News

Ivy officials: Grade inflation trend difficult to reverse

Grade inflation, a longstanding concern at many schools, has received particular attention at the University after the release of a faculty report expressing concern over the matter.While Ivy League administrators differ on how severely the problem is hurting the academic environment, they agree that reversing the trend will be difficult if not impossible."It's an extremely widespread problem, [but] maybe a problem that isn't worth spending a huge amount of time on," said John O'Keefe, associate dean for undergraduate education at Harvard University.In February, when a Princeton committee asked faculty to help find solutions to rising mean GPAs and increased clustering of grades in the B-plus to A range, it noted that peer institutions were experiencing the same trends.For several years, grading has been a topic of discussion at the meeting of the Ivy Deans ? comprising the eight league schools plus Stanford University, the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Nancy Weiss Malkiel, dean of the college.The meetings have been productive, but Malkiel said she wished "anyone knew how to solve it."D.

Tilghman turns presidential house into personal home

The house at 83 Stockton St. is set back about 150 feet from the busy Rt. 206 thoroughfare. That's the way its primary resident, University President Tilghman, likes it.Since Tilghman assumed the University's highest post nearly two years ago and moved into the school's most prestigious off-campus address, she has worked hard to make it less of "another institutional building" and more of a home for her and her two children.The yellow sandstone house, the official residence of the president since 1968, was given to the University by Barbara Armour Lowrie in 1960 in memory of her husband, Walter Lowrie, Class of 1890.

University cost-cutting methods save over $2 million each year

Though the University's endowment is less than half the size of Harvard University's, Harvard's cost-cutting measures save only slightly more ? between a half million and $1.5 million ? than Princeton's do.Each year, the University has saved more than $2 million per year through cost-cutting measures.

Open houses court, feed prospective concentrators

Along with the warming weather and blooming flowers that ? with the possible exception of this year ? signal spring, come the departmental open houses, meant to aid those sophomores sweating out the decision of which major to choose and for which certificates to apply.Though nearly all of the University's academic departments host open houses for sophomores, each has its own goal for what it seeks to accomplish though the event.Some departments see spring open houses as an opportunity to pull in new concentrators who might not have previously considered the department seriously."It definitely is recruiting," said Michael Andal, the department manager of the Princeton Materials Institute, which oversees the Program in Materials Science and Engineering."We've had walk-ins who've had little exposure and just wanted to check it out," in addition to students with more experience in the department, Andal said.Other departments want to introduce sophomores to its requirements and curriculum."We are a small program," said Gabriella Eggers, a manager in the linguistics department.

Chechen foreign minister discusses plan for peace

The Foreign Minister of the separatist government of the Republic of Chechnya, Ilyas Akhmadov, discussed the ongoing conflict in the region in a speech held in McCosh 10 yesterday.

Theater Features . . .

Ivy admissions selectivity increases in record year

Admissions dean Fred Hargadon's last handpicked class is a record-breaker, both in the number of applications received and in rate of selectivity.In keeping with trend witnessed by other Ivies, the University received a record 15,725 applications for spots in the Class of 2007, and accepted 1,570 students, Hargadon said in an email.

Talk the IM talk, walk the IM walk

BRB, LOL and OMG mean nothing to many people. But to many University students, these acronyms are just part of the new culture created by instant messaging over the Internet.Aaron Ellerbee '04 said that he checks other people's online away messages "constantly." He began using AOL Instant Messenger when he came to college, and he now leaves it on virtually all the time.Programs like AIM act as a combination of telephone and email, allowing students to have multiple real-time conversations using their computers.Ellerbee even takes the time to keep his profile fresh."I actually started putting up a poem of the week.

Bradley '04 presents JP to American Physical Society

Robert Bradley '04 traveled to Philadelphia yesterday to present the findings of his junior independent work at the American Physical Society's annual convention.Bradley's research in high-energy physics sought to determine the accuracy of the Standard Model, a theory about the fundamental interactions between the tiniest particles."Atoms and molecules are pretty small, but it turns out that even atoms and molecules are made of even smaller things," Bradley said.

Q&A: Richard Gott

Astrophysics professor J. Richard Gott is continuing in Albert Einstein's route of research in general relativity.

Tilghman dedicates Pace Center in Frist ceremony

The Pace Center for Community Service was formally dedicated during a ceremony in Frist Campus Center yesterday.

Students accused of dorm assault

Editor's Note: The Daily Princetonian has redacted the names of the two individuals involved in this incident -- at their request and at the newspaper's discretion -- after they provided documentation that their cases were expunged.

Penn student issues apology for his participation in assault

One of the two University of Pennsylvania students who entered a probation program for the assault on Princeton debater John Brantl '05 has published an apology in the Daily Pennsylvanian, in which he expressed his "deep and heartfelt regret" over the incident.The letter from Penn sophomore Thomas Bispham Jr.

Thesis requirement still a unique Princeton endeavor

After snowflakes encased the cherry blossoms and daffodils yesterday, it became clear that Spring has not yet settled in at Princeton.

Pequod burns the midnight oil as seniors rush to finish theses

'Twas the night before deadline and in old Princeton town, the seniors were typing, all hunkered down.

Q&A: University CMO Dr. Daniel Silverman

Dr. Daniel Silverman has been the University's chief medical officer and executive director of health services since August.

Professor, lawyer weigh in on debate over file-sharing lawsuit

It only took University students a few hours to react to charges of copyright infringement against sophomore Dan Peng.By Thursday afternoon, campus network search engines Wake, Gank, Sleep and pTunes were all absent from their normal locations, and students who had previously shared thousands of songs and hundreds of movies had removed their collections from public view.If the Recording Industry Association of America intended to scare students into compliance with copyright law, it seems their effort may have succeeded."The RIAA really wants to send a frightening message," wrote David Dobkin, chair of the computer science department, in an email.

Pulitzer honors alumni, professor

When this year's Pulitzer prizes were awarded yesterday afternoon, the University community was well represented with two alumni, one current faculty member and one former professor taking home the honor.Paul Muldoon, humanities professor, won the prize for poetry for his collection of works, "Moy Sand and Gravel.""Moy Sand and Gravel" is Muldoon's 25th volume of poetry and includes verse set in places like present-day New Jersey and Ireland as Muldoon knew it while growing up in the 1950s."I think it is richly deserved," said professor Edmund White, also director of the creative writing program."He is a real man of letters . . . In his work he shows a fascinating blend of Irish and American themes and speech."Muldoon joins an already distinguished group of professors in the University's creative writing program as the fourth to have won a Pulitzer Prize.

Affirmative action referendum passes

University students overwhelmingly voted to support the USG resolution in favor of using race as a factor in admission decisions, the issue currently before the Supreme Court.

Finding a religious niche in an academic world

God may not attend Princeton, but many students say that He does indeed have a place here. Despite academia's somewhat secular nature and the challenges presented by a busy college lifestyle, students have continued the religious practices they observed before college with the support of small religious communities distributed across campus.Rena Lauer '05 said that compared to other universities, the tight-knit community of orthodox Jews at Princeton has afforded her the opportunity to be a leader in several arenas."It's very easy to slip through the cracks and not have a voice in your community," she said of religious life elsewhere.The abundance of opportunities to play an active and influential role in the Jewish community was one of the main reasons Lauer chose to come to the University, she said.