what I was used to in my previous shopping experiences. No signs made attempt to convince my wallet to open, but my empty bank account wasn’t going to complain — yet.
To my right, a makeup line I never knew existed was displayed neatly and plainly. Continuing the business model of an absence of flashy signs or fast deals, it didn’t draw my attention as much as the scene to my right. Following a more museum-based approach, scarves were tied or draped on matching expensive racks. The surrounding decor was designed to highlight the variety of scarves, some a soft silk and others a more hessian-type fabric containing embroidered detailing. The more common silk variant had abstract designs and vivid imagery ranging from clouds to watches, all in shades of beige or in the Hermès signature orange. To me the store felt like what my
See HERMÈS page 15
This semester, the University announced the finals schedule a month earlier on Aug. 21 to give students more time to make suitable travel plans.
To accommodate travel concerns and assignment pile-up, ODOC stated to the ‘Prince’ that “The Registrar will publish final assessment deadlines for all courses before the start of each term.”
For now, Swanson and Caswell shared in their statement that more information on assessment deadlines is forthcoming.
“Undergraduates will receive details very soon.”
Luke Grippo is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
This Week In History
This week, 23 years ago, America experienced a national attack where many people received letters containing the deadly poison anthrax. At around the same time, Princeton students received a similar scare when they discovered a suspicious powder at the Frist Campus Center, sparking fear and uncertainty in students.
By Olivia Sanchez Associate News editor
CALVIN K. GROVER / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Faculty congregate outside of Alexander Hall.
University spent more than $60,000 replacing stolen dishes
By Charlie Roth Senior News Editor
In the past two years, the University has spent over $73,000 replacing plates, bowls, and silverware in dining halls, according to data obtained by The Daily Princetonian.
University data shows that Choi dining hall, located in Yeh College and New College West, has alone spent nearly $44,000 in the past two years replacing 4,440 plates and 2,240 bowls. The remaining $29,000 comes from replacing 20,400 forks, 5,460 knives, 5,580 bouillon [soup] spoons, and 2,520 teaspoons.
The expense mainly comes from individuals pocketing dishes and other tableware from the dining hall and taking them into common spaces and dorm rooms. A spokesperson for the University said that they expect 10–15 percent of the tableware to break, meaning that about $62,470–$66,145 is spent on replacing lost tableware.
For comparison, tuition for the 2024–25 academic year is $62,400.
Dirty plates are frequently scattered around the Yeh and NCW common spaces. Jaime Chen ’25, a Yeh RCA, told the ‘Prince’ that when RCAs are on-call — shifts where they monitor students on nights out — looking after those dishes is a considerable part of their job.
“Most of the things that we log are really just issues of dishes being left around the college,” Chen said. After those logs, the RCAs are instructed to remind their Zees to return dishes to the dining hall and keep common spaces clean.
The college staff is well aware of the issue. Last spring, the Yeh college office included a graphic at the top of its weekly newsletters to students that read, “Keep our halls free from mice and pests! Return dishes to the dining hall and clean up any trash left behind!” Additionally, there was a “Yeh Community Cleanup” day on April 29, with pictures advertising the day including stacks of dishes in common spaces.
Residents have observed mice due
to dirty plates left in common spaces. Sophia Vernon ’27, who lives in New College West, said she had to file a Facilities work order last year after she found mice in her room on the fifth floor of Addy Hall.
“There’s sometimes mice even on higher floors because people take so many dishes with food on them up to their rooms,” she told the ‘Prince.’ “And then, of course, the mice go where the food is.”
Campus Dining is also aware of the issue, but Assistant Vice President of Campus Dining Nadeem Siddiqui says he isn’t too concerned.
“I think their intent is to bring it back,” Siddiqui told the ‘Prince’ in an interview. “I think part of it is that, unfortunately, [students are] scheduled. I don’t think anybody is intentionally taking it.”
“We have custodial staff on each floor that have been always helpful to see something [and] will bring it back to us … It would be nice to have things come back,” he continued. “I think things have improved, at least
since I’ve been here. But the plates over at Yeh/West are the nicest ones, so they seem to have more legs than others. I think that’s just the nature of it.”
The $36,000 annual cost of replacing tableware is only 0.08 percent of the Campus Dining budget, which Siddiqui says is about $42 million. Siddiqui told the ‘Prince’ that if the cost was reduced, the money would go towards reducing Campus Dining’s subsidy from the University.
“We would have less subsidy, which we want to do, because that money can go [towards] much better causes at the University and the mission they have,” Siddiqui said.
Siddiqui says that soon-to-be-built dining halls will be built in the same setup as Yeh/NCW.
“I think the intent we’re moving towards is that the cashier will be just in the servery area and open seating for everybody to kind of come together,” Siddiqui said. “You want people to meet with you who are not on the meal plan. They should be able to eat together without having to worry
about them.”
“Forbes is on a renovation path right now, and, when Hobson opens, they’ll [both] have the same structure as the Yeh/West cashier,” Siddiqui continued. “When you’re building community, it’s really difficult to say, ‘you’re [in] an eating club like you don’t have a meal plan.’ Let’s just say you want to meet somebody here, either you have to pay to eat a meal that you don’t want [or] have a discussion.”
“It doesn’t seem to me a very good structure for a residential program — nickel-and-diming students when you really want to feel like everybody’s equal and they can have a connection,” he said. “That’s how Princeton is moving.”
Charlie Roth is a senior News editor, assistant Data editor, education director, and Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Princeton implements interactive guides detailing campus building accessibility
all accessible entrances, restrooms, elevators, and accessibility features in buildings campus-wide.
This fall, Princeton became the first U.S. university to partner with AccessAble, a disability access organization that recently expanded into the United States. Princeton has launched interactive AccessAbility guides, allowing students, alumni, and visitors to see
The website additionally highlights its accessibility symbols guide with 39 features that detail the specifics of accessibility for all students on campus. These symbols denote a variety of accessibility features — ranging from automatic door markings to braille sig-
nage to step-free restroom locations. Users can search for specific buildings for location-specific information. For instance, a symbol of two rectangles with outward-facing arrows signifies that there are “automatic or no doors at entrance” and the outline of a harnessed dog signifies the presence of “facilities for service animals.”
University Young Alumni Trustee Naomi Hess ’22, who uses a wheelchair, said that the changes were much needed. Before the implementation of the map and guide, Hess and other students have described significant challenges accessing significant buildings around campus.
Describing her first experience accessing the Rocky-Mathey Dining Hall via wheelchair, Hess noted circling the courtyard for 20 minutes because she could not find the sole accessible entrance.
“It shouldn’t be that hard to find an entrance to a building,” Hess said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
Princeton’s inaugural director of accessibility, Mike Barnes, shared to the ‘Prince’ that “the guides provide details about spaces like the width of doorways, accessible restroom features, and turning radiuses in elevators that are essential to those with disabilities. This information is available in a searchable, navigable way that allows those with disabilities to have the details they need at their fingertips.”
Most of the guides are also viewable through the Facilities Campus Maps on Princeton’s website by selecting the “Accessibility Guides” filter on the left side menu.
After the map and guide’s release, Hess expressed that she feels much more optimistic Princeton’s accessibility.
“Any feature you can think of that matters to people with disabilities, Princeton includes,” she told the ‘Prince.’ “You don’t have to find out this information anymore; you don’t have to circle around buildings to get in. It’s one less thing that disabled people have to worry about.”
Hess is an associate News editor emerita for the ‘Prince.’
To some, however, Princeton still has a ways to go in terms of accessibility around campus.
“I think it’s really great that Princeton has made the information about campus accessibility public because that’s the first step in creating space for where people can demand further
improvements,” Katie Horan ’25 said.
“I just don’t think it’s enough. I think there is more work that needs to be done for Princeton to be a place that’s accessible for all people.” Horan is the lead coordinator of an initiative called All Bodies, All Brides, which works to “make the bridal industry accessible to people with different types of disabilities.”
Horan noted that places without stair-free entrances are still not physically accessible to those who need to enter those spaces. She also emphasized how accessibility expands beyond just physical aspects — for example, she emphasized “what sorts of lighting options there are in a space, because light can be really overstimulating for certain people.” Horan added her hopes for the University to continue addressing accessibility needs and to address sensitivities regarding noise, touch, and other sensory stimuli.
Director of Disability Services Asha Nambiar outlined how, together, the map and guide are “a key representation of the AccessAbility Center’s mission to ensure that everyone in the Princeton community has equal access to campus spaces, resources, and opportunities.”
She also mentioned how these additional resources play “a critical role in promoting inclusivity by addressing a primary need for students, faculty, staff, and visitors with disabilities: navigating the physical campus independently and with confidence.”
New construction projects such as the 1986 Fitness and Wellness Center and Prospect House have focused on accessibility improvements. As a result, both buildings now have full access to all floors via elevator.
Although some Princeton buildings are not yet included in the released guide, Niambar emphasized the significance of the changes that have been made thus far. “More than simply meeting accessibility requirements, the map empowers individuals by providing the information they need to plan their routes, anticipate potential barriers, and make informed choices about how to best access facilities,” she noted.
Isaac Bernstein is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.
Victoria Davies is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince’ who covers University operations.
By Victoria Davies & Isaac Bernstein
Assistant News Editor & News Contributor
Professor Ozsváth:
FACULTY
Continued from page 1
were also in favor of postponement because they saw that they were going to lose,” he said, referring to the faculty members in support of the pro-Palestine measures.
The postponed items include two measures directly related to proPalestine protests on campus, both proposed by Classics professor Danel Padilla Peralta ’06 on behalf of 20 other faculty members.
The ‘Prince’ was unable to reach Padilla Peralta and his fellow signatories by the time of publication.
Their proposals call for the creation of an ad-hoc committee to review the University’s response to protest in Spring 2024 and the establishment of an initiative to support Palestinian, Arab, and ArabAmerican University community members.
His first proposal also requested that the meeting be opened to the campus press “in view of the potential significance of these proposals for members of our University community,” and urged the FACP “not vote to close the meeting to them.”
Padilla Peralta was one of the professors who entered Clio Hall with protesters during the April 29 sit-in but left shortly after it began. In an Oct. 16 memo obtained by the ‘Prince,’ Vice President and General Counsel Ramona E. Romero advised that Padilla Peralta’s proposals may overstep faculty authority and should be revised prior to consideration.
The other postponed measure, proposed by Politics and School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) professor Jonathan Mummolo, sought to amend Section II.C.2 of the Rules and Procedures of the Faculty to prevent faculty-wide political statements.
Mummolo co-chairs the newlycreated Council on Academic Freedom, whose members have voiced
disapproval towards faculty-wide political statements and support institutional neutrality. Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE) professor Matias Cattaneo, one of six members of the FACP, is also a member of the Council.
The FACP report, “Assessing Proposed Measures Related to University Disciplinary Proceedings and the War in the Middle East, and to Amend Section II.C.2 of the Rules and Procedures of the Faculty,” addressed six pro-Palestine proposals initially put forward at the May 8 special faculty meeting held during the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
However, the May meeting only addressed one of the proposals regarding “the granting of amnesty to students and other university affiliates involved in peaceful free speech and assembly for justice in Palestine,” including the encampment, sit-in, and hunger strike. The proposal was drafted by professors Molly Greene GS ’93, Ruha Benjamin, Dan-El Padilla Peralta ’06, Lidal Dror, V. Mitch McEwen, and Curtis Deutsch.
The sole meeting agenda addressed was a recommendation from FACP to form a faculty ad-hoc committee to “research faculty-wide statements” on political issues and create a process for faculty feedback similar to the Council of the Princeton University Community’s (CPUC) Resources Committee. The FACP suggested the report be released by April 1, 2025.
According to an email obtained by the ‘Prince’ from Dean of the Faculty Gene Jarrett, due to the high volume of faculty interested in attending, the meeting was moved to Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall, and faculty proxes were checked at the door. Approximately 300 faculty members attended.
Olivia Sanchez is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from New Jersey and often covers the graduate school and academic departments.
By Emma Hsieh Contributing Constructor
Princeton community shares mixed reactions on decision to keep Witherspoon statue
By Sena Chang News Contributor
On Oct. 2, the Princeton University Board of Trustees announced in a letter that John Witherspoon’s statue would remain on campus. The decision came after an extensive review process that began in November 2022 by the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) Committee on Naming.
A former University president, minister, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence, Witherspoon also owned enslaved people. The statue, unveiled in 2001, sparked heated debate over whether it should remain on campus following an investigation into Witherspoon’s legacy from the Princeton Slavery Project. Those advocating for its removal have argued that the statue “pays honor” to Witherspoon, while supporters contend that his relationship to slavery was “far more benign” than his contemporaries and emphasize his pivotal role as a founding figure of the United States as justification for keeping the statue.
“I definitely supported the statue coming down,” Bryce Springfield ’25, a signatory of the 2022 petition to remove the statue and a leader of the Princeton Young Democratic Socialists of America, said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian. “I think statues like [Witherspoon] are designed to honor the people they’re portraying, and if they’re not reflecting the values that we hold now, I don’t think that we should continue honoring them.”
Bijaan Noormohamed ’27 told the ‘Prince’ that he “ honestly wasn’t that shocked” about the decision and commented on the architectural merits of the statue.
“[The statue] is so central to the geography around the Firestone complex, that if it had been removed, it would have been quite a striking difference,” he said. “I feel like it does architecturally and spatially fit nicely into that area.”
Some students saw the University’s decision as indicative of a broader, systemic issue that extends beyond the statue itself.
“I see the Witherspoon statue as a physical representation of the fact that even if the University portrays themselves as being woke and caring towards the minorities here, they don’t actually,” Blue Carlsson ’25, a former co-president of Natives at Princeton, told the ‘Prince.’ Prior to the announcement that the statue would remain, Carlsson occasionally hosted “Witherspoon Wednesdays,” where they would sit in front of the statue and distribute QR codes providing information about
Witherspoon’s history as a slaveowner.
“At first I was annoyed, and then I was glad because it serves as something that I can point to and say, ‘Hey, the institution doesn’t care about us,’” Carlsson continued.
“There’s also deeper structural issues that I think have led up to this [decision], not limited to universities having an autocratic structure, not democratically controlled by its community,” Springfield said, noting his opposition to University investments “in fossil fuels and apartheid” as an example.
Advocates for the statue lauded the Committee’s decision but criticized various aspects of the University’s handling of the statue.
“I was glad that the Trustees decided to keep the statue, but I was disappointed in the entire process,” Zach Gardner ’26, president of the Princeton Open Campus Coalition, wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’
“While the Trustees have voted one way today, they may very well vote another way tomorrow,” Gardner continued. “We should value long-term stability in institutional memory, not look to the Trustees to rename and remove on the whim of certain portions of the student body.”
Several members of the CPUC Committee on Naming declined a request for comment.
Bill Hewitt ’74, an advocate to keep the statue, argued that “the University has misrepresented Witherspoon in a defamatory way.”
“I’ve learned more about Witherspoon because of the controversy, I’ve come to believe he was truly a great man and fully worthy of Princeton’s honor,” he said. Hewitt has authored several articles challenging the Princeton & Slavery Project’s portrayal of Witherspoon.
