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New report criticizes Ivy hiring

New report criticizes Ivy hiring

Members of several graduate student unions delivered a report critical of race and gender equity in Ivy League faculty to the offices of President Tilghman and other Ivy League heads Tuesday.The report, titled "The (Un)Changing Face of the Ivy League," argues that women and people of color are grossly underrepresented in Ivy League faculties and doctoral programs, suggesting that hiring disparities persist among underrepresented groups."The goal is to begin a dialogue about the fact that the Ivy League has remained an elitist institution," said Melissa Stuckey '00, one of the students who presented the report.

NEWS | 03/02/2005

Schiavo's brother pleads for right to life

A week after a Florida judge ruled that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube could be removed, her brother said that allowing her to die would put the United States on the path to Holocaust-style cruelties."What is the difference between what happened 60 years ago and what's happening today?" Bobby Schindler asked Wednesday before a crowd in McCosh 10.

NEWS | 03/02/2005

March dedicated to caffeine awareness

Acting Governor Richard Codey declared March "National Caffeine Awareness Month," but coffee drinkers and energy drink junkies on campus question the likelihood that they will give up their drug.The awareness month is the result of advocacy efforts by the Caffeine Awareness Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to curtailing excessive caffeine consumption.

NEWS | 03/02/2005

Tauberer '04 takes Govtrack to Capitol Hill

In pursuit of the University's motto, "In the Nation's service," Josh Tauberer '04 will head to Washington, D.C.

NEWS | 03/02/2005

Look out eBay: USG launches 'pBay'

Taking a lead from Princeton's own Meg Whitman '77, who runs the popular online auction website eBay, Clay Bavor '05 has unveiled "pBay" ? an auction website for students to buy and sell items.The free service was launched Monday on Point, the USG's new student portal, which Bavor also created."The goal of pBay is to make it as easy as possible for people in the Princeton community to buy, sell and exchange stuff cheaply," he said.

NEWS | 03/01/2005

Bush adviser defends science policy

John Marburger III '62, a physicist and the top science adviser to President Bush, emphasized the need for fundamental research rather than politically popular applied science programs and responded to concerns over a decline in research funding to a large audience in Guyot 10 Tuesday.Marburger said Congress should invest in nanotechnology, biotechnology, security spending and the National Institute of Standards and Technology this year.Marburger spent much of his hour-long talk titled "Science and the Federal Budget" describing the process of prioritizing and funding the research of various government agencies.Allocating research money has become a more difficult task each year, Marburger said, citing evidence that the proposed 2006 budget will cut research funding but still be higher than historical averages."As a percentage of the total discretionary domestic budget, the non-defense R&D [Research and Development] has remained constant at about 11 percent over the last three or four decades," he said, showing a chart.In response to concerns from faculty members who had suffered funding cuts, Marburger suggested private research institutions were expanding faster than the government could expand funding."The opportunities [in research] have been expanding faster than the willingness of society to pay," Marburger said.Marburger said he hoped to see more public policy analysis of science research programs."We don't have anything like an economic model for science research in this country," he said.

NEWS | 03/01/2005

OIT looks to fight spyware

OIT is evaluating commercial spyware-blocking products in an effort to rid computers on campus of spyware ? unintentionally downloaded software that is often responsible for pop-ups and computer crashes."We'd like to have a product that will enable us to buy a copy of anti-spyware for every Windows user in the University," OIT security officer Anthony Scaturro said.

NEWS | 03/01/2005

Biologists criticize NIH focus

Seven University molecular biology faculty members are among 750 scientists who signed an open letter sent Monday to the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), urging him to allocate more money to research on basic infectious diseases instead of biodefense.The letter, cosigned by scientists at universities, hospitals and biotechnology companies across the countries, opposes recent fund reallocations from the study of common infectious diseases to biodefense research."The diversion of research funds from projects of high biodefense but low public-health importance represents a misdirection of NIH priorities and a crisis for NIH-supported microbiological research," the scientists wrote.They also said the peer-review process ? the traditionally accepted way of allocating resources ? is "threatened by the unintended consequences of the 2001-02 decision by the NIH National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases to prioritize research of high biodefense, but low public health significance."The 400-word letter, addressed to NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, will be published in the March 4 issue of Science magazine and is available on the magazine's website.The researchers who signed the letter have all served on the NIH Microbial Physiology and Genetics and NIH Bacteriology and Mycology Initial Review Groups or have received grants from the Initial Review Groups.Molecular biology professor Jeffry Stock was among the University faculty who signed the letter.

NEWS | 03/01/2005

Holder Hall set for draw

Construction on Rockefeller College's Holder Hall is on schedule to be completed Aug. 15, in time for students to move in next academic year.The sixth and ninth entryways of the U-shaped building will feature new second-floor lounges.

NEWS | 03/01/2005

Students engineer fingerprint entrance

Dan Halpern-Leister '07 no longer fumbles for his keys when he approaches his dorm room. He touches a computer mouse mounted on the wall, then presses his forefinger to a touchpad.

