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Judaic Studies given $4.5 million donation

Judaic Studies given $4.5 million donation

Students and scholars interested in Judaism and Judaic Studies are already beginning to benefit from the additional resources provided by a $4.5 million gift from the Tikvah Fund earlier this summer.Peter Schafer, director of the Program in Judaic Studies, said that the grant, which will launch the Tikvah Project on Jewish Thuoght, will make Judaic Studies a ?lasting force for Princeton.?A significant part of the fund is geared toward improving teaching, and Schafer will focus his energies on creating new courses.The Tikvah project, dedicated to promoting Jewish ideas, specified that the University?s grant should be used to bring visiting scholars and fellows to campus, sponsor new courses, host summer institutes and workshops, and increase the interdisciplinary approach of courses that focus on Judaism or Jewish thought.Michael Fishbane, a visiting research scholar from the University of Chicago and the inaugural Tikvah fellow, will be teaching a freshman seminar titled ?The Problem of Evil and the Book of Job? this semester.?We are very grateful to the Tikvah Fund for their generous support,? Leora Batnitzky GS ?96, project coordinator and religion professor, said in a recent statement.

NEWS | 09/11/2008

An ambassador for Princeton

Editor's note:The print version and initial online version of this article were affected by the inadvertent deletion of the paragraph that introduces Professor Moravcsik's statements about Shanghai during the Chinese New Year, resulting in the lack of appropriate context for those statements.

NEWS | 09/11/2008

April opening set for Campus Club

Though the University had circulated flyers and announcements last semester proclaiming that Campus Club would reopen this month as a multipurpose student space, structural problems discovered during summer construction have delayed these plans.

NEWS | 09/11/2008

Dillon undergoes summer makeover

Dillon Gym opens this fall with a number of facility upgrades, after last spring?s USG-administered survey showed University-wide dissatisfaction with its services.These summer renovations are the first phase of short-term improvements implemented by the Department of Campus Recreation and the Office of Facilities.

NEWS | 09/10/2008

University named in discrimination suit

Advocates for Disabled Americans (AFDA) and four individual plaintiffs have sued the University, alleging that it is violating provisions of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

NEWS | 09/10/2008

Contractors in bribery case enter guilty plea

Five contractors who worked on the soon-to-be-opened Lewis Library have pleaded guilty to paying more than $100,000 in bribes to a construction manager to obtain construction contracts.Four contracts were involved, valued between $660,000 and $1.9 million each, according to The Times of Trenton, which first reported on the case in July.The United States Attorney?s office has notified Skanska USA ? the construction contracting company initially hired to oversee the construction of the metal-draped science library designed by Frank Gehry ? that an employee of the company is suspected of receiving ?unauthorized payments? in 2004 and 2005, Tom Crane, Skanska?s senior vice president for communication, confirmed in an e-mail.Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S.

NEWS | 09/10/2008

Student charged with felony assault

Thomas Kneeland ?10 of Wayne, Pa., was taken into custody by Borough Police and charged with felony assault last Friday, according to the Borough Police?s online blotter and The Times of Trenton.

NEWS | 09/10/2008

Wilson students dine 'en plein air' during renovations

Wilson College residents returning to campus are adjusting to a new dining routine, as the reopening of Wilcox Hall has been delayed until late September at the earliest because of complications in renovations to the building.These students are being accommodated by other residential college dining halls until Monday, when a tent set up in the Dodge-Osborne courtyard will open as a temporary replacement for Wilcox.

NEWS | 09/10/2008

Lewis Library makes a grand debut

After six years of design and construction, the Lewis Library opened its doors today in time for the start of the fall 2008 semester.Designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, the new 87,000-square-foot building now houses the astrophysics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, statistics and geosciences and map collections, all of which were formerly scattered around campus.The bold style of the building, whose massive sloping planes of sheet metal stand apart from the traditional neo-Gothic designs that pervade campus, aims to be an emblem of the University?s mission of innovation and creativity.?As a university that aspires to do everything at the highest possible level, we should be building buildings that the great architects of today are interested in designing,? President Tilghman said in an interview.?We are a university that lives on the boundary between great traditions, which we adore, and being on the forefront of discovery,? she said.

NEWS | 09/10/2008

University continues to send U.S. News peer reviews

College-bound high school seniors and their parents took note this summer when Princeton lost its first-place spot to Harvard in U.S.

NEWS | 09/10/2008

Seniors find use for old fridges

Graduating seniors leaving dorm life behind often abandon their compact refrigerators. Five members of the Class of 2009 have seen this as an opportunity to start a business reselling those appliances.Prospect Fridge and Mattress, which promises ?discount refurbished fridges of many sizes, models and brands at the lowest prices available,? according to the group?s website, was founded by Mark Smith ?09, Adam Sanders ?09, James Burgess ?09, Anthony Rossettie ?09 and Peter Lambert-Cole ?09.

NEWS | 09/10/2008

China revokes visa for Olympic gold medalist Cheek '11

Just hours before the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing, Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek ?11 was told that his visa to attend the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing had been revoked by the Chinese government for his efforts urging China to help make peace in the war-torn region of Darfur.The 2006 speed skating champion co-founded Team Darfur, an organization of Olympic athletes who seek to draw attention to violence in the Darfur region of Sudan.

NEWS | 09/07/2008

Teen hospitalized in Frick lab accident

A summer program participant was seriously injured after ingesting liquid nitrogen in a University chemistry lab in August.The young man was sent to the hospital in critical condition, but his status was later upgraded to stable.Borough Police Lt.

NEWS | 09/07/2008

Record $54 million raised in 2007-08 Annual Giving campaign

The University received $54.1 million in the 2007-08 Annual Giving campaign, amassing the highest total since the inception of yearly fundraising campaigns in 1940.This year?s total is a $5 million improvement from the 2006-07 campaign, which was also record-breaking.This year?s campaign saw participation from 59.2 percent of undergraduate alumni.

NEWS | 09/07/2008

Committee gives green light to bridge-year program

Incoming freshmen who seek a challenge at the start of their college careers will have a new, international opportunity available to them beginning in fall 2009.The University?s ?bridge year? program, originally proposed in February, has been given the green light by the working group appointed to study its feasibility.The new offering will enable students to defer matriculation for a year to participate in community service abroad either through University-affiliated programs such as Princeton-in-Asia or through other established service organizations that meet the University?s criteria.The committee ? a 14-person body made up of students, faculty and staff convened by President Tilghman ? identified several wide-reaching goals for the program, including preparing students for life in an increasingly globalized world, working group and comparative literature department chair Sandra Bermann said.?[The program] should challenge the students to begin to understand cultures other than their own, to think in new ways, gain maturity and begin a life in which service to others is an important ingredient,? Bermann said.

NEWS | 09/07/2008

University awarded $10 million in insurance dispute

The University is entitled to nearly $10 million in insurance money to cover some of its legal fees in the Robertson case, a New York appeals court ruled on June 5.The decision requires the National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., to honor the full amount of the policy, which was purchased the same year in which two University-appointed Robertson Foundation trustees suggested the changes in the management of the Foundation?s endowment that eventually led the Robertson family to sue the University.The company had previously only been willing to pay up to a $5 million sublimit on the $15 million policy.The Appellate Division, First Department of New York?s Supreme Court unanimously denied an appeal by the company and upheld a September 2007 decision by Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman that awarded Princeton just over $9.6 million.The company argued that the University wanted the funds to fight claims not covered under the insurance policy, but Freedman ruled that National Union had to advance costs for both covered and non-covered claims.

NEWS | 09/07/2008

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