While the moral atrocity of slavery was undisputed, some advocated for a more nuanced interpretation of Witherspoon’s stance on the issue.
“He was a pretty benign slave holder. His position on the public history of slavery was more enlightened than most of his contemporaries,” Stuart Taylor Jr. ’70 said. “He wanted abolition, but he wanted it gradually.”
While Witherspoon did oppose immediate emancipation, claiming it would “make them free to their own ruin,” Taylor interprets this as meaning that he wanted to provide a way for enslaved people to earn a livelihood, “which isn’t created overnight.”
“If the University made a rule to only celebrate uncontroversial figures in its history, then no buildings would be named,
no statutes built, nor any legacies honored,” Gardner wrote. Gardner said he believes that the University should approach the naming of buildings and commissioning of memorials with “a humble disposition, never forgetting that one day they too will stand before the tribunal of future moral scrutiny.”
Both supporters of removal and defenders of the statue emphasized the importance of contextualization, suggesting that it could foster a more nuanced understanding of Witherspoon’s connections to slavery.
“With a mere brief explanation and QR code, people could have a chance to go off and explore his history, his relation to slavery, what he did, where he might have done better, and where the record is just simply unclear,” Hewitt said.
Drawing parallels between the discussion surrounding Witherspoon and the 2020 decision to rename the Woodrow Wilson School, Noormohamed emphasized the necessity for individuals on both sides to “air their opinions” before progressing further. “I think this could be the beginning of some sort of class or some sort of academic initiative that the University could take,” Noormohamed said.
The Committee also expressed that “John Witherspoon is worthy of recognition, but not canonization,” recommending the University offer a “more complex and accurate history” than the brief account currently provided on the plinth.
Allan Shen ’24 proposed the idea of erecting statues “of individuals who best exemplified the most important values of Princeton,” citing individuals such as John Bardeen GS ’36, the only two-time recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, the novelist Thomas Mann, who lectured at Princeton while in exile from Nazi Germany, and John Rawls ’43, one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century.
Shen is a News editor emeritus for the ‘Prince.’
“Being able to literally walk among these individuals on Princeton’s campus would very much convey the best of Princeton’s values to students, faculty, and visitors alike, and serve as a bridge to Princeton’s past,” he said.
The Trustees’ letter did not completely dismiss the possibility of altering the statue’s presentation or location, which are matters now in the hands of the Campus Art Steering Committee.
Sena Chang is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Tigers for Israel, Chabad art installation raises questions about U. policy on symbolic structures
By Miriam Waldvogel Associate News editor
An art installation on Wednesday, Oct. 8 sponsored by Tigers for Israel (TFI) and Chabad House on the Frist North Lawn, which was meant to draw awareness to the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, may be the first test case of the University’s policy on symbolic structures following last spring’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
The exhibit notably included roughly half a dozen oversized mock milk cartons bearing the names, ages, and pictures of hostages with the words “Hamas Kidnapped U.S. Citizens” and “Hamas Killed U.S. Citizens,” as well as a tall mural depicting Ariel Bibas, a child taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023. It also featured a sculpture of a blackened tree commemorating the Nova Music Festival, which was created by Israeli artist Neil Salti, who lost friends during the massacre.
TFI contacted the University about the exhibit and received permission in late September from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS) to erect these structures on the Frist North Lawn for up to two weeks, according to an email obtained by The Daily Princetonian. University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill confirmed that the sponsor-
ON CAMPUS
ing group had “obtained prior University approval, secured a space reservation, and worked with University offices on the mechanisms of the display.”
“It doesn’t feel to me like anything changed in the rules,”
Rabbi Eitan Webb, the co-director of Chabad, said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’
ODUS policy requires that “exhibitions, interactive displays, walls, models, and other symbolic structures” obtain approval before installation and include attribution to a sponsoring group, including contact information.
Chabad and TFI collaborated with the Israeli American Council, a nonprofit who had access to all three pieces, Webb said, to bring them to campus.
A similar exhibit was displayed at Columbia on Monday, Oct. 7. The mock milk cartons — a callback to the campaigns that displayed photos of missing children on milk cartons — have also visited Harvard and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“It’s very in your face, but it’s done in a way which is educational, and that’s important for me. It’s done in a way which sparks conversation,” Webb said when asked why the groups wanted to bring the pieces to campus.
Three reservists in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) who had fought in Gaza also spoke around lunchtime during the
exhibit.
“We went in on October 30. We were part of that first wave in the north of the Gaza Strip, and from the moment we entered Gaza, it was like the apocalypse,” Aaron Bours, an IDF soldier who was wounded during fighting and spent five months in the hospital and rehab, said.
“We got shot at every day, multiple times a day. They popped out of their tunnels,” he added. ”But we pushed forward, we found courage with our brothers in arms.”
“[The exhibit] clearly had [an] impact. It clearly made people stop, made people think,” Webb said. “I was extremely pleasantly surprised that there was no protesting.”
In an email approving the installation, Assistant University Architect Josh Linkov asked organizers to include “some signage and contact information” so that people could reach out if they had questions. He also noted that the University would not be able to monitor the exhibit to prevent theft if it was installed overnight.
“While we hope there is no theft, we just want you to be aware that it can happen,” he wrote.
Multiple students involved in last semester’s pro-Palestine sit-in raised concerns to administrators about the structures, including one email posted on the Instagram story of Princ-
eton Israeli Apartheid Divest (PIAD). PIAD is not a registered student group. Jacob Neis GS, one of the students arrested at the occupation of Clio Hall in April, emailed Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Jarrett Fisher asking if the exhibit had sufficient contact information. While the cartons only featured the logo of the Israeli American Council, Webb said the exhibit had flyers available, as well as someone present with the cartons and artworks at all times.
Jarrett replied to Neis saying ODUS would “review this matter and take appropriate action if there are any violations of any University policies.”
Miriam Waldvogel is an associate News editor and the investigations editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Stockton, Calif. and often covers campus activism and University accountability.
Campus community reflects on Oct. 7 with vigils
By Miriam Waldvogel, Vitus Larrieu & Sena Chang Associate News Editor, Senior News Writer & News Contributor
Over 200 members of the University community gathered on Monday, Oct. 7 for a memorial event marking one year since Hamas’s attack on Israel and commemorating the 101 hostages still held in Gaza. A second, smaller interfaith vigil the next day grieved “all those killed in the last year in the Middle East,” featuring prayers and poetry from multiple faiths and communities.
The vigils showcased a broad range of reactions to the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, when Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and took 251 hostages, leading to an Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and an expanding conflict that has killed of over 40,000 Palestinians.
The Center for Jewish Life, Chabad, J Street, Tigers for Israel, and B’Artzeinu, in co-sponsorship with the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, hosted the first memorial, which gathered at McCosh 50. The memorial honored Israelis who lost their lives and prayed for the 101 hostages still held captive.
The memorial included students sharing personal stories of friends and acquaintances lost in the Oct. 7 attacks, reflections led by rabbis, and a communal gathering featuring singing on the Frist North Lawn. Yellow ribbon pins and roses, which symbolize the call to bring the hostages home, were handed out to members of the audience.
Davi Frank ’26 and Rabbi Azi Horvitch, a staff member at the CJL, opened the memorial by singing
“Gam Ki Elech,” a song composed by Frank’s former teacher Yossi Hershkovitz. Hershkovitz, a reservist in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), was killed in battle in northern Gaza in November.
“Simply put, Yossi was an amazing educator and teacher,” Frank said. “The confidence and direction Yossi gave me helped me at every stage and will continue to influence me and hopefully others well into the future,” he continued.
Stephen Bartell ’25, the student president of the CJL, shared memories of 22-year-old Omer Neutra, who was taken hostage by Hamas and whom he knew closely through United Synagogue Youth.
“Omer’s presence in my life, including the way that he has fundamentally shaped my understanding of leadership, has stuck with me so deeply, and I do my best to embody and replicate the style of empathetic and kind leadership each day,” Bartell said.
“All human beings deserve the kind of safety, dignity, and hope for a better future that Omer and so many others have been tragically denied this past year,” he continued.
Rabbi Eitan Webb highlighted the importance of honoring the thousands whose lives were lost Oct. 7 and ensuring that their stories are preserved.
“It is our responsibility, we, who are here, to continue their song and to ensure that their legacy endures,” Webb said. “Remember the thousands who’ve been murdered and injured, the 20,000 and counting rockets and missiles fired, and the hundreds of thousands who are displaced from their homes.”
“Communities are coming together like never before, and strang-
ers are embracing each other with love and support,” Webb said. “We see a community that refuses to give in to despair, who rise with hope, with compassion, and with a fierce commitment to each other.”
On Oct. 8, an interfaith service was held in Firestone Plaza at 7 p.m. to “grieve all those killed in the last year in the Middle East.” The vigil, which was not organized by any specific group on campus, featured prayers and poetry from multiple faiths, including from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Hindu faith groups. Over the course of about half an hour, around 60 people joined in reciting prayers that focused on unity, mourning, and peace.
Emmanuelle Sippy ’25, who spoke at the service and leads the Alliance of Jewish Progressives, emphasized the ways Jewish and Muslim teachings hold similar values about the importance of life.
“We’re sort of guided by a central teaching in at least two of our traditions, Islam and Judaism, that to destroy a single life is akin to destroying the entire universe. Really reckoning with this question, what does it mean to mourn every Palestinian, Israeli, Iranian, immigrant worker’s life who has been killed in the last year,” she told the ‘Prince’ in an interview following the vigil.
Sippy later clarified to the ‘Prince’ that she misspoke in referencing Iran and intended to draw attention to Lebanese people.
None of the speakers identified themselves and attendees respected organizers’ wishes to not bring flags to the vigil.
The somber reflections present at the vigils contrast with the heightened tensions associated with protests of the war in Gaza present at
campuses across the country since Oct. 7, which culminated in a series of encampment protests, including the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Princeton. The expanding conflict in the Middle East remains on the minds of students, with demonstrations that marked the spring semester picking back up this fall — though turnout has been markedly lower — including a recent die-in in Firestone Plaza and study-in in Firestone Library.
Among the attendees at the Oct. 8 vigil was Vice President of Student Life W. Rochelle Calhoun, who spoke to the ‘Prince’ about the importance of coming together as a campus community.
“I was just so inspired by the coming together of the students to organize something that was focused on peace and healing,” she told the ‘Prince.’ “In hard moments, we can come together, we can find each other, we can support each other, even when we disagree with each other.”
Sippy echoed the importance of unity, saying, “We were able to come together and gather across our differences, not just despite those differences, but actually trying to see those differences as access points for greater clarity and a kind of renewed ability to mourn.”
Miriam Waldvogel is an associate News editor and the investigations editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Stockton, Calif. and often covers campus activism and University accountability.
Vitus Larrieu is a senior News writer and head Podcast editor for the ‘Prince.’
Sena Chang is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Vitus Larrieu / The Daily Princetonian Community members gather at Firestone Plaza for an interfaith vigil Oct. 8.
Multiple pro-Palestine demonstrations held in days leading up to Oct. 7, graffiti investigated
By Miriam Waldvogel, Annie Rupertus, & Nikki Han
Associate News Editor, Head News Editor, & News Contributor
Several pro-Palestine student organizations held sparsely attended demonstrations on campus on the days leading up to Monday, Oct. 7, which marks one year since Hamas’s attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
About 15 people gathered in Firestone Plaza on the early afternoon of Oct. 7 to paint a large banner reading, “Glory to the martyrs, glory to the resistance” and read aloud the names and ages of Palestinian children killed by the Israeli military in the past year.
In a social media post, organizers framed the event as commemorating “one year of genocide, 76 years of occupation.”
“Oct. 7 will go down in human history as commemorating all sorts of loss. And I think it’s also important in the historical context we live in to frame it as one of the first and most momentous ruptures of a colonial world order … a violent, heinous rupture, that still happened under the auspices of an anti-colonial movement,”
Aditi Rao GS, an organizer with Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest (PIAD) present at the demonstration, said when asked about the meaning of the banner.
“That anti-colonial movement holds the name resistance, and everything that has transpired in the past year is a part of that movement … to have a liberated Palestinian people who live on the liberated Palestinian land,” she added.
A few people passed out flyers to bystanders encouraging students, alumni, and other University affiliates to submit support for divestment from Israel to the
FACULTY
Resources Committee of the Council of the Princeton University Committee (CPUC), which is considering a proposal submitted over the summer. Talking points included, “[e]very minority group should be worried about how this issue is being treated,” and “consensus is a stupid concept to begin with.”
A different group of around 30 students, with some overlap with Monday’s participants, participated in a die-in in the plaza on Saturday, Oct. 5 as part of an International Day of Action campaign supporting Palestine.
“It’s deeply painful to hear the names of the 725 martyrs that we only got a chance to read, 724 of them being all under the age of one,” Amber Rahman ’25, who attended the die-in, said. “To know that this has gone on for close to one year and our University has not moved one inch on divestment is deeply painful, and they will pay the price one day.”
Protesters opted for silence at a study-in on Sunday in the Trustee Reading Room, taping signs to the backs of their laptops which included statements such as “All of the universities in Gaza have been destroyed,” “‘Israel’ is committing scholasticide: there are no midterms in Gaza,” and “While we’re learning, Lebanon’s burning.” Some protestors wore keffiyehs, and one student taped a small Palestinian flag to a desk lamp. Students not involved in the study-in continued to study for midterms quietly nearby.
At least 15 students participated in the study-in, held across two sessions that afternoon.
Before the study-in began, a few Public Safety (PSAFE) officers were stationed outside Firestone Library and the Trustee Reading Room, but did not interact with
protesters.
Study-ins at other universities have garnered considerably more controversy. At Harvard, more than 12 students were banned from the school’s Widener Library for two weeks after staging a study-in last month.
Princeton’s protest policy states that protest activities in libraries and similar facilities “must be conducted in a manner that respects the necessity for maintaining a reasonable degree of quiet in such areas.”
Participation at this week’s protests was lower compared to previous pro-Palestine demonstrations this semester. These include a vigil hosted by Princeton Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on Sept. 30,
which drew approximately 100 attendees.
While most of this week’s actions occurred near Firestone, some University employees arriving to work Monday morning were greeted by pro-Palestine graffiti at the entrance to 22 Chambers St., where the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO) is headquartered.
Red paint was splattered across the doorway and black lettering read “$4Genocide.” PIAD posted a photo of the graffiti on their Instagram story with the caption, “new decor at the Princo building.”
The graffiti was reported to PSAFE at 6:44 a.m. on Tuesday morning, according to the agency’s daily crime log. By about 10:30 a.m., a worker was seen power-
washing the graffiti off the building and sidewalk.
University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill confirmed that the incident was under investigation.
Miriam Waldvogel is an associate News editor and the investigations editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Stockton, Calif. and often covers campus activism and University accountability.
Annie Rupertus is a head News editor for the ‘Prince’ from Philadelphia, Pa. who often covers activism and campus governance.
Nikki Han is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Professor Emeritus John Hopfield awarded 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics
By Mahya Fazel-Zarandi Senior News contributor
Princeton Professor Emeritus John Hopfield was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks,” Tuesday morning. Hopfield was jointly awarded the prize with Geoffrey Hinton on Tuesday, Oct. 8. Hinton is a Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of Toronto.
