As a child growing up in India, Fairy Pardiwalla '05 made rhymes out of the prayers and speeches recited during school assemblies.
The University will sponsor its first all-freshman Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) peer group this week in hopes of building a stronger freshman LGBT community.Debbie Bazarsky, the LGBT student services coordinator, will lead this weekly group "to help first-year students meet each other, get adjusted, and make their transition into Princeton a little easier," she said.The freshmen will gather for lunch each week and discuss a wide range of topics, including coming-out stories, healthy dating and the academic pressures of campus."There are events sponsored by the Pride Alliance, but there isn't necessarily a more anonymous, closed group, where students feel they have a safe space to begin the process of coming out," said James Ashenhurst '08, one of 12 freshmen who have expressed interest in the group.Bazarsky is not advertising the meeting's location, date or time to protect students' confidentiality.She hopes the group will foster unity for new students and prevent openly gay students from becoming closeted, a phenomenon she said happens here a few times each year.
Entrepreneurs, CIA agents and research scientists have been visiting campus this week to participate in Career Week Spring 2005.The week aims to introduce students to careers they may not have considered and to facilitate alumni-student relations through a series of 10 panels and a career fair."The primary goal is to offer programs that expose students to future options because there is a diversity of career options that are not always readily available," said Becky Ross, Associate Director at Career Services.
Pablo Kapusta '05 sat quietly behind the bulletproof glass at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague as former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic defended himself against charges of human rights abuses.It was the summer of 2002, and Kapusta was interning across the street at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.He watched the Milosevic testimony as it was simultaneously translated into English, French and Serbo-Croatian and transmitted to the audience through an internal radio system."The fact that a former head of state could be held responsible for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity is a huge step in progress," Kapusta said, noting the explosion of international law in the past 15 years.He hopes to soon contribute to that field.Kapusta, a Wilson School major, has applied to law schools at Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown, New York University, the University of Pennsylvania and University of Texas.
The Princeton Healthcare Task Force presented a review of proposals to relocate or expand the University Medical Center at Princeton (UMCP) at a Borough Council meeting Tuesday night.The hospital would need to expand to more than 11.76 acres by 2010 if it does not relocate, according to Marvin Reed, chair of the Princeton Healthcare Task Force and former mayor and councilman, who presented the results of the study.The current hospital facility covers 5.63 acres on Witherspoon Street.If the hospital is not relocated, the task force suggested expanding to Franklin Avenue and constructing a 13-story building and a six-level parking garage.If the hospital is relocated, Reed recommended the council permit the property to be rezoned for redevelopment.The task force emphasized the importance of facilitating transportation to the hospital if it relocates.
Harvard University President Lawrence Summers avoided a vote of confidence in an emergency faculty meeting held Tuesday, but the controversy over his leadership continues to dominate discussion around the country and at Princeton, where professors are considering possible trickle-down effects.At the meeting, Jeremy Knowles, former dean of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, proposed a three-professor committee to serve as a link between Summers and the faculty ? but professors quickly rejected the idea as "undemocratic," The Harvard Crimson reported."There was consensus on all sides that further consultation is needed," Harvard psychology department chair Daniel Schacter said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
Wilson School Associate Dean and professor David Bradford, a prominent labor economist and former White House adviser, died Tuesday morning from injuries sustained in a fire in his home two weeks ago.
Nelson Reveley '05 has loved golf since the first time he sent a golf ball sailing through the air at a driving range.
The Anscombe Society, which seeks to promote a conservative sexual ethic that members believe is lacking on campus, was officially recognized as a University student group on Thursday.The change in status was announced during the USG meeting Sunday night.Named after the English philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, the organization hopes to provide a support group for Princeton students with similar ethical beliefs on issues of sexuality, family and social lifestyle.
Another controversy has broken out about a campus publication's humor.Offended by a reference to the Ku Klux Klan in the February issue of the campus humor journal Tiger Magazine, members of the Black Student Union (BSU) are sending letters expressing outrage to the magazine's editors, graduate board and University administrators.Just last week, the Nassau Weekly apologized for a facetious list related to the Holocaust that some readers found offensive.The Tiger, which does not receive University funds, satirized the group feature of the popular website TheFacebook.com in a piece titled, "Facebook Groups You Hope to Never See." One entry read, "People who are going to the national KKK meeting . . . because they spit hot fiya!"The fictitious group's description, which appeared to include a picture of a burning cross and a Ku Klux Klan member, noted, "If you need a ride to Georgia, the SVC [Student Volunteers Council] is lending us a car ? meet outside Baker Rink if you're coming!"In the letter to the Tiger editors, BSU president Candace Lee '06 wrote that it is her "assumption that this was a grossly misguided attempt at humor, instead of a maliciously motivated calling forth of very painful experiences in the history of African-Americans in this country." She said, "This judgment error is unacceptable because of the hostile environment that it creates for black students, even if this was not the intention of the writers."The Tiger Magazine editorial board responded to the BSU's complaints by saying in a statement that while the magazine values the opinions of the student body, the BSU "chose to misinterpret the article in our publication.""Maybe we should follow the BSU's lead and confront such real Facebook groups as 'Woman?
