News

Black athletes are 'slaves': NY Times columnist

Black athletes have wealth and fame but not meaningful power in the sports industry or in society, William Rhoden, a New York Times sports columnist and author of the new book, "Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete," said in a lecture last night.Rhoden began with excerpts from his book connecting to his original title choice, "Lost Tribe Wandering"? a reference to the Biblical tale of Exodus, the story of formerly enslaved Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years.He went on to trace the history of black athletes through their early African-American heritage, describing the relationships between the three slave social groups of house servants, field workers and athletes.

Tilghman's pay inches up to $600,000

President Tilghman's total compensation rose modestly in 2004-05 as the number of university presidents whose salaries topped $500,000 nearly doubled, according to an annual survey released yesterday by The Chronicle of Higher Education.Tilghman's raise ? from $564,619 to $595,982 ? outpaced inflation but left her among the lowest paid Ivy League presidents.

Cannon reloaded

Thirty-five years after its infamous green and red bars were gutted, Cannon Club may go back on tap."We expect that construction might begin sometime in '07 in order to reopen in February of '08," said Warren Crane '62, graduate board president of the consolidated Dial, Elm and Cannon Club (DEC).Since most of the new members would be sophomores with residential college dining contracts, full operations at Cannon would not begin until September 2008.The DEC board will spend several million dollars to reopen the storied clubhouse at 21 Prospect Ave.

Early applications rise to second-highest total in a decade

Early Decision applications rose to the second-highest total since binding early admissions began more than a decade ago, Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said.

Gates, Merck fight AIDS in Botswana

Six years ago, Botswana had the highest HIV prevalence in the world. Nearly two in five adults ? as many as three in five in some regions ? were HIV-positive, and in less than a decade, life expectancy had crashed from the mid-60s to slightly over 30 years.In a lecture yesterday, Jeff Sturchio '73, vice-president of External Affairs in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Canada at Merck Pharmaceuticals, and Todd Summers, senior policy officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, discussed the work their organizations have done to fight AIDS.The Gates Foundation and Merck Company Foundation have each committed more than $50 million in five years to combat the prevalence of HIV in Botswana, launching the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP), the world's first country-based program to fight the disease.Begun in January 2001 and set to run until December 2009, ACHAP focuses on Botswana both because of its severe HIV/AIDS problem and its small population and comparatively high income and literacy rates, factors that contributed to the success of the program.Sturchio and Summers explained ACHAP's "three-pronged attack" on AIDS, which focuses on prevention, counseling and testing, and treatment for those who are already HIV-positive.Prevention has included the national distribution of millions of condoms from nearly 2,000 dispensers in as many as 10 districts.

At club event, teens rule Congress

The usual clientele at the Hyatt Regency in Washington's were replaced by teenagers this past weekend as high school students descended on the nation's capital to participate in Princeton Model Congress.The latest congregation of the Princeton Model Congress (PMC), which was established in 1982, drew more than 1,100 students from high schools across the country.

Sahner '07 named Rhodes Scholar

Christian Sahner '07, an art and archaeology major and a founder of the Anscombe Society, a socially conservative campus group, is the University's sole recipient of a 2007 Rhodes Scholarship, joining 31 other students from across the country."It was sweet disbelief," the Maplewood, N.J., native said in an interview yesterday.

Alum gives $10.5 million for athletics, financial aid

As the flames of Friday night's bonfire still glow in students' memories and the celebrations of Saturday's Ivy League co-championship continue, the football team can now revel in yet another piece of good news: a $10 million gift to the University's football program from investor and former University football player William Powers '79, the University's Office of Development announced yesterday afternoon.Powers' gift ? which, on top of the core $10 million, includes an additional $500,000 for need-based financial aid for athletes ? has already funded a resurfacing of the stadium field.

Special pullout: The Bonfire, Nov. 17, 2006

Professor rises from poverty to win 'Nobel for historians'

Raised in a rural community in southeastern China and uneducated until his mid-teens, Ying-Shih Yu seems an unlikely recipient of the John W.

Refugee recalls flight from civil war

African refugees face a difficult transition to the United States, a Sudanese refugee and a film director said at a screening of "The Lost Boys of Sudan" on Friday.Joseph Deng, a U.S.

Students lead local blood drive efforts

In response to serious blood shortages at both the Red Cross of Central New Jersey and at the University Medical Center at Princeton (UMCP), three students are organizing a blood drive in an effort to boost local supplies.

'Not for ourselves, but for the entire Princeton community'

The first bonfire in 12 years blazed Friday night on Cannon Green as thousands of students, faculty, staff and community members looked on.

Volunteer groups lobby to go abroad

Student leaders of international service groups presented recommendations aimed at broadening opportunities for volunteering abroad at yesterday's USG meeting.

After 12 years, Old Nassau to see blaze on Cannon Green

After 12 years in the dark, thousands of students, alumni and community members will assemble this evening on Cannon Green to reignite a hallowed University tradition known simply as "The Bonfire."The football team is providing the occasion for the celebration, having completed their sweep of rivals Harvard and Yale ? the first time since 1994 ? on Saturday.

Emotion influences learning, memory

Emotion shapes nearly every aspect of human activity ? from learning to memory to decision-making ? and even influences evolution, University of Southern California neuroscience professor Antonio Damasio said in a lecture in McCosh 50 Thursday night."Emotion, whichever way you look at it ... is involved in homeostasis," he said, and "the business of running our life."Damasio's talk focused on the processes involved in triggering and experiencing emotions and feelings.Though Sigmund Freud and William James investigated the science of emotion more than 100 years ago, such research had largely been abandoned by the turn of the 20th century, he said.In the past 10 years, however, significant progress has been made in identifying what Damasio termed the "body loop" theory of emotion production.Damasio explained that "emotional programs" are built from simpler drives and motivations."To have an emotion is a very big deal, and it actually involves a lot of changes [throughout] the body proper, as well as the brain itself," he said.People used to think, Damasio pointed out, that one or two systems in the brain would "do all the emotions for you and feel the emotions.""Now we know this is not true.

Thousands gather for bonfire, celebrating school's victory

The first bonfire in 12 years blazed last night on Cannon Green as thousands of students, faculty, staff and community members looked on."Because our school prides itself on tradition," football team offensive co-captain Jeff Terrell '07 told the crowd, "this is one that we've wanted for a while."The football team is providing the occasion for the celebration, having completed their sweep of rivals Harvard and Yale last week.

Food for thought

"The food we eat has changed more in the past 30 years than in the last 30,000," Eric Schlosser '81, author of the bestselling book "Fast Food Nation" and co-writer of the new movie of the same name, said last night in a crowded Richardson Auditorium.Schlosser joined philosophy professor Peter Singer in making opening remarks for the two-day "Food, Ethics, and the Environment" conference sponsored by the Princeton Environmental Institute.

Library says it hasn't received Patriot Act requests

University Library officials said this week that they have received no requests for student or faculty library records under the USA PATRIOT Act in the five years since Congress passed the controversial law.

Finding their religion

Twenty-five-foot silk paintings. An 8,000-pipe organ. A choir of more than 70 people. Walking with a friend into the Chapel one day two years ago, the sheer scale of the Catholic Mass overwhelmed Nene Kalu '07.