Hopfield is the 23rd member of Princeton faculty and alumni to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, joining the likes of Syukuro Manabe, James Peebles GS ’62, and Richard Feynman, GS ’42, who received the Physics Nobels in 2021, 2019, and 1965 respectively. He is the Howard A. Prior Professor in the Life Sciences Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Molecular Biology. He also holds associated faculty status in Physics and Neuroscience. Widely regarded as the “godfather of AI,” his co-recipient, Hinton, has recently garnered significant media attention for his warnings about the potential risks associated with revolutionary advancements in artificial intelligence.
The University held a press conference in the Edward C. Taylor Auditorium in Frick Chemistry Laboratory on Tuesday, hosted by University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, to celebrate Hopfield’s achievement. Hopfield joined the conference over Zoom from his home in rural England. Director of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI) Mala Murthy, Vice President for Communications and Government Affairs Gadi Dechter, and Chair of the Department of Physics James Olsen
also joined. The auditorium was filled with students, faculty, and members of the press, with some sitting on the stairs and a large crowd standing in the back of the room.
“Here at Princeton University, we have a tradition of celebrating these [Nobel] prizes the way that some universities celebrate national athletic championships,” Eisgruber said.
“John, I very much hope that Congress is listening as you speak. The fundamental science that gets done today is essential to the applications of tomorrow.”
“As a member of the department, John was a passionate teacher and mentor to generations of undergraduate and graduate students inspired by his brilliance and unique approach to studying nature,” Olsen said. He noted that Hopfield taught, and was the course director for, PHY 103 and PHY 104 in the 1967–68 academic year.
“My colleagues are thrilled for John and this deserving acknowledgment of his transformative contributions to fundamental science and its practical applications,” Olsen added.
Hopfield discussed the importance of interdisciplinary work across science, highlighting the links between physics, neuroscience, and computer science.
“When I first worked in the areas for which I had been given undue honor, there were disciplines, and you didn’t cross discipline boundaries,” Hopfield said during the press conference. “In the long run, new fields of science grow up at the intersection of big chunks of science.”
Hopfield’s remarks were met with enthusiastic applause from the campus audience. Responding to a question about how his work on neural
networks intersected with the field of physics — addressing a controversy over the win in the field — Hopfield posed a question in response.
“Let me first ask, what defines the field of physics?” Hopfield said. “In my view, physics is trying to understand how systems work.”
He continued to explain that, “when you get systems that are rich enough in complexity and in size … you have to say that system contains some new physics. And in trying to understand the brain, there are so many questions that you can’t even make any plausible suggestions for how they work. There’s going to be new physics found in understanding how the brain operates.”
His response was met with huge applause from the audience.
Machine learning is a field of artificial intelligence that empowers computers to learn from data and improve their performance on a specific task without being explicitly programmed. The research “used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Hopfield and Hinton’s discoveries, inspired by the human brain’s ability to process information, have revolutionized fields ranging from astrophysics to environmental studies.
In an email to The Daily Princetonian, Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology Bonnie Bassler wrote how “[Hopfield]’s discoveries show how research at the interface of disciplinary boundaries can transform our understanding of nature and deliver practical applications that benefit society.”
In 1982, Hopfield developed what is known as the Hopfield network,
a type of artificial neural network which helps to recognize patterns in thoughts. These networks can store patterns and recall them even when presented with incomplete or distorted information.
Hopfield addressed concerns in the usage of unregulated artificial intelligence (AI), emphasizing that “the worry [he has] is not AI directly, but AI combined with information flow around the globe … I think the autonomy of individual units, call them people, comes into collision with everything known by something or other.”
Professor in Neuroscience Sebastian Seung, whose office is located just two doors away from Hopfield’s, recently shared a post on X highlighting Hopfield’s pioneering contributions to the field and his influence on generations of scientists.
“John Hopfield’s seminal papers on neural nets inspired thousands of physicists, including me, to have the courage to venture off the beaten path into AI and neuroscience,” Seung wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’
Hopfield joined Princeton’s faculty as a professor of physics in 1964, after receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell University, joining the theory group at Bell Laboratories, and working at UC Berkeley from 1961 until 1964.
“One of the reasons I came to Princeton originally from Berkeley is that the faculty was actually interested in teaching,” Hopfield said.
In 1980, Hopfield moved to the California Institute of Technology, where he served as Professor of Chemistry and Biology until 1997. In 1997, he returned to Princeton, where he spent the rest of his career as Professor of Molecular Biology until 2008, when
he transitioned to emeritus status. He was instrumental in the creation of the PNI in 2004.
Hopfield is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical Society. His other honors include the Albert Einstein World Award of Science in 2005 and the Boltzmann Medal in 2022. He served as the president of the American Physical Society in 2006.
At the end of the press conference, a reception was held in Hopfield’s honor. Several of Hopfield’s colleagues gave remarks, each referring to Hopfield as an inspiration and mentor.
“John was an inspiration for almost a small generation of us back then, and he’s been an inspiration for generation after generation,” Professor of Physics William Bialek said. “He’s an incredibly warm and supportive human being. It is a pleasure not only to celebrate the recognition of work, the recognition really of a whole field that changes the boundaries of the world of physics, but it’s also wonderful to have the pleasure of recognizing a great friend.” Eisgruber proposed a toast to conclude the event.
“We’re grateful not only to have John Hopfield at Princeton to benefit from his scholarship, but his first generation and second generation and third generation of students and mentees throughout this room. So, one last time to all of you, to neuroscience and biophysics at Princeton, and to John Hopfield.”
Mahya Fazel-Zarandi is a senior News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
CALVIN GROVER / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Poster making at pro-Palestinian event.
Angela Davis fills McCosh 50, discusses Palestine, elections, and the legacy of her activism
By Nikki Han News Contributor
In a public lecture given on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 22, Angela Davis reflected on the importance of voting in elections, solidarity and support for Palestine, and her end goal of revolution.
The 445 seats in McCosh Hall 50 were not enough to hold the large turnout, with dozens standing against the walls and lining the stairs to hear Davis in conversation with Professor of African American Studies Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. About 100 people also congregated in an overflow room down the hall to watch the event virtually.
“You don’t have to succumb to the kind of historical amnesia that is encouraged in this country,” Davis told the eager audience. “I’m hoping that we all learn from this period.”
This talk was at least the fifth occasion Davis has spoken at Princeton.
As a political activist, Davis was a member of the Communist Party USA and the Black Panther Party, co-founded Critical Resistance, an organization aimed at dismantling the prison-industrial complex, and was the third woman to be placed on the FBI ten most wanted list. Angela Davis is currently the Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies at UC Santa Cruz.
After brief introductory remarks from Taylor, Davis was welcomed by a standing ovation.
The conversation began with a reflection on progress. Although Davis maintains that systems of oppression continue to persist, she also pointed out the progress that has been made in terms of “the people who are out front playing the leading roles,” citing Vice President Kamala Harris’s status as a woman of color.
“This is something that’s very new, because we’ve always had to fight for that,” Davis said.
Then, the conversation turned to the issue of political extremism in relation to the upcoming presidential election. Some Democrats, as well as former members of Donald Trump’s administration, have painted him as a fascist. Taylor asked whether elections are truly the answer to halting the rise of political extremism. Davis responded by saying that she reluctantly voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“At that time it was necessary to be really strategic,” she said, to “hold on to our capacity to engage in struggle.”
“I’ve really been very upset during this period,” she continued. “Oftentimes we have to do things that we hate doing, but we do them even though it makes us feel terrible. We do them for the good of larger collectives and the good of what may come afterwards,” she said, loosely suggesting that listeners vote for Vice President Kamala Harris this election.
For Davis, elections are the only way to protect certain rights — she cited Roe v. Wade as an example of a right that was dismantled because of Trump — and to maintain the social conditions under which political activists can then organize for revolution.
“I still want a revolution,” Davis clarified, “I want to overturn the capitalist system.” This line was met with applause from the audience. The latter half of the conversation focused on the issue of free speech, in particular surrounding recent pro-Palestine protests on college campuses. Davis shared an anec-
dote about growing up during McCarthyism, watching her family and friends be followed by the FBI.
“It’s really important not to find ourselves in another period like that, where we have to use all of our energy to fight to save those who are the targets of repression, as opposed to doing the organizing we should be for revolution,” she reflected.
Academic free expression is an issue that Davis has intimately experienced. In 1969, Davis was fired from her professorship at UCLA for her involvement in the Communist Party. Davis described how even after she was re-hired, she received so many death threats she had to be escorted around campus by campus police and have her car checked for bombs daily.
After acknowledging the support she received from UCLA faculty and students, Davis criticized those who
promoted academic freedom without supporting other forms of freedom from repression.
“These issues are structural,” Davis said. “You can’t address one without addressing the other.”
Returning to the issue of pro-Palestine campus protests, Davis was “happy to see for the first time, especially on campuses, this amazing support for solidarity for Palestine.”
She also compared the recent campus pro-Palestine protests to student protests against apartheid South Africa, explaining how the protests against South Africa “had an intellectual impact” and “helped us to think more deeply.”
Davis then criticized how administrators have handled pro-Palestine protests on campus following a question from Taylor describing the criminal proceedings of 15 individuals arrested during the course
of Princeton’s own protests in the spring semester.
“Why is it that administrators on college campuses, who might now boast about the fact that there were demonstrations on the campus … at the same time want to suppress those who are standing up against the racist settler-colonial state of Israel?” Davis said, describing Columbia University’s website detailing the 1968 takeover of Hamilton Hall during Vietnam War protests.
Davis added that “to stand up against Israel is not at all to be to engage in an antisemitic act. As a matter of fact, it’s the opposite,” noting her experiences with Jewish organizations opposed to Zionism, like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. She described how many Jewish people “feel that in order to be true to the history and the culture of the Jewish struggle for liberation, there
have to be alliances with others.”
This segued into Davis’ concluding comments about capitalism, critiquing how individualism has made people “myopic.”
Davis stressed the need to “learn how not to be so myopic that we only think about what is happening at this particular moment.” For Davis, this could be applied to issues ranging from climate change to individual happiness.
The conversation concluded with a second standing ovation. This event was held as part of the Stafford Little Lecture series and took place on Oct. 22 at 5 p.m. It was co-sponsored by the Department of African-American Studies and Labyrinth Books.
Nikki Han is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
CALVIN GROVER / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Angela Davis spoke in conversation with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor of the African American Studies Department.
How many Princeton students are ‘weeded out’ from their major? We broke
By Jasin Cekinmez & Iman Monfopa Kone
Over the past three years, about two percent of respondents to The Daily Princetonian’s Frosh Survey indicated that they applied to the University as “undecided” between the A.B. and B.S.E. degrees. By the time they were about to matriculate, however, the percentage of respondents that indicated they were undecided between degree programs doubled to four percent.
Challenging courses, concentrated in the STEM field and among intro classes, often prompt students to back away from the major they intended on pursuing. Humanities and social sciences majors, however, often hold on to the same field from the time they applied to Princeton to declaration.
Engineers in particular must decide their major quickly, declaring in the Spring of their first year, sometimes before they have taken a class in their major. For engineering students, prerequisite classes are sometimes described in course reviews as “weedout” classes, or classes designed to be challenging to scare students into dropping out of their major.
This is the case for MAT 201: Multivariable Calculus which has a 2.99 score on course reviews. Professor János Kollár has taught MAT 201 every fall since 2019 and disagrees with this assessment of it being a “weed-out” course.
“In a normal year, the percentage of students who fail the class, I believe, is less than two percent in most years,” Kollár said. “So I don’t think that we are weeding out people. Now, many people maybe will change their major in the first semester or the first year, but I think this is good. That’s why they come here the first year. The plan is that you try various things and see what you like.”
Over a quarter of students intending to major in natural sciences end up not declaring a major in this field, following a trend found by the National Center for Education Statistics. According to the ‘Prince’ 2024 Senior Survey, no natural science major was perceived as being in the top 20 easiest majors by graduating seniors in the Class of 2024. Social sciences, however, saw more students who declared than respondents that declared they would on the Frosh Surveys. According to the Senior Survey, these majors are associated with higher
expected income and less perceived difficulty. Natural science majors, on the other hand, were among the lowest expected income.
“You have these high school interests and these career goals, but you’re still a kid, barely an adult,” “Introduction to Anthropology” instructor, Professor Glenn Shepard, told the ‘Prince.’ “But then you get to college and you see there’s this whole other world out there that you didn’t imagine.”
Shepard has seen cases where students become enamored in a new topic and take a new path than they expected, especially in the Anthropology department.
“I think what happens is, people, they have to do some social sciences credit so they take an anthropology class. Or someone said, ‘Oh, there’s a cool anthropological class!’ And they take it and they realize that it’s this discipline that’s so vital,” he explained. “It’s about being human and being human is always a very critical question.”
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) have consistently had more students intending to major than declare. Besides from the B.S.E. prerequisite science and math courses, MAE has seven classes required before junior year and eight or more departmental courses. CBE has seven specific required courses alongside other biology, chemistry, and advanced math courses.
Molecular Biology consistently has fewer declared students than intended.
“[A student] sort of marks down MOL, because that’s what they’ve always thought of,” said Professor of the Practice Daniel A. Notterman, a lecturer in MOL 214: Introduction to Molecular Biology.
“Then they get here and take other courses, meet other students. We want them to do that, right? We want them to come to Princeton, explore, and make a decision about life,” Notterman concluded.
Jasin Cekinmez is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’
Iman Monfopa Kone is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’
it down.
AARUSHI ADLAKHA / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN Class of 2025 declaration day in April 2023.
“D ouble M ajors ”
By Joah Macosko
Head Puzzles Editor
Gay ___ (Sappho or 38-Across)
21 Broadway’s ___-Manuel
22 “... or something like that”
Kylo ___ of “Star Wars”
Totally turnt
26 Chinese language certificate that combines human behavior with the Islamic World?
29 It grows on trees
30 Classic pirate prosthetic
31 Overnight ___ (breakfast food)
32 Six-line stanza
35 Early PC operating system
36 Map-making certificate that combines drawing with motion?
38 “Youth” singer Sivan
40 South Asian dance group on campus
41 It wasn’t built in a day
Place
Proves victorious
Statelessness certificate that combines structures with the past?
51 Contrarian’s retort 52 Attracted to all genders, for short 53 Hanukkah miracle fuel 54 They come in packs of six or eight
By way of
Violent humor certificate that combines Eastern Europe with various literary traditions? 61 Brink
62 Pulling a rabbit out of a hat, e.g.
63 “Ohhh, got it”
64 Three-___ sloth
65 Changes, as a text
66 Just slightly DOWN 1 Assurance after a few deep breaths 2 “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper 3 Starts 4 Service site of many vets 5 Org. seeking alien life
6 You go here
7 “Lord of the Rings” monster
8 Material for a ballerina, pitcher, or violinist
9 “Don’t doubt me”
Big name in batteries
Doesn’t shy away from
It has a one-month shelf life?
One might test your metal
Potential relationship red flags
Ghosters
Winter clock setting in Calif.
Before, in poetry
It contains wraps and dressings
Speed abbr.
