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International applications on the rise

International applications on the rise

The University has taken several steps to increase its international focus over the past decade, from adding the phrase "and in the service of all nations" to its motto at the University's 250th anniversary in 1997, to President Tilghman's recently formed committee on international opportunities.

NEWS | 04/23/2007

Prof. Newman: Self-image drove Va. Tech shooter

Students who kill their classmates are motivated by a desire to change their reputation, Wilson School professor Katherine Newman and politics professor Keith Whittington told about 50 students and community members last night at a talk on the Virginia Tech shootings.Newman discussed the social experience of school shooters and the unpredictability of such tragedies, while Whittington related the killings at Virginia Tech to gun control regulation and discussed the potential for changes to concealed weapons permits. The sociology of school shootingsMajor American school shootings have mostly occurred in obscure rural neighborhoods, Newman said.

NEWS | 04/23/2007

Khalidi: Constraints on Palestine fueled conflict

Failures on the part of the international community have contributed to the stormy history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Columbia professor Rashid Khalidi told an audience of community members and students in a lecture Saturday afternoon."Among the most important of the constraints on Palestinians were international ones, from the League of Nations [to] the U.N.," he said to the crowd gathered in the Computer Science Building.Two years ago, the University considered Khalidi, the director of Columbia's Middle East Institute, for a professorship in contemporary Middle East studies.

NEWS | 04/22/2007

Campaigning heats up in final stretch

As online polls for the USG elections opened at noon yesterday, candidates made their final efforts to secure their classmates' votes, winding down a week marked by unusually intense campaigning for the presidency of the rising senior class.The race pits incumbent Grant Gittlin '08 ? who ran unopposed for the last two years ? against challengers Aaron Spolin '08 and Tom Haine '08.

NEWS | 04/22/2007

Faith through service

Students clean up a pond at Cadwalader Park in Trenton as part of the Interfaith Day of Community Servce on Sunday, sponsored by the Religious LIfe Council.

NEWS | 04/22/2007

Takin' it to the gym

Dillon Gym hosted the Charity Streetball Tournament on Saturday, which benefited a charity for children with sickle cell disease.

NEWS | 04/22/2007

Politicians: passion and values key

The United States is no longer a middle-class "bell-curve" society, but rather is becoming a "barbell society," with the number of people at both ends of the economic spectrum increasing, New York Gov.

NEWS | 04/22/2007

The sound of music

A decade ago, they were banging on pots and pans and messing around with dime-store guitars, but now they're selling out venues in New York, Chicago and Princeton.Four University students, Anthony D'Amato '10, Phyllis Heitjan '10, Jason Harper '09 and Steven Kim '09 each balance a semiprofessional music career with academic work.Each has a true "study hard, play hard" mentality.

NEWS | 04/22/2007

USG discusses P/D/F reform, 'first Fridays'

Last night's USG meeting included discussions on topics ranging from the University's P/D/F policy to the price of birth control at McCosh Health Center to the creation of a smoothie stand in Dillon Gym.Academics chair Sarah Breslow '08 called for the USG Senate to brainstorm about which academic issues are of greatest concern to students, saying that she was trying to "think outside the box."Of the issues raised, senators considered revision of the P/D/F grading policy the most pressing issue.

NEWS | 04/22/2007

Cho '04 releases statement on family's behalf

Sun-Kyung Cho '04, the sister of Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui, has released a statement on behalf of her family expressing her "devastation" at Monday's killings and her shock that someone she "grew up with and loved" could have taken the lives of 32 innocent people."We have always been a close, peaceful and loving family," Cho said in the statement.

NEWS | 04/19/2007

Up for tenure and under fire

In a heated back-and-forth between two high-profile scholars, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz has in recent months campaigned for the denial of Norman Finkelstein GS '88's bid for tenure at DePaul University in Chicago.Dershowitz's objections have focused on numerous articles authored by Finkelstein, who is Jewish, which contend that Jews in Israel and America have conspired to use the Holocaust to oppress Palestinians and extract compensation money from Europe.On April 13, Finkelstein, an assistant professor of political science, went before a review committee for the third and final step in his tenure bid.

