Columns

Professors should cancel scheduled finals, reduce length of take-home exams

“The COVID-19 pandemic, the limitations that students face this semester, and grief have fundamentally compromised learning. Professors, this is not your fault — you are not to blame for the conditions that have made teaching and learning exceedingly difficult this year. However, if there is a moment when your compassion is more needed than ever, that moment is now.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic, the limitations that students face this semester, and grief have fundamentally compromised learning. Professors, this is not your fault — you are not to blame for the conditions that have made teaching and learning exceedingly difficult this year. However, if there is a moment when your compassion is more needed than ever, that moment is now.” 

Black death is not ‘educational’: Footage of violence, the children of MOVE, and calls to action unheeded

“I don’t know what to say to people who easily digest human suffering alongside their morning coffee and go through the circuitous work of justifying it, forget it by the week’s end, remember it only to use as a juicy detail in their next low-stakes policy debate, or even feel satisfied by it.”

“I don’t know what to say to people who easily digest human suffering alongside their morning coffee and go through the circuitous work of justifying it, forget it by the week’s end, remember it only to use as a juicy detail in their next low-stakes policy debate, or even feel satisfied by it.”

Equitable vaccine rollout is ethically and medically essential

“To properly care for Americans, both in this pandemic and beyond, our healthcare system must care for all humans, regardless of their status.”

“To properly care for Americans, both in this pandemic and beyond, our healthcare system must care for all humans, regardless of their status.”

Princeton must reform campus climate for the safety of students

“Students have time and again reported feeling ignored and unprotected by the University’s Title IX office, or having experienced other forms of silencing. This culture makes learning and working on campus unsafe for all, in particular for survivors, and it must end.”

“Students have time and again reported feeling ignored and unprotected by the University’s Title IX office, or having experienced other forms of silencing. This culture makes learning and working on campus unsafe for all, in particular for survivors, and it must end.”

The class president deserves more than the 1903 Prize

“To make the prize meaningful as a distinction, we would need to make explicit that ‘doing the most’ does not entail solely student governmental work, and we need to allow for multiple winners to allow the diversity of contributions to be represented.” 

“To make the prize meaningful as a distinction, we would need to make explicit that ‘doing the most’ does not entail solely student governmental work, and we need to allow for multiple winners to allow the diversity of contributions to be represented.”

Princeton failed its students

“The University’s response to the pandemic has been defined by an incessant prodding of students to perform, a lack of transparency, and a purely reactive attempt at response.”

“The University’s response to the pandemic has been defined by an incessant prodding of students to perform, a lack of transparency, and a purely reactive attempt at response.”

Let us be the generation that ends exclusionary zoning

Ditching exclusionary zoning is an obvious step to take in solving America’s housing crisis. Our communities can truly be inclusive and ensure opportunity for all people, particularly people of color who have borne the brunt of exclusionary zoning for far too long. Embracing this vision may even help us finally get serious about solving our most intractable political problems.   

Major League Baseball was right to condemn Georgia’s voting law. It shouldn’t have left the state.

“If MLB truly wanted to stop the attack on voting rights it should not have relocated — it should have just stayed in Georgia.”

“If MLB truly wanted to stop the attack on voting rights it should not have relocated — it should have just stayed in Georgia.”

Thus Spoke The Undergrads: On being a filthy cheater

“As a friend of the girlfriend’s, you should share what you know. Yet your role as a confidant means you agreed to keep your friend’s secret quiet. If they thought you would share it with their girlfriend, they probably would not have told you that they were cheating. In this situation, obligation gives us no decisive answer about what you should do.”  

“As a friend of the girlfriend’s, you should share what you know. Yet your role as a confidant means you agreed to keep your friend’s secret quiet. If they thought you would share it with their girlfriend, they probably would not have told you that they were cheating. In this situation, obligation gives us no decisive answer about what you should do.”  

This Earth Day, lend your voice to the animals

“Let’s dedicate this Earth Day to the animals who have always had it much harder than humans, especially in this past year. ”

“Let’s dedicate this Earth Day to the animals who have always had it much harder than humans, especially in this past year.”

Blue-green algae in the Finger Lakes: A problem the ‘Orange Bubble’ should care about

“The impacts of climate change are not isolated, one-off events. They are not limited to hurricanes in the Gulf, or wildfires in the West, or melting ice caps in the Arctic. Climate change is not some distant, imminent issue that our grandchildren will have to live with. Climate change is an issue that requires urgent, immediate action.”

“The impacts of climate change are not isolated, one-off events. They are not limited to hurricanes in the Gulf, or wildfires in the West, or melting ice caps in the Arctic. Climate change is not some distant, imminent issue that our grandchildren will have to live with. Climate change is an issue that requires urgent, immediate action.”

