Town Topics Newspaper, October 2nd

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Volume LXXIII, Number 40

Tea, Scones, and Evensong at Trinity Choir Event . . . 5 “Foraging Forest” Project in Hopewell Park . . . . . 11 Poetry is Everywhere: Looking and Listening with Wallace Stevens . . . . . . 14 Martin Starring as PU Men’s Soccer Grinding Out Wins . . . . . . . . . . . 26 PHS Girls’ Tennis Captures MCT Crown . . . . . . . . . 27

“Raising Backyard Chickens” Information Session at Princeton Library . . . . . . 10 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .20, 21 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 22 Classified Ads . . . . . . 34 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Music/Theater . . . . . . 15 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 33 Police Blotter . . . . . . . 11 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 34 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6

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Installation Exploring Mixed Wilson Legacy Has Been Completed Double Sights, a large installation presenting both positive and negative views of Woodrow Wilson, has been completed on Scudder Plaza next to the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs on Washington Road. Almost four years after the 33-hour occupation of Nassau Hall by Black Justice League students and their supporters in protest against the University’s representations of Woodrow Wilson’s legacy on campus, Princeton University is marking its ongoing progress in confronting a past that includes deplorable as well as admirable chapters. A public discussion, titled “Woodrow Wilson’s Legacy: Wrestling with History,” with the installation’s designer, artist and 2019 MacArthur Fellowship winner Walter Hood, and University Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity Michele Minter, will take place this Saturday, October 5 at 3:15 p.m. in McCosh Hall 50, followed by a formal dedication of the work. In 2015, in response to widespread concerns over racist actions by Wilson, who was the University’s 13th president, New Jersey’s 34th governor, and the 28th president of the United States, the University established a trustee committee to make recommendations about how Wilson’s legacy on campus should be commemorated. The installation of a “permanent marker” at the Woodrow Wilson School that “educates the campus community and others about the positive and negative dimensions of Wilson’s legacy” was one of the recommendations of the Wilson Legacy Review Committee. Double Sights, 39 feet high with two columns leaning against each other and etched with quotations representing both good and bad aspects of the Wilson legacy, is designed to achieve that goal. Quotes on the outside of both columns present Wilson’s views on a variety of subjects, and at the sculpture’s center is a glass surface with images of Wilson’s contemporaries who were critical of his views, particularly about race and gender. The other side includes quotes by these critics about some of Wilson’s negative actions. “Powerful words force us not to choose sides but to try to understand,” said Hood in an April 4 talk on campus. “We are Continued on Page 4

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Wednesday, October 2, 2019

BOE Votes 6-3 to Hire Planning Firm At a four-hour meeting last week, the Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education (BOE) voted 6-3 to approve the hiring of the educational consulting firm Milone & Macbroom (M&M) to help develop a plan to address the challenges of growth and overcrowding. Based in Cheshire, Connecticut, M&M specializes in working with school districts on short- and long-term planning and has been cited by BOE members and others as being especially effective in engaging the whole community in the planning process. They will work with the district to develop a plan over the next seven months at a total cost not to exceed $143, 605. BOE President Beth Behrend praised the BOE decision, citing the need for experienced assistance with the complex planning challenges ahead. “I’m excited to have this resource in place to assist the district in dealing with the growth issue,” she said. Recalling extensive controversy over last year’s facilities referendum, which was eventually scaled down and approved in December 2018, Behrend continued, “Last year the community spoke loud and clear is saying that we need to validate our claims and get the community involved. M&M will help us do that. They will help

us in collaborating so that we plan in a way that’s forward-looking and sensible and within the means of the community.” She went on to point out the urgency of the situation, noting that “overcrowding is impacting the education programming already. We’re trying to be proactive.” BOE Disagreement

BOE members Debbie Bronfeld, Daniel Dart, and Bill Hare, along with some supporters among speakers from the public, expressed concerns about the expense and the timing of hiring a planning firm. “Why are we rushing into this?” Bronfeld asked, urging that the district slow

down and focus on more immediate issues, including careful use of the current $27M facilities referendum funds. Dart also warned against a distraction from working on the current referendum, recommending a focus on immediate priorities and establishing more clear parameters for the planning. He questioned the BOE’s demographic figures and growth projections, calling for the proposal to hire a planning consultant to be deferred for a year to the 2020-21 budget cycle. Hare joined Bronfeld and Dart in Continued on Page 8

Restoration is On Track For Wars Memorial Bench

Back in 1925, public donations initiated the installation of the Princeton Wars Memorial Bench that sits in the small park at the intersection of Nassau and Mercer Streets. Nearly a century later, a new round of donations, this time from The Garden Club of Princeton, the Princeton Daughters of the American Revolution, and Princeton University, is funding some needed repair and restoration of the local landmark.

Members of the organizations presented checks totaling $29,200 — $24,200 from the two clubs, and $5,000 from the University — to Princeton Council at a meeting of the governing body on September 23. “It is fitting that restoration of the monument is to be funded by a similar community collaboration,” said Rosemary Kelley, first vice regent of The Garden Club of Princeton, upon presentation of Continued on Page 11

DAMIEN CHAZELLE’S HOMECOMING: Roger Durling, left, interviewed Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Princeton High School graduate Damien Chazelle at Nassau Presbyterian Church last Thursday evening at an event in support of The Petey Greene Program . The nonprofit program, founded at Princeton University in 2008, trains university students to tutor incarcerated students in one-on-one sessions . (Photo by Kevin Birch)


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