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Mormonism threatens Romney's presidential nomination, panel says

Mormonism threatens Romney's presidential nomination, panel says

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may face an uphill battle as he seeks his party's nomination since he must win over a heavily evangelical conservative base that distrusts his Mormon religion, speakers at a panel held Saturday said.Titled "Mitt, Mormonism, and the Media," the panel examined how the media portrays Mormonism to the American public, and how that portrayal may affect the former Massachusetts governor's quest for his party's nomination.The major controversy discussed by the four presenters ? Time magazine editor Amy Sullivan, documentary maker Helen Whitney, political theorist Russell Fox and Trinity College religion scholar Mark Silk ? was the influence of anti-Mormon conservative Christians who will be reluctant to select him as their party's nominee.

NEWS | 11/11/2007

Finding their way south

At seven on a brisk September morning last year, ecology professor Martin Wikelski piloted a small aircraft tracking white-crowned sparrows through southern New Jersey.On the ground, postdoctoral researcher Richard Holland and his team followed close behind in two vehicles that looked like something out of a "Star Wars" movie, equipped with antennae and tracking apparatuses.Now, more than a year later, their research has shed new light on the more sophisticated navigation ability of adult birds.

NEWS | 11/11/2007

U. kicks off $1.75 billion campaign

The University launches its $1.75 billion capital campaign today, kicking off five years of concentrated fundraising led by President Tilghman and a committee of alumni.Tilghman staged a press conference in Maclean House yesterday to officially announce the campaign.

NEWS | 11/08/2007

Students wary of stricter policy

Students' reactions to the University's heightened efforts to deter underage drinking varied, but many expressed concerns about the changes.First reported in yesterday's Daily Princetonian, the revised policies increase the involvement of Public Safety officers and RCAs in enforcing drinking rules.A team of two Public Safety officers has already begun actively patrolling dorms on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights looking for possible violations, rather than responding only to calls as they did in the past.

NEWS | 11/08/2007

Campus groups go pint for pint in blood race

This year, two campus groups are vying to see who can draw the most blood.The Red Cross Club, led by president Meaghan Petersack '08, and Princeton Blood Donors (PBD), founded by Hannibal Person '08, are both soliciting donations in what Person described as a "friendly competition."Petersack's group is hosting the first of its semiannual blood drives next Thursday and Friday, hoping to collect 300 pints from donors, which would put the group on track to best the 505 total pints it collected last year from University students, faculty and staff."We hope to beat our last year numbers," Petersack said.Those numbers, in turn, more than doubled the number of pints the Red Cross Club collected the previous year.

NEWS | 11/08/2007

With no early applicants, U. will draw heavily on waitlist

With the elimination of Early Decision for the Class of 2012, the University is entering uncharted territory as it reviews this year's batch of applicants.The Admission Office has seen rapid growth in the number of regular decision candidates in recent times, with the applicant pool growing from 13,000 to almost 19,000 over the past four years.

NEWS | 11/08/2007

Out of Africa, into the seminar room

For the past two weeks, former Sen. Bill Frist '74 (R-Tenn.) has kept to his typical schedule: trips to Egypt, Spain and Morocco, speeches in Tennessee and Michigan, two lectures at Princeton and meetings with seven graduate and undergraduate students.Frist, a cardiothoracic surgeon who served as Senate Majority Leader from 2003 to 2007, is spending the year as a visiting professor at the Wilson School.This semester, he is co-teaching a graduate-level seminar on the political economy of health systems with economics and Wilson School professor Uwe Reinhardt.

NEWS | 11/08/2007

New campaign is first ever with a goal over $1 billion

Tonight's launch of "Aspire: A Plan for Princeton" will mark the public start of the University's fourth and largest formal capital campaign in its 261-year history.Each of the last three University presidents ? Harold Shapiro GS '64, William Bowen GS '58 and Robert Goheen '40 ? have conducted major fundraising campaigns during their tenures, urging alumni and others to give to the University.President Tilghman's five-year, $1.75 billion effort is far larger than Princeton's first fundraising campaign, launched by Goheen in 1959.

NEWS | 11/08/2007

Hey man, nice shot (of cold air)

Weather Pals, it's been a busy week. With the Writer's Guild on strike since Monday, the nation is already experiencing crippling banter shortages, with zany antics down 31percent and the snappiness of American comebacks off a whopping 77 percent.