Professor Whittington, Hear Students Speak Freely

“This University to which we all belong serves as an ideal place for a rich and complex debate about the future of the Supreme Court.”

“This University to which we all belong serves as an ideal place for a rich and complex debate about the future of the Supreme Court.”

The reality of imposter syndrome in the COVID-19 era

“At a time when students, including myself, find themselves questioning their validity, high-achieving universities should emphasize the importance of rest instead of adding to students’ stress.” 

“At a time when students, including myself, find themselves questioning their validity, high-achieving universities should emphasize the importance of rest instead of adding to students’ stress.”  

Why Princeton students should support #ANewDeal4HigherEd

“Sky-rocketing tuition costs and the student debt crisis are the most obvious and talked-about effects of slashed investment in public higher education, but these are far from the only impacts on students’ collegiate experience. Cuts to state funding for higher education have also generated a total overhaul of university fiscal management policies. Gone are the days when university departments were funded simply on the premise that education itself was a public good.”

“Sky-rocketing tuition costs and the student debt crisis are the most obvious and talked-about effects of slashed investment in public higher education, but these are far from the only impacts on students’ collegiate experience. Cuts to state funding for higher education have also generated a total overhaul of university fiscal management policies. Gone are the days when university departments were funded simply on the premise that education itself was a public good.” 

There’s no crying (cancel culture) in baseball

“The question isn’t whether leagues like MLB should involve themselves in politics, but how they should leverage the role they already play. Every institution has a responsibility to act to protect voting rights as they come under increasing threat nationwide.” 

“The question isn’t whether leagues like MLB should involve themselves in politics, but how they should leverage the role they already play. Every institution has a responsibility to act to protect voting rights as they come under increasing threat nationwide.” 

Re-engineering Princeton’s language requirement

“Perhaps one day colleges will reform their curricula to reflect the universal importance of non-English language acquisition in such a way that does not unduly burden B.S.E. students. But until that day, introductory level language courses should count towards B.S.E. humanities and social sciences requirements at Princeton.”

“Perhaps one day colleges will reform their curricula to reflect the universal importance of non-English language acquisition in such a way that does not unduly burden B.S.E. students. But until that day, introductory level language courses should count towards B.S.E. humanities and social sciences requirements at Princeton.”

When you silence Asian pain, you light us all on fire

“Today, I'm still wearing my KF94 mask to protect others, but I’ve shed my other mask — the one I wore to convince myself and others that the flames weren’t real. They are real, and the world is on fire — both literally, but also within the millions of minds that white supremacy and racial capitalism set ablaze centuries ago.”

“Today, I'm still wearing my KF94 mask to protect others, but I’ve shed my other mask — the one I wore to convince myself and others that the flames weren’t real. They are real, and the world is on fire — both literally, but also within the millions of minds that white supremacy and racial capitalism set ablaze centuries ago.”

Confronting Gerrymandering: The Power of Just Data

“It is not enough to take data points as unequivocal truths without questioning the structures that create them. The progress of marginalized communities, from criminal justice reform to electoral reform, rests on being able to achieve this level of contextualization.”

“It is not enough to take data points as unequivocal truths without questioning the structures that create them. The progress of marginalized communities, from criminal justice reform to electoral reform, rests on being able to achieve this level of contextualization.”

Will Princeton continue to attract ‘the best and the brightest’?

“By seriously addressing the concerns of its students regarding  climate change, Princeton would greatly increase its appeal to deliberating high school seniors, who might have offers of admission from other universities like Columbia and Brown, which have both already divested from fossil fuels.”

“By seriously addressing the concerns of its students regarding  climate change, Princeton would greatly increase its appeal to deliberating high school seniors, who might have offers of admission from other universities like Columbia and Brown, which have both already divested from fossil fuels.”

Expecting financial aid in a broken system: A response to Andi Grene ’24­

“Even if financial aid should be ‘expected,’ the more constructive approach to understanding our aid may be to accept its troubling implications. Princeton’s financial aid students are beneficiaries of immense wealth in a society that does not equitably distribute it, and we may feel a resulting sense of indebtedness, luck, or impostor syndrome that cannot easily be removed. However, such unwelcome feelings may prove our greatest motivator, urging us to reform our nation to make higher education affordable and accessible for future generations.”

“Even if financial aid should be ‘expected,’ the more constructive approach to understanding our aid may be to accept its troubling implications. Princeton’s financial aid students are beneficiaries of immense wealth in a society that does not equitably distribute it, and we may feel a resulting sense of indebtedness, luck, or impostor syndrome that cannot easily be removed. However, such unwelcome feelings may prove our greatest motivator, urging us to reform our nation to make higher education affordable and accessible for future generations.”