With summer quickly approaching, University Building Services has announced that it will cease to offer free summer storage options to undergraduate students. Where in previous years a limited amount of dormitory space was reserved for just this purpose, only international students will have access to any free campus storage from now on. The immediate cause is the imminent razing of Butler College, with impending construction in Forbes also playing its part. This certainly poses a dilemma for the University. Summer storage remains a vital service for the entire undergraduate body from the European to the student hailing from the West Coast. The new policy's measures do little to alleviate this necessary for all students living farther than a car ride away from campus.
The solution currently proposed grants the Moving and Storage Agency a virtual monopoly to fill the service gap. This recourse holds considerable drawbacks. The Agency's services are offered on an expensive, per-box basis, progressively increasing for the size of the stored items. The initial student cost offsets the Agency's expenses of renting trailers and storage lots from the University itself, as well as hiring moving labor. But this initial amount does not include an insurance policy, which is offered instead at an additional per-item price. In the past, students have criticized the Agency for its lack of reliability and the fact that students cannot themselves oversee the storage process. The sum financial burden for students is neither insignificant nor subsidized by University aid.
This is not to suggest that an easy solution exists for storage. It is not the University's role to provide unlimited summer space for student use. The new policy seems, however, limited in respect to other options. The University might designate a new set of spaces for self-storage, perhaps even in the Whitman buildings. Students themselves might consider a minimal insurance policy to cover any potential liabilities, including "high security" storage as it has been phased-out. The University might subsidize storage on the existing model of the Moving and Storage Agency by itself providing trailers and lot space. Princeton prides itself on drawing a range of students from the entire country as well as the world, and it should continue to care for them beyond the school year.
Read More
Keep academic authority in human hands
Lily Halbert-AlexanderThe Trump administration’s attacks on research and higher education as well as a blind reliance on AI chatbots are reflective of a societal backslide: a commodification of knowledge that prioritizes “efficiency” over the messy process of getting to an answer, where nuances are flattened and the truth is fungible.
The Trump administration’s attacks on research and higher education as well as a blind reliance on AI chatbots are reflective of a societal backslide: a commodification of knowledge that prioritizes “efficiency” over the messy process of getting to an answer, where nuances are flattened and the truth is fungible.
What do we owe society for a Princeton education?
Jia Cheng ShenThe social and moral responsibility that comes with receiving a degree subsidized by both private generosity and public trust is significant.
The social and moral responsibility that comes with receiving a degree subsidized by both private generosity and public trust is significant.
Notes from a so-called enemy’s classroom
Jennifer JenningsIt wasn’t revolutionary. It was homework. But it was homework that asked: how do we build schools that work for all kids? Inclusion, after all, is the “I” in DEI. That’s what we’re thinking about together. And caring about each other’s experiences and opportunities, it turns out, isn’t something you can outlaw.
It wasn’t revolutionary. It was homework. But it was homework that asked: how do we build schools that work for all kids? Inclusion, after all, is the “I” in DEI. That’s what we’re thinking about together. And caring about each other’s experiences and opportunities, it turns out, isn’t something you can outlaw.