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(04/11/16 6:13am)
I had thought that the debate about free speech on campus had settled after the protests concluded last fall, but I was proven wrong by the flyer incident in late March. A hacker remotely sent anti-Semitic flyers to campus printers. I believe that the University can limit particularly threatening hate speech, while still maintaining the individual right to freedom of speech.
(03/23/16 2:53pm)
I was fortunate enough to do some traveling abroad over spring break, particularly spending time in art museums. As I walked into the room of the Louvre that displays the Mona Lisa, perhaps one of the most famous pieces of artwork in the Western canon, I was struck first not by the painting’s beauty, nor by its famous smile, but instead by the sea of selfie sticks around the painting, all in spite of the Louvre’s ban on selfie sticks inside the museum.
(03/01/16 1:15pm)
Life is busy. Yet, it is sometimes more important to take a step back from the stress of everyday life and escape to another world. This past week, at the urging of my friends but against my better instincts, I downloaded Neko Atsume, the cat simulator game. There is no way to win this game. The sole goal of the game is to attract as many virtual cats as possible to your virtual home with gifts and cat food. There is no interaction with the cats in the game except for the ability to take virtual pictures of them, which are then stored in the app’s "catbook." The cats do nothing more in the game than lounge about in your virtual home.
(02/14/16 4:31pm)
This week broughtnews that 17 rail unions in New Jersey had voted to go on strike in mid-March in the event that they do not reach a contract with New Jersey Transit. I hope for the sake of all commuters in New Jersey that such a strike does not occur. As the Daily Princetonian reported, such a strike would have a significant impact on students planning to travel during spring break, as well as a devastating impact on commuters needing to travel to work. For many working families, NJ Transit services are the only way to commute to work. Furthermore, NJ Transit is really the only financially viable option for most students to travel throughout New Jersey and to New York and Philadelphia, given that most University students do not own cars.
(02/02/16 7:29pm)
A common complaint about modern universities is that they sequester students in the “ivory tower,” isolating them from the problems in the world outside of academia. Public service is a remedy to that problem, and a career in it allows for deeper engagement with the community than the academic world or private sector normally provide.
(12/09/15 7:26pm)
We often talk about the need for a more inclusive, diverse campus environment, but we unfortunately tend to forget about the town of Princeton when holding those conversations. Although the world outside the Orange Bubble can sometimes seem very distant from campus life, the town and the University maintain a symbiotic relationship. When the town benefits, so too does the University. Even something as seemingly mundane as housing and zoning laws can have an outsized benefit on the overall environment of the campus and town.
(11/23/15 7:50pm)
Intrigued by rumors about inflammatory posts about the protests in Nassau Hall, I made the mistake of downloading YikYak again last week. Frankly, the conversation on YikYak and other social media about the protests disgusted me. Behind the veil of anonymity, the id of Princeton University came out in full force. Posts on social media of all kinds seemed to fall into one of two categories. One category unequivocally supported the protestors in Nassau Hall. Another category would unequivocally denounce them. And the vitriol between the two sides effectively left no room in the middle for a conversation to be held.
(11/11/15 6:55pm)
If you are a user of any kind of social media right now, debate over the protests at Yale is probably impossible to avoid. It has even made the front page of Reddit, crowding out the usual stream of cat photos and memes. For those who may not follow the news as closely, Yale has been the site of protests about racial intolerance in campus life. Much of the news coverage has situated around the protests in the debate over free speech on college campuses. Yet, we need to step back for a second and view these protests in isolation. What has happened at Yale does not fit cleanly into the narrative about free speech that has been put forward by national news media.
(10/12/15 10:51am)
So, what is one to do with the fantastic earnings on the endowment? Last week, PRINCO released its annual report, sparking debate in the Princeton City Council about larger returns to the community, according to the Princeton Packet. But I actually agree with the University that the amount it contributes to the town is already enough. An analysis by Princeton Future, a local public policy planning group, found that the University’s voluntary contributions to the town of Princeton constitute 7 percent of the municipal budget, as reported in the Princeton Packet.
(09/28/15 10:05am)
I used to think that North Korea jokes were funny. I didn’t bother watching "The Interview," but I definitely had a good laugh at all of the jokes about the country in other media like "Team America: World Police" and the TV show "Archer." Yet, as I found out, what really makes us laugh about those jokes is that they make us uncomfortable, which I found out one day in Beijing this past summer.
(09/15/15 6:00pm)
I was one of the few Asian-Americans in the small suburb of Detroit that I grew up in. I still remember multiple instances in which other little boys would walk up to me and ask, “Your eyes are so small, are you blind or something?” They might as well have been hurling a slur at me – “chink.”
(05/05/15 10:02am)
Seeing all of the newly admitted students walking around campus last week brought back a flood of memories for me. I really had a wonderful experience at Princeton Preview back in April 2014. Indeed, I made some of my best friends there. It seems like it was not long ago that I was one of those starry-eyed prefrosh too, clutching my orange-and-black drawstring bag as if it contained the Holy Grail. It was certainly amusing to take a step back as a Preview Host and an Activities Fair volunteer to see what we all looked like as prefrosh. I noticed that one person even posted in the Class of 2019 Facebook group to ask, “Who else kept their Princeton plastic water bottle(s) from preview and plans to reuse them indefinitely?" I could sympathize with that person’s sentiments. After the temporary stint inside the Orange Bubble that is Princeton Preview, items as simple as a plastic water bottle marked with the Princeton shield or an orange-and-black drawstring bag remained our only tangible connection to that mystical place known as Princeton when we returned to our homes in the real world. With the Princeton Preview program, the University is successfully able to present an ideal version of Princeton to the outside world; however, Preview also masks the less glamorous aspects of life on campus, particularly with regard to the state of mental health.
(04/27/15 6:40pm)
Immortalized in everything from theTiger Magto F. Scott Fitzgerald’sThis Side of Paradise, the Dinky is an important part of Princeton culture. I have fond memories of riding into Princeton on the Dinky when I first came as on a tour as a high school sophomore. Yet, like any other culture, Princeton’s culture must change with the times. Dinky service and the campus’s transportation links to the outside world can be made better. But that does not mean that the culture has to be destroyed.
(04/22/15 6:20pm)
Kale is beloved by hipsters and foodies across the country, making it one of the most stereotyped vegetables on the planet. Any casual observer will have noticed the influx of kale into the dining halls. Its spread is unstoppable, seeping into the salad bar (yummy), infiltrating the hot food line (mixed results — kale on pizza is not an ideal combination) and, given time, might even migrate into the dessert area. Kale-flavored ice cream, for its part, has made fleeting appearances at the Bent Spoon, while Starbucks has been selling kale-infused smoothies. One wonders if Big Kale is in cahoots with Campus Dining Services.
(04/07/15 1:36pm)
The Urban Congo group is offensive, distasteful and morally reprehensible. Kudos goes to Achille Tenkiang ’17, who was able to preserve the video of its performance on YouTube before the group hastily removed it. It is clear that the group members were attempting to be funny, but the truth is that they were anything but that. A large Princeton logo looms in the background of the stage as they go through their act. This is unacceptable for an institution like ours.
(03/10/15 12:18am)
Watching the premiere of “Fresh Off the Boat” with the Asian American Students Association, I came to a startling conclusion about my own upbringing: I felt as if I wasn’t truly Asian-American.