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False sympathy can be a crutch

False sympathy can be a crutch

Comrades, I have been plagued by a new and over-arching evil. I speak not of the unstoppable march of mindless capitalism, nor even of the deplorable state of my room's drink fund, from which I recently embezzled $20.Nay, the tragedy I speak of is at once personal and universal, historic and immediate ? I'm on crutches, and I hate them.

NEWS | 04/20/2000

University selects new teacher prep program head

The University announced yesterday that John Webb will take the reins of the Program in Teacher Preparation beginning in July.Webb has more than 30 years of experience in teaching and educational administration.

NEWS | 04/20/2000

Seeking common religious ground in Rome

During Spring Break, a group of 20 undergraduate and graduate students spent 10 days in Rome on a trip sponsored by the campus Presbyterian ministry.

NEWS | 04/19/2000

Fuchs to log off from CIT

When Ira Fuchs was appointed the University's vice president for computing and information technology 15 years ago, he stepped onto a campus where scarce technology resources were scattered across different departments.On July 1, Fuchs will accept the newly created position of Vice President for Research in Information Technology at the Andrew W.

NEWS | 04/19/2000

$40 Million, Please?

Most students dread asking their parents to furnish eating club dues or finance a Spring Break trip.Now imagine asking them to buy you an F-16.This scenario is not unlike what the University has faced repeatedly during the five-year run of its $1-billion anniversary campaign, asking some alumni to go above and beyond the call of duty in support of Old Nassau.Vice President and Secretary Thomas Wright '62 illustrated what it is like to approach alumni and ask them, literally, for $40 million."One, it's not for me," he said with a laugh.

NEWS | 04/19/2000

Promise of increased minority enrollment is easier said than done

The recently approved Wythes resolution outlines a 500-student increase that the trustees believe will help raise the proportion of minority students at the University and, in so doing, create a more well-rounded and varied student body.This ambitious plan's success hinges on Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon and his staff, who will hand pick the students to make up the larger class.But yesterday, Hargadon expressed doubts about whether the additional admission slots actually would allow him to increase minority representation on campus."I have no better idea about whether the enrollments of students from one or another minority background will increase proportionately . . . than I do about whether there will be a proportionate increase in the number of entering students interested in classics or Near Eastern studies," he said in an interview conducted via e-mail.The trustees also hope the extra students can be attracted to smaller departments, but Hargadon said he believes there is no way to admit students based on what course of study they would choose."Admissions has little control over balancing out enrollments among the various academic departments," Hargadon said.

NEWS | 04/19/2000

Faculty and students evaluate problems of larger student body

The last time the University dramatically increased enrollment was when it accepted women more than 20 years ago.With the trustees' approval of the Wythes report Saturday, the University again faces the challenge of implementing a substantial change in the size of the student body ? a task about which students and faculty members have expressed concerns.Some professors worry about the potential effect of the enrollment increase on departmental resources and want assurance that the additional students will bring diversity and enhanced intellectual abilities, history department chair Philip Nord said in an interview."The faculty feels very strongly about this, and I know they are seconded by Nassau Hall.

NEWS | 04/19/2000

Students optimistic about potential sign language course

With a helping hand from the USG and several professors, students who proposed that the University introduce a sign language course hope to see their idea become reality as early as next spring."We've been working on it kind of throughout the year," said U-Councilor Melissa Briggs '02, who has spearheaded the effort since it began last semester.Much of the work Briggs has done to bring the project to fruition involves finding a department to host the would-be class.

NEWS | 04/19/2000

An aspiring journalist tackles his most personal assignment

When I visited my grandfather in a St. Louis hospital in May of last year, I arrived at his bedside having received instructions from him to bring three things: a pen, a notebook and an envelope from Bopp Chapel, the local funeral home.The instructions came without emotion ? even matter-of-factly ? reflecting a characteristic stoicism that runs in certain parts of the family.

NEWS | 04/19/2000

To $1,000,000,000 and beyond . . .

In the fall of 1995, the University began what would become the largest, most successful fund-raising campaign in its 254-year history.

