News

Harvard drops early admission

Harvard University shocked the world of elite college admissions Monday when it announced it is abandoning its early admission program, saying the move is intended to make the admissions process fairer for disadvantaged applicants.The announcement ? unprecedented among the nation's top universities ? has forced Princeton officials to reconsider the future of the University's own early decision program, which requires students to matriculate at Princeton if they apply early and are accepted.The move came as a surprise to Princeton administrators.

Strong endowment returns allow for budget boost

Recent strong returns on the Princeton endowment have prompted University trustees to allot $24.8 million in additional spending to underfunded areas of the operating budget.The increase in spending will be directed towards a number of areas, including energy and renovation costs, information technology and the University library system.The spending increase constitutes only the seventh adjustment in endowment spending policy since it was adopted in 1979, according to the University website.

Foreign students adjust to new security regimen

Some of the most unlikely victims in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001 have been international students studying in the United States.International student enrollment nationwide has dropped significantly since 2001.

Attitudes and perspectives

The 'Prince' surveyed the University' undergraduate community about their attitudes and perspectives five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Spitzer '81 nabs nod for governor

By a staggering margin, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer '81 won the Democratic Party nomination for New York governor Tuesday night.With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Spitzer led with 81 percent of the vote, totaling more than 550,000 votes, the Associated Press reported.

Following Harvard, Yale, trustees divest from Sudan

Following Harvard, Yale, Stanford and other schools, the University has announced that it will divest from companies it believes are complicit in the genocide in Darfur.Though the University said it currently has no direct holdings in companies operating in Sudan, the new policy ? adopted earlier this week by the finance committee of the University Board of Trustees ? disallows future investments in companies that directly or indirectly conduct operations that are involved with the genocide in the war-torn region.University spokeswoman Class Cliatt '96 said Princeton waited until now to withdraw investments because, unlike other institutions that had direct investments in companies involved in Darfur, the University has only indirect ties to such companies.President Tilghman explained in an e-mail that for the University to act, "we needed to be persuaded that genocide was indeed occurring and that this had been so for some time.""Furthermore this seemed to be an issue around which there was consensus on campus," she added.Since 2003, tens of thousands of Sudanese have been killed and millions more uprooted from their homes as a civil war rages between Sudanese rebels, government forces and Arab militias.

Focus front page

University holds service for 9/11 victims

Five years after terrorists turned airplanes into missiles, cutting short the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans, including 13 alumni, the University commemorated their loss with an interfaith service Monday in the September 11 memorial garden next to Chancellor Green.Family, friends, faculty and students gripped tissues and bowed their heads as speakers shared their experiences of that day and intoned the names of the 13 victims."We all have memories of that day and the accompanying emotions of shock, grief, confusion," Paul Raushenbush, associate dean of religious life, said.But in this fifth year, there is a "shift of gears ... a passage of yearly remembrance into history," Dean of Religious Life Thomas Breidenthal said.

Five years after the attacks, victims' families still feel anger, pain of loss

Chloe Wohlforth '07 was sitting in her junior year French class at Greenwich Academy in Connecticut when a classmate walked in late saying that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center.Wohlforth's father worked there, but the thought that he was in any kind of danger didn't cross her mind.

A campus icon bids farewell

On the official first day of his retirement this summer, Professor John Fleming GS '63 will be teaching.Fleming, an English professor who has taught at the University for more than 40 years, will lecture on Dante's poetry ? but in a Tuscan castle, not McCosh Hall or East Pyne.

Two Princetonians among four awarded Fields Medal

The International Mathematics Union named Professor Andrei Okounkov and Terence Tao GS '96 among the four Fields Medal winners announced this morning.The award, often described as mathematics' equivalent of the Nobel Prize, is given once every four years and is considered the discipline's highest honor.

Cottage Club loses bid for property tax-exemption

The University Cottage Club will not be granted property tax-exempt status as an historical site, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey ruled late last week.

Former president Clinton delivers Class Day address

Former President Bill Clinton mixed jokes with a serious discussion of the immigration debate and a traditional graduation speech call to action in his address to the Class of 2006 this afternoon, encouraging them to engage in the world "locally, nationally and globally."Clinton's speech emphasized civic and political involvement, instructing graduates to use the "personal power" they developed at Princeton to better the world."You have an education that has given you unprecedented personal power," he said later in the half-hour speech, "and you live in a time which has given you unprecedented personal power."Class Day is the second in the series of graduation events at the University.

A visible means of egress

Friday: A chance of afternoon storms. Saturday and Sunday: a little warmer, and finally drying out somewhat.

Alumnus replaces Kelly '76 at Time magazine

One Princetonian is taking the reins from another at Time magazine, in a major media change announced earlier this week.Richard Stengel '77 will replace longtime friend Jim Kelly '76 as managing editor of Time, the magazine's editor-in-chief announced in an email to his staff, calling the two "oldest of friends." Kelly is being promoted to the newly created position of Managing Editor of Time Inc., overseeing the companies' more than 150 magazines.The connection between Kelly and Stengel extends beyond their employers and matching undergraduate diplomas.

U. names eight new trustees to Board

The University announced eight new members of the Board of Trustees on June 14.The new trustees are Shelby Davis '58, Carl Ferenbach '64, Charles Gibson '65, Ellen Harvey '76, Robert Murley '72, John O'Brien '65, Mark Siegler '63 and Brady Walkinshaw '06."I am very pleased with the election of the new members of the board of trustees," President Tilghman said in an email."They all bring unique perspectives," she added.

In their own words

Princetonians in Israel, Lebanon and Palestine offer their perspectives on what it's like to be in the midst of a war zone in our "in the crossfire" blog.

For parents, anguish as their children remain trapped

Sitting in her quiet Alabama home on a Friday afternoon earlier this month, Betty Saxon grew increasingly worried as the minutes passed.

Rihanna to perform at Lawnparties

Pop reggae star Rihanna will headline next weekend's fall Lawnparties concert at Quadrangle Club, USG social chair Andrew Heyman said Saturday.Heyman described Rihanna, the singer of the recent hits "Pon de Replay" and "SOS," as a desirable performer for Princeton not only musically but also intellectually."Rihanna's music is a departure not only from the Lawnparties acts of the past three years, but also from a lot of the music that we usually hear at Princeton in general.

Strong endowment returns prompt budget boost

Recent strong returns on the Princeton endowment have prompted University trustees to allot $24.8 million in additional funds to needy areas of the operating budget.The increase in spending will be directed towards a number of areas, including energy and renovation costs, information technology and the University library system.The spending increase constitutes only the seventh adjustment in endowment spending policy since it was adopted in 1979, according to the University website.