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Supreme court says state must provide equal rights to gay couples

Supreme court says state must provide equal rights to gay couples

The state supreme court ruled today that New Jersey should give gay couples the right to marry or create a "parallel statutory structure" that would provide the same rights and obligations as marriage.This decision would appear to be a setback to those who had hoped that the court would require the state to offer gay couples the right to marry, instead of permitting the state to consider a separate-but-equal, alternative structure.On campus, the confusing nature of the decision was immediately apparent.

NEWS | 10/24/2006

Freedom Filmmaker

Famed French filmmaker Yann Beauvais screens seven of his video works in the Stewart Theater. Beauvais, who lives in Paris and Sao Paulo, is one of the world's foremost experimental film artists.

NEWS | 10/24/2006

University meets fire safety rules

New fire safety standards approved by a New Jersey State Senate committee today would not affect the University, which already conforms to the regulations, associate director of operations for Housing Patty Smith said.Assembly Bill 1945, if passed by the full senate, will require New Jersey colleges to meet the strict fire safety standards for seating furniture created by the California Bureau of Home Furnishings.The legislation was created partly in response to a fire in a Seton Hall dormitory in 2000 that killed three students.The fire was caused in part by the presence of furniture that burned and spread a toxic smoke throughout the dorm floor.The new standards set forth in the legislation require upholstery that melts rather than ignites.Princeton will not have to order new furniture, however, as it has followed the standards since before the Seton Hall fire.

NEWS | 10/24/2006

DARPA crew readies for new challenge

More than 20 University undergraduates and six professors are constructing an autonomous vehicle that can navigate a 60-mile simulated urban driving course in less than six hours.The team hopes to enter the car in next November's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge, continuing a Princeton tradition at the competition.In the past, the challenge has required competitors to navigate self-driven vehicles along a 132-mile route through the Mojave Desert, riddled with both natural and man-made obstacles.

NEWS | 10/23/2006

Harvard may add religion requirement

Harvard may expand its core academic requirements to include the study of religion. The proposed curriculum, unparalleled by peer institutions, has invited controversy from students, faculty and scholars around the globe.The suggested requirement, tentatively termed Reason and Faith, is the response of a six-person Task Force on General Education to recent critiques of Harvard's Core Curriculum for being antiquated and ineffective in preparing students for life beyond Harvard Yard."I think 30 years ago," when the school's curriculum was last overhauled, "people would have said that religion is not something that everyone needs to know," Louis Menand, a Harvard professor and co-chairman of the committee that drafted the report, told The Wall Street Journal.

NEWS | 10/23/2006

Fischer stresses EU, Middle East relations

The European Union must foster longterm change in the Middle East in order to maintain its security in the 21st century, former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer told a packed audience in Dodds Auditorium yesterday afternoon."Europe's security is no longer defined on its eastern borders, but in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East," Fischer said.Fischer, who is serving on the Wilson School faculty for a year, described how the Iraq war, the Balkan crises and nuclear proliferation have shaped his outlook on continental affairs.Citing the terrorist bombings in London and Madrid, he said that the Middle East "is truly our backyard, and we in the EU must cease our shortsightedness and recognize that."Fischer described several "very plausible scenarios" for the future of the Middle East, from the breakup of Pakistan into "several smaller, nuclear Pakistans" to an Iranian-Israeli arms race."Iran, as a new nuclear power, will force Israel into a new arms race, and the risks there are raised substantially because nobody knows what Pakistan will do," he said.Turkey is crucial to Europe's future engagement with the Middle East, Fischer said.

NEWS | 10/23/2006

Group stages abortion protest

A group of about 35 anti-abortion protestors demonstrated on either side of Washington Road for several hours yesterday afternoon, holding up large signs with images they said were of aborted fetuses.

NEWS | 10/23/2006

Planetary scholar awarded grant

Just like the celestial objects he studies, James Wray '06 is on his way to becoming a star in his field.

NEWS | 10/23/2006

West praises black wisdom

Legendary black Americans can become role models for a country struggling to cope with a post-9/11 world, religion professor Cornel West GS '80 told a packed McCosh 50 audience this weekend in a two-part lecture on "The Gifts of Black Folk in the Age of Terrorism.""Toni Morrison and Martin Luther King represented a slice of humanity that stands tall," West said.

NEWS | 10/22/2006

U-Store may discontinue book sales

The U-Store will stop selling books and the University will buy Micawber Books if discussions between Nassau Hall and the two retailers conclude as expected, individuals familiar with the situation said.The two developments would make way for the opening of a Princeton franchise of Labyrinth Books, a private operator that already serves Yale and Columbia.

NEWS | 10/22/2006

Professors study the science of happiness

Studying religious and meditative practices may help neuroscientists understand the neurological indicators of happiness, panelists argued this weekend in a symposium in McCormick 101 sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion."Happiness can be conceptualized as a skill, not fundamentally different from learning to play the violin or learning to play golf," University of Wisconsin psychology professor Richard Davidson said, describing his research into whether meditation and other contemplative practices can cultivate positive states of mind.Examining brain images of subjects during meditative exercises has shown that "even relatively short-term strategies to train the mind in this way can produce beneficial effects that are observed in the brain," Davidson explained.

