An elite class of professors

As the spring semester closes today, we are all reminded just how fleeting our time here at Princeton is. No doubt, most seniors, soon to be graduates, have asked themselves the question, "Where has the time gone?"

Surely one of the finest and most memorable aspects of the Princeton experience, for seniors and for the rest of us, must be our interaction with the professors; for many students, this University's legendary faculty was what drew us here in the first place. There are a number of Princeton professors whose teaching surpasses the level of being enjoyable and informative — this learning is a true privilege in which to take part. We attend the lectures delivered by this old guard of legends with a much greater sense of pleasure than of requirement; one-on-one conversations and relationships with such leaders can spark lifelong intellectual pursuits.

But as it always happens, good things don't last forever, and at the end of this academic year, a number of this old guard of professors — the names Hollander, Roche and Showalter come quickly to mind, though certainly there are others — will stop teaching for good, hanging up a hat they have worn well for many years. Younger professors will also leave this summer — some of them, before any of us believe it is their time — only to be replaced by newer blood, no doubt of similar quality.

During our four short years here, such comings and goings make it difficult for us to understand the full contribution any one professor makes to the intellectual vibrancy of Princeton. The most we can do, as students, is search for those professors that give our school the reputation it enjoys and learn from them. The University, too, should be on constant lookout for such future legends and should be careful to retain them, ensuring future Princetonians the same experience we've all been privileged to have. — The Daily Princetonian Opinion Board