Opinion

A defense of grade deflation

While Princeton’s diverse student body rarely unifies around a single issue, nearly every student seems to have rallied against grade deflation. This forces advocates of the policy — well, the few that exist — to always be on the defensive, addressing only the apparent negatives of grade deflation without discussing the benefits.

Financial Aid and the Feds

The Student Aid and Financial Responsibility Act is in some ways a step forward on making higher education affordable, but it’s also a step back on the more important question of government’s role. In other words, we’re trying to fix one problem but are worsening another one.

Cartoon: The nap jerker

How the Editorial Board arrived at some of the conclusions in its editorial

The primary resources that Wilson School students ? including those enrolled in the certificate program ? have exclusive access to are task forces and internship funding.

Investing in investment, British university style

Universities are not corporations, and no university, much less one of Britain’s flagship institutions, should be “[c]reat[ing] financially viable academic activity by disinvesting from areas that are at sub-critical level with no realistic prospect of extra investment.”

Editorial: Should the Wilson School certificate program be selective?

Students who are qualified for admission to Princeton should not be denied access to one of the University’s departments unless the University has insufficient resources to meet student demand. Demand for Wilson School certificates does not appear to have surpassed this threshold. Accordingly, the Wilson School should make the application process for the certificate non-competitive.

Dissent: Should the Wilson School certificate program be selective?

It is unfair to allow certificate students to use the school’s resources based on the criterion of "self-selection" alone while concentrators are required to undergo a competitive process and be evaluated on more factors.

Letters to the Editor: March 1, 2010

Plans to dedicate first floor of New South to the arts are ironic. 

How to control your own life

Why is it that, on a campus of free, independent, creative minds, we have such a burdened air, a weight on each of our brows that keeps them furrowed in concentration, an iron suit of obligation to put ourselves through hell and back for things we no longer seem to enjoy? We slap our palms to our foreheads, snore over a pile of books, stare mutinously at the director, coach or teacher before us, but do nothing to break free.

A thesis statement

As the deadlines draw near and the excuses dwindle, I propose that we supplement the usual channels of procrastination by re-examining the very practice itself. Why do we write a thesis?

Cartoon: Bad Products 101

Editorial: Increasing flexibility in laboratory requirements

The University should consider modifying its current requirements so that students can take more science classes without lab while still fulfilling their science and technology (ST) distribution requirement.

Cartoon: "Well, Jesus was a carpenter"

Empty-chair syndrome

Princeton has an overwhelming number of lectures, dinners and roundtable discussions. The opportunities to attend these events are endless. But why aren't students taking advantage of these amazing opportunities?

The daily value of veganism

Some people have told me that being vegan is immoral because it is inherently unhealthy. Yes, there are unhealthy vegans, but that doesn’t mean that all vegans are unhealthy.

On the element of consent in rape

Neagu does raise a tricky issue: What happens when a guy and a girl are at a party, they flirt, get “very drunk,” go home and have sex. Neither of them was legally capable of consent. Was there rape? And who raped whom?

Editorial: Increasing eating club aid

If the University’s goal is truly to provide all undergraduate students with equality of opportunity when choosing dining options, the financial-aid policy must accurately reflect this goal.

Why Princeton needs tools

Though we have been using the word “tool” in everyday speech for the better part of a decade, I am beginning to get a distinct feeling that none of us knows exactly what it means.

Snowed in at Princeton

The act of strolling to class was replaced with leaping, climbing, hoisting and crawling. That is, leaping over ice banks, ice-climbing up snow-mountains, hoisting myself up slip-and-slide staircases and, finally, crawling when there were no other options.

Cartoon: Princeton competitiveness