News

MIT unveils new financial aid planMIT has become the latest top-tier American university to dramatically revise its financial aid plan for middle-income families.The institution announced Friday that beginning next fall it will eliminate tuition for undergraduates whose families make less than $75,000 a year.

NEWS | 03/09/2008

Scalia sees narrow role for courts

Scalia sees narrow role for courts

Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia defended the Court?s role in the 2000 presidential recount in Florida and shared his views about the Court?s role in a liberal democracy before a packed audience in McCosh 50 on Friday night.Scalia also received the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service at the event, co-sponsored by the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and Whig-Clio, which presented the award.Whig-Clio president Molly Alarcon ?10 asked Scalia several questions selected from a pool that had been submitted in advance by Whig-Clio members.Among the most controversial questions Scalia addressed was one from Forest Sebastian ?10 regarding the Supreme Court?s decision to stop the Florida vote recount in the 2000 presidential election.?Get over it, it?s eight years ago,? Scalia said.

NEWS | 03/09/2008

Google engineers lead puzzle challenge for student teams

Students braved Friday?s downpour and trekked out to Google Games ? an unconventional meeting for students interested in Google ? putting their teamwork and problem-solving skills to the test for one-and-a-half hours by working on six puzzles in groups.?Do we need pencils, paper?

NEWS | 03/09/2008

Davall: Public Safety breaks up more parties

Public Safety officers defended their image at a USG Senate meeting last night that focused on student concerns over campus safety.A recent Public Safety initiative that allows officers to patrol dormitories on Thursday and Saturday nights to crack down on high-risk drinking has been met with hostility from students.?We?re seen as the kind of ?beer police,? and that gives us a bad name,? Deputy Director Charles Davall said to the student leaders.

NEWS | 03/09/2008

Nader ’55 calls for more civic activism

After declaring his fourth-consecutive third-party bid for the presidency only two weeks ago, Ralph Nader ?55 explained his reasons for running and called for greater civic activism on Saturday afternoon to a crowded McCosh 50 audience.Co-sponsored by the Arab Society of Princeton and Princeton Justice Project, Nader?s lecture was titled ?The Corporate State and the Destruction of Democracy.?Nader, a well-known consumer advocate and the son of Lebanese immigrants, criticized the practice of voting for the ?least worst? candidate and said that such a practice devalues citizens? votes.Third-party politicsAs a third-party candidate, Nader has been obstructed numerous times from appearing on the ballot, he said, adding that ?[Third parties] are constantly getting this political bigotry as if somehow we?re second class citizens.??Unfortunately, we live in a period in our history when political bigotry against third parties and third-party candidates is at an all-time high, and the two-party duopoly has somehow sold us on this notion that we?ve got to vote for winners, and if both winners aren?t that great then we?ll go for the least worst,? Nader said.

NEWS | 03/09/2008

Wilf ’84 donates $5 million to Butler, CJL

Jane and Mark Wilf ?84 have donated $5 million to fund one of four new dormitories in Butler College and programming at the Center for Jewish Life (CJL), the University announced last week.Wilf?s gift directs $4.5 million to the construction of Wilf Hall, which will be completed as part of the Butler College renovations.

NEWS | 03/09/2008

University architect to retire in June

From the modern curves of the Lewis Science Library to the gothic arches of Whitman College, Jon Hlafter ?61 has left an enduring aesthetic vision for the University?s campus.These and other projects will serve as reminders of Hlafter?s efforts to coordinate architectural projects at the University.

NEWS | 03/09/2008

Panel discusses Kenyan violence

Land distribution, poverty and historical ethnic prejudices were at the center of Kenya?s recent political unrest, according to a panel discussion given yesterday by Kenyan students and professors in Robertson Hall.In light of a recent peace agreement brokered by the United Nations, Kenyan members of the University community gathered to offer their perspectives on the results of December?s presidential election, which triggered widespread violence in their home country.Following the election, Kenyans unexpectedly began rioting in protest of what they believed to be a corrupt electoral process.?People were looking forward to the elections,? said Josh Muketha ?10, a Kenyan who was at home for winter break when the elections took place.

NEWS | 03/06/2008

Weather has two mommies

Editor?s Note: In last week?s column, the Weather Guy incorrectly reported that Nancy Malkiel was stepping down as High Inquisitor of Princeton University and campus fireplaces would be immediately reconnected to the Floo Network in violation of New Jersey state fire codes.

NEWS | 03/06/2008

Seniors given research prize

Anand Oza ?08 and Aaron Pixton ?08 have both been awarded Churchill Scholarships, created by Winston Churchill in 1959 to encourage young Americans to study science and engineering in college.

