News

Corzine names Rabner '82 attorney general

Corzine names Rabner '82 attorney general

Gov. Jon Corzine said this afternoon that he is nominating Stuart Rabner '82, his chief counsel and a former veteran federal prosecutor, to be New Jersey's 25th attorney general."I have never had more confidence in an individual to serve in a prospective role that I have had the opportunity to choose someone for," The New York Times quoted Corzine as saying of Rabner, who was widely considered one of the top contenders for the job."It's fair to say that in my life's experience, I've dealt with few, if any, individuals with a higher standard of integrity and intelligence or are more committed to excellence than Stuart," Corzine added."His professional history and experience as a respected, effective prosecutor and lawyer speaks for itself.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Website posts cheerleading initiations photos

Photographs taken at the University cheerleading team's 2005 initiations came into the public eye Wednesday when the website badjocks.com posted them along with images from 11 other college teams' initiations under the heading "the Dirty Dozen."BadJocks was recently featured in the national media after Northwestern University disbanded its women's soccer team because of initiations photos posted on the site.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

University holds 259th Commencement

The University conferred 1,108 undergraduate degrees and 661 graduate degrees Tuesday as a crowd of approximately 7,000 guests observed Princeton's 259th Commencement ceremony on the front lawn of Nassau Hall.The event, which featured speeches from students and President Tilghman, and culminated with seniors' symbolic exit out FitzRandolph Gate, marked the end of the three days of graduation ceremonies.Former President Bill Clinton spoke to graduating seniors during Class Day activities Monday while humorist David Sedaris delivered Sunday's Baccalaureate address.In her Commencement remarks to the Class of 2006, Tilghman emphasized the importance of both having strong ideals and keeping an open mind."You are about to enter a world in which the nature and quality of public discourse has been impoverished, with too many people closed off from serious intellectual inquiry and the ideas of others, listening only to those who are of like mind on TV news shows, radio talk shows and Internet blogs," Tilghman told the class.Tilghman added that she hoped students, during their years at Princeton, had gained "a determination to follow [their] passions in service to the common good, an openness to new ideas, and a willingness to engage in civil discourse with integrity and mutual respect." (Read full transcript.)Christopher Douthitt '06, a music major from Spokane, Wash., delivered the ceremony's valedictory address, calling upon his classmates to follow their passions, wherever they may lead them."I can think of no more relevant wisdom than to find whatever it is that constitutes the source material of your life, and to keep extracting that material throughout the years," he said.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Sedaris speaks at Baccalaureate

Ceremonial cap and gown aside, when humorist David Sedaris stepped to the podium this afternoon to deliver the University's 259th Baccalaureate address, he was casual, pithy and, above all else, humble."I've always been Princeton-struck," he said at the start of his address to the Class of 2006.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Moving out

Students prepare to move out of their rooms. Classes have ended, papers are turned in and now students are left to finish finals.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Strong endowment returns prompt budget boost

Recent strong returns on the Princeton endowment have prompted University trustees to allot $24.8 million in additional funds to needy areas of the operating budget.The increase in spending will be directed towards a number of areas, including energy and renovation costs, information technology and the University library system.The spending increase constitutes only the seventh adjustment in endowment spending policy since it was adopted in 1979, according to the University website.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Rihanna to perform at Lawnparties

Pop reggae star Rihanna will headline next weekend's fall Lawnparties concert at Quadrangle Club, USG social chair Andrew Heyman said Saturday.Heyman described Rihanna, the singer of the recent hits "Pon de Replay" and "SOS," as a desirable performer for Princeton not only musically but also intellectually."Rihanna's music is a departure not only from the Lawnparties acts of the past three years, but also from a lot of the music that we usually hear at Princeton in general.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

For parents, anguish as their children remain trapped

Sitting in her quiet Alabama home on a Friday afternoon earlier this month, Betty Saxon grew increasingly worried as the minutes passed.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

In their own words

Princetonians in Israel, Lebanon and Palestine offer their perspectives on what it's like to be in the midst of a war zone in our "in the crossfire" blog.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

U. names eight new trustees to Board

The University announced eight new members of the Board of Trustees on June 14.The new trustees are Shelby Davis '58, Carl Ferenbach '64, Charles Gibson '65, Ellen Harvey '76, Robert Murley '72, John O'Brien '65, Mark Siegler '63 and Brady Walkinshaw '06."I am very pleased with the election of the new members of the board of trustees," President Tilghman said in an email."They all bring unique perspectives," she added.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Alumnus replaces Kelly '76 at Time magazine

