To our readers:

Lots of words came to mind when the Managing Editors and I were chosen to serve in these roles.  Honored, eager, excited. Energetic, joyful, ready. The past year leading The Daily Princetonian has presented challenges. We have at times sat around the table, or sometimes on the couches, and considered a hard problem. I could not have gotten through the year without such an excellent team behind me. I wanted to extend a personal thank-you to each of the Managing Editors.

Katie has been best characterized by her dedication – always ready to take a shift, even during midterms or other busy weeks, and staying until the issue was ready to go out. She made sure to consistently check in with all of the touchpoint sections and projects she was handling. The Head News Editors, who Katie worked closely with, especially appreciated her experience in the role. Katie’s expertise and long tenure at the paper has made her the go-to person when we encounter the inevitable pitfall.

Before this board, I knew Julia best by the excellent investigation she wrote on divisions within the swimming and diving team, from seeing her at our weekly Masthead meeting, or from her messages on Slack. But on this board, she has truly gone above and beyond.  She has championed the creation of new initiatives, including our Instagram Reels. The exciting year that we’ve had in Sports has been excellently handled by Julia and her team: No one better fulfilled their responsibilities as managing editor.

Hope, at the end of the day, has all of the skills that I would want in a public-facing institution. She’s a tough editor and masters critical journalistic technologies quickly. She has an ability to reach people, both staffers and non-staffers, in a way that they instantly connect with. She’s also always on top of it: I woke up on one of the biggest reporting mornings of the year to 12 messages from Hope calmly laying out a breaking situation with a story already ready to be published. And critically, Hope’s work to integrate people who would not historically have felt at home at the ‘Prince’ into our community is nothing short of miraculous.

People talk about how you will come to Princeton and meet some of the most fantastic people you have ever known. I didn’t really know what they meant. Until I met Kalena. Kalena has been a journalistic powerhouse. Her sincere and honest passion for journalism always came through, and Kalena’s work on some of the biggest pieces of the board has been invaluable. Kalena’s single-minded focus on the paper has been important in ensuring our attention was always where it needed to be, and she always had my back.

This year has had its challenges but has ultimately only been a joy. Since Day 0, we’ve been ready to roll, my hair has been multiplying like a set of Fibonacci rabbits, and there have been precious few tears. Aside from today, when there’s not a dry eye in sight.

Our team wanted to share some of the stories and special issues that we’ve enjoyed this year. We cannot thank you enough for reading along and cannot wait for the 148th board.

Rohit Narayanan
147th Editor-in-Chief
The Daily Princetonian

MARCH | Tracing the history of the pandemic through TigerConfessions

In June, the class of 2024 will graduate — the first class in Princeton’s history to begin their Princeton experience virtually. Marking the three-year anniversary of when students were sent home in March of 2020, the March special issue Three Years Since ‘The End of the World’ aimed to encapsulate student life in the wake of the pandemic and its long lasting reverberations. 

The issue is replete with moments from the pandemic. In a detailed Data investigation, Suthi Navaratnam-Tomayko analyzes posts on TigerConfessions, a now-mostly depreciated anonymous Facebook page that once served as the locus of campus conversation and reflected contemporary anxieties.  Many of the pandemic’s most defining moments on campus can be traced through TigerConfessions posts. This project in particular is a testament to the creativity and dedication of the data and web design teams, as well as the importance of working between sections to tell multifaceted stories. 

The special issue also includes a podcast on international students who served in their country’s military over their gap year and columns on the benefits and drawbacks of online learning. Paige Cromley’s feature commemorates student reactions to the initial news of being asked to leave campus, some with a “denialist hope” and others with a desire to enjoy the last few moments as college students before the uncertain road ahead, breaking out into a “a full-on Bacchanalia.” This issue highlights the importance of student journalism in remembering moments of history lost to time, reflecting on moments of tragedy, and learning from student resilience. 

- Kalena

MAY | Celebrating women of Princeton, starting with the class of 1973

As an Asian American student at Princeton, I resonated with the words of Elaine Chan ’73, one of the University’s first female students. She said, “I learned to be confident and to not pay attention to the little things, like being a woman or being female scientists, young and Asian, where our stereotype is to be timid and retiring.” My Princeton experience mirrors that of Chan’s from 50 years ago; on this very campus, I, too, have learned to be confident, to ignore stereotypes of my identity to achieve this confidence. When I look at the parallels of our Princeton experiences, I can’t help but be in awe of the women of Princeton who have shaped, and continue to shape, this campus.

As part of our 50 Years of Coeducation special issue, Lia Opperman’s profile included five women from the class of 1973, tracing both their experiences and the history of women at Princeton. These exceptional women paved the way for what it means to be a woman at this institution: bold, confident, resilient. They have helped transform Princeton to be what it is today. For example, Victoria Bjorklund ’73 assisted in the establishment of women’s athletics. Today, we have a nationally ranked women’s basketball team who has made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament in the last two years. 

