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Impractical? Perhaps, but the liberal arts curriculum is also illuminating

Impractical? Perhaps, but the liberal arts curriculum is also illuminating

If you thought you came to college to learn something practical, forget it. Princeton is one of the last bastions of the high-minded, esoteric and abstruse ? the liberal arts education.Come September, when you arrive at this small liberal arts university in central New Jersey, it will be time to begin your new life as an A.B., a candidate for Princeton's Bachelor of Arts degree.Ignore your calculator-toting roommates when they casually mention their course load of "Electromagnetic Field Theory and Optics" or "Mechanics of Solids and Fluids," ad nauseam.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

The Moral Mentor

Anders Chen '01 kept forgetting. He knew that people were starving in places around the world, that they lived without houses or clothes or doctors or books and that children died in swaths every day from malnutrition.He knew this.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

University reinstates Swahili course

After much debate by the administration, the University has decided to offer an introductory Swahili course again in the fall.Associate Dean of the College Hank Dobin announced that the class would make an encore appearance next year after weeks of protest by outraged students who opposed the University's initial decision to discontinue the class.The course will be administered under the African-American studies program next fall as a one-time course rather than as a student-initiated seminar.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Quantifying security: Students say they feel safe on campus, despite thefts

Sixty-two percent of undergraduates feel "very safe" at the University, though 24 percent said they have been victims of theft, according to a recent Daily Princetonian survey of 758 students.Despite the relatively large percentage of students who say they have been robbed on campus, Public Safety Crime Prevention Specialist Barry Weiser said the 1999-2000 academic year crime statistics are in line with the previous year's numbers."I think [the crime rates are] very similar to last year," Weiser said.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

University taps Dickerson for new vice president post

Janet Dickerson, Duke University's vice president for student affairs, has been selected by Princeton to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Dean of Student Life Janina Montero ? and then some.With Dickerson's arrival, Montero's old position will broaden both in name and function.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Money well spent?

The Trustee Initiative on Alcohol Abuse has been a key part of campus life this year, bringing with it an aggressive and well-funded campaign to reduce binge drinking at Princeton.But even after the trustees allocated $100,000 to fund non-alcoholic social events, opinions remain mixed on whether the initiative is succeeding in accomplishing its twin objectives ? to create social alternatives to drinking and to end alcohol abuse on campus.University Board of Trustees president Robert Rawson '66 said the alternative events are an integral part of the trustees' effort to end abusive drinking.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Over e-mail, we can be anyone we want, even our best friend

This entirely true story starts out funny then ends up tragic. It's like a class where you go to the first lecture and laugh at the professor showing slides of some famous scientific calamity (a volcano spurting magma on villagers with Loony Toons T-shirts) or the Grand Canyon (the professor's family vacation). Then after missing most of the lectures, you take the final, and you fail (which in Princeton means you get a B, "ruining" your GPA). Now the story.Last year, two chaps, whose roommate, Bob, spent fall semester in Spain, lived across the hall from me.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Diversity deficiency

When the three most recent USG presidents posed together for a picture at a party in Tower Club last fall, they contentedly joked about the scene being captured on film ? a multi-ethnic Mount Rushmore for 1990s Princeton.David Ascher '99 is Jewish and a member of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

University continues ground-breaking construction campaign

Freshmen might want to consider buying hard hats as well as Princeton t-shirts and banners when they make their purchases at the U-Store this fall.While construction of the Wallace Social Science Center and the Lake Carnegie boathouse ? as well as renovations to Blair Hall, Frist Campus Center, Joseph Henry House and Dial Lodge ? will finish in August, other projects will commence this summer and continue during the school year.With the University in the midst of a massive dormitory renovation project, Little Hall ? the long, snaking gothic structure that housed Rockefeller and Mathey college residents this year ? will undergo renovations.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Class of 2004 ready for first year as Tigers

The University admitted 12.2 percent of undergraduate applicants this year ? 1,670 of 13,654 ? a slightly higher acceptance rate than last year's 11.3 percent.For the first time in University history, men and women both received 50 percent of the admission offers, Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon said.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Squirrel drives student nuts

Though some squirrels might be innocent critters that don't do much harm, others are just plain sadistic.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Princeton hosts a parade of entertainers

Students witnessed a slew of celebrity activity on campus last year, from the antics of Ben Folds Five, to the more serene, sing-a-long style of the Indigo Girls, to a reflective John Turturro and a raunchy Jon Stewart.Drawn by the promise of comedic brilliance and the beauty of free admission, 2,100 students piled into Dillon Gym on March 25 for the local humor of Stewart.Because the event was part of the alcohol initiative, the trustees provided a $20,000 grant ? the largest given thus far under the initiative ? to help cover the cost of the performance.Stewart, who grew up in Lawrence Township, said the show struck a personal chord for him.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Even God rested on the seventh day, but you will not, or so it may seem

Never in the course of human events have so few caused so many so much pain.The nicely embossed brochures the University sends you tell all about the fascinating activities and extracurricular programs available at Princeton.They leave out one important fact, however: Unless your name happens to be Houdini, you will be hard-pressed to sample even a few of them.If you have any intention at all of getting something resembling an education for your $120,000, you are going to be very busy for the next four years with your work alone.Never fear, however, because there are a variety of tactics available for dealing with course chagrin, paper paralysis and homework hysteria.There is, of course, the most obvious and initially painless option: sloth.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

To $750 million and beyond: Capital campaign surpasses goal

In the fall of 1995, the University began what would become the largest, most successful fund-raising campaign in its history.In interviews just a few weeks before the end of the campaign, President Shapiro and other members of the administration reflected on their efforts ? five years and almost $1 billion later.The Anniversary Campaign for Princeton began with a target of $750 million."But then the campaign went extremely well," Shapiro said, "and we were very anxious, for example, to take on some new initiatives in financial aid."As a result, the University decided to raise the target to $1 billion.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

'Prince' Year-End Wrap-Up

PRINCETON BY THE NUMBERS87,641: Number of $.39 McDonald's hamburgers you can buy in place of one year at Princeton.1,489,897: Number of grams of fat in 87,641 McDonald's hamburgers.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Solving the world's problems, all as a mere undergraduate

The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs ? known to students as "Woody Woo" ? provides research opportunities for juniors and seniors in domestic and foreign policy.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Taking stock in a department, sophomores select their majors

If selecting a major is anything like Wall Street, then the market this year was bullish. Gains led losses for a sophomore class that was larger than its immediate predecessors, and the University's four largest blue chip monoliths ? history, politics, English and economics ? continued to secure about 40 percent of the shares.While the trend of students flocking to these larger departments is not new, administrators are often puzzled by the disproportionate distribution of majors.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

A nuts-and-bolts education: Engineers face full schedules

The very idea of engineering at Princeton is enough to send chills down the spines of many A.B. majors.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Path to the presidency proves to be a dead end for Bradley '65, Forbes '70

The year started out well for Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley '65. His only opponent, Vice President Al Gore, was suffering from a disorganized campaign and poor press relations.Bradley's war chest had grown quickly since he announced his candidacy in September, and he enjoyed the luxury of being able to spend money more rapidly than Gore.The former Princeton basketball forward was a media darling and, in the middle of January, it appeared that the New Hampshire primary was his to win.But it was not meant to be.Despite his momentum and optimism heading into the early primaries, Bradley was unable to convert his fund-raising success and positive media attention into votes.He fell short in the New Hampshire primary Feb.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

Less than grad-ified

Graduate students and the University administration clashed this semester when the graduate school limited access to the Debasement Dar ? or D-Bar ? located in the basement of the Graduate College.In February, the graduate school began to enforce the terms of the D-Bar's club liquor license, which dictates that every person served at the bar must be a club member.Club members were defined as only those students who live at the Graduate College.

NEWS | 07/16/2000

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