USG has abandoned their democratic principles
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.
Let’s face it: Princeton’s tech systems feel highly outdated. From laborious two-factor authentication to complicated meal exchange and appointment-making systems, many of Princeton’s digital programs are tedious, time-consuming, and discouraging. Here are a few of the technological updates the University should consider.
As Princeton’s paper of record, The Daily Princetonian plays an important role in the creation and maintenance of the queer archive on campus. Unfortunately, given a history of violence toward and attempted erasure of the LGBTQ+ community, the archive of queer existence on this campus and beyond is often remarkably thin and marred by a lack of empathy for its subjects.
Back in February, The Daily Princetonian’s podcast Daybreak interviewed English Professor Anne Cheng on the banning of books, namely Toni Morrison’s works, which primarily focus on People of Color and issues of racism. The episode was driven by the rise in efforts to ban books across the country: the American Library Association (ALA) recently announced an “unprecedented” 330 reports of book challenges from last fall, amounting to 1,597 individual books being challenged in total for 2021.
The following petition, which can be signed here, has been signed by 160 members of the Princeton University faculty and staff as of April 18. It asks that Princeton University, by the end of this calendar year, no longer seek profit from continued investment in fossil fuels. Since this statement was opened for signature, the University has made public that:
As I headed out of my dorm for breakfast a few days ago, I noticed that the path I usually take was blocked off by construction. Later that day, as I made my way back, I noticed another path had also become inaccessible due to construction. These are by no means major inconveniences, but I believe that communication regarding construction on campus, which has become rather extensive, could be improved.
In the past week, there hasn’t been much scheduling change for the majority of Princeton University students. However, Muslim students are now over a week into the holy month of Ramadan. This school year differs from others because the entire month of Ramadan will take place during the school year and before final examinations begin.
This is the first installment of a two-part column on the eating clubs. The second part will be released in the coming weeks.
To the Editor:
While it’s no secret that Princeton’s community has grown notoriously apathetic toward its Undergraduate Student Government (USG) affairs, the spring ballot’s Referendum No. 3 — which calls on the University administration to halt the use of Caterpillar construction machinery on campus expansion projects — has garnered extraordinary attention inside and out of the Orange Bubble. The question has dominated The Daily Princetonian’s news coverage and opinion pages for weeks, and the student body has shown an uncharacteristic level of engagement in an issue of critical global and humanitarian concern.
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 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.
LGBTQ+ communities inhabit the continually shifting terrain of “identity politics” — the notion that affiliating with an identity group provides an adequate political and social agenda — which, at the moment, is historically under scrutiny from both the left and the right. To align your politics and values with an aspect of your identity — be it gender, sexuality, race, class or ability — seems to some narrow and exclusive. To others, it’s a necessary affirmation of marginalized people in the face of hegemonic power, a portal into a broader social analysis.
To the Editor:
To the Editor:
When representatives of the shires and boroughs were first called to Parliament in England, they were not intended to be a check on the power of the King. They were prominent knights, there to give legitimacy to the acts of the King, not to challenge his authority. Over time, that system evolved and became the House of Commons, a genuinely representative body. Democracy grows like that: you get your foot in the door of power and then make your presence felt until you have a genuine voice.
In response to the recent Caterpillar referendum, certain people on campus chose to respond in a way that feigned good faith but when examined more closely, betrayed a misleading, false neutrality. Rabbi Julie Roth, representing the Center for Jewish Life (CJL), sent out an update to “alumni, parents, and friends” of the CJL, thankfully excluding most current undergraduates. Her email expressed the institutional commitment of the CJL to opposing the referendum, all the while validating all Jewish students “regardless of their position on the referendum.” Following this, former Israeli Defense Forces soldier Jacob Katz professed uncertainty about the complexity of the conflict in order to disarm criticism of Palestinian oppression by Israel.
The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone. For information on how to submit a letter to the editor to the Opinion Section, click here.
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, American college enrollment has declined by 7.8 percent. Undergraduate enrollment across several private four-year colleges has dropped steeply, while the number of Pell-eligible FAFSA applicants from March 15 to April 15, 2020 was down by over 25 percent compared to that same period in 2019. What’s happening to the country’s college-aged population?
With this year’s college admissions cycle coming to a close, Princeton has made the unprecedented decision not to release statistics on admissions rates for both the early and regular decision rounds. Last fall, the 145th Editorial Board claimed that withholding data discourages students from applying to Princeton.