Oversee together
The Minis
By Emma Hsieh Contributing Constructor
Drum
Stock up on stocks, maybe
“I got nothing”
Stuck around
sin/tan
“I’m all ears”
Epic poem with Achilles
B-ball one-on-one
55 Privately includes on an email
___ Xing (street sign) 59 Some special f/x
“Mamma ___!”
To make a real difference this November, vote absentee, not here in Princeton
Preston Ferraiuolo Assistant opinion editor
Election Day is five weeks away. We all know of the importance of voting, especially in today’s political environment. Indeed, the University has demonstrated its commitment to encouraging students to carry out their civic duty with the Vote100 initiative, a project of the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students. Although college students can vote where they study, Princeton students should choose to vote absentee from their hometowns rather than voting here in New Jersey.
New Jersey, and Princeton in particular, is exceptionally blue. The Democratic Party has held majorities in the state legislature for over twenty years, and Democratic Governor Phil Murphy handily won re-election in 2021. Princeton is the most Democratic town in Mercer County, where 55 percent of registered voters are Democrats and only 12 percent belong to the Republican Party. The results of the 2020 election demonstrate the dominance of Democrats here in Princeton. 11,858 voters voted for Joe Biden, while only 1,981 votes were cast for Donald Trump. This wide margin means that if even all 5,000 Princeton undergraduates registered to vote
Julianna Lee Columnist
here in Princeton and universally voted for Trump, the outcome of the election in the Municipality of Princeton wouldn’t change, and Biden would still win overwhelmingly.
The margins of victory for Democrats in Princeton and New Jersey show that your vote will not make a significant difference as a Princeton student. But your vote can make a difference in your hometowns. Regardless of the political party you identify with, and even if you don’t live in the contentious “swing states” where it’s clear your vote for President might make a difference in November, elections for local government matter, and student votes can shape the outcomes.
There are only 542 federally elected officials, but about half a million local officeholders are elected nationally. This level of influence contrasts with the consistent and drastic low turnout in local elections. While the national turnout in the 2020 presidential election was roughly 67 percent, on average only about 15 percent of voters vote in municipal elections, and between 5 to 10 percent vote in local school board elections. We underestimate the importance of local elections, and with the trend of many jurisdictions aligning local elections to occur at the same time as national elections, Princeton students should seize this opportunity to make an impact in
their home communities.
Municipal governments spend significant allocations of federal money, and while electing the president and members of Congress help shape the vision of policy, electing town councilors and mayors allocates power to the officials charged with spending funds and implementing policies. For example, the American Rescue Plan Act earmarked over $65 billion for cities, towns, and villages nationwide to spend on locally-managed projects like improving manufacturing capacity in economically distressed areas or developing local tourist and recreation sites. The impacts of local elections can be felt across many facets of public policy. Take Medicaid, a federally mandated program that states have some flexibility in designing, resulting in drastic healthcare disparities. Today, Virginia spends $11,243 per recipient as opposed to Tennessee’s $3,563, meaning that a Virginian receiving Medicaid benefits receives over three times the funding for care than a resident of Tennessee.
After the Dobbs decision, local officials in different states have permitted differing access to reproductive healthcare. School boards have banned books on LGBTQ and racial issues, sanctuary cities have shielded nonresidents by refusing to cooperate with federal Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, and other jurisdictions have implemented controversial bail reforms that seemingly increase recidivism rates. These policies are examples of how who is elected to local government makes an impact on everyday citizens’ lives, often to a greater extent than Congress or the presidency. Voting absentee allows you, as students, to help shape how you want your communities to be governed.
The next few weeks will be polarizing both here on campus and nationally. If you want to make a real difference, don’t vote here in Princeton. The Orange Bubble is situated in a blue town in a blue state where your vote won’t make a difference. Vote absentee in your hometown to make an impact.
As Princetonians, we aim to act “in the nation service and the ser-
vice of humanity,” but that call to service must start where we started, in the places where we grew up. If you love where you are from, vote there as a way of giving back. Don’t like where you grew up? Voting home can allow you to play a role in changing it for the betterment of your life and the lives of your families. The Daily Princetonian 2024 senior survey found that almost half of graduating seniors anticipate living in New York, California, or Washington, D.C. alone. Shouldn’t we give back to and vote where we grew up while we still can?
Preston Ferraiuolo is a junior registered to vote in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York. Preston is an assistant Opinion editor majoring in the School of Public and International Affairs.
The case for male-only spaces
Walking through the activities fair at Dillon Gym at the beginning of my first year, I remember immediately being flagged down by Women In Economics and Policy. Their club aims to connect women with designated mentors in the fields of economics and policymaking and provide solidarity and empowerment. As I would later learn over the next few years, such a space is not uncommon on Princeton’s campus.
At present, there are at least
10 undergraduate student groups that are specifically delegated as spaces for women — the Women’s Network of course, but also Women in Anthropology, Women in Computer Science, and Women in Medicine — and there are even more for graduate students. But despite all of these female-only groups, Princeton has no comparable equivalent clubs for men — the only registered single-sex space for men is the Princeton Black Men’s Association.
Why doesn’t the University encourage the establishment of such spaces on campus? Sure, many fields, especially STEM fields, have a higher concentration of men than women. Since some of these spaces are largely male already, it may seem like men don’t need any extra help in finding community. Both
reasons represent legitimate concerns, as well as good reasons why women’s groups are all the more important.
But this conception inherently misses the main point of why men need single-sex spaces in the first place: contrary to popular belief, men need more empowerment and solidarity than it may seem.
A 2021 study from the Survey Center on American Life found that just 27 percent of men reported having at least six close friends, a decrease from 55 percent 30 years before. 15 percent of men reported that they had no close friends. Only 21 percent of men said they received emotional support from a friend, as compared to 41 percent of women.
These results may further be linked to the tragic state of American men: the second leading cause of death in the United States for men under 45 is suicide. Over the last 40 years, the median income for men with only a high school degree dropped 26 percent. Young men between 25 and 31 today are 66 percent more likely to be living with their parents than young women. In their book “The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys are Struggling and What We Can Do About It,” Warren Farrell and John Gray explain that the women’s movement prepared girls to face
hardships, gaining momentum throughout the 1970s to support women through mounting social issues — such as a dramatic increase in divorce rates. The impact of the movement transcended this application, giving women positive messages and a sense of purpose: the message that they could raise kids, earn money, or do both saturated the culture. By contrast, there was no comparable, culture-wide message about masculinity for men, even as boys were experiencing the same struggles.
In the past few decades, our society has done a better job of providing support to women than we have for men. The growth of single-sex spaces for women are robust, while maleonly spaces have increasingly been eliminated. The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) revised its mission in 1978 to support youth, cutting out its focus on serving men and boys. At the same time, the YWCA has continued to empower women. The Boys Club of America, founded in 1906, became the Boys and Girls Club in 1990. There are only three men’s colleges in the United States as compared to 25 for women. Perhaps most famously, the Boy Scouts went coed in 2018. Boys need mentorship and friendship at an early age, just as women do. In order to foster
these male friendships, as well as healthy forms of masculinity, men may need more institutional support than women. It is common to see a group of women having deep conversations over coffee. Men, on the other hand, typically need more of a reason to meet up. As Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution puts it, men tend to be better at communicating shoulder-to-shoulder, rather than face-to-face. They bond over sports, on car drives, and while playing video games. Well-organized male only spaces can provide much-needed encouragement, empowerment, and friendship for men. At Princeton, we shouldn’t shy away from male-only clubs and organizations. The first step is to recognize the legitimacy of these spaces and our need for them, rather than simply dismissing them as toxic or unnecessary. It is vital that men also have a chance to cultivate healthy masculinity through single-sex mentorship and camaraderie.
Julianna Lee is a senior from Demarest, N.J., majoring in Politics. She can be reached at julianna. lee[at]princeton.edu. Julianna is a big fan of road trips and has been to 43 states. Lee’s column, “To Old Nassau,” runs every three weeks on Tuesdays.
CALVIN GROVER / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN A Mercer County ballot box.
editor-in-chief
Eden Teshome ’25
business manager Aidan Phillips ’25
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
president Thomas E. Weber ’89
vice president
David Baumgarten ’06
secretary
Chanakya A. Sethi ’07
treasurer Douglas Widmann ’90
assistant treasurer
Kavita Saini ’09
trustees Francesca Barber
Kathleen Crown
Suzanne Dance ’96
Gabriel Debenedetti ’12
Stephen Fuzesi ’00
Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05
Michael Grabell ’03
Danielle Ivory ’05
Rick Klein ’98
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trustees ex officio
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148TH MANAGING BOARD
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Accessibility
With their dirty deal, Princeton has chosen the fossil fuel industry over the future
Eleanor Clemans-Cope & Alex Norbrook
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n Oct. 3, Princeton gutted its landmark policy on fossil fuel dissociation, which once barred certain fossil fuel companies from funding University research and is now weakened to the point of irrelevance. This is a profoundly troubling decision that undermines the fight against climate change. In this action, Princeton has chosen to align itself with the industry most responsible for driving the climate crisis.
In 2022, Princeton took a principled stand. Recognizing that many fossil fuel companies were fundamentally at odds with the University’s “core values,” the Board of Trustees implemented a policy of dissociation, cutting financial ties with 90 fossil fuel companies. This policy, based on recommendations made by a panel of faculty experts, was enforced against too few companies — only those heavily invested in the most polluting sectors, coal and tar sands, rather than the full group that the experts recommended cutting ties with. But it signified the start of a commitment to sustainability and an acknowledgment that those perpetuating environmental destruction should not influence the pursuit of climate solutions.
Now, in a stark reversal, Princeton has welcomed these companies back, allowing them to fund research projects. This decision is a betrayal of the University’s mission and academic integrity, as well as a disservice to its students and the global community. How can an institution that prides itself on shaping the future be so willing to sell it off to the very companies that are burning that future to the ground?
Fossil fuel companies have long used partnerships with prestigious institutions like Princeton to project an image of engagement and responsibility, even as they open new dirty energy projects. This tactic diverts attention and resources from the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing fossil fuel reliance and undermines efforts to hold these companies accountable. Research funded by fossil fuel interests is more likely to support the industry and often serves to entrench fossil fuel reliance rather than advance solutions that run counter to their financial interests. Internal documents from companies like BP reveal strategies to “advance and protect the role of [natural] gas — and BP — in the future of energy conversation,” no matter what the science says. Such agendas focus on sustain-
ing fossil fuel use under the guise of innovation, delaying the necessary shift to renewable energy sources.
Take ExxonMobil. A notorious climate obstructionist, Exxon has poured millions of dollars into Princeton research, funding studies that directly improved oil and gas combustion. Incredibly, one Exxon employee worked out of an office on Princeton’s campus for years. In 2022, Princeton acknowledged the incompatibility of Exxon’s business practices with our University values and rightly expelled the company. Yet, under the new policy enacted today, Exxon is free to resume funding research — despite the fact that Princeton still recognizes that Exxon engages in practices worthy of dissociation.
Princeton’s new policy includes provisions that supposedly safeguard against conflicts of interest, stipulating that only research aimed at “the amelioration of the environmental harms of carbon emissions” will be eligible for funding from dissociated companies. At first, this guardrail sounds fair, but it can be interpreted broadly to encompass projects that entrench fossil fuel extraction, provided that they simply claim to reduce environmental harm.
For example, this would likely allow research that enhances oil drilling efficiency or reduces emissions from natural gas production because they mitigate certain impacts, even though they ultimately facilitate ongoing fossil fuel reliance. Princeton’s efforts do not address the fundamental problem: the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels entirely.
Princeton introduced a further guardrail that could theoretically prevent egregious fossil fuel influence: when a company on the dissociation list proposes a research project, an “ad hoc expert faculty committee” will review its proposal. But this review process is unaccountable to the point of uselessness. Princeton’s announcement does not tell us who the committee would be, with what metrics and standards — if any — it would evaluate the proposal, and how — if at all — it would explain its decisionmaking rationale to the public for each case.
The University weakened this guardrail more by moving to no longer publish the names of companies that meet Princeton’s limited dissociation criteria. From now on, then, the University community will be left in the dark about when Princeton dissociates from a company, whether that dissociated company proposes to fund Princeton research, and whether their research proposal violates University values by entrenching fossil fuels.
Moreover, the University’s assurance of academic freedom for faculty to publish their work regardless of whether the company likes the results fails to address the subtle pressures that come with industry funding. Researchers may feel constrained in their work, knowing that critical findings against fossil fuels could jeopardize future funding.
And these companies have a history of withdrawing support from studies that do not align with their interests, influencing the direction of academic inquiry. In fact, BP itself has done this, cutting funding from its programs at Harvard and Tufts while keeping funding stable for Princeton — because Princeton researchers were more “synergistic” with its aims.
Although Princeton insists that accepting funding from fossil fuel companies is the only viable path forward, this thinking locks us into a future reliant on the very forces driving the climate crisis. For years, fossil fuel companies have promised to contribute to sustainability goals. Yet just as the world is breaching the first major temperature barrier — 1.5 degrees celsius — fossil fuel companies are openly retreating from these commitments. We cannot trust fossil fuel companies to change the status quo when they have a vested interest in maintaining it.
By choosing to prioritize relationships with fossil fuel companies over the well-being of the planet and future generations, Princeton has abdicated its responsibility to lead and sent the message that prestige and immediate financial gain outweigh the urgent need to address the climate emergency. This choice has far-reaching implications and may set a dangerous precedent for other institutions. And as students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader community, we must hold the University accountable and advocate for policies that align with the urgent needs of our time.
The climate crisis cannot be addressed through half-measures or by collaborating with those who perpetuate it. True progress demands that we sever ties with the perpetrators of environmental destruction. Princeton’s decision today is a setback, but it also serves as a clarion call for renewed activism and unwavering commitment to building a just and liveable world.
Eleanor Clemans-Cope and Alex Norbrook are the former co-coordinators of Sunrise Princeton, a group of students fighting for climate justice. Eleanor is a junior economics major and head Opinion editor at the ‘Prince.’ Alex is a junior history major and a columnist for the ‘Prince.’
You will live to see University-made horrors beyond your reading comprehension
Anna Ferris Staff Opinion Writer
The beginning of a new semester comes with a routine we’ve learned by rote. Greet the old friends, vow to “get a meal sometime!” — you probably won’t, and that’s probably fine. Purchase binders, folders, and notebooks if you’re the writeby-hand sort. Then, go to Labyrinth with a few sturdy amici in tow and prepare to haul your dog-eared copies of Plato and Joyce home in anticipation of classes beginning. It was a good life, looking back. With the advent of “eCampus Online Bookstore,” this solemn rite must now be done alone, hunched over a laptop screen. There is some associated convenience: no sore shoulders, fewer trips, and no dreaded “out of stock” messages. Caitlin Donahue, Course Materials Manager at McGraw, says the switch to eCampus also allows the harried (but universally sweet) Labyrinth employees to focus on their roles running a local bookstore, instead of helping hunt down a copy of “Virtue Ethics for Consultants.”
OPENING THE GATES
However, for student book buyers, eCampus is slower and more expensive than Labyrinth was. Ultimately, the switch replaces an economic and spiritual pillar of the community with yet another e-commerce conglomerate.