NEWS | 04/18/2000

Students leave ivory tower through the Community-Based Learning Initiative Learning Initiative

The Community-Based Learning Initiative forges connections between the University and the community, expanding students' coursework beyond the boundaries of the classroom.Approximately 50 University students, faculty members and community leaders gathered Friday at the Clay Street Learning Center for the second annual Community-University Luncheon to celebrate the successes of the CBLI.The CBLI is a collaborative effort among students, faculty, administrators and community members that works to provide University students with opportunities for community involvement and hands-on research.Writing professor Kathryn Watterson incorporated the CBLI into a class she taught this semester ? WRI 155w: The Writer in the Community.

NEWS | 04/18/2000

At Hayden Planetarium, Tyson opens a window to the universe

NEW YORK ? On a small conference room floor littered with pictures of galaxies and office chairs with price tags still attached, a small group of University freshmen sat captivated by Neil de Grasse Tyson, the recently appointed director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York.Amid his passionate criticisms about the inaccurate night sky in "Titanic" and the mathematically false presentation of the Drake Equation in "Contact," Tyson ? who doubles as a University astrophysics professor ? described the newly renovated $210-million Rose Center and the state-of-the-art Hayden Planetarium."Dr. Tyson was amazing," said Karen Mendelson '03, a member of the freshman seminar that visited the planetarium last week.

NEWS | 04/18/2000

Health commission may alter smoking ban

The Princeton Regional Health Commission last night approved for public consideration an amendment that would exempt Prospect Ave.

NEWS | 04/18/2000

Kamanda '03 becomes second-in-command

Olivier Kamanda '03 won the vice presidency of the Class of 2003 last night following a runoff race against Laura Dannen '03.

NEWS | 04/18/2000

If you come . . . they will build it

Laszlo Varga, donning a grease-spotted work coat, stood smiling with his hands on his hips. A physics professor was describing a teaching apparatus that he needed for a lab experiment.

NEWS | 04/18/2000

Finding 'answers' in Tibet, and returning to fight for his adopted culture

When Robert Thurman was a senior at Harvard, he was searching for answers that he could not find in Cambridge.So he went to India."When I was an undergrad, I started reading [about India]," Thurman said in an interview Saturday.

NEWS | 04/17/2000

Opening a school, and unlocking doors

Thirteen-year-old Nuwoe sat in a small classroom, his bright eyes intently focused on the assignment before him."Vivacious," he said haltingly, struggling to pronounce one of 10 words on his vocabulary list."Can you think of someone who is vivacious?" Nuwoe was asked."If it's one person, it's gotta be Mr. Dixon," the eighth-grader replied with an enthusiastic smile.

NEWS | 04/17/2000

Joining the fight against the IMF

Several University students joined thousands of demonstrators from across the country in Washington, D.C., this weekend, to protest world financial meetings in the nation's capital.Most of the students went with the Democratic Left, a campus group devoted to working for liberal causes.

NEWS | 04/17/2000

Metallica makes noise with lawsuit against universities, Napster

Heavy metal rock band Metallica has sued three universities and Napster ? whose software lets users trade music files on the Internet ? for allegedly encouraging students to pirate the band's music.The schools named in the suit ? which was filed in U.S.

NEWS | 04/17/2000

University invests in economist Krugman

The invisible hand recently guided a pivotal faculty acquisition for the University, bringing world-renowned economist Paul Krugman from the numbered halls of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to Princeton's Bendheim Hall.Though Krugman said the University administration has "signed and sealed" his appointment to the economics department that begins next fall, he was not sure which classes he will teach."I am expecting to teach some intro classes, but a lot of it is really teaching classes they need me to fill," he said yesterday.Krugman said in the semesters to come he hopes to continue teaching the same broad range of classes he offered at MIT ? from graduate seminars in the field of international trade to introductory undergraduate courses such as ECO 101.Since 1992, Krugman's name has gained familiarity among people outside his field, partly because of his prominence as a candidate for top economic-advising slots in the Clinton administration.

NEWS | 04/17/2000

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