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Concerned citizens build case against construction

Concerned citizens build case against construction

In an ongoing dialogue on downtown development, opponents of the current plan last night called for the Princeton Borough Council to reevaluate the effects of the proposal and for the University to play a greater role.Residents and local business owners from the Concerned Citizens of Princeton expressed their frustration during a meeting at the Frist Campus Center.The plan includes a 5.5-story garage, apartments, a new retail section and a plaza.Voicing their concern that the construction would harm the identity of the downtown, the group presented a petition with more than 1,000 signatures in opposition to construction.The group said the plan, created by Princeton Future, does not reflect their interests."To the degree possible, we would like to preserve the character and dignity of downtown but what is happening instead is that Princeton Future is imposing its will," said Bob Zagoria, a member of Concerned Citizens.While Princeton Future held meetings open to the public, some citizens said these forums were not sufficient.Borough officials said the plan originated from multiple viewpoints."The plan did not immediately arise out of Princeton Future," Mayor Marvin Reed said.

NEWS | 11/25/2002

NES Professor Cook awarded $1.5 M in Mellon research grant

Near Eastern Studies professor Michael Cook is still unsure how he will spend the $1.5 million he won for his research on Islam.The Andrew W.

NEWS | 11/25/2002

Flat panels replace conventional screens in upgrade

Students returned to campus in September to find brand new flat-panel monitors replacing some of the older monitors in their computer clusters and libraries.As part of its plan to replace a third of the campus' public computers each year, OIT introduced 20 Dell Precision 340 desktops, 16 Dell 260 desktops, 57 Dell 260 towers and 22 iMacs to take the place of older models.The OIT Student Computing Services group spent several months negotiating with sales representatives on the cost of new computers.

NEWS | 11/25/2002

Making the cut: Student athletes and admissions

Before she became wife of one of the world's best tennis players, Brooke Shields '87 already had an inclination toward racket sports.

NEWS | 11/25/2002

Student and faculty panel addresses problem of intellectualism on campus

The University ? intellectual, anti-intellectual or somewhere in between? This question is fueling the controversial debate over the educational atmosphere on campus that was recently sparked by the U-Council's open letter to the Council of the Princeton University Community.The USG held an open forum on undergraduate intellectualism at the Frist Campus Center last night, undeterred by the administration's rejection of a proposal for an ad hoc committee on the topic."We want to lay the groundwork for conversations to follow," said Josh Anderson '04, U-Council chair and moderator of the discussion.Anderson began by clarifying the purpose of the U-Council's letter.

NEWS | 11/25/2002

USG presidential election forum to incorporate debate

Student government elections are upon us once again, but this year's USG presidential race may be a little different.Instead of the usual election forum, candidates may participate in a debate that pits them directly against one another ? a shift members of the USG say would focus attention on the candidates' ideas rather than just their reputations.Both USG president Nina Langsam '03 and treasurer Mike Kimberly '03 said the current election process encourages a reliance on name recognition rather than candidates' views on issues."So much of election is based on names.

NEWS | 11/25/2002

Saving lives: Kahn '94 teaches Krav Maga self-defense system

When David Kahn '94 headed off to law school, he knew he did not want to be a lawyer, but he never guessed he would end up studying and teaching the art of Krav Maga, an Israeli self-defense system.A history major who wrote his thesis, "South Africa and the American Civil War," under professor James McPherson, Kahn hadn't heard of the technique before he started law school at the University of Miami.One of his first friends there introduced him to Krav Maga, and to ease the stress of his first year of graduate school, Kahn began practicing it regularly."I was so disaffected by law school that I started training almost every day of school," Kahn said.

NEWS | 11/25/2002

Seniors logging into SCORE face early-morning shutdown

The University's new online course registration engine ? which was designed to simplify administrative tasks ? started with a stutter for undergraduates who were allowed to use it for the first time yesterday morning.SCORE, the Student Course Online Registration Engine, replaced the traditional course card system earlier this year.A malfunction downed SCORE for 40 minutes on the first day seniors could register for courses with the program."You could log on but when you tried to add courses it wouldn't allow you to submit the request," Anne Braveman '03 said.An OIT Help Desk operator said last night that an outage took place but was corrected by a technical team run through the Office of the Registrar.Though OIT officials have been given a walk-through of the new program, SCORE is "100 percent handled by the registrar's office," said the official, who asked not to be named.Staff in the registrar's office said registrar officials were unavailable for comment yesterday afternoon.Seniors attempting to use SCORE yesterday morning criticized the new system."I thought the implementation of SCORE was very poor, as is the support system for help," Lauren Sun '03 wrote in an email.She said the system made enrolling in a graduate class difficult, and that she had trouble finding help for her problems."Basically it took me an hour to do what should have taken five minutes," she said.

NEWS | 11/25/2002

Executives, Nader highlight the 28th annual Business Today conference

Business leadership and ethics were the focus of Business Today's 28th annual international conference, taking place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, where Ralph Nader '55 was keynote speaker Sunday.The conference, coordinated entirely by University undergraduates, gives 200 students the opportunity to interact with more than 80 corporate executives in the context of lectures, panel discussions and small seminars, which began Saturday and end today.Nader was one of several speakers to address aspects of this year's theme, "Leadership Under Fire: Overcoming the Challenges of Turbulent Times." He wove social and political commentary throughout his message to the aspiring business leaders."A just society is the most fundamental prerequisite of a prosperous economy," Nader said.He attributed the proliferation of various social catastrophes, such as poverty, unemployment and environmental devastation, to the combined power of certain international institutions, like the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, and to global corporations."Global corporations put more power into hands that have no problem cutting deals with dictators," he said.In an exclusive interview, Nader conveyed his frustration with the U.S.

