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Thursday, January 20, 2022

Eisgruber defends SPIA Dean Jamal amid POCC criticism of statement on Rittenhouse verdict

Walter Hood’s “Double Sights,” with Robertson Hall, which houses the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, in the background.
Jon Ort / The Daily Princetonian

Todays Briefing: 

In a letter, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 responded to complaints from the Princeton Open Campus Coalition (POCC) regarding a memo shared with the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) community by SPIA Dean Amaney Jamal following the not-guilty verdict of Kyle Rittenhouse on November 19, 2021. In her memo — titled “Our Moral Duty” — Jamal explained the relevance of the polarizing verdict and urged members of the SPIA community “to investigate our policies and practices within the justice system and beyond.”

In response to the memo, POCC President Myles McKnight ’23 and member Abigail Anthony ’23 co-authored — along with sixty other members of the POCC — a dissenting letter to Eisgruber, expressing their concerns that Dean Jamal’s memo violated the “institutional neutrality required for [ideals of free speech, robust discourse, and viewpoint diversity] to flourish.”

Eisgruber responded with a letter rebuking the POCC’s concerns, writing that Jamal’s opinions as expressed in the memo reflect her own viewpoints and that he and his academic colleagues “retain their academic freedom to voice opinions about matters of public concern.”

“When she spoke about the obligations of the School and its members, she did so in terms fully consistent with the School’s mission,” wrote Eisgruber in defense of Jamal’s decision to express her opinions in the memo.

READ THE STORY →


Princeton seniors Nathnael Mengistie ’22 and Sydney Hughes ’22, as well as University of Oxford graduate student Elise Doumergue, are among the recipients of the 2022 Sachs Scholarship, a prestigious award named after Daniel M. Sachs Class of 1960. 

Nathnael Mengistie ’22 is from Fredrick, Md. in the School of Public and International Affairs department and is pursuing certificates in French as well as Global Health and Health Policy. Mengistie is the recipient of the Sachs Worcester award, which enables a Princeton senior to study for two years at Worcester College, Oxford. In an email to the ‘Prince,’ Mengistie wrote that he plans on “conducting research at the intersection of health economics and public policy.” 

Sydney Hughes ’22 is a BSE student from Mahopac, N.Y. in the chemical and biological engineering department with certificates in German and Sustainable Energy. Hughes is the recipient of the Sachs Global award, which allows a Princeton senior to study for one to two years anywhere outside the United States. Hughes plans to study for two years at the Technical University of Munich, Germany and will be involved with a research group.

“I wanted to study abroad during my time at Princeton and I wasn't able to because of [the COVID-19 pandemic]. So, this is kind of my chance to be able to go to Germany and use the German skills that I've been accruing,” said Hughes in an interview with the ‘Prince.’

READ THE STORY →

Opinion: Election Day should be a University holiday

Vote Here Sign / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

More than a year after the undergraduate student body overwhelmingly voted to pass a referendum endorsing the designation of Election Day as a University holiday, the administration has failed to render this democratically-approved measure a reality, write Guest Contributors Ana Blanco and Joe Shipley. 

Blanco and Shipley call on the administration to officially enshrine Election Day as a University holiday in the academic calendar to ensure that members of the University can exercise this right unimpeded. 

READ THE OPINION →

Professor of African American Studies Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor spoke at Duke University on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
 

On Jan. 16, 2022, Professor of African American Studies Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor delivered a keynote address at Duke University’s Dr. Martin Luther King Commemoration. In her rousing speech, Taylor lamented the popular inclination to tarnish Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy by depicting him as an inoffensive national hero as opposed to the complex social reformer he was during his lifetime.

“The dull legacy of King and the deadening repetition of 'I Have a Dream' was used as a weapon by the right to present their political agenda as colorblind, as they dismissed Black suffering as lapsed personal responsibility, cultural deficiency, or the warped values of Black families. The problem with how we remember King is not just the inaccuracy or the distortion of his politics, but it is also how those distortions are used to pursue or justify regressive policies that King never would have supported and most certainly would have organized protests against,” said Taylor in her speech.

READ THE FULL EXCERPT →

From Sports: A weekly recap


Princeton fought No. 1 Quinnipiac for the opening half of the first period before the Bobcats scored three times within four minutes to build a 3-0 lead and never looked back.
Courtesy of GoPrincetonTigers.com

From The Prospect: Centering ourselves and taking a step back

Mollika Jai Singh / The Daily Princetonian
Today’s newsletter was copy edited by Nathalie Verlinde. Thank you. 
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