News

After 13 years, Shapiro passes torch

After 13 years, Shapiro passes torch

Harold Tafler Shapiro GS '64, who oversaw monumental changes to Princeton University during his 13 years as its president, looked on with seemingly affected composure today as search committee chair Robert Rawson '66 announced Shirley Tilghman as the 19th president of the University in a press conference at Nassau Hall.With an occasional slight shift of his legs and slow, deep breaths, President Shapiro held a constant folding of his hands, gently rubbing his thumb against his palm and gazing out reflectively at the audience as if 13 years of memories were flashing on the opposite wall.Amid a changing of the guard, Shapiro congratulated Tilghman and expressed optimism about her presidency.

NEWS | 05/03/2001

Cellular phone services face hurdles to provide comprehensive campus coverage

Boasting sleek boxes of electronic wizardry, students roam the University campus and its many buildings expecting to connect instantly with friends and family around the world.

NEWS | 05/03/2001

Politics dept. faces faculty departures

As university endowments reap the bounty of a strong economy, colleges across the country have been better able to lure faculty away from institutions like Princeton.Starting in 1999 with former professor of politics John DiIulio and current professor Robert George, several members of the politics department have been in high demand."We always consider that a great thing," Dean of the Faculty Joseph Taylor said.

NEWS | 05/03/2001

Hosed . . . from Norton

When editors embarked on the prodigious enterprise of compiling the The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, they stumbled upon one problem ? the volume was a little too prodigious.At 2,900 pages, 500 more pages than executives at W.W.

NEWS | 05/03/2001

Tilghman named 19th University president

Shirley Tilghman was named the 19th president of Princeton University by the board of trustees in a special meeting held in Nassau Hall this morning.Tilghman will be the first woman to hold the University's highest office as well as the first president not to hold a degree from Princeton in more than a century."It is a deep honor and privilege to be able to serve the University I love so much," Tilghman said during a noon press conference in the Nassau Hall Faculty Room where she was elected by acclamation less than an hour earlier."It is time for a woman president," she continued.

NEWS | 05/03/2001

Being MTV VIPs for the day

A handful of freshmen got rocking and rolling April 16 when MTV's VJ for a Day show invited a group of Class of 2004'ers to become members of the show's audience.Freshman class president Eli Goldsmith explained, "They called me a few weeks ago and asked me if I would ask some Princeton students to be in the audience." Goldsmith ? who already knew the producer ? e-mailed his class, and the first to respond, Goldsmith said, got to go.The group of 18 freshmen left Princeton before most students were awake that day, and when they arrived at the MTV studio at Times Square, they were given "special VIP wrist bands," Goldsmith said.On the show, contestants try to convince the audience that he or she is the best VJ.

NEWS | 05/03/2001

University 10th in alumni giving

American colleges and universities raised about $23.2 billion in 1999-2000, a 13.7-percent increase over the previous year, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

NEWS | 05/03/2001

Announcement ends eight-month search for president

The election of Shirley Tilghman as the 19th president of Princeton University marks the end of a comprehensive ? and highly secretive ? selection process.Led by search committee chair Robert Rawson '66, the selection process was managed by a diverse panel of distinguished trustees, students and faculty ? including Tilghman herself.The remaining members of the committee were instructed not to discuss the selection process, leaving all statements to the chair and vice chair of the search committee, Rawson said.Beginning with broad-based e-mails and letters, the committee listened to any voice in the Princeton community it could find.

NEWS | 05/03/2001

Struggling to Stay Awake

Kate Smith was in dreamland when she felt something hit her. She woke up baffled to see everyone looking at her and laughing.

NEWS | 05/02/2001

Johnson '01 nominated best college male singer

It's enough to make Garrett Johnson '01 want to sing.The Contemporary A Capella Society ? the only organization that evaluates college a capella music on a national level ? recently chose to honor Johnson as one of four finalists for the Best Male Collegiate Soloist award.Johnson got his start in a capella here at Princeton where he is a member of the all-male Tigertones.

NEWS | 05/02/2001

Lazy days

Anders Chen '01, Lauren Goldsmith '02 and Lauren Kane '01 (l. to r.) bask in the sun in the Junior Slums courtyard yesterday.

