Teeming with robe-adorned faculty, camera-toting parents and students anticipating their first walk through FitzRandolph Gate, the lawn in front of Nassau Hall was the site of Princeton's 253rd Commencement on May 30.
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.
In a landmark vote, the University Board of Trustees approved the Wythes committee's recommendation to increase the size of the undergraduate student body by 500 during its April meeting ? finalizing a decision that prompted almost three years of deliberation and elicited considerable campus debate.The increase is the first significant change in the size of the student body since the trustees approved coeducation more than 30 years ago.
A proposal by the Princeton Regional Health Commission to ban smoking in nearly all public buildings in Princeton Borough and Township has sparked controversy among students, local residents and business owners.The proposed ordinance, introduced in February, would prohibit smoking in restaurants, bars, cabarets, taverns, work places, restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, hallways, elevators and all other public enclosed areas with the exception of retail tobacco stores.The health commission is slated to take a final vote June 1 on the proposed ban.Initially, the ban was expected to extend to the Prospect Avenue eating clubs.
In the fall of 1995, the University began what would become the largest, most successful fund-raising campaign in its history.In interviews just a few weeks before the end of the campaign, President Shapiro and other members of the administration reflected on their efforts ? five years and almost $1 billion later.The Anniversary Campaign for Princeton began with a target of $750 million."But then the campaign went extremely well," Shapiro said, "and we were very anxious, for example, to take on some new initiatives in financial aid."As a result, the University decided to raise the target to $1 billion.
The Trustee Initiative on Alcohol Abuse has been a key part of campus life this year, bringing with it an aggressive and well-funded campaign to reduce binge drinking at Princeton.But even after the trustees allocated $100,000 to fund non-alcoholic social events, opinions remain mixed on whether the initiative is succeeding in accomplishing its twin objectives ? to create social alternatives to drinking and to end alcohol abuse on campus.University Board of Trustees president Robert Rawson '66 said the alternative events are an integral part of the trustees' effort to end abusive drinking.
When Max Anderson '01 wakes up in the morning, he first checks his schedule to see where he has to be that day.
When my roommate turned in her junior paper last year, she submitted it to the politics department office.
The busiest week of the year on Prospect Avenue ended in February with 932 students ? more than 80 percent of the sophomore class ? joining eating clubs through Bicker and sign-ins.Ivy Club had the highest selectivity rate, accepting only 64 of the 145 students who bickered.
Louis Turgel '01 could not make up his mind.It was spring of his sophomore year, and it was time to choose."It was a last-minute decision between Slavic or political economy," he said in an e-mail about his struggle to pick a major.Turgel chose Slavic languages and literature.
Deciding on a college often means lists of pros and cons, exhaustive campus visits and long conversations with guidance counselors.
After much debate by the administration, the University has decided to offer an introductory Swahili course again in the fall.Associate Dean of the College Hank Dobin announced that the class would make an encore appearance next year after weeks of protest by outraged students who opposed the University's initial decision to discontinue the class.The course will be administered under the African-American studies program next fall as a one-time course rather than as a student-initiated seminar.
Anders Chen '01 kept forgetting. He knew that people were starving in places around the world, that they lived without houses or clothes or doctors or books and that children died in swaths every day from malnutrition.He knew this.
The University admitted 12.2 percent of undergraduate applicants this year ? 1,670 of 13,654 ? a slightly higher acceptance rate than last year's 11.3 percent.For the first time in University history, men and women both received 50 percent of the admission offers, Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon said.
Janet Dickerson, Duke University's vice president for student affairs, has been tapped by Princeton to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Dean of Student Life Janina Montero ? and then some.With Dickerson's arrival, Montero's old position will broaden both in name and function.
Majoring in economics was not my first choice ? it was close to being my last. I had always disliked economics even though I had never taken a course in it before.
Sixty-two percent of undergraduates feel "very safe" at the University, though 24 percent said they have been victims of theft, according to a recent Daily Princetonian survey of 758 students.Despite the relatively large percentage of students who say they have been robbed on campus, Public Safety Crime Prevention Specialist Barry Weiser said the 1999-2000 academic year crime statistics are in line with the previous year's numbers."I think [the crime rates are] very similar to last year," Weiser said.
When David Stainback '01 awoke, his mouth was parched, but there was nothing to drink beside him.
Neil Rudenstine '56 announced Tuesday that he will conclude his term as the president of Harvard University at the end of the 2000-2001 academic year.During his nine-year tenure, Rudenstine led a major fund-raising campaign and expanded the university's curriculum and information technology resources."The time seems right," he said in a statement.
At first glance, the most impressive thing about Franklin Chang-Diaz is his space flight experience.
