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News & Notes: Princeton is “best deal of the century”

News & Notes: Princeton is “best deal of the century”

Daily Princetonian Staff

Co-founder of the National Institute of Certified College Planners Ron Them said the University is “the best deal of the century” in a Bloomberg article this week. The article says that Princeton is the school that offers the cheapest financing to parents to supplement need-based aid by offering 1.2 percent, no-fee loans to families with annual incomes up to $500,000.

NEWS | 03/31/2014

Satisfaction with academic, peer advising on the rise

Ruby Shao

Although freshmen most often turn to University friends for academic advice, recent survey data from the past three fall semestersshows that underclassmen have expressed increasing satisfaction with the academic advising system. According to the data presented by Senior Associate Dean of the College Claire Fowlerat the March 10 Council of the Princeton University Committee meeting, an average of 50 percent of freshmen and 47 percent of sophomores agreed or strongly agreed that they had made the most of the advising opportunities available to them in the fall. Fowler said the survey itself will help students take advantage of academic resources in the future. "By doing the survey, you have to be exposed to all the forms of support available, because we ask you about them," Fowler explained.

NEWS | 03/31/2014

News and Notes: Dartmouth student found not guilty in sexual assault case

Angela Wang

Parker Gilbert, a sophomore at Dartmouth College accused of rape by a female classmate last May, was found not guilty by 12 jurors of five counts of sexual assault and a misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge last Thursday, according to Valley News. Gilbert allegedly entered the female student’s unlocked dorm room the night of May 1last year and had sex with her while she was asleep.

NEWS | 03/30/2014

News and Notes: Police system error

Angela Wang

The Princeton Police Department discovered a flaw in its 9-1-1 system last week when a call could not be directed to a dispatcher, Planet Princeton reported.

NEWS | 03/30/2014

USG discusses improvements to Career Services

Durva Trivedi

The USG heard a presentation from Career Services Director Pulin Sanghvi at the Sunday night Senate meeting, during which the Senate moved into a brief executive committee session to speak privately with Sanghvi. During the public session, Sanghvi spoke about his vision for change within Career Services. “There is a strong alignment to drive change quickly within our organization,” he said. By deemphasizing career fairs in favor of smaller, more targeted and meaningful programming, Sanghvi said he hopes Career Services can evolve to be more responsive to students.

NEWS | 03/30/2014

DataFest sees teams competing in data analysis

Ray Mennin

Students competed in teams to present the most informative and sophisticated data analysis at DataFest, the University’s first data analysis competition that was held March 28-30. The competition had 46 participants, and although 13 teams had signed up for the event, only seven participated. Duke and UCLA have had similar competitions in the past and for this competition, and Duke provided the common data set that all the teams were required to analyze. The competition was sponsored by the Operations Research & Financial Engineering department, along with the Princeton Statistics Laboratory, the Computational Stochastic Optimization and Learning Department of Operations Research, RJMetrics, and the IBM Academic Initiative.

NEWS | 03/30/2014

HackPrinceton attracts over 600 participants

Jasmine Wang

The winners of this weekend's HackPrinceton were Derrick Dominic '15 in the software category and Chen Ye, a student at Brown University, in the hardware category. Hansen Qian '16, who helped organize the event, said that EchoCast, the culmination of Dominic's work, is an application which allows individuals to send information wirelessly over high-frequency sound waves. Ye's hardware, AirBike, involves a wireless electronic lock and an iPhone application to allow individuals to rent and borrow bikes from each other.

NEWS | 03/30/2014

In response to shorter Princeton Preview, students organize overnight hosting system

Do-Hyeong Myeong

In response tothe University’s decision to shorten the Princeton Preview program, a group of students is trying to organize an informal hosting system for admitted students. The students created a Facebook groupcalled Informal Hosting for Prospective Princeton Studentson Thursdayevening, shortly after the University announced that the program for prospective students would be shortened to one day. As of2:30 p.m.

NEWS | 03/30/2014

Student allegedly forced to withdraw following suicide attempt sues Princeton

A student has filed a lawsuit against the University and seven administrators.

Student allegedly forced to withdraw following suicide attempt sues Princeton

Chitra Marti

The student previously alleged to have been forced to withdraw from the University following a suicide attempt is now suing the University for disability discrimination in federal court, according to documents filed last Tuesday. The student had originally filed a discrimination claim with the The Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Education.

NEWS | 03/30/2014

News & Notes: Christie discusses Bridgegate scandal on ABC News

Daily Princetonian Staff

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said in an interview with ABC News that his aides did “inexplicably stupid things” in the George Washington Bridge traffic incident known as “Bridgegate.” The interview, which airedon Thursdaynight, was the first television interview since the Bridgegate scandal came to light.

NEWS | 03/27/2014

Princeton cancels overnight stays for Preview weekend in light of meningitis-related death

Corinne Lowe

Princeton Preview will be shortened this year for the Class of 2018 and will no longer include an overnight component in light of the recent death of a student at Drexel University that was caused by meningitis and linked to contact with Princeton students. The University will continue to fly students to campus who require financial assistance, putting students up overnight in hotels in Newark or Philadelphia if necessary before Preview starts.