NEWS | 11/08/2007

News and Notes

University ranks sixth in the worldPrinceton is the sixth-best university in the world, according to the 2007 World University Rankings, printed yesterday in The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES).Princeton ranked below Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Yale and Imperial College London.The University has ranked first, tied with or above Harvard and Yale, in the U.S.

NEWS | 11/08/2007

N.J. voters turn down stem cell borrowing

New Jersey voters rejected a ballot referendum during state elections Tuesday that would have approved the borrowing of $450 million to support stem cell research.Fifty-four percent of voters rejected the referendum, which would have provided funding for research using embryonic stem cells over the next 10 years.This is the first instance in 17 years that voters in New Jersey have rejected a statewide ballot question, called a "public question," according to The New York Times.The defeat of the referendum will likely have an impact on University research programs, which have benefited greatly from stem cell research funding since then-Gov.

NEWS | 11/07/2007

Mixed-race individuals suffer from a lack of societal options

"I hate to break the news to you, but not all [mixed-race people are] so cute," Carmen Van Kreckhove said last night at the start of "Cute but Confused: Myths and Realities of Mixed Race Identity," a lecture on the misconceptions about people of more than one racial background.Van Kreckhove, co-founder and president of New Demographic, a consulting firm that facilitates discussions on race and racism, addressed issues of racism against multiracial people during yesterday's presentation before a large audience in Frist 302.Of Chinese and Belgian ancestry, Van Kreckhove presented several myths and stereotypes about multiracial people.

NEWS | 11/07/2007

Shoot 'em up

Ralph Schaefer '09 sits down in the Frist Campus Center Multipurpose Room for a flu vaccination during the three-day annual FluFest.

NEWS | 11/07/2007

Research yields new way to transmit info securely

In an emergency, whether a natural disaster, fire or terrorist attack, it's crucial that first responders be able exchange rescue information, like floor plans and entrance codes, quickly and securely.That's where University electrical engineering professor Ruby Lee and graduate student Jeffrey Dwoskin come in.

NEWS | 11/07/2007

University tightens alcohol enforcement policy

The University has revised some of its policies regarding enforcing alcohol laws on campus, expanding the reach of Public Safety officers and residential college advisers (RCAs) in dormitories.Public Safety officers began implementing one of the new policies just before Fall Break by patrolling dorm hallways on weekend nights in search of unruly parties.

NEWS | 11/07/2007

Gehry sued by MIT for design

MIT filed a negligence lawsuit against Frank Gehry last week, arguing that the architect "breached [his] duties by providing deficient design services and drawings" for a building that opened in 2004.Gehry, the world-renowned architect known for undulating lines and deconstructing forms and designer of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall, was paid $15 million to design the Stata Center at MIT.Gehry also designed the Lewis Science Library, under construction at the corner of Washington Road and Ivy Lane since late 2004.

NEWS | 11/07/2007

DoD official defends military contractors

Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Gary Motsek defended the use of contractors in contingency zones yesterday in a lecture titled "Contractors in the Battlefield," which was held in 016 Robertson Hall.He emphasized the distinction between the roles of soldiers and contractors and argued that the government needed to determine how it can better manage contractors deployed oversees.Motsek discussed the legality of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan after briefly covering the lengthy history of military contractors playing a role in U.S.

NEWS | 11/06/2007

Democrats keep hold on Princeton

Princeton Borough and Township voters reelected local Democrats across the board yesterday, though some student voters had difficulty voting because of registration and districting issues.Borough Council members Roger Martindell and Andrew Koontz more than doubled their opponents' vote counts.

NEWS | 11/06/2007

Cellular warriors

While most of their classmates and colleagues were enjoying Fall Break last week, a group of Princeton students and researchers stayed up until 4 a.m.

NEWS | 11/06/2007

Parents improve academic experience

College students whose parents are closely involved in their lives take advantage of more educational opportunities during their college years and are more satisfied with their university experience than other students, according to the results of a nationwide survey released Monday.The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) 2007 Annual Report, titled "Experiences That Matter: Enhancing Student Learning and Success," also concluded that students with so-called "helicopter parents" ? moms and dads who intervene with school officials when their children have problems on campus ? also have more positive academic experiences.Another finding was that "high impact" activities ? including first-year seminars, service learning, undergraduate research, study abroad and internships ? boost students' ability to think critically, solve real-world problems and work effectively with others.NSSE asked questions of "randomly selected first-year and senior students from hundreds of four-year colleges and universities," according to its report.

NEWS | 11/06/2007

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