First, take “slow”: some books took over a week to arrive with the new service and weren’t in students’ hands until well after the start of fall courses. The advantage of buying at Labyrinth was efficiency: you walked out of the store with most of your books, and received those that required a separate order within two days. Princeton’s twelve week semester means that coursework comes at you fast, and a lost week of reading can mean falling behind when a course has barely begun.
Choosing from a selection of books in-person also allowed for far more choice, especially for students who need to buy used books for financial reasons. “The Peaceable Kingdom” by Stanley Hauerwas costs $29.24 to buy on eCampus, but only $13.98 to buy from Labyrinth — and eCampus takes a
full three to five more business days to receive after ordering.
And the inability to decide what level of disrepair is acceptable is frustrating. eCampus only allows you to choose between new, used, rentals, and ebooks. The stochastic assignment of copies by a faceless algorithm removes the tangible benefits of buying books in the physical world.
However, this argument about price and convenience cannot capture why I care so deeply about buying course books at Labyrinth. Sure, my English-major opinions on books are many and ardent. Still, we all should fear a postLabyrinth universe.
Selling marked-up course books most definitely turns a profit. When Labyrinth did it, we could be relatively certain that our money was going toward a local bookstore in a time when these invaluable businesses are dropping like flies. From 1998–2020, over 50 percent of America’s independent bookstores closed down for good. The total amount I paid for my books each semester has remained roughly the same from freshman year to
now, but my money now disappears into the online aether with the click of a button. Who are we paying, and why haven’t the prices dropped with the customer-service element removed? eCampus spent a decade as one of Amazon’s partners before breaking off to go into the business of textbook rentals and sales after Amazon broadened its scope, leaving a sizable gap in online course book sales. At least one new book a student ordered from eCampus arrived in Amazon packaging, which should set off alarm bells. Has Princeton redirected our book money from a local business to one of the wealthiest companies on the planet – and are we paying even more for the privilege?
Meanwhile, Labyrinth is a veritable Princeton institution and a symbol both of this particular community and the necessary, waning brotherhood of independent booksellers across the country. Without the revenue from thousands of students buying multiple books at a time, will Labyrinth’s position in the marketplace become untenable?
The pestilence of the mod-
ern world is how quickly it alienates us from the human aspect of everything. A book has passed through dozens of caring hands before it reached yours. That chain takes corporeal form in a place like Labyrinth, where the workers give directions and effusive recommendations while you browse. They care about the wares they peddle — and so did everyone else who made possible the precious hundreds of bound pages you throw in your bag, on desks, and atop the odd creepycrawly in need of squishing. A book is the triumph of years and lives; it reminds us that the pursuit of higher knowledge is a fundamentally human endeavor. You have to try hard to be disaffected and lethargic when you’re holding a sweet-smelling, fresh tome of your very own. Door swings open; Jersey sunlight floods in behind the customers. Muted swish of paper on paper. Doorbell jingles: you are here, you are here, you are here.
Anna Ferris is a junior in the English department.
Princeton must bolster support for students pursuing grad school
Asa Santos Columnist
For Princeton students who are looking to enter graduate school, the University offers numerous programs across disciplines in the humanities, STEM, and social sciences alike. However, despite lacking a medical school, Princeton offers a uniquely extensive line of resources, support, and assistance for pre-med and prehealth students, who in turn benefit from a number of premedical school programs and fee assistance in their applications. But now more than ever, Princeton needs to expand this support to students across all disciplines in their graduate school ambitions. There are many initiatives that Princeton could introduce, including adding in medicalschool-style early assurance programs, establishing sources of funding for graduate school applications, and offering pre-grad school programs.
As compared to pre-grad students in other fields of study, premed students at Princeton enjoy a number of University-provided resources and opportunities. Princeton’s Health Professions Advising (HPA) department offers pre-med students resources related to their post-graduation
plans, as well as individualized advising that prepares students for med school applications and helps them navigate the pre-med track at Princeton.
Of these resources, early assurance programs are among the most beneficial. They allow students to apply to med schools during their time at Princeton, usually as sophomores, giving them provisional admission to the institution conditional on some further participation — usually through research at the institution and/or pre-med school programming. This assures not only a med school admission, but also often research opportunities. Above all, early assurance programs help pre-med students make the most of their Princeton experience after their acceptance, as those undergrads can explore their varied interests at Princeton without the burden of worrying about their GPA or fulfilling grad school entrance requirements.
Beyond medical schools, Princeton should expand early assurance program partnerships with other institutions’ graduate schools to make early undergraduate acceptance into programs of higher education a possibility. This would allow more students to get the benefits of in-field research with those they are considering graduate study with, and more to have the assurance — and accompanying freedom — of the provisional acceptance. Such a program could also act to strengthen external institutional
ties as well as drive the creation of internal programs that build pipelines for current students to apply for early assurance directly to Princeton’s graduate school during their time at the University.
For students interested in law school, Princeton could establish partnerships with other institutions and create programs that offer students access to accelerated law degrees, similarly to how Rutgers Law School does with multiple other institutions. To keep their commitment to the University as a four-year college, the University should instead consider introducing pre-law programs that allow students to take courses at partner law schools during summer breaks. This would ultimately allow students to have law school credits that would transfer over following their graduation, and would give them a head start on their pre-professional school experience.
Many students at Princeton also pursue masters degrees and doctorate degrees. For these students, the University should consider programs similar to premed record enhancement programs, which allow students to bolster their academic record and improve their credentials before pursuing their graduate degree after graduation. These record enhancement programs could provide pre-grad students with vital opportunities to improve their grad school applications.
Another pre-med program that
could be used as a model are career changer initiatives, designed to provide post-grad options for students who become interested in medical school late in their undergraduate career. Such programs would be especially useful for students interested in pursuing graduate and pre-professional study pathways that are not directly related to their undergraduate degree. For students who change majors late in their Princeton career — as I did from Physics to Anthropology in the fall of my junior year — being able to access opportunities before deciding between graduate school and professional opportunities is invaluable. These are for students who are interested in interdisciplinary study and choose another subject to study at graduate school — as I am, by applying to philosophy graduate programs.
For students who are specifically interested in pursuing researchbased degrees — specifically master of philosophy and Ph.D. programs — Princeton should consider creating internal PostBaccalaureate Research Education Programs (PREP). Such programs are designed to help students build research and methodological skills after graduation, which would help students build their research skills and experiences before committing to rigorous, long-term research programs.
Finally, as an extension to pre-existing programs that offer forms of financial support for medical school applications,
it’s imperative for the University to introduce a grad school application fund. Not only would such a fund relieve the economic burden of applying to graduate programs, it would also streamline the application process. Grad school applications are expensive and fees may discourage students from applying at all. The cost for the required exams alone is significant — the LSAT costs $238 to register for and added fees to preview scores, and the GRE $220. This is especially relevant for lowincome students, who are disproportionately affected by the cost of applying to graduate school. For these students, access to institutional funding could make all the difference between applying and not applying. This is the moment for Princeton to commit to improving the graduate application process for all students by using the model that works to support pre-med students to support students of all types — and to go beyond it. All of this will help Princeton build an undergraduate education, and graduate education, that supports a diverse student body in pursuing their diverse interests.
Asa Santos is a senior anthropology major from London and São Paulo, minoring in Gender & Sexuality Studies and Global Health & Health Policy. Santos’ column, “Opening the Gates,” runs every two weeks on Tuesdays.
Program on Science and Global Security exhibit, ‘the bomb,’ reflects on nuclear age
By Chloe Lau & Coco Gong Staff Features Writers
After the filming of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” on campus in 2022, “the bomb” returns to Princeton — this time as a special exhibition for the 50th Anniversary of Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security (SGS).
“It was so overwhelming that I had to remind myself to breathe,” Alexandra Bodrova said, a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Ph.D. student in the program, “Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a strong sense of hope and a desperate urge to act emerged. Act here and now.”
In the Bernstein Gallery of Robertson Hall, “the bomb” exhibition prompts viewers to grapple with the existence and threat of nuclear weapons. The exhibit, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the SGS at Princeton, opened on Sept. 19 and will remain on display until Oct. 25 before going to the next stop on its nationwide tour.
“The bomb” was designed by filmmaker Smriti Keshari and journalist Eric Schlosser ’81. The installation, a semi-circular arrangement of 45 screens, resembles a nuclear weapon commandand-control center. Each screen displays video footage related to global nuclear affairs, ranging from the first nuclear test to arrays of nuclear weapons ready for launch on land, underground, and at sea.
The exhibit aims to spotlight the technological fragility of nuclear systems, which are often seen as symbols of power and national strength. Rather than presenting viewers with a definite answer about the ethics of nuclear weapons, the artists said they hope that “the bomb” will prompt viewers to ask more questions.
“The bomb” was inspired by Schlosser’s book “Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident and the Illusion of Safety,” which explores the complexities and dangers of nuclear weapons.
The artist, Keshari, said the book left a profound impact as it helped her to understand the nuclear reality of today’s world. “It takes you through all of the emotions,” she said.
To prompt reflection by the viewer, Keshari deliberately omitted narration and text from the wall of screens simulating a nuclear command center.
“All of those kinds of emotions were what I wanted to evoke, and what I wanted an audience to be able to feel,” she said. “And not [to] tell them [whether] this is good or bad, but really take them through this emotional journey at the very heart of nuclear weapons and leave them wanting to ask more questions.”
Schlosser said the exhibition also emphasized on the vulnerability of technological systems, with visible wires and screens and stories about real accidents. For example, in 1980 when a security officer at an Arkansas missile silo used the wrong tool to repair a fuse, he caused a short circuit,
leading to the nuclear missile’s detonation inside the silo.
“It’s that kind of crazy, haywire system,” Schlosser said. “It’s one thing if you’re plugging in your home entertainment system, and you set off your smoke alarm, but when there’s a nuclear weapon involved, the consequences are just catastrophic.”
The exhibition highlights the delicate, volatile nature of controlling something as powerful as a nuclear bomb.
“At the heart of my book, and at the heart of the film that Smriti and I made, is the issue of how we control the complex technological systems that we make,” Schlosser said. “We’re much better at creating them than we are at controlling them.”
Controlling nuclear weapons has been a focus of researchers of the SGS, which was established 50 years ago.
“I think what distinguishes our group is that we are mostly technically trained folks, and we try to use these skills to inform and design policy,” said Alex Glaser, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and SPIA.
To celebrate its anniversary, the program looked to share its work with a broader audience by taking an interdisciplinary approach, displaying “the bomb” and presenting the Bruce Blair Memorial Lecture, featuring a panel on nuclear disarmament.
The panel was hosted by SGS Co-Director Zia Mian, with special guests including the exhibition artists, Keshari and Schlosser, and Annie Jacobsen ’89, journalist and the author of “Nuclear War: A Scenario.”
The panelists described the historical and contemporary risks of nuclear weapons, the challenges of highly centralized commandand-control centers, and the accidents that are derived from tech-
nology, military requirements, and war plans.
In his speech, Schlosser noted that nuclear systems, though embodiments of power and science, are as intricate as they are complex. Most nuclear incidents in history result from unforeseen accidents or even measures intended for safety, he pointed out.
“When you look back at these [systems], you see incredible technological skill of our weapons designers, you see great administrative skill of the people who created the management systems, great heroism, and a good deal of luck,” Schlosser said. “Luck is something that you don’t want to rely on when you’re talking about potential catastrophes.”
Jacobsen’s book, “Nuclear War: A Scenario,” explores a hypothetical scenario in which the international nuclear state of affairs indeed goes wrong. Her reporting is based on many interviews with people at the center of nuclear decision-making, from Dr. Richard L. Garwin, author of the first hydrogen bomb design, to government officials like U.S. Secretary of Defense and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Leon E. Panetta. Some of these figures had not given interviews previously.
“[I used to believe] that there’s kind of a nuclear priesthood — people [who] know more than me and don’t want to share that information,” Jacobsen said. “One of the most hopeful things about my reporting was that I found the exact opposite to be true. You can see that in the list of interviews, people who are knowledgeable and are willing to share this knowledge.”
Like Jacobsen’s reporting, Keshari’s work on “the bomb” also aims at engaging the public in the nuclear conversation using art and film as her avenue.
“Again and again and again, it’s culture that has been at the fore-
front,” Keshari said. “It’s the arts, it’s writers, it’s poets, it’s musicians, it’s film, and I think that’s such a power we have. That was really at the heart of the making of “the bomb” and how you could take people through this emotional, visceral, visual relationship to understanding nuclear weapons.”
Students from various backgrounds and years of study have visited the exhibit in the Bernstein Gallery. In particular, students from SPI/MAE 353: Science and Global Security: From Nuclear Weapons to Cyberwarfare and Artificial Intelligence, took a class trip to see “the bomb.”
Hajra Hamid ’25, a SPIA major, recalled “the bomb” as an eyeopening experience that represented a “very real possibility of mass destruction.”
“The way the screens surround you creates an immersive experience that really drives home the catastrophic power of nuclear weapons,” Hamid wrote in an email to the ‘Prince.’ “Even though you’re not physically present in a nuclear disaster, the installation gives you a haunting sense of how omnipresent the nuclear threat truly is.
For other students, the exhibit represented a bridge between the conceptual theories they learn in class and the realities of nuclear warfare. Sujay Swain ’25, an electrical and computer engineering major also in SPI 353, recognized the impact of the exhibit’s technical elements.
“As an engineer interested in policy, it really pushed me to think more critically about these issues,” Swain wrote. “Understanding how close we are to a catastrophic nuclear disaster made the exhibit feel like a warning rather than a piece of history. That was both scary and inspiring.”
Bodrova, a MAE Ph.D. student in the program of Science and Global Security, described feeling
“a whirlwind of emotions” from deep fear to profound grief.
“From that moment, my priority has become reclaiming control and turning hope into action,” Bodrova said. “I believe that together, we can ensure the devastation I witnessed on those screens remains a lesson from history, never to repeat in our present or future.”
Leo Yu ’26, a computer science major, worked with a few other students to design a survey about how the exhibit impacted students’ perspectives.
“Viewing this exhibit and my work creating the survey prompted me to re-examine how invisible nuclear weapons are — almost as invisible as they are destructive,” Yu said. “The multimedia format definitely helps bring at least part of the reality of nuclear weapons into the gallery space.
After Princeton, “the bomb” exhibit will be presented at universities across the country, though future locations have yet to be announced. According to Keshari, “the bomb” has been featured at many film festivals and art festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival and the Nobel Prize ceremony.
“When I asked a lot of people, early in my days of nuclear weapons, why they got involved in the subject matter, it usually went back to a photograph or a film that they saw when they were a teenager or in college that kind of was that first seed,” Keshari said.
“We’ll never be able to measure [the impact of our work],” she continued, “but I really hope “the bomb” is that seed [for the audience].”
Chloe Lau is a staff Features writer and contributing Prospect and News writer for the ‘Prince.’
Coco Gong is a staff Features writer for the ‘Prince.’
the PROSPECT. ARTS & CULTURE
Growing your garden: An evening with Grammyaward winner Natalia Lafourcade
This interview was conducted in Spanish and translated to English by The Daily Princetonian.
“Otro! Otro! Otro!” The crowd cheered as Natalia Lafourcade stepped on stage for her third encore.