NEWS | 03/27/2014

Patton ’77 discusses marriage, sexual assault at panel discussion

Durva Trivedi

Susan Patton ’77, who recently released her new book, “Marry Smart,” urged women to accept sole responsibility for their own happiness on Thursday at an emotionally charged and at times chaotic panel discussion on campus. “It’s disempowering to tell women they’re not responsible for the situations they find themselves in,” Patton said. Some audience members reacted with angry outbursts at Patton’s discussion of her views on sexual assault, which were recently criticized in a recent letter to the editor from University faculty. Along with fellow writers and panelists Sara Eckel and Claire Fallon ’10, Patton discussed marriage, sexual assault, work-life balance and feminism. Fallon is the Books Editor for The Huffington Post and wrote anarticleentitled, "The 10 Worst Pieces of Advice from Susan Patton's 'Marry Smart.’"Eckel is the author of "It's Not You: 27 (Wrong) Reasons You're Single" and has written anarticlein response to Patton's book, "Why We Can All Relax and Ignore the Princeton Mom." Patton suggested that for undergraduate women at the University who see marriage and family as critical for their happiness in the future, it’s important that they start planning early on. “I don’t like the term 'husband-hunting' per se, and I’d rather we say, 'searching for a meaningful relationship,'” Patton said.

NEWS | 03/27/2014

Updated: Princeton offers admission to 7.28 percent of applicants

Updated: Princeton offers admission to 7.28 percent of applicants

Corinne Lowe

The University has offered admission to 1,939 students, or 7.28 percent, of the 26,641 applicants for the Class of 2018, making this the most selective admission year the University has seen to date.

NEWS | 03/27/2014

Zelizer takes students to see Cranston play

Do-Hyeong Myeong

History professor Julian Zelizer went with 48 students to Broadway on Wednesday to see "All the Way," a play about former President Lyndon B.

NEWS | 03/27/2014

Sigma Alpha Epsilon eliminates pledging but questions over hazing and drinking remain

Corinne Lowe

The national headquarters of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity has eliminated the pledging process for new members in the hopes of treating all members fairly.

NEWS | 03/26/2014

News and Notes: Mathematics professor awarded Abel Prize

Lorenzo Quiogue

Mathematics professor Yakov Sinai was awarded the 2014 Abel Prize by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters today for his more than 50-year career in mathematics, the Office of Communications reported.

NEWS | 03/26/2014

News and Notes: TFA founder Kopp ’89 defends finance-style recruitment

Lorenzo Quiogue

Wendy Kopp ’89, founder and CEO of Teach for America, discussed the importance of recruiting students in promoting education at a forum at Harvard University on Tuesday, the Harvard Crimson reported. Kopp addressed audience concerns about TFA’s recruiting methods by saying it was necessary for the organization to follow the recruiting techniques of consulting firms and investment banks that continue to attract recent college graduates.

NEWS | 03/26/2014

Faculty response receives national attention, Patton ’77 responds

Chitra Marti

Aletter to the editorof The Daily Princetonian that wassigned by over 200 University faculty members has received national attention, including articles in theHuffington Post,JezebelandNew York Magazine. The letter, which was published on Wednesday, expressed disagreement with the statements Susan Patton ’77 made on date rape and responsibility ina recent Q&A about her recently published book on dating and marriage. Two hundred and fifteen faculty members across many departments and schools signed the letter, including Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80, Joyce Carol Oates and former University President Shirley Tilghman. “We do not believe that [students'] manner of dress or drinking behavior makes them responsible for unwanted sexual contact,” the letter read, encouraging victims of sexual assault to find support from Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources & Education, and other campus and community resources. Patton said in an interview Wednesday that she was fully in support of the faculty letter and would have signed it herself. “The idea of anybody — male or female — being forced into a position of sexual assault against their wishes is awful, and I would have signed that faculty letter,” Patton said.

NEWS | 03/26/2014

U. professor and marketing strategist discuss consumer perception of companies

Sharon Deng

Humans are “intent detectors,” and, as such, judge brands and companies based on the latter's ability to project warmth and competence,Susan Fiske and Chris Malone argued in a joint presentation on Wednesday. Fiske is a professor in the psychology department and Malone is thefounder of Fidelum Partners, a consulting firm for consumer marketing strategy. Malone explained that humans make judgments very quickly about others based on the degree of warmth in their intention, and their ability to carry out that intention. “We do this without thinking, almost like breathing,” Malone said. Fiske explained that humans develop emotions — namely disgust, pride, pity and envy—in response to the judgment of others’ warmth and competence.

NEWS | 03/26/2014

Lee Baker addresses mismatch theory arguments

Paul Phillips

It is generally dangerous to advise minorities against matriculating at elite colleges — which also tend to be historically white — because of the sense that increased competition can compromise their success, said Lee Baker, Professor of Cultural Anthropology and African and African American Studies at Duke University, at a lecture Wednesday. Baker analyzed several arguments of the recent mismatch theory, which argues that affirmative action doesn’t actually help its intended beneficiaries because they may struggle academically at elite schools instead of enrolling at less competitive institutions where they might be able to excel. He noted that one argument put forward by mismatch theorists is the argument that affirmative action wastes large numbers of good students because many minority students who enroll at top universities end up switching their majors to sociology or anthropology because they feel they are unable to compete in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. The mismatch theorists argue that minority students should pay more attention to colleges such as historically black colleges, which have been serving minorities well for many years, Baker explained, but he rebutted that historically white colleges have recently improved. When discussing affirmative action, Baker said the importance of institutional yield should not be forgotten.

NEWS | 03/26/2014

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