My grandfather has a neat reformulation of Lord Acton's dictum that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." His idea is that power does not corrupt but instead reveals; having power doesn't make you evil as much as ...(back to the article)
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I've been involved with Princeton for over 25 years: first as a student, later as an alumnus, then as a staff member. I've seen several major changes in the campus landscape, both physical and programmatic. These include the advent of the residential college system, the addition of many new buildings and the accompanying loss of green space (current students don't realize that Poe field used to occupy more than twice it's current space), the creation of the Frist Campus Center and the accompanying loss of Stevenson Hall, and now the increase in the student body and the associated 4-year college system. Two threads that run through all of these "advances" are the serious questions and concerns raised by both students and alumni, and the cavalier attitude with which the administration dismisses these concerns and questions. Yes, they solicit input from the students and alumni. But, I've never seen any non-trivial decision significantly impacted by student or alumni input, unless the alumni involved are Trustees or wealthy donors. The administration's attitude has always been, "In 4 years no one will remember what it used to be like, so the complaining won't go on forever." Your article captures the same spirit, just in different words. Well done. Don't expect the administration to listen, but you should feel good that most of the rest of the Princeton community probably agrees with you.
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Very well written article! Too bad all this seems to be falling on deaf administration ears. As a parent who is continually receiving solicitations to contribute to the Princeton Aspire initiative among others I'm thinking I'll employ an equally deaf ear and pass on all such requests until I see that the administration is actually hearing and responding favorably to students concerns on this matter.
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Good article, Barry. I was at the "student leaders' dinner" that VP Burstein, VP Dickerson, and Dean Malkiel used as their excuse for "student input" on this issue (it should be noted first of all that the way this dinner was structured made it all but impossible to express real dissent without feeling like one was being impolite). interestingly... very few independent students were there. the breakdown was probably in line with the demographics of the school (maybe 4 independents in a room of 30 students), but that's not the way it should have been - if anything, independents should have been overrepresented. once again this demonstrates how the administration just DOESN'T GET IT when it comes to soliciting true, valuable student input, which in turn shows a lack of care for undergraduates that does not mesh well with our outward pronouncements of being the best undergrad school out there.
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nice article
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