The joys of skateboarding
Regarding 'Community involvement' (Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007):
As an active skateboarding member of the Class of 1965, I share the editorial board's concerns about the University being a charitable entity, particularly since it often presents itself to the alumni body as a supplicant. While believing that community involvement is important, however, I do not like to see skating on the campus summarily discouraged. Skateboarding and rollerblading are as healthy and ecologically correct as biking and walking. Having participated since youth in a number of balance sports, I took up skateboarding relatively later in life as the father of four sons, under the "If you can't lick 'em, join 'em rule." Skateboarding does have it's carefully cultivated "bad-boy/bad-girl" image, so my sons have proudly worn t-shirts with the moniker "Not Skateboarding is a Crime" and pasted stickers on our boards with "Pave the Planet."
At the same time, the skateboard is a splendid means of transportation for relatively short distances. I have used mine while wearing a suit in downtown Washington, D.C. Were there awards for "Best Dressed Skateboarder," I feel confident that I would at least be among the finalists. While Princeton makes room for those with purple and green hair and body piercings, I hope it will continue to cherish its sidewalk surfers. I am still waiting for an officer of the law to stop me on my board for violating one ordinance or another so that I can proudly proclaim that this device is actually an assisted mobility appliance for an individual suffering from premature agility. Jody Robinson '65
Police action is an affront to liberty
Regarding 'Three clubs face legal charges' (Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007):
Princeton is famous for its tranquility, but it is nevertheless surprising that the Borough Police (which we pay for) finds spying on students to be an appropriate use of public resources. Its latest efforts to sanitize student recreation raise disturbing questions about the proper role of the state apparatus and must be regarded as a grave affront to liberty. Students should respond by registering to vote within Princeton Borough, and by electing council members who promise to use the police force as an instrument of public safety, not a gaggle of authoritarian busybodies. Amid campus discussion of animal rights, we should recall that people have (pre-legal) rights too. The recent actions of the Borough Police infringe them. Dylan Byron '09
Many finance jobs are springboards to other interests
Regarding 'A different kind of diversity' (Friday, Oct. 12, 2007):
As a recent alum of both Princeton and a big consulting firm, I think it is shortsighted to think that students interested in business are done a disservice by the focus on finance and consulting. The truth is that junior positions in most big companies are less engaging and interesting than working for those same companies as a consultant or banker. One great blessing of a Princeton education is that you get to skip the boring time paying your dues and making coffee and can go straight to working on the most important strategic projects. Furthermore, few alums three to five years out of school are still in the consulting and banking jobs they took out of college — they have used these jobs as a window and a springboard into other interests. The board's worries that "there are many Fortune 500 companies whose core businesses are not consulting or finance. These include, among many others, entertainment, publishing, hospitality, apparel and technology." Well, among my former consulting colleagues three years out of school, there are people working for MTV, McGraw-Hill, Hilton, Levi's and Google. Elliot Holland '04
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$56,000 in debt at graduation is not the financial aid Princeton advertises
Avi CheslerTake my story as an example — despite repeated evidence, both before and after taking out loans, that I would be unable to pay what Princeton asked of me — the University never set a cost that I could truly meet loan-free.
In the Garden State’s service and the service of humanity
Olivia Ragan, Lauren Aung, and Madison LintonIt is important to cultivate in students interest in local and state level change, because it is the most direct way to give back to the New Jersey community that sustains the University.
Why do two-thirds of your summer research wages go to Princeton, anyway?
Isaac BarsoumThe income that students earn from employment is not “miscellaneous.” So Princeton must decide: Does it want its students — all of them, not only those who can afford it — to be able to work on the important research happening at Princeton, or be forced to go home?
The income that students earn from employment is not “miscellaneous.” So Princeton must decide: Does it want its students — all of them, not only those who can afford it — to be able to work on the important research happening at Princeton, or be forced to go home?