Sunday, August 17

Previous Issues

Donate now

Submit a tip

Follow us on Instagram
Try our daily mini crossword
Subscribe to the newsletter
Download the app

News

Bergstrom discusses negative results in scientific literature

The Daily Princetonian

Bergstrom discusses negative results in scientific literature

Samvida Venkatesh

"False facts" are being canonized in scientific literature due to the under-publication of negative results, said Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology at the University of Washington.The lecture, titled “Modeling Scientific Activity,” consisted of a two-part discussion on scientific activity, the first being publication bias leading to the canonization of "false facts," and the second a game theoretic model of the questions that scientists choose to pursue.Bergstrom explained that to accurately accept as true 99.9 percent of facts at a p-value of 0.05, over 40 percent of the obtained negative results need to be published.

NEWS | 10/20/2016

U. professors discuss Kerner Report findings on race

The Daily Princetonian

U. professors discuss Kerner Report findings on race

Allie Spensley

University professors Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Imani Perry, and Julian Zelizer gathered on Wednesday to discuss the 1968 Kerner Report — a Johnson-era federal document analyzing race riots occurring across the country — and the ways in which its findings and recommendations are still relevant today.Glaude, chair of the University’s department for African American Studies and professor of Religion and African American Studies, said that of all the Kerner Commission recommendations, the ones focused on policing — more so than those pertaining to education and housing—are the ones that persist in today’s political climate.The underlying causes of the 1960s riots, such as institutional racism and police brutality, are still prevalent in America today, Glaude added.“We are constantly limiting the expression of our values, and the scope of our politics, because we are afraid of triggering racism — which is in fact an explicit acknowledgement that it exists and that we want to leave it alone, that we want to navigate it rather than uproot it,” he said.Imani Perry, University professor of African American Studies, focused on four central points of the Kerner Report: how we historicize riot rebellion, how we situate the document in the midst of a complicated history, the way we talk about the historical pivot to the Black Power movement, and the issues identified by the report that we are still facing.She discussed her transition from focusing on the intent of historical documents such as the Kerner Report to focusing on their real-world function regardless of their often idealistic purposes.“I find myself called to think about the function of these reports in American life,” Perry said.

NEWS | 10/19/2016

U. research scholar, former nuclear launch officers pen letter against Trump

The Daily Princetonian

U. research scholar, former nuclear launch officers pen letter against Trump

Jessica Li

Joined by nine other former nuclear launch officers, University Research Scholar Bruce Blair penned an open letter Friday questioning the ability of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to serve as commander-in-chief.“The pressures the system places on that one person are staggering and require enormous composure, judgment, restraint and diplomatic skill.

NEWS | 10/19/2016
ADVERTISEMENT

News & Notes: Harvard graduate students plan to hold vote on unionization

The Daily Princetonian

News & Notes: Harvard graduate students plan to hold vote on unionization

Sarah Warman Hirschfield

Harvard University graduate students reached an agreement with Harvard University to hold an election next month on whether or not working graduate students and undergraduate teaching fellows should unionize, according to The Harvard Crimson.“Graduate and undergraduate Teaching Fellows —teaching assistants, teaching fellows, course assistants,” may vote in the secret ballot election, according to the Stipulated Election Agreement. Undergraduate students serving as research assistants are excluded.The group of pro-union graduate students, Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers (HGSU-UAW), presented a petition to the National Labor Relations Board, which ruled this summer that private universities must recognize student assistant unions, according to the Crimson.The Harvard administration has been historically opposed to graduate student unionization. Harvard University President Drew Faust has repeatedly argued that a union of graduate students would change the relationship between students and Harvard from one based on academics to one based in labor, according tothe Crimson. Harvard University is now required to allow its graduate students to engage in collective bargaining, according to the Crimson. Princeton University took a similar stance against unionization earlier this year when itfiled a joint amicus brief to the National Labor Relations Board opposing a case calling for the unionization of graduate students . The University "disagrees with the notion underlying the NLRB decision that a graduate student who is engaged in research or teaching in a given semester is transformed during that semester from a student into an employee," according to the Graduate School's frequently asked questions page. However, in a town hall meeting on Oct.

NEWS | 10/18/2016

Singer and George discuss "Ethics in the Real World"

The Daily Princetonian

Singer and George discuss "Ethics in the Real World"

Betty Liu

On Tuesday, Oct. 18, Peter Singer, the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the Center for Human Values, and Robert George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and professor of Politics, engaged in a discussion focused mostly on Singer’s new book, “Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter.” The discussion took place in the bottom level of Labyrinth Books.Singer’s book consists mostly of op-ed pieces that he has written for various newspapers over the past 15 years.“What I’ve done for this book is to select some of those columns that seem to me to still have continuing relevance, some of them needed a bit of updating, and I have a paragraph or two at the bottom to update,” said Singer.

NEWS | 10/18/2016

Most Popular