The case for raising student activity fees
The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone. For information on how to submit an article to the Opinion Section, click here.
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The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone. For information on how to submit an article to the Opinion Section, click here.
Princeton’s Board of Trustees rules the University. Trustees determine the University’s contested investment decisions, direct campus architecture and design, elect the president, and oversee faculty appointments. Through it all, these 39 individuals claim to wield impartial and apolitical judgment in their decision-making, having taken an oath to perform their duties “faithfully, impartially, and justly.” The University envisions trustees as unbiased, apolitical, and benevolent in their capacity to make decisions.
This year’s March Madness tournament — in which the Princeton men's basketball team made it to the Sweet 16 and the Princeton women’s basketball team to the top 32 — proved to Princetonians that we are not bad at sports. In fact, we are pretty fantastic. Based on the crowds at regular home games, though, you wouldn't really know it.
While taking Arabic over four semesters here at Princeton, I have learned about the language as well as about the complexities of incorporating lessons about culture and religion into language instruction. Yet there’s one dynamic I’ve seen clearly: Arabic courses at Princeton identify the language as representative of the people of a single culture and religion — Islam. This teaches Princeton students to consider the Arab and Islamic world as a monolith, excluding diverse groups such as Jewish, Christian, Baháʼí Arabs, as well as non-Arab Muslims. When presenting regional cultures, Princeton should seek to teach diversity rather than try to encourage a uniform perspective.
A few days ago, I pulled up TigerHub, navigated to the major declaration page, and took a deep breath. My cursor hovered lovingly over “East Asian Studies” (EAS) for a few seconds; then, with a firm finality, I scrolled down and clicked on “School of Public and International Affairs” (SPIA). One last click, “submit form,” and the deed was done.
Coming to Princeton as a first-year student, I noticed a recurring theme in conversations with juniors and seniors: they valued Princeton’s emphasis on community. Many of the students I talked to valued a deep familiarity with both their physical location and the people who inhabit it. Having a sense of community involves knowing one’s fellow class members and feeling connected to every part of campus. While many have critiqued Princeton as an “Orange Bubble” which students rarely venture out of, within that bubble, the common sentiment was that upper-class students felt a strong connection to their peers.
State legislators in Trenton were busy before leaving for their April break. They passed a controversial bill changing New Jersey’s campaign finance laws, which Democratic Governor Phil Murphy signed into law without the usual fanfare of a press conference. Intense opposition to the paradoxically named “Elections Transparency Act” united the far left and far right of Jersey politics, and for good reason: it is the antithesis of good government, undermining the interests of New Jersey residents. Endangering the Dinky bidding process, it has specific harms for Princeton students.
Each year, University President Christopher L. Eisgruber ’83 announces the annual pre-read, which incoming first-years read prior to matriculation. The pre-read is an introduction to Princeton’s intellectual environment and contains themes intended to provoke reflection and conversation among students. This year's book for the Class of 2027 is Maria Ressa ’86’s “How to Stand Up to a Dictator.”
Last week brought warm weather and an explosion of flowers at Princeton. However, the hottest topic of conversation was not the seasonal shift. Instead, since mid-March, much of the student body’s attention was focused on room draw: the stressful and complex process where rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors pick their room for the upcoming year. Room draw is opaque, and the University has not provided enough reminders — nor adequate and accessible guidance about the process — especially about the group-selection aspect.
Attempts to enjoy your quotidian life in Princeton, New Jersey, can be expensive. For example, coffee is not cheap in Princeton — the average latte is $5. To offer all students the equal opportunity in relishing in the delights the town has to offer, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) began the Pay with Points program, providing stipends for those on unlimited meal plans to spend at local businesses. Yet there’s another use of Pay with Points that attacks the very purpose of this program: points can be used to cover sophomore eating club dues. The Pay with Points program should not be treated as a rebate from the unlimited meal plan: if that were the case, the University could simply reduce the meal plan by $150. Rather, this is a program with a specific purpose — to increase town engagement — and it should not be exploited to cover insufficient eating club financial aid.
At Princeton, we don’t only learn in the classroom, we also learn life skills — like how to deal with rejection. And that’s just as important as anything we learn in our courses.
The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone. For information on how to submit an article to the Opinion Section, click here.
The expiration of Section 568 of the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 has raised one question: what is the fate of athletic scholarships in the Ivy League, especially here at Princeton? Proponents of compensating student-athletes generally cite the immense difficulty of performing well physically, academically, and mentally, and argue that it is exploitative to withhold fair compensation from the very students generating national attention and revenue for their universities.
The field of the upcoming Young Alumni Trustee (YAT) election was culled to three spirited and devoted candidates last Friday. Although Caroline Kirby ’23’s commitment to school spirit is impressive, and Mayu Takeuchi ’23 showed admirable leadership in her role as USG President, we believe that Mutemwa Raphael Masheke ’23 has demonstrated a willingness to undertake the most pertinent University issues and reforms.
Welcome to Princeton! This fall, if you so choose, you will walk through FitzRandolph Gate and join an intellectually vibrant community united by a desire to pursue knowledge, test ideas, and be challenged. As you prepare to join our academic community and engage in meaningful, open-minded inquiry, those of us committed to the liberal arts character and spirited truth-seeking mission of our university will be cheering you on.
Let’s be honest, Princeton students are stressed about their grades. And there’s an easy fix that could help alleviate this stress: Princeton should extend the current three-week-long window to elect the pass/D/fail (PDF) option to allow students to PDF a class at any point in the semester. This change would help to reduce grading and GPA pressure, as well as relieve some student stress.
The following is an open letter and reflects the author’s views alone. For information on how to submit to the Opinion Section, click here.
The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone. For information on how to submit an article to the Opinion Section, click here.
It’s less than ideal that I’m writing this. As a non-disabled person, I hesitate to speak (or write) for the disabled community. I can’t help but feel as though I am perpetuating a long, problematic history of non-disabled people calling the shots, and, in doing so, drowning out disabled voices that could represent such issues more accurately. It’s a tradition I don’t care to carry on.
Welcome to Princeton! Next Fall, if you so choose, you will walk through FitzRandolph Gate with hundreds of new friends and classmates and become a Princeton Tiger. As you enter this new phase of your life, my fellow classmates and I, who walked through those same gates just a year before, will be there cheering you on. But now that you’ve won the admissions game, it’s time to leave otherwise pointless resume-building activities behind, including individualistic, ineffective activism.