News

COMBO: Wealth divides undergraduate community

For the full PDF of the COMBO survey results, click here.The results of the Committee on Background and Opportunity (COMBO) survey, which were not made public to the University community until now, indicate that there are dramatic differences in how students of different socioeconomic backgrounds evaluate their social and academic experiences at the University.The findings have been available to the USG and the University administration for nine months but were not posted on the USG website until late Tuesday night, after having been distributed to the USG Senate and The Daily Princetonian on Monday.The survey asked respondents to identify their perceived socioeconomic level and ask questions regarding participants? social activities and quality of life.

Manning will not come to Princeton

Though rumors have been circulating on the internet recently that noted Civil War historian and Georgetown associate professor Chandra Manning may be joining the Princeton?s history department, Manning denied these rumors in an interview with The Daily Princetonian this week.?I know that over the summer there was some internet speculation,? Manning said in an interview Monday, ?but I?m actually very happy at Georgetown, and I?m planning on staying.?Manning, who received her doctorate from Harvard in 2002, was dubbed a ?rising star in the history of the Civil War? by The Boston Globe.

Luke: Sexual relationships affect remittances in Africa

Gifts and monetary transfers to women in non-marital sex relationships negatively affect the amount of money that Kenyan migrant men send home to their families, Brown sociology professor Nancy Luke said in a talk in Wallace Hall on Tuesday.Titled ?Migrants? Competing Commitments: Sexual Partners in Urban Africa and Remittances to the Rural Origin,? it was the third lecture in the Office of Population Research?s Notestein seminar series.Luke discussed her research on the tendencies of migrant men to partake in transactional sex in Kisumu, Kenya?s third-largest city.

OIT releases trial run of revamped Webmail

A new Webmail client, @Mail, will replace Sun Java System Messenger Express starting Oct. 14, providing users with upgraded e-mail functionality.

Freshmen battle for USG spots

The elections for Class of 2012 officers have drawn an impressive group of freshmen. The candidates have already started advertising: some with websites, some with jingles, some with facebook.com groups and almost all with posters.Nine students are running for president ? the same number that ran for president in last year?s freshman-class elections. Five vie for the vice presidency, four for treasurer and three for social chair.

Classroom beckons grads

Emily Smith ?07 was offered a job on Wall Street after completing an internship the summer before her senior year.But she declined the high-paying job in high finance to join Teach For America (TFA) and now teaches social studies and mathematics to seventh and eighth graders in Brooklyn.?Now that I?ve gotten into education, I?m planning to do it for the rest of my career in some way, shape or form,? said Smith, an East Asian studies concentrator.Victor Wakefield ?07 said that as a junior majoring in history at Princeton, he was certain he would go to law school after graduation.But after an internship at an East Harlem middle school in the summer after his junior year piqued his interest in teaching, he applied to TFA.Wakefield, who is currently teaching language arts to sixth and seventh graders at a middle school in Gary, Ind., said he is now ?convinced that I?m going to be in education throughout my career.?Wakefield added that he knew about a dozen people who deferred their admission to law or medical school or job offers ?just to stay in the classroom.?Smith and Wakefield are just a few of the increasingly large number of Princeton students who initially intend to go straight to law school or Wall Street after graduation and are opting instead to spend at least two years with TFA.

ORFE building named for Sherrerd ’52

The University announced Monday that the new operations research and financial engineering (ORFE) building will be dedicated to the late Jay Sherrerd ?52, formerly a trustee of the University and a director of the Princeton Investment Company (PRINCO).The University will not release the exact sum of the gift due to the family?s wish for privacy, University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ?96 said.?There?s no one I can think of in the last 40 years who has been as dedicated and loyal to the University as Jay Sherrerd,? President Tilghman said in an interview Monday afternoon.Director of Engineering Communications Steven Schultz said that Sherrerd ?had wanted to [make the gift] before he died,? explaining that ?his children, through his estate and his family foundation, have carried out his wish.?Sherrerd has been a strong financial supporter of the University, committing time to three of the University?s previous capital campaigns.

Classroom beckons grads

Emily Smith ?07 was offered a job on Wall Street after completing an internship the summer before her senior year.

Library to begin alerting patrons of impending due dates

Never return your library books on time? The Princeton University Library is about to introduce a program that may help forgetful patrons avoid overdue fees. Within a few days, the library system will begin issuing e-mail warning notices for books five days before their due date.

Biology professors awarded $8M by NIH

Four molecular biology professors have been named recipients of awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that will grant them $8 million collectively for future research.Saeed Tavazoie, Zemer Gitai, Coleen Murphy and Ileana Cristea have been recognized by the NIH for ?work deemed ?high impact? by the federal medical research agency,? according to a University statement.Molecular biology department chair Lynn Enquist said he was very proud of the professors? achievements.?It?s really an amazing experience as chair to have your faculty recognized with such competitive awards,? he said.