NEWS | 03/01/2005

University denies releasing info to solicitors

When Will Ellerbe '08 opens his mailbox in Wu Dining Hall, he expects to sift through promotional offers, credit card applications and magazine subscriptions."Whenever I get a piece of [junk] mail, I immediately recycle it.

NEWS | 02/28/2005

Princeton Club seeks students

With its dark wood and leather decor, the Princeton Club of New York looks tailor-made for older Tigers.

NEWS | 02/28/2005

Fighting for the 'freedom to tinker'

The world is an imperfect place, and Edward Felten likes to tinker with it.Sitting behind his desk in a spacious office in the Computer Science Building, Felten is an unlikely poster child for academic freedom.

NEWS | 02/28/2005

Ex-Panther Davis says war on terrorism, death penalty racist

Angela Davis, a radical civil rights activist who briefly appeared on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, denounced the war on terrorism and the death penalty as outgrowths of racism in a Monday lecture that capped Black History Month.Calling the death penalty "proof that slavery wasn't really abolished," Davis said, "All of us, regardless of race or ethnic background, live with this slavery, and are affected by it."She also said that Black History Month and the practice of celebrating "firsts" can be misleading."I would gladly relinquish the celebration of the first black woman Secretary of State in exchange for a white male Secretary of State who might give us some guidance on how to get the United States out of the racist war on terror," she said, eliciting applause from the audience.Despite the heavy, wet snow that fell most of Monday, McCosh 50 was nearly filled for Davis's talk, titled "The Role of the Arts in Achieving Social Justice."Davis, a former member of the Black Panthers, spent 16 months in prison before being acquitted of charges of conspiracy and murder.

NEWS | 02/28/2005

Alums launch tutoring effort in Boston

Starting this school year, the Media and Technology Charter School (MATCH) in Boston is following a rigorous plan to give its high school students the best chance for college success: 180 students, 45 tutors, two hours of one-on-one tutoring each day for every student for the entire school year.Though the MATCH school was founded as a non-selective charter school five years ago, Alan Safran '81 initiated the MATCHCorps tutoring program just this year to provide college-preparatory tutoring.The first graduating class of the MATCH school, which graduated last June, sent 100 percent of its students to four-year colleges.Safran estimated that 90 percent of these children come from low-income, non-college-educated families.However, Safran felt that the real test of a school is how many of its students graduate from college.

NEWS | 02/28/2005

Past Tigers return for Alumni Day

An abundance of orange and black apparel ? from ostentatious jackets to tiger-themed ties ? descended on campus Saturday as about 1,200 Princeton alumni flocked back to Old Nassau for the annual Alumni Day.The day's activities included lectures by various Princeton professors, a luncheon in Jadwin Gym and a memorial service held in the chapel.

NEWS | 02/27/2005

Kean '57 urges nation to unite against threat

The United States must set aside partisan politics and adopt a forward-thinking, multifaceted approach to secure itself from the threat of terrorism, said Thomas Kean '57, chair of the 9/11 Commission and the recipient of this year's Woodrow Wilson Award.Calling the terrorist threat the greatest foreign policy challenge facing the nation, Kean said, "We're safer today than we were a few years ago, but we're far from safe."Kean, past two-term governor of New Jersey and current president of Drew University, delivered the lecture in Richardson Hall after being honored with the award on Alumni Day.

NEWS | 02/27/2005

Pyne, graduate awards presented Alumni Day

They study human trafficking, Buddhism, postpartum depression and geometry and dynamics. Yet despite their academic differences, Amy Saltzman '05 and graduate students Paul Copp, Holly Sanders, Michael Shell and Lior Silberman all received the highest academic awards bestowed by the University at Alumni Day Saturday.Saltzman received the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, which annually recognizes a senior exemplifying extraordinary academic achievement, strength of character and effective leadership.When Saltzman received an email three weeks ago from Dean of the College Kathleen Deignan, she thought she was in trouble, she said."But when I walked into the office, Dean Deignan and Dean Malkiel were smiling," Saltzman said.

NEWS | 02/27/2005

TI bouncer OK after fight

A Tiger Inn bouncer was knocked unconscious during a fight with a University student early Sunday morning and then transported to the University Medical Center at Princeton (UMCP), said the bouncer, Taron McBride, and witnesses.McBride identified the student, a male junior, but authorities would not confirm the report, and McBride said he does not intend to file charges."The incident's still under investigation and we cannot release any information about it right now," said Mark Clark, a Public Safety officer.Witnesses said McBride was being restrained when he was kicked in the chest, knocking him to the ground.By the time the paramedics arrived, McBride had regained consciousness.

NEWS | 02/27/2005

Students travel to D.C. for AIDS rally

WASHINGTON, D.C. ? Seven students from Princeton's chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) loaded up two rental cars and headed for the nation's capitol Saturday to participate in a student rally to help fight the AIDS epidemic.They joined several thousand protestors swarming around a few policemen in the Upper Senate Park.

NEWS | 02/27/2005

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