News

Yale senior’s art show stirs controversy

Yale University senior art major Aliza Shvarts has caused an uproar at Yale and on online media outlets across the globe after The Yale Daily News (YDN) reported yesterday that Shvarts? senior art project involved her impregnating herself and inducing abortions ?as often as possible? during a nine-month process.Though Yale University spokeswoman Helaine Klasky released a statement later that day calling Shvarts? project a ?creative fiction,? Shvarts disputed the statement in an updated story on the YDN website last night, labeling Klasky?s statement ?ultimately inaccurate.?Shvarts told the YDN last night that during a nine-month period, she used a needleless syringe to insert semen into herself.

Finding history behind the red brick walls

Between runs to Starbucks and dinners at Triumph, students may miss one of Nassau Street?s more untapped resources, the Historical Society of Princeton, located in the fittingly historic Bainbridge House at 158 Nassau St.The pre-Revolutionary War building, situated next to the Garden Theatre and a stone?s throw away from FitzRandolph Gate, contains more than 40,000 images and manuscript materials and roughly 1,200 other three-dimensional objects from Princeton?s rich, compelling history.Originally built in 1766 as a private residence for Job Stockton, Bainbridge House remained private until the University purchased it in the 1870s, curator Eileen Morales said.Initially used as a boarding house for University students, in 1910 Bainbridge became the first home of the Princeton Public Library, which is now located on Witherspoon Street.Though it is still owned by the University, Bainbridge House has been the headquarters of the Historical Society of Princeton since 1967.

University lags behind Ivy peers on co-ed housing

The recent establishment of an ad-hoc administrative committee to explore the possibility of gender-neutral housing at Yale leaves Princeton as the only Ivy League institution yet to formally consider amending its undergraduate housing policy to include this option, which would allow students of opposite sexes to live together.Though the Graduate School is launching a pilot program in the 2008-09 school year that introduces gender-neutral housing for graduate students, a similar option does not exist for undergraduates.Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson said in an e-mail that the University is not yet prepared to make a decision about gender-neutral housing, though the administration expects to explore the issue within the next year or two and has already begun taking steps to increase the availability of gender-neutral bathrooms.Dickerson said, however, that gender-neutral housing has not yet been formally addressed because it has not been registered as a main concern for undergraduates.?To my knowledge,? Dickerson said, ?there have been very few student inquiries about this issue.

BlackBox party draws 1,020 students and pre-frosh

Cypel faults Israeli need for superiority

Sylvain Cypel, editor-in-chief of Le Monde, one of France?s leading newspapers, blamed the Israelis? fear of equality with Palestinians and partiality to the use of force as key factors in the continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.In a lecture in Robertson Hall yesterday titled ?Israel-Palestine: Why Today?s Crisis is Rooted in the Denials of Yesterday,? Cypel said it was in Israel?s best interest to allow Palestinians to establish their own state.

University remembers Virginia Tech victims

Hlafter ’61: Butler will have best dorm rooms

The new Butler dorms will be superior to existing dorms on campus in almost every way, University Architect John Hlafter ?61 said last night at a meeting with a small group of students in the Wu Private Dining Room.?Butler will have the most gracious and spacious rooming arrangements, surpassing Whitman [College],? Hlafter said.

University scientists study superconductors

The fastest trains in the world don?t drive. They fly.Japan?s Maglev Shinkansen trains, which have achieved record speeds of up to 361 miles per hour, literally float above their tracks, thanks to powerful superconductors, which scientists believe may also one day be used to revolutionize power transmission and electric car motors.In the two decades since high-temperature superconductivity was discovered, however, scientists have failed to understand the phenomenon thoroughly enough to fully harness its tremendous potential.

