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(04/24/16 6:09pm)
Last week, USG held its spring elections. They gave students the opportunity to vote on U-Councilors, class government positions and referenda on divesting from private prisons and creating a task force on disciplinary reforms. Neither referendum met the one-third turnout threshold required for the results to be considered, and voter turnout across all elections was low with participation rates between about 30% and 40% for each class in class elections. As a result, the Board calls on USG to reform its referendum policies by informing students of the referendum proposal deadline earlier, extending the referendum campaign time to two weeks and clarifying campaign opportunities for opposition groups and individuals. The Board believes these reforms will help USG promote informed voting and encourage voter participation.Last week’s elections were the first to occur since USG reformed its referendum policies last winter. The new referendum process entails students proposing referenda to the USG by filling out a proposal form, the USG then evaluating referendum proposals to ensure clear and neutral wording and students campaigning for, or against, referenda one week before voting begins. One-third of the student body must vote on the referenda in order for the votes to count.Though some of these reforms made important improvements in the process, USG should make further changes to the referendum process to improve the effectiveness of the process. This election, students were not informed of the referendum proposal deadline until ten days prior, in a Mar. 4th USG email. We believe it would be beneficial for students to be informed of the deadline two or three weeks prior and encourage USG to do so during future elections. This would provide students, particularly underclassmen unfamiliar with the process and upperclassmen who are busy with independent work, time to organize and submit a referendum proposal. USG should also advertize the referendum process better through residential college listservs and campus-wide emails. Once a referendum proposal is accepted, advocates and opponents should be given two weeks to campaign, as opposed to the current one week.USG also states that the Institutional Research Office must approve the referenda and check it for “neutral wording and clarity.” However, it remains unclear what standards are used in the approval process and, because of this, the Board urges USG to be more transparent about this process. This will ensure that students properly understand how their referenda are being evaluated. A longer campaign period for approved referenda will allow for a more robust campus discussion of the issue in question and better inform students prior to voting. Finally, rules regarding opposition groups and individual campaigning should be clarified. Currently, USG’s referendum policies refer only to policies regarding formal opposition groups, perhaps leaving students uncertain of what actions they may take as individuals separate from the formal opposition or sponsoring groups. In order to promote maximum student involvement and thus increased interest and voting in referenda, the Board suggests USG clearly advertise and even encourage that, even in the absence of a formal opposition group, students may continue to campaign in opposition to referenda through individual actions such as sending a personal email to a listserv.When it comes to actually voting in these elections, several changes to the process could have improved its efficiency and effectiveness. First, the three separate ballots (one for each referendum and one for class officer elections) should have been integrated into one. With the three ballot system, students had to log in each time they wanted to access a new ballot, something that potentially decreased the number of votes cast because logging in multiple times is frustrating and time consuming. Though the Board recognizes that USG likely made this choice to make it easier for students to abstain, we believe that a better solution would be an “abstain” button for referenda on the integrated ballot. We also encourage that the pro/con statements issued by the groups formally advocating or opposing a particular measure be put directly on the ballot. Since they could only be accessed by copy/pasting a Google Docs link, it is unlikely that a high number of students looked at them. By putting the statements directly on the ballot, USG would be encouraging informed voting by helping students easily view both sides of the issue.USG has done substantial work in the last year to reform the referendum process. However, we believe that they must continue to improve this process to ensure that the system is as accessible and effective as possible. Furthermore, we believe that overhauling the voting system is necessary if USG wants to promote voter participation and informed voting.Paul Draper '18 recused himself from the writing of this editorial.TheEditorial Boardis an independent body and decides its opinions separately from the regular staff and editors of The Daily Princetonian. The Board answers only to its Chair, the Opinion Editor and the Editor-in-Chief.
(04/21/16 5:14pm)
During the Spring Undergraduate Student Government elections this week, students voted on, among other ballot items, a referendum calling on the University and the Princeton Investment Corporation to “divest from corporations that draw profit from incarceration, drug control and immigrant deportation policies.” The Board has consistently argued against divestment of the University’s endowment. Although the referendum did not meet the minimum voting requirement of one-third the student body,the Board urges the University to reject future petitions to divest unless there is substantial consensus and more conclusive evidence. In addition, we believe there are several problems with the proposal. Specifically, Students for Prison Education and Reform and advocates of the referendum conflate issues surrounding the criminal justice system with issues surrounding private prisons. Finally, we believe SPEAR presents inconclusive evidence on the merits or harms of governmental entities employing private companies to incarcerate or detain people.
(04/17/16 7:15pm)
Last Monday, the University announced that it would discontinue its sprint football program. Having existed on campus for 82 years, sprint football is an alternative version of football for players weighing under 172 pounds with a minimum of five-percent body fat. There are currently nine remaining schools in the country that field sprint football teams, including Cornell, Penn and West Point. The Board believes that the University should have been more transparent in its decision-making process and that its justification for ending the program is inadequate. Lack of communication with members of the sprint football team and the greater Princeton community regarding the details of the decision has also led to confusion and speculation concerning the reasons for the program’s termination. As a result, we call on the University to releasethe statistics and safety concerns used to justify its decision to end the sprint football program.
(04/14/16 3:08pm)
An important, yet often forgotten, historical site in the United States is just around the corner from the University, beyond the Graduate College: the Princeton Battlefield. The battlefield is the site of George Washington’s victory over the British Army in January 1777, in a battle that set the course for the Continental Army’s eventual victory in the Revolutionary War. Today, the preservation of the field is threatened due to the purchase of a portion of it, Maxwell’s Field, by the Institute for Advanced Studies. The IAS intends to develop faculty housing on the plot. The Board calls upon IAS to sell the land to a non-profit for the purposes of historical preservation and build housing elsewhere.
(04/11/16 7:43pm)
Last week, the University Board of Trustees announced its approval of the recommendations made in the Wilson Legacy Committee's report. These recommendations include retaining Wilson’s name at the Woodrow Wilson School and Wilson College, revising Princeton’s unofficial motto, diversifying campus art and establishing a potential graduate school pipeline program for underrepresented groups. The Board supports the aforementioned recommendations, commends the committee’s emphasis on student involvement through the process and encourages student involvement in continued discussions about Wilson.
(04/07/16 3:25pm)
Last week, Harvard Collegeannounced the creation of a $2,000 “start-up” grant for incoming members of the Class of 2020 from low-income households. The grant, which will augment Harvard’s typical financial aid package, is meant to help students “fully engage in what Harvard has to offer” irrespective of their financial circumstances by offering them assistance with the costs related to college matriculation. One member of Harvard’s Undergraduate Council aptly noted that, despite Harvard’s need blind policy for admission, few resources and other opportunities on campus are likewise need blind.
(04/03/16 5:49pm)
The last major academic hurdle that many Princeton seniors must clear to graduate is completing their senior thesis. The senior thesis consists of original research and a significant written component and serves as the culminating experience of a student’s time at Princeton. Despite the important nature of the senior thesis, the thesis binding process has significant flaws. The Board recommends that each department implement two changes to improve the thesis submission process: set the deadline for binding of the thesis after the due date of the thesis itself and subsidize the cost of binding for students on financial aid.
(03/31/16 6:23pm)
President Eisgruber recently stated, “We at Princeton believe that it is a fundamental advantage for a university to be able to tolerate even offensive kinds of speech and to respond to bad arguments when they are made with more speech rather than with disciplinary actions.” His statement was made to defend freedom of expression, up to the point of protecting the right of student groups to commemorate Osama bin Laden, and this Board believes that such freedom extends to other offensive ideas and arguments.
(03/27/16 6:28pm)
In recent years, the unfortunate prevalence of sexual assault on campus has become a political issue of national importance. President Barack Obama has launched a campaign to raise awareness and the U.S. Senate is considering a bill to tackle the issue. Despite this, college sexual assault is ultimately a campus issue that the University administration and community have a responsibility to mitigate. As part of University efforts to curb sexual assault and related issues, such as stalking and harassment, graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged to fill out the We Speak survey on sexual misconduct.
(03/24/16 4:42pm)
In the next few weeks, sophomores enrolled in the A.B. program will be declaring their majors within one of the 35 academic departments offered by the University. In light of this rapidly approaching deadline, the Board recommends the following improvements to the declaration of majors and certificate programs: 1) the University should update its certificates webpage to include a more comprehensive and inclusive list of all programs offered, as it is currently missing some programs, 2) individual departments should create and advertise open houses and information sessions for their respective certificate programs, and 3) the Office of the Dean of the College should update its website for choosing majors to make it more comprehensive and user-friendly than is its current format.
(03/06/16 3:41pm)
The General Education Task Force was established in the fall of 2015 to review the University's undergraduate curriculum and to make recommendations about distribution requirements, independent work and other aspects of academics at Princeton. The academic calendar determines how these components fit together. A new survey which asks students for feedback regarding potential changes to the academic calendarhas been created by the Task Force in conjunction with the Dean of the College, the USG Academics Committee and members of the Graduate Student Government. The survey explores the following three proposals: 1) moving the fall term exams before winter recess, 2) expanding the teaching semester from 12 to 13 weeks and 3) increasing intersession from 1 to 2 weeks. These are important issues about which the Board has written before; consequently, we call on all students to participate in the brief survey.
(03/03/16 4:30pm)
Last Friday, New Jersey Gov. and ex officio University Trustee Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump in his bid for the Republican nomination and the White House. This Board believes that this action runs contrary to both democratic and University values and calls on Christie to renege on his endorsement and remove any affiliation to Trump and his campaign.Trump has made several statements antithetical to values that the University holds dear. Section 1.1.4 of Rights, Rules and Responsibilities states that while the University “acknowledge[s] the difficulties inherent in creating a community of” differing backgrounds, beliefs and experiences, it is committed to supporting the creation of such a diverse community. Trump has not conducted his campaign in accordance with this value. He has argued that he saw Muslim-Americans “celebrating” following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, a claim that has not been substantiated and simply serves to stoke animosity towards Muslims living peacefully within America’s borders. Similarly, his refusal to immediately disavow the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke speaks to his lack of regard for the millions of minority group members that the KKK has harmed with violence and hate. Trump has also embraced a broadly xenophobic and intensely ignorant view of Hispanic-Americans and Hispanic immigrants in order to divide the country and propagate his campaign’s image. Section 1.2.1 asserts that while the University seeks to foster vigorous debate, “alienating ... individuals” whose diverse perspectives enrich this debate “harm[s] the whole community.” Even if Trump doesn’t believe what he says, that does not change that fact that his comments insult and demean large portions of the Princeton community. Christie should recognize what 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and other politicians have termed “disqualifying [and] disgusting” remarks and recant his endorsement accordingly.Beyond his affronts to University standards, Trump’s comments further run contrary to the values of a democratic society. We refer to his response to criticism that he’s faced in the media. Trump has stated his willingness to “‘open up’ libel laws” and make it easier to sue news organizations. This type of legislation would create a chilling effect on free press, weakening one of the most important rights afforded to American citizens. Again, whether or not Trump, the man, believes what Trump, the candidate, says is immaterial. His willingness to directly flout the tenets of the Constitution in response to simple critiques does not inspire confidence in the reaction a Trump administration would have to criticism in the face of controversy. Christie should have taken this into consideration before he endorsed Trump, and we call on him to rectify his poor judgement.Christie may join Trump supporters and argue that Trump “tells it like it is,” and that we should hold this unabashed commitment to the truth above the concerns stated above. Even if the University placed such little weight on these concerns, the Board rejects this argument on the basis of fact. Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checker Politifact rates 76% of Trump’s statements that it has reviewed as “mostly false,” “false” or “pants on fire” — the latter refers to a statement that is willfully misleading or egregiously incorrect. Trump’s statements are not just ideologically offensive — they are objectively untrue.This Board does not make a partisan objection to Trump’s political stances, nor do we fault him for changing his view on several issues. Many candidates share some of Trump’s views, and almost all of them have changed their position on issues during this election cycle. We recognize that vigorous discussion of the merits and flaws of various candidates and platforms is necessary for the flourishing of the American political system. Different candidates can present incompatible yet sincerely held beliefs that should be discussed in the open. However, we find a trustee’s endorsement of a candidate who holds no regard for University and American values unacceptable and urge Christie to reverse his endorsement immediately.Connor Pfeiffer ’18, Theodore Furchtgott ’18, and Paul Draper ’18 recused themselves from the writing of this editorial.The Editorial Board is an independent body and decides its opinions separately from the regular staff and editors of The Daily Princetonian. The Board answers only to its Chair, the Opinion Editor and the Editor-in-Chief.
(02/28/16 6:45pm)
It is currently a common practice for instructors not to return Dean’s Date papers or final exams with feedback — or at all. The Board sees no reason why these essays and tests should be treated any differently from those scheduled throughout the course of the semester. In fact, we believe that the habit of ignoring these final assignments both costs students some of their best learning opportunities and sends a message of grading-over-teaching that corrodes Princeton’s educational environment. The Board believes that the University should encourage course instructors to make marked-up Dean’s Date papers or final exams available by the date on which overall course grades are posted online.
(02/25/16 3:57pm)
Recently, the University announced its intention to accept a small number of transfer students, starting as early as 2018, as part of a broader strategic planning framework intended to underscore Princeton’s commitment to continued leadership in education, inclusivity and diversity. Princeton has not offered admission to transfer students since 1990. In the past, President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 had hinted at the possibility of reversing the University’s transfer policy, arguing that such a move might afford students from community colleges and diverse economic backgrounds the opportunity to flourish at Princeton. The Editorial Board commends the University’s Board of Trustees for its decision.
(02/21/16 4:56pm)
Princeton offers its undergraduate students a wide array of summer opportunities, from the International Internship Program (IIP) to Princeton Internships in Civic Service (PICS). Included in students’ access to summer opportunities is the ability to study abroad during the summer for course credit through the Office of International Programs. However, for students on financial aid who wish to study abroad, the number of summer study abroad programs funded by the University remains low. Furthermore, when compared to the summer study abroad options offered by peer institutions such as Harvard, Princeton offers comparatively fewer and less flexible options. The Board encourages the Office of International Programs to extend financial aid coverage to all of Princeton’s seventeen summer study abroad programs. Additionally, the Board calls on OIP to explore the possibility of adding additional summer programs that give students more flexibility in regards to location and duration.
(02/18/16 4:52pm)
Since the beginning of the academic year, the Princeton community has engaged in lively debate surrounding the name of the Wilson School, Princeton’s school of public and international affairs. Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879, is a former president of the University, who went on to become Governor of New Jersey and the 28th President of the United States. He instituted long-lasting changes on campus, including the creation of additionalacademic departments and the precept system. However, he also left behind a troubling legacy on race relations, such as re-segregating the United States Civil Service; he also had a history of making racist statements. The Board commends students who have expressed their concerns on both sides of the issue. We recognize, however, that in the end, the Trustees of the University must decide whether to change the way the University honors Wilson’s legacy. In order for this decision to properly represent the diverse viewpoints of the Princeton community, the Board urges students to engage in discourse with the trustees and the administration through all available channels.
(02/14/16 4:17pm)
Many Princetonians, mainly sophomores, spent the first week of this semester concerned primarily not with finalizing their course schedule or buying books, but rather with the process of joining an eating club. We acknowledge the Interclub Council (ICC) and the Class of 2018 officers for their efforts to make this process more transparent by, for example, releasing a graphic explaining the various upperclass dining options and their costs. However, there remain areas for improvements to make this process clearer and less stressful for students. The Board recommends three reforms: 1) include as part of eating club registration on the ICC website a step requiring students to acknowledge and accept the spring dues for their clubs of choice, 2) like in years past, release the numbers of first-round sign-ins, and 3) encourage sign-in clubs to defer their initiations until the week after bicker.
(02/11/16 1:45pm)
Princeton University prides itself on its undergraduate focus and especially on the incredible availability of its world-renowned faculty to work with undergraduate students. With a student-faculty ratio of 6:1, students have a remarkable proximity to some of the most outstanding minds in today's academic disciplines. All University professors engage in teaching as well as research, and students interact with their instructors in various class formats such as precepts, seminars and lectures, but oftentimes the most valuable interactions come from outside of the classroom. Professors are not just technical experts; they are also individuals with tremendous experience in academic life and passions for intellectual pursuits. Students seeking out professors beyond the lecture hall can expand their knowledge of class material, discover new interests, bear witness to relevant wisdom about finding a career path and receive advice for navigating University life. While University professors already hold office hours for facilitating student-professor interactions outside of class, the Editorial Board proposes better promotion of that system as well as popularizing programs that support meals between students and professors.
(02/07/16 4:11pm)
Last semester, the unsigned editorials featured on this page have discussed issues such as anonymizing exam grading, expanding co-op options and improving career services. The Daily Princetonian Editorial Board, a group of 15 undergraduates, was collectively responsible for writing these pieces. The members of the Board are not the editors of the various sections of the ‘Prince.’ Instead, they constitute an independent group of undergraduate students charged with determining the position of the newspaper as a whole. Today, instead of taking a stance on an issue, we would like to explain the editorial process and invite interested freshmen, sophomores and juniors to apply to join the Board.
(02/04/16 5:05pm)
Princeton’s Office of Disability Services provides resources and opportunities to help students with disabilities overcome significant obstacles and works to ensure that all qualified students can attend Princeton regardless of physical or psychological disability. As reported this week, Princeton has seen an 80 percent increase in the number of students registered with ODS between 2011 and 2015. As more students with disabilities enter Princeton, there remain several steps that the broader University community can take to further its commitment to students with disabilities. Specifically, this Board has two key recommendations in support of Deaf students on campus: allowing American Sign Language to satisfy the foreign language requirement and pursuing further options for the study of ASL or ASL-related topics.