Opinion

Learning to laugh

Every now and then, when I think about PrincetonFML.com, the odd Tiger magazine prank and (dare I say it) Robot Unicorn Attack, I am reminded that behind all the harsh politics, competitiveness and grade deflation lies a community that is willing to have a laugh together. And while campus issues will often get us riled up, we can all chill a little. Things don’t need to be too extreme.

Cartoon: Yaro's Technocracy

The cruelty of Christmas gifts

Tainting the economic purity of Christmas transactions reduces them to a shallow recall of formulaic niceties that say nothing whatsoever about the amount of thought devoted to another individual on a regular basis.

The banana and the chickpea

I think that students voted against the hummus referendum because PCP made two mistakes:First, it let the referendum turn into a political question instead of a moral one. “Yes” votes became votes for Palestine, and “No” votes became votes for Israel. Second, PCP members behaved like activists. They used words like “boycott,” which one peer told me was extremely offensive, and printed posters with images of hummus containers covered with big red X’s.  

Editorial: Green light to energy assessment

Sustainability inspections are justified and the University should consider expanding this program to include inspections during the academic year.

Cartoon: The things they carried

Secrets in the age of WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks forces us to reevaluate whether anyone is entitled to secrets.

Did someone say 'fat'?

The “no fat talk” campaign has nothing to do with making fat people feel better, because, to put it bluntly, there aren’t that many fat people to console. Instead, it is intended to reduce the anxiety anorexics have from fear of being fat.

Spread a little holiday cheer!

I am not entreating anyone to watch holiday specials on TV instead of writing a paper or to go make a gingerbread house with an exam happening the next morning. But we should make more of an effort to treat the holidays as a special time.

Fight obesity, but don’t moralize weight

The everyday fat talk thrown around in the United States is not about health. There is a moral undertone to much of our discussion of obesity.

Cartoon: Gordin's Law

In defense of teachers’ unions

Before coming to Princeton, I was a public school teacher and union member for 10 years, the first two of which I was also a Teach for America corps member. During that time, I was often frustrated by what the schools, and the union, could not or would not do for children who needed more. But more often, I was proud to be part of a profession that I believe does a great deal for our nation and grateful for the protection and advocacy that the union provides.

Editorial: Publish Ph.D. placement statistics

To help students contemplating graduate school understand their options and the career paths for different disciplines, graduate placement statistics should be collected and published.

Ten years of justice

Sometime this spring semester will mark the 10th anniversary of the Princeton Justice Project, a student activist group dedicated to social justice that I was pleased to mentor as an attorney, Princeton alumnus and preceptor in politics courses with the word “law” in them. PJP was conceived after a class tour of Trenton State Prison, a maximum-security prison with housing units dating to pre-Civil War years. Students gamely walked the harshly lit corridors in tow with corrections officers (“don’t call them guards”). Among their comments that still ring in my ears are “They’re almost all black” and “They’re in for so long!”

Letters to the Editor: Dec. 13, 2010

Bob Durkee says that the working group on campus social and residential life has not reached an agreement on the campus pub, and Catharine Bellinger and Alexis Morin write that teachers' unions can improve the education system.

Cartoon: Work in progress

The dogs I left behind

My anxieties over my relationship with my dogs became a mirror for my fear over losing my special relationship with my home.

PrinceCast #7: Genderless utopia edition

In this week's PrinceCast, Opinion columnists David Mendelsohn '12 and Allen Paltrow-Krulwich '14 discuss their perspectives on feminism. 

Waiting... and waiting... and waiting for Superman

"Top Test Scores from Shanghai Stun Educators.” Stunned? Really?

Editorial: A fairer way to distribute Commencement tickets

Under the current ticketing system, every senior is given the same amount of tickets, regardless of how many of their friends and family are expected to attend. A more sensible system could make the graduation process easier for seniors and their families.