The concert started at 6 p.m. and ended at 8 p.m., a half-hour later than was scheduled. Still, no one wanted to leave — the chants started over and over again, with the audience continually hoping for just another song. At the end of the concert, everyone was on their feet for a standing ovation.
Lafourcade is a Mexican singer and songwriter who has won four Grammys and 17 Latin Grammys. Her twodecade career spans 10 albums and countless collaborations with some of the biggest names in Latin American music: Jorge Drexler, Los Angeles Azules, and Juan Gabriel. She was also recently named the first-ever “Music for Peace Ambassador” at the World Summit of Nobel Laureates. While Lafourcade has played sold-out stadiums around the world, she noted during the concert that Princeton’s event was a rare moment for her — it was a chance to play an entire set with nothing but her voice and a guitar. Her performance at McCarter Theatre was coordinated with programming for Hispanic Heritage Month. The concert was a journey through her discography, beginning with her most recent album, “De Todas las Flores,” and moving back to her most iconic songs. Her white dress gave her an ethereal effect under the bright stage lights, her voice soaring over the audience. Lafourcade reflected on her journey through music and with her spirituality in an interview with The Daily Princetonian:
“Empecé la música muy pequeña. Me gusta mucho ver [mi sueño] como un fueguito y un motor interno que he mantenido, y que se ha mantenido deseoso y con ganas de seguir explorando y de seguir creciendo como musico, como interprete, como artista. Ese amor por la música nunca ha cambiado.”
“I started music very young. I really like to see [my dream] as a little fire and an internal engine that I have maintained, and that has remained eager to continue exploring and growing as a musician, as a performer, as an artist. That love for music has never changed.”
Lafourcade exemplifies her philosophy in every aspect of her music and interactions. Her belief in “building bridges” isn’t just philosophical. Throughout her performance, she asked the audience to join her in per-
formance: to sing, to clap, to build the background while she sang the melody. While the concert was entirely in Spanish, she encouraged people in the audience to translate for their English-speaking friends.
Lafourcade also reflected on the time when she felt she had to produce an English album to ensure success, bridging cultures and languages, but instead found that connecting with her identity created its own bridge and still resonated with many.
“El haberme encontrado con mi ‘mexicanidad’ — un deseo tan personal, tan mío, de entender mi lugar y de dónde vengo, de acudir a un llamado de identidad profundo — nunca me hubiera imaginado que eso me daría las llaves de abrir tantas puertas al nivel internacional, justo lo contrario a lo que pensaba antes.”
“Connecting with my ‘Mexicanness’— such a personal desire of mine, to understand my place and where I come from, to respond to a deep call of identity — I would never have imagined that this would give me the keys to open so many doors at the international level, just the opposite of what I thought before.”
Connection is also a theme that threads through her music. One of her
most popular songs, “Hasta La Raíz,” considers connection with a physical place, even after leaving it. Lafourcade considered ideas of connection when advising students struggling with distance and change.
“Plante mi raíz. Ahora puedo ir de ese árbol cuando quiera. Ese árbol es mi vida, mi familia, tantas cosas para mí. Mi árbol me da la vida, lo procuro lo cuido. Nadie me mueve de mi lugar — yo tengo mi semilla anclada de algo. Mi casa es mi corazón. Y eso tiene que estar bien. Mi consejo es que hay que cuidarse. Para mí, la enseñanza de ese disco es procurar el jardín interior.”
“I planted my roots. Now I can go from that tree whenever I want. That tree is my life, my family, so many things for me. My tree gives me life, I try to take care of it. Nobody moves me from my place — I have my seed anchored to something. My house is my heart. And that has to be good. For me, the lesson of that album is to seek the inner garden.”
When asked for her advice for students who similarly want to explore careers in music or entertainment, she told the ‘Prince’:
“Cuando uno encuentra su misión, es importante alinear la vida y el camino para poder convertirlo en su
sueno, pero también convertirlo en un servicio. Yo creo también que cuando uno logra hacer esa bonita relación entre lo que amas hacer y como eso que lo que amas hacer puede ayudar a otras personas, otras se inspirarán. Hacer una relación de reciprocidad y circular — para mí eso es muy importante.”
“When you find your mission, it is important to align your life and your path to be able to turn it into your dream, but also turn it into a service. I also believe that when you manage to make that beautiful relationship between what you love to do and how what you love to do can help other people, others will be inspired. Creating a reciprocal and circular relationship — for me, that is very important.”
Her entire performance felt like a riotous expression of joy, and the crowd’s liveliness was proof that she had successfully found her gift and her mission within her dream — creating the reciprocal relationship she spoke of and inspiring the crowd.
Natalia Diaz is a member of the Class of 2027 and a staff writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’
Narges Anzali is a member of the Class of 2028 and a contributing writer for The Prospect.
COURTESY OF THOMAS ROBERT CLARKE. Natalia Lafourcade on stage.
By Natalia Diaz & Narges Anzali
Staff & Contributing Prospect Writers
“While I wasn’t expecting a Birkin offer anytime soon, that didn’t stop me from exploring the seemingly hidden products behind the door.” HERMÈS
friends envisioned when I described the Princeton Merch Store with the abundance of the color orange. Laughing to myself at the thought, I instinctively snapped a picture to remember for later: my first red flag to the luxury code of conduct.
As if he had been waiting for me to reveal my true malicious intentions, the guard quickly approached me and asked me to respect their no-photo policy. Quietly tucking my phone away, the snapshot remained preserved within the digital realm of my phone. In that moment I was tempted to play into whatever cartoonish evil rivalry was forming between myself and the guard, but instead, I nodded and moved along.
Following the intended flow of the store, I went up a short set of stairs into the next exhibit. In the new space to my left, walls were decorated with ornate plates that probably could cover my semester’s tuition. In colors of whites, beiges, blues, and oranges, the loyalty to this color scheme continued as well with their furniture. From nightstands to small tables, due to the lack of price tags, it was hard to tell what was the decor and what was an intended product. This lack of labeling only enforced the gallery feeling I felt as I walked along the shelves. As I scanned the serveware, it felt weird consuming the delicate dishes as a prospective buyer instead of the more observant onlooker. This line of thinking however was halted the moment I was confronted with a “Touch with your eyes” sign. Taking that convenient timing as my sign to move on, I left the exhibit before the guard had more evidence against me. In the neighboring room, the walls changed in color as they sparkled with jewels. A glass island in the center definitely could cover my year’s tuition, maybe a full
ride if I played my cards right. Necklaces and rings taunted me behind their glass cage, substitutes for my good friend the guard. Maybe it’s because my wallet is looking empty currently, but nothing of the sort really kept my interest for long. It all sparkled the same, and I was looking for the quiet luxury that the Hermès brand holds as a signature. Determined to find it, I left the loud luxury behind me. Retracing my previous footsteps and passing the guard on the way back, I crossed to the other side of the store.
Reaching a more familiar element, I gravitated towards the small racks of clothing. Arranged distinctly by two colors, orange and blue, the room’s elements contrasted their products in an attempt to make them stand out more. Upon further inspection, the clothes were divided by style. Athletic and leisure wear were hung across the room from the more elegant pieces. Gleefully immersing myself in the handmade work of each piece, I relished in the fact they were all individually unique. As any critic of clothing quality would tell you, one of the first telltale signs of high versus low fashion comes down to the stitching. Carefully flipping the sleeves inside out, I studied the intricate stitchwork. Similarly to a blanket or cross stitch, the spacing between each mark was perfectly even. Running my fingers along the work, the fabric lacked any friction. No signs of pilling showed on the work I looked at which was nothing less than expected for a store so expensive and praised. I wasn’t surprised to find perfect lines and high-quality fabric, but my expectation was soon broken.
Rummaging further in the deep blues of elegant coats and sweaters, I checked the hems and stitches. It seems that not even high quality can buy you perfection. Located inside a beige shirt with brown elements and blue highlights, on a flipped sleeve, there lies one imperfection. A loose thread that hung out from its proper place stuck
out to my careful eye. If this was found in a T.J. Maxx or a Target, it would’ve been an ignored detail in my critical opinion. However, with each piece being handmade and hand-selected, the question of how it made it to the floor lingered in my mind.
Now, truth be told, the shirt was one minor mistake amongst a large group of nearly perfect products, but if I had the means to purchase such a product, I would expect not a single mistake. Satisfied with my little tour and nitpicking, I took a small peek into the last room I had yet to explore. In the small fraction of it I could admire, I saw bag parts such as the body, straps, and types of hardware add-ons. In the center of the room, talking with a worker, there was a couple already being offered their bag as they talked about price points and discussed possible options over the range of bag straps that were laid out in a rainbow of variations. It seemed that if one wanted to purchase the highly famed Birkin, this
was the spot. Alas when I tried to book a bag viewing appointment — and failed during the chaos of midterms week — I took that as my sign to not press further until I had the wallet to back it up.
The store presents a very mysterious front and guarded reputation, and their quality — for the majority of it — is held to the standards they claim to have. Even though an intimidating security guard dutifully greets you at the door, there is really nothing else that would stop and capture the interest of a shopper. Whether you appreciate the high luxury of their clothing, or are just an avid fashion enthusiast such as myself, the Hermès storefront on Palmer Square is an intriguing new addition to the Nassau scene.
Amanda Hugas is a member of the Class of 2027 and a contributing writer for The Prospect.
The Mountain Goats concert: A celebration of early 2000s indie perfection
The Mountain Goats ended their “Rule of Three Tour,” which traveled through nine states and promoted their most recently released album “Jenny From Thebes,” with a concert on Oct. 20 in the McCarter Theater.
The rock opera, released in 2023, is a sequel to the band’s critically acclaimed album “All Hail West Texas.” The new twelve-song album tells the story of a recovering addict named Jenny who opens a ranch house for those seeking shelter from difficult situations. This unique narrative style of songwriting is a defining element of The Mountain Goats.
Formed over 33 years ago, the band, headed by singersongwriter John Darnielle, first gained fame and notoriety for its “home-recorded” indie music, which contains equally poignant, witty, and sardonic lyrics. Since their first album in 1995, The Mountain Goats have gained leg-
endary underground status, developing a close-knit and devoted fanbase. Yet, the band recently experienced a surge in popularity among new fans with their song “This Year,” whose lyrics “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me” became a liberating anthem for many during the pandemic.
While made famous for their initial low-budget recording sound, the band’s performance at McCarter was far from their humble beginning. Accompanied by members John Wurster on drums and Matt Douglas on multiple instruments, the band’s sound was lush, vibrant, and wellarranged. Darnielle’s inimitable vocals perfectly matched the band’s eclectic mix of folk, rock, jazz, new wave, and blues. Douglas effortlessly switched from instrument to instrument, playing lead guitar, organ, synth, and saxophone, elevating each song’s overall sound. Finally, Wurster’s drums provided structure to the entire performance, easily matching complex rhythms to different musical
styles.
The band performed 21 songs, spanning all decades of their extensive discography, which includes 26 albums spanning nearly three decades. My personal favorites include the beautiful “Before I Got There,” whose live version transformed into an almost Peter Gabriel-esque 80s ballad of piano, warm synth, and a cavernous saxophone solo, “Only Thing I Know,” which took part during a span of the concert where Darnielle performed solo, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, and “This Year,” which delivered on its anthemic reputation when the entire crowd clapping and singing along word for word.
One of the most surprising elements of this concert was their use of enhanced production on all the songs. With the addition of synth, bass, and sparkling guitar solos, some songs felt entirely reinvented. For example, the original recording for the concert’s opener, “Elijah,” is more intimate and reserved. In contrast, the live version contained pounding drums and a constellation of delayed electric guitars that created an incredibly cinematic feeling.
The entire night, Darnielle’s range of lyricism was on full display with gut-wrenching lyrics such as, “And I know you’re lyin too … That is about the only thing I know about you,” from “Only Thing I Know,” to comedic lyrics in a soft-rock ballad about a possum whose refrain sings, “All you parasites climb aboard … All you vagabonds, praise the Lord.” While the idea for some of the band’s more idiosyncratic songs may appear borderline ridiculous, Darnielle somehow pulls them off with his equally sarcastic and jubilant execution.
In between songs, Darnielle, with his perpetual grin, delighted his audience with witty remarks about Los Angeles hotels, church, and performing at weddings. By the end of the performance, the packed crowd cheered loudly and happily, clapping in sync with Wurster’s drums.
The night was a celebration of indie music marked by inclusion and the importance of optimism in the face of adversity. This theme was never more evident than during the concert when Darnielle quipped, “My favorite songs are usually from the worst times in my life … because it proves I won.”
AMANDA HUGAS / THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
My contraband photo, which I definitely deleted.
Gavin McLoughlin, a member of the Class of 2028, is a contributing writer for The Prospect.
By Gavin McLoughlin | Contributing Prospect Writer
Artist Q&A: Simon Marotte and Pocketbook’s young roots as a multi-genre band
By Natalia Diaz | Contributing Prospect Writer
It is a busy Friday morning at Coffee Club’s Campus Club location — students rush in and out to grab a quick drink before heading to class, and the clacking of computer keys only grows in intensity as the sun warms the early autumn day. The smell of brewing coffee and the calming voice of a student performer show no signs of the stress of upcoming midterms.
Out of all the busy students seated at the establishment, one had a musical journey to share. Simon Marotte ’26, a junior in the psychology department and founder of Princeton Encore — the group responsible for bringing Laufey to Princeton — is a part of the rising band, Pocketbook. I spoke with him to discuss the origin of the group, their influences, and some core musical memories.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.
The Daily Princetonian : Can you tell us about yourself and your group?
Simon Marotte : I am a psychology major here at Princeton. I have a minor in music, and I honestly wish I would have majored in music, because my love for it has only grown at Princeton, and a big part of that was through this group called “Pocketbook,” which is a trio of me, Ryder Walsh ’26 — who plays drums — and Allison Jiang ’26, who is a singer. Ryder and I met through a friend. We didn’t know each other, but we immediately started talking about jazz and our respective instruments. We really hit it off. I ended up meeting with him at the end of my fall semester freshman year and playing with him, and it was a really, really fun experience for both of us. We probably played for an hour and a half straight, just making up random stuff. We had this really good energy and kept on playing with each other. We then decided to see if we could get a vocalist and maybe a bassist or other people. We formed Pocketbook. I think our first gig was at this Arts Gala thing last year, and that was a fun venue to debut our band.
DP : What year did this band form?
SM : This was early sophomore year, so last year.
DP : How did you start playing music?
SM : I started when I was four. My grandma played piano. She really got me into playing piano, and I would just like to play random stuff on top of the keyboard while she played actual songs. She would play “Heart and Soul.” I didn’t know the melody, so I would just tinker around with stuff. From then on, I ended up taking lessons for a few years, but I stopped. I ended up learning songs through YouTube. I got interested in composition and learned a lot of theory and then got interested in jazz.
Once I did that, I was more into listening and playing the songs by ear. I credit my “ear” to the fact that I don’t read music, because I really had to develop listening and trying to replicate that. My first big composition was for this local theater production in my hometown. It was a big challenge for me that made me more comfortable digging into the process.
DP : Why did you guys decide to name your band Pocketbook? Is there a story behind that name?
