News

Mixed reception for RGS program

Every Sunday afternoon, a group gathers in Whitman College to marvel at the parlor room intrigues of Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse and other iconic Jane Austen characters while munching treats like Bent Spoon cupcakes.But the assembly of Austen fans ? known as the Whitman College Jane Austen Society ? is also interested in another, closer-to-reality social ambition: bridging what many see as a stark divide between undergraduates and graduate students at the University.

Students debate legacy admissons

Arguing that legacies should not receive any preference in Princeton admissions, Mike Shih ?09 and Daniel Rauch ?10 won Whig-Clio?s 1876 Prize Debate, defeating Jason Sheltzer ?08 and Sean Durkin ?11.Both sides? arguments focused on the purpose served by preferential treatment for legacy applicants and whether these goals could be achieved other ways, as well as whether it would be beneficial or harmful to continue the practice.

Paterson proposes technology to aid poor

With 37 percent of global deaths attributable to neonatal complications and 19 percent to acute respiratory infections, technological solutions for the developing world are essential to achieving the United Nation?s millennium development goals (MDGs), Kurt Paterson, co-director of the D80 Center at Michigan Technological University, said yesterday afternoon in a lecture on air quality in the developing world.?The poorer you are, the shorter your life, and the more of your kids are going to die,? Paterson said.Though he considers himself an idealist, Paterson said he nevertheless believes that ?the chances are good that these problems will still be around? for a long time.

Graduate students find chances to let loose both on and off campus

Yaron Ayalon GS remembers the first time he attended Class Day, the ceremony at which the outgoing undergraduate class celebrates its four years at Princeton by, among other things, granting honorary class memberships.?Grad students,? he said, ?were never mentioned, [except to say that] we also had grad students here and there.?The perception, Ayalon explained, was that graduate students ?didn?t speak any English so we didn?t know what they said.?Ayalon, the Near Eastern studies department?s representative on the Graduate Student Government (GSG), noted that ?this [attitude] really represents the essence of the problem, of this disconnection between undergrads and grads.?Maybe it?s because of age, schedules or interests, but graduate students agree that graduate school brings with it a social environment that contrasts markedly with that of undergraduates.Many graduate students interviewed recognized that while some of the difference is natural, some of it is also spurred by structural and perceptional distance between undergraduate and graduate social settings.

Grants, stipends fuel academic pursuits

The recent national discussion about the affordability of higher education has centered on undergraduate funding following the flurry of financial aid policy changes at several institutions.

College Democrats endorse Obama

Sixty-five percent of the students at the College Democrats? endorsement party last night voted for Sen.

USG election results delayed by code mixup

Voters and candidates in the USG election were left waiting for results yesterday after USG webmaster and Class of 2009 senator Bruce Halperin changed the scripting language used to create the online ballot.In addition, USG officials acknowledged that last year?s election for U-Council violated both Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) bylaws and the USG constitution.As a result of Halperin?s unilateral change, the Office of the Registrar was not able to verify the election results in time to release them last night.

Preceptors prepare to take charge

When Rebecca Arkin ?10 walked into her first neuroscience precept last fall, the first words out of her graduate student preceptor?s mouth were: ?Hi ... I?ve never really precepted before.

Conference links poverty and environmental issues

Scholars in the developing field of environmental justice spent two days debating ways to combat environmental degradation that impacts the world?s poor.?A Different Shade of Green: Race, Place and Environmental Justice,? organized by visiting professor Kimberly Smith, focused on the disproportionate effect of environmental problems on poorer and marginalized communities and the work that needs to be done to solve such problems.Participants from universities and environmental activism groups across the country arrived on campus Monday afternoon for the conference, which lasted until yesterday afternoon.

Cost, space issues burden graduate student housing

For Ruth Ochs GS, finding a place to live was the last thing she wanted to worry about when she was nine months pregnant.

PAWs organizes 'Meatless Mondays'

Even the most devout of carnivores can be a vegetarian one day a week, and Princeton Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) president Jenny Palmer ?09 has been recruiting students for ?Meatless Mondays? this semester to show just that.Since the start of spring semester, 153 students have signed the online pledge to abstain from meat once a week, Palmer said.

Panel examines changes to GOP

Conservatives have abandoned their original aim of preserving the Constitution and the rights it guarantees the American people, author Mickey Edwards said to a crowd in Robertson Hall yesterday.?Conservatives have completely reversed themselves,? he said.Edwards, who is also vice president of The Aspen Institute, was one member of a panel that included former New Jersey State Senate candidate Jeffrey Bell, history professor Sean Wilentz, politics professor Robert George and Claremont McKenna College government professor Andrew Busch.The panel discussion took its title and topic from Edwards? new book ?Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost ? and How It Can Find Its Way Back.??Conservatives have historically been the ones who have fought against concentrated power,? Edwards explained.Bell noted that the conservative movement does include a variety of opinions, and that not all conservatives are alike.

Brinkema: Balancing act key in Moussaoui case

During the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui for charges relating to his involvement in the attacks of Sept.

Professor calls for non-violent policies

Crisis diplomacy, now more than ever, requires diplomats to talk, listen and communicate with others rather than use force, Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, a professor in the Wilson School, said last night in a lecture in the Whig Hall Senate Chamber.In a talk titled ?The Cases of Afghanistan and Iran,? Danspeckgruber noted the changing role of the United States in international affairs and the consequences of neglecting countries such as Afghanistan and Iran.

News & Notes | April 29

U. anticipates full yield rates for Graduate School applicants.

Ex-student may be out of jail soon

Malik Little ?11, the individual accused of kidnapping, assaulting and endangering a freshman woman may be released from jail in the near future, Public Safety deputy director Charles Davall said in a campus safety alert sent out to the entire University community yesterday afternoon.Mercer County Prosecutor?s Office spokesperson Casey DeBlasio confirmed that on April 12, Princeton Borough police charged Little with kidnapping, aggravated assault, endangerment of an injured victim and making terroristic threats.As a condition of his bail, Little is prohibited from having any interaction with certain persons involved in the case, DeBlasio said.

Squire ’08 named valedictorian

The University announced this year?s valedictorian and Latin salutatorian at yesterday?s faculty meeting.

Nunokawa urges students to merge ‘disparate ideas’

SVC organizes 'Kids on Campus'

Roughly 100 kids in bright yellow T-shirts and face paint joined more than 100 undergraduates in frolicking in the grassy space between Murray-Dodge and Whig halls and participating in potato sack races, egg drop races and water balloon fights on Saturday afternoon.The event, ?Kids on Campus,? sponsored by the Student Volunteers Council (SVC), invited children ages 3 to 14 from Trenton and Princeton to spend the afternoon taking part in specially planned games and events.

‘Spirit of Princeton’ prize awarded to eight students

Last Friday, eight students received notification that they had won the Spirit of Princeton Award, which honors undergraduates whose contributions to the University have had a positive influence on campus and in the community.Anna Almore ?08, Katy Andersen ?08, Karen Bailey ?08, Andy Chen ?09, Josh Loehrer ?08, Sian Ofaolain ?08, Agatha Offorjebe ?09 and Meaghan Petersack ?08 will be honored at a dinner on May 9, at which they will receive a certificate and book prize.