NEWS | 10/22/2006

Admissions edge for LGBT applicants?

Since the institution of affirmative action more than 40 years ago, American colleges have been working to diversify their campuses, increasing the likelihood of enrollment for students who have suffered discrimination or economic hardship.Two weeks ago, Middlebury College took this process one step further, implementing a policy through which students who identify themselves as gay will receive the same benefits in the admissions process as ethnic minorities, athletes and legacies.While no college has yet matched Middlebury's policy, several, such as Claremont McKenna and Loyola University in New Orleans, are seriously considering it.Princeton's Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye declined to comment on whether the University will make this move but emphasized the University's commitment to diversity in all its forms."We value students from all backgrounds, and diversity has a broad definition for our work," she said in an email."In terms of the admissions process, we give students every consideration if they have a diverse background including students who are gay, or who may be involved in LGBT groups in their high schools, communities or national organizations."Princeton was recently named one of the top 20 campuses for LGBT students in The Advocate magazine's "College Guide for LGBT Students." It is also one of only 100 schools in the country with full-time professional LGBT coordinators or directors.Several members of the LGBT community said an affirmative action program might not be necessary here."I don't think LGBT students have been marginalized in the same way that other groups have," LGBT Center Director Debbie Bazarsky said.

NEWS | 10/22/2006

Coming home is low-key for Tigers

Come support Princeton football tomorrow as the team takes on Harvard in our Homecoming Game," USG president Alex Lenahan '07 wrote in an email to the undergraduate student body on Friday, offering free pizza and "rally towels" to any student who showed up at Princeton Stadium.If they took the time to read Lenahan's message, most students would have been made aware that this weekend was homecoming.

NEWS | 10/22/2006

Yale student becomes a star, shows how not to apply for job

Among the people that video-sharing websites have raised to cult status, perhaps no one is regretting his celebrity more than Yale senior Aleksey Vayner."Many people believe successful people are lucky," Vayner says in a video he submitted along with job applications to several banks.

NEWS | 10/19/2006

Film based on student suicide raises concerns

An Ivy League student leaves school without telling anyone and drives a rented car to California less than two weeks before his senior thesis is due.That's the ripped-from-the-headlines premise of "gamefish," a controversial new short film written, directed and produced by aspiring actor and noted self-promoter Casey Ford Alexander '09.The film, which stars Alexander and first-time actor Alexander Krueger-Wyman '09, was inspired by the death last spring of Manzili Davis '06, a 21-year-old senior from Chicago who disappeared from campus and was found dead April 18 in a public storage facility in East Palo Alto, Calif.Investigators determined that Davis had rented a car in New York before driving to California and killing himself.Alexander said he felt compelled to make the film after reading an article in The Daily Princetonian about Davis' death."I had so many feelings, emotions, and questions trapped inside of me after reading the 'Prince' article," said Alexander, who insists people call him by his initials, CFA.

NEWS | 10/19/2006

Richardson Repertoire

The Princeton University Orchestra rehearses for its first concert of the year, which features Beethoven's Cariolan Overture, scenes from Berlioz' Romeo and Juliet and Dvorak's Eighth Symphony.

NEWS | 10/19/2006

Andrews '40 left mark on medicine

Mason Andrews '40, a pioneer of in vitro fertilization who helped revitalize Norfolk, Va., died on Oct.

NEWS | 10/19/2006

Brown repents its slavery past

Brown University should come to terms with its past connections to slave labor and the slave trade through a memorial and a center dedicated to the study of slavery and justice, a committee recommended in a report released Wednesday.The 106-page report is the result of three years of historical inquiry and ethical debate by the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice.

NEWS | 10/19/2006

Pro-choice advocate: Stand up for rights

Several years ago, a bishop visited Nancy Keenan to talk about abortion."He came swooping down my hall ... and you could almost feel the tension," Keenan recalled last night."I know your mother," the bishop said."Well, she's pro-choice too," Keenan replied."How can [you] hold this position as a Catholic?" the bishop asked her."You can dictate in the halls of the cathedral," Keenan told him, "but you can't dictate in the halls of the capitol."Then a Montana state government official, Keenan firmly held the view that you should "stand by what you believe in" ? even if it meant defying your own church by supporting abortion rights.That conviction has guided Keenan since the beginning of her political career.

NEWS | 10/19/2006

Winners named in freshman government race

Connor Diemand-Yauman has been elected the first president of the Class of 2010, defeating J. Brendan McGuire in a 24-hour runoff election that concluded yesterday afternoon.Diemand-Yauman ran on the slogan "two last names, one vision" and promised to give freshmen more opportunities for community service."As freshmen, it can be easy to play it safe and simply follow in the footsteps of others, especially in groups such as student government," Diemand-Yauman said in an email.

NEWS | 10/19/2006

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