A 26-year-old Plainsboro resident drowned in the Delaware & Raritan Canal on Sunday afternoon after his canoe capsized directly south of campus.
More than two years and 1,400 green handles later, dual-flush toilets have been installed in an estimated 95 percent of residence halls, facilities department administrators said.The toilets, which use 1.6 gallons of water when their handles are pushed down but only 1.1 gallons when pushed up, were first installed in Feinberg and Edwards halls in 2008.
While some students spent Sunday afternoon outside enjoying the long-anticipated spring weather, many seniors were stuck in the depths of Firestone Library, frantically adding the final pages to their theses. For most seniors, departmental deadlines are quickly approaching, with theses for history and English concentrators due on Tuesday.
USG vice president Sam Dorison ’11 presented the USG’s new grade deflation initiative, intended to study the impact of the University’s grading policy on students’ ability to secure summer internships and full-time jobs, at the USG Senate meeting on Sunday night.
In the wake of recent attention surrounding immigration reform laws, students at Princeton united to form DREAM Team, an organization dedicated to building support for immigration reform at the University. The group takes its name from the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, a bill currently before Congress that would enable children of illegal immigrants to earn permanent residency, provided that they earn a bachelor’s degree or serve in the armed forces for two years.
The University has admitted a record-low 8.18 percent of the 26,247 applicants to the Class of 2014, making this year’s admission process the most selective in University history. Only 2,148 students were offered admission, as the University experienced a 19.5 percent increase in applicants from the 21,963 students who applied for the Class of 2013.
University students now have access to what USG president Michael Yaroshefsky ’12 called “the Swiss Army Knife of course-selection tools.” The Integrated Course Engine, or ICE 2.0, which was launched on Wednesday, allows users to access multiple sources of information related to class scheduling all on the same webpage.
Though her thesis is due in just four days, Alexis Rodda ’10 isn’t spending much time in her carrel in Firestone Library. Instead, the English major is working onstage at Richardson Auditorium, preparing to perform in an opera that she wrote and directed, and that is unrelated to her senior thesis.
New Jersey Transit has proposed cutting a weekday northbound train on the Northeast Corridor line that passes through Princeton Junction at 5:41 p.m. and collects passengers that take the 5:24 p.m. Dinky train from Princeton to Princeton Junction. The rush-hour train is one of four passing through Princeton Junction that is slated to be cut in May or June as part of a reduction in the state’s public transportation costs, following final approval later this month.
According to estimates provided by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, roughly 80 to 100 students voluntarily withdraw from the University each year for psychological difficulties or conditions requiring intensive off-campus treatment. Students cited a variety of reasons for taking time off from the University, such as mental stress linked to academics, substance abuse, physical health problems and deep-seated psychological issues. They noted that academic and social pressure on campus significantly impacted their decisions and also led to a certain degree of stigma upon their return to campus.
With a joystick in each hand, Hayk Martirosyan ’13 looks like he is ready to play a video game when tinkering with his new invention. But he is actually playing an electronic instrument that he created as a midterm project with classmate Flannery Cunningham ’13, who also made an instrument for the assignment.
The apparent suicides of three Cornell undergraduates within one month have prompted discussion among Princeton students and health officials about the University’s own measures to address student mental-health issues.
Rep. Rush Holt — a Democrat who represents New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, which includes Princeton Borough and Princeton Township — will come up for reelection in November in what what is shaping up to be a difficult election cycle for Democrats nationwide. Though Holt won his 2008 election by 27 percentage points, the Republican Party’s likely challenger, Scott Sipprelle — who lives in Princeton Borough and set up his campaign headquarters on Alexander Road — poses a greater threat to take Holt’s seat than recent opponents, political analysts said.
Today, April Fools’ Day, members of Princeton for Workers’ Rights plan to protest the University’s alleged continued investment in HEI Hotels and Resorts by presenting President Shirley Tilghman with thank you cards every hour that commend her, the University Board of Trustees and PRINCO — the Princeton University Investment Company, which manages the University’s endowment — on their attention to ethics and divestment from HEI.
Mechanical and aerospace engineering major David Karp ’10 has been awarded a $250,000 graduate fellowship from the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation to fund up to five years of doctoral study. The “no-strings-attached” fellowship, awarded to undergraduate and first-year graduate students studying engineering or the applied sciences, can be used to fund graduate study at one of roughly 50 schools deemed “tenable” by the Hertz Foundation. Karp, who learned that he won the fellowship on Monday night, said he plans to use the funding to attend Stanford after spending a year studying in Britain.
All University offices that handle international student affairs will relocate to 36 University Place this fall, the University announced on Tuesday. The offices will be reorganized to improve coordination and offer expanded services to international students and faculty, many of which will be consolidated under the Davis International Center.
Walter Snook ’13 has two hours of ROTC physical training each week but also exercises one-and-a-half to three hours per day on his own. “It’s a very good stress reliever,” he explained. “When you’re working out, you can let your mind go blank and let it wander to whatever you want to think about, especially if you’re doing something like running or long-distance — something peaceful.”
If you’re a senior, there’s a good chance the last thing you want to read about is failing your thesis. But fear not: A system of checks makes it difficult for students to slip through the cracks and fail their cumulative assignments, departmental representatives said. None of the professors interviewed for this article said they could recall more than a handful of cases in the last decade in which students did not graduate on time, finished thesis in hand.
As tens of thousands of high school seniors eagerly anticipate their admission decisions, 86 of them already consider themselves part of the Princeton community. One day before regular decisions are released, the “Princeton Class of 2014!” group on Facebook — a forum for members to meet future classmates, learn about the University and discuss shared concerns — already boasts roughly 86 members and 40 wall posts.
Last September, the University denied Metcalf-Leggette’s request for double time on examinations. The University then granted Metcalf-Leggette 50 percent extended time in January, but in a recently filed amended complaint, she maintained that the additional accommodation still leaves her at “the bottom of a slanted, not level, playing field” among her peers, the Princeton Packet reported.