One Princetonian is taking the reins from another at Time magazine, in a major media change announced earlier this week.Richard Stengel '77 will replace longtime friend Jim Kelly '76 as managing editor of Time, the magazine's editor-in-chief announced in an email to his staff, calling the two "oldest of friends." Kelly is being promoted to the newly created position of Managing Editor of Time Inc., overseeing the companies' more than 150 magazines.The connection between Kelly and Stengel extends beyond their employers and matching undergraduate diplomas.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

A visible means of egress

Friday: A chance of afternoon storms. Saturday and Sunday: a little warmer, and finally drying out somewhat.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Former president Clinton delivers Class Day address

Former President Bill Clinton mixed jokes with a serious discussion of the immigration debate and a traditional graduation speech call to action in his address to the Class of 2006 this afternoon, encouraging them to engage in the world "locally, nationally and globally."Clinton's speech emphasized civic and political involvement, instructing graduates to use the "personal power" they developed at Princeton to better the world."You have an education that has given you unprecedented personal power," he said later in the half-hour speech, "and you live in a time which has given you unprecedented personal power."Class Day is the second in the series of graduation events at the University.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Cottage Club loses bid for property tax-exemption

The University Cottage Club will not be granted property tax-exempt status as an historical site, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey ruled late last week.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

A campus icon bids farewell

On the official first day of his retirement this summer, Professor John Fleming GS '63 will be teaching.Fleming, an English professor who has taught at the University for more than 40 years, will lecture on Dante's poetry ? but in a Tuscan castle, not McCosh Hall or East Pyne.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Two Princetonians among four awarded Fields Medal

The International Mathematics Union named Professor Andrei Okounkov and Terence Tao GS '96 among the four Fields Medal winners announced this morning.The award, often described as mathematics' equivalent of the Nobel Prize, is given once every four years and is considered the discipline's highest honor.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Trustees annouce divestment from Sudan

Following Harvard, Yale, Stanford and other schools, the University has announced that it will divest from companies it believes are complicit in the genocide in Darfur.Though the University said it currently has no direct holdings in companies operating in Sudan, the new policy ? adopted earlier this week by the finance committee of the University Board of Trustees ? disallows future investments in companies that directly or indirectly conduct operations that are involved with the genocide in the war-torn region.University spokeswoman Class Cliatt '96 said Princeton waited until now to withdraw investments because, unlike other institutions that had direct investments in companies involved in Darfur, the University has only indirect ties to such companies.President Tilghman explained in an e-mail that for the University to act, "we needed to be persuaded that genocide was indeed occurring and that this had been so for some time.""Furthermore this seemed to be an issue around which there was consensus on campus," she added.Since 2003, tens of thousands of Sudanese have been killed and millions more uprooted from their homes as a civil war rages between Sudanese rebels, government forces and Arab militias.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

Crime around campus

Witherspoon Hall, May 3, 11:54 p.m.A University student reported finding a harassing note left under her room door.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

'Beloved' professor Morrison set to retire

Only months before creative writing professor Toni Morrison is set to retire, the New York Times Book Review has named her 1987 novel "Beloved" the best book in American fiction in the last 25 years."It is a happy occurrence that at the very moment that Professor Morrison has decided to retire she should have received this honor, one that is so richly deserved," Edmund White, director of creative writing and author of the recent memoir "My Lives," said in an email.Though University officials declined to confirm Morrison's decision, several individuals familiar with her plans said she is likely to retire, though the move has not been finalized.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

On fifth anniversary of attacks, University remembers alumni victims

Five years after terrorists turned airplanes into missiles, cutting short the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans, including 13 alumni, the University commemorated their loss with an interfaith service Monday in the memorial garden next to Chancellor Green.Family, friends, faculty and students gripped tissues and bowed their heads as speakers shared their experiences of that day and intoned the names of the 13 victims."We all have memories of that day and the accompanying emotions of shock, grief, confusion," Paul Raushenbush, associate dean of religious life, said.But in this fifth year, there is a "shift of gears ... a passage of yearly remembrance into history," Dean of Religious Life Thomas Breidenthal said.

NEWS | 05/18/2006

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