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Scholars discuss Italian Renaissance

Scholars discuss Italian Renaissance

They saw Florence. They saw Rome. They saw Renaissance underpants.On Friday, 230 scholars from across the globe ? and a handful of students ? gathered at the Department of Art and Archaeology's Italian Renaissance City Symposium in McCosh 50 to discuss how art, architecture, sewers and breechesmake up cultural notions of civic identity."Those were some of the best images I've ever seen projected on a slide," history professor Anthony Grafton joked, "sewers really matter ? so do underpants."Grafton was speaking at one of the first lectures of the symposium, "Home from Home: Microcosms of Italian Cities in the Oltremare" delivered by Deborah Howard, chair of the art history department at Cambridge University.Howard's lecture focused on the Italian presence outside of Italy, specifically in the Mediterranean, a presence facilitated through trade during the Renaissance period."Arab words infiltrated the everyday language," Howard said in her sprightly British pitch.

NEWS | 09/21/2003

Campus let down after week of awaiting Isabel

Curiously, University students were disappointed yesterday to find themselves not under the weather.Many were excited about the prospect of Hurricane Isabel hitting Princeton, and were let down when that was not the case."I was very excited about [the storm] and had kind of a childish attitude about it," Galina Barakova '04 said.The University recommended yesterday that students take precautions against Hurricane Isabel as Gov.

NEWS | 09/18/2003

Bradley '65 to speak at integrity assembly

Bill Bradley '65 will address the University community on Sunday at a new assembly addressing the importance of integrity.

NEWS | 09/18/2003

I spy with my Google eye . . . on you

I became Google-eyed (adj.) after I Googled (v.) all my friends' names in a bout of Google-mania (n.).Everybody does it.Google ? a search engine run by CEO Eric Schmidt '76 ? lets users get the low down on their friends, enemies and everybody in between.Just pop in a name, and get all the web pages mentioning that person."Now, if you can't remember your college years because of everything you consumed," Schmidt says, "Google remembers all of it for your friends."Type "Shirley Tilghman" and get some 2,000 results, starting with the University president's resume.

NEWS | 09/18/2003

Israeli minister combats anti-Israel college views

Human rights activist and Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs Natan Sharansky continued his five-day tour of 13 American universities with a visit to campus yesterday, fighting what he characterizes as a new breed of anti-Semitism ? hatred toward Israel.He is enlisting the support of college students to help change the view that Palestinians are the only victims in the Mideast crisis.

NEWS | 09/18/2003

Edwards campaign reaches Nassau Inn

Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina took his presidential campaign to Princeton last night, where he met his daughter, Catharine Edwards '04, and about 70 students at the Nassau Inn.Greeting many students by name, Edwards gradually worked his way to the front of the small room to switch off the microphone and await his daughter, who introduced the senator simply as "my dad.""I'm here campaigning," Sen.

NEWS | 09/18/2003

Solicitors call University members for personal info

Yesterday at 10:40 a.m., a male student reported to University Public Safety that he was telephoned by solicitors who asked for his date of birth, social security number, parents' names and mother's maiden name, according to an email to the student body from the Department of Public Safety.Public Safety also reported that other members of the University were contacted as well.One of those, a senior who was contacted yesterday evening, said a woman with "a heavy Caribbean accent" called him and first asked for information that was public knowledge ? his name, date of birth and telephone number.When she began asking for other information, such as his parents' names and his annual income, he responded that he was uncomfortable giving that information.

NEWS | 09/18/2003

Female student flashed while running on tow path

A female undergraduate was flashed twice by a man while she was running on the towpath around Lake Carnegie at about 5 p.m.

NEWS | 09/18/2003

Starving bacteria seek food together

When they're starving, they're social. And when they're social, they're slimy. Bacteria are the centerpiece of new research that has disclosed some of the methodology behind the social organization of bacteria.The research was conducted in the labs of physics professor Robert Austin and molecular biology professor Jeffry Stock.Contrary to the past assumption that bacteria disperse randomly and then cluster, this research suggests that the bacteria "can actively find each other," said Peter Wolanin, a postdoctoral researcher in Stock's lab.Emil Yuzbashyan, a graduate student theorist, observed that when he placed E.

NEWS | 09/17/2003

University prepares for threat of Hurricane Isabel

While many students lounged in the sun yesterday, Princeton administrators prepared for the arrival of a major storm.Though she has lost strength during the last few days, Hurricane Isabel is scheduled to plow through North Carolina this afternoon.

NEWS | 09/17/2003

Budget talks include 'rape kits' funding

University Health Services moved a step closer yesterday to being able to examine students for evidence of sexual assault at a budget meeting discussing "high priority needs" for campus life.In the 2004-2005 budget, Health Services will request money for the first time for nurses and equipment to conduct "rape kits" on campus, in which a sexually assaulted student is examined to collect evidence that can be used in court, University officials said."Health Services has identified many critical unmet needs," said Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson, who met with Provost Amy Gutmann yesterday to discuss funding priorities.