So, to the current women of Princeton, be bold, confident, and resilient. Yes, Princeton shapes who we are, but we must also not forget that we, too, are shaping Princeton. You belong here, and like the first female class of this University, you will transform this campus and the world beyond the Orange Bubble.

- Julia

OCTOBER | Understanding Eisgruber through Who Runs Princeton

Who is President Christopher Eisgruber ’83? He is incredibly well recognized, but little known.  2023 marked his 10th year in office. In a carefully crafted and impeccably researched May profile, Sandeep Mangat and Bridget O’Neill traced some of the most important moments of Eisgruber’s tenure and arrived at a complicated portrait of the President. The profile lays out how his ambition to change the University runs into a sometimes strained relationship with the community he’s serving.

Mangat sat down with Eisgruber for the second time in October, and the two discussed how Eisgruber viewed the role of University president.  Reading the second profile of Eisgruber is equally essential: some see a President who has no delusions of grandeur, just a desire to serve, whereas others see a leadership philosophy out of touch with Eisgruber’s current moment in history.

The coverage of Eisgruber fits well into the Who Runs Princeton special issue.  In the issue, you can find data breakdowns of the Board of Trustees and University cabinet, conversations with powerful club leaders, an interview with the Dean of the Faculty, and historical retrospectives on the Graduate Student Government and Inter-Club Council.  With stunning web and graphic design by Yacoub Kakhijian and Katelyn Ryu, the issue stands as a testament to the attention the 147th board has put on discovering who are the people behind the decisions we cover.

- Rohit

NOVEMBER | Black history at Princeton — activism, tradition, and telling

Princeton did not accept its first Black students until 1945, when four Black undergraduates were admitted as a part of a naval training program. But Black history, both at the University and in the town of Princeton, runs much deeper, as the ‘Prince’ traced in a special issue published in November. From a failed integration proposal in the 1830s as Princeton faced financial perils to the Black Student Athlete Collective, founded in 2020, which has fostered a sense of support and tradition between alumni and current students, there are so many stories — historical and current — about the Black student experience over the years. 

The ‘Prince’ has not always done its due diligence in reporting on underrepresented communities, especially Black communities, on and around campus. In this issue, we worked to tell the stories that may have otherwise been largely left out in our pages and forgotten over time — like the FOPO DJs, whose hip-hop shows and parties were a central part of Princeton’s nightlife in the 90s, and like those living in Princeton’s historically Black neighborhood: Witherspoon-Jackson.

One feature, from Paige Cromley, spotlights activism on campus in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, led by Black students, to divest from apartheid South Africa. In March 1969, 51 Black students staged a sit-in in New South which as one of the protesters described, “became a touchstone for subsequent generations.” In 1978, students picketed outside Nassau Hall for days on end — at times a group as large as 600. And in 1985, students blockaded Nassau Hall, a decision that resulted two years later in the trustees divesting from two South African firms. The piece is both timely — as calls for divestment from fossil fuels led to partial dissociation last year — and inspiring to read about the activism of the students who came before us.

- Katie

DECEMBER | A slice of life from a Big Block of Cheese

Since 1974 when the Princeton Wawa first opened its doors, the convenience store has been an integral part of campus life. Inspired by a 23-year-old piece from This American Life, the dream to stake out the Wawa was one I’d been holding onto for several years. 

The idea of the Big Block of Cheese issue was to show slices of life across Princeton — and perhaps nowhere else captures the most mundane and chaotic, rock-bottom lows and hell-raising highs than our very own Wawa. 17 reporters, including Kalena and myself, stood in the store and documented the goings-on on one of the biggest nights out of the year. 

This piece is the essence of a special issue in which we chose to highlight things that might not traditionally be considered newsworthy — but are key parts of campus life for many people. From highlighting youth performers and their path to campus a capella to recapping intramural spikeball and basketball to tracing the van-certification struggles of the nationally-ranked curling club, our reporters took the time to dive into pieces of campus that most people might not get to see. 

With stunning web design by Vasila Mirshamsova, insightful interviews by the whole team of reporters, moving accounts from students and workers, and innovative photography from Angel Kuo, this piece not only captures an essential slice of Princeton life — it’s also a great example of what we can do when we collaborate across sections of our newspaper. 

- Hope

End of Year Tidbits

• NEWS | Eating clubs vandalized with pro-Palestine and anti-Israel graffiti
• OPINION | In defense of the public sphere
• SPORTS | Demystifying athletic recruitment at Princeton
• CARTOON | We've all done it