SM : We really liked the band “Scary Pockets.” A big part of their thesis as a band is learning traditional pop songs and making them jazzy and funky and playing around with the harmonics. I think Ryder may have proposed the idea of Pocketbook. The pocket is a term in jazz and funk. If the music is in the “pocket,” it’s really in the groove — it’s kind of hard to articulate. It’s kind of a drummer’s phrase, if the drummer sits back in the pocket, they’re really in the groove.
DP : Can you describe the type of music you guys play and make?
SM: We play a lot of R&B, soul, funk, but we like to take pop covers and complicate them a little bit with some R&B inflections. We all thankfully have a very similar music taste that informs a
lot of our playing and composition. We all compose in different ways — Ryder doesn’t mainly play a chordal instrument. A lot of times I have an idea, and then we flesh it out together and make it into a song, and Allison would write the lyrics. We haven’t written that many original songs, but Allison does write a lot of originals, and she’s super talented. Ryder is also kind of a savant — he plays tons of instruments. He once came into rehearsal and just picked up the bass, and he sounded really really good.
DP : You mentioned you had some original pieces. What are some of the pieces you guys are the most proud of?
SM : We had a gig last semester for All Nighter. They called it the “Big Diddy” of All Nighter where they have a band or artist perform. We were trying to decide what to play, since it was just one song. At first, we thought the audience would really like a cover, especially a popular song at the time, and that we could add our own spin on it. But then Allison reminded us that this was a really big gig where we could reach a lot of students and that we might as well make an original song for this event. I felt very daunted by that, but it was a great idea. We sat down and I had some phrases that we had been playing in between songs, which we fleshed that out into a song. All week we were throwing ideas around, and we performed that song for the first time at that gig. It was a very quick formation of a song, but I was really proud that we were able to do that in such a short period of time.
DP : Do you guys have anywhere to listen or stream your music?
SM : Not yet, but our band right now is in this transition period. I’m the musical director of All Nighter now, so our band is kind of the core of the house band. We might perform some original stuff, and it’ll be really fun.
DP : What is Pocketbook’s favorite song to cover?
SM : I would say “Best Part” by Daniel
Caesar. I’ve always loved playing that on piano, and I met Allison through that song. We were talking about playing piano. She played a little bit and then I played. I started playing that song, and she started singing along with it. That was a fun moment, and we both showed each other our love of music.
DP : What are some of your favorite spaces to perform?
SM : I would definitely say All Nighter. Terrace is obviously a great space to perform. We really haven’t played that much though. We’re a very new band. We’ve also played at NCW Coffee Club, which can be nice sometimes. We’d like to play here at Campus Club. That would be fun.
DP : If you could describe your music in terms of other artists, how would you describe that combination?
SM : I would say Vulfpeck. Their sound inspires us a lot. Maybe Daniel Caesar, and I think vocally, Allison has a H.E.R. quality.
DP : Do you have anything else to add and what would you tell people who are interested in exploring your music?
SM : Come to All Nighter! It’s such a fun show. There’s a sketch comedy; they have hosts. It’s like a late-night talk show. They have performances from student groups on campus, and it’s super funny, and it’s very fun. Really good music! And if you want to get involved too, there are tons of ways to get involved. We’re performing. There are two tentative dates, but I’m pretty sure we’re confirmed for the 26th of October.
DP : Sounds like so much fun. Thank you so much for your time. Hope to see you there!
Natalia Diaz is a member of the Class of 2027 and a staff writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’
The Prospect 11 Weekly Event Roundup
By Narges Anzali, Contributing Writer
for The Prospect
1
What’s the Issue with Charlie Roth — A comedic, political news report by Charlie Roth ’25
Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Drapkin Studio, Lewis Arts complex
Watch Charlie Roth ’25 perform a oneman “up-to-the-moment, comedic, political news report” as the culmination of his Senior Project in the Theatre Department. Free tickets are required and are available through University Ticketing.
Roth is an education director and senior News editor for the ‘Prince.’
5
Fall 2024 Drawing Class Show
Oct. 28 to Nov. 8: Weekdays at 7 a.m.–8:30 p.m, Weekends 9 a.m.–8:30 p.m Lucas Gallery, 185 Nassau Street
2
3 4
Enjoy an exhibition of the recent artwork of Students in the Drawing I and Drawing II courses with professors Amaryllis Flowers and Troy Michie. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
8
Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading by Don Mee Choi and Samanta Schweblin
Oct. 29 at 6 p.m.
Labyrinth Books
Don Mee Choi (Mirror Nation, DMZ Colony, Hardly War) and visiting lecturer in poetry Samanta Schweblin (Seven Empty Houses, Fever Dream) read recent work as a part of Althea Ward Clark W’21 Read- ing Series, hosted by the Creative Writing Department. This reading is free and open to the public. No tickets are required.
Hip-Hop Techniques and Foundations: Lite Feet with
Chrybaby Cozie
Oct. 26 at 1:30 p.m.
Ellie’s Studio, Lewis Arts complex
Attend a dance class taught by Chrubaby Cozie on Lite Feet. This dance series is intended to develop a diverse understanding of foundational techniques in dance. The workshop dissects how Lite Feet can be used to “reconstruct, variate, or create endless possibilities.” Open to University students, faculty and alumni. No registration required.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Oct. 26 at 8 p.m.
Hamilton Murray Theater, Murray-Dodge Hall
The annual shadowcast performance of the Rocky Horror Picture show will be performed by Theatre Intime as the movie runs in sync with the performance. The performance is open to students and audience participation is encouraged. Tickets not required.
6
ACP BYOB: Linocut Printmaking Workshop
Oct. 29 at 6–8:30 p.m.
Arts Council of Princeton
This workshop will be an introduction to linocut printmaking, and participants will produce their own prints from a previously drawn four by six inch design. Participants are permitted to bring their own drinks. Open to all experience levels. Tickets cost $35.
Jersey Art Meetup (JAM)
Oct. 30 at 7–9 p.m. Arts Council of Princeton
Open to any artists over sixteen years of age to create art and receive feedback on art. Bringing materials is highly encouraged as only basic materials are provided. This event is free and open to the public.
10
PUC Presents Igor Levit, Piano
Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
Watch one of the most impressive pianists of our time perform a program which ranges from Brahms to Bach. General Admission begins at $35 and Princeton students can get discounted tickets. This event is free with Passport to the Arts.
9
7
Art of Kolkata’s Batik Printing and Knatha Embroidery
Oct. 28 at 5:30–7 p.m.
Arts Council of Princeton
An exposition of the unique handcrafts of the Batik and Knatha artists of Kolkata, this event will be guided by Dr. MrittikaSen, an artisan of Earth-Strings Jewelry. The event costs $25, and tickets may be purchased through the Arts Council website.
Halloween with Sinfonia
Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
Watch Sinfonia’s annual Halloween Concert at the Richardson Auditorium. This concert is open to the public. General public tickets cost $15, and student tickets can be purchased at five dollars. The tick- ets can be purchased through Richardson Auditorium. This event is free through Passport to the Arts.
11
SW!NG Out
Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Matthews Theatre, McCarter
Enjoy the infectious energy of the New York Times’ Critic Pick dance group SW!NG Out. Lindy Hop and improvisation will be set to the tune of live music during this interactive show, where audience members will be encouraged to join in during the second half of the performance. Tickets can be purchased through the McCarter Theatre website.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Women’s soccer secures an Ivy League Tournament berth with a win over Harvard
By Lily Pampolina Staff Sports Writer
On a sunny Saturday afternoon at Roberts Stadium, Princeton women’s soccer (9–4 overall, 4–1 Ivy League) triumphed over the Harvard Crimson (5–3–5 overall, 1–3–1 Ivy League) with a dominant 3–1 win.
Coming off of a tight loss to Yale last weekend that broke their undefeated win streak in conference play, the Tigers were hungry for redemption.
From the first blow of the whistle, Princeton looked dominant. In the first 15 minutes of the game, the team had five shots on goal.
The Tigers’ midfield was creating consistent opportunities by laying crosses into the box, led by players like senior midfielder Kate Toomey. Harvard would not let up, however, forcing their way into Princeton’s box early into the game.
Sophomore defender Zoe Markesini anchored the Tiger back line, forcing Crimson turnovers and getting the ball to Princeton’s midfield.
Ten minutes into the game, the Tigers earned a free kick outside of Harvard’s box. Behind the ball was senior forward Heather MacNab and junior forward Pietra Tordin, with Tordin taking a shot to the low right corner. Harvard goalkeeper Rhiannon Stewart was up to the challenge though, as she made the save.
Shortly after, Princeton earned another opportunity, coming off of a deep shot from sophomore midfielder Kayla Wong that was again denied by Stewart.
The matchup between the Tordin-Wong duo and Stewart did not end there, though.
With 18 minutes left in the half, Tordin forced a turnover off of a ball played back to Stewart by the Harvard defense. Knocking a short pass to the right, Wong received the ball and tapped it into the back of the net, giving Princeton a 1–0 lead.
From here, Princeton maintained the momentum. The Tiger forwards continued to force turnovers by Harvard’s defense, led by first-year forward Alexandra Barry who entered the game following the first goal.
In the midfield, the game became extremely physical, with both teams drawing fouls. Struggling to breakthrough into the offensive third, Princeton began to take a few shots from afar, with several scoring opportunities from the foot of MacNab.
Saturday was MacNab’s first game back in two weeks after suffering a head injury in the team’s match against Penn.
“My injury against Penn was definitely a really scary moment, and not knowing the severity at first was pretty crushing,” MacNab told The Daily Princetonian. “I’m super lucky that it was the best case scenario under the circumstances. Being a senior, it feels like the clock is really winding down, and you really begin to cherish every single second of the season … so I just felt super grateful to be able to step on the field against Harvard.”
With five minutes left in the half, the Tigers saw a strong offensive opportunity with a ball played in
by junior forward Drew Coomans and a volley from Barry that was narrowly guided off target.
Then, two minutes before halftime, Markesini won the ball back from Harvard near midfield, laying a lofted ball to a sprinting Coomans. In her pursuit down the field, Coomans crossed the ball into the box where Barry bodied it into the back of the net.
With the goal, Princeton headed into the break with a 2–0 lead.
The second half began much like the first, with Princeton creating offensive opportunities off the bat.
Six minutes into the half, Wong was fouled in the box off a ball passed by Tordin, deflected off of senior midfielder Lily Bryant, yielding a penalty kick for the Tigers.
In another matchup between Tordin and Harvard’s Stewart, Tordin was able to convert the penalty with a low shot to the bottom left corner of the net. Princeton now led 3–0 over the Crimson on Tordin’s fourth goal of the season.
From here, Harvard was determined to get back into the game.
Following Tordin’s goal, the Crimson began to possess the ball in Princeton’s half.
In the 61st minute, Harvard converted an opportunity, as midfielder Aslaug Gunnlaugsdóttir placed the ball in the back of the net off of a diving cross.
From here, Princeton turned the game more defensive, focusing on protecting their lead. The game remained physical, with several Crimson fouls in the following minutes.
For the Tigers, senior goalkeeper Tyler McCamey led Princeton’s defensive efforts and had two saves. Nearing the end of the game, Princeton began to possess the ball in Harvard’s half, earning shots from Barry and Coomans in the dying minutes.
The Tigers successfully prevented any more breakthroughs from the Crimson, confirming their 3–1 win. With this win, Princeton sealed a bid to the Ivy League Tournament in the coming weeks.
“Right now, we’re looking at every Ivy League game as if it’s our Ivy championship, and continuing
with that mindset will give us the competitive edge we seek to perform at our highest level for 90 minutes each game,” MacNabb told the ‘Prince.’
The Tigers will take on University of Maryland-Baltimore County (5–9–1, 1–4–1 America East Conference) away in Maryland this Tuesday at 7 p.m. in their last out of conference matchup.
Lily Pampolina is a staff Sports writer and staff Audience creator at the ‘Prince.’
Defensive display gives Princeton football 29–17 victory against Brown
By Alex Beverton-Smith Assistant sports editor
Princeton Football (2–3 overall, 1–1 Ivy League) put on a strong defensive display with five turnovers to secure victory against the Brown Bears (2–3, 1–1) over the weekend. Despite having fewer total yards, fewer first downs, and less time on the ball, the Tigers offense capitalized on the defense’s strength to secure them the 29–17 win at home.
In particular, it was the defensiveback room who were key for the Tigers’ success. Sophomore defensive back Torian Roberts added his third interception of the season, running with the ball for a 43-yard gain and crucial field position. Junior defensive back Nasir Hill had an interception whilst junior defensive back Tahj Owens had two fumble recoveries.
“Tahj played physical and executed his responsibilities very well,” Head Coach Bob Surace ’90 wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “Most importantly, he is growing into a leader with his communication.”
“Brown plays with one of the fastest tempos in the country, and they really test the safety and linebacker’s ability to process a lot of information quickly and communicate to the rest of the defense,” coach Surace contin-
ued. “It may seem easy, but I think it [is] a great challenge versus that pace of play. Tahj was near perfect on Friday in this area.”
The Tigers set the tone for the game in the first quarter, scoring two touchdowns within the first ten minutes of the quarter and forcing a Brown punt in between. Senior running back John Volker scored on both plays, executing them to perfection to put the Tigers ahead.
Volker’s first run saw him dive through the Brown defensive line and linebackers at pace, cutting back between Brown players before cruising into the endzone for a 66-yard touchdown run. His second touchdown of the game saw him sprint out right on a 2nd-and-goal, sneaking into the endzone despite late hits from the Brown secondary.
Credit goes to the offensive unit on both of these plays, however, in giving the Princeton running backs the gaps they need to score. The offensive line (OL) particularly goes unnoticed in their role, but they played a huge part in Princeton’s 179 rushing yards for the night.
“To be successful on an offensive play, it almost always takes all 11 to execute,” coach Surace wrote to the ‘Prince’ about the running game. “Friday night we had our best perim-
eter blocking by our [wide receivers] (WRs) and [tight ends] (TEs) in quite some time. The OL has been solid all season, and having an athletic QB forces a defense to account for him. Those other 10 players truly make a difference.”
Misses on the first touchdown’s extra point and the two-point conversion on the following touchdown kept Princeton at 12–0; however, Roberts’ interception and a rushing touchdown by junior quarterback Blaine Hipa on the following drive meant it didn’t stay this way for long.
Roberts taking the ball to Brown’s 13-yard-line set Princeton up in a perfect position for points. On a key 3rd-and-10 Hipa showed his mobility as he found the endzone for another Princeton touchdown with a successful extra point taking the Tigers up to 19–0. The teams continued to trade points as Brown marched up the field in less than four minutes to score a touchdown before the Tigers came right back with a field goal to take the score to 22–7 until the half.
Brown scored their second and final touchdown of the game on the opening drive of the second half. Despite several third downs and a fourth down, the Tigers’ defense didn’t have an answer for the Brown offense as
their running game propelled them to the endzone.
The Bears’ final points were scored in a 33-yard field goal attempt to make the game a one-score contest, 22–17. With a Tiger three-and-out on the following drive, the Bears now had the chance to take the lead for the first time since the start of the game.