NEWS | 09/17/2003

Mitchell to lead Butler through construction, expansion

English Professor Lee Mitchell recently became master of Butler College and is excited to lead it through the major transformation of the residential college system due to take place during the next few years."Butler is unquestionably the best college in the University, and I'm privileged to work with students in an intellectual and social world outside the classroom," he said.A major task Mitchell will face is successfully transitioning Butler from its two-year underclassmen structure to a four-year college plan.

NEWS | 09/17/2003

Liberal political group could open campus chapter

A new, left-of-center legal affairs group is considering coming to the Princeton campus.Founded in Washington in 2001, the American Constitution Society aims to counter what they consider a conservative dominance in American legal thinking.Though ACS is focused on opening campus chapters at law schools across the United States, "we're thinking about whether it makes sense for us to talk with folks at the [Woodrow] Wilson School [of Public and International Affairs] about a chapter there," said David Lyle, ACS deputy director.Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 spoke at the Society's first annual convention in August.

NEWS | 09/17/2003

Zipcar company offers students hour-long rentals

There have always been two kinds of Princeton students: those with cars and those without.But this may soon change.As of this September, Princeton University has forged a partnership with Zipcar, a service that lets members rent cars by the hour for errands, the visiting friends or even just going to movies. LocationMembers can use the four cars in the Princeton area, as well as any Zipcar in the metropolitan areas of Boston, New York City and Washington.

NEWS | 09/17/2003

Afghanistan faces continued challenges

Alina Rekhtman '05 remembers hearing stories of bodies hanging from telephone poles.Rekhtman, one of five University students who worked as interns in Afghanistan this past summer, speaks of Afghanistan as a place where much of the terror of civil war has become a memory ? but a memory that is still fresh."All the things that we heard about on TV happened so recently that the last few years were years of incredible suffering for the Afghan people," Rekhtman said.

NEWS | 09/16/2003

Sex assault exam funding requested

University Health Services are moving closer to being able to examine sexually assaulted students for evidence so that it may be used in court.

NEWS | 09/16/2003

Recruiting system needs reform, Bowen says

In a book published this month, former University president William Bowen GS '58 and coauthor Sarah Levin argue that extensive reforms are needed to combat what they see as a widening divide between the athletic and academic sides of campus life at the nation's top colleges and universities.The book, published by Princeton University Press and titled "Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values," presents the findings of a study based on data gathered at 33 of the most academically prestigious institutions in the country, including all members of the Ivy League in addition to well-known liberal arts colleges in the Midwest and western states.The book shares some data with the 2001 book, "The Game of Life," which Bowen co-wrote with James Shulman.The "most striking finding" of the study is that there are significant differences in academic performance not just between recruited athletes and non-athletes but also between recruited athletes and walk-on athletes, Bowen said in an interview.This distinction was not made in "The Game of Life," which focused on aggressive recruitment of athletes, the admissions advantages they receive and underperformance in the classroom.The study found that recruited athletes who were included on a coach's list at the admissions office earn far lower grades than both their fellow athletes who were walk-ons and other students, Bowen said.The study also found that recruited athletes earn far lower grades than what might be expected based on their incoming academic credentials, he added."I think the reason is that, perfectly understandably, they're more focused on their sports," he said."Coaches naturally zero in on people who are going to focus more on athletics," he said.The study also found that athletes tend to pursue study in social science and business, spend large amounts of time together even outside of the formal demands of membership on a team, limit extracurricular activity to their sport and live with other athletes, according to a press release about the book.The findings of the study suggest there are significant problems with the system of athletic recruitment, Bowen said.There are notable "opportunity costs" resulting from the current system, Bowen said.

NEWS | 09/16/2003

Computer, Xbox stolen in Henry, student reports

In the early morning hours of Sept. 12, an unidentified student residing in Henry Hall reported a burglary with damages estimated at $4,305, Public Safety crime prevention specialist Barry Weiser said."The amount of money involved in this theft makes it a major item," Weiser said.

NEWS | 09/16/2003

Long-time owners of Hoagie Haven back at their counter after 15 years

Hoagie Haven has new counters, a new floor and a new "heart-stop special" ? a bacon cheese steak with eggs for $6.55 ? but the faces behind the counter are familiar.

NEWS | 09/16/2003

New year brings stricter dorm alcohol enforcement

Though the University has made no formal changes to student alcohol policy, it is stepping up education programs and vowing to enforce more strictly standing regulations concerning alcohol use."This year the RAs, MAAs and RCAs have been asked to increase their efforts to confront violations of the alcohol policy that jeopardize the safety of students or property or that show disrespect for the community," said Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan in an email.To curb dangerous drinking this year, the University also encouraged the Class of '07 to take AlcoholEdu ? a three-hour online course on alcohol and the law ? during the summer, instead of when they arrived on campus."The policy is pretty much the same, but the tolerance associated with its implementation has gone down," Wilson College Assistant Master Rupinder Singh said in an email.

NEWS | 09/16/2003

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