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Community expresses disappointment in Tilghman, hopes for change in leadership style
Published: Monday, November 12th, 2012
Local residents expressed their overall discomfort with the University at an evening open forum hosted by the University’s presidential search committee on Monday.
Eight representatives of the 17-member committee were present at the meeting: philosophy professor Gideon Rosen GS ...
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Reality check, Princeton community. We are students that (are forced to) take our studies seriously. We are, for better or worse, not active in our activism. Most of us are poor students in an expensive town. You don't care about our football program (unless, perhaps, you're an alum). And most establishment outside of our walls close at 8pm!
What the hell is a University "with a soul" supposed to look like? I don't think the administration has much responsibility here.
And if you want to talk to us, TALK to us. Do we have to hold up "free hugs" signs on Nassau street?
Great comment, student!
Yes, the University has turned corporate and overbuilt. But so has the town: look at the quarter-century of conveniently broken promises over the development of the Princeton Ridge. Hypocrisy and money pressure are the core issues here, not huggability.
I would like to see the new Mayor and Jo Butler provide the same details for achievable goals and plans to actively engage/support the Princeton University critical missions. When Barbara was mayor, the relationship was productive and mutually beneficial.
"Some attendees suggested the new president should come from the business world rather than from academia." What's up with this idea that we need business people to run academic institutions? We do learning, teaching, and research here in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations. I find this insistence annoying considering that we’re still paying for the damage inflicted on this world by a well-known too-big-to-fail cartel of business and government people.
Really Lempert?
"The university is still growing while the town has stopped growing?"
Maybe because of the governments of these two municipalities (soon to be one) is one of the most anti-growth governments around, as evidenced by the shit quality of roads (some of the poorest I've seen, both in New Jersey and elsewhere) and by the almost toxic anti-business environment in Princeton.
If this reporting is accurate, then I'm glad I missed this forum. The comments submitted here seem spot on, while those cited from the forum boarder on the idiotic.
The community is equally culpable for the declining quality of town-gown relationships, and seems happy to be takers of the University's offerings without showing up when it matters. And if the town HAS stopped growing (a ridiculous statement, really) then Lempert's new status as our mayor suddenly seems questionable. Perhaps we should stop frequenting the shops and restaurants in this town that has stopped growing.
Please: choose a new president who is a brilliant visionary in the academy (NOT someone from the world of business) AND who can talk across the town-gown divide. These features are not mutually exclusive!
This is the kind of comment section that y'all want to aim for – informative, civil, and thoughtful discussions on the matter at hand.
I really hope the committee don't take the feedback too seriously and realize that only lower, uglier opinions show up at these meetings.
The "community" in Princeton has been nothing but hostile to students. Walk in to any of the establishments in or around Nassau Street (which, by the way, are hardly affordable for most college students in the first place) and you'll find snooty employees and resident customers who are at best aloof and at worst downright rude to students.
I have personally witnessed many situations in which residents were hostile towards students, bullying them when they try to study in public areas and making loud comments criticizing them. I've even heard stories of racist comments directed towards students.
Don't complain about students not wanting to engage with your perfect little whitewashed town if you aren't willing to do the bare minimum and be gracious and courteous to the students who attend and often fund the only institution that gives this little speck of New Jersey any significance at all. The University is the lifeblood of this town - without Princeton, half of you wouldn't be here. The University community eats at your restaurants, shops at your stores (think of all the stores that sell Princeton gear!), and provides you with hundreds of thousands of dollars every year during the 3-day period of Reunions. I'm sick of seeing some of the residents of this town consistently biting the hand that (albeit indirectly) feeds them.
Sound harsh? Sound like exactly your stereotype of an immature, entitled Princeton student? Then please remember that town-gown relations are a two-way street, and while the administration is wrong if and when they are completely inconsiderate of the effects of their actions/decisions on this town, it's quite likely that your livelihood is at least partially thanks to Princeton University being located in your town.