“There are [four] ‘statistics’ we emphasize that have the highest value towards winning,” coach Surace ’90 wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “Turnover margin is certainly one of them, and it was nice to ‘ring the bell’ [five] times against a terrific offense.”
The defense had to come up big in this drive and they did. Owens’ secured the Tigers’ penultimate turnover as he got his second fumble recovery of the night at the Princeton 25-yard-line.
Sophomore running back Ethan Clark kicked off the Princeton drive with a 44-yard rush to the Brown 31.
The Tigers continued to march up the field and found themselves on 3rd-and-8 at the Brown 12-yard-line.
Off a quick snap, Hipa looked up and threw out right to senior wide receiver Luke Colella on a wide receiver screen. Colella took the ball and danced through the secondary and dived into the endzone for the final score of the night. Colella ended his
day with 96 yards and took the Tigers up 29–17.
Hill’s interception sealed the game for Princeton as they took a knee in the final few seconds to claim the win.
Along with their five turnovers, the Princeton defense made plenty of tackles in the game. Both junior linebacker Marco Scarano and senior defensive lineman Jack DelGarbino ended the game in the double digits for tackles with 14 and 10 respectively. Owens also added eight tackles to his two fumble recoveries.
The Tigers will need to carry this form into next week’s matchup against Harvard (4–1, 1–1) on the road. The Crimson have started the season well, and a victory here for Princeton would keep their bonfire hopes alive.
“Our veteran players know, and new ones have been told (and found out against Columbia) how strong our league is,” coach Surace told the ‘Prince.’ “Harvard is playing incredibly well on all [three] sides of the ball. We have to have laser focus on the things we control, most importantly our preparation starting Sunday and practice on Tuesday.”
Alex Beverton-Smith is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
PHOTO COURTESY OF SIDELINE PHOTOS, LLC.
With a 3–1 win against Harvard, the Tigers clinched a bid to the Ivy League Tournament.
MEN’S FOOTBALL
MEN’S SOCCER
Kelley’s early strike lifts men’s soccer over Fordham in midweek matchup
By Hayk Yengibaryan
Associate Sports Editor
Men’s soccer (7–5 overall, 3–1 Ivy League) traveled to the Bronx on Tuesday for a midweek out-of-conference matchup against the Fordham Rams (6–4–4, 3–1–2 Atlantic 10). An early goal from sophomore forward Kevin Kelley was the lone goal of the game as Princeton came away with a 1–0 road win.
“We knew that it would be important to get off to a good start tonight, and we did,” Head Coach Jim Barlow wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “We were sharp and connected and put them under pressure, and Kevin’s goal was the result of a very good build-up.”
With Fordham ranked No. 45 in the NCAA RPI rankings, the Tiger win goes down as a Quadrant I victory. Based on RPI, this was the Tiger’s second biggest win of the season after previously taking down No. 32 Monmouth earlier this month.
For Princeton, there were some new faces in the starting lineup. Senior goalkeeper William Watson made his season debut for Princeton, while senior forward/defender Harry Roberts and first-year midfielder Garry Zhang cracked
the starting lineup for the first time this season.
“[It] felt great,” Watson wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “[I] really had missed being on that side of the touchline, and coming away with a clean sheet made it even better.”
“[The] team put in a good effort, especially for a mid-week out of conference game,” Watson continued.
Notably, junior forward and leading goalscorer Daniel Ittycheria also rested in the first half ahead of an important Ivy contest this weekend against Yale (4–8–1, 1–3 Ivy League).
It took just six minutes for Kelley to find the back of the net. After sophomore midfielder Liam Beckwith played it to Kelley on the wing, Kelley quickly cut inside and bent the ball into the goal from the edge of the 18-yard box.
For Kelley, it was his third goal of the season, with all three coming against New York opponents: Colgate, St John’s, and now Fordham. Furthermore, Kelley scored his first goal with his younger brother on the pitch at the same time. First-year midfielder Kristian Kelley was recruited as part of the Class of 2028.
“It was a very special moment for me to not only be on the field with my brother, but
my best friend,” Kevin Kelley recalled.
Watson was called into action for the first time on Tuesday evening when a Fordham shot from outside the box forced a save from the senior goalkeeper. The Rams kept pushing, earning their first corner of the match minutes after, but were unable to threaten the Tiger goal.
In the 30th minute, junior defender Giuliano Whitchurch played a ball into Roberts, forcing the Rams goalkeeper to leave his goal, stopping what could have been the Tigers second goal of the game. Moments later, Beckwith had a good opportunity after a corner kick landed in front of him at the edge of the box, but skied it above the goal.
“Liam is so steady and consistent and is such a good passer,” Barlow said. “He reads the game really well and has become an engine in the midfield.”
In the second half, the Tigers made more substitutions. Ittycheria came on for the Tigers along with junior midfielder Gabriel Duchovny. Duchovny scored his first goal of the season during the weekend contest against Columbia.
The first action of the second half came in the 52nd min-
ute when Rams forward Andre Insalaco headed the ball just wide of the goal. Moments later, Fordham midfielder Daniel D’Ippolito forced a second save of the night from Watson.
“Fordham had stretches where we were under pressure and they caused us some problems, but Will [Watson] and the rest of the defense played really well,” Barlow added. “It was a solid effort on the road against a very good and experienced team.”
Though Ittycheria and Nunez both recorded shots to start the second half, the Tigers first big chance of the second half came off a free kick in the 65th minute. After Travis was fouled, sophomore forward Ian Nunez hit the crossbar from over 20 yards out.
The next 15 minutes saw Fordham control more of the ball, but the Princeton midfield and defense kept the Rams at bay, not allowing the hosts to test Watson. In the 78th minute, the ball was in the back of the net after a Tiger corner, but a foul on Ittycheria had the goal called back. The next few minutes saw the visitors continue to push but were unable to get the insurance goal.
Despite Fordham’s effort to score the equalizer, Prince -
ton’s defense held strong in the final minutes and the game ended 1–0 to the Tigers. For the Rams, it was their first loss in October after going unbeaten during the first four games of the month. After conceding a goal in the last four games, the Tigers kept a clean sheet for the third time this season courtesy of saves from Watson and another solid midfield performance.
Princeton will return to Ivy play this weekend when they host the Yale Bulldogs. With a win on Saturday, the Tigers would have 12 points in the league and put themselves in a great position to qualify for the Ivy League tournament. The last time a team with four wins (equates to 12 points) did not finish in the top-four was in 2011.
“Like all of the Ivy games, it is another huge match against a strong team — it feels like a championship game,” Barlow said. “They all do. We will get back to work tomorrow to prepare.”
Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate Sports editor and News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
FIELD HOCKEY
Field Hockey upsets No. 10 Crimson 2–1 in overtime, claims top spot in the Ivy League
By Hayk Yengibaryan Associate Sports Editor
351 days ago, Princeton failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament after losing to long-time rival Harvard in the Ivy League tournament final.
On Saturday, the No.15 Tigers (9–4 overall, 5–0 Ivy League) avenged the loss by walking into Cambridge and upsetting the No.10 ranked Crimson (10–3, 4–1) 2–1 in overtime. Both goals came courtesy of sophomore midfielder/defender Ella Cashman.
Princeton and Harvard have dominated the Ivy League in field hockey for the last few decades. 1993 was the last time neither team won a share of the league title. Since 2017, the two teams are 77–1 against the rest of the Ivy League.
“It was a great atmosphere for a big game,” head coach Carla Tagliente wrote to the Daily Princetonian. “The weather was perfect. There was a big crowd. Both teams played really hard.”
She continued, “I think in situations like that, it’s really important to keep your mental focus sharp for the entire game. You know going in that it’s going to be a close game, and because of that any one play can be gamechanging.”
Heading into the matchup, both teams had already clinched a spot in the Ivy League tournament that will take place on November 8 and 10. However, the Saturday contest was crucial as both undefeated teams were fighting for the top spot in the Ivy League standings. The regular season winner reserves the right to host the Ivy League tournament, for which the top four seeds qualify.
Princeton started the game on the offensive, with two corners in the opening 75 seconds, forcing the Crimson to defend their goal. Crimson goalie Tessa Shahbo made three saves in the opening
quarter.
With just over two minutes remaining in the first quarter, Harvard converted its first shot on goal. It was Harvard midfielder Martha le Huray who entered the shooting circle and made the pass to forward Lucy Leel who put the ball in the net to bring the score to 1–0 for the hosts.
“After we gave up an early goal, I think we really were dialed in on not allowing another,” Tagliente said. “We were still confident, and I think that was a big key for us.”
Despite the Tigers controlling the majority of the first quarter, Harvard ended it holding the lead. In the second period, both teams had their fair share of possession but were unable to get close to shoot on the opposing goal.
Both teams went on the offensive in the second half. Thompson was crucial in keeping the Crimson at bay as she recorded three saves in the third quarter after Harvard had four penalty corners during the third quarter.
It looked like Princeton had found the equalizer with 2:26 remaining in the period when sophomore defender Ottilie Sykes put the ball in the goal off a pass from junior midfielder Beth Yeager, but the officials ruled the goal out as the ball had made contact with a Tiger player.
“We felt like we were getting good opportunities and that we’d break through eventually,”
Tagliente wrote to the ‘Prince.’
“Harvard is a very tough defensive team, and the goalie made some really big saves early on to keep us from getting ahead.”
Heading into the final 15 minutes, the Tigers were eager to match the Crimson. Just a few minutes into the fourth quarter, Yeager redirected a pass from a penalty corner to Cashman who put the ball in the goal to tie the game for the Tigers.
“I said that we just needed to
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keep pressuring them,” Tagliente said. “Then when we tied it, I was worried about possibly having a letdown, so I wanted to make sure that we doubled our focus and intensity.”
It was Cashman’s third goal of the season and sixth of her career. For Yeager, it was her 99th career point (goals and assists) for Princeton. The midfielder made her Olympic debut in Paris this past summer for the U.S. national team.
Notably, Yeager leads the Ivy League in five of the seven major categories: shots, shots on goal, goals, assists, and points. She has recorded a point for the Tigers in 11 straight games.
“Field hockey is the ultimate team sport,” Yeager wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “We focus on moving without the ball and finding open space, and we’re always working to receive passes in the right position to give us good scoring opportunities.”
“It doesn’t matter who scores the goals or who gets the assists. It’s about playing as a team and trusting each other on the field,” she continued.
Cashman’s goal proved to be the last before the game headed into overtime. Both teams had experience with overtime, with this being Princeton’s second and Harvard’s third overtime match this season.
Heading into overtime, the shot statistics were fairly even, with Princeton registering both an extra shot (8) and a shot on goal (5). The Tigers had dominated the penalty corners category, doubling up Harvard’s four corners eight of their own.
Overtime allowed the game to open up much more, with four fewer players on the field. It took just a few minutes for Yeager to register a shot on goal, forcing a big save from Shahbo.
However, the Tigers kept pushing. Less than two minutes later, they drew another penalty cor-
ner. This time around, Yeager redirected the pass to Cashman who scored her second goal of the game to give Princeton the upset victory over Harvard.
“They beat us last year in the regular season and got to host the first Ivy tournament,” Tagliente added. “We knew that if we wanted to win an Ivy championship and play at home in the tournament that we’d have to go there and win the game.”
Yeager’s 100th point makes her the 12th Tiger to cross the century mark in career points. Last season, the Tigers finished the season with a disappointing 8–9 record as Yeager took the year off to prepare for the Olympics. With Yeager back in the mix, the Tigers now sit at 9–4 and seem destined to get back to the NCAA tournament.
“I was so happy to see Ella score the goals Saturday,” Yeager noted. “That was such a big game and such a great atmosphere, and we were so happy to get the win.”
Princeton will return to the 609 for two games this weekend.
On Friday, the Tigers will take on No.8 Maryland (10–4, 5–2 Big Ten) in their final non-conference matchup before playing the Big Green (3–10, 0–5) on Sunday. The game against Maryland will provide the Tigers with a great opportunity to play a tough out-of-conference opponent as they prepare for the Ivy League tournament and a potential NCAA tournament run. With a win on Sunday against Dartmouth, Tagliente’s squad would officially clinch a share of the regular season Ivy title and hosting rights for the tournament. Tagliente ended by saying, “We have to continue to take care of our business. Nothing is set yet other than that we’ll be in the tournament. We still have all of our big goals in front of us, and winning the game Saturday was a big step in that direction.”
Hayk Yengibaryan is an associate Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
The Mysterious Frist Powder That Gave Students an Anthrax Scare
By Amy Park Staff Archivist
On the night of Oct. 20, 2001, “a suspicious powder” was “found on a keyboard in the Frist Campus Center,” and many speculated that it contained anthrax. The graduate student who discovered the substance said it seemed similar to “powdery sugar found on doughnuts.” Just five days earlier, an employee had similarly reported “a white powder and open envelopes in an office garbage can” at the Engineering Building. The substance turned out to be non-toxic.
Anthrax is a bacteria that can cause severe illness in both people and animals. Infected individuals can experience symptoms ranging from itchy blisters to death. But of all the bacteria the suspicious powder at Frist could have contained, why did most students assume it to be anthrax?
The year 2001 was most marked by
the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Just weeks after, letters laced with anthrax began appearing in the U.S. postal system. The ensuing FBI investigation task force, known as “Amerithrax,” found that the letters were sent to famous politicians and journalists. In total, five Americans were killed, and 17 became ill due to anthrax contamination. Among these politicians and journalists were Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and NBC Nightly news anchor Tom Brokaw, both of whom received letters containing anthrax sent from Trenton, New Jersey. Princeton was entangled as well — one suspect in the Amerithrax investigation was found to have sent anthrax letters from a collection box outside of the thenKappa Kappa Gamma sorority house in Princeton, N.J. In response to the discovery of the powder, the 100-level of Frist closed
for several hours. Students were evacuated, the substance was carefully removed, and the ventilation shut off. Due to the recent spread of anthrax, the testing centers in New Jersey were backlogged. As Lauren RobinsonBrown, then director of communications, pointed out in an article run in The Daily Princetonian article, testing the substance wasn’t a priority amidst the backlog of confirmed anthrax cases from the mail, which frustrated many students.
The University continued to testify they had done all they could regarding the powder. Still, many students wished they had been given more notice and information about the powder, such as what symptoms to look out for. Helene Goldsmith ’02 stated that she “would have liked to receive some notice about what is going on.”
The powder ultimately tested negative for anthrax, although one year later, the FBI found a borough mailbox
across the street from Holder Hall that tested positive. Josh Tauberer ’04, the author of the original ‘Prince’ piece from 2001, reflected on his experience covering the substance in a recent interview. He emphasized the significance of the scare coming just a few weeks after 9/11 and the way the issue highlighted Princeton’s connection with a national moment. “It’s incredibly hard to think back on it and remember what people’s mentality was about terrorism scares. It was a totally different world, where people’s relationship with terrorism was mostly from movies, not from an actual domestic event,” said Tauberer. He added, “It was one of those times where the issue really went beyond students … it was very hard to see outside to the bigger picture and understand.”
Amy Park is a staff archivist for the ‘Prince.’
PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN FOLEY/FOLEY-PHOTOGRAPHY.
The Tigers need one more league win to host the conference tournament in November.