NEWS | 04/19/2007

Twelve years later, sit-in's legacy unclear

On an April day a dozen years ago, 17 students forced their way into a Nassau Hall office and locked themselves inside the room for a day and a half.The sit-in protest ? organized to promote better academic representation of Asian-American and Latino studies at the University ? came as other students negotiated with administrators and held rallies on the grounds outside the building.After eight rounds of discussion between the students' representatives and University administrators, the Nassau Hall protestors emerged from the building to the cheers of a gathered crowd of Princeton students and faculty, having procured a commitment from the University to create four to seven new professorships focused on Asian-American and Latino studies.Twelve years to the day since the protest began, however, several alumni responsible for the event ? in addition to current students involved in ethnic student groups ? say they are still concerned about the dearth of ethnic-American courses in Princeton's curriculum. Spurred to take actionThe group of protestors in 1995 consisted of students from the Chicano Caucus, the Asian-American Students Association (AASA) and supportive classmates of various ethnic backgrounds, fighting for a range of University changes including increased course offerings in ethnic studies, more library holdings and permanent faculty members for and Asian-American and Latino studies.Among the protestors were Ronald Kim '96, April Chou '96, Joshua Rosales '97 and Joe Hernandez-Kolski '96.

NEWS | 04/19/2007

Ice age heat wave

Day 1: Saturday, April 14The cost of lemonade is four cents a glass (your mother is no longer providing free sugar). The weather is COLD with RAIN.

NEWS | 04/19/2007

Zimbabwean ambassador says government is not at fault

Zimbabwe's government is not responsible for its political and economic problems, said Machivenyika Mapuranga, the country's ambassador to the United States, in a half-full lecture held yesterday in Frist 302.Mapuranga, whose country had an inflation rate of over 1,700 percent in February, spoke at length of Zimbabwe's colonial history and its difficult land reform process, both factors, he said, in its struggle for stability.Audience members who challenged Mapuranga to justify his government's policies in a question-and-answer session expressed frustration with his responses."It was a propaganda speech," Daniel Scher '06 said after the event.

NEWS | 04/19/2007

Johnson '97 accepts men's basketball coaching job

Sydney Johnson '97 has accepted the head coaching position for the men's basketball team, the Department of Athletics announced this afternoon.

NEWS | 04/19/2007

Students start first campus group for a 2008 candidate

With the race for both major parties' 2008 presidential nominations already underway, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has already emerged as a Democratic frontrunner, in large part because of his grassroots support in residential communities and on college campuses.

NEWS | 04/19/2007

Obama has most faculty donations

University faculty and staff have given $14,850 to political causes and candidates during the current election cycle, according to information released by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).About half of the money donated by Princeton employees so far ? $7,150 ? has been given to presidential candidates.

NEWS | 04/19/2007

NJ Transit raises fares

New Jersey Transit approved a 9.6 percent overall hike in train, bus and light rail fare yesterday, intended to help alleviate a $60 million deficit in its 2008 operational budget, according to a press release.The corporation's board of directors also voted to expand its discounted rail service, which they said they hope will encourage commuters to travel in the early morning when trains are less crowded.For members of the University community, the announcement means they may be feeding more money into the ticket machines at the Dinky station, as rail prices will increase by 9.9 percent on average.

NEWS | 04/18/2007

Candidates for Class of 2008 president debate

Class of 2008 presidential candidates Grant Gittlin, Tom Haine and Aaron Spolin expressed confidence in their own abilities to lead the senior class next year but disagreed on how an ideal class president should act, in a debate sponsored by the USG in Frist Campus Center last night.The debate quickly developed into a contentious discussion as the candidates responded to a question by audience member Michael Noveck '08 about how their past leadership experiences would influence their performance as president.Gittlin, the current '08 class president, said that the office "is not about being a leader necessarily, but about supporting and organizing your class."Spolin retorted that the Class of 2008 needs more active leadership, in addition to a greater number of social activities.

NEWS | 04/18/2007

Songs of praise

"Myths and Hymns," a musical put on by the Princeton University Players, incorporates genres ranging from Gospel to electronica into traditional Presbytarian hymns.

NEWS | 04/18/2007

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