Soothing music played from a portable MP3 player as lights were dimmed and shades drawn in the religion department lounge.
A recent increase in Greek life at the University has led the administration to take an introspective glance at the role of Greek life on campus.In attempting to identify the successes and failures of fraternities and sororities, University officials may need to look at Greek life beyond Fitzrandolph Gates.All schools in the Ivy League have experienced a tension similar to that of Princeton in balancing Greek life with other social outlets on campus.The number of students involved in Greek life at Brown and Columbia universities is on par with the percentage of University undergraduates participating in fraternities and sororities.Roughly 800 students participate in fraternities or sororities at Columbia, said sophomore Michael Lee, president of Sigma Nu fraternity at Columbia."The school owns most of the houses," Lee said, "and everyone seems to know at least one other person in each fraternity or sorority."Columbia's urban setting, however, offers a significant alternative to these instutions."The entire city is open for students to take advantage of," Lee said.
Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Fred Hargadon discussed several issues during the Sunday USG Senate meeting.
The results of USG spring elections for class officers and U-Council were announced yesterday after slightly more competitive races than usual for each office.The election also yielded a new USG social chair, Timothy Skerpon '03, who ran uncontested for the position.Overall voter turnout was 46 percent, or 2,111 votes.
The Cornell Interactive Theater Ensemble led a forum on sexual harassment for about 50 students, faculty and administrators Thursday in Woolworth Center.CITE, founded in 1992, is a professional acting company dedicated to fostering discussions about human issues in the workplace with a participating audience, according to the group's website."We thought theater would be a good way to draw people in and think critically about the issues," Sexual Health, Assault, Advising, Resources and Education coordinator Thema Bryant said in an e-mail.The presentation began with a two-person skit about a fictitious University department chair and another female employee who felt she had been sexually harassed by a tenured professor.The conflict in this presentation was clear, but the solution and analysis of who was at fault was uncertain.
This month is election season for alumni positions on the University Board of Trustees. But there has been no campaigning, endorsements or any of the other features of a typical election.
A controversial new line of Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts, which bear stereotypical depictions of Asians, has sparked protest from Asian-American groups nationwide, including organizations on the University campus.The T-shirts which carry slogans such as "Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make It White," were pulled from store shelves and the company's website Thursday after Abercrombie received a flood of complaints."Many people look at the T-shirts and think they're funny," said Jamie Chan '03, former president of the Asian-American Students Assoc-iation.
McCosh Health Center continues to see a higher number of conjunctivitis cases than normal, Health Services Director Pamela Bowen said.
In the words of Professor Gideon Rosen, one of author Jonathan Safran Foer '99's thesis advisors, "Foer was obviously a writer from the start."Foer's book "Everything is Illuminated" ? based on his creative writing senior thesis ? hit stores this month.
Amid allegations of corruption and illegal campaign contributions, the leading Republican contender for New Jersey's Senate seat has dropped out of the primary race.James Treffinger ? whose campaign manager is Charlie Smith '86 ? withdrew four days after federal agents seized financial records from his office.
The contents of the program for a symposium titled "Exploring Genes to Genomes" would have excited any molecular biology enthusiast.
Seldom has there been so much discussion about campus construction. The University Board of Trustees on April 13 selected Porphyrios Associates ? run by architecture school alumnus Demetri Porphyrios GS '80 ? and Einhorn Yaffee Prescott to design Whitman College.Shortly after, undergraduates and graduates were making presentations of their designs for the University's sixth residential college at the Prospects2 competition held in the architecture school.Aside from these brief spurs of excitement, campus construction ? building new structures and renovating old ones ? is an on-going process.
A report recommending Harvard College radically change its numerical grading scale and overhaul its honors system to combat grade inflation was debated in a closed meeting of the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) yesterday.After months of debate and discussion among the faculty, the Educational Policy Committee (EPC) drafted the report based on the reviews of grading practices that each department had submitted in February.The recommendations ? which include possibly eliminating honors tracks in concentrations and adding statistical information to student transcripts ? will likely be discussed by the entire Faculty at a meeting in May.Dean of Undergraduate Education Susan Pedersen called the proposal a "draft" last night.The recommendations include reducing the current 15-point grading scale to an eight-point scale, with equal numerical differences between each grade.
The spring USG elections were complicated by two errors on the voting website this weekend that temporarily omitted a candidate's statement and picture and left some candidates off the ballot.For a short period after voting began early Friday morning, the online ballot did not allow students to vote for Milo Adams '04 for social chair of his class or for Aaron Bianco '05, a candidate hoping to be elected to the U-Council."We stopped the voting after a little more than an hour," USG president Nina Langsam '03 said.Soon afterward, Langsam sent a campus-wide e-mail that notified students who had voted between midnight and 1:30 a.m.
At a gathering of New Jersey legislators Friday in Dodds Auditorium, participants gave a positive report of the level of public trust in government.Organized by the University's community and state affairs office, the annual meeting is a chance for local politicians to interact, cement ties with the University and compare notes on an important theme in public service.This year's event ? titled "In Government We Trust?" ? provided ample opportunities for those assembled to showcase their rhetorical skills.Reed Gusciora, a Democrat who represents Princeton's district in the state assembly, quoted Winston Churchill's observation that "democracy is the worst institution, except for all the others."Gusciora said when Democrats were in the minority, they found it easy to criticize the waste and inefficiency Republicans allowed.
Although today is officially Earth Day, campus organizations began activities and events to increase student awareness of environmental issues more than a week ago with the University celebration of EarthWeek.EarthWeek began last weekend with a conference called "Approaches to Environment-alism," co-sponsored by Princeton Environmental Action and the Princeton Conservation Society, which held several lectures and discussions about the environment and conservationism."We have more events, and a greater variety of events, than we have in years past," said S.
A University student was arrested Thursday for allegedly stealing a golf cart issued to an injured student, according to a Princeton Borough Police Department press release.Marcus Ford-Bey '04 was caught driving a Textron E-Z-GO electric-powered golf cart at 2 a.m.
More than 1,000 people crowded into Dillon Gym on Thursday for a comedy show sponsored by the USG.
Many institutions and individual investors did not expect their investments in the once-stable energy company Enron to disappear.
Cornel West. K. Anthony Appiah. Carol Gilligan. Jeffrey Sachs.All are defecting to other institutions in what appears to be a mass departure by Harvard's star professors.