College Board cancels four AP exams, including its only test in Italian

For incoming students hoping to use high school credit to place out of the University?s language requirement, things have gotten a bit trickier with the College Board?s recent cancellation of four Advanced Placement (AP) examinations, three of which are language tests.Starting in 2010, the Italian, French Literature, Latin Literature and Computer Science AB exams will no longer be offered.While the latter three tests are survived by other exams in their subject ? the AP French Language, Latin: Vergil and Computer Science A exams ? once the changes are implemented there will be no Italian AP exam.The College Board?s executive director of communications, Jennifer Topiel, said in an e-mail that the organization, in its efforts to support ?schools in their work to provide high-quality, college-level AP coursework to their students,? needs to allocate its resources ?appropriately? to continue to provide high-quality support to AP teachers and students.?To do this, we cannot continue to offer two separate courses and exams in several subjects,? she said.By reallocating funding from the discontinued exams and by adding supplementary funds, Topiel said, the College Board?s financial investment in the remaining language exams will increase by about 50 percent.

University community reacts to Tibet-China controversy

As protests around the world surrounding the Olympic torch relay last week drew international attention to the recent violent escalation in the conflict between Tibet and China, Princetonians find themselves considering how international scrutiny of China will affect the conflict.?I don?t feel that the Olympics should be used as leverage for politics,? Lily Shen ?11 said, explaining that the Olympic Games are ?awarded to the country and its people but not to its government ... it?s not the flame of any specific ideology.?

Borough, Township consider merger

A majority of those in attendance at a Princeton community meeting last month expressed support for the consolidation of the Borough and the Township, raising speculation that the disappearance of the boundary between the two municipalities may be imminent.Robert Geddes, the chairman of Princeton Future, the community organization that ran the meeting, said that ?an overwhelming majority? of participants at the meeting raised their hands when asked if they would support consolidation.The level of support for consolidation was unexpected, Geddes noted.

Students take part in political switcharoo

As four students debated current political issues on Tuesday night, the Whig Senate Chamber filled with laughter.

International applications rise at GS

University received 10 percent more international applications to the Graduate School last year than the year before.

Borough launches Jitney service

Local residents and students have a new free option for travel around Princeton Borough. The ?Princeton Free B,? a joint endeavor between the Borough Council, the University and New Jersey Transit (NJT), began limited service yesterday after the University agreed to provide interim funding for the service.Referred to during planning as the ?Jitney,? the local shuttle will eventually be funded by NJT through its Community Shuttle Program.

Dickerson calls for campus unity

Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson addressed a small student audience as part of the ?What Matters Most to Me and Why? lecture series hosted by the Religious Life Council (RLC). Dickerson shared memories of her upbringing and described how the values imparted by her family inform her actions in her current position.One of her present goals, Dickerson explained, is to ?continue to work to create a level playing field,? so that students from different backgrounds can make connections in substantive ways, without feeling that they have to be members of selective organizations.Dickerson reflected on the benefits of growing up in a campus community and told the audience about her childhood in the rural, ?nuclear? community of Denmark, S.C., where she lived on the campus of Voorhees College, a historically all-black institution.?We were really the children of the community,? Dickerson said, adding that she was in many ways ?sheltered? from the harsh reality of segregation at the time.She said that she was especially thankful that her family had placed a strong emphasis on faith and learning.Among the values imparted to her by her faith, Dickerson said, was the concept of hospitality.

From skydiving to sleep: '08s celebrate

Sporting suits and ties, a group of English majors filed into McCosh Hall to turn in their theses last week.?Will Ellerbe [?08] was particularly natty in seersucker,? Kyle Booten ?08, one of the English majors, said in an e-mail.

Esteemed physicist John Wheeler dies at age 96

John Wheeler, a legendary physicist who coined the phrase ?black hole? and who left an indelible mark on the physics department in his four decades as a University professor, died of pneumonia on Sunday at his home in Hightstown, N.J.

U. delegates attend high school LGBT fair in California

Princeton was one of 50 universities that attended a Campus Pride College Admissions Fair last Friday.The fair, organized by Campus Pride, a national nonprofit organization that assesses the gay-friendliness of university campuses, was held in San Diego, Calif.

Senate hopefuls promise change

Politics in New Jersey this year are not politics as usual. Seven candidates, including a mayor, a dentist and a former Wilson School professor, are vying to unseat incumbent Sen.

April 11-13: The Weekend in Pictures