Volume LXXI, Number 1
School Open House Pages 17-20 Play Development at McCarter Boosted by NEA Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 With 3-Game Winning Streak, Princeton Men’s Hoops Primed for Ivy Opener. . . . . . . . . . . 23 Tufts Men’s Soccer Wins 2nd NCAA D-III Title. . . . . . 25
With Commentary by Dr. Chekhov, A Farewell to Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, and Some of the Notable People Who Died in 2016. . . 13 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Classified Ads. . . . . . . . 32 Mailbox. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Music/Theater . . . . . . . 14 New To Us . . . . . . . . . . 22 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . 30 Police Blotter. . . . . . . . . 4 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . 32 Religion. . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Topics of the Town . . . . . 5 Town Talk. . . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Westminster Alumni, Students Seeking Historic Designation To Keep Campus in Princeton A proposal by The Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College in Princeton is on the agenda of the Princeton Historical Commission’s meeting scheduled for Thursday evening, December 6. Constance Fee, president of the school’s Alumni Council, plans to read a brief introduction to the proposal, which asks that the 28-acre campus be designated a historical landmark. Financially strapped Rider University, which has owned Westminster since 1992, is studying the idea of selling the Walnut Avenue site and relocating Westminster to Rider’s main campus in Lawrenceville. The request to the Historical Commission is part of an effort by students, alumni, and friends of Westminster to protect the campus and keep it where it has been since 1932. “It’s not just the people. It’s the environment,” said Ms. Fee, an alumna whose mother also graduated from the school. On the music faculty at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York, Ms. Fee has sent three of her former students to Westminster. “This is a Greek Revival style campus that was built specifically for educating a choir, with rehearsal spaces, practice rooms, teaching studios, and organs,” she continued. “To replicate that would be a staggering task.” This Thursday is also the day when a group of singers from Westminster made up of current students, alumni, and professionals will appear on the Fox network television show Good Day New York. According to Ms. Fee, the singers will appear for about 10 minutes sometime between 7 and 9 a.m. Rider president Gregory Dell’Omo informed the school community early last month that selling the Westminster campus was being considered to avoid a projected $13.1 million deficit by 2019. Since then, students, alumni, and staff have taken to social media to register their concerns and encourage an effort to ensure that such an action does not take place. A website, savewestminster. org, is a clearing house where people can sign petitions and get updated on the situation. The Westminster Symphonic Choir has performed with major orchestras and conductors throughout the world. Many graduates join professional opera Continued on Page 9
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Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Nine Named to Civil Rights Commission
Mayor Liz Lempert has named nine appointees to Princeton’s new Civil Rights Commission, which is designed to provide informal conflict resolution and mediation. Princeton Council is expected to approve the list at its annual reorganization meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, January 4. Members come from different sectors of the community, including four affiliated with Princeton University. “I’m excited about the launch of this important commission, and I’m especially thrilled with the diversity of residents who have volunteered to serve, and the expertise they bring to the table,” Ms. Lempert wrote in an email on Tuesday. Appointees are Donna Tatro, a member of Not in Our Town who serves on the LGBT Employee Resource Group and the University’s Transgender Advisory Committee; Susan Fiske, a Princeton University professor and expert on bias, stereotypes and discrimination; David Campbell, a clinical psychologist with Princeton University Health Services, co-chair of its Diversity and Inclusion Implementation Advisory Council, and member of Campus Life Diversity and Inclusion Committee; and Leticia Fraga, who chairs the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Also: Karen Hernandez-Granzen, pastor of West-
minster Presbyterian Church in Trenton; Kiki Jamison, president of The Fund for New Jersey and previous president of the Princeton Public Library Board; Tommy Parker, a Princeton native and former chair of the previous Civil Rights Commission, co-chair and founding member of the Association of Black and Latino Employees at Princeton University, and Campus Ambassador on the Diversity and Inclusion Steering Community; Af-
sheen Shamsi, public relations director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and former Princeton Public Schools board member; and Molly Chrein, public interest attorney and former Princeton Public Schools board member. Princeton’s former Civil Rights Commission was in place from 1968 to 1998. A subcommittee of the town’s Human Services department worked on the Continued on Page 8
After Surge in Number of Early Applicants, PU Admits 15.4 Percent to Class of 2021 Seven hundred and seventy students from a pool of 5003 candidates who applied through single-choice early action have been offered admission to next year’s freshman class at Princeton University. The number of early applicants is the largest in the past six years, up 18.3 percent from last year. The admitted students, 15.4 percent of applicants, represent 45 countries and 42 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The University reported that 43 percent of the admitted students are U.S. students from diverse backgrounds, up one percent from last year, and 11 percent international
students, with 50 percent men and 50 percent women. Fifty-seven percent of the admitted students come from public schools, and 14 percent are the first in their families to attend college, both figures also up one percent from last year. Sixteen percent of the admitted students are children of Princeton alumni. University early action and early decision programs have recently come under fire in articles like “The Plague of Early Decision” by Frank Bruni, in the December 21, 2016 New York Times as being inherently biased against low-income and other under-represented students, who Continued on Page 9
SOLO: A lone figure on Lake Carnegie suggests, at least for some, the time when you could see Albert Einstein out there “sailing through strange seas of thought” in his dinghy. (Photo by Emily Reeves)
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