EDITORIAL: Combating elitism
BY DAILY PRINCETONIAN EDITORIAL BOARD In the aftermath of the publication of Ms. Patton’s letter to the editor, there has been extensive media response to the sentiments she expressed.
BY DAILY PRINCETONIAN EDITORIAL BOARD In the aftermath of the publication of Ms. Patton’s letter to the editor, there has been extensive media response to the sentiments she expressed.
BY LAUREN PRASTIEN Columnist On April 1st, Fox News Insider’s Megyn Kelly leapt onto the bandwagon of newscasters attempting to parse out some logic from Susan A.
BY LAUREN SHANLEYClass of 2012Dear Ms. Patton,I’ve dated your son and, thanks, but no thanks.No, I haven’t literally dated your son, but I’ve dated Princeton (male) undergrads, both while in school and while a graduate.
On March 29, The Daily Princetonian published a Letter to the Editor from Susan Patton, alumna and President of the Class of 1977.
On April 1st, Fox News Insider?s Megyn Kelly leapt onto the bandwagon of newscasters attempting to parse out some logic from Susan A.
The cartoon that ran on Monday parodying Susan Patton’s opinion letter easily summarized the most socially indicative part of her piece: Titled “A universe of women,” it depicted a male stick figure surrounded by multiple beckoning women.
In the aftermath of the publication of Ms. Patton?s letter to the editor, there has been extensive media response to the sentiments she expressed.
BY HALEY WHITE Class of 2012 My parents met at Princeton as undergraduates about thirty-years ago and got married six-days after my mother marched through FitzRandolph Gate for graduation.
BY CATHERINE TIEDEMANN MORRA '77, ELIZABETH TIEDEMANN MAASS '78 & CHARLOTTE TIEDEMANN PETERSEN '82 As three Princeton alumnae — sisters, no less — married to three Princeton alumni, we feel uniquely qualified, and even compelled, to respond to Susan Patton’s Letter to the Editor. Our parents, apparently, hit the trifecta.
BY SUSAN PATTON Class of 1977 Now that I know I have your attention... It seemed to me that all of the wisdom that was being offered to you focused only on your professional development.
(or any institution of higher education, for that matter ... and precisely what I said to my daughter as she headed off to college — not Princeton) BY PRISCILLA SMART SCHWARZENBACH Class of 1977 Go off to college determined to get the best darn education you can.
BY NICOLE CLARKE Class of 2009 I was quite taken aback by the online response to Ms. Patton's letter.The public outcry seemed to tout every possible position from elitism to sexism to antifeminism to she-must-be-totally-crazy-ism.
BY LOLITA BUCKNER INNISS Class of 1983, Parent of a member of the Class of 2009 As a woman who attended Princeton and who holds deeply feminist views (and who, full disclosure, has been married for 30 years to the man she dated since freshman week), I have to say that while I disagree with most of Patton’s assertions, I don’t find them especially offensive.
BY KUNLE DEMUREN Class of 2011 My issues with the letter by Susan Patton ’77 published in this paper last Friday would fill up many pages, but for this response, I will focus on just a few.
BY HELEN COSTER Class of 1998 As a Princeton woman who’s been out of school for 15 years, I offer my own experience—and the experience of almost all of my female friends — as an argument for why you should ignore Susan Patton’s advice. At Princeton I spent four years taking classes I loved, juggling 10,000 activities and spending time with friends.
BY FREDERIC M. SMITH Class of 1962 Susan Patton ’77 may find something to consider in the following paradox: My wife of 26 years went to Berkeley, but she has never failed to interest me every day of my life with her. Yours sincerely, Frederic M.
BY APRIL ALLISTON Professor of Comparative Literature Susan Patton’s letter of March 29 reminds me of a piece that preceded Anne-Marie Slaughter’s in The Atlantic by a few years: “Marry Him!
BY H. CAROL BERNSTEIN Parent of a member of the Class of 2016 As an advanced-degreed executive officer of a publicly-traded technology company who has 28 years of experience in both for profit and academic institutions focused on science and technology (and Princeton parent of a male student), Susan Patton's March 29, 2013 Letter to the Editor appears wholly inconsistent with my personal experience as a wife, mother, friend and professional, as well as mentor and sponsor to various men and women throughout my career and 20-plus-year marriage. Moreover, her regressive beliefs, which appear to be based on little more than her own unhappy circumstances, detract from the important responsibilities those of us who are more senior in our careers and lives have to those younger men and women in our personal and professional communities of various academic and socioeconomic backgrounds who look to us for some guidance, assistance and example with regard to career development, "balance", leadership and social responsibility. Compatibility and success — whether in the personal or professional realm — are borne of many things but generally arise from and are sustained by common values; superficial measures such as equating mutual attendance at certain academic institutions with a priori "intellectual equality", or other of the snobbish inanities proffered by Patton, serve as false proxies for them. Furthermore, Patton's baseless assertions regarding the issues with which current college and newly post-college age women and men are supposedly concerned, and ignorance of the broad dissemination and availability of, and discussion related to, information regarding such issues (including the active debates of the past year alone engendered by thoughtful views of various individuals such as Anne-Marie Slaughter and Sheryl Sandberg like the very one in which Patton "participated"), make me question her supposed qualifications as a "human resources consultant and executive coach", or at least why any entity or individual who has read her letter would ever consider hiring her for anything even remotely related thereto. H.
By SARAH CEN Staff Writer Local attorney and privacy advocate Grayson Barber spoke about the increasing availability of drones to the government and general public as well as consequent changes in the nature of privacy at a luncheon held by the Center for Information Technology Policy on Thursday afternoon.