News and Notes: Sept. 29

Brinkley ?71 to step down as Columbia provostColumbia University provost Alan Brinkley ?71 will resign from his administrative position at the end of the academic year to return full-time to his duties as a history professor, the Columbia Spectator reported Thursday.Brinkley, a Wilson School concentrator while at Princeton, has served as provost for the past five years, presiding over the university?s academics, faculty and budget, as well as reviewing applications for tenure and selecting new deans, the Spectator said.In an e-mail to Columbia students, Brinkley cited a desire to return to research and teaching.

Hundreds fill Frist for first presidential debate (video)

USG aims to extend hours at Firestone

The USG will make extending library hours a priority this semester, USG president Josh Weinstein ?09 said at Sunday night?s USG meeting.U-Councilor Julia Kaplan ?11 explained that the USG has set its short-term focus on ?doing whatever needs to be done to get Firestone hours extended.?The long-term focus, she added, is to ?publicize and make attractive? various study spaces and to extend hours for those locations in general.A second priority for the USG will be working with Labyrinth Books to address student dissatisfaction with the store.?This semester, [the] USG will be focusing on working with Labyrinth to see what we can do,? Undergraduate Life chair Arthur Levy ?10 said, explaining that ?a lot of students have been complaining [about the store].?Though Levy did not specify the nature of the complaints, he said that the USG would try to ?get a dialogue going.?The USG is also looking at a project to provide more comprehensive information on course books, such as which books are absolutely required for a course and which can be bought in less expensive earlier editions, Levy said.Regarding the upcoming class officer elections, senior elections manager Braeden Kepner-Kraus ?10 said that this year nine people are running for freshman class president, five for vice president, four for treasurer, three for social chair and one for secretary.

Wall Street firms cut recuitment

As the latest turmoil on Wall Street has thrown numerous banks into a tailspin, anxiety is high for seniors who are still set on entering the field of finance after graduation.After undergoing momentous changes ? including the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America ? the finance industry may be loosening its grip on seniors? plans.Ankur Patel ?09, who spent his summer working in treasury and security services at JPMorgan Chase & Co., said he believes many of his peers will consider other post-graduation paths.?There is definitely a decreased interest in banking because of the lack of job security,? Patel said.

Three clubs take 55 in fall Bicker

Fall Bicker concluded this past Friday, with a total of 55 new members being accepted into Cap & Gown, Ivy and Tower clubs.Cap accepted 21 bickerees out of more than 40, said a member of the club, whose name is being withheld because the person is not authorized to speak to the press.

"Princeton 5000" raises money for village bank

Can singing and dancing give a poor family in Tajikistan financial stability? The Princeton Microfinance Organization (PMO) believes so.Last weekend, nine performance groups converged to perform a show to forge a creative solution to poverty.

L'Atelier director launches actors' studio

On Thursday evening, a professor instructed eight students to raise their voices to the Rockefeller College common room ceiling.The professor was L?Atelier head Florent Masse, and the voice projection exercise was part of the new Rocky/Mathey Actors? Studio.Masse, who is a lecturer for a French theater class and a faculty adviser at Rocky, said that the studio allows students ?to find a place [where acting] is not academic ? it is not even a production.Students interested in the freer mood of the weekly actors? studio, Masse said, should ?just come for the pleasure of acting.??There are no constraints.

To beat malaria, don’t rely on one drug

My first purchase in India this summer was a small plug-in ?Jungle Formula? mosquito killer unit that promised to fill my bedroom with enough vaporized chemicals to slay all mosquitoes within a 30-meter radius.

Faces can be judged instantly

Spending an extra 20 minutes trying to assemble the perfect outfit may be a waste of your time according to a new study, ?The functional basis of face evaluation.? The study shows that human beings make split-second judgments about strangers based on facial analysis, judging them as trustworthy and approachable or deceptive and threatening based solely on facial structure.

Troubled Nassau Weekly looks to WPRB

Following a series of personnel problems, the Nassau Weekly is in the midst of discussions to merge operations with the campus radio station WPRB.Talks have been ongoing between the student leadership of both organizations: the Nass? three editors-in-chief, Colin Pfeiffer ?09, Uzoamaka Maduka ?09 and Chris Schlegel ?09, and WPRB station manager William Sullivan ?09 and news director Sebastian Jones ?09.Decisions have yet to be finalized and approved, but WPRB graduate board chairman William Rosenblatt ?83 has called the proposal an ?intriguing idea.??I?m excited that the undergraduate board is pursuing creative ideas to make the station stronger,? he said.Rosenblatt said that the WPRB board of trustees has not yet discussed the issue with the University.