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University of California president gives SAT a failing grade

University of California president gives SAT a failing grade

University of California president Richard Atkinson made a speech Sunday in which he proposed to end the use of SAT scores as admission criteria for the state university system he oversees.Atkinson's proposal must be approved by the faculty senate and the university system's governing board of regents before it could be implemented.If the proposal passes, it may have a far-reaching impact, as UC is one of the largest and most prestigious state university systems in the country.Contending that overemphasis on the SAT is compromising America's educational system, Atkinson recommended an alternative practice under which admissions would be based primarily on students' course work and tests that relate more concretely to the subject matter studied, such as the SAT II subject tests."In America, students should be judged on what they have accomplished during four years of high school, taking into account their opportunities," Atkinson said in his speech.

NEWS | 02/21/2001

Students evaluate 4-year residential college proposal

Independent students, often lost in the shuffle of Spelman and Two Dickinson room draw, may soon have alternative housing and dining options.Though its effect on eating club membership is uncertain, the proposed four-year residential college ? which will not likely be implemented for several years ? will provide independents with the opportunity for a residential college living experience during their upper-class years.Some students greet the proposal as a needed change to the current two-year college system.

NEWS | 02/21/2001

Falk, U.N. team report on Israeli-Palestinian relations

In his cluttered corner office in the Wilson School, professor Richard Falk hangs a large black-and-white poster of a giraffe.

NEWS | 02/21/2001

PPPL launches new educational Website

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory ? a government-funded University research effort to turn particle fusion into a harnessable source of energy ? has created a Website to explain plasma physics in laymen's terms.The site, called the Internet Plasma Physics Education eXperience, is geared toward the general public, according to PPPL Science Education Program lead scientist Andrew Zwicker.Designed to be comprehensible to students at the middle school level, teh Website has been used by college students and even physicists for research purposes.The site was created by a team that includes University physicists.

NEWS | 02/21/2001

University to donate money for new ambulance to Princeton rescue squad

The University recently pledged $155,000 to the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad ? a group that provides emergency services for Princeton Borough and Township.

NEWS | 02/20/2001

Finding an allegory for net privacy issues

As the "e-volution" spirals into its golden age, net privacy is increasingly a salient concern for computer scientists and civil rights experts.

NEWS | 02/20/2001

Researchers question Gutenberg's role in developing printing press

Scholars everywhere owe their livelihood to the invention that is commonly attributed to Johann Gutenberg.

NEWS | 02/20/2001

Campus engulfed by construction

Princeton students may soon graduate with certificates in construction.The campus has been infiltrated with construction projects that are rebuilding, revamping, refurbishing and recreating the historic campus.

NEWS | 02/20/2001

Scholars wire USSR to support authors

A group of more than 100 professors from Princeton, Rutgers and the Institute for Advanced for Advanced Study signed a petition last week that was sent to Russian Premier Alexei Kosygin requesting revocation of the sentences given Soviet authors Andrei D.

NEWS | 02/20/2001

McCurry '76 speaks on politics, Internet

While journalists and reporters crammed the White House briefing room, firing questions and scribbling notes, Michael McCurry '76 stood behind the podium "facing about a billion cameras the day the Lewinsky story broke," he said.On the receiving end of the fusillade of clamoring media, this was only one day, though undoubtedly one of the most memorable, in McCurry's three-year tenure as President Clinton's press secretary from 1995-98."Scandals were easy," McCurry candidly said, recalling the Lewinsky events via e-mail.

NEWS | 02/20/2001

Property stolen at eating clubs

Five students reported Sunday that their property was stolen while at Quadrangle Club and Tower Club last weekend, according to Borough Police Capt.

NEWS | 02/20/2001

University ranks 21st in National Merit study

Though U.S. News and World Report still has the University at the top of its list, another national publication has Princeton far from first.In its Feb.

NEWS | 02/19/2001

Van Citters '69 recalls his contributions to Spitzer's famous idea

When Wayne Van Citters '69 was about to walk out of FitzRandolph Gate at the end of the last all-male academic year in Princeton's history, the looming Vietnam War and all of the social turmoil it caused threatened to suffocate the post-graduate academic ambitions of many of the students in his class.

NEWS | 02/19/2001

President's Speech, Prizes To Highlight Alumni Day

Princeton graduates from all parts of the United States will be on campus tomorrow for the 45th Annual Midwinter Meeting of the Princeton National Alumni Association.

NEWS | 02/19/2001

Suspects in Dartmouth murders arrested

Authorities arrested the two teenagers wanted for the murders of Half and Susanne Zantop at around 4 a.m.

NEWS | 02/19/2001

Duke announces plan to require laptops for undergrads by 2005

Duke University recently announced its plan to require all undergraduate students to own a portable computer by fall of 2005 ? a plan that Princeton has not yet considered.To begin implementing this initiative, all undergraduates entering fall 2002 and after will be required to own a portable computer.

NEWS | 02/19/2001

Gallaudet student confesses to murders of two classmates

Last Tuesday, Joseph Mesa, a 20-year-old Gallaudet University freshman, was arrested and charged with two counts of felony murder in connection with two separate murders in the past four-and-a-half months.His arrest came 10 days after the body of former dorm-mate Benjamin Varner, a 19-year-old freshman, was found stabbed to death, according to a Gallaudet University press release.Last September, Eric Plunkett ? a freshman with cerebral palsy who also lived in the same dorm as Mesa ? was found beaten to death.

NEWS | 02/19/2001

Williams to retire as development V.P.

University Vice President for Development Van Zandt Williams '65 announced his retirement this week following the conclusion last June of the record-setting Anniversary Campaign that raised approximately $1.14 billion for the University.His announcement comes several months after President Shapiro made public his own decision to step down.Williams, who has worked in his current capacity since 1980, said he would continue to work through the transition period under Shapiro's successor.

NEWS | 02/19/2001

Going off Tap?

While new eating club presidents get comfortable with their new positions, the threat of an alcohol crackdown at the 'Street' may loom closer after incidents that occurred during initiations weekend prompted a resurgence of discussion at last week's Borough Council meeting.At the Feb.

NEWS | 02/19/2001

Time, place, and manner restriction

Professor Robert Kaster and his colleagues in the classics department have a "door code." They keep their doors open when they're in their offices and happy to meet with students and other faculty.When their doors are closed almost all the way, but not shut, that means to knock: they're busy, but might still be able to meet with people.

NEWS | 02/18/2001

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