NEWS | 03/06/2008

Alums bring clarity to hazy primary season

As election season heats up, political junkies and the general public can look to realclearpolitics.com for a one-stop site for conservative and liberal coverage drawn from numerous online and printed publications.Founded in 2000 by Tom Bevan ?91 and John McIntyre ?91, who did not meet until after college, the site compiles political news articles, opinion pieces, analysis, commentary and polls from publications ranging from The New York Times to Rolling Stone magazine.?The idea was that these pieces should be available to the public all in one place.

NEWS | 03/06/2008

‘Aspire’ tops $663 million in donations

The University has raised roughly $52 million in the four months since the Nov. 9 public launch of the ?Aspire? capital campaign.

NEWS | 03/06/2008

Filling the small screen

On any given day, one might expect to find Princeton students studying, socializing or sleeping, but putting together TV programs might not spring to mind.

NEWS | 03/06/2008

Leaping language hurdles alongside Olympians

Students taking part in the Princeton in Beijing (PiB) study-abroad program this summer will have the opportunity to be in close contact with Olympic athletes ? even if they do not snap up tickets for the 2008 Summer Games.According to The New York Times, the U.S.

NEWS | 03/06/2008

Orange Key members concerned about Admission Office oversight

Two years after the organization was brought under the aegis of the Admission Office, members of the formerly self-governing Orange Key Guide Service are saying that they have witnessed a marked erosion in their independence as administrators have sought to assert greater control over the content and organization of the group?s tours and in the administration of the group itself. ?Guides now feel that there?s Big Brother over their shoulder,? Brandon Bierlein ?08, the 2007 Orange Key chair, said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian last week, claiming that the administration has taken a larger role in shaping guides? messages to the public over the last two years.Some guides are concerned that ?the University [is] creating a laundry list of things that [have] to be said in the tour,? Bierlein added, noting that during his tenure as chair he heard ?a lot of concern from the guides that the traditional freedom that we?ve had was being undermined."Orange Key, whose volunteer guides lead 26 weekly tours, was founded in 1935 and had been an independently managed student organization funded by University Services until its incorporation into the Admission Office at the beginning of the 2006-07 academic year.?It makes sense for Orange Key and our admissions officers to work together as we present visitors to our campus with a comprehensive picture of life at Princeton,? Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said in an e-mail in response to questions about the level of her office?s involvement with the guide service.

NEWS | 03/05/2008

News & Notes

Robertson case trial date setThe high-profile battle between the University and the Robertson family will go to trial on Oct.

NEWS | 03/05/2008

Five professors awarded Sloan prize

Five faculty members received Sloan Research Fellowships, which recognize promising young scientists and provide them with unrestricted financial assistance, the University announced yesterday.Lynn Loo GS ?01, Jason Petta, Ulrich Mueller, Roman Rafikov GS ?02 and Joshua Shaevitz joined 113 peers at North American universities ? chosen out of more than 600 nominees ? to receive $50,000 each for further research in their respective fields.The funds are granted by ?[monitoring] the science field for where the need is,? fellowship administrator Erica Stella said.

NEWS | 03/05/2008

OIT may add more Apple desktops to clusters

Macs have outstripped PCs in laptop sales through the University?s Student Computer Initiative (SCI), which sold three Macs for every two PCs last fall.?The percent of Macs on campus has grown significantly,? said Steven Sather, OIT?s director of support services.

NEWS | 03/05/2008

Jacoby: Peace process is a myth

Boston Globe op-ed columnist Jeff Jacoby denied the viability of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine in McCosh 28 yesterday. Jacoby included the two-state solution as one of his ?Four Big Myths? in a lecture titled ?The ?Peace Process? and Other Middle East Myths.? Jacoby listed the four myths as the plausibility of a co-existence of Israel and Palestine, the idea that peace should be made between enemies, the notion that ?terrorists want to derail the peace process? and the belief that ?anti-Zionism isn?t anti-Semitism.? Throughout history, and ?every time [the idea of a two-state solution] has been on the table, Palestin[ian]s have refused it,? Jacoby said.

NEWS | 03/05/2008

New group to focus on healthcare

Concern about the growing number of uninsured Americans has led Mahesh Somashekhar GS to begin rallying students to fight for universal healthcare.Somashekhar?s agenda includes organizing students to do a variety of healthcare-related activities, such as volunteering at local hospitals, facilitating panel discussions, launching letter-writing campaigns and demonstrating at the New Jersey State Legislature.?Good health is precious,? Somashekhar, a graduate student in the sociology department, said in an e-mail.

NEWS | 03/05/2008

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