NEWS | 11/25/2002

University community reacts to Penn assault

As the University of Pennsylvania police moved closer to arresting suspects in the case of a Princeton debater who says he was assaulted while sleeping in a Penn lounge on Nov.

NEWS | 11/24/2002

Checkmate, Cambridge: Princeton Chess Club beats out Harvard, MIT

When the Princeton Chess Club traveled to Boston on Nov. 3 to compete in the "Top Four" tournament at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the team's expectations were not terribly high.The tournament, designed to pit U.S.

NEWS | 11/24/2002

Student activists to lobby for N.J. needle exchange program

A University activist program is gearing up to put pressure on New Jersey legislature to adopt a new bill that would increase drug users' access to sterile syringes.

NEWS | 11/24/2002

College admission reforms to usher in new era? It depends who you ask.

Princeton's easy to get into, really. A whopping 1,600 out of 14,500 applicants are accepted each year, about 11 percent.Just compare that to two-and-a-half year olds applying to New York City's 92nd Street Y preschool, which has a seven percent admission rate and quite a standard.

NEWS | 11/24/2002

University athletes speak out on Ivy League practice moratorium

The Athletes' Advisory Board voiced their disapproval of the new seven-week moratorium rule to the USG Senate last night.

NEWS | 11/24/2002

Rutgers policy institute proposes new solutions to Rt. 1 traffic flow problem

Traffic congestion may be a fact of life, but local and state officials are hoping to improve the situation in the nearby Penns Neck area by constructing alternate roadways.Earlier this fall, the circulation subcommittee of the Princeton Regional Planning Board debated solutions to the growing problem of traffic congestion in the downtown and Penns Neck areas of Princeton.A projected increase in business commuters along Route 1 highlights the urgency of the problem.

NEWS | 11/24/2002

Jeffrey GS '57 remembered for generosity, philosophy work research

Richard Jeffrey GS '57, an expert on decision theory and a University professor emeritus, died Nov.

NEWS | 11/21/2002

Campus literary magazines struggle to revitalize creative writing culture

In the 1890s, Jesse Lynch Williams 1892 and Booth Tarkington 1893 not only edited the Nassau Literary Magazine but also held a Coffee House literary club that made poetry and prose an integral part of campus culture.What followed was a Golden Age of literature when work of F.

NEWS | 11/21/2002

Five veteran scholars to join University faculty

The University Board of Trustees approved at its November meeting the appointments of five veteran scholars.Linda Colley, Daniel Garber, Daniel Osherson, Nicholas Pippenger and Robert Shapire will be welcomed into the University community as full professors.Because of the depth and prestige of their credentials, a more gradual transition was not considered necessary."We were looking for a good place to spend our horizon years," Pippenger said about his initial reasons for becoming a professor.Although each scholar abandons an esteemed post at another location, the new professors have asserted a common interest in experiencing fresh opinions and personalities.Garber, who headed the philosophy department and twice chaired the Conceptual Foundations of Science during his 25 years at the University of Chicago, applied the word "adventure" several times in explaining what induced him to transfer.Garber said he is simply prepared for a change, especially one that places him within his home state New Jersey.As it happens, Pippenger also makes some tribute to his roots in accepting Princeton's offer.A native of nearby New Hope, Pa., he has been awarded a Canada Research Chair in Computer Science and published the paper "Theories of Computability" in the course of a very active career at the University of British Columbia.While he admits a certain degree of ambivalence about leaving Vancouver, he said he welcomes the move, if only for the sake of his wife Maria Klawe, who was named this year dean of Princeton's engineering school.For Osherson, who is lecturing for his sixth year at Rice University, Princeton is the most recent destination in a diverse succession of universities: the Universita Vita-Saluta San Raffaele in Italy, the Institut d'Intelligence Artificielle in France, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University.He specializes primarily in psychology and computer science.In stark contrast, Princeton does not draw Schapire from academia but directly from the field as a a member of the technical staff at AT&T.Recipient of the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award and the MIT thesis Award for "The Design and Analysis of Efficient Learning Algorithms" he has concentrated on artificial intelligence and machine learning.Historian and author Linda Colley will fill a new position in the history department, becoming the Shelby M.

NEWS | 11/21/2002

Shoot for the stars, but smell the roses too

The stars came out on Monday night. Thousands of them ripped through the sky, leaving trails of gaseous beauty for us to gawk at.

NEWS | 11/21/2002

Foreign students on aid may get 2nd flight

While international students across the country are vying for financial aid policies that do not discriminate on a need basis, the University continues to improve its own policy, which has been need-blind for two years.On Tuesday, a faculty committee will make public whether the University will consider funding a second round-trip flight home for Class of 2007 international students on aid, said Don Betterton, financial aid director.Most current undergraduate students said they had been content even with one plane ticket, rather than the two that American students receive."I've only heard people say they were surprised the University would pay for one round trip," said Nikki Vogg '05, a native of Germany.

NEWS | 11/21/2002

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