Opinion

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Our aim is to inspire discussion and, ultimately, action. But this is impossible without a constant influx of students with unique perspectives — independent thinkers who are eager to debate and willing to engage with issues important to Princeton.

Editorial: Releasing precept information

Though openly announcing precept times may cause some problems, it would increase the chances that students end up in the right precept for them and equalize access to what is commonly the most coveted slot — the precept with the professor.

Make pre-orientation mandatory

Pre-orientation groups are clearly not going to be friends forever. But for those first few weeks, when freshmen transition from not knowing anyone to having friends with shared interests, having an initial group of acquaintances hugely facilitates finding new friends.

Letter to the Editor: September 23, 2011

Brian Zack ’72 criticizes an advertisement in the 'Prince.'

Day by day, week by week

The less we schedule, the less pressure we will feel and the more time we will have to do something, if not everything, we want.

Cartoon: If campus posters told the truth

On statecraft and stunts

The borders of this “state” will bear no relation to reality. Forget the disputes with Israel over territory — Abbas doesn’t even have control over Hamas-run Gaza. This “Palestine” will be a fantasy, a state in name only. On the ground, the arrangement will be meaningless.

Cartoon: A Sisyphean task

The bottom line

I’m struck by the constant rejection of, or even outright disdain for, any implication that financial or economic thinking is anything other than Devil worship, countered to the pure good of public service or simple love for a profession.

Whose campus is it anyway?

As an upperclassman myself, I realize how fun it is to be on campus with no commitments. I also understand that it’s important for freshmen to see campus as it is with all of its members, to begin to find their niche within the larger campus community. I think a compromise could be having half of freshman week freshmen-only, and the other half with all classes on campus.

Editorial: Revisiting Princeton grading

Regardless of the acrimonious and often unproductive debate surrounding the policy of grade deflation, all should agree on the importance of minimizing the incidental harms that grade deflation may cause.

The scars on all our foreheads

None of the Potter books were great literature, and truly cementing the series’ place in history would have required a thrilling finish.

Why things will never change

Things won’t change at Princeton because the administration has no motive to appease us

Cartoon: Activities fair

Collective inaction

The desire to fill one’s free time fighting global ills is a laudable goal. Yet if one cares about doing important work well, there are compelling reasons to avoid many of these groups.

Unite and conquer

Watching and listening to the comers and goers in Dillon that day impressed upon me the vast possibilities available to us as undergraduates and reinforced my firm belief that extracurriculars are Princeton’s lifeblood, granting our school her dynamic nature and incredible vitality.

Like a fiddler on the roof

Dickinson, McCosh, Pyne, Fine, Hibben, and even Madison and Wilson — These names are reminders of decisions, mistakes, and achievements spanning over 250 years. We ought to more fully seize our tradition and history as what makes our school, and every school, a unique place.

Cartoon: Hurricane

Dialogue over advocacy

What we need is real open dialogue on campus. We need to step back from advocacy and accept that some issues are too complicated to fit on a poster board in a neat slogan; that some views are more nuanced than that; and that it is time to address those views and discuss them.

Probing Poverty

So never mind the risible inflatable rat, squatting outside campus doors; there may be no “shame” in Princeton’s labor relations. But, for all her greatness, Princeton may be able to do a better job of leading future leaders to learn, study and probe the causes of poverty and what public policy fixes can put the jobless back to work — with or without unions — and maybe even to help end the “blue state” vs. “red state” paralysis