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The Daily Princetonian

News & Notes: Rodriguez ’08 finishes in 4th place on America’s Got Talent with musical ensemble

Attorney Cordaro Rodriguez ’08 finished in fourth place on the ninth season of America’s Got Talent on Wednesday with his musical ensemble, “Sons of Serendip,” featuring three other musicians whom he met “serendipitously” while pursuing a graduate degree at Boston University. The group made it to the final six of 48 competing acts and was chosen from thousands of applications to join the show on live television.

NEWS | 09/17/2014

majors

70 percent of students change major after enrollment, study finds

Approximately 70 percent of students change their course of study during their time at the University, Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said in a recent interview, citing an internal study she had seen. Associate Dean of the College Elizabeth Colagiuri said she was unable to confirm the accuracy of this number but confirmed she was aware that this study had been conducted.

NEWS | 09/17/2014

The Daily Princetonian

Changes to the Clery Act affect U. reporting of crimes on campus

The White House announced changes in July to the Clery Act under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 that would require colleges and universities to comply with new campus safety and security requirements designed to curb sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. These changes include requiring colleges to compile statistics for incidents of dating violence, domestic violence and stalking, in addition to existing statistics. Colleges will also be required to adopt the FBI’s revised and more inclusive definition of rape, which dispenses with the distinction between the forcible and non-forcible sex offense categories,as well as add gender identity and national origin as categories of bias for hate crimes.

NEWS | 09/17/2014

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The Daily Princetonian

News & Notes: Lempert breaks tie to raise council salaries

Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert broke a tie at last Monday’s council meeting to raise her own and other governing officials’ salaries. The tie was between the faction voting to increase their salaries, consisting of Council President Bernie Miller, Councilwoman Heather Howard and Councilman Lance Liverman on one side, and Councilwomen Jenny Crumiller and Jo Butler and Councilman Patrick Simon on the other. Lempert’s salary increased from $15,000 to $17,500 while Miller’s increased from $7,500 to $12,500, and the rest of the council’s will increase from $7,500 to $10,00. While Crumiller and Simon proposed to put the decision to a public vote and to make the raises effective only to successive councils respectively, both proposals were overridden. Lempert attributed her decision to a desire to end the long debate over salaries and proceed to other issues. Middlesex and Mercer counties have made comparable salary increases according to a memo submitted to the council the following Wednesday.

NEWS | 09/16/2014

The Daily Princetonian

News & Notes: Princeton branch of TD Bank robbed

The TD Bank in Princeton was robbed at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 15, Planet Princeton reported. An unidentified white male allegedly walked into the bank at the intersection of Cherry Valley Road and Route 206, walked up to a bank teller and silently passed him a note requesting cash and informing the teller that he was armed. After the teller handed him an envelope filled with cash, the robber left on foot.

NEWS | 09/16/2014

The Daily Princetonian

New research examines link between cerebellum and autism

Injury to the cerebellum could further our understanding of autism, according to new research by molecular biology professor Samuel Wang. Using the preexisting anatomical and clinical work from the last five to 10 years, Wang’s new idea merges much of the scientific literature exploring a connection between damage to the cerebellum and autism. “Brain development requires internal communication within the brain, and what we suggest is that that internal communication gets disrupted in cases that lead to autism,”Wang said. His research is different from previous research that links the cerebellum to autism because he introduces the concept of sensitive periods. “The sensitive period idea is like this: If you learn a language before the age of six, you speak like a native.

NEWS | 09/16/2014

The Daily Princetonian

Wanitwat ’14 creates ‘Daddies Date Babies’ documentary to explore ‘sugar babies’ phenomenon

Parinda Wanitwat ’14 is exploringthe phenomenon of sugar babies through the eyes of five student-age women in New York City inadocumentary called “Daddies Date Babies.”A sugar baby is a young adult who exchanges sexual relations in return for financialsupport from an older sugar daddy or sugar mama. “The women want as much money as possible for as much stability as possible.

NEWS | 09/15/2014

The Daily Princetonian

New & Notes: Hun School of Princeton teacher arrested for sexual assault

Nolan Johnson, a former technical theater teacher at the Hun School of Princeton, was arrested and charged with three counts of second-degree sexual assault and one second-degree count of endangering the welfare of a child on Monday, according to the Princeton Police Department press release. Johnson allegedly "engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with [a 16-year-old] female victim on multiple occasions between June 2014 and July 2014, while Nolan was the victim’s Hun School teacher," according to the release. After school officials learned of the allegations, Johnson was placed on leave.

NEWS | 09/15/2014

The Daily Princetonian

News & Notes: Public Safety, Fire Department, PSE&G respond to gas leak at construction site

The University's Department of Public Safety, the Princeton Fire Department and the Public Service Electric and Gas Company responded to a gas leak at the Lakeside Graduate Housing construction siteMondaymorning, according to Planet Princeton. A backhoe, a type of construction vehicle, had struck a gas line at about8:06 a.m.Construction workers were then evacuated from the area, and the gas line was shut off at8:24 a.m. There were no injuries, according to officials present. The Lakeside housing complex is located near Lake Carnegie and the Dinky station and will contain 329 rental units that will be able to house up to 715 graduate students. A two-bedroom apartment at Lakeside will cost$1,546 per month, as opposed to$1,179at the Butler Apartments that are slated for demolition.

NEWS | 09/15/2014

The Daily Princetonian

Despite deflation policy, A-range grades on upward trend

The fraction of A-range grades in the fall 2011 through spring 2014 three-year period increased to 43 percent from 40 percent in fall 2008 through spring 2011, the Faculty Committee on Grading announced at the first faculty meeting of the academic year on Monday. The 43 percent of A-range grades in the most recent three-year period is still lower than the 47 percent of A-range grades reported in 2001-04, the period right before the current grade deflation policy was enacted. These data were released in light of a separate grade deflation policy report that was released in August.

NEWS | 09/15/2014

The Daily Princetonian

Jepson School professor discusses the tenets of John Marshall at James Madison lecture

John Marshall, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, was both an ardent advocate of judicial constructionism and supporter of central government, Gary McDowell said at a lecture on Monday. McDowell, a professor at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, is the author of 11 books on topics like judicial power and the Constitution.

NEWS | 09/15/2014

The Daily Princetonian

Breaking: Faculty approves recommendations on handling of sexual assault cases

University faculty members unanimously voted to approve a set of recommendations on the handling of sexual misconduct by the Faculty Advisory Committee on Policy this afternoon. The four major changes inaugurated through the vote are to allow equal rights of appeal to both the accuser and those found guilty, to remove student presence from the adjudication panel, toreduce the burden of proof for sexual assault cases from “clear and persuasive” to “preponderance of evidence” and to allow both complainants and respondents to appoint an adviser from outside the University community. These changes take into account legislation from the Clery Act, the Violence Against Women Act and Title IX, a law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funds.The University is currently one of the 55 institutions underinvestigation for violating Title IX. Although a motion to postpone the vote and allow additional discussion time received some support from faculty members, who filled the ranks of Nassau Hall on Monday afternoon, Dean of the Faculty Deborah Prentice said that the University was under time pressure to comply with explicit legal demands made by the Office for Civil Rights over the summer. “We truly believe that these are very good, positive and compliant changes to our procedures,” she explained, saying they were very carefully thought out by the FACP.

NEWS | 09/15/2014