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Financial aid for the first lady

Financial aid for the first lady

A s she campaigns for her husband on the trail, first lady Michelle Obama ’85 frequently references the “mountain of debt” the Obamas accrued as they pursued higher education. At last month’s fundraiser in Princeton Township, Obama included a reference to the student loan debt from her alma mater in her stump speech.“In fact, when we were first married ... our combined monthly student loan bills were actually higher than our mortgage,” Obama said. “Thank you, Princeton.”Though she rarely mentions Princeton by name, the personal anecdote is a consistent part of her campaign message. But Princeton financial aid officers from when she was a student said that, though their policy has changed significantly since, the University’s financial aid offerings in the 1980s were relatively competitive.

NEWS | 10/11/2012

In college town, potential conflicts of interest permeate politics

Patience Haggin

Both candidates on the ballot for Princeton mayor this November have spouses who are employed by the University, bringing into question how much of a conflict of interest is significant enough to interfere with college-town governing.

NEWS | 10/11/2012

Keeping with times, Mudd trades bound senior theses for PDFs

No more senior theses will join the 60,000-volume collection that currently resides in the basement of Mudd Library. Starting with the Class of 2013, the University will no longer physically store students’ theses. Instead, they will be uploaded online in PDF format and be searchable from any computer.There are no plans to digitize the already existing collection of senior theses, and the current collection will still be physically available in the basement of Mudd. To access these for research purposes, independent researchers will still need to physically come to campus.

NEWS | 10/10/2012

Oldest alumnus dies at 107

Malcolm Warnock ’25, the University’s oldest living alumnus, died on Tuesday. He was 107.Warnock was the oldest alumnus in attendance at Reunions eight different times, first in 2001 and then from 2006 through 2012. Just a few weeks before his 107th birthday on June 21, he became the first alumnus in the University’s history to celebrate his 87th reunion, according to the Alumni Association.

NEWS | 10/10/2012

News & Notes: U. defends use of race in admissions in case

Supreme Court justices began hearing oral arguments on Wednesday for a case that could limit colleges’ and universities’ ability to use race as a factor in the admission process.The case, Fisher v. University of Texas, questions whether the affirmative action policy at the University of Texas, Austin violates the rights of white applicants.

NEWS | 10/10/2012

Second Orange and Black Ball seeks to decrease costs

As part of an effort to cut costs and suit students’ preferences, this year’s Orange and Black Ball will feature a cover band and a DJ instead of a headlining act.The decision was one of a number of tweaks the planning committee made to bring down costs and ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the Ball. New York-based cover band The A-List will be performing, along with DJ Lil’ Boy, who works with hip-hop artist T-Pain. The event will remain free for students, but guests will be required to pay $20 each to attend.

NEWS | 10/10/2012

Without Ai Weiwei, panelists debate artist’s legacy

Though Chinese sculptor and political dissident Ai Weiwei did not visit Princeton as he had planned to, “A Princeton Day with Ai Weiwei” proceeded on Wednesday with a panel called “Art in a Democratic Society.” The discussion focused on Ai’s usage of art and media to participate in politics.

NEWS | 10/10/2012

News & Notes: Theological Seminary appoints new president

The Princeton Theological Seminary has chosen a new president to lead the school. M. Craig Barnes, who received his Masters in Divinity from the Seminary in 1981, will begin his term as the school’s 7th president on Jan. 1, succeeding Iain Torrance, who had served as Seminary president since 2004.

NEWS | 10/10/2012

Picoult ’87, Weiner ’91, Eugenides fight over gender remark

Creative writing professor Jeffrey Eugenides and authors Jodi Picoult ’87 and Jennifer Weiner ’91 are embroiled in an argument about gender inequality in writing, a disagreement that progressed following the publication of a letter to the editor in The Daily Princetonian by Picoult and Weiner last Wednesday.

NEWS | 10/09/2012

U. faculty dominated by whites, males, committee finds

More than four in five faculty members are white and 75 percent are male, despite concerted efforts by the University administration to increase diversity within the faculty. These data, based on 2010 statistics, were compiled by the Trustee Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity. Formed in January, the committee was charged with identifying ways to enhance the diversity of the graduate student body, faculty and senior administration.

NEWS | 10/09/2012

Perlstein's responsive website heralds ‘active online presence’ for scientists

When Associate Research Scholar Ethan Perlstein set out to create a personal lab website earlier this year, he sought to create a platform that could do a lot more than just display his publications and research. By the time he began working at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics this fall, he had a unique web platform that he said he hopes other scientists would soon replicate.

NEWS | 10/09/2012

News & Notes: Rosen reacts to Obama campaign comments

Economics professor Harvey Rosen was brought into the fray of election-year presidential politics this week, when he told the Weekly Standard that he thought president Barack Obama’s campaign had mischaracterized his research.

NEWS | 10/09/2012

Locals criticize U. at public forum debating land use bill

Local community leaders criticized a state bill supported by the University that would give the University the right to develop its own land as it sees fit. The discussion took place at a public forum Tuesday night at Borough Hall.The bill would allow private colleges like Princeton to pursue development projects without the approval of local zoning boards. The bill was approved by the State Senate in June and is currently awaiting a hearing before the State Assembly’s Higher Education Committee.

NEWS | 10/09/2012

With student support at its back, group pushes U. to invest endowment responsibly

Following a USG referendum last spring encouraging the University to invest its endowment in “socially responsible ways,” the Princeton Coalition for Endowment Responsibility is requesting that the University form a committee to monitor its $17.1 billion endowment.

NEWS | 10/09/2012

Furniture lost in summer storage

Merik Mulcahy ’13 used the Moving and Storage Agency this summer to store his couch, which he estimated was worth about $300. But a week after he returned to campus, the couch still had not been delivered. He called the agency to ask when it would arrive, but he was told by the agency that all the couches it stored had already been delivered.

NEWS | 10/08/2012

Discipline Report shows small drop in total infractions, but uptick in fraud

The number of student disciplinary infractions decreased by about 10 percent last school year, according to the latest Discipline Report released by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students on Friday. The report recorded all student infractions from July 2011 to July 2012.

NEWS | 10/08/2012

News & Notes: Malcolm Warnock '25, University's oldest alumnus, dies at 107

The University’s oldest living alumnus, Malcolm Warnock ’25, died on Tuesday at the age of 107, according to Princeton Alumni Weekly. On eight separate occasions, Warnock led the P-Rade avt Reunions and carried the Class of 1923 cane, which is bestowed on the most senior returning graduate.

NEWS | 10/08/2012

Projects Board may have violated USG constitution with unapproved expenditures

The USG’s student group funding branch may have violated the USG constitution by approving funding for two projects without receiving appropriate approval from the student government.

NEWS | 10/08/2012

Current town-gown tension harkens back to Civil War, Mudd exhibit shows

Former president of the University John Maclean received a letter from a concerned parent in September 1861. Joseph Casey’s son, Isaac, had just been expelled from the University — then known as the College of New Jersey — for dousing a southern student under a pump on campus.“You can no more keep loyal and disloyal students together in the College of New Jersey, without producing collision and disturbance, than you can bring fire and powder together without producing ignition and explosion,” Casey’s letter to Maclean read.

NEWS | 10/08/2012

News & Notes: Sororities give out more than 50 bids in the first year with rush ban

Out of 74 female students who registered for sorority rush, more than 50 were offered bids to Princeton’s three Panhellenic sororities.

NEWS | 10/08/2012

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