NEWS | 05/02/2001

Music industry warns Felten

A team of computer science researchers from Princeton and Rice universities is now under the shadow of the Secure Digital Music Initiative, a consortium of over 180 companies from the communications, recording and technology industries.On April 9, University computer science professor Edward Felten, a member of the team, received a letter from the Recording Industry Association of America, speaking on behalf of the SDMI, urging the team not to publish the method it devised to break the SDMI encryption technology."We wanted to understand the technology, and we wanted to understand how well it worked," Felten said.Last year, the team participated in a competition held by the SDMI in which participants were asked to find a way to defeat several forms of digital watermarking ? a technology that can be used to prevent unauthorized copying of digital media, such as MP3s.

NEWS | 05/02/2001

'Power Silence' firm takes shape

Two weekends ago, the group Princeton Power Systems ? Erik Limpaecher '01, Darren Hammell '01, Mark Holveck '01 and John Lerch '01 ? won the annual Princeton Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Club.

NEWS | 05/02/2001

Water main breaks, affects five counties

Since late Monday night, the University has followed a precautionary boil water advisory notice issued by Elizabethtown Water Company, the region's water utility authority.The company's plant, located in Bridgewater, experienced a main break near its primary water treatment facility, according to a company press release.Though there is no evidence that the local water supply has been contaminated, Elizabethtown Water has issued the emergency warning to five counties ? Hunterdon, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Union and Mercer, where the University is located."The warning will last for several days," company spokesman Henry Patterson said yesterday.

NEWS | 05/01/2001

Perfecting Princeton on both sides of the gate

A diplomatic representative typically travels back and forth between two countries, acting as a liaison between her home and a foreign land.Called an "ambassador for Princeton" by Vice President for Finance and Administration Richard Spies GS '72, Vivian Shapiro has acted not only as an interface between the University and its community outside the college gates, but has also drawn upon the landscape of her own life to enrich the experiences and relationships of those with whom she has worked.Classically dressed, sitting tall and poised with wavy hair gently framing her face and talking in a smooth and modulated, yet confident and assertive tone, Shapiro looks and sounds like she possesses a position of political prominence.And yet she was quick to distinguish between both her University and professional positions ? of which the latter is in the field of social work research ? as well as her and her husband's positions, University President Harold Shapiro."I've always been careful to recognize my own role," said Vivian Shapiro.

NEWS | 05/01/2001

Protesting workers' wages, Harvard student sit-in enters third week

A student sit-in at Harvard University continued into its fourteenth day yesterday, with about 30 student members of the Progressive Student Labor Movement ? a group similar to Princeton's Workers' Rights Organizing Committee ? occupying the university's Massachusetts Hall.

NEWS | 05/01/2001

Body found in nearby canal

A body was recovered from the Delaware and Raritan Canal yesterday, according to Princeton First Aid and Rescue Chief Greg Paulson.A woman who was traveling down the towpath said she saw what she believed was a dead body and called authorities, according to Paulson."[Princeton First Aid and Rescue] responded," Paulson said.

NEWS | 05/01/2001

Entreprenuership at Princeton

Princeton's campus is like a catalogue of how-to books: It abounds with opportunities for students to learn how to do everything, from writing essays to wiring circuits.Learning about starting high-tech ventures, however, has not traditionally been a part of the Princeton experience.

NEWS | 05/01/2001

Investment return on University's endowment greater than expected

Princeton University Investment Company, which is responsible for more than $6 billion of the University's endowment, earned an investment return of 35.5 percent during the last fiscal year, according to PRINCO president Andrew Golden.This growth rate represents the highest level of return that the company has seen in 17 years, he said.Golden said the company was pleased with this return, which is a large improvement over the previous year."The previous year was also incredibly strong," he said of the company's fiscal year 1999 return of 21.7 percent."A lot of times you use the previous year as a base level," he said, adding that the company's success is also tied into the strength of the markets.

NEWS | 04/30/2001

Committees debate new policy on dorm furniture removal fees

The Facilities Department ? including Building Services, Housing and Maintenance ? and the Undergraduate Life Committee are currently debating the details of a new policy that prohibits students from removing furniture from their rooms at any time and for any reason starting at the beginning of the 2001-2002 school year."One of the things that's been recognized within the Facilities Department is that there have been over the past years a lot of issues related to the furniture being moved out of dorm rooms resulting in some pretty big problems," said Building Services director Jonathan Baer.The policy will prohibit students from moving any furniture out of their rooms, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Housing Lisa DePaul said.

NEWS | 04/30/2001

Most Popular