Princeton will launch a joint M.D./Ph.D. program with Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMNDJ) this fall.The new partnership will expand on an existing M.D./Ph.D.
Tapping their feet to the upbeat music and chatting as they waited for their pictures to be taken, a few dozen students stood in a line wrapped around the Frist multipurpose room.
Following the official unveiling Thursday of the University's newly designed webpage, students have begun to recalibrate themselves to their new home base ? with mixed results.In a recent poll at point.princeton.edu, 14 percent of survey participants called the website "terrible" and 25 percent were "not too fond of it."However, 26 percent of survey respondents said they believed the new site was "alright" and 34 percent expressed positive opinions of the site.According to the University, "The core Web site ? the top 200 pages ? is intended to convey a better sense of Princeton through new and updated content and more pictures, while retaining an emphasis on frequently refreshed news content."The University believes the site will be as much of an improvement for the Princeton community as it will be for visitors, and notes on the site's description that "the new design and navigational structure will make it easier for users ? internal and external ? to find Web content."Students, though, expressed concern that the site caters more to visitors than it does to current students."I think the point of it was to be more attractive to visitors.
The USG voted to create a committee to discuss the implications and respond to the results of the campus-wide survey on race at its meeting Sunday night.USG vice president Jesse Creed '07 said at the meeting that the committee would "separate the problems raised by and then approach the solutions to" the issues brought up by the Survey on Race and Campus Life, which was released Monday."The point of the committee is to have a tangible outcome of the discussion so there'd be continuing discussion," Creed said in an interview.
A government panel recently recommended that all college freshmen living in dorms be vaccinated for meningitis.
The journalism courses traditionally offered through the Program in Humanistic Studies will be categorized as "Seminars in Journalism and Writing" and will be listed under the course guide code JRN instead of HUM, beginning this fall.The change was approved unanimously at a faculty meeting this month.Carol Rigolot, executive director of the Council of the Humanities, said she hopes both undergraduates and prospective high school applicants will benefit from the new distinction."We have had, for about 50 years, a series of journalism courses designated as part of the humanistic program," Rigolot said.
An initiative is underway to examine ways to increase minority representation in upper-level administrative positions at the University.The initiative, called the Diversity Working Group (DWG), was announced at last week's meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC). Though the group has existed since the fall, Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson said she chose to delay its announcement until the results of the Survey on Race and Campus Life were released.The group is led by Dickerson and Vice President for Administration Mark Burstein."The group is intended to focus on recruitment, retention of diverse employees and to increase quality of their work experience," Dickerson said in an interview.
Senator Jon Corzine spoke to raise support for his gubernatorial campaign Sunday at an event sponsored by the Princeton Community Democratic Organization.About 100 community members and roughly 10 University students attended the event ? held at the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center ? to meet Democratic candidates before the June primary.Candidates for the New Jersey assembly and Mercer County freeholder, clerk, and sheriff positions also attended.Corzine, the keynote speaker at the event, explained his reasons for running for governor and outlined his proposals to a supportive crowd."When I was thinking about whether or not to run, I was thinking about how you could touch people's lives most closely, make the most difference," he said.
Students from dozens of colleges converged at the University Thursday for an innovative four-day conference of collegiate interfaith councils.Sponsored by the Religious Life Council, "Coming Together: A venture across religious boundaries" has brought together 75 students from 25 universities across the country."[This event] is something completely new and exciting," said Rabia Ali '04, student coordinator for the conference, adding that there was an overwhelming response from university groups interested in discussing issues regarding faith on college campuses.This weekend will be an opportunity for various interfaith councils to discuss ideas and issues that have arisen in their own programs, said Paul Raushenbush, associate dean of religious life."The hope is that there'll be a loose federation of interfaith councils," he said, as this event is the first time that interfaith councils from different schools have come together.Speakers this weekend will include religion professor Jeffrey Stout and Steve Waldman, founder and editor-in-chief of Beliefnet.com. The conference will also feature religious services, discussions on being religious on a college campus and a workshop on running interfaith councils.Religious groups on campus will also participate, including the Center for Jewish Life, which is hosting a Shabbat service and dinner for the conference on Friday night.In addition to organizing the multi-university event, Princeton's Religious Life Council is also promoting communication between different interfaith groups by starting an intercollegiate journal of religious life.Both Ali and Raushenbush discussed the need for interfaith councils to provide a comforting atmosphere for religious students on campus."One of the biggest challenges [in being religious] is being able to be yourself.
Following a tense faculty meeting that left in doubt Harvard professors' confidence in their leader, University President Lawrence Summers released for the first time Thursday a transcript of his controversial remarks on women in science.
