As if returning to a jungle climate of mist and fog and finals despair is not painful enough following winter break, students must also endure Blair Arch's stocking stuffer: industrial pipe railings. Though the need for the unsightly safety measure is questionable in itself, the Physical Planning and Risk Management staffs, after approving the project, could have easily devised a less ugly alternative.
University safety engineers say they have repeatedly suggested the Blair Arch steps needed to be safer. However, railings are not necessarily the best answer. Individuals who have trouble climbing stairs should avoid Blair altogether. People seeking a safer route could use the staircase between Blair and Witherspoon, which has hand rails, with only a minimal detour. A sign placed at the foot and top of the Blair Arch steps directing pedestrians to this staircase would lead them to an easier, safer path and would have kept Blair's facade untarnished.
Physical Planning and Risk Management certainly could have minimized the railings' impact on the arch's appearance. They might have placed a single, unobtrusive rail on one side of the steps, as they did for 1879 Arch. Even after deciding that the rails had to stand where they do now, a material more authentic than cheap pipe could have been chosen to make the railing blend with the structure's age and nobility. Blair Arch was originally constructed as the gateway to the University's campus and today is arguably the most architecturally distinctive building on campus after Nassau Hall – it's the prototype of Gothic architecture on college campuses. The placement of the tawdry railings is similar to putting a Six Flags bumper sticker on a Mercedes. – The Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian
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Progressives failed a lesson in free speech
Anais Mobarak“The recent controversy surrounding Charter Club has demonstrated that progressive voices on campus have failed to recognize the value of free speech beyond its usefulness as a political instrument. Thus, as a community, we must work to foster an ideologically-free understanding of free speech.”
“The recent controversy surrounding Charter Club has demonstrated that progressive voices on campus have failed to recognize the value of free speech beyond its usefulness as a political instrument. Thus, as a community, we must work to foster an ideologically-free understanding of free speech.”
Campus through a lens: Announcing the ‘Prince’s inaugural columnists
Eleanor Clemans-CopeReading a series of columns by the same author is seeing things through the writer’s lens — it’s looking at campus through the ‘Christofer glasses’ or the ‘Eleanor specs.’ This is the thinking behind having named columns.
Reading a series of columns by the same author is seeing things through the writer’s lens — it’s looking at campus through the ‘Christofer glasses’ or the ‘Eleanor specs.’ This is the thinking behind having named columns.
Bring back the course packet
Abigail Rabieh“With the recent news that Labyrinth Books will no longer supply the coursebooks for Princeton classes, we are facing a new era in which all readings will only be accessible by some digital medium, whether that be via Course Reserves or online ordering from faraway publishers. While some may see this as a step in the right direction of modernity, the increasing digitalization of our scholarship hurts our learning.”
“With the recent news that Labyrinth Books will no longer supply the coursebooks for Princeton classes, we are facing a new era in which all readings will only be accessible by some digital medium, whether that be via Course Reserves or online ordering from faraway publishers. While some may see this as a step in the right direction of modernity, the increasing digitalization of our scholarship hurts our learning.”
