Today’s Briefing: 

DINKY: NJ Transit has begun studying and finding alternatives for the Dinky, the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the nation. The two main options being considered include one calling for an electric light rail embedded in a railway and the other involving no additional construction. According to Jim Smith, a representative from NJ Transit, the study is expected to conclude in the spring or summer of 2022. 

READ THE STORY →

JEWISH DISABILITY AWARENESS: February is Jewish Disability Awareness, Inclusion, and Acceptance Month. Associate News Editor Emerita and current senior news writer Naomi Hess, started the Center for Jewish Life's disability awareness Shabbat in 2019. This year, the CJL partnered with the Carl A. Fields Center and the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center to invite Chella Man, who joined the CJL for its traditional dinner before engaging in a Q&A about his experience as someone who identifies as Deaf, Jewish, transgender, and Chinese.

READ THE STORY →

Read more from News:

• Princeton sees new construction across campus in 2021-2022 academic year, more to begin this summer
• Princeton announces expansion of Transfer Admissions Program

From Opinion:

• PRINCETON DROPS MASK MANDATE: For the Reactions series, columnists opine on the recent loosening of the University’s COVID-19 protocol, including changes such as optional masking (unless mandated by a professor or TA) and testing once a month for qualifying undergraduates. Some stand by the changes while others express concerns about the risks of COVID-19 spreading with fewer mitigation measures. 

• MIDTERMS: As many students wrap up their midterms, Columnist Brittani Telfair discusses the nature of midterms week — and the feeling of being “stressed, sleep-deprived, and generally ill.” Telfair notes how, in addition to midterms, there are the typical social pressures and political crises in the current moment, “which include an ongoing pandemic and the prospect of mass death due to climate catastrophe and war.” 

• CPS: Columnist Audrey Chau discusses her experience with Princeton’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) and the negative impacts of labeling for patients. “Now more than ever, we need to treat one another with kindness and respect. All I am asking for is a more human-centered approach to counseling on campus.”

From Sports:

• MEN’S HOCKEY: Men’s hockey finished the regular season with a 3–0 loss to Harvard. Now, the Tigers will be focusing on Union, who will host them for a best-of-three playoff series this coming weekend. With their regular season over, playoffs are the center of attention — and Princeton has some optimism that things could improve for them before the post-season.
• ALUMNI NEWS: Jesse Marsch ’96 was recently hired to be the manager for the Leeds United team of the English Premier League. Marsch becomes just the third American (and second Princeton graduate) ever to manage a Premier League team. During his time at Princeton, Marsch was a member of the men’s soccer team and was named as an All-Ivy selection and All-American in his final year. He played professionally before moving to coaching and, finally, managing. 

From The Prospect:

• STUDENT-RUN FINE-DINING: Walk outside of campus, and you will immediately be faced with a myriad of fine-dining options. Yet, many of these locations are expensive. Contributing Writer for the Prospect Joshua Yang reviews a new student-run fine dining experience, PPop Up, an invitation-only pop-up restaurant located in the 1903 basement. “PPop Up is an ambitious concept — hosting semi-regular dinner services featuring a prix fixe menu of dishes invented, tested, fine-tuned, prepared, and served by students, all from a modest upperclassmen dorm kitchen.”
• THESE TWO YEARS AT PRINCETON: In light of the recent change to pandemic precautions on campus, Head Prospect Editor José Pablo Fernández García compares the beginning of this two-year pandemic experience to what seems to be the end. “This ending of sorts feels like such a minuscule whimper of a conclusion to what began with a practically inconceivable upheaval to our lives.”

At Your Leisure:

• PODCAST: Listen to the latest episode of Daybreak, The Daily Princetonian’s daily news podcast.
• PUZZLES: Try your hand at a new puzzle titled “Grammar School” by Staff Constructor Jaeda Woodruff.