Volume LXX, Number 22
www.towntopics.com
Mayor, Council Slots On Primary Ballot In Coming Election
Princeton High School’s Jeff Lucker Is the Subject of This Week’s Profile in Education . . . . . . . . . . 9 Folk Musician Beppe Gambetta Performing Saturday, at Kingston Presbyterian Church . . 20 Tigers on the March: A P-rade Photo Spread . 17 Dr . Howard Silvio Mele, 88, Who Treated John Nash and Became His Friend, Dies . . . . . . . . 34 Wheeler Helps PU Crew Excel at NCAAs . . . . . 26 PDS Boys’ Tennis Wins 4th Prep B Title . . . . . 29
In the upcoming primary election on June 7, four Democrats are running for two open seats on Princeton Council. Mayor Liz Lempert, also a Democrat, is running for re-election in the primary, challenged by Republican Peter Marks. Jenny Crumiller
The one incumbent who is hoping to be re-elected for another term on Council, Ms. Crumiller previously served on Princeton Borough Council prior to consolidation in 2013. She has spoken often of her concerns about maintaining the town’s character and making it more affordable. The epidemic of “teardowns” in several areas of Princeton is another focus of her attention, and she has suggested addressing the problem through stronger zoning regulations. Ms. Crumiller hears from many constituents about slowing down traffic. She is in favor of the town reaping some sort of financial benefit from Communiversity, possibly through an admission charge for having vendors pay to participate. Regarding the Valley Road School building, which is in disrepair, she has said it should be sold or used for a creative purpose, perhaps in a partnership with developers who do adaptive reuse of old buildings.
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Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Eisgruber Urges Graduates: Renew Civic Culture
Princeton University held its 269th commencement ceremony on the green in front of historic Nassau Hall yesterday morning, with a total of 1291 seniors receiving undergraduate degrees, five students from former classes, and 906 graduate students awarded advanced degrees. The University also awarded honorary degrees to six individuals for their contributions to the humanities, economics, journalism, medicine, law, history, and public service: Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve; Eric Foner, writer and historian; Shuli Hu, editor-in-chief of Caixin Media; Robert Rivers Jr., retired vascular surgeon and former Princeton trustee; Bryan Stevenson, lawyer and activist; and Froma Zeitlin, Ewing Professor of Greek, Emeritus, at Princeton. President Christopher L. Eisgruber, 20th president of Princeton, presided over the event and addressed the graduates, with about 10,000 students and guests in attendance at the ceremony. The full text of his talk follows: In a few minutes, all of you will march through FitzRandolph Gate as newly minted graduates of this University. Before you do, it is my privilege to say a few words to
you about the path that lies ahead. Your journey from this historic front campus will begin with trumpets, cheering, and happy celebration. It is tempting to send you off with a wish that such high spirits will mark all of your future endeavors, but doing so would ignore the challenges that are evident all around us and, frankly, it would sell you short. The world you enter is, in too many places, troubled and turbulent, fraught with disturbing amounts of anger, resentment, and violence. The world that awaits you will sometimes be frustrating and difficult, but it is a world that needs your talents, your citizenship, and your engagement. Here in the United States, we find ourselves in the midst of a shockingly coarse presidential election campaign occurring at a time when politics has become strikingly polarized. Americans increasingly live in what might be called ideological silos. For example, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, in 1994—right around the time that most of you were born— “23 percent of Republicans were more liberal than the median Democrat [and] 17 percent of Democrats were more conservative than the median Republican.”
Today, by contrast, the overlap of the parties has dwindled to almost nothing. Only 4 percent of Republicans are more liberal than the median Democrat, and only 5 percent of Democrats are more conservative than the median Republican. Pew also reports that political partisans increasingly dislike one another and prefer to live only among people who share their political views. Two additional findings may be especially dismaying to those of us at colleges and universities. The first is that polarization increases with political engagement. The second is that among politically engaged people, polarization increases with education. At Princeton, we want you to become engaged, and we obviously want you to be educated. The research I have just mentioned implies that, if we have succeeded, then, all other things being equal, you leave our campus today more polarized and more at odds with one another than when you arrived. According to this logic, we should count ourselves fortunate if, after all this engagement and all this education, you are still willing to sit together long enough to walk out the Gate in the same procession! Continued on Page 14
Tim Quinn
Celebrating Marilyn Monroe’s 90th . . . . . . 11 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 25 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Classified Ads . . . . . . . 37 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Music/Theater . . . . . . 20 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 34 Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 35 Service Directory . . . . 36 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
A former president and vice president of the Princeton Board of Education and a current member of the town’s Planning Board, Mr. Quinn is the marketing and communications director of Princeton Public Library. His top issues include keeping Princeton diverse by expanding affordable housing in a variety of price ranges, protecting neighborhood character, ensuring that disadvantaged and under-represented citizens are connected with quality municipal services, and investigating sustainable solutions to save money, the environment, and reflect the community’s values. Like Ms. Crumiller, Mr. Quinn is concerned about the effect of homes being torn down in different areas of town. What is built in place of houses that are demolished is often out of character and too big for its surrounding neighborhood, he has said. Princeton can share services with other agencies such as the school district, he suggests. Due to his tenure on the school board, Mr. Quinn feels uniquely qualified to provide insight on these matters.
SCHOLARLY PROCESSION: Sandra Berman, chief marshal for University Convocations and the Cotsen Professor in the Humanities, leads the procession at Princeton University’s 269th Commencement . (Photo Courtesy of Princeton University Office of Communications, Noel Valero)
Continued on Page 8
Tim Quinn Jenny Crumiller Democrat for Princeton Council VOTE JUNE 7
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