Volume LXX, Number 40
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Battlefield Society Continues Opposition To Institute Plans
PU Tax Case May Go to Court This Week . . . 10 Reconstruction of Valley Road Remains On Hold, While Gas Tax Increase Awaits Approval . . . . . 11 Unruly Sounds Festival Dense with Rich Variety of Performers . . . . . . . 19 PU Women’s Soccer Stifles Dartmouth . . . . 25 PHS Girls’ Tennis Pulls into 2nd Place Tie at MCT; Wins Second Doubles Crown . . . . . 28
This Year’s Friends of the Library Book Sale Is Dedicated to Longtime Volunteer Charles Rojer (1934-2016) . . . . . . . 15 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 23 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Classified Ads . . . . . . . 34 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Music/Theater . . . . . . 19 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 33 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 6 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 34 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Service Directory . . . . 13 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Topics of the Town . . . . 7 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Princeton Battlefield Society (PBS), in a statement released last week, continued to accuse the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) of “flagrant disregard” for the “widespread and longstanding public opposition” to its plans to build 15 faculty housing units on a seven-acre tract at the edge of the battlefield. Institute Director of Communications Christine Ferrara stated, “the project continues to move ahead, as we have all the necessary regulatory approvals to proceed. As we have stated previously, the plan as configured addresses the concerns raised by the opposition, and will be adding 14 acres of open space adjacent to the current Battlefield State Park.” IAS, currently seeking bids for construction, has devoted a section of its websitewww.ias.edu to Preservation and Faculty Housing, where it outlines the development and adaptation of its housing project in the light of preservation issues. An April 2016 letter on the website from Institute Director Robbert Dijkgraaf claimed that the PBS, along with the Save Princeton Coalition of allied historic and conservation organizations, has waged a PR campaign to repeat misstatements that have been unequivocally rejected by the courts. Mr. Dijkgraaf in his letter noted that the Institute incorporated extensive changes to the faculty housing plans in response to concerns of the public, including: “moving the project further away from the Park; adjusting the profiles and materials of the housing units; and enhancing the landscaped screen between the site and the Park.” Last week’s statement by PBS claimed that the housing project would ”wreak havoc on historic Maxwell’s field, the site where George Washington charged to victory during the January 3, 1777 Battle of Princeton.” The Battlefield Society cited public opposition from fellow members of the Princeton Coalition and in the form of a recent Philadelphia Inquirer editorial, earlier editorials in The Times of Trenton and The Daily Princetonian, as well as opinion pieces from state legislators and others. The Battlefield Society continues to seek a halt to construction through a law suit filed under the Clean Water Act and also to pursue its appeal of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission 2015 decision to approve the housing project. —Anne Levin
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Haldane Wins Nobel Prize in Physics
Princeton University professor F. Duncan Haldane has been awarded the 2016 Nobel prize in Physics for revealing secrets of exotic states of matter, such as superconductivity, discoveries that could lead to new applications in material science and electronics. In Tuesday’s announcement of the joint award to Mr. Haldane, along with David J. Thouless of University of Washington and J. Michael Kosterlitz of Brown University “for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter,” the Royal Swedish Academy
stated, “This year’s laureates opened the door on an unknown world where matter can assume strange states.” Mr. Haldane, 65, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics, was born in London, received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cambridge University UK, and eventually joined the Princeton faculty in 1990 after working at Institut Laue-Langevin in France, the University of Southern California and AT&T Bell Laboratories. The Swedish Academy’s announcement explained that the three laureates
“used advanced mathematical methods to study unusual phases, or states, of matter, such as superconductors, superfluids or thin magnetic films. Thanks to their pioneering work, the hunt is now on for new and exotic phases of matter. Many people are hopeful of future applications in both materials science and electronics.” In a press conference Tuesday afternoon before a full lecture hall at Frick Laboratory’s Taylor Auditorium, Mr. Haldane expressed hope that his work with topological material could lead the way Continued on Page 8
Public Schools, Teachers’ Union Join Against PARCC
TAKE A BOOK, GIVE A BOOK: Local children have another cozy spot to share their favorite books thanks to a new Little Free Library, officially dedicated last Sunday in Marquand Park . Built on the massive stump of what was once a cucumber magnolia tree, the reading nook, being tested here by Aidan and Annelise Sutphin, joins others in town and across the country, as part of a national movement . The Princeton Public Library supplied the initial books to get the project going . Mayor Liz Lempert and other local dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the opening . (Photo by Emily Reeves)
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Princeton Public Schools Superintendent, Board of Education President and the Teachers’ Union Presidents came together last Tuesday in their opposition to the New Jersey Department of Education’s (DOE) decision to triple the weight of the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) tests in the evaluation of teachers. Two days later the State Assembly weighed in, and went a step further to approve by a 52-11-8 vote a bill that would prohibit the use of student standardized test results as any part of teacher or principal evaluations. PARCC test results, as of the DOE August 31 announcement, are slated to count for 30 percent of the teacher evaluation, but the Assembly bill will now go to the State Senate. Princeton Schools Superintendent Steve Cochrane, Board President Andrea Spalla and PREA (Princeton Regional Education Association) Presidents Theresa Cross, John McCann and Renee Szporn noted widespread “concerns about instructional time diverted for test prep, the test’s potential negative impact on curricular priorities and the significant cost of preparing for the PARCC’s computer-based administration,” in claiming that “the NJDOE is out of step with the entire country, as well as the majority of the public school communities that it is legally bound to guide and serve.” Since the first administration of the controversial PARCC tests in 2015, the Princeton community has been skeptical about the merits of the test, with many parents choosing for their children, especially at Continued on Page 12
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