Almost three decades after he should have started it, Josh Kornbluth '80 has finally finished writing his senior thesis. And since he finished it earlier this year, he has shown it to more than 5,000 people.
Kornbluth completed all of his academic requirements by June 1980, with the exception of the senior thesis, which he never even began. It was "easy, actually" not to start his thesis, Kornbluth said. "You don't start your research, and then you don't have to actually begin writing."
Though he was allowed to walk at Commencement, Kornbluth did not receive a diploma.
Graduation rules, however, allow for theses to be completed at any time in the student's life, provided they haven't previously "flunked out," said Richard Williams, associate dean of the College. "As for 27 years, it's late in the game, but there have been people who have called later."
Kornbluth is a comedian and actor based in Berkeley, Calif. He has written and performed the monologues "Haiku Tunnel," "Red Diaper Baby," "Ben Franklin: Unplugged," and "Love & Taxes," as well as "The Mathematics of Change," which chronicles his early, failed experiences with math at Princeton. Both "Haiku Tunnel" and "Red Diaper Baby" have been released as full-length films.
Shortly after the 2004 election, national and local politics prompted Kornbluth, who was a politics major, to contemplate democracy, his original thesis topic. He contacted Sheldon Wolin, his former thesis adviser, who taught at Princeton from 1972 until 1987 and has since retired, and declared his intent to complete his thesis.
"I thought, 'It's about time,' " Wolin said. "My second reaction was 'Are you serious?' "
He added, "It was always to me a bit of a puzzle about why he didn't do it."
After the two got back in touch in late 2004, Wolin sent Kornbluth a reading list.
With his adviser's help, Kornbluth advanced through the thesis, even going so far as to complete his thesis in the style he often uses professionally: an extended monologue.
"Citizen Josh," a one-man show, is his thesis. It tells the story of its completion and touches on his time at Princeton and his thoughts about democracy. It played in two theaters in the Bay Area for a total of 50 performances this summer.
The San Francisco Chronicle praised the play's "intertwined tales of life in college and a grassroots effort to improve a Berkeley park," saying the monologue was "smart, funny and at times penetratingly personal and affecting."
The show recently ended its run, leaving Kornbluth with one mission: securing his diploma. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes," he said.
He has been transcribing the monologue to send to Wolin, who will then grade it.
Williams said that Kornbluth's thesis will then go to a second reader, as is the rule in the politics department.
Once it's been graded, he added, "I notify the registrar, who notifies the Board of Trustees, and [Kornbluth is] mailed [his] diploma."
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