Opinion

Democracy and the dangers of political Donatism

I had made an interior vow to write nothing further about the presidential campaign. In my view it has been conducted by both major parties in a manner that emphasizes the trivialities and debilities of American democracy at the expense of demonstrating its strengths.

Yankees must be facing their own curse

October 20, 2004: A day that will live in infamy. And all the more so as barely a weekend earlier my father and I had cackled over the Boston Globe's delightful description of Yankee-struck baseballs flying "hither and yon," of the "brontosaurus egg" that was the 0-3 deficit, and yes, of the "C-word." No doubt about it: The Curse was alive and well.Such it was that four days before the end of the American League Championship Series, I was at the height of my glory, reveling in the mystical Yankee-centric vision of the sports cosmos that had first drawn me into baseball fanaticism.For the uninitiated, Yankee theology explains why, despite their occasional slides into utter incompetence, the Yankees are the cicadas of the playoffs.

Deadline for election letters

The deadline for election-related letters is today at 4 p.m. We edit for length, grammar and clarity.

Web site offers voters way to support Nader and Kerry

While reading Aileen Nielsen's heartfelt piece 'Even if Kerry wins, he's a loser,' (Oct. 20) I was struck that she feels like her choices, as a third-party supporter, are so limited.

Kerry for President

There was a time when President Bush could be forgiven. On the face of things, he wanted to do something good for this country, preaching in the 2000 campaign the virtues of modesty in world affairs and compassionate conservatism at home.

Toward a more compassionate Princeton

For the sake of formality, let's review some facts. Across the world, thousands of children die daily from hunger and preventable diseases.

Editorial cartoon

Move Fall Break so students can vote

In the best of all possible worlds, colleges and universities would give students a break in the middle of the fall semester so that students could have the option of voting at home.We can easily imagine the benefits of such an "election break." First, students would not be compelled to choose between voting by absentee ballot and registering outside their home state.

Whew!

Thank God it's over.Midterms are hard enough and studying is already unpleasant, but the drama of the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox series might be enough to deflate grades well beyond Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel's wildest dreams.

Fall Break: Don't move it, just lose it

Transport yourself, if you will, back to a time when hippies roamed the earth, Richard Nixon occupied the Oval Office, and perhaps most impossibly, our parents were our age.

Bush has shown innovation

The history of the American national security establishment is marked by a procession of changing paradigms.

Local races count, too

For the past couple of months in lectures, professors have been slyly dropping hints about their views on the presidential candidates and the electoral process.

Hath hell frozen over?

The email came in from an aghast libertarian. "Hath hell frozen over" she inquired? After all, it seemed that Professor Robert "Robbie" George, part-hero, part-idol and assuredly the source of much of the conservative momentum here on campus, had declared his support for Senator Kerry in the race for the presidency.

Kerry will bring improved security

The difference between the two candidates' plans to win the war on terrorism in this election is simple: Kerry's plan makes sense, and Bush's doesn't.The first part of Bush's strategy seems to be getting in the way of reform.

Even if Kerry wins, he's still a loser

I'm voting for Ralph Nader in a swing state come November, and it has nothing to do with disliking the two-party (a.k.a.

Just under the shell of adulthood

When I was six, my classmates tormented me for looking like a "Chink" and having a "lollipop head." One evening I tiptoed barefoot across the kitchen floor in my Pound Puppies nightgown and slowly removed the scissors, the ones too sharp for homework, from the drawer.

Quintile quandary

In late September, Registrar Joseph Greenberg sent students an email to students letting them know that each student's quintile rank for academic performance within their class would become available alongside other information on the "My Academic Record" feature of the registrar's webpage.

What's in a poll?

In this year's presidential race, polls reported in the news can be very confusing. Every day we hear about national and state polls showing Bush ahead, Kerry ahead or one candidate surging and overtaking the other.

Editorial Cartoon

Interdisciplinary Writing

These days I hear but infrequently the sourly euphonic maxim that was ubiquitous in my early days in the academic profession: "Publish or perish!" This meant, of course, that for a young professor scholarly publication was the single absolute prerequisite for achieving a permanent academic appointment, alias "getting tenure." The reason I hear it less frequently these days is not that there has been a measurable relaxation of professional expectations.