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USG winter break referendum receives overwhelming student support

USG winter break referendum receives overwhelming student support

Ruby Shao

An Undergraduate Student Government referendum seeking an extended winter break received support from 96.2 percent of voters, or 2,015 out of 2,095 undergraduates who voted. The turnout was almost exactly 40 percent of the undergraduate student body. USG president Ella Cheng ’16 said the referendum results would certainly bolster efforts to lengthen winter break. “It basically provides us undeniable proof of student opinion in predominately one particular direction, which is always good for us,” she said, adding that USG members will discuss the results in upcoming meetings with administrators. University spokesperson Martin Mbugua said the faculty committee that controls the calendar will take the referendum into account going forward but that there will not be sufficient time to lengthen winter break for the 2015-16 academic year.

NEWS | 02/04/2015

Sittenfeld ’07 declares Senate candidacy for Ohio’s 2016 race

Christina Vosbikian

Alexander “P.G.” Sittenfeld ’07, the youngest city council member in Cincinnati history, recently declared his candidacy for the position of U.S.

NEWS | 02/04/2015

Residential college adviser acceptances released

Corinne Lowe

Roughly 40 percent of students who applied to become residential college advisers for the 2015-16 year, including both returning and new applicants, were offered positions on Wednesday, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Michael Olin said.Between all the residential colleges, there were 51 positions left open by graduating seniors, Olin said.

NEWS | 02/04/2015

Brown, Dartmouth change alcohol policies following binge drinking incidents

Annie Yang

Dartmouth recently banned hard liquor from its campus, and Brown banned alcoholic events in residential areas. Liquor with more than 15 percent alcohol will be prohibited from Dartmouth beginning on March 30.

NEWS | 02/03/2015

News & Notes: Princeton House Behavioral Health employee charged with sexual assault

Daily Princetonian Staff

An associate at Princeton House Behavioral Health was charged with sexually assaulting a patient, the Princeton Packet reported. The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office announced the arrest of Jonathan Hodges, 36, on Monday. Hodges faces one count of second-degree sexual assault and will appear in Princeton Municipal Court on Feb.

NEWS | 02/03/2015

U. faculty codevelop free online course on Bitcoin

Jessica Li

Three University faculty members, a former University postdoctoral fellow and a professor from the University of Maryland will be teaching “BTC-Tech:Bitcoinand Cryptocurrency Technologies,” an unofficial, free online course open to University students and the general public during the spring semester. Bitcoins are units of a digital currency which operates free from a central bank and are encrypted. According to the class Piazza page, the course starts on Feb.

NEWS | 02/03/2015

Over 1,000 students enrolled in 60 Wintercession courses

Olivia Wicki

More than 1,000students enrolled in over 60 courses during the 2015 Wintersession program, but participation may have been affected by the University closing on the Tuesday of the Intersession break due to inclement weather. Wintersession classes are personal enrichment classes offered by the Undergraduate Student Government at the end of January. “I think that participation rates were affected on Tuesday when there was a good amount of snow on campus," former USG president Shawon Jackson '15 said.

NEWS | 02/03/2015

Town planning board to review proposal for 7-Eleven on Nassau Street

Aana Bansal

The town planning board is expected to review a controversial proposal on Thursdayto open a 7-Eleven convenience store at the vacant West Coast Video property.The town council voted 4-3 in December to pass an ordinance requiring businesses bordering residential zones to be closed between 2 a.m.

NEWS | 02/03/2015

Priorities committee announces budget for 2015-16 academic year

Corinne Lowe

There will be a tuition increase of 3.9 percent for the 2016 fiscal year, the University’s Priorities Committee announced in its annual operating budget report released on Monday.The increased budget also includes a 7.4 percent increase in the University’s financial aid budget to $140.2 million for next year.

NEWS | 02/02/2015

Student referendum calling for extended winter break goes live

Linda Song

An Undergraduate Student Government referendum calling for a three-week winter break during the 2015-16 academic year opened for voting online on Monday.

NEWS | 02/02/2015

FDA approves Bexsero for use in 10- to 25-year-olds

Zaynab Zaman

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved Novartis’ meningitis B vaccine, Bexsero, which had been used to vaccinate University students. The vaccine is now approved for use in 10- to 25-year-olds in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading. Seven students and one visitor were diagnosed with and survivedmeningitis B in 2013.

NEWS | 02/02/2015

Institute for Advanced Study scholar discusses role of nationalism in Balkan Wars

Durva Trivedi

The Albanian conflict and nationalist ideologies both played key roles in bringing about the Balkan Wars, Nader Sohrabi saidin a lecture on Monday. Sohrabi is a scholar of Ottoman and Iranian history currently conducting research at the Institute for Advanced Study. Sohrabi explained that, within scholarship on Turkish nationalism, there are two popular views with regards to Balkan history: orthodox and revisionist. According to the orthodox view, the Ottoman Empire broke downbecause of the irrational nationalism of the Committee of Union and Progress, a well known political organization in the region. According to the revisionist view, however, Turkish nationalism is an entirely new idea — a product of the republic — while the empire’s identity was religious, local, hybrid and Ottomanist. “I counter both,” Sohrabi said.“I claim here that CUP is going somewhere that is close to an assimilationist stance.

NEWS | 02/02/2015

In 2014, political contributions made by U. individuals made up 1.47 percent of N.J. political contributions

Shriya Sekhsaria

Political contributions from University faculty, staff and trustees, including individual contributions to political action committees and candidates, made up 1.47 percent of the total political contributions in the state of New Jersey in 2014. The trustees, faculty and staff together made 237 contributionsover the course of the year, leading to contributionsof $608,505, according to a search of a Federal Election Commission public database.

NEWS | 02/01/2015

U. changes women’s bathroom codes after publication through GirlCode app

Jessica Li

Codes needed to access women’s bathrooms around campus began to be changed on Monday for security reasons, according to University spokesperson Martin Mbugua. Residential college advisers will inform female students of the new codes over the next few days. Mbugua explained that the decision was made after restroom codes were made public, which he said compromised student security. The publicly available mobile application GirlCode, launched on iTunes by three University students, made the women’sbathroom codes on campus accessible to anyone. “The safety of our students is our top priority, so University administrators, including the Department of Public Safety and Housing [and Real Estate Services], discussed the issue and decided to change the code,” Mbugua said. The app was taken down earlier in January after a meeting between administrators and the developers, Victor Zhou ’18, Amanda Shi ’18 and Monica Shi ’18. Despite ongoing discussions involving administrators and the Undergraduate Student Government about what should be done with the bathroom codes going forward, Mbugua said the University’s immediate priority was to change the restroom codes that were made public through the app.

NEWS | 02/01/2015

News & Notes: Dartmouth bans hard liquor

Daily Princetonian Staff

Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon announced a campus-wide ban on hard alcohol on Friday,The Dartmouthsaid. The ban will be enforced at the beginning of spring term, along with the mandatory presence of third-party bartenders and bouncers at parties hosted by Dartmouth-recognized organizations. Some experts questioned the sensibleness of banning hard alcohol - defined as beverages containing more than 15 percent alcohol by volume -without banning all alcohol.

NEWS | 02/01/2015

News & Notes: Cornell suspends fraternity

Daily Princetonian Staff

The Cornell University chapter of the Psi Upsilon fraternity suspended all social and new member education activitiesFridayfollowing an alleged incident involving “alcohol and an illicit substance,” according to the Cornell Sun. Joel Malina, Cornell's vice president for university relations, said that the purpose of thesuspension was to investigate the incident andto prevent activities that could jeopardize the safety of the members and their guests. The chapter wasplaced on a year of disciplinary probation in the spring of 2011 for violating Cornell's Anti-Hazing Policy.

NEWS | 02/01/2015

Men's basketball falls to Harvard, defeats Dartmouth in weekend homestand

Miles Hinson

You certainly can’t say Princeton men’s basketball team didn’t have its fair share of excitement this weekend. The Tigers (9-10 overall, 2-1 Ivy League) completed their first full weekend of league play, falling to Harvard on Friday and taking down Dartmouth on Saturday.

NEWS | 02/01/2015

U. discloses lobbying for nominations in Department of Energy

Linda Song

The University reported $40,000 in lobbying-related expenses on science-related nominations, among other issues, in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to a disclosure report filed by the University with the U.S.

NEWS | 02/01/2015

Terrace fills up after first round of sign-ins

Jacob Donnelly

Terrace Club was “completely filled” after the first round of sign-ins, while the other four sign-in clubs had space remaining after the early round. Terrace accepted 145 sophomores in the first round, Terrace Club president Lucia Perasso ’16 said in an email to The Daily Princetonian, which ismore than the 130 who signed in last year.

NEWS | 02/01/2015

5 juniors win SINSI fellowship

Annie Yang

Five juniors have been awarded fellowships for the Wilson School’s Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative, a program to promote and sponsor students’ work in the federal government. Nathan Eckstein ’16, Jamal Johnson ’16, Abyssinia Lissanu ’16, Michelle Nedashkovskaya ’16 and Alex Wheatley ’16 will spend the summer after their junior year working in federal agencies.

NEWS | 02/01/2015

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