Construction on the new Butler College is beginning, right on the heels of luxurious Whitman. But we should take a minute to worry about what isn't being built in Princeton: housing for graduate students. This Monday, the University unveiled its ...(back to the article)
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How about tying the expansion of the graduate school to the expansion of housing units available for graduate students? In calculating the number of graduate students, all those receiving either stipends or AI monies should be included so that those in DCE status are not left out.
It's very important that the number of units in the graduate housing pool grow, not shrink, as the graduate population grows. But there is a second and equally important problem that the university needs to address: rising rents. With the demolition of Butler the university will be replacing its last relatively affordable units with significantly more expensive Stanworth (whose projected rents are described as "New Lawrence-like") and Hibben-Magie units. I get the sense from my conversations with housing staff -- including the director of the housing department -- that the people in charge of graduate housing have no idea how difficult it is to get by on the base stipend for Ph.D. students here. Why should we accept that the university act like a profiteering landlord rather than accommodating its students at a reasonably livable cost?
Look it's simple. Princeton is either going to support the graduate programme- which is what REALLY makes a University tick as opposed to the foolish ideas held by undergraduates that they are at all important, cooler, smarter, etc. than grad students- or fail as an institution and suffer deserved public ridicule and loss of stature as a result.
While I haven't been following all the plans, announcements, etc. about The Future, once the hospital moves out of Princeton, isn't the University supposed to be purchasing that building and the Merwick Bldgs (by the YMCA) and convert those to apartments, for grad students (single and couples)?
Granted, all that will take years-- but so will most of the other plans that started all this.
I actively discourage prospective students from applying to or matriculating at Princeton for graduate school because of this kind of bullshit. If they have offers from places like Harvard, Michigan, or Berkeley, I tell them to go there. It doesn't help that many undergraduates have no idea what graduate students have to go through and endure to be here.
I hope Princeton administrators are reading this. Graduate students are fed up.
To further Yup and others' comments, the University has a great deal to gain in striving to retain a critical mass of graduate students in Princeton (ideally by the creative development of living environments that promote community, recreation and healthy, environmentally friendly living). Places like Harvard, Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Penn not only have strong and desirable housing stock in nearby areas, they also are surrounding by the types of communities that attract and sustain students with full lives in addition to their academic pursuits.
No matter how much waving-of-hands occurs, how many people are hired to develop programing and organize ice cream socials, the bubble model of inwardly focussed community development that works well for an undergraduate population is not going to translate well for adults.
Given the demand for housing and the desire for expanding the graduate school, it seems like nothing but a win-win opportunity to improve the circumstances of graduate student living at the same time.
One more point to add to this excellent article -- many departments at Princeton (including my own home department) are currently seeking to expand their graduate programs. More grad students admitted means more grad students Princeton can't house.
Why do departments want more grad students when we're facing a housing shortage? Because great graduate programs attract top professors in a way that even the best undergraduates can't. This is particularly true in the sciences, where professors need committed, full-time graduate researchers to work in their laboratories. If Princeton isn't able to offer top faculty members a strong graduate program, the University will have a difficult time attracting and retaining truly excellent faculty.
And there's more to it than simple convenience and environmental economy; generally, the numbers go like this: 1/3-1/2 of a grad's stipend goes to pay for "affordable" university housing; moving to a city (in NJ, PA, or NY) with rail ties to Pton costs AT LEAST the same. (And forget about it if you're single.) Move somewhere else, and you're paying even more to maintain a car as well an apartment. It's ridiculous!, and moreover - if you NEED to use Firestone or a lab on campus - you're instantly at a disadvantage.
Two solutions: build new grad housing on campus, or stand up to this bully of a town - sorry, borough - we live in and get it to rezone some areas north of Nassau for high/medium-occupancy housing. Who knows, maybe if they can live in town and still save some stipend money, grad students will actually spend more in Princton!
ps. Sketchy grad students who show up at Terrace after 2am are hot.
Wow -- this is eye-opening. Other major universities (like Harvard or Yale) who don't have lots of on-campus graduate housing at least have affordable rental options. Princeton can't expect both to expand its graduate programs and freeze out its graduate students. A "good" stipend quickly becomes much less competitive when housing costs at least $1200 a month. Surely a one-time expense of building housing and then forever after collecting rents is much more cost effective than paying us what it would take to be competitive with other schools if we have to rent off-campus....
Excellent article.
Some additional points. Princeton has no business enforcing residence requirements when it can't provide adequate housing. And it's incredibly unrealistic to rely on the local housing market to fill the housing gap, considering that the local area has one of the the most expensive housing markets in the country. You can't compare Princeton to places with housing markets much more suitable for students like Berkeley, Ann Arbor, or Cambridge.
In light of the university's overall contempt for its graduates, Princeton graduates should seriously consider forming a union. Princeton cannot function without its preceptors, lab workers, research assistants, etc., and it's